hich ever
escorted an army started for the western end of the island of Cuba.

But the honor of making the first landing on Cuban soil belongs to the
marines. It was on June the 10th, a few days before the army of General
Shafter sailed from Tampa, that a landing was effected by Colonel
Huntington's six hundred marines at Caimanera, Guantanamo Bay, some
distance east of Santiago. The object of this landing was twofold:
first, to secure a place where our war-ships could safely take on coal
from colliers, and, second, to unite if possible with the insurgents in
harassing the Spaniards until General Shafter's army could arrive.
Furthermore, Guantanamo Bay furnished the American ships a safe harbor
in case of storm.

In the whole history of the war few more thrilling passages are to be
found than the record of this brave band's achievements. The place of
landing was a low, round, bush-covered hill on the eastern side of the
bay. On the crest of the hill was a small clearing occupied by an
advance post of the Spanish army. When the marines landed and began to
climb the hill, the enemy, with little resistance, retreated to the
woods, and the marines were soon occupying the cleared space abandoned
by them. They had scarcely begun to compliment themselves on their easy
victory when they discovered that the retreat had only been a snare to
lure them into the open space, while unfortunately all around the
clearing the woods grew thick, and their unprotected position was also
overlooked by a range of higher hills covered with a dense undergrowth.
Thus the Spanish were able under cover of the bushes to creep close up
to our forces, and they soon began to fire upon them from the higher
ground of the wooded range. The marines replied vigorously to the fire
of their hidden foe, and thus continued their hit-and-miss engagement
for a period of four days and nights, with only occasional
intermissions. Perhaps the poor marksmanship of the Spaniards is to be
thanked for the fact that they were not utterly annihilated. On the
fourth day the Spanish gave up the contest and abandoned the field.

[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL FITZHUGH LEE.]

Major Henry C. Cochrane, second in command, states that he slept only an
hour and a half in the four days, and that many of his men became so
exhausted that they fell asleep standing on their feet with their rifles
in their hands. It is remarkable that during the four days the Americans
lost only six ki