The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1898-09-02
BACK FROM san IIAG0
STORIES TOLD BY THE WOUNDED At
FORT MCPHERSON.

Among Officers-A Battlefield Duel.
The convalescents among the wound
I'd from santiago were allowed to come
to Atlanta the other afternoon, and the
town went wild over them and showed
its enthusiasm in every way IL could
think Of Men and women alike clus.
tered about them TO hear their stories.
When the wounded arrived recently
the 1900 men now stationed at Fort
Mcpherson were waiting TO cheer them,
but this idea was not carried out The
expressions which came from the troops
at the post were more of pity than Of
glorifcation. The wounded men came
from the train, some Of them on
crutches, others aided by companions,
while many had to be carried on
stretchers. Their faces were drawn and
pinched, their clothes were torn, and
many of them were without sufficient
clothing. Some of the officers had dis
pensed with their coats and had placed
their shoulder straps on their shirt
sleeves TO show their rank. Save for
these shoulder straps there was no diff
ference in appearance between officers
and privates in many cases.
The wounded men were in the hottest
part Of the fight, and they have interest
ing stories to tell Some Of them adj
vanced to within half mile Of San
tiago, and they declare that they could
have held this position had they not
been ordered TO fall back. On the night
Of June 80 the men advanced TO within
a short distance of the city of Santiago
and then slept on their arms The fol-
lowing morning it was found that the
pickets bad been within ten yards Of
the Spanish line. For some reason they
were not fired upon. On July the bat
tie began. One of the greatest difficult
ties the Americans had to contend with
was the Spanish sharpshooters. Ii is
said that these men did more harm
prior TO their rout than any other part
of the Spanish army. The Americans
did not know when or from what tree
they would be greeted with volley Of
Spanish bullets.
A private says he was fighting near q
commissioned officer. "a lieutenant. he
thinks, who kept lodging from side TO
side. The officer continued these antics
for some time, and then the private adj
vanced to his side and asked If he wss
wounded. my God, man, - replied the
officer, don't you see that fellow shoot
ing at me? He has been pegging away
at my carcass for 10 minutes
Sure enough, in proof Of what the
officer said, moment later puff 81
smoke came from the tree pointed out,
and bullet whizzed close TO where the
officer and private were standing. The
officer took the private's rife and coolly
knelt on the ground while he took de-
liberate aim at the place from which
the puff of smoke had arisen The aim
Of the officer was good, and at the crack
Of the rife the sharpshooter was seen 60
hang head downward from the tree
The officers were the principal objects
Of attack by the Spaniards. The Spanish
sharpshooters and the regular lines Of
infantry all directed their fire at the
officers, and when one was seen TO fall
cheer invariably went up from the
dons. Many privates were naturally
victims of the fire, but both the officers
and the men who arrived recently say
that the Spaniards appeared to take
special delight in killing officers
One story was of duel on the battle.
field between two soldiers, one Ameri-
can, the other Spanish. 1t was during
one Of the lulls that occasionally occur
ON battleields, when the men Of their
own accord stop firing in order to let
the smoke clear away and TO catch q
breath of fresh air. The Spaniards Rad
made a charge and had been repulsed.
The Americans had pursued them, and
one man was left in front Of the Ameri-
can line when the United States sol
diers retired TO their original position
This man was wounded, and near hun
was "a Spanish soldier who was thought
20 be dead. 1t developed that he was
not. He saw the American, and slowly
| brought his gun TO his shoulder and
fired, the ball striking the United Statee
soldier in the leg The American au
swered with his gun, ana for several
minutes the fire was kept up, six or
seven shots being fred on each side
| The Spaniard was killed and the Amer
lean was brought back to the line
where he received the plaudits of his
companions for his bravery The man
who related this story did not know the
name of the American engaged in this
duel, but he vouched for the accuracy
Of the account given by him.
Chaplain Dwight Galloupe Of the
Ninth cavalry is one of the men brought
TO Atlanta from the battlefield. He said;
Garcia failed to notify our men of the
presence of Spanish sharpshooters in
trees. He was supposed to watch over
these things, but did not find out that
the sharpshooters were waiting for us
Consequently, when we advanced, our
men met with a whitening fire from
among the tree tops, and it was with
great difficulty that these men were dis
lodged. After the fire had ceased we dis
covered that number of men who had
been killed were hanging head down
ward from the trees, and in curiosity we
advanced to ascertain the cause of this