The evening times., 1898-08-18
cOAMO's BRAVE BATTLE
The Important Porto Rican Town
Most Calamity Defended.
ITS COMMANDER KILLED
Knew lat Remittance Was Utterly
In vain, but Called His Officers
Was Their Duty to Die In De-
Tending the Poet.

New York. Aug. S.-The Herald cor
respondent at Coamo. Porto Rico, writ
ing under date of August u gives a de-
scription of the engagement preceding
the capture of that place. The writer
says:
In the whole war there has not been as
pretty fight as that which preceded the
taking of Coamo. 1t was the only battle
Every move of an orthodox military COM
bination was carried out without hitch.
Even the enemy, with the singular dis
position to be accommodating which he
has evinced throughout the war. played
the losing end of the game to perfection.
Gen. Wilson's plan was simple enough.
1t was an ordinary flank movement, such
as Grant and Sherman used so success
fully to slowly push back ZEE and john
ston. Wilson had }, 500 men, a troop of cav
airy and two full batteries. There was
no doubt that the town could be taken
easily by direct attack. But such an
attack would leave the garrison. when
too strongly pressed. free to retreat to
swell the force Gen. Ostego had been
gathering to defend the pass through the
mountains to Aibonito.
Wilson wanted to capture the garrison
He moved his headquarters Sunday from
Ponce to Descarlabrado River, where the
Sixteenth Pennsylvania was encanped.
Next day he personally reconnioterei the
country between the Descalabrado River
and Coamo. That afternoon he senr for
Col Hulings
"How are your men at mountain climb
ing?" he said.
II guess they're all right" replied Hull
ings
Then strike camp tonight. Turn the
enemy's right flank with the view of OBJ
tanning a position in his rear il possible"
AT O'Clock Monday afternoon the Six
teenth quietly broke camp. The men
carried only their rifles. ammunition
belts. canteens and ponchos
Just as darkness fell the regiment left
the military road and struck at a right
angle into the hills to the northward.
When well away from the main road Hu-
lings halted. waiting for the moon to
rise The men, wrapped in their ponchos.
threw themselves down to obtain a few
hours sleep. Shortly after midnight the
moon peeped over the chain of rugged
peaks which obstructed the path of the
army, and the order to march was given.
Porto Rican guides led the way over
paths SO rough and narrow that the men
could move only in single file. II was
toi!some progress. Absolute silence was
enjointd. No smoking was permitted lest
the fitful flash of a match should betray
the movement to the watchful Spanish
outposts on the hills.
Hulings had expected to reach the mill
tary road in the rear of Coamo by dawn
but the sun discovered him with several
n son of hal, lot.
acted as spur to the men. and the thin
column moved faster in the growing
light
Two and a half miles from Coamo the
troops were ordered to leave the main
road. there being a possibility that 1t
might be covered by a battery The Sec
ond Division took the right. moving as II
TO flank the enemy's position from that
side. while the Third Wisconsin pushed
straight ahead parallel to the road Each
regiment deployed beautifully Gen
Ernst and his staff climbed a high hill
overlooking the entire valley. From
there Coamo could be distinctly seen.
pretty hamlet. its colored tiled roofs
forming delightful contrast 10 the vary
ing foliage of mango and hamboyant
trees.
Near to the village and off to our right
was the block house of Llamo de Coamo,
Isabel, and protected from assault by a
deep ravine cut by the Coamo River.
This blockhouse was the first place at
tackled Two minutes later the fight OPEN
ed.
A shell hummed its way across planta-
ton, ravine and river, and exploded a
hundred yards short of the block house
Make the range 1.G50 yards" command
ed Capt. Anderson.
dust directly in front of the blockhouse
This established the range, and the bat
terry began to fire rapidly, alternating
impact shell with shrapnel. For a few
minutes the Spanish returned the fire
with Mausers, but as shell after shell
crashed through the blockhouse they
abandoned ii and fell back toward Coamo.
Soon flames leaped upward from the roof
and an hour later the fort was but a
smoldering ruin.
Meanwhile the infantry was pressing
rapidly forward. the regiments feeling
their way through the fields and woods
with a heavy skirmish line. The battery
limbered up and galloped forward to an
other knoll whence could be seen Coamo.
Gen. Wilson was wondering what had be-
come of Hulings. Not a warlike sound
came from the village, mile and half
away Had the garrison escaped? Wag-
decamped during the night.
Suddenly from beyond the town came
the rattle of musketry. Soon the sound
swelled into a steady roar, which the
mountains echoed again and again
That's Huling,' exclaimed Gen. Ernst
exultantly. At that moment Anderson's s
battery opened on the town. Shrapnel
bursting above the village made small
white. fleecy clouds. On pressed the
wisconsin regiments through barbed wire
fences and across the deep bed of the
Coamo River Beyond the town the rifle
fire continued steadily. Evidently Hull
ings was having warm time. At this
juncture a little party Of correspondents.
managing with great difficulty to get
their horses through the fences and
across the river, the bridge having been
destroyed, passed the troops and began
a mad dash toward the village. Without
thinking or caring what chances they
took they spurred their horses forward at
full speed.
The road was crowded for some dis
tance with troops, several of whom were
overturned by the horses. Capt. Breck-
enridge, of the commissary department
and the headquarters quartermaster. who
probably should have been miles in the
rear attending to the rations and camp
equipage. Joined the newspaper light bri-
gade. as did Capt. Paget, of the British
army.
At the entrance to the town trenches
had been dug across the road, and the
streets were filled with trenches and
barricades.
Fifteen minutes later Company I of the
Sixteenth marched into town from the
north and took possession The garrison
foiled in its attempt to retreat, had Just
surrendered. except a body of fifty cav
alrymen and wagon train which HUI