Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-07-14
4 WHEELING MN.
Lieut.. ". 3. Trull, Of the Seventy
First New York,

Who Was Wounded at the Battle
Of Santiago. Gives an Interesting
Narrative Of His Experiences and
Of Those Of tho American Troops
Generally.
| In Tuesdays New York Sun, Second
Lieutenant William E. Trull, formerly
! of this city, where his father was
book-keeper for Thomas Hughes &
Co., gives most interesting narration
of events at Santiago and Of his own
| personal experiences. Lieut.. Trull be-
longs to Company G, Seventy-irst New
York infantry, and had his right hand
mashed by bullet in the first battle
| of Santiago. He lives at No. 933 Horne
street, Fordham, just out of New York
city. To a reporter for the Sun he
said:
Il got my dose of Spanish pills the
very first day." said he. 1T was before
we had fired shot. and while l am
on sick leave for two months / am
hopeful that will be able to get back
| long before that time, so that l can at
least have the pleasure of ordering one
volley to be fired. / shall probably
take my wife to the seashore in two
or three weeks, and maybe can report
back for duty then.
1T was on Friday, the first day OF
the fighting, that l was wounded. We
were then fourteen miles up from Sib-
oney. The Seventy-first was in the left
centre of the First Brigade Of the First
Division, and we had received instruc-
tons to advance and hold a small
stream of water there. Then We were
instructed to hold our fire and await
orders. We reached the stream all
right, and while We were waiting for
orders the sharpshooters began to pick
us off. We lay fat on the ground, but
even then some of us were hurt,
| Corporal Immen was the first. He
was shot straight through the head.
He was standing up at the time, and
pitched forward on his face. He did
not die for about twenty minutes, but
he was unconscious and l don't believe
he knew what hit him. Then Private
Mcintyre had a piece of flesh about a
quarter of an inch thick gouged out Of
his chest by Mauser bullet. He an
nounced quietly that he had been hit,
and while he was talking Private Kirby
was shot through the leg. Then Pri-
vate Althause said that he had got a
! bullet in the leg. All this time we were
holding our fire and awaiting orders.
"You see, those Spanish sharpshoot-
ers were hidden in Mango trees. The
foliage is thick, much thicker than any
in this country, and as they used
smokeless powder they were hidden
completely And l want to say here
that all talk about Spaniards being
towards is bosh. They fought like
devils. They were strongly intrenched.
and when our forces charged the fight
| ing was desperate.
| shortly after Althause was hit /
felt an awful pain shoot through my
right arm. A Mauser bullet had gone
clean through the bones of my hand,
entering between the knuckles and
third finger, smashing the bone, and
coming out in slanting direction on
| the inside of the hand. My wound
was temporarily dressed and | was or
! derd to the rear l protested, but was
| told that I was incapacitated and would
only be in the way, so | obeyed.
while I was on my way back the
orders came for the charge to be made
on the blockhouse up the hill. With
the Seventy-frst were the Sixth infant
ry and the Sixteenth infantry, two OF
the finest regiments IN the regular
army. That charge was magnificent.
It was glorious. 1t beat anything l
ever saw. Capt. Rafferty,, of Company
F, Seventy-frst, distinguished himself
by his bravery. Our boys never fall
tered, but rushed along neck and neck
with the regulars and chased up the hill
under a whitening fire. The block
house was captured and the regulars
congratulated our boys on the showing
they had made.
THE men, of our drum corps having
left their drums behind at Siboney,
were assigned to the hospital corps.
Musician Fred l. Wolters. Of Company
G, was helping to carry off wounded
| man in a litter when he was shot by a
sharpshooter The bullet took a big
piece of flesh out Of his back, making
painful but not serious wound. A
number of the hospital corps were hurt
in this way. for the Spaniards do not
respect the Red Cross. but rather make
target out of IT,
Sergeant Schofield, of Company A,
and Private Skinner, of Company B,
were killed exactly as Corporal Immen
was. The Mauser bullets went clear