Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-05-04
Washlngtaa correspondence

1t has been q year since the war with
Spain began, war which lasted just 113
days. In that time, however, the United
States land and sea forces destroyed two
Spanish fleets, received the surrender of
more than $4,000 soldiers, took by con-
quest the fortified cities of Santiago de
Cuba, in Cuba; Ponce, in Porto Rico, and
Manila, on the island OF LuzoI, in the
Philippines, and secured control, pending
negotiations for peace, of the entire Span
ish possessions in the West Indies, the
Philippines and of Guam, of the LadrOne
islands. In this conflict the Americans
| suffered no loss of ships or territory, and
but 279 killed and ] 1,465 wounded in bat
tie, while the cost to Spain, aside from
| prisoners, ships and lost territory, was
| 2,199 killed and 2.94S wounded.
The formal declaration of war by Con-
| gress was made April %, but the resolu-
tion embodying it stated that war had ex-
| listed since April 81, when the Nashville,
| gunboat of the American navy, COM
manded by Lieut.. Washburn, captured a
| Spanish ship, the Buena Ventura. On
| the same day, April 81, President Nc
| Kinley ordered the North Atlantic squad
ron, commanded by Acting Rear Admiral
| Sampson, to sail from Key West and
| blockade certain ports of Cuba. April
% President Mckinley issued call for
125,OOO volunteers to re-enforce the regu-
| lar standing army, and sent orders to the
then Commodore George Dewey, COM
| manding the Asiatic squadron Of the
| American navy, to find and destroy the
| Spanish fleet" Immediately the work of
mobilizing an army of citizen soldiers of
| the United States began. Spain declared
| war April "a, and within two days after
| camps of soldiers were forming in every
| State. April %, three of Admiral Samp-
sons ships shelled Matanzas, and on the
next day Cienfuegos was shelled. On the
same day Admiral Cervera of the Spanish
navy, with feet of warships, left Spain
for West Indian waters.
| Battle in Manila Bay.
Sunday, May /, the first and greatest
sea battle Of the war was fought. Com
modore George Dewey made himself Rear
Admiral Dewey and won undying glory
for the navy by leading his feet in to the
mined harbor of Manila and destroying
| the entire Asiatic feet of Spain. The
Olympia was his flagship and his remain
ing vessels were the Baltimore, the Bos-
ton and the Raleigh, protected cruisers;
the Concord and Petrol. gunboats, and the
McCullagh. With this force he sunk,
burned or blew up eight Spanish cruisers,
six gunboats and three transports. In the
| engagement not an American life was
lost, while in killed and drowned the
Spanish loss has been placed between 500
and 900.
In the first week in May the definite di-
vision of the ships Of the American navy
in Atlantic and Cuban waters into squad
| rons and fleets was made. The flying
| squadron, Commodore Schiey in COM
mand, was formed at Hampton Roads,
the vessels being the Brooklyn, flagship;
the Massachusetts, the Texas, the Co
lumbia and the Minneapolis. Admiral
Sampson, in the blockade line at Havana,
had with him besides his flagship, the
New York, the battleships Iowa and In
diana, the cruisers Cincinnati and Mar
blehead, and dozen torpedo craft and
gunboats. MatanZas was shelled for the
second time on May Z.
Admiral Sampson appeared before San
Juan, Porto Rico, May l., and lombard
ed the forts for three hours. MORO was
partly reduced. Sampson was in search
of Cervera's fleet when he bore down upon
| San Juan. On the following day the
| flying squadron put TO sea to aid in finding
Cervera. The two fleets cut off Cervera
and, May Is, it was reported that the
| Spanish admiral had taken refuge in San
| tiago bay. Commodore Schley, with the
| flying squadron, reached Santiago just in
| time to prevent dash by Cervera for
| Cienfuegos or Havana. Later Admiral
| Sampson arrived and the combined fleets
began their long wait for their prey.
Army of Invasion.
The invasion of the army to cooperate
| with the feet at Santiago was planned as
soon as Cervera's whereabouts was
known. President Mckinley issued sec
end call for $1,000 volunteers May 25. The
| demand was instantly met by the men
who had failed to secure a place on the
| first call.
The first expedition to re-enforce Dewey
| at Manila sailed also on May 25. 1t num-
bered 5000 men. Daily bombardments
of the forts on Santiago bay continued.
The order was given, June 3, to prepare
| landing for the army of invasion and on
June 10, Col. Huntington, with force
Of marines, landed at Guantanamo and
established Camp McCalla. The feet,
with the aid of the marines, demolished
Fort Caimanera and captured Baiquiri,
| which was to be the landing place for
Gen Skaters army, which left Tampa
on transports June IA.
Shafter appeared off Baiquiri June %.
and two days were occupied In landing.
Juragua was captured June "a, and the
advance toward Santiago began. The
| Spaniards resisted and Roosevelt's rough
riders and the Tenth United States cav
airy, in the van of the American army.
found themselves engaged with a supe-
rior body of Spaniards. The enemy was
driven back by the furious charge, but the
loss was 13 killed and 20 wounded. Sa-
Vile was occupied June 20, and on the
last day of June 1900 American troops
were before Santiago, 5000 more on their
way from the coast, with 5000 Cubans
near at hand.
The general assault began July /, Ell
Caney being captured at severe cost. The
last OF the outworks was not In the pos
session of the American army until the
evening Of July 2. while the heights of
San Juan were still untaken. Gen. Law
toms division assaulted San Juan July 3,
and carried the heights in the greatest
charge of a great battle. Santiago was
surrounded and Gen. Shafter demanded
its surrender. The American loss in the
three days battle was 231 killed, 1888
wounded and 81 missing.
The Madrid authorities ordered Admiral
Cervera, July 2, to make dash from the
harbor Of Santiago. He carried out his
orders on the morning Of July 3. Ad-
miral Sampson, with the New York, had