June 20. Land was sighted.
June 21. Dispatch boats active; transports circling; Morro Castle
pointed out; three days' rations issued to each man; no extra
impedimenta to be taken ashore; crew preparing for landing.
June 22. As we neared Daiquiri, the designated place for disembarking,
flames could be seen reaching almost to the heavens, the town having
been fired by the fleeing Spaniards upon the approach of war vessels
of Sampson's fleet, who were assembling to bombard the shore and cover
our landing. After a fierce fire from these ships, the landing was
effected with loss of two men of our regiment, who were doubtless
crushed to death between the lighters. They were buried near the place
of recovery the next morning.
The few half-clothed and hungry-looking natives on shore seemed
pleased to see us. Daiquiri, a shipping point of the Spanish-American
Iron Company, was mostly deserted. The board houses seemed to have
been spared, while the sun-burned huts thatched with palm were still
smoking, also the roundhouse in which there were two railroad
locomotives, warped and twisted from the heat. The Spanish evidently
fired everything they could before evacuating.
June 23. At 6.00 p.m. Troops A, B, E and I, left with four Troops of
the First U.S. Cavalry and Rough Riders (First U.
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