The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-14

eHtu. racks were taken off and the march
70 the Iront hurriedly resumed.
The firing grew from every direction,
GROWING heavier every moment. Our first
battalion was soon earnestly engaged-Cap-
tam van Orsdale, with a blockhouse on the
right Frederick supporting him. 1t con-
tanned only few Spanish sharpshooters
ana was soon reduced, without loss. Kend-
TICKS and Howelis companies were pouring
In volley after volley Immediately in front
of the Twentieth battalion.
IN A HE'LL OF BULLETS
No sooner had the firing begun and we
had removed our packs and marched 100
yards than we literally seemed to be in q
hell of bullets. Captain jackson. was hit
first We were walking side by side and
It's wonder that the same bullet did not
get me. too. Neither he nor 1 could under
stand it afterward. The bullet went through
his nose and cheek making an ugly but not
dangerous wound. In this same place
many were wounded and killed during the
day. The worst of it all was, no one knew
where the firing was from. Two were killed
mere OF my company and six wounded.
. Alter the captain retired / assembled
the company in that awful hole and then
pushed on. When / got to the top of the
hill l could see something of where l was.
A big stone fort over on the left, a sunken
ROAD Load In front and back of it. wooden block
houses, with a wooden blockhOuSe to the
right l found Major Coolidge and asked
MIN what was expected, and ne said: Lay
low and do not fire was the order We were
Oh me crest OF the nil. commanded by all
OF these blockhouses. but i had nothing TO
90 put obey, and there | lay with heaps of
DEAD around me in a pool of blood, listening
10 the groans of the poor fellows and try
ing TO cheer up the men of the company
ana keep a stiff upper lip myself We lay
there an hour, and it was there / lost the
most Of my men.
The order finally came to advance, and,
90 you know, / was thankful! 1t seemed
as though great weight was lifted from
my heart with the thought that, now. at
least, our brave boys could fire back. The
company crossed a bullet-showered field in
good order, though / admit the sensation
was TO me like getting ready to take a
plunge into ice water. The company fought
calamity as we plunged into the open field,
although i never expected for a moment
TO get across it alive. In the middle of the
field was sort of hole in which were some
trees. The ground was covered with the
leaves the bullets had cut off in passing
through. Very soon all the companies were
on the firing line, and we were ordered to
occupy crest commanding the town of
Caney, my company to act as support
just in the rear.
Il was now tired of being fired at. with
no opportunity to fire back. so / reinforced
the right of the line (HowelPs) right away
Companies c. z. A. 1 and G. were upon
the crest, and then the fun began. You can
bullets were coming A river of lead seemed
to be streaming over us For hours we lay
there, pouring volley after volley upon the
town. The fusilade was awful and the ex-
citement was intense.
CALLING THE ROLL
Finally, at half past 3, the artillery, after
a whole days useless fighting, got the range
of the fort and slenced it. Then the Span
ish fire grew less and ours more furious-the
Twelfth and part of the Seventeenth joining
in. At the fire of the enemy ceased alto
gether and at 4:10 we were withdrawn.
Il had the roll called of the company AMI
found seven men had been killed, fifteen
wounded and four missing. All except one.
of the wounded were badly hurt. And my
company had lost the most of any. Captain
Van Orsdale's company had more men hit,
but six or seven of them had mere scratch
wounds and are now doing duty. The regi-
ment was under fire from Z o'clock until 4,
an unparalleled performance, and, though
we lost 20 per cent, it is marvellous to me
that more were not hit. From the moment
it began it was not an occa sional bullet or
with long intervals, as on the target range,
but an incessant, yes, monotonous shisn
-ShiSh-ShiSh-like the breaking of bliloWS
on the sea shore.
so ended my first battle, and can now
say that no man with the heart of man
be that heart the bravest of the brave
who has been through one modern battle
will ever desire to go through another. We
lost thirty-three men killed and ninety-nine
wounded
THAT night. after the battle. we marched
back to get our packs. six miles all told.
Then we expected rest. But no.! At p:
IN. we were ordered to march, and set out
towards Santiago-four and a half miles
away. Our battalion went about three
miles of the distance and was then turned
back, as it was thought an attempt might
be made to recapture Caney. OF course 1t
rained. and a more Wretched lot OF men
he killed and Wounded
upon the battlefield One company had been
left to gather them up and carry them to
less to say that one company was not
enough. So, besides guard and outpost
duty, we devoted the night to collecting the
1T was not until 3 a. m. on the I'd of July
that got to lay down. At l was up and
ate my first meal for two days Untll 3
O'Clock ] worked, making graves for the
killed. That afternoon we buried forty,
seven-three officers and forty-four enlisted
men-upon the brow of the hill-neariy all
of them of the Seventh--the killed and those
that died during the night of the LIST and
day of the I'd. 1t was the saddest most
painful sight ever witnessed-those forty
seven distorted bodies, all in row.
THAT morning | went down into the town
of Caney, probably the first to visit it after
the battle The chaos there was indescriba-
BILE Blood blood, blood over everything
the dead and wounded in heaps together.
counted seventy-six dead men, and they
were in the church and surrounding houses
There were two hundred more killed in and
about the town. And then the wounded
only the too badly wounded to escape were
left. There were hundred that saw, and
] pray that 1 may soon forget the sight.
Everywhere was ruin death and SUFFERING
1t was awful 1t was war. But, alas it
was man and his injustice, that was, as
always, the cause of it all.
THE CUBANS
On the Sd Of July we escorted the wound
ed to the general hospital-a big one nearer
the landing In them all there were over
1,5Go patients. No funeral you ever saw was
half as sad. 1t took the whole battalion to
move them. Fifty or sixty were able to
walk-some $50 had to be carried on stretch
ers. Then we went back near the town,
to guard it. On the Fourth of July cele-
brated the day by taking a bath in the
creek, against orders. This was glorious
and more soothing than a benediction-a
sensation never to be forgotten. I'll re-
member that Fourth as long as I live. 1
washed my undershrt and handkerchief,
and Smith, my brave benefactor, found me
a pair of socks For a week / had been
without this luxury. / am still without
drawers, but am proud of my undershrt.
ION the 5th the exodus OF the Santiago
refugees began-all the women and children
and foreign residents came out for fear of
a NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. thousand people
in all. What a sight that was. War seems
to be made up of sad professions.
ION the 9Th we were ordered to join our
Santiago. This we did, and that night be-
gan to extend the intrenchmentS. We have
been digging ever since. The truce which
was proclaimed on the Sd has continued
with only en- interruption of one day. in
which the shells screamed and the bullets
began their monotonous shish, shish, shish.
But that was fun. We We're in our intrench-
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