thither, buffeted by different companies of marines and the despatch-boat, while a small company of Cubans helped the fight with amazing good-will and courage. The Cubans at last captured a Spanish lieutenant with seventeen men, and the chase ended. Then some estimate of the losses sustained by the Spaniards was had. This officer said 68 men had been killed and about 200 wounded that day alone. That their losses during the three days were much larger than those figures is certain. Our scouting parties found many bodies, but there was one sign of the dead that was everywhere present over the brush and that needed no inspection for confirmation. The sky was specked over with the black-feathered buzzards, and these gathered in flocks and came down swiftly to almost every place in the brush to which our fire was directed. The buzzard called to the land-crab and said, "We be of one blood-ye and I. Good hunting, all you below!" And the land-crabs replied "A full gorge to you! Come!" Following the destruction of the Spanish base of operations in the woods came an attack on the Caimanera fort facing the upper bay. Captain John Philip of the Texas had charge of this expedition, and he was helped by McCalla of the Marblehead and Delehanty of A the Suwanee. The Texas brought to, facing A remarkable incident in this little expedition up the bay was the discovery that the channel was mined. The engineer on watch in the engine-room of the Texas observed that one propeller had fouled something. An examination showed that it had picked up a harbor mine and jammed it against the sternpost. It was taken up on deck, where it was found to be of the kind designed to explode by contact. It was loaded and primed, but the barnacles had grown so thick on the contact plungers that they had failed to work. Two other torpedoes of the kind were knocked from their moorings by the Marblehead, and a dozen or so were taken up altogether later on. With the destruction of the Spanish station in the woods and the Spanish fort at Caimanera the troubles of the marines came practically to an end. The Spaniards had had enough. But the marines remained as a guard over our naval base until the end of the war, living on of the officers of the Marine Corps, “it has not lost a man through sickness. The number of sick has at no time been more than two and one-half per cent. 'The marines landed at Guantanamo, only a few miles distant from Santiago, occupied the same soil, fought in trenches, and endured almost, if not quite, as many hardships as the soldiers. The marines have not complained of anything, and apparently have had no cause for complaint, as they were provided for in the best manner possible. Their health was carefully watched and the result speaks for itself. "The officers had nearly all had experience in tropical countries, and they carefully watched the diet of the soldiers, the drinking-water, and everything that conduced to their comfort and welfare. When the tents were pitched the floors were put together and placed on rocks, a rock at each of the four corners, raising the floor slightly from the ground. This prevented the soldiers from coming into personal contact with the soil, and permitted proper drainage and ventilation of the tents." To the honor of commanding our first armed force to make and maintain a landing in Cuba, Colonel Huntington added that of taking care of his men in a way unsurpassed in the history of the war. "From the establishment of the Marinc Corps to the present time, it has constituted an integral part of the navy, has been identified with it in all of its achievements, ashore and afloat, and has continued to receive from its most distinguished commanders the expression of their appreciation of its effectiveness as a part of the Navy."-Report of House Committee on Naval Affairs, 39th Congress, 2d Session. |