“Meanwhile the battle in front of Santiago progressed, with three divisions on our side, one of dismounted cavalry and two of infantry.  It was beautifully fought.  Every man knew what he had to do, and so did every officer.  The orders were that Immediately upon being deployed they were to attack.  They did it.  Every man kept going, and when one’s comrade dropped the rest kept going.  The result was that in about two hours the line was taken, and practically that afternoon the battle of Santiago was ended, for those men never advanced beyond that point.

“During the night I brought up the division of General Lawton that had been on the right at Caney and put them on the extreme right, where I had intended to have them the day before, and where, had they been, we should probably have taken the town and have gotten only the men that were there, and not the 12,000 that were far beyond our reach who were surrendered a few days later.

“On the morning of the 2d a weak attempt was made upon our lines.  In that the Spaniards had to expose themselves, while my men were covered.  The fight lasted but a little while, and they retreated.

“On the morning of July 3 I thought we had so much of an advantage that I could notify the enemy, first, that I wanted a surrender, and, second, if they declined to surrender that they could have twenty-four hours to get the women and children out of town.  Of course, civilized people do not fire on towns filled with women and children if they will come out if it can be avoided.  The Spanish commander declined very promptly to surrender, but said he would notify the women and children and those that desired to go, but he wanted twenty-four hours more, and said there were a great many people to go out.  They began to stream out at once, and for forty-eight hours old men, women, and children poured out until it was estimated that at least 20,000 people passed through our lines and out into the woods in the rear.  Of course, there was an immense amount of suffering, and numbers died, especially of the old.  Fortunately we were enabled to give them some food, enough so that they existed, but at that time, with the Cuban forces that I had, I was issuing daily 45,000 rations.  Forty-five thousand people are a good many to feed when you have such fearful roads and food could only be carried on the backs of mules.

“On that morning of the 3d, about an hour after the time for surrendering, Cervera’s fleet left the harbor, and went out, as you know, to total annihilation.  It was not more than twenty or thirty minutes after they left the mouth of the harbor before, so far as we could hear, the firing had ceased, and 1,700 men were prisoners, 600 were killed, and three or four battleships and some torpedo boats were either on the rocks or in the bottom of the sea—­a most wonderful victory, never equaled before in naval history, and due mainly to the magnificent marksmanship of our men, which covered the Spanish decks with such a hail of iron that no sailors on earth could stand against it.