El Caney
El Caney (also Caney) is a small village 4 miles (6.4 km) to the northeast of Santiago, Cuba. Chiefly known in centuries past as the site where Don Hernando Cortez received a vision, supposedly ordering him to Christianize Mexico.On July 1, 1898, during the Spanish-American War, five hundred Spanish soldiers under General Joaquín Vara del Rey were instructed to hold the northwest flank of Santiago against an American advance. Despite having no machine guns and being denied promised reinforcements, Vara del Rey and his soldiers held eight thousand Americans from their position for nearly twelve hours. Less than one dozen Spanish survived the encounter, and all were badly wounded. Many have called this engagement proof that, properly led, the Spanish Army might well have defeated the United States during the Cuban Campaign.
See also: San Juan Hill
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