The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-06-29
INTO THE JAWS OF DEATH
Out at La Qu0slma Due to Their
B>av<>y-.Zed Into a Per.
feet Ambmscade.

forward until a bend in the road disclosed
where the Spaniards were located. The
guns were again brought to the front. and
placed in position. while the men crOuched
down in the road waiting impatiently to
give Roosevelt's men. who were toiling
along the little trail on the crest of the
ridge, time to get up.
The battle was opened by the list and
10th cavalry. under General Young. A
force Of Spaniards was known to De In the
vicinity Of La Quasina, and as early i'll the
morning Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt's
men started off up the precipitous bluff
on their right flank. General Young at the
same time taking the road at the foot Of
the hill. About two and a half miles out
of Seboney some Cubans, breathless and
excited. rushed into camp with the an
nouncement that the Spaniards were but
a little way in front and were strongly
entrenched.
At $50 a. m. General Young gave the men
at the Hotchkiss guns the to
fire. The command was the signal for a
fight that for stubbornness has seldom been
equalled. The instant the Hotchkiss guns
were fired the hillsides commanding the
road gave forth volley after volley from
the Mausers of the Spaniards.
Don't shoot until you see something TO
shot at" yelled General Young, and the
men, with set jaws and cleaning eyes,
obeyed the order. Crawling along the
edge of the road and protecting them
selves as much as possible from the fear
full fire Of the Spaniards, the troops, some
of them stripped to the waist, watched the
base of the hill and when any part of a
Spaniards became visible they fired. Never
for an instant did they falter.
One husky warrior Of the 10th cavalry
with a ragged wound in his thigh, coolly
knelt behind a rock loading and firing.
and when told by one of his comrades
that he was wounded. laughed and said:
'Oh, that's all right. That's been there
for some time"
In the meantime away off to the left
could be heard the crack of the rifles of
Colonel Woods men and the regular,
deeper-toned volley firing Of the Spanish.
Over there the American losses were the
greatest.
INTO A TRAP.
Colonel Woods men, with an advance
guard well out in front and two Cuban
guides before them, but apparently with
no f1ankers, went squarely into the trap
set for them by the Spaniards, and only
the unfaltering courage of the men in the
face of a fire that would even make a
veteran quail, prevented what might easily
have been a disaster.
AS it was Troop L, the advance guard,
under the unfortunate Captain Capron, was
almost surrounded, and but for the re-
endorsements hurriedly sent forward every
mar would probably have been killed or
injured.
There must have been nearly 1,5O Span
iards in front and to the sides of u.s. said
Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt yesterday,
when discussing the fight. They held the
ridges with rifle pits and machine guns
and had a body of men In ambush in the
! thick jungle at the sides of the road over
which We were advancing. Our advance
guard struck the men in ambush and drove
them out. But they lost Captain Capron.
Lieutenant Thomas and about Is men
killed or wounded.
The Spanish firing was accurate, so &C
curate. indeed. that it surprised me; and
their firing was fearfully heavy.
Il want to say a word for our own men,"
continued Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt.
Every officer and man did his duty up
to the handle. Not a man finched."
From another officer who took a promi-
nent part In the fighting more details were
obtained.
When the firing began" said he, Lieu
tenant-Colonel Roosevelt took the right
wing with Troops G and K, under Cap
tains Llewellyn and Jenkins, and moved
to the support Of Captain Capron, who was
getting it hard. At the same time Colonel
Wood and Major Brodie took the left wing
and advanced in open order on the Spanish
right wing.
Major Brodie was wounded before the
troops had advanced 100 yards. Colonel
Wood then took the right wing and shifted
Colonel Roosevelt to the left.
In the meantime the fire of the Span
iards had increased in volume, but, not
withstanding this. an order for a general
charge was given and with a yell the men
sprang forward. Colonel Roosevelt. in front
Of his men, snatched a rifle and ammuni-
ton belt from a wounded soldier and cheer
ing and yelling with his men, led the ad-
vance. In a moment the bullets were sing
ing like a swarm OF bees all around them
and every instant some poor fellow went
down. On the right wing Captain Nc
Clintock had his leg broke by a bullet
from a machine gun, while four of his men
went down.
AT the same time Captain Luna. or
Troop F, lost nine of his men. Then the
reserves, Troops K and T., were ordered
up. Colonel Wood. with the right wing,
charged straight at a blockhouse, SOO yards
away, and Colonel Roosevelt, on the left,
charged at the same time. Up the men
went, yelling like t1ends, and never stop-
ping to return the fire Of the Spaniards.
but keeping on with a grim determination
to capture that blockhouse.
THAT charge was the end. When within
500 yards of the coveted point, the Span
1ards broke and ran and for the first time
we had the pleasure which the Spaniards
had been experiencing all through the en-
gagement, that Of shooting with the enemy
in sight"
DEEDS OF HORsEMEN.
In the two hours fighting, during which
the volunteers battled against their con-
cealed enemy. enough deeds of heroism
were done to fill a volume. One of the
men of Troop E, desperately wounded. was
lying squarely between the lines of fire,
Surgeon Church hurried to his side, and
with bullets pelting all around him, calm
ly dressed the mans wound, bandaged it,
and Wake unconcernedly back, soon re-
turning with two men and a litter. The
wounded man was placed on the litter and
brought into cur lines. Another soldier of
Troop 1, concealing himself as best he could
behind a tree, gave up his place TO q
wounded companion and a moment or two
later was himself wounded.
Sergeant Bell stood by the side of Cap
tain Capron when the latter was MORALLY
hit. He had seen that he was fighting
against terrible Odds, but he never finched.
Give me your gun a minute he said
to the sergeant, and. kneeling down, he
deliberately aimed and fired two shots in
quick succession. At each a Spantard was
seen to fall. Bell in the meantime had
seized a dead comrades gun and knelt
beside his captain and fired steadily.
When Captain Capron fell he gave the
sergeant a parting message to his wife
and father, and babe the sergeant goodbye
in a cheerful voice and was then borne
away dying.
Sergeant Hamilton Fish, Jr., was the
first man killed by the Spanish fire. He
was near the head Of the column as it
turned from the wood road into range of
the Spanish ambuscade. He shot one Span-
lard who was firing from the cover of a
dense clump of underbrush. When a bull
let struck his breast he sang at the foot
of a tree with his back against it. Cap
tain Capron stood over him shooting ard
others rallied around him.. covering the
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