Battle of Tayacoba The Battle of Tayacoba , June 30 , 1898 , was a disastrous American effort to land supplies and reinforcements to Cuban rebels fighting for their independence in the Spanish - American War . Background . On June 25 the steamers USS " Fanita " and USS " Florida " accompanied by the gunboat USS " Peoria " left Key West carrying a cargo of troops , ammunition , supplies and arms ( including two dynamite gun s , 4 , 000 Springfield rifles and 200 Mauser rifle s ) , to aid Cuban insurgents under the command of Máximo Gómez . On board were 650 Cubans under General Emilio Núñez , fifty troopers of the Tenth U . S . Cavalry under First Lieutenant Carter P . Johnson and Second Lieutenant George P . Ahern , and twenty - five Rough Riders under Captain Winthrop Astor Chanler , brother of Captain William Astor Chanler . The first attempt to land took place on June 29 near the port of Cienfuegos , at the mouth of the San Juan River , however as a result of a prior assault on May 11 , the position was too heavily defended to effect a landing . The American force then sailed about 40 miles east along the south coast of Cuba , to a point near the town of Trinidad . On June 30 a landing party went ashore on a beachhead just west of Tunas de Zaza , near the mouth of the Tallabacoa River ( mispronounced ' Tayacoba ' by the Americans ) . Battle . Four miles west of the town , at the mouth of the river , stood a large fort built of railroad iron , surrounded by earthworks and defended by about 100 Spanish regulars . The " Peoria " fired several shots with her three - pounders into the fort but there was no response . Before dropping off mules , men , and materiel , a party of 30 Cubans and Americans led by Captain Jose Manuel Núñez ( brother of General Núñez ) and including Winthrop Chanler and Dr . William Louis Abbott , went ashore to ensure the safety of the landing site , about 500 yards east of the fort . Rowing onto the beach , the force crept into the jungle but was discovered by Spanish scouts and came under heavy fire . Unable to retaliate or even protect themselves , the Americans retreated onto the beach only to find that their boats had been sunk by Spanish cannon fire . Captain Núñez died of a gunshot wound to the head , Chanler was shot in the elbow , and Abbott was shot through the right shoulder . Five Cuban soldiers were also wounded . The party took cover in a mangrove swamp and one of them , a German surgeon named Dr . Maximilian Lund swam out to the " Peoria " ( naked and armed only with a knife to fend off sharks ) to report that survivors on the beach were in need of assistance . Rescue . The " Peoria " continued firing at the Spanish troops , who were hidden behind a grove of coconut palms . On the " Florida " Lieutenant Johnson began organizing rescue attempts . The first four were dispersed by heavy enemy fire and forced to retreat , but the fifth , operating under cover of darkness and crewed by four men of the U . S . 10th Cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Ahern , successfully located the Cuban survivors . The body of Captain Núñez was left on the beach . Just before sunrise , a second boat manned by Lieutenant Ahern and war correspondent ( later Lieutenant ) Grover Flint located Chanler and Abbott . Once they were safely aboard , the " Florida " promptly left the bay . Aftermath . On the afternoon of July 2 the " Peoria " returned to the mouth of the Tallacaboa River accompanied by the USS " Helena " and shelled the fort for 30 minutes , damaging the fort and the earthworks . The force then proceeded east to Palo Alto where the troops and supplies disembarked on July 3 . On June 23 , 1899 four of the five rescuers , Sergeant William H . Thompkins , Corporal George H . Wanton , Trooper Dennis Bell , and Trooper Fitz Lee , all of the 10th US Cavalry , were awarded Medals of Honor for their heroism . Winthrop Chanler returned to his home in Barrytown , New York to recover from his injuries . He returned briefly to military service as a Captain in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I . William Louis Abbott recovered from his wound and returned to his previous occupation as an ornithologist .