o attack Caney at daylight, July 1, and was expected to
drive the enemy quickly out of that post, which then menaced our right
flank. Meanwhile the remainder of the Fifth Corps was to advance along
the main trail toward Santiago, pushing back the Spanish outposts, and
occupy the line of the San Juan River. There it was to deploy and await
Lawton, who, having taken Caney, was to wheel to his left and form up on
the right of the main line. All these movements were to be completed by
the evening of the 1st, and then the whole army would combine for the
assault of San Juan on the 2d.

The advance began on the afternoon of Thursday, June 30. General
Lawton's division, accompanied by Capron's battery of four field-guns,
marched out on the Caney road, without meeting any opposition, and
bivouacked for the night behind a ridge, or hill, about a mile southeast
of the village. At the same time the remainder of the corps, consisting
of General Wheeler's cavalry division, the division of General Kent, and
three batteries of light artillery, moved down the Siboney-Santiago
road, and went into camp near the Pozo farm-house. At daybreak on
Friday, July 1, both columns were in position, within striking distance
of the enemy's intrenched line. As the fighting at Caney was wholly
independent of the fighting at San Juan, it will be more convenient to
regard the two engagements as separate battles, although they were
carried on simultaneously. I shall not attempt, however, to do more than
describe the tactics on the two widely separated fields, and briefly
state the results.

The defenses of Caney consisted of a strong stone fort on a steep
conical hill at the southeastern corner of the village, and four or five
substantial log blockhouses, so placed as to command every possible, or
at least every practicable, avenue of approach. The blockhouses were
connected one with another by deep, narrow trenches; the stone fort was
surrounded by a network of outlying rifle-pits; there was a barbed-wire
entanglement along the whole eastern front of the enemy's position; and
the large trees in the village, as well as the houses and the old stone
church, were full of sharp-shooters. The garrison of the place, not
including the inhabitants, who, of course, participated to a greater or
less extent in the fighting, consisted of three companies of infantry
belonging to the San Luis brigade and forty-seven guerrillas--a total
force of five hundred and fourt