Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-08-08

William Whitlock, resident of
Madison and an employee of the
Deering Harvesting company, has a
son, Edward G. Whitlock, serving as
marine on the battleship Iowa. He
had the honor of having been one Of
party of nine that fired the first
gun on the American side in the
famous naval battle at Santiago July
8 in which Cervera's fleet was an
initiated. He wrote his father the
following interesting account of the
battle:
"The Spanish boats which we have
been waiting and watching for for a
number of weeks came out of Santa
go harbor yesterday. They all made
a rush for this ship. We sunk three
of the large ships and two torpedo
boats. They were so close to land
that they could not entirely sink out
OF sight, except one of the torpedo
boats which carried it's crew with it.
Most of the boats were either burned
up or blown to pieces. Four hum
dren and sixty-three men were killed
on one ship, the Vizcaya. I do not
know how many were killed on the
other boats. l heard the men on our
boat say that from one Of the boats
which we sunk only four men were
saved, one officer and three seamenf
out of 756 men. The Christobal
Colont which our government be-
lieves it will be able to save, after
being chased by the New York and
Brooklyn, ran ashore, striking on
big rock. The Spaniards then
pulled down the Spanish flag and sur
rendered, the Oregon and Texas
making the entire crew prisoners,
none being killed We had 26O mem
bers of the Vizcaya crew. all that
were saved, among whom were sew
eral wounded, on board our boat for
to see the intense suffering of the
wounded sailors, seven of whom died
within half an hour after being
brought on board. Many of the Span
iards tried to swim ashore, but they
were killed by the Cubans, who were
ambushed nearby.
sit was grand sight when the
Spanish admiral and the captain of
the Vizcaya came on board the Iowa
to surrender to Captain Bob Evans
who refused to take the Spaniards
swords, saying that he fully appre-
ciated the bravery they displayed ir
coming out of the harbor as they hat
done. This action was greeted with
three rousing cheers by our crew
The prisoners were at once giveI
baths and clean clothes and food
We all feel very sorry for the wound
ed Spaniards and give them credi
people, but are behind the times
They are no match for the Unite
States. One 11-inch shell hit on
ship, penetrating ten inches of soli
steel, and exploding into thousan'
pieces, in one Of the compartments
There was no one in this compart
ment at the time and none of tn
crew we're injured by it.
s'When the captain of the Vizcay,
surrendered to our captain he kisset
his sword and rendered it to Captain
Evans, who refused it saying Forge
it, captain, forget it, The Spanish
captain again kissed his sword anC
hung it by his side. One man wa
killed on the Brooklyn. Up to this
time there has been 5000 of our me1
killed and wounded, while the Span
ish losses have been three times tina
number. If this trouble is over be
fore my time is up, think will try
and get my discharge. I have jus
one year more in service. There il
some talk of our going to Spain. The
captain Of the Vizcaya was wounded
81 times by the explosion of shell
but not seriously. When he was pulled
up over the side of the Iowa, he
looked back at his burning ship and
taking off his hat, said with
tears running down his cheeks
Good bye, good bye, my Vizcaya
good bye We all felt almost as sorry
for the wounded Spaniards as i
they had been our brothers and tn
sight of the wounded and dying lyin&
on the decks will never be forgot
ten.
Santiago de Cuba and all of tn,
eastern part of Cuba has surrendered
Gen. Miles says he will sacrifc
900 lives if necessary, to TAX
Havana. Our army has captures
10000 Spanish soldiers whom W
are going to send back to Spai1
They are starving over here now an
will be even worse off there. Thi
is July 16. I have been trying to ge
stamp for this since July an
have finally succeeded"