The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-15

afternoon of the S0th with orders to take possession there arly the next morning and at the proper time pre- pare the way for the advance of Wheel CT and Kent on San Juan hill. The at tack of this point was to be delayed until Lawton's guns were heard at Fl Caney and his infantry fire showed he had become well engaged.
 Reasons for Forcing the Battle.
 "The preparations were far from what I desired them to be, but we were in a sickly climate; our supplies had to be brought forward by a narrow wagon road which the rains might at any time render impossible; fear was entertain ed that a storm might drive the vessels containing our stores to sea, thus sep arating us from our base of supplies, and, lastly, it was reported that Gen eral Pando, with eight thousand rein forcements for the enemy, was en route from Manzanillo and might be expect ed in a few days. Under these circum- stances I determined to give battle without delay.
 Battle Opens
 Early on the morning of July i Law ton was in a position around Fl Clancy, Chaffee's brigade on the right, across the Guantanamo road, Miles brigade in the center and Ludlow's on the left. The duty of cutting off the enemy s retreat along the Santiago road was as- signed to the latter brigade. The ar tillery opened on the town at 6:15 a. m. The battle had soon become general and was hotly contested. The enemys po- sition was naturally strong and was rendered more so by blockhouses, a stone fort and intrenchments cut in sol- i'd rock and the loopholings of a solidly built stone church. The opposition of fered by the enemy was greater than had been anticipated and prevented Lawton from joining the right of the main line during the day, as had been intended After the battle had contin- ued for some time Bates brigade of two regiments reached my headquar- ters at Siboney. directed him to move near Fl Caney. He did so and was put in position. The battle continued with varying intensity during most of the day and until the place was carried by assault, about 4:30 D. m. As the Span iards endeavored to retreat along the Santiago road Ludlow's position ena- bled him to do very effective work and to practically cut off all the retreat in that direction.
 Advantage of smoIxe1ess Powder.
 After the battle at El Caney was arm fire caused us to believe that Law ton was driving the enemy back before him, I directed Grimes battery to open fire from the heights of Fl Paso on the San Juan blockhouse, which could be seen situated in the enemy's intrench- ments extending along the crest of San Juan hill. This fire was effective, and the enemy could be seen running away from the vicinity of the blockhouse. The artillery fire from Fl Paso was soon returned by the enemy's artillery. They evidently had the range of this hill and their first shells killed and wounded several men. As the Span- iards used smokeless powder it was very difficult to locate the position of their pieces, while. on the contrary. the plainly indicated the position of our battery.
 Cavalry Ordered Forward.
 "At this time the cavalry division un- der General Sumner, which was lying concealed in the general vicinity of the T Faso Heights was ordered forward with directions to cross the San Juan river and deploy to the right on the Santiago side, while Kent's division was U follow closely in it's rear and deploy to the left. These troops moved for ward in compliance with orders, but the road was so narrow as to render it impracticable to retain the column of fours formation at all points, while the urdererewth on either side was so dense as to preclude the possibility of deploying skirmishers. It naturally re- suited that the progress made was slow, and the long range rifles of the enemy , infantry killed and wounded 8 number of our men while marching along this road and before there was any oppor- tunity to return this fire. At this time Generals Kent and Sumner were order ed to push forward with all possible haste and place their troops in position to engage the enemy. General Kent, with this end in view, forced the head of his column alongside of the cavalry column as far as the narrow trail per- mitted and thus hurried his arrival at the San Juan stream and the formation beyond that stream.
 From Balloon.
 A few hundred yards below San Juan the road forks, fact that was discov- cred by Lieutenant Colonel Derby of my staff, who had approached we'll to the front in war balloon. This in- formation he furnished to the troops, resulting in Sumner moving on the left hand road, while Kent was enabled to utilize the road to the left. General Wheeler the commander of the cavalry division, who. had been ill., came for turned to duty and rendered most gal lant and efficient service during the re- mainder of the day After crossing the stream the cavalry moved to the right for meeting with Lawtons left when he could come up and with their left resting near the Santiago road. In the meantime Rents division with the ex- ception of two regiments of Hawkins brigade being thus uncovered moved rapidly to the front from the forks pre- viously mentioned in the road, utilizing both trails, but more especially the one to the left, and crossing the creek formed for attack in the front of San Juan hill. During this formation. the second brigade suffered severely.