omen 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.

"Two days after this I saw General Toral, and I was convinced from
conversation with him that he was going to surrender. I had no one
but myself to take the responsibility, in fact, I did not want anyone
else to do it, but while I was convinced myself it was hard to convince
others. I knew that we could capture the town at any time, that we had
it surrounded so that they could not possibly get away, although on
the night of July 2 2,800 men marched in. I had understood there were
8,000, but when we counted them a few days afterward there were only
2,800. I knew that if we carried that town by force a thousand men at
least would be lost to the American army, and a thousand good American
men are a good many to expend in capturing a Spanish town (applause),
and I did not propose to do it if I could possibly talk them out of it.

"General Toral knew just as well as I did that I knew just what he
had--that he was on his last rations, and that nothing but plain rice,
that we had his retreat cut off, that we had the