THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 350 to the fire of the American warships. On the evening of the 22nd his outposts were at Sevilla and Firmeza, north of Juragua and the coast village ofSiboney, both of them some miles west of Daiquiri. Before Siboney was evacuated the Spanish detachmentthere had lost heavily, and its commander,Major Bollini,had beenkilledby a bursting shell. The evacuation of the village and the hillsbehind it gave the Americans anew landing-place, for in the bay of Siboney there was a level beach, shelving regularly, so that boats could land men and stores, and animals could easily be swum ashore.

begunby accepting exaggeratedestimates of the strength of the Santiago garrison, and they now believed thereports of the Cubans, who saidthat there was a strong body of the enemy at Sevilla, and that he was being continually reinforced from Santiago. All day on the 23rd there had been skirmishing in the hills. The Cubans were firing at retiring bodies of Spaniards who were making their way to Sevilla. Near Juragua the point of Lawton's advanced guard exchanged somerifle shots witha Spanish rearguard under Major Alcaniz, who was retiring with three companies of the Talavera regiment,and joined Rubinlaterin the day. FromSiboney,Wheeler sent out a scouting party, which had a little skirmish on the Sevilla road, the retreating enemy leaving a dead Spanish infantryman lying on the track, the firstenemy theAmericans had yet seenat close quarters. Twelvedeserted blockhouses were burned at various points on the coast range. American estimates placed the Spanish loss during the day at twenty-five killed and double that number wounded. This must have been a greatexaggeration. Probably a dozen killed and wounded would be nearer the facts.

Lawtonhad begun his advance from Daiquiri on the afternoon of the 22nd, occupying the wooded hills to the north-west of the village. The advancing troops met with no resistance, the onlyalarmsbeing caused by the movements of Cubanguerillas in the bush. On the 23rdhe marched most of his force to Juragua,pushing his dismounted cavalry into Siboney, wherethe ist Division under General Kent was landing. The disembarkation at Siboney went onday and night, the searchlights of the warshipslighting up the beachbetweensundown and sunrise. By the eveningof the 24thall the men and animals wereashore, the only accident having beenthe drowning of two men of the 10th Cavalry. Meanwhile sighting had begun.

On Friday, the 24th, while the landing of the expedition was being completed, some of the empty transports conveyed 2,000 Cubans of Garcia's army from Aserraderos to Siboney to reinforce Castillo. On the same day occurred thefirst serious fighting, the scene of the action being Las Guasimas, a couple of miles out from Siboney on the Sevilla road.

General Shaffer was still on board the Seguranca. He was a heavy man, weighing more than twenty stone ;he was not in very good health, and moving about was difficult, so he stayed on the transport for the present. The senior officer ashore was General Wheeler, whohad established his headquartersatSiboney. In a direct line he was only about seven miles fromSantiago,butthe greater partof theground between was a mass oflow woodedhills,covered with the dense tangle of a tropical forest, the narrow winding valleys being marshy in the lowerpart,and the floodedstreamsbeing without bridges. The nearest Spanish position wasabout threemiles out nearSevilla, on the direct road, or rather track, to Santiago— for roads in the nroper sense of the wordthere were none. The Spanish general,Rubin,held Sevilla, with three companies of the Regiment of San Fernando, three companies of the Puerto Rico regiment, and two mountain guns His orders were to coverretirementonSantiago of thevarious small detachments that had been holding the blockhouses andpostsin the coast range of the Sierra.

The American staffhadno idea of the smallness of the force in their immediate front. They had The road or track from Siboney to Sevilla begins at the head of the creek near the little town, and curves round the hill behind it, running up a woodedvalley,and rising rapidly towardsthe hills of Las Guasimas, the direction of the track being first north and then west. Shortly after it turns to the westward it is joined by a path which runs more directly to this point from Siboney, starting boldly up the wooded hill behind the village, and then going through the woodalong the bush-covered spur that flanks the Siboney-Sevilla roadon its west side. Cuban scouts had brought information to General Wheeler's headquarters that the Spaniards wereentrenched near the junction of the two tracks. The onlybuildingin theneighbourhood is an oldsugar mill,but though there is no village, the place has a local name, Las Guasimas.

Shaffer's orders were that Lawton's division, which had first landed,should lead the advance