| Show offiCIAL VIEW Of THf CAMPAIGN Shatter Could Take Santiago In Fortyeight Hours J ATTACK IS EXPECTED WITHIN A DAY OR TWO Spaniards Have 14000 at Santiago and Shatter Has 22000 But One Man Behind Entrenchments Is Worth Three In Front of Them Advance of Spanish Reinforcements Reinforce-ments Presents a Serious Phase American Position May Become PerilousFire From Spanish Ship Will Be Hard to Meet Washington June 29 General Shatter Shat-ter has reported to General Miles that he can take Santiago in 4S hours but indicates that the undertaking might involve considerable loss He ir fully aware of the approach of Spains reinforcements rein-forcements and it is believed here that he intends to take the town immediately immediate-ly and that news of a battle might be expected any time The opinion prevails here that within with-in a day or two at most General She ter will have begun his attack upon the city of Santiago proper The important import-ant event of the day was the generals announcement that he could take the city in IS hours but at considerable loss Taken in connection with the announcement contained in another dispatch that he is going to attack without awaiting reinforcements it will be seen that the officials have ground for their expectation that the I first general engagement of the war will begin in a very short time Numerically Nu-merically the opposing armies are not very different the estimate of the Spanish force being placed at 1400 men thoroughly entrenched and b hind barbed wire fences and block houses as a ainrt about 18000 men under Shatters Shat-ters command aided by 4000 Cubans One of the gravest elements in the problem however Is the Spanish warships war-ships for unless Shatter is materially assisted by Sampson who might engage en-gage the full attention of the Spanish ships their fire upon the American advance ad-vance would be very hard to meet The military authorities here say that General Linares has shown great military mili-tary tact in slowly retiring during the last few days as he has gradually drawn our troops from the protection of the American ships and brought them close to the fire of the Spanish ships in Santiago harbor For this reason rea-son it was with relief thnt the announcement an-nouncement was received here that FhaftT had succeeded in landing all of his artillery including his siege train for unless Sampson can be relied upon to force his wav into the hirbor and attack the Spanish ships the siege guns planted in heights commanding the bay will be the main reliance of General Shafter In offsetting the presence of the Spanish ironclads SPANISH REINFORCEMENTS Undoubtedly Shafter is animated to attack as soon as possible by his knowledge knowl-edge of the approach of the reinforcements reinforce-ments for Linares from Manzanillo for with his additional force Shafters position po-sition would be disagreeable if not perilous per-ilous at least until he had received reinforcements re-inforcements The war department received tne lirst definite news today as to the approach of the Spanish reinforcements This was in an official dispatch stating that SCCO men with pack trains and droves of animals were advancing from Man zanillo and were 51 miles from Santiago Santi-ago It has hen known through reports re-ports from Lieutenant Joyce made at General tilles that the Spaniards have 12000 men at Manzanillo and 10000 at Holguin and every precaution has been taken to guard against their advance from either quarter The official report today showed that 8000 of those at Manzanillo had covered half the distance dis-tance to Santiago and it is the belief of militaxj officials here that General Pando is making similar advance with his 10000 men from Holguin These advances now practically unopposed are regarded as one of the most serious phases of the situation There is the further element of which the military authorities are giving carful attention that one man intrenched behind earthworks earth-works or in rifle pits iJ worth three men in the open It Is said that the battles of Ohancellorsville and Spott sylvania afforded the most direct proof on this point It was announced at the war department depart-ment that by their reports 5000 soldiers should be leaving Tampa today to join Shafter They will be three or four days on the voyage and it is probable that it is this force that General Shaf ter refers to as likely to arrive too late for his action HORSES NEEDED General Shafter emphasizes the need of horses In particular he wants horses for the Third battalion of the First cavalry and for Colonel Woods rough riders He says the horses he carried on the expedition stood the voyage well One of the most satisfactory points reported by General Shafter is that the last of the artillery has been landed This means a great deal as it was feared the loss of the lighter would seriously se-riously delay the landing of the heavy artillery He does not specify that the heavy guns as well as the light artillery ar-tillery were landed but his statement that the last of the artillery was landed yesterday is taken to cover all of the ordnance With these siege guns on shore General Gen-eral Shafter is now In a position to support a troop of cavalry with the big guns of the heavy artillery as well as the light field guns General Shafters dispatches speak of the spirits of the troops and of their excellent health They bring out also that the commander is not less in high spirits than his men for he concludes one of his dispatches with the laconic sentence that he hopes to send favorable favor-able reports soon |
