The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1898-08-05

prospect of brush with the enemy.
Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt at once
/ repressed their enthusiasm.
Suddenly from cover on the left front
and before the regiment was well de-
ployed, there came rip. rip, rip Of
muskets. The firing was directed
against Troop L, which was in advance.
1t is said that the Rough Riders on the
extreme left anticipated the Spanish
firing by few seconds, but on this
point there seemed to be some doubt.
Reference has already been made to the
assertion that Hotchkiss gun handled
by the First regiment of cavalry fired
the first shot. Troop L of the Rough
Riders replied to the Spanish fire with
great spirit and precision. The trad and
woods on both sides OF it are still lit.
tered with empty cartridges fired by
them. On the left side Of the trail the
bushes are thick, and the men could not
see The Spapiards who we're firihg on
them from the slope On the right the
enemy could be seen in little clearing
a mile away, and Troops X, Gand A,
after plunging through the bushes,
blazed away at them with good wilt
There was at first some danger that
the Tenth cavaley, which came up
quickly as soon as the firing began,
would mistake the deploying Rough
Riders on the left for spaniards, and one
OF the officers OF the Tenth sfterward
said that he was greatly relieved when
the guidon of X appeared on slight
elevation in the valley ahead. 1t is
doubtful whether Troops G, K and A,
which were in that order on the right
of Company l., could have driven the
Spaniards off the hill without support.
The Tenth, on getting the word, swarm
ed up the hill, firing with great delib.
sration volley after volley Their align
ment and coolness were remarkable.
Whenever a man was hit, tie cry Of
"Hospitalp' went up calmly, and the
troopers pressed on as il engaged in
practice maneuvers. Although many of
them had never been under fire, there
was not the least faultering or confus-
ion.
On the left OF the Rough Riders
Troops d and + did the heaviest work,
E and B being farther back and in the
rear of L. Captain Carpon was shot
early in the fight, and the firing had
not gone on long before Hamilton Fish
fell NOR tally wounded He had been in
the front rank pressing on and firing ae
fast as he could load. Everyone who
witnessed bis behavior under a CALLING
fire speaks of it with enthusiasm. Fish
died the death of brave soldier.
1t can be said Of the Rough Riders
that almost to man they faced with
the coolness of veterans the ordeal OF
fire, which was the more trying because
the foe, attacking from cover could not
be seen. Five times during the engage
ment the order was given to stop firing,
and it was obayed instantly There
could be no better evidence that the
men kept their heads, and army officers
speak of the circumstance as an unusual
one. One man, however, seems to
have lost his head. He rode back to
Siboney when the firing was fercest
with story that the Rough hiders were
being cut to pieces and was falling
back. Nothing could have been further
from the truth. Ten men killed and
perhaps three times that number
wounded was not heavy loss in q COM
mand of 500 men, and, far from being
driven back, the Rough Riders finished
their part in battle with a charge up the
hill on the left with rush that filed the
Spaniards with panic.
Troops d, + and E were concerned in
this final movement, aud Lieutenant
Colonel Roosevelt led them in person,
Major Brodie having been wounded and
taken to the rear. On the top OF the
slope was q blockhouse, from which the
Spaniards were firing with apparently
little risk to themselves. The boys
yelled like Comanches as they pressed
up the hill On the run, and Colonel
Roosevelt, forgetting in his ardor that
he was in command, snatched up 9
Krag.Jorgensen and pumped ehot after
shot into the blockhouse.
The Spanish fire was steady enough
but in its sweep the charge OF the three
troops was cyclonic, and the SpaniardE
burst from the blockhouse and took tC
their heels for the brush. Seventeen
bodies were counted in and around the
house. Meanwhile the other troops, the
Tenth cavalry and the First, the last o
which was not heavily engaged, finished
the rout Of the Spaniards on the right
and in front, The battle seemed to have
been deliberately planned, for they took
their wounded away IN wagons, and
there was long line Of them. The
Spanish loss in killed was then known
to be at least so. Some fruit pickers
who came out from Santiago the fol-
lowing day reported that the Spspiards
returned with the story that they had
been fighting the whole American
army, and they claimed that the more
they fired on tho Americans the faster
they came on.
About 800 Americans were engaged.
The Spanish force was not lees than
$500 and some estimates have made il
1000, lts position should have been inn