On July 3, 1898, the same day as the naval battle, Major GeneralWilliam "Pecos Bill" Shafter began the siege of Santiago. Shafter fortified his position on San Juan Heights. General Henry W. Lawton's division moved up from El Caney extending the U.S. right flank to the north. To the northwest, Cuban rebels under the command of Calixto Garcia extended the U.S. line to the bay. General Arsenio Linares had been severely wounded at the Battle of San Juan Hill and was replaced by General José Toral y Velázquez. Toral had a good defensive position and Shafter knew he would sustain severe casualties from a frontal assault. All Spanish ships were destroyed bringing forth the reason for surrender. The Americans began their siege of the city. U.S. artillery sited on the heights pounded the city, while U.S. forces supported by Cuban rebels choked off all water and food supplies to the city. On July 3, a relief column was able to fight its way through Garcia's rebels and into the city bringing Toral's force to a total of 13,500. On July 4, a cease fire was enacted to evacuate roughly 20,000 citizens from the city. Also, on July 4, four.30 Army Gatlings from Lt. John Parker's Gatling Gun Detachment were moved to Fort Canosa in support of the siege, as was a dynamite gun and sixteen field guns. Over the next thirteen days, the Gatlings were used to fire 6,000 to 7,000 rounds into the city of Santiago, causing many casualties. On July 8, Toral proposed to surrender Santiago if his troops could be evacuated to Holguin. Washington officials would not accept Toral's proposal and the truce ended on July 10. Shafter was now pressed for time as Yellow fever appeared. Shafter and the U.S. Navy under William T. Sampson continued to bomb the city with little effect militarily. General Miles arrived on July 11 along with several regiments, eight field guns and eight light mortars.
Surrender
Everyone involved wanted a quick end to the campaign, and at 0900 on July 13, Toral, Shafter, Miles and Joseph Wheeler met under a large tree between lines to discuss surrender terms. The Americans proposed Secretary of War Russell A. Alger's offer to repatriate the Spanish garrison to Spain. Shafter relied on his friend Dr. George E. Goodfellow's excellent knowledge of Spanish to help negotiate the final surrender after the Battle of San Juan Hill. Goodfellow attributed part of his success to a bottle of "ol' barleycorn" he kept handy in his medical kit which he properly prescribed to himself and Spanish General Toral, lending a more convivial atmosphere to the conference. On July 16, after both governments agreed to the terms of capitulation, in which Toral surrendered his garrison and all troops in the Division of Santiago, an additional 9,000 soldiers. The Spanish also ceded Guantanamo City and San Luis. The Spanish troops marched out of Santiago on July 17.
Aftermath
The siege effectively ended the major fighting on Cuba, but the war was not yet over. Yellow fever had spread through the U.S. Army before the surrender had taken place, and some 4,000 U.S. soldiers were ill with malaria, yellow fever and dysentery by July 28. Many officers, notably Theodore Roosevelt, fought for the removal of the army from Cuba, writing the Round Robin, which was leaked to the press. The Fifth Army Corps was recalled and sent to Camp Wikoff, where of the 20,000 men sent there, only 257 died from yellow fever or malaria. The Red Cross ship, City of Texas, with Clara Barton aboard, was the first ship into Santiago harbor. Plans were made for a major assault on Havana, but the next major campaign of the war came on Puerto Rico, led by General Miles.
