The times., 1898-12-01
EMH

the streets OF city But on the same
day on Chanee.s left the army was ad-
vancing into IN utterly unexplored coun-
try, of which nos officer had the slightest
knowledge. gt!rs
1t is true there were maps. but they
were wrong, and only showed the main
trails and the streams, and these incor-
rectly. They did not show how far.troops
could advance unseen under cover, where
they could deploy, or where the enemy's
position could be fianked They were
maps which. from a military standpoint,
rank with Americas best efforts In flo
ton. 45fF
By daybreak on July /, Gen, Sumner
was directed 10 move his division along
the trail leading to San Juan.
''And what am to do them" he. asked
of Skaters aide.
.'You will await further ORDERS. was
the answer.
The further orders never came ''"S
On an Unknown Trail.
The men were moved up the trail into
a country of which their officers were as
ignorant as of the Congo basin. For six
days these same officers had been anx-
ious to go on reconnaissance AMI scout
ing patrols through this same country
and their services. had not been de- ed
In obedience to orders they now pro-
ceeded up the trail until 1t opened out in
to the high grass that lay at the base of
San Juan hill The enemy was then
plainly in view in the rifle pits, and our
troops were deployed to the left d
right In the bushes. while the officers
awaited orders or instructions for any
hint of what they were to do. The or
der that might have come would have
been to move down the trails to the left
and so take the enemy i'll the fianik and
rake his rifle pits end on. But as no one
had been told there We're any trails to
the left this was not done. 80
While the troops lay in the bushes at
the front the observation balloon came
up the trail on its go-cart and succeeded
in blocking the trail for an hour. The
place for balloon is. properly. two miles
in the rear. at a height OF mile. Tris
one was raised by a Col. Derby pro-
tege of Shafter, Immediately over the
line of our men, about a hundred feet
above the tree tops. 1t disclosed and
established our exact position to the enc
my, and In an instant the Spaniards on
the hills fired into the woods where our
troops lay and at the balloon itself. TIL eir
shrapnel broke over our men, killing and
wounding them. and the bullets from the
Mausers dropped into the trail which
was now packed with troops for two miles
back. Stll no further order came from
Gen. Shafter
Slain Waiting for Orders.
The trail leading to his headquarters,
three miles in the rear. was blocked, and
his aide. Lieut.. Miley. made no pretense
CT going back to him for instruction Thu
men We're advanced to the e6g- of tie
wood. To have lert it would have bro. {. Il
them in fun view of tn. enemy For az,
hour they lay under a lire which was IN
cessant and terribly accurate II swept
the trail for a mile and a nalf u tie
rear. and every moment a man was pulled
back into the bushes dead or wound d.
Stili no orders came.
Cen. Shafter at this time was lying on
"A cot three miles in the rear. having is
head rubbed by an orderly. He was suf-
feriEg from gout and heat pros;rat on.
Meanwhile his men were also suffering
from heat prostration and shrapuel
The officers at the front, Gen. Sumner
Gen. Wood, Gen. Kent and Gen. Hawk
ins-saw their men killed before the men
had gone into action-before they mad Il
sight of the enemy They could not
withdraw, as the trail behind them was
blocked. No orders had been given 10
advance, and mere men were being pour
ed into the trail ut the other end. Their
only choice was to lie in the grass and
continue to wait for orders and be shot
to pieces while doing so, or charge tho
rifle pits on the hills before them.
Mems Bravery Saved the Day.
Such charge is always reserved for
the very last, until the enemy's breast
works have been shattered by shells and
the men behind them are demoralized by
shrapnel and exhausted by an infantry
fire which has disabled the greater part
of them. This charge was made under
no such favorable conditions. The en-
emy was untouched and mistaken: il was
instead our men who for an hour had
been exposed to shells and bullets.
1t is pleasant 10 arrive at the part these
men played in the fight after the bungiing
and blunders and incompetence of their
commander. after stupidity and lack of
forethought and of the simplest pcecau-
ton had driven them into a grave. 1t is
pleasant to remember how they clam
bered out OF it and rushed the heights
of San Juan.
In a moment the gigantic blunder of
one incompetent man had been turned
into a victory by the bravery of thou
sands; they had snatched a triumph
where Shafter had scattered the ma
terials for disaster. But at what
pricei Two thousand and six in killed
and wounded, one official report says,
another gives it as eighteen hundred A
loss of one man out of every six engaged.
Had this ground been developed and
reconnoitered; had these same troops
b,;en thrown out on the left and right
of the rifle pits. and not jammed down a
funnel three hundred yards directly in
front of them they could have emptied
the rifle pits more slowly, but with no
such dreadful sacrifice.
Shaftcr Wanted to Retreat.
But even when the hills were captured
Shafter could not take advantage of this
victory, which had concealed his mis-
takes. Without having seen the Eills he
gave way to panic and cabled home that
he could not hold them, that he needed
re-enforcements. Compare this general
''prostrate in mind and body" as he de-
scribed himself the day after to one of
the foreign attaches, cabling that ne
might have to abandon the position
which had cost such price. with the men
who lay along the ridges. They had not
the least idea of abandoning their posi-
ton. They were without food, they had
been wet i'll fording the stream and ex-
hausted by SUM- they had been fired on
all day and they were so pitifully few.
Had the Sp.Sliards known it they could
have carried all of them into Santiago.
LawtOn's re-enforcements had not ar
rived, and the men who had taken the
hills were the same men who had to hold
them. That first night there were not
more than from a dozen to twenty men
at every hundred yards. They reminded
you of groups of picnickers. But it was
Il Spartan picnicking for the men had