The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1899-08-29
SACKlNG OF LAS TUNAS,
EPISODE OF THE CUBAN WAR IN
WHICH FUNSTON FIGURED.

| ChiN Ruins and BulYards Lett Where Once
Prosperous Cuban City Stood-FIerce
Assault on the Town 10y Calixto GnrcI,
Murder of the Spanish Commander.
Due west Of Holguin, on the road
! TO Puerto Principe and at distance
/ OF slxty-six miles, lie the ruins of the
B once prosperous Cuban town of Vic
/ torn de Las Tunas. The CITY was
iiercely besieged by the insurgents
! under Garcia, beginning August %.
/ 1877, and at the end of n week moth
ing remained of the once pleasant
/ parks, venerable cath edral and pretty
/ stores excepta mass of burning. smuk
/ ing ruins. Broken walls still tell the
story OF where solid, substantial build
lngs once stood; fragments Of urns and
remnants OF artistic pottery recall the
/ gardens Of flowers that at one time
/ adorned the inner courts of dwellings,
fallen pillars and disorderod tiles tell
/ OF walks and arcades that formed prom.
( enades for pedestrians: but now no
| single living creature is left within
! the place nothing save the buzzards
| that circle about in the blisterinC AIR
or settle on the piles OF rock and NOR
tar like solemn seutinels Watching
| over the dead.
Where once busy little city pros
| ptred and Hourished, to-day are ruins
as extinct as Baaibec and as desolate
| as Iadmor. No merry bells peal from
| the church towers; no laughing chill
dren play IN the parks, no sound of
| lite comes from the silent walls. MOTH
ing is there Ebut ruin and dust. and
: the buzzards watching over it all.
Victoria de Las Tunas was com.
pleteiy destroyed on September 4.
1897. Not building was left stand
ing, not even the cathedral or the Red
| Cross Hospital, from both of which
hoated the flags of peace. These. and
every store, public edifce. dwelling
aud, structure of every kind. were
either leveled by the explosions of tie
| dynamite gun, blown up with fou-
/ gasses ortorn down by teams of oxen
| hltched to ropes and chains. Twelve
months prior to the American inter
! ventlon Victoria de Las Tunas occu-
! pled prominent position in the polit-
lcal geography Of eastern Cuba. The
| town was decidedly Spanish in senti
ment and population and the people
| were radically opposed to Cuban con
troll or Cuban Independence in any
form.
| General CaiHto Garcia was assigned
| by the o-called Cuban Government TO
/ stir mp as much turmoil and create as
much disturbance in Santiago province
as he was able to DO with the force at
| his command. His soldiers were
I practically guerrllas, a ragged, bare
footed mob, recruited largely from a
class whose former profession was
plllage and plumber, and this army in
the name of Cuba Libre swept here
and there, burning and destroying as
they went, and leaving behind them n
tran OF ashes and ruin as black and as
desolate as that created 10y the Span
iards.
One night when the little garrison
OF GOO at Las Tunas least expected
trouble General Garcia with about
5000 troops quietly surrounded the
sleeping city, and before the first
break OF dawn his guns were pound
ing away at the Quartet, the hospital
and other buildings where the troops
were supposed to be quartered. The
inhabitants had been more or less
familiar with the noise OF Spanish
target practice at this early hour, and
were prepared for nothing more
serious than a loss OF sleep until a
hlgh-Hying dynamite bomb exploded
IN the park of the plaza, tearing and
ripping things to pieces and killing a
lew of the inhabitants who CHANGED
| to.be abroad at that time of the morn
ing. There we twenty-oue block
houses OF stone forts surrounding Las
Iunas, aud if properly garrisoned
/ and guarded these defences would
have been sufficient TO hold the city
/ against any reasonable force that
might be sent TO capture it, Among
/ them were usually distributed squads
of sharpshoofers aud few small
callbrc krupp guns. aud unless an at
tacklnG party were supported by
artillery these forts were invulnerable
1t Glanced that on this particular
| morning only SIN Of the forts we're
occupied or prepared for defence.
/ and so the Cubaus. notwithstanding
I the garrison. were enabled 10 construct
stonG entertainments at close range on
/ the north side of the town, in which
were placed four breech loadilq field
I guns a powerful pneumatic dyna
mite gun and several battalions Of
wcll-armed infantry. The dynamite
gun, IN fact all the Cuban artillery.
was Immediately under the charge Of
/ Fred. Funston, then q Colonel in the
. insurgcnt ranks, now p Brigadicr-
/ General iu our own army aul n hero
uf the Philippines.
As soon as 81 was light enough 60
sight % gun the Cuhaus opened n saw.
age IRE ON the six forts. the Span
! iards replying briskly with Krupps
. aud Mauscrs but ID was % fOregone
conclusion that the latter we're out.
| classcd IN their artillery, for I'm two
I shots the dynamite gun had blown the
I top of one fort, killing every Span
lard in the dcfences. aud had wrecked
I three others, and iu q very short time
alI SLY of the Outp0sts were either lie.
7troyed on made uuteunblc.
BIocknousC after bl0ckhougo fell.
. The lntrenchmcnts wcro drawn closer
and closer toward the doomed CITY.
and then the dynamite shells began to
find the strong fort ON the outskirts
of the town, which was called tho
Cavalry Quartet This work was
/ finally carried by assault. and the city
was at the mercy IL the besierers
Still the SpanIards would not sur
render.
Among the prominent buildings
4