📅 On This Day in Military History
1 event across history
After the destruction of Cervera's fleet and the seizure of the San Juan Heights, Santiago de Cuba was encircled and its garrison of 11,000 men was cut off from resupply. General Shafter conducted negotiations while his army — wracked by yellow fever, malaria, and dysentery — struggled to maintain its siege lines. Disease was a more dangerous enemy than any Spanish soldier: thousands of American troops fell ill in the fetid Cuban summer. General José Toral, after receiving permission from Madrid to negotiate, finally surrendered the city and his entire 24,000-man command (including troops from the surrounding province) on July 17.
The surrender of Santiago de Cuba was the largest capitulation of Spanish forces in Cuba and effectively ended the land campaign on the island. Toral's agreement to surrender his entire provincial command, not just the city garrison, was more than the Americans had expected to achieve.
Full battle details →