The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-29
THE FIGHT AT EEL CANEY.
As the Engagement Was Seen by
Capt. Lee, the British Attache.

From a Letter in Leslie's Weekly.
Out in front Of the open we had fine
view of the entire fight. The war balloon
moved down through the woods keeping
pace with the line of battle All at once
came a crash from the rifie-pits in front of
the block-house, ana along the entire Span
ish line came the blaze of rifles. The Span
iards fired by volleys, and good ones, too
Our men opened fire, and soon our ears
became so accustomed to the sound that
we could easily tell the difference between
the report of the Mauser and the Krag-
Jorgensen. The balloon was soon shot to
pieces and at this time we saw, perhaps, a
dozen men appear at the edge of the
woods directly in front of San Juan. Capt.
Pagte, the English attache, unslings his
field telescope and levels it on these few
men. 1.-The very devil, you know; these
men are Americans. The saucy fellows!
See them standing there under that fire.
What are they doing? Why don't they
retreat? It's cold-blooded murder to stand
there, you know" But they did not re-
treat and soon we knew why, for right
at their heels came hundreds of men. The
place was alive with them. Then up to
the center of the line rush the colors. Oh,
what a sight for an American to see the
beautiful stars and stripes fluttering in the
sunlight, and at the head of thousands of
armed men Gegulars), advancing straight
for those Spaniards, and now only about
seventy-five yards distant!
Bravery! l never saw its like before.
Every American in the crowd could be
told by the expression OF his face, and
those who We're not Americans wanted
to be. In an open field to our right and
in front, Wheeler's entire division is charg-
ing. How those fellows run through the
tall grass Now they are hidden by the
trees, then up the side of the hill they
go. And in the center. opposite the old
sugar kettles, are the Rough Riders stars
and stripes, with those ribbons flying in
the breeze. The line halts in plain view
of the Spaniards. A half-dozen men leave
the ranks and rush forward and lie down
behind the kettles, while the others stand
there in plain view, loading and firing.
The Spanish field-pieces are trained on
them, and they send shells tearing through
their ranks. Some burst directly among
them, and others in the air above. Men
fail from the ranks and lie bleeding in
the main line and rush back to their
wounded friends, lean over them for a
moment, then hurry back to the fight.
At this point Capt. Paget was seized
with a fit of wild excitement for he had
discovered the location of the Spanish
guns. Look! Right there at the base OF
the tall palm. See the flash from the
guns! You are an American and can tell
our gunners. 1 cannot for l am an at
tache. oh, for heavens sake hurry A
dismounted cavalry orderly offered me his
horse, and at this point Capt Paget lost
| control of himself, and the fact that he
was an attche, and no sooner had / start
| ed than there was heard the clatter OF
| breaking brushes, and the captain came
tearing PASTOR what harm could 1t dc
for him to go along and listen and shake
his head in case any mistakes were made
| We found the entire battery over the crest
of the hill, standing there limbered uI
| and ready to move at a moments notice