The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-06-11
NOT TO BE RELIED ON.
Insurgents Will Be Of Little Use
at Santiago.
Copyright 1898 by the Associated Press. }

Copyright 1898 by the Associated Press.
On Board the Associated Press Despatch
boat Wanda, off Santiago de Cuba,
Thursday afternoon, june 9-Via King.
ston. JAM. June 10, 12. 80 p. MIN San.
t1ago de Cuba, there are now about &c. OOC
Spanish soldiers, chiefly infantry. but
with a fair contingent of ca valry and field
artillery drawn from the surrou ndina
country. During the daytime the cavalry
skirmish in the vicinity of the city, re.
| turning at night to barracks. During the
| last few days the activity of the Spaniards
has been particularly noticeable. Oxen
trains have been making their way to the
batteries; detachments have been working
| on emplacements and there have been
other signs showing that the Spaniards
are preparing desperate resistance
Some guns from Admiral Cervsra's
ships may be removed to the forts. The
insurgents about 5000 strong have taken
q position on mountain to the west
ward. Two thousand insurgents of this
gathering are unarmed.
General Maxine Gomez, now about loo
miles inland, is making his way toward
the coast. Admiral Sampson is actively
cooperating with the insurgents. Yester-
day General Mimic of the insurgent forces
and his staff, went on board the New
York for long consultation. The naval
officers have been doing splendid and dar.
ing work in carrying communications to
the insurgents, landing arms and making
trips ashore for the purpose of gathering
information.
Upon the gunboats Suwanee and Vixen
this work has been chiefly devolyed.
Lieut. Sharp of the Vixen and Lieut..
Commander Delehanty of the Suwanee,
have been daily entrusted with important
missions and have carried them out sue
cessfully. The Vixen's work has been
chiefly confined to carrying messages to
and fro; but the Suwanee has been occu-
pied in q more serious task. The plucky
gunboat has landed 100000 rounds of
small arm ammunition, 800 Springfield
rifles, 100 carbines, 1900 machetes, with
equipments and provisions. These were
handed over yesterday "Wednesday about
fifteen miles west of Santiago to some 800
insurgents who came down to the beach,
the main body remaining in the noun
tains. The debarkation of supplies was
tedious but uninterrupted. The insur-
gents reported that irregular engagements
between their forces and the Spanish
| cavalry were of daily occurrence. The
Cubans were hard up for supplies and
ammunition. and were fairly overjoyed
at the sight of the Suwanee's cargo.
Some, almost ravenous, hacked at the
slices of bacon and ate raw beef.
They had been living ON lines, cocoa
| nuts and sweet potatoes. Ensign G1lpin
OF the Suwanee, went ashore and accom-
panied the Cubans to their temporary
| camp inland, where he found ten or a
| dozen wounded men badly in need OF
| surgical attendance. Bandages for them
were sent from tine Suwanee. The casual
| ties were the result of a brush on the pre-
vious night with Spanish cavalry. To
| the correspondent of the Associated Press
on the despatch boat Wanda. Ensign Gil
pin. describing his experience at the camp
which is about ten miles inland, said:
II found the insurgents rough looking
and mixed lot Of boys and old men, rugged
out any way, carrying arms of all sorts
and all anxious to borrow every thing
| had, from my blouse to my revolver.
| Four Spanish soldiers in uniform carry
| ing rifles, marched into the camp while
| | was there and said they wanted to
| join the insurgents. They were enrolled
but close watch was kept on them as
| they belonged to the civil guard. A
Cuban officer told me such additions were
not infrequent. The Spaniards had
Mauser rifles which were in fairly good
condition.
Conservative authorities believe the
| United States troops will have to carry
out their plan of campaign without plao.
ing much reliance upon the insurgents.
| Several plucky young officers like Lieut..
Gilpin have made trips ashore and taken
observations of the interior harbor and
the forihcations, locating the exact posi-
tion of Admiral Cervera' s four ships. II
Is hardly. likely, however that the Span
ish admiral keeps them moored at the
Same place both day and night More
than once the officers engaged in this
shore duty have had narrow escapes from
falling In with the enemy g cavalry.