at 1:30 P. M. the attacking force
seemed to be barely holding its own. At this critical moment, when the
chances of success or defeat seemed to be almost evenly balanced,
General Lawton received an order from General Shafter to abandon the
attack on Caney and hurry to the relief of Generals Kent and Sumner, who
were hotly engaged in front of the San Juan heights. Believing that a
retreat at this juncture would be disastrous, and that the demoralizing
effect of a repulse at Caney would more than counterbalance the support
that he could give the center of the line in front of San Juan, General
Lawton disregarded this order and pressed the attack with renewed vigor.
Capron's battery, about this time, got the range of the stone fort, shot
away its flagstaff, amid vociferous cheers from our men, and soon began
to make great breaches in its massive walls. General Chaffee, who had
been directed to make a final assault on the fort when, in his judgment,
the proper time had come, then gave the order to charge; and the Twelfth
Infantry, closely followed by several regiments from General Miles's
brigade, and the brigade of General Bates, which had just arrived from
Siboney, swarmed up the steep slope of the hill, drove the Spaniards out
of their rifle-pits, and took the fort by storm. The first man inside
its walls was Mr. James Creelman, a war correspondent, who was shot
through the shoulder while recovering the Spanish flag. Although the
fire from the village and the blockhouses still continued, it gradually
slackened, and in less than half an hour the Spaniards who remained
alive gave up the struggle and retreated by the northern Santiago road,
suffering considerable loss from the fire of General Ludlow's brigade as
they passed. At 4 P. M. village, fort, and blockhouses were all in
undisputed possession of General Lawton's gallant division. The battle
had lasted about nine hours, and in that time seven hundred men had been
killed or wounded. Our own loss was four officers and eighty-four men
killed, and twenty-four officers and three hundred and thirty-two men
wounded; total, four hundred and forty-four. The loss of the Spaniards,
as reported by themselves, was two hundred and forty-eight,--about one
half their entire strength,--not including inhabitants of the village
killed in their houses and in the streets. General Vara del Rey, their
commander, was shot through both legs as he stood in the square opposite
the village church