The times., 1898-11-06
GEN. ROY STONES RszaEfD.
His Porto Rican MovementSH bis
washington Boy1 III

His Porto Rican MovementS1d bis
To the Editor Of The Timest "a
The mention of the return 81 b. Roy
Stone from Porto Rico in your morning
edition Of the 4th instant recalls to mind
the various magazine articles fodching on
the Porto Rican campaign, which fall to
accredit Gen. Stone with anyt3tihg like
the full measure of praise to- which his
brilliant work in that island entities him.
Richard Harding Davis, in the sNovem-
ber Scribner's, says:
Gen. Stone, with a mixed command of
Porto Ricans, United States volunteers.
and regulars, was sent to Adjuntas to
reconnoiter and clear the way. Gen. Guy
v. Henry was sent out to follow along
the same route and take the cities of
Utuado and Arecibo on the north"
John Church, in the American Review
OF Reviews, gets trifie closer to the
facts and gives him credit for securing 201
prisoners at Adjuntas, but errs when he
says that Gen. Stone had with him over
100 men.
In reality Gen. Stones reconnaissance
was one of the most brilliant features OF
the campaign In Porto Rico. inasmuch as
1t was conducted Immediately into the
heart of the enemy's country, embracing
two of the principal towns Of the island,
and extending from Ponce on the south to
Arecibo on the northern coast. This was
the first party to thus cross the island
from coast to coast.
His command, so far from numbering
100 men, consisted of himself, Capt. w. H.
Lamar, Lieut.. Basil Lenoir, and twelve
men from the Fifth United States Volun-
teer Signal Corps.
1t may be interesting to some of your
readers to know that of the fourteen sig
nal men composing this detachment ten
of them, including Capt. Somer, were
from Washington l. e., Sergts. De!aplane
and Worsely. Corps. Fuger, Trumbo and
Shaw, Privates Rains, Brewer and Faid
and First Sergt. Anderson.
He pushed on, capturing and holding
Adjuntas and Utuado. being at one time
entirely cut of from the American army
by the Spanish forces. which closed in
behind us. Ultimately his command was
Increased TO over one hundred, but this
was two days after Gen. Stone had cap
tured Adjuntas and Utuado. and had es-
tablished telegraphic communication with
headquarters at Ponce.
Capt. Lamar and Lieut.. Lcnoir deserve
credit for the manner in which they
erected telegraph lines. They were en-
tirely without the necessary linemens $
tools. but secured some ancient pliers,
with which they strung a line from the
barbed wire fences on poles insulated
with broken bottle necks.
The Inaccuracies of Mr.. Davis and Mr.
Church are no doubt due to the fact that
they We're with Gen. Schwann near Goa
mo al this time and subsequently were
misinformed regarding this campaign.
Inc above is = correct account of Gen.
Stones raid. l was with him from the
start and remained with him long after
Capt Lamar and his signal men had re-
turned TO our companies. era n
The subsequent work OF Gen. Stone on
the construction of a wagon road over
the mountains from Adjunras to Utuado
was most remarkable piece of engineer
ing ability in that it was done by native
workmen. without the aid of tools and
appliances deemed absolutely necessary
for this work 81
Too much praise cannot be given to
Gen. Roy Stone. His cooIress and nerve
on two occasions outwitted the Spanish
forces surrounding us ana saved our lit
tie band not only from defeat, but ex-
termination. JAMES p. ANDERSON,
First Sergeant L. S. V. Signal Corps