Arizona republican., 1898-09-19
FROM PORTO RICO
An Entertaining Letter Written 10 :
 ResidenE c. PhoenIx.

Mir Wade Hulings Of this city has received an interesting letter from his brother, Willis j. HuliEgs, who is col onei of the Sixteenth Pennsylvania vol unteeTs in Porto Rico Col Rulings was at one time q resident oE Phoenix, and the conduct Of his regiment has been yeTy fayorably mentioned in the teIegrans from Porto Rico. The lel- ter has been kindly furnished The Re publican, and is as follows:
 Headquarters Sixteenth Regiment
 Pennsylvania Volunteers, First Bri-
 gade, First Division Corps, near
 Ceamo, Porto Rico.
 Dear Wade: We left camp at dark on August and made forced march, biyouacking on the road until 3 o'clock m Col Riddle was sent with me as guide Tho trail was very tough We had to go single fife over the country almost impossible, through ravines, gulehes, eacti, tropical vines and chapparal. =It was only thirteen miles, but 1t tired the very gizzards Of the men, and 1 know, for 1 was afoot- Horses couldn't get through and 1 was flying light and am tolerable climber, too, as you know, while the men were loaded with blankets, rifles, cartridges, etc, at least fifty pounds However get there We must and 10 time to spare. 1 set the pace and the boys behind ne loaded down as they were, kept up their lick like Spartans- Not man fiinched and no man dropped out That's the grit that makes the Amer ican soldier superior to all others when you call for his supreme effort When we reached K Ca place designated on the accompanying map) Biddle our guide, said that was as far as h knew the road, but we had to get there so I pushed ahead, guided by the gen eral contour of the country. We marched, or climbed rather, and fc. the 4ast two mics rushed forward to the sound of cannon from the block house at "Y,' gasping and breathless to get to the road somewhere in our front, We knew not where. Finally ] sighted the Spanish on the road, fer I was with the front file cutting out as bes. could the best way for the col umn struggling in single file through the brush. Without moments de lay sent in the leading company and drew their fire from distance of 250 yards, and at once hurried up the ether companies as fast as possible until the first battalion was hotly en- gagged. The second, 300 yards further back, was formed on the higher ground We fought in the open The Spanish were in a sunken read perfectly pro tected, where they were waiting for us Ali the Spanish in the tCwn cf Coanlo had retired to a position Of their oWH choosing, 3S1 men strong, and waited for us to unlimber. I attacked at once. at first with only one company, but as fast as the first battalion came up the companies deployed in line Of battle and we sailed in with ab sut 800 men For an hour and tel minutes the fire was heavy and continuous, until finally I detached a force (the two coEnpanies Of Oil City and Titusville), and sant them to flank the enemy's right ard gain possession Of the road and inter ceDt reinforcements thai I feaceG would come from Ar532ita, where 2,5o0 Spanish regulars were posted only Eour 1ni,ss away. As soon as th6y%occupied their position, the Spanish seeing oaF brave boys ready to charge their flank. realized that the jig was up and hung ID eIe white flag Il the e-d Of Q bay onet. We at once ceased firing and the Eown and garrison surrendered.
 Their losses were eleven killed and sixfy-nine wounded and 179 prisoners. Our. loss was seven wounded. No Oii City friends among them. Not much Of a battle as battles, go, but pretty warm while it lasted The cavalry of eighty horse got away; VIZ bagged pretty much everything else.
 During that hour the Spanish fired regularly very heavy volleys, but as results showed, with little accuracy Our boys fired at will. My constant admonition was, Don't shoot until you see something to fire at.' and they went about it as deliberately as if al target practice On their company ranges Smckel ess powder was used On both sides, but the Spanish were behind thick entertainments with 2 cactus hedge on top that screened then from view, put the crack sharpshoot- ers of the old Sixteenth nailed every bobbing head with deadly preeis;ion- as shown by the Spanish losses, which. considering their protected positioE were enormous. And in caring for tSe wounded after the battle we found ne..rIy every man was hit ill the heaa or shoulders. We were fortunate tC get the opportunity and the boys were ciated at our success with no greatel loss. but am convinced that the hardy boys Of the Sixteenth wefs necessary to do the trick and thaf there is not another regiment on this island that could have stood up to that forced march. I hnow it was hard.