from weakness and pain, my mind
is troubled by the situation of our suffering troops, and
therefore I think it my duty to address myself to you, Mr.
Secretary, and describe the true situation.

The enemy's forces very near city; ours extended fourteen
kilometres (14,000 yards). Our troops exhausted and sickly
in an alarming proportion. Cannot be brought to the
hospital--needing them in trenches. Cattle without fodder or
hay. Fearful storm of rain, which has been pouring
continuously for past twenty-four hours. Soldiers without
permanent shelter. Their only food rice, and not much of
that. They have no way of changing or drying their clothing.
Our losses were very heavy--many chiefs and officers among
the dead, wounded and sick. Their absence deprives the
forces of their leaders in this very critical moment. Under
these conditions it is impossible to open a breach on the
enemy, because it would take a third of our men who cannot
go out, and whom the enemy would decimate. The result would
be a terrible disaster, without obtaining, as you desire,
the salvation of eleven maimed battalions. To make a sortie
protected by the division at Holguin, it is necessary to
attack the enemy's lines simultaneously, and the forces of
Holguin cannot come here except after many long days'
marching. Impossible for them to transport rations.
Unfortunately, the situation is desperate. The surrender is
imminent, otherwise we will only gain time to prolong our
agony. The sacrifice would be sterile, and the men
understand this. With his lines so near us, the enemy will
annihilate us without exposing his own, as he did yesterday,
bombarding by land elevations without our being able to
discover their batteries, and by sea the fleet has a perfect
knowledge of the place, and bombards with a mathematical
accuracy. Santiago is no Gerona, a walled city, part of the
mother country, and defended inch by inch by her own people
without distinction--old men and women who helped with their
lives, moved by the holy idea of freedom, and with the hope
of help, which they received. Here I am alone. All the
people have fled, even those holding public offices, almost
without exception. Only the priests remain, and they wish to
leave the city to-day, headed by their arch