Assault on San Juan Ridge (Not Hill)

The Spanish Commander-in-Chief, General Linares, had fallen wounded, and the few surviving defenders of San Juan were running toward Santiago. It was estimated that seventy per cent, of the Spanish in the trenches and the blockhouse had fallen.

Continuing The Cuban Campaign,
with a selection from The Rescue of Cuba by Andrew S. Draper published in 1899. This selection is presented in nine easy 5 minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in The Cuban Campaign.

Time: 1898
Place: Santiago Area

General Shafter had ordered the troops of the First Division, under General Kent, which was to attack San Juan, to march forward all at once through this narrow trail and form in line of battle as they emerged at the edge of the woods. The road in some places was a hundred feet broad, in others it was not more than ten; practically it was no wider anywhere than at its narrowest part, and as the troops entered the road from their bivouacs there was an almost instant jam. While thus crowded, they found themselves under fire without knowing whence the bullets came. It was discovered that the tree- tops concealed large numbers of Spanish sharpshooters, many of whom had been tied in the trees by their officers. Several companies of colored troops were at once ordered into the thicket to bring down these sharp shooters without quarter. After a time, the marching crowd was thus partially relieved of its hidden enemies; but the troops, as they neared the edge of the woods, came within the fire of both the Spanish artillery and rifles, and men began to fall rapidly. The confusion of the narrow road was bewildering; two brigades were marching side by side and became hopelessly intermingled. Orders were issued and countermanded; and sometimes the reversal of an order reached an officer before the order itself.

The war-balloon, which had been at the head of the troops, had served the Spanish as a fatal index of our location, and was the cause of much of the early slaughter of the day. Before it came down, however, it had discovered a fork in the road to the left, which led to the open meadow. Through this fork a portion of the troops was at once hurried. But the Spaniards well knew the points where the two roads emerged into the open meadow, and those spots were pens of death.

From the high hill of El Poso, Captain Grimes’s battery began firing early in the morning at the trenches and the fortified farmhouse. But its old-fashioned powder enveloped it in smoke after each discharge, and it was at least a minute before a second aim could be taken, while its cloud of smoke made it a conspicuous target for the Spaniards; therefore it soon ceased firing and took a new position nearer the enemy.

There was a steady march of wounded men toward the rear; motionless dead were everywhere. Fainting under the heat of the sun and in the suffocation of the tall grass on the sides of the road, men were at the extremity of their endurance, with lolling tongues and staring eyes. At last endurance was no longer possible. There were no general orders to advance, for the brigade commanders knew that they had been ordered into this position, and they had received no orders from headquarters to leave it.

Then the colonels and captains took the matter into their own hands. Somehow, about noon a forward movement began. Conspicuous among the leaders were General Hawkins and Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt. Soldiers fell in behind any officers who would lead. Lieutenant Ord, who fell dead at the top of the hill, shouted as he started, “All who are brave, follow me.” Each officer rallied all the men he could reach.

There was little regard for regimental formation. They did not run fast, for the grass was too thick and the obstacles were too sharp; yet they panted forward through the tall grass, through the morass, and up the steep hill, aiding one another and pulling themselves up by the bushes. They reserved their own fire until they were so close to the trenches that they could see the whites of their enemies’ eyes, and then they aimed with such accuracy that in a few moments not a living Spaniard was left in the entrenchments.

Then they rushed against the blockhouse; presently that fortification ceased to spit its fire, its garrison was dead, and the Stars and Stripes were waving over its spreading roof.

The Spanish Commander-in-Chief, General Linares, had fallen wounded, and the few surviving defenders of San Juan were running toward Santiago. It was estimated that seventy per cent, of the Spanish in the trenches and the blockhouse had fallen.

This was not a battle where strategy had won; generalship had seemed to fall to pieces; it was the unconquerable nerve of the individual soldier that had triumphed.

While the battles of El Caney and San Juan were being fought, on that first day of July, the Third Division of General Shafter’s army was attacking the base of Morro Castle near Aguadores. The fleet was expected to cooperate in this attack. The Spaniards, however, dynamited the long trestle-bridge across which General Duffield’s troops were expected to march; and under the sweeping fire of the enemy it proved impossible to make the attack.

When night fell on July 1st the American army had won two victories. But the cost had been terrible. Two hundred thirty men had been killed and twelve hundred eighty-four were wounded. Many were missing. In other words, out of the attacking forces at El Caney and San Juan, every sixth man had fallen.

All night long, after the battles, the tired men worked industriously in building entrenchments on the other side of San Juan, anticipating that the Spaniards would attempt to retake it.

The next morning the Spaniards began firing at daylight and the battle raged all day. The losses were considerable, and the suffering of the troops was great, but the advantage gained was firmly held. The day was occupied by our artillery in securing good positions to shell the city. At ten o’clock the next night a serious attack was made upon the American line with the purpose of breaking through, but it was effectually repulsed. The third day (Sunday) there was some firing, but not with much spirit. On the morning of that day General Shafter demanded the sur render of Santiago. The demand was not complied with, but the American army was content to rest a little, to recover from the shock of battle and gather up its strength.

Andrew S. Draper begins here. Theodore Roosevelt begins here. Pascual Cervera begins here.

More information here and here, and below.

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