The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-11
Our Land Fight in The Big
Trench Near Manila.
HAIL OF SPANISH BULLETS.
Battle in the Dark That Cost the
First Lives Lost There,

. GOuTlhk ANhin VI OuAS
Needless Fight, and Cost the Tenth Penn
sylvania Dear-Stout-Hearted Utah Men
Serving Their Cannon - Colorado Boys
Fire on Their Comrades in the Darkness
Panic in tho Trench When It Was
Thought the Spanish Were Thanking Us
Heroic Deeds of Capt. O'Hara and Pri-
Vate Finlay-Advance of the Spaniards
10 within Fifty Yards of Our Trench
Our Loss was Is Killed and Al wounded.
CkyITE, Philippines, Aug. 1.-The fight in the
trenches south OF Malate on the night Of Sun
day, July 81. which resulted In the first loss OF
life for the American forces in the conquest OF
tho Philippine Islands. as the cable has told
you already. differed in only one important par
ticular-the one which cost less-from the oc-
currences OF previous or subsequent nights. 1t
began with the usual evening firing by the
Bpaniards. kept up against the Americans. lust
rs they had kept It up against the insurgents
when only Filipinos occupied trenches In their
front. The unusual feature Of the nights work
was introduced by our men in replying to the
Spanish fire. They replied as Americans
always will. standing up and exposing them
selves In order to make their fire effective. The
Epaniards shot surprisingly well, and many OF
those who were exposed we're hit. As usual.
che most dangerous place was the open ground
behind the trenches. Our endorsements
crossed this ground, and there a large part OF
our loss was incurred. That the Spaniards
also suffered there can be no doubt whatever.
but estimates Of their loss are all guesswork.
Several stories have come in. One man re-
ported seeing five carloads OF dead soldiers
hauled into Ermita. There was a report from
Manila that the Spanish loss was 300. But Just
rs after Dewey's Mayday fight, there is abso-
lutely no way of arriving at anything like a
trustworthy account. The Spaniards do not
know themselves. and If they did they could
not be depended upon to tell the truth.
ALL A MISTAKE.
As the unfortunate affair gets further away.
and so into better focus. it becomes more and
more clear that it was a mistake. and 1t cost
the Tenth Pennsylvania men who made 1t
dear. There was no need OF replying to the
Spanish fire. The intrenchment was almost
perfect protection. When the men kept well
behind their earthwork the Spanish fire was
practically harmless. The First Colorado men,
who began the trench. and the First Nebraska
bows. who finished it. suffered no loss. although
they worked steadily through the day as we'll
as at night in throwing up the parapet. There
was desultory firing at them much of the time.
but IL Sasuil Wild and they made nc response.
They paid not the least attention to the Span
iards and went on with their work.
The day after the fight / went over to Camp
Dewey from Cavit6, and spent that night in the
trench with the First Colorado. Utah batteries
and Third Battalion. First California. The Span
iards kept up a terrific fire nearly all night
Fol a few minutes after it began the Utah boys
kept UP a lively fire with their 3-inch guns.
and the Colorado boys showed the Spaniards a
trick in volley firing. Then our fire ceased
and thereafter from the main trench not q shot
was fired all night. Not a man was hurt after
our firing stopped. They sat behind their
parapet and let the Spaniards blaze away.
Bullets and shells flew over our heads in
whistling chorus until daylight. and then there
was q tremendous outburst. Col. Hale. how
ever. kept his men down. and after a while the
Epaniards got tired.
It was on the morning OF Friday. July 20,
That our men first went forward to the trenches.
From the time. about the middle OF July. when
the first battalion OF California men located the
cam at Tambo which Gen. Anderson afterward
named Camp Dewey, outposts had been sta
toned regularly somewhere near the insurgent
line. When the Colorado men were sent to
camp with the other battalions OF the First
California they sent o~utposts out also and got
into the trouble Of which you have been told.
Finally. when the camp grew to its present size
and there was prospect that it would grow still
larger. 1t became undesirable to have
the insurgents in our front. There was nc
telling when the Spaniards might make
. rush and drive them back. as they were re-
ported to have done that night the Colorado
men turned out the whole camp. So Gen.
Greene sent to Aguinaldo. in Gen. Merritt's
name. and asked to have the insurgents re-
strained from stirring up the Spaniards every
night. The high firing sometimes dropped
shells and bullets among our o%utposts. and it
wasn't a good thing anyway to have another
force between us and our enemy. SO the in
surRents were withdrawn from their outposte
all along our front. clear over TO Pasai, as the
maps have 1t, or Pineda, as the people call 1t.
and on Friday our troops we're sent forward to
take their place,
It was the lot Of the Colorado men first to take
position directly in front of the enemy. Two
battalions went forward under Lieut.. Col. Nc
Avoy and the third battalion was held In re-
serve. Col. McAvoy saw at once that the old
insurgent trench was untenable. 1t was in a
bad place, easily ianked, and there was good
cover In front OF 1t. Beyond the right end there
was thickly wooded country. through which
che enemy could make an advance with good
chance of escaping observation. Col. McAvoy
decided to advance the line to the old Capuchin
Chapel. which stood in the middle OF the field
in front of the old nsurgenttrench He looked
over the ground with his engineers and then
laid out the line of the intrenchment.
ADVANCING THE LINE.
II was ! O'Clock in the afternoon when the
men went to work on the ditch. 1t had been
raining pretty steadily for a week. and there
were heavy squalls at frequent intervals that
afternoon. but most OF the time the Spaniards
had an entirely unobstructed view OF the
Americans and what they were doing. They
took note Of 1t occasionally in a disinterested
sort OF way by sending a Mauser bullet down
now and then to investigate. The messengers
were almost all very high and no damage was
done to our men, who kept at work. undis-
turbed by the desultory shooting. The Colorado
boys had the making OF a good breastwork
done when they were relieved In the morn
ing by the First Nebraska Regiment. The
ditch, trench. outwork. or whatever you call II,