Battle of Las Guasimas - Background

Background

On June 23, the Spanish garrisons of Sigua, Siboney and Daiquirí, retiring before American landings in their vicinity, clashed with a Cuban advance guard column of 250 men under Colonel Carlos González Clavel near Sevilla, east of Santiago de Cuba. Having lost three dead and 10 wounded in the skirmish and inflicted roughly the same casualties, the Spaniards retired to a lightly entrenched position at Las Guasimas de Sevilla, on the road to Santiago (4 miles northwest of Siboney beach).

Brigadier-General Lawton, commander of the 2nd Infantry Division of the U.S. Volunteers V Corps, had been appointed chief of the landing operation by Major General William Rufus Shafter, Commander-in-Chief of American forces in Cuba. American reports suggested the Spaniards were digging in with a field gun; however, Cuban scouts contradicted these, revealing the Spaniards were preparing to abandon their position. On the morning of the 24th, Major General Joseph Wheeler, under orders to stand his ground until the completion of the disembarkation, defied orders and spurred his dismounted cavalry division into action.

General Wheeler asked Cuban Colonel González Clavel for the cooperation of his forces in the improvised assault, but the disciplined Cuban officer, lacking orders from Lawton, refused Wheeler's request. Nevertheless, with the information offered by the Cubans about the Spanish dispositions, Wheeler rushed his men forward with 2 guns to the front, Colonel Young's brigade leading the advance against Spanish positions. Knowing neither the ground nor the Spanish deployment, the American forces could have been ambushed and decimated, but Cuban scouts moved before American columns, leading them to the enemy's deployment without incident.