The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-08-23
GARCIA'S REPORT.
Cuban Leader Details His Part
In the Santiago Campaign.
CUBANS WERE IN THE VAN
In ths Preliminary Skirmishes Be-
fore the Surrender.
GARCIA'S PLAN WAS ACCEPTED.

AV1O Vn0 6uAAOuNVAf
GARCIA'S PLAN WAS ACCEPTED.
General Shafter, the Cuban General Do
clares, Followed His Advice as to tn.
Landing Of the American Troops-From
This Report It Would Appear That til.
Forces of the United States Occupied 4
Subordinate Position to the Soldiers Of
Scuba Libre."
New York, Aug. 23.-General Calixto
Garcia has sent his first official state
ment concerning the Cuban operations
1t Santiago to the Cuban junta In this
eity. The messenger bearing General
Earcia's statement arrived yesterday.
Ind Horatio s. Rubens, counsel for the
Dunta, gave out translation Of the
statement as follows:
ION the 9Th Of June the steamer
Gloucester brought communication
from General Miles. commander-in-
chief Of the American army. in which
he informed me of the project to at
tack by land and sea the city of San
tiago de Cuba, and that 1t was neces-
Bary that the greater part Of the Cuban
forces should advance on that city to
cooperate with him. Immediately I
gave orders that the forces that had
been armed should move forward to-
ward Santiago, very difficult opera
hon, the infantry being almost worn
Dut. and on account of the scarcity Of
food for so many people.
"Surmounting these difficulties, the
forces arrived at Palma Soriano, and
IN the 18th marched to Aserraderos,
where l arrived on the 18th at 1880 a.
m., having been summoned there to
Donfer with the admiral of the Ameri-
nan navy, Sampson. to decide on the
best plan Of attacking Santiago de
Cuba. This conference took place on
board the flagship New York. I must
now declare that my object in moving
my forces on Santiago de Cuba and
meeting the admiral Of the United
States navy has been to obey the or
Rers l received from the council Of gov
srnment to obey and respect the orders
and instructions of the commanders Of
The American army, on their COM
mencing operations in the territory
under my command.
ION the goth the commander of the
brigade of Ramon de las Teguas, De-
metric Castillo, landed In Aserraderos
from Sagua. brought over by an Amer
lean man-of-war to receive my orders.
A short time after I was advised that
Major General William r. Shafter.
commander of the Fifth army corps Of
the United States army. had landed to
confer with me on the attack by land
Of Santiago de Cuba.
"After long conference and after the
American general accepted the plan l
laid before him for the landing Of his
troops and to carry out with success
the advance on Santiago he returned to
The ship The following day the gen.
sral of division, Augustin Cebreco.
marched toward the west Of Cuba
with the forces of his division, with the
object of preventing the enemy from
reinforcing Its garrisons Of the coast
In that part, and at p. m. force Of
SO men belonging to the division Of
Bayamo. and commanded by BriGadier
General Demetrio Catillo, was shipped
on board an American transport to go
to the reinforcement Of the brigade Of
Ramon to protect the landing OF the
American army and advance on San
tiago by the east. These forces landed
in Sigua, and they advanced at once
on Daiqueri, with their commander,
Colonel Carlos Gonzalez and with 500
men of the brigade Of Ramon. under
Brigadier General Catilo. The Span
fards, in a great hurry, abandoned
Daiqueri. which Catillo occupied as tho
American navy began to lombard It,
but firing was suspended as soon as
our flag was hoisted.
1.-THE Americans landed their first
regiments at Daiquiri and advanced on
Firmeza and Siboney, with the Cuban
forces always In the vanguard, they
being the first to occupy said village.
In Siboney the landing of American
troops was continued. while the Cuban
forces under Colonel Carlos Gonzalez
advancing on Santiago. sustained Sc
Quasimas, suffering some losses. but
1nficting greater on the Spanlards.
'In my conference with Admiral
Sampson and Major General Shafter
we decided that l should embark with
5000 men at Aserraderos and land east
OF Santiago. With this object l sent
for the forces at Aguacate (near Pal
ma), and on the 25th at a. m., we
began to embark, which operation was
finished In the evening. These forces.
1orming three distinct columns. were
respectively under the command of
Major General Capote, Generals of
Divisions Cebreco and Lora and Brig
adler General Sanchez Hecheverria,
Che entire force being under the i'm
mediate command of Major General
Jesus Rabi.
. Il was on board the Alamo with my
0taff and some officers invited by Gen.
eral Ludlow, who had superintended
the embarkation. Brigadier General
Sanchez, with force of 500 men, who
embarked first In the steamer Leona,
landed at o'clock p. m. in Siboney.
There were already camped the other
Cuban forces which had arrived be-.
fore, as we'll as many thousands of the
American army.
Perfect fraternity rslgned among
the Cuban and American soldiers, who
vled with each other in good feeling.
On account of the scarcity of food In
the territory In which we were, from
the first the Americans supplied us
with the necessary rations for the SUBJ
sistence Of our forces.
: "On the 29th General Shafter and my
self had completed the plan of an at
tack, and / received from him the order
to march on the morrow with my
forces toward Santiago. which he him
self would do that same day, some
regiments an cannon having already
advanced. In the extreme vanguard,