The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-05-10

on board the Numania. The command
then devolved upon the next chief,
Mendez Nunez, who, less scrupulous,
bombarded the city for four hours, de-
stroying many public buildings, while.
not even o pistol was fired off in re-
turn. The French frigate Venus was
in the harbor at the time, also the
English frigate Shearwater and the
American war steamer Vanderbilt,
with Commodore John Rodgers on
board, acting as escort to the monitor
Monadnock, which was on it's way to
California, where it now is.
Commodore. Rodgers sent word to
Captain Derram of the Shearwater,
asking if he would join him in prevent
ing the Commandment. The English
commander replied that, having only
one ship, he hesitated to attack the
Spanish squadron. Rodgers then said:
'''Fire one gun against Spain and re-
tire. With my monitor and my ship I
will send those blasted Spaniards to
the bottom
Rodgers himself told me this. 1t
was afterward rumored that the Brit
ish commander was disgraced for hav-
ing done nothing toward defending the
great English interests in Valparaiso.
At tn end of April, 1866, the Spanish
squadron cast anchor six miles from
Callao at the head of Isle Saint Loren
20. On learning of the bombardment
of Valparaiso, Colonel Prado, then
president of Peru, ordered the setting
up of two iron-clad turrets belonging
to a monitor which had been brought
in sections and had not been put to-
gether One turret was placed at a
short distance to the south of the city,
and called La MERGED. The other was
placed to the north and called Santa
Rosa. In each two Parrot guns, three
hundred Founders, were mounted.
1.-THE army officers, from generals to
the youngest lieutenants, and the stu
dents of universities and medical COL
leges hunted up fifty old cannon of va
rious calibres, which had been discard
ed, mounted these as best they could
on the shore between the two turrets
and in front Of the cannon placed sand
bags as a protection against the cob
blestones that formed the beach, and
which the balls of the enemy would
convert into grape shot. The officers
themselves manned the guns. No
common soldier had hand in that I'M
equal struggle.
1.-THE fifteen or twenty United States
residents, mostly merchants, eager to
| take part in defence of American soil,
| got permission to use and man anoth-
| er Parrot gun, five hundred FOUNDER,
| that was in the arsenal This was
| mounted on it's carriage about fifty
| yards south of the railroad depot
| Commodore Rodgers, who happened to
| be there, assured me that he had diff
Guilty in restraining his men, so anx-
| ious We're they to land and assist in the
| fight.
When, on that famous May 2, the
| people in Lima learned that the Span
| ish ships were stripped for action and
| that Callao was to be bombarded, their
courage and enthusiasm knew no
| bounds. Every able-bodied person
wanted to hasten there to encounter
! the perfidious Spaniards. Those who
| could not find room in the railroad cars
walked to the port, nearly nine miles
| off. Young women of the best families
| sped to the scene of action to encour-
age the conabatants and attend the
/ wounded. The Peruvian priests also
hurried to the coast, but the Spanish
friars in Lima stayed within their con-
vents and cried to heaven for the de-
! feat of the people who generously shell
tered them.
so deep was the public indignation
against that power which, in order to
! he ia NC 1ph1 C aI
| itself to the most cowardly deeds, that
| the officers and civilians did not even
wait to call upon the common soldiers,
but rushed headlong to the defence of
land and liberty. There was reserve
force of two thousand men, out of
sight, only few hundred PAGES from
the shore, provided with seventy five
pieces of field artillery and ready to
| face the Spaniards had these effected
| a landing. The two thousand soldiers
were sheltered behind the walls of a
fortress which covered fifteen acres of
ground. 1t was built in 1775 and
served as custom house and store
| rooms.
"As I have said, the Monadnock and
Vanderbilt happened to be at Callao
with other vessels of the United States
South Atlantic fleet-the Dakota, SUI
vance, Wateree and Mohonge, also the
French frigate Venus. The squadron
of Mendez Nunez started from it's an
| cnorage about eleven o'clock and adj
vanced in the form of letter V, the
| Numancia occupying it's point until
about mile from shore. This ship
then took up it's position In front of the
| old fortress. The Almanac and Villa
de Madrid faced the northern batter
les, La Blanco and Berenguela those to
| the south. The Covadonga kept be-
yond the line of fire, ready to aid any
| disabled ship.
GAS eight bells sounded on board and
| the bells in the fortress beIfry rang out
| twelve o'clock the first gun was fired
from the Numancia. Considering the
strength of the foe, we on shore ex-
| pected to be all blown to bits, but after
| twenty minutes had gone by we
laughed, for the Spanish gunners
aimed so badly that their missiles flew
| toward those regions where the buz-
| yards scared Numancia's first shot
was Immediately answered by one of
the Parrot guns from the northern tur-
ret. That ball struck the Villa de Ma
drid Enfilade, from bow to stern; as she
| was tacking to present her broadside;