Major General William R. Shafter to Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, Commander, North Atlantic Fleet
5 [Playa del Este, Cuba] 7/2/98
Terrible fighting yesterday but my line is now strongly intrenched about ¾ mile from town.1 I urge that you make effort immediately to force the entrance to avoid future losses among my men which are already very heavy. You can now operate with less loss of life than I can. Please telephone answer.2
W. R. Shafter
Maj Gen.
Source Note: Cy, DNA, AFNRC, M625, roll 233. Addressed before opening: “To Admiral Sampson.” Note below signature: “Copy/Recd 7 30 AM. at Siboney./D-H.” The place is taken from other cables that Shafter wrote on 2 July.
Footnote 1: In a report to the army’s adjutant general, Henry C. Corbin, on 9 July, Shafter listed his losses for the fighting at El Caney and San Juan Heights on 1 and 2 July, as 22 officers and 208 enlisted men killed; 81 officers and 1,203 enlisted wounded, and 79 enlisted missing. Correspondence-War with Spain, 1: 114.
Footnote 2: See: Sampson to Shafter, 2 July 1898.
