The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-03
THE TROOPS IN PORTO RICO,
Lieutenant Shelton Tells of the Maneu-
 vers of the Regulars.

vers of the Regulars.
 Following, says the Ansonia sentinel are extracts from very interesting letter relating to affairs of war was re- ceived by General and Mrs. George P. Shelton, of Clifton from their son. Lieu tenant George H. Shelton, of the regu- lar army:
 Mayaguez, Porto Rico, Aug. 22,-I am afraid my notes since reaching Porto Rico have not been very satisfactory but we have been so constantly on the go, so hard at work, that it has been quite impossible to do any better. NOW there is a breathing spell, will try and give you a little idea of what we have been doing.
 l wrote you, I think, from Yauco, where we went after unloading the boat and waited for the rest of the command to Join us, We supposed the Nineteenth regulars were to go With us, but somehow they got shifted, so only the Eleventh, two batteries Of regular artillery and a troop of regular caVai- " finally joined us. With this force under General Schwan, we left Yauco on August 9, towards this place, which was the first garrisoned town we marched, that day, to Savana Grande, and camped for the night The troop or regular cavalry caught up with us at this point. They had been behind and we had not waited for them.
 The next day we were on the march again at little after seven, passed through St Germain at about noon, learned that we were near body of Spanlards and pushed rapidly forward. About five o'clock our advance guard was fired on, There were three or four hundred Spaniards well posted on a ridge, and river with but narrow to cross on exposed to fire. We deployed here passed the bridge, deployed again and pushed our way forward and drove them back The engagement lasted for, say, a couple of hours Much of the 1 time our lines were under heavy fire l Our losses were, however, comparative l ly light. We had two men killed and several wounded. Only one officer one of General Schwan's aides, was wound- ed. The Spaniards melted away and 1t was impossible to tell their loss. l do not think ten times our strength could have taken that position had it been defended by one hundred and fifty | American soldiers instead of three or four hundred Spaniards. They have no stomach to fight us
 We bivouacked that night right on the ridge lately occupied by the enemy, and were on the march again early the next morning. Marched through May aguez without meeting further resis- tance Ghe garrison had fled) and went into camp My company was rear | guard that day so did not get in until 1 later.
 It was said we were to stay here for a few days to await arrivel of supplies. Hard on this, however, came an order for six companies! one platoon of artil- | lery and q squad of cavalry to prepare to leave camp at once. My company was among them. Under command of Colonel Burke this force left at nine ] o'clock a. m, ugust 12th, in pursuit of the retreating garrison from this place.
 All that day we marched up what seemed one continual hill. It is impos- l sible to estimate marches here by miles. | The roads are many of them good, but very steep It is very hard marching. We bivouacked that night right in the road where the halt found us, because there was no other place, and pushed on again early the next morning.
 The march that day was an awful one The road was in very bad condi- tion We knew we were close behind the enemy and everybody was urged on. After the work I saw done for | ,y of ba American soldiers. and especially of those six companies of the Eleventh. Nobody can ever do justice to the work they did for those few days It was al- most superhuman. We passed through the village of as Marias, and about one and half miles the other side we caught our friends and compelled them to make stand. This time we had the higher and better position, and we soon had our whole line engaged. The fir ing continued for some time, but it was at mostly long range, and we were for tunate in having nobody on our side in- jured The enemy was completely de- moralized, however.
 After the firing had ceased one com pany was sent out to round up prison CTS and those who desired to give them selves up, and before we went into biv- ouae that night we had forty prisoners, including the colonel, the lieutenant colonel and several other officers. My company was placed in charge of the prisoners.
 It was at this point that General Schwan came up, bringing the news that hostilities had been suspended pending settlement of the peace uues- tion, and we learned for the first time that peace was actually being settled
 But few wagons got up to us that night. and 1t was a scanty supper and breakfast that the men had. But there was no complaint.
 The next morning the march was taken up over the old ground back to- wards Mayaguez. We camped the oth- CT side of Las Marias that night d4thD, and started again the next morning for the city. During the day new orders came, turning the command back again to hold the ground taken until the set tlement. Poor fellows, it was almost too much for flesh and blood, but back they went My company, with the prisoners, however, continued their way to Mayaguez, where we arrived about four o'clock, having marched the last two or three hours through a heavy rain.