Dear Mother: I am now in Cuba. I like Santiago; it is much cooler here than at Camp Caffery.
The Cubans all talk Spanish and I am learning to talk Spanish fast. We are now camped at the city park on the harbor. I saw the smokestack of the Merrimac when we came through the neck of the harbor. The Merrimac was sunk right near Morro castle. Morro castle is almost at the top of a mountain and is made of white stone. Santiago is surrounded by water and mountains. There is not a case of yellow fever here at all. The only kind of sickness here is malarial fever and wounded soldiers. The fever was caused by laying in trenches for seventeen days during battle on light rations.
I like Cuba better than Texas. I can sit right here and see where all the fighting was done. The Rough Riders are here. General Shafter is here also. There are enough rations in the city to feed the volunteer soldiers for one year, and our money is worth twice as much as Spanish money. We do not want for anything. We get more to eat here than at Camp Caffery and have less sickness, and the weather is not as hot here as it was there. We have pretty brown duck and also blue flannel suits. It is fun to see us buy from the Cubans and get the right change back. The sailors that were captured off of Cervera's fleet are here. They can go anywhere they want to in the city, and the rest of the Spanish prisoners are here also, and we have charge of them. There are about fifty or seventy-five men in the guardhouse at present for drinking rum and eating fruit. We can buy anything we want except liquors and fruit. I have seen a number of Spanish war vessels that are half sunk, and there are lots more out of sight. On our trip to Cuba we crossed the Caribbean sea. Tell Ernest that there is a fellow here by the name of Parsons that he knows. This man Parsons was on guard duty at the warehouse and a fellow came prowling around and Parsons told him to leave, but he would not and he charged bayonets on him and run him out. The next day he found out that this man was his brother that he had not seen for five years.
The poor class of people are almost starved. They come around and beg scraps to eat. Cuba has the richest land I have ever seen; pretty shade trees and everything that it takes to make a country look fine. The city of Santiago is laid off like an old Mexican town. It does not rain here as often as at Camp Caffery and not so hard. There are lots of cocoanut groves around here and no monkeys. There were only five or six houses that were hit by the bombshells during the war. I have a Cuban sweetheart already. It is nothing to see the poor class half naked. Cuban children sleep wherever night overtakes them and eat where they can find scraps. The Red Cross ladies that stay in the hospitals are so good and kind to us. We only have to drill one hour a day here. A few of the boys on the trip got seasick. Colonel Hood has water boiled every night and next morning we put ice in it to drink. We have fresh meat packed in ice shipped by the Armour Packing Company. Fried steak every morning, roast or stew for dinner and bacon for supper. We eat lightbread and not hardtack now. There are a good many transports laying in the harbor here. There is a basin here in the park like the one in the market house there at home, which we use to bathe our face and hands in. This letter might be a long time in coming, as the boat does not run regularly. Well, I will close for this time. With much love for you and the rest, I remain your affectionate son,
PAGE LIGON.
BY LIEUTENANT COLONEL NICHOLAS SENN, U. S. V., CHIEF OF OPERATING STAFF WITH THE ARMY IN THE FIELD AT SANTIAGO.
Headquarters Fifth Army Corps, Before Santiago, July 12.
As the hospital ship Relief came in sight of the seat of war every one of its passengers watched with interest and anxiety the indications of the present status of the conflict. When we sailed from Fortress Monroe Sunday, July 3, fighting was in progress, and, not having received information of any kind since that time, we were impatient for news.
On reaching Guantanamo we came in sight of a number of warships floating lazily on the placid ocean like silent sentinels some six to eight miles from the shore. The little bay was crowded with empty transports, all of which indicated that we were not as yet in possession of Santiago. The pilot of a patrol boat finally, in a voice like that of a foghorn, communicated to us the news that the greater part of the Spanish fleet had been destroyed and that the Spanish loss in dead, wounded and prisoners was great. Among the most important prizes of the naval battle was the heroic admiral of the Spanish fleet, who was then a prisoner on board of one of the men-of-war. The land forces were near the city making preparations for the first attack. A partial if not a complete victory had been won, and we had the consolation of knowing that we had not come in vain.