By the President:  William McKINLEY.

John Sherman, Secretary of State.

States begin to collect their troops.

Although it was decided that formal notification to the Governors of the states of the call for volunteers should not be made until the following Monday, the first step was taken immediately after the signing of the proclamation, by the issuance of orders to the organized militia of the District of Columbia.  Before dinner time the drums were beating and the roll was being called within sight and sound of the White House, and before night the drum beats were heard from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes.

There was no interruption in the sequence of captures by the American fleet around Havana, and two prizes of considerable value were added to the list.  On Saturday the gunboat Helena took the big steamer Miguel Jover, a vessel of more than 2,000 tons, with a full cargo of cotton and staves on board.  The prize was worth not less than $400,000.  Friday night the Helena left Key West to follow the main fleet, but instead of sailing directly for Havana, turned westward toward the west end of the island of Cuba.  The dark, cloudy night had barely broken to a brilliant Cuban sunrise, when the Helena saw smoke on the western horizon and gave chase.

It was soon evident that the quarry had sighted the hunter and was making a run for it.  The freighter was no match in speed for the gunboat, however, and the Helena was soon near enough to fire a shot.  Only one blank shot was required.  The fugitive steamer shook out the Spanish flag and hove to.  When the Helena came up the captain tried to talk Captain Swinburne out of his prize.  He urged that he was from an American port, New Orleans, and knew nothing of a declaration of war.  The talk did him no good.  He was taken on board the Helena and a prize crew of a dozen sailors and sixteen marines, under Ensigns M. C. Davis and H. G. McFarland, was put aboard the Jover.

The first the fleet knew of the capture was when the Helena came steaming up with her prize and signaled the flagship.  The other ships cheered and the Helena, started off for Key West, the Jover being worked by its own men, superintended by the prize crew.

Valuable prize captured.

The most valuable prize yet taken was the transatlantic liner, Catalina, which was taken by the Detroit.  The vessel’s tonnage was 6,000, and with its general cargo the prize was considered worth nearly $600,000.  The big ship was bound from New Orleans to Barcelona, via Havana, with a large general cargo.  Twelve miles before making port the steamer was stopped by two shots, and a prize crew under Ensign H. H. Christy, consisting of sixteen men from the Detroit and New York, was put on board to take the vessel back to Key West.

In addition to these notable captures the torpedo boat, Porter, took the Spanish schooner, Antonio, laden with sugar for Havana, and the revenue cutter, Winona, added the Spanish steamer Saturnina to the list.