The Portland daily press., 1898-07-01
GEN. WHEELER'S REPORT.
Highest Words of Praise for Rough Rid
ers and Other American Soldiers.

erS ana other American Soldiers.
! Camp Juragua, Wednesday, June 90,
| via Kingston, Ja., June 80, Copyrighted
by the Associated Press. -General Wheel
er's official report to Major General
Shafter of what is now known as the bat
tie of Siboney is as follows:
In Camp Juragua, June 30.
To the Adjutant General of the Fifth
Army Corps:
Sir:-I have the honor to report that, in
obedience to the instructions of the major
general commanding, given me in person
on June %, proceeded to Stboney. The
enemy had evacuated the place at day.
light that morning, taking course TO-
ward Sevilla. A body of about one
thousand Cubans had followed and en-
gagged the enemy's rear guard. About
! nine of them were wounded.
| l rode to, the front and found the enemy
had halted and established themselves at
a point three miles from Siboney. At
night the Cubans returned to the vicinity
of the town. At eight o'clock that even
ing the 23rd. General Young, reached
Siboney with eight troops of Col. Woods
regiment A. B. d, E, b, G, K and L,
five hundred strong; troops "A. B, G and
K of the first cavalry, in all 224 men and
troops A, B, e and OF the tenth cavalry
in all 2a0 men, making the total force 964
men, which included nearly all of my
command, which had marched from
Baiquiri, II miles.
| With the assistance of Gen. Castillo,
rough map of the country was prepared
and the position of the enemy was fully
explained and determined to make an
attack at daylight on the 24th. Col.
Woods regiment was sent by Gen. Young,
| accompanied by two of his staff officers,
! Lieutenants Tyre e. r. Rivers and W..
| h. Smedburg, Jr., to approach the enemy
on the left hand or more westerly road,
while Gen. Young, myself and troops Of
the first and tenth cavalry with three
Hotchkise mountain guns approached the
enemy on the regular Sevilla road.
| General Young and myself examined
the position of the enemy, the lines were
deployed and l directed him to open fire
with the Hotchkiss guns. The enemy re-
piled and firing Immediately became gen.
eral. Colonel Wood had deployed his
right. nearly reaching the left Of the
regulars.
For an hour the fight was very warm,
the enemy being very lavish in expendi-
ture of ammunition, most of their firing
being by volleys. Finally the enemy gave
way and retreated rapidly. We followed
them over the line, keeping close upon
! them, but our men being physically ex-
hausted by both their expeditions and by
| the great heat, were incapable of main
| tanning the pursuit.
| l cannot speak too highly of the gallant
| and excellent conduct of the officers and
men throughout General Young deserves
special communication for his cool deliber-
ate and skillful management. l also
specially notice the action of Lieuten ant
F. Mills, who, under General Young's
direction, was at various parts of the
line. acting with energy and cool courage.
This imperative necessity of disembark-
ing with promptitude had impelled me to
leave most of my staff to hasten this i'm
portant matter, and unfortunately only
had with me Major W. d. Beach and Mr..
Mestro, an acting volunteer aide both of
whom, during the engagement, credltably
and bravely performed their duties. l am
| especially indebted to Major Beach for his
cool and good Judgment.
| Col. Wood q regiment was on the ex-
| IRENE left of the line and too far distant
| for me to be personal witness of the
individual conduct Of the officers and
men, but the magnificent bravery shown
| by the regiment under the lead OF
| Colonel Wood testifes to his courage and
| skill and the energy and determination of
| his officers, which has been marked from
the moment he reported to me at Tampa.
1 have abundant evidence Of his brave
and good conduct on the field and l
| the government l must rely upon his
report to do justice to his officers and
men, but desire personally to add that
(, all l have said regarding Colonel Wood
applies equally to Colonel Roosevelt.
I was Immediately with the troops of
| the first and tenth regiment cavalry, dis
mounted. and I personally noticed their
! brave and good conduct, which was
specially mentioned BY General Young.
I personally noticed the good conduct
of Captain w. A. Book, Robert p. VAIN
wright and Jacob g. Galbraith, Major
James NJ. Bell, Captain Thomas 4.
Know and Lieutenant George e. Brown.
The last three were wounded.
Major Bell, as he lay on the ground
with broken leg, said: 81 only regret
can't go on with you further
Capt. Know, though severely wounded,
continued as long as spossible to exercise
his command and insisted to me that he
was not much hunt. and Lieut.. Byron
also made light of his wound to me and
continued upon the line until he tainted.
I recommend these officers for the favor
able consideration of the government.
l cannot state positively as to the size
| of the Spanish force which we engaged,
| or the extent of their casualties further
| than that the force was much greater
| than ours, and that Information I have
would indicate that the killed and
WouuueC lar oXCe0Qou Ulo loss winch our
troops sustained, but our estimates on
these points can only be verified when we
have access to the reports Of the Spanish
commanders.
The victory gave courage to our troops
and must have had a bad effect on the
| spirits of the Spanish soldiers.
1t also gave our army the beautiful and
we'll watered country in which we have
established our enoampmen is. 1t has also
given US a full view of Santiago and the
surrounding country, and has enabled us
to reconnoitre close up to the fortidca-
tionsof that place.
| Very respectfully,
| Joseph Wheeler,
Major General U. S. Vols. COMMANDING
The casualties in the engagement were
First United States volunteer cavalry,
strength 500, killed s, wounded, "a.
First United States regiment cavalry,
strength 244, killed z, wounded g.
| Tenth United States regular cavalry,
strength 220, killed l. wounded 10.
Total strength 964, killed Is, wounded
SO.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph Wheeler,
Mai Gen TT 6 Vol (}opmap1ipo