The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-22

| discovery Ihdt me ch1ef source OF tn
slaughter up to this moment had been
verTtable hornets nest of a breas tworl
on the side Of the low tlillock on which
Caney stands. It was on the very edg
OF the village, and extended from on
building 10 another, with an extension a
right angles down the slope OF the hill
There were breastworks, too. along tn,
sides OF the stone fort on the larger hill
and from these shots raked the whole
length OF our lane. Well off in the hill,
al the other end Of the lane was Span
ish block house, which was too far away
to do much damage, but which occasion
ally sent an effective bail down the lane
The hot fire from che breastworks in tn,
! town sent its hail Of lead straight across
the lane, cutting off the leaves with e
| continual Shaping, scattering SOUND, and
now and then cutting of a sapling and
| dropping it on our heads. An occasional
ball threw a shower Of gravel over US
and now and then killed men, in spite
Of his lying down. The wounded Colonel
lay on the ground, half naked, giving
orders. half wanderingly to his men. The
| wounded Lieutenant. who was dying, lay
in litter, and was wounded again in the
hIicc ne 10y ttlcTO OlLlCSIS Win
| passed up and down regardless of danger
The Major, O'Brien, now in command,
walked the line cody. The regimental
surgeon, Major Ebert. ran up and down.
applying bandages. and directing his hos
| pital stewards. He had two regiments to
attend tot is the policy of the medi-
cal department to deprive the regiments
| Of their surgeons and send them to the
| division hospitals-and he had an opera
ton TO perform every ten minutes.
Theirs the regiment lay for about six
hours. under fire all the time. The regi-
ment poured their volley, firing into the
breastwork. apparently without effect.
We looked down plainly on the Spaniards
at their shooting. They exposed them
selves from the waist UP. An officer in
blue left the trench now and then and
stood fully exposed at the back of II.
The Spaniards had the range of u.s. but
our men seldom kicked up the dust in
shots were fired at them
Meantime the shrapnel from the one
gun in the old fort silenced our artillery
for a time We were fighting an in
trenched position with nothing but in
fantry. By and by, however, the guns
got better position and then they threw
in shells at the fort which wrought some
destruction. Little by little the Spanish
in the fort bravely fighting, came nearer
their end. But it was not until the mid
die Of the afternoon that their flag came
down and the American flag went up.
Meantime we could see and hear the
fire of the Springfield muskets over that
way, and knew that an American Yolun-
teer regiment was betrayjng It's position
with smoke powder. 1t was the Second
Massachusetts, and dt suffered heavily
Over that way, too, the Twelfth and
Twenty-ffth regulars were hotly engaged
The old fort was gone, but the breast
works in the town refused to surrender
Nothing appeared likely to dislodge this
moving line Of straw hats and blue uni
forms and dark faces. The fire of the
krag-Jorgensons, concentrated now on
the breastwork, rose to a fierce, ceaseless,
horrible vicious roar. And still the Span
iards kept on firing volleys which clipped
the grass and leaves just above our heads. |
All day long this went on, and all day the
dead and wounded lay on the line, inter
mingled with the living. There was no |
possibility of carrying them out of this |
fire.
But at last the troops at the rear of |
the town gradually closed in. The fort |
was full of them now, and the men in |
it had the range of the town admirab bly,. |
The firing from the breastwork fell so |
low that the doctor had Filters made of |
poles and shelter tents halves, and had /
the colonel and the lieutenant carried out
to the field hospital over the hill went |
with the colonels litter. and from there |
to the stone fort on the hill; and as 1 |
crossed the open hollow to the crowded
fort, the balls from the breastwork sang
about my ears. My path was
scattered thick with the dead and
of the Seventh regiment, which
had been here and there all day, fighting
and had lost 20 per cent of
Is men.
Around the fort lay ten dead Spaniards
md as many wounded ones, most horri-
by mutilated by shells. The black Ameri-
an soldiers were putting the dead ones
nto the trench which they had so brave
y defended, and the doctors were dress
ng the wounds of those for whom there
vas any possible hope. A young Span
sh soldier. not much more than a boy.
md a handsome fellow, looked up at me
With such wistful eyes that 1 bent over
lin. He smiled. put up his hand. and
aid Amigo The most frantic of
'paniard haters could not have refused
hat grasp.
Presently. from the fort, we saw men
nd women at the edge of the town
as if they wished to come up
o us. We shouted to them in Spanish
. come. and presently they began to
'our out-men, women and children, some
f the women carrying naked children in
heir arms, and nearly all of them with
.0or little peace-offerings of food on
lates. The women chartered all to-
ether. They said the last Of the Span
ards had run away; but presently Span
Sin soldiers in the light blue uniform be-
an to come out and give themselves up.
hey did so until We had 15S of them
risoners; and they were made. as fast
: they arrived. to join in the task Of
urying their own dead.
The battle won, and the town complete
Y in our possession. the weary troops
we're gathered tip and. after they had
cen allowed to eat little bareback and
aeon. and I'LL their canteens with water.
fers marched OF over devious and var
'us Cuban paths in the moonlight
larched all night long, to appear in the
Their wing Of the order OF battle. away
ri