The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-25

| trenches and commenced to gel even
IL seems now almost impossible that
civilized men could so reckleSSly de-
stroy each other as they did that day.
All the crest of the mill, in their
trenches and along the main road,
there We're piles of dead and wounded
| Spaniards. In the confusion was sep
arated from my command, and went
with a small party to the right of the
block house, supporting piece OF artll-
lery, and there ] stayed until L was
ordered to the rear with a man who
was shot in the head 1t was about
$3.50 or o'clock .. m, and the nrlng
was terrible and continued from, Doth
sides with small arms and artillery
The piece of artillery l mentioned was
forced to the rear, and we were REIN
forced by part of the Seventy-hrst, and
one small party, it then numbered less
than so men, was withdrawn below the
crest OF the hill. 1t was then l was
sent to the rear.
I'VE had been on the hill then about
three hours. and my gun was almost
red hot ! had fired about 175 rounds
of ammunition. and. being very thirsty,
/ gladly accepted the detail, as the hill
was ours then, and we had been shoot
ing at nothing for about an hour. What
a sight was presented as | recroSSed
the fat in front 0hen rear) of San
Juan. The dead and wounded soldiersl
1t is indescribable One would have to
see it to know what it was like, and
having once seen it, / truly hope may
never see it again..
when | returned from the hospital,
five miles to the rear of our position.
it was dark, and as / passed our pile
of rolls returning J took what ratlonS
l could find-a few hard tack and a
very little raw bacon-and kept on to
San Juan in search of my company,
which 1 found busy throwing up en-
trenchments. We snapped stories of
our experiences. and / divided my
scanty fare. We could not make any
fire. so we ate and returned to work,
remaining until about a. M, July 2,
when we lay down in the bitches to
set what sleep we could before day
light. as we knew we would have to
fight to hold our own.
Il was awakened at daybreak by the
crack of small arms. 1t vas the Span
iards driving in our pickets In short
time our whole line was awake, reply
inc TO them, and before sunrise the
battle was raging furiously. 1t lasted
all dag. with no intermission. until
dark. Everybody being his own cook,
and not having anything to cook, l had
a very simole diet. that day. Almost
all the army had the same-breakfast.
canJeen nail 1uli OF WATER. dinner, Iull
canteen OF water; supper the empty
canteen. we were relieved after dark
by part of the Seventy-first, and took
to the rear to get some sleep and rest.
In about one or two hours, at or
9 o'clock, the Spanish army made an
assault on our position, which was re-
pulsed with terrible losses to Them
1.-The casualties were very light on
our side. but we learn since that it
cost the SDaniards more than 500 men
in attempting to drive us from San
Juan. They found the Yankee wide
awake and not giving an inch. The at
tack lasted about 45 minutes and while
it WAS going on it seemed ten times
worse than the battle OF the day be-
fore. We were finally allowed to re-
turn to our position in the reserve, and
go to sleep.
The morning of July we were is
sued some rations, which / will assure
you were more than welcome and our
simple fare of broiled bacon hot, strong
coffee brewed in our tin cups, minus
sugar, plus appetite, was more whole
some than any fare ! ever tasted in
my lie. Just as soon as we could
swallow some breakfast we were re-
turned to the trenches, and at noon.
July 9. the first truce was established
and the sword rested while the pen
fought for the next seven days.