The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-14
NIGHT IN THE TRENCHES
REFORE SANTIAGO AND THE HoR-
RORs or FOLLOWING DAYS.
A Graphic Narrative from the Pen of
Lieut.. William Wallace, of the
Seventh Regular Infantry.
Denver Republican.

ID
alive The following letter to his wife has
been received:
IN THE TRENCHES BEFORE SAN
TIAGO. Cuba, July IL" My last let
ter was from the boat before landing, /
think. The navy bombarded the town in
which we were TO land, some twenty miles
west of Santiago. At least ten vessels
poured in their fire upon it for an hour. Our
transport. The Miller, was not more than
across the Logan parade ground from the
New York during that time. The thunder
of the guns was simply deafening. / never
thought it possible to make so much noise.
In the town itself it must have been al
most uncomfortable from the screaming of the
shells and shot, if not from the effect. Moth
ing could live against such a fusillade To
me it was tremendously exciting and Cap
tain Worden, who had been sick all the voy-
age. forgot ali about his sickness. The ac-
ton stimulated him to such degree that
he skipped around like a kitten. The bonn
bardment was on the I'D of June, at about
10 o'clock in the morning In the afternoon
the dear old flag was raised on the high
bluff at the right of the entrance. Then
every gun in the harbor doomed every
whistle blew and all the bands played the
'Star-spanged Banner 1t was intensely
inspiring. 1t was a high time all about, ex-
cept to those poor mules dying of heat and
thirst down in the holds of the transports.
The next day the unloading began in ear
nest No wharf was large enough to get
d transport up TO it, so they had to be un-
loaded out at sea. Small boats, towed By
the navy's saucy little launches, came
alongside the transports and were filled up
with soldiers, who climbed down rope lad
Il. fIor1
carried heter-skelter through the waves 10
the rickety old dock where four OF five were
drowned in landing There was no way of
unloading the mules except by swimming
them ashore. They were driven and pulled
into the water, fifteen and twenty feet be-
low the deck on which they stood Many
that took the dive never came up, others
would break away from the soldiers towing
them in boats and then would swim straight
out to sea away from land. Hundreds were
lost.
25d of June...IIhe first battalion had landed
early in the morning. We, of course, eX-
pected that as soon as landed we could join
the rest of the regiment and then be formed
into brigades and divisions before we moved
10 the front. But Col. Benham had failed
10 notify us that we would move right away,
soon as we were put ashore. He knew
s. and so did all the first battalion. but we
did not. Imagine our surprise, then, when,
without a moment nOtlce, We were OTQeFeQ
TO join the other battalion some five miles
away from the landing place. Most of us
lad nothing, except what we had on our
hacks. thinking we would get our things
later, having attended simply to getting our
men ashore.
SLEPT IN THE TENT.
"I left the boat without thing to wear
or eat, just as l would leave home at
Logan to go to drill. 1 managed to get
haversack and some hard tack and coffee
on the march to join the regiment. When
We halted I got some bacon and tomatoes.
At o'clock L lay down on the roadside
without blanket or anything else to cover
me. AT it began to rain, and it rained as
! never saw it rain before. The road. or
through and through, l perched myself
upon little mound, and for the rest of the
night watched the soldiers swimming In the
road. don believe ever spent more
wIetchedly uncomfortable night than my
FIRST night in Cuba.
Al / l. m, on the oath, we moved for
ward and marched about six miles over the
worst road I ever saw. All the roads here
ere of the same character and were orig
OF rain nave made deep gullles OF, ana
scarcely wide enough for one man and his
pack. They are often twenty and thirty
feet deep with cactus and hedges along
the creSts that add considerably to the
depth OF the path. In such road, with
deep mud and water underneath, and scald-
ing sun aboVe--not a breath of alr-after
hard day and a harder night-the army
moved forward and camped in beautiful
cCcoanut grove, about s O'Clock a. m. on
the oath. Everyone was nearly exhausted
by the time we reached it, There were no
horses or mules and even generals We're
carrying their packs / believe it was the
intention to camp there during the day at
least but the Spanish thought differently.
The Rough Riders Orders only by cour-
tesy. since they have horses) were eX-
ceedngly anxious to get into Santiago first.
They simply thought they could walk over
town That night The army a needed am a a
vance guard. so they, supported by the
First and Ninth Cavalry, were detailed to
act as such We hadn't been in camp an
hour when furious firing was heard far to
the front. The Seventh. which happened to
be the head of the column, was sent hur-
brigade-the Twelfth and Seventeenth.
No one who made that march will ever
forget it. Exhausted to start with, the men
soon began to Tighten their loads-the road
was simply lined with packs. and blanket
rolls and haversacks. You could have
walked afterwards all the way on govern
ment blankets. But even lightened thus,
hundreds of men fell out and after an hour
the column of men looked like long pro-
ceSSion of drunken men. they reeled so from
sheer fatigue. Hour after hour we kept it
up and after nine miles, and at about 2
o clock we came up to where the firing had
taken place Only few. Struggling shots
were now to be heard The Rough Riders
had been saved by the regular cavalry that
came up on the TANKS of the enemy about
noon. driving them back into strong po-
sition. The advance of the infantry caused
them to retire still further-why, l don't
know because two or three hundred deter
mined men could have kept thousands at
bay in such a position for a week. perhans
a month But they did retire. thank good
ness If they hadn't. we. in our exhausted
state, would have had a hard time of it,
I'm afraid.
FIRST SIGNS OF WAR
at was here we saw the first evidences
of war. Our dead soldiers lined the road
and the wounded We're being taken to the
hospital a little to the rear. Being the first,
the sight TO me was the most terrible
have ever seen. 1 can never forget it, and
since then war has been to us all a stern
reality. Here, there, everywhere the dead
and wounded were in evidence, United
States and Spanish soldiers.
An hours rest and again we were pushed
on TO get into good position: another rest
and again on until finally at that night we
went INTO camp for the night and the most
terrible day of my life was my first day in
Cuba. j had managed TO get half Of a
blanket ana poncho on the road This has
been all my bedding IN the campaign I've
cone my own cooking until recently when
q soldier took pity on me and does it
Tor me.
"On the 18th. 18th. 27th 18th and 18th of
June We moved about, but never far. We
patrol duty and covered the assembly of
tro Ups in the rear. During all this time
was never dry / didn't wash my face and
comb my hair off m 81 M