here is little sickness in town, and
scarcely any yellow fever.

"A small gunboat and about 200 seamen left by Cervera have surrendered
to me. Obstructions are being removed from the mouth of the harbor.

"Upon coming into the city I discovered a perfect entanglement of
defenses. Fighting as the Spaniards did the first day, it would have
cost five thousand lives to have taken it.

"Battalions of Spanish troops have been depositing arms since daylight
in the armory, over which I have a guard. General Toral formally
surrendered the plaza and all stores at 9 A.M. About 7,000 rifles,
600,000 cartridges, and many fine modern guns were given up.

"This important victory, with its substantial fruits of conquest, was
won by a loss of 1,593 men killed, wounded, and missing. Lawton, who had
the severe fighting around El Caney, lost 410 men. Kent lost 859 men in
the still more severe assault on San Juan and the other conflicts of the
centre. The cavalry lost 285 men, many of whom fell at El Caney, and the
feint at Aguadores cost thirty-seven men. One man of the Signal Corps
was killed and one wounded. Trying as it is to bear the casualties of
the first fight, there can be no doubt that in a military sense our
success was not dearly won."

Thus within less than thirty days from the time Shafter's army landed
upon Cuban soil he had received the surrender not only of the city of
Santiago, but nearly the whole of the province of that name--or about
one-tenth of the entire island.

THE WAR IN PORTO RICO.

It was General Miles' original plan after establishing a blockade of
Cuban ports to open the war in Porto Rico, and make no general invasion
of Cuba during the sickly season, but the enclosure of Cervera's fleet
in the harbor of Santiago changed the conditions and made it necessary
to move a military force to that point before going elsewhere.

Now that Santiago had surrendered, according to the original plan of
General Miles, the attention of the army and navy was again turned to
Porto Rico, and the work of fitting out expeditions to that island was
begun at once. There were three expeditions sent. The first under
General Miles sailed from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, July 21st; the second
under General Ernst on the same day sailed from Charleston, S.C.; the
third under General Brooke embarked at Newport News on July 26th. All of
these expeditions, aggregating about 11,000 men, were convoyed by
war-ships, and successfully landed.