of the cove.

CHAPTER XI

THE BATTLES OF CANEY AND SAN JUAN

General Shafter went to the front to take personal command of the army
on Wednesday, June 29. At that time the divisions of Generals Kent,
Wheeler, and Lawton were encamped on the Siboney-Santiago road, between
the high ridge of Sevilla, from which I had seen the city two days
before, and a half-ruined house and plantation, two or three miles
farther on, known as El Pozo. Most of the troops were in the valley of a
small stream which rises on the western slope of the Sevilla watershed,
runs for a short distance in the direction of Santiago, and then, after
receiving a number of tributaries, turns southward, just beyond the Pozo
farm-house, and falls into the sea through the notch in the rampart at
Aguadores. Although the bottom of this valley, in general, was densely
wooded, there was a series of grassy openings, or glades, on the
northern side of the stream just east of El Pozo, and in one of these
openings General Lawton, who led the advance, had established his
headquarters.

About three miles due north from El Pozo, and between three and four
miles in a northeasterly direction from Santiago, there was a small
village called Caney,[4] which, on account of its geographical
position, was regarded as a place of considerable strategic importance.
It was connected by roads or practicable trails with Santiago on the
west, Guantanamo on the east, and El Pozo on the south; and an enemy
holding it would not only outflank us on that side as soon as we should
pass the Pozo farm-house, but, by means of a rapid cross-march in our
rear, might cut or seriously imperil our only line of communication with
our base of supplies at Siboney. The fact was well known, furthermore,
that there was a strong division of Spanish regulars (about six thousand
men) at Guantanamo; and if this division should undertake to reinforce
the garrison at Santiago, Caney would be directly on its line of march.
In view of these considerations, General Shafter, after a survey of the
country from the summit of the hill at El Pozo, determined to seize
Caney, and, having thus cut off reinforcements from Guantanamo and
protected himself from a flanking movement on the right, advance
directly upon the city. The plan was good enough, as far as it went; but
General Shafter had made no reconnaissance on the Siboney-Santiago road
beyond El Pozo, and was wholly ignorant not only of the strength of