General José Toral.
"'Can somebody sing the Doxology?'
"'Praise God from whom all blessings flow' rang out in quavering chorus from the dozen men and women on the deck of the State of Texas, taken up and repeated here and there on battleships and shore, till the green hills that mirror Santiago re-echoed the song of thanksgiving, while gallant soldiers were not ashamed of tears, and the dying waved their feeble hands."
One of the problems of the war was how to dispose of the Spanish prisoners. It would cost a big sum to feed them and to guard them, and so it was decided to send them back to Spain. Ships were provided and this was done. The Spaniards who were sick and wounded received the same care and consideration that was given to the Americans who were in the same conditions. The humorous side of the affair was that, the contract to convey the troops to Spain was given to a Spanish Steamship Company.
I have spoken before of the other large island belonging to Spain—the island of Porto Rico. Late in July General Miles took a large body of troops there to take possession. These troops had much better supplies than the troops in Cuba, and they had not such hard work. The people in Porto Rico welcomed our soldiers. The Spanish soldiers made a few efforts to fight, but one place after another was taken by our troops, without any great trouble.
Ponce, near the southern coast of Porto Rico, is a city of importance, as I have told you. It was named for Ponce de Leon, the famous voyager of the sixteenth century, who wandered around in search of a fountain of youth. When our troops approached Ponce, the city and the port were given up to them gladly, as the Spanish soldiers had gone away.
Our troops now began moving on by different roads to San Juan, on the northern coast, the capital and chief city. It was known that the Spaniards were making great preparations to defend this city. As our Army pushed on, from day to day, there were some skirmishes with the enemy. On August 12th there seemed likely to be very serious fighting at different places near San Juan, but messengers arrived suddenly, saying: "The War is ended; Spain and the United States are arranging terms of Peace." Spain had lost Cuba and Porto Rico forever.
That afternoon, at four o'clock, the first paper of the Peace was signed at the White House, in Washington, though the full Treaty was not made until four months later. Spain agreed to give Porto Rico to the United States, Cuba to be independent, but our country to govern the island until the Cubans were able to manage their own affairs. The officers and soldiers chosen by the United States to stay in Cuba and Porto Rico to restore order and help the islands to recover from the effects of war, soon made many improvements.
As the navy began the war with Spain, it was proper that the navy should finish it. The greater events at Santiago obscured the last naval battle of the war, but it was a grand triumph for the navy. You will remember that the Wilmington was in the fight at Cardenas where brave Ensign Bagley was killed. After the destruction of Admiral Cervera's fleet, Commander Todd, of the Wilmington, was in command of a little fleet and at Manzanillo, off to the westward of Santiago, he destroyed nine Spanish vessels. This engagement gave him the title of "the Dewey of Manzanillo," and his report of that spirited affair was as modest as that of his namesake.