after the storming of the fort, and then, as his men
were placing him on a stretcher, he was instantly killed by a bullet
through the head. Our loss, in this obstinately fought battle, was
numerically much greater than that of the Spaniards; but their
percentage of loss, based on the number of men engaged, was nearly five
times as great as ours. When they retreated, they left forty-eight per
cent. of their whole force dead or wounded in the intrenchments that
they had so gallantly defended, and Lieutenant-Colonel Punet was able to
collect and take back to Santiago that night only one hundred and three
of the five hundred and fourteen officers and men who originally
composed the garrison.

The loss on our side in this engagement was far greater than it probably
would have been if General Lawton had had artillery enough to destroy
the fort and blockhouses and drive the Spaniards out of their rifle-pits
before he pushed forward his infantry; but it was not expected, of
course, that the taking of a small and comparatively insignificant
village would be so serious and difficult a matter; and as General
Shafter had only sixteen light field-guns in all, he doubtless thought
that he could not spare more than four for the attack on Caney.

The moral effect of this battle was to give each of the combatants a
feeling of sincere respect for the bravery of the other. Our men never
doubted, after July 1, that the Spaniards would fight stubbornly--at
least, behind intrenchments; while the Spaniards, in turn, were greatly
impressed by the dash, impetuosity, and unflinching courage of General
Lawton's regulars. A staff-officer of General Vara del Rey said to a
correspondent after the battle: "I have never seen anything to equal the
courage and dash of those Americans, who, stripped to the waist,
offering their naked breasts to our murderous fire, literally threw
themselves on our trenches--on the very muzzles of our guns. We had the
advantage in position, and mowed them down by the hundreds; but they
never retreated or fell back an inch. As one man fell, shot through the
heart, another would take his place, with grim determination and
unflinching devotion to duty in every line of his face. Their gallantry
was heroic." There could hardly be a more generous or a better deserved
encomium.

The battle on the Siboney-Santiago road, in the center of our line,
began nearly two hours later than the battle at Caney. Grimes's battery,
which h