Assistant Secretary of the Navy Charles H. Allen to Rear Admiral Frederick V. McNair, Supervisor of the Naval Academy
(TELEGRAM,)
Navy Department,
BUREAU OF NAVIGATION,
Washington, August 20, 1898.
Department will release Admiral Cervera1 and Officers at any time on their own parole and enlisted men on parole of the Admiral. They cannot be released on any other condition. Your attention is invited to the fact that some twenty thousand men were paroled in this manner by the General Commanding at Santiago,2 and that most many3 of them already returned to Spain.4
Allen Acting Secy
Source Note: CbCyS, DNA, RG 24, Entry 428, p. 30. Addressed before opening: “Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.” Document on Navy Department, Bureau of Navigation, stationery. Document reference: “official busines,/No.133538.”
Footnote 1: Adm. Pascual Cervera y Topete.
Footnote 2: Maj. Gen. William R. Shafter.
Footnote 3: The word “most” was crossed out by hand the word “many” is a handwritten interlineation.
Footnote 4: On 31 August 1898, further orders were issued to Commo. Frederick V. McNair to facilitate the return of all Spanish prisoners of war with the Spanish Minister of Marine Ramón Auñón y Villalón. DNA, RG 24, Entry 428.
