The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-08-05
Agreement of the Com
miSSiOnerS.
The SPANISH PRISONERS
Outnumber Our Soldier. by six Thou
sand-General Shaner Surprises nc
the Strength OF the Poruacauons.
Spanish Prfsouers Delighted at sdca
Of Returning Home-The Hardship.
They Have Suffered.

Washington, August 1.-The secre-
tary OF war has received the follow
ing letter from General Shafter. trans
hitting the commissioners report OF
the surrender Of the Spanish army at
Santiago:
Camp Before Santiago de Cuba.
July Is. 1898.
Il take the liberty OF sending 10 you.
this morning. a copy OF the agreement
between the commissioners on my part
and the commissioners on the part OF
the government Of Spain for the sur
render Of eastern Cuba The schedule
just submitted shows there 10 be a
little over 1900 men and officers.
about 5000 more than / have had my
self. n l am glad to say hat We
nave got all these men with very lit
tie loss OF life. compared 10 what IL
would ave been had we To fight them.
The city of Santiago is simply a net
work of Notifications at every street
corner. / had no proper conception OF
its strength until | went into IL. al
though / knew these old stone towns
were naturally very strong.
' Aililb - SpilS III any ~
far as the transfer is concerned, and
the Spanish troops are behaving well.
as they are perfectly delighted at the
thoughts of getting home.
II send to you a telegram OF Cen
erat Linares to his government, which
one of the consuls gave me. 1t shows
the straits to which they were put
and the feelings that animated them
He stated the case exactly. | did have
him so surrounded that it was impos-
sible for him to get away, and | could
wait and he could not.
I'VE have gotten a great deal more
than / had any idea OF getting in the
way Of munitions of war. In every
thing but food they were well sup
piled. l ave got a few beautiful mod
ern, high power guns. about a dozen.
My only fear it that We shall AVE
some sickness; and it is for that rea-
son that / have wired you SO earnestly
about getting these prisoners away. 50
that we can go up in the mountains
with my command fifteen or twenty
miles at the end Of the railroad mt
a Luis. which il said to be very
healthy. 1t is, at any rate, about 800
feet above the sea and has Communi-
cation by rail with Santiago.
so far there is no fever in San
tiago. 1 suppose because there is none
there except mmune Three cases
only so far this year and the English
consul tells me there was very little
last year
"Of those here who served through
out the civil war, all declare they new
er had anything that could omparc
with it for hardship. With only n
set of clothes. officers have been until
now rained on nearly every day, car
rying three days rations, like the
men, on their person. and suffering ev-
cry privation that any man can. added
to all these privations, in addition, all
the horrors of disease in an unknown
land, and very limited accommoda-
lions should they be wounded. The
spirit shown by them and by the whole
army was simply grand. | can recall
no instance where a greater surrender
has been made than this.
THE final surrender OF General To-
raj and his generals to myself and my
generals was highly dramatic, as well
as the hosting OF the flag over the city
of Santiago, one OF the oldest cities
on this continent.
Il want to thank you and the pres
ident for the words of cheer that have
come to US, n to say that none OF
us have eve doubted that every eff
fort possible to make our lives as Sc
cure n our situation az comfortable
as possible would be done"