The Portland daily press., 1898-08-04

to General duWblnS u bu1S biofpiAShU.
7 This would have speedily delivered them
in their proper place on the left of their
brigade but under the fire of the enemy
the leading batteries of this regiment was
thrown into confusion and recoiled in
disorder on the troops in the rear. At
this moment the officers of my staff prac-
tically formed Gordon behind the panic
stricken man and urged them to again go
forward. finally ordered them to lie
down in the thlcket and clear the way
for others of their own regiment, VINO
were coming up behind. This many OF
them did, and the second and third pat
talions came forward in better order ana
moved along the road towards the 1ora'
One of my staff officers ran bacK way
ing his hat to hurry forward the third
brigade, who upon reaching the FORKS
found the way blocked by men OF the list
New York. There were other men OF this
regiment crouching in the bushes, many
of whom were encouraged by the advance
of the approaching column to arise ana
90 forward. AS already stated l had re-
eaived orders some time before to keep
in the rear of the cavalry division.
Their advance was much delayed, re-
sulting in frequent halts, presumably to
drop their blanket rolls and due to the
natural delay in fording a stream. These
DELAYS under such a hot fire grew ex
ceedingly irksome and l then pushed
tits head of my division as quickly as
could toward the river in column of
files or twos paralelled in the narrow
way by the cavalry. This quickened
the forward movement and enabled me-
to get into position as speedily as pos
sible for the attack. Owing to the con-
gesfed condition of the road, the pro-
gress of the narrow column was, how
ever, painfully slew. I again sent staff
officer at gallop to urge forward the
troops in rear. The head of Wikoff's
brigade reached TIE forks at 12. 20 p. M,
and hurried to the left, stepping over
prostrate forms of Eaen of the fist. This
heroic brigade consisting of the 18th,
9Th and gath U. S. cavalry speedily
crossed the stream and were quickly
deployed to the left of the lower ford
While personally experimenting this
movement, Col Wikoff was killed, the
command of the brigade devolving upon
Lieut. Col. Worth, 18th infantry, who
Immediately fell, severely wounded, and
then u;,on Lieut. Col. Liscum, Gath infan
try. who five minutes later also fell IN
der the whitening fire Of the enemy. The
command OF the brigade then devolved
upon Lieut.. Col. Ewers, 9Th infantry.
Meanwhile 1 had again sent a staff
nde The 10th and Cd infantry soon ar
rived at the forks and were detected to
the left to follow the third brigade,
while the 21st was directed along the
main road to support Hawkins.
Crossing the lower ford few minutes
later, the 10th and Cd moved forward to-
ward the green knoll already referred to,
as my objective on the left. Approaching
the knoll, the regiments deployed, passed
over the knoll, driving back the enemy
in the direction of their trenches. Col.
Pearson. 10th infantry. and the officers
and troops under his command, deserve
great credit for the manner in which this
movement was executed.
Prior to this advance of the second
brigade the third, connecting with
Hawkins's troops on the right, had
moved toward Fort San Juan, scaling a
steep hill and assisting in capturing the
enemy's position, at 100 r. m.
This crest was about 1875 feet above the
general level and was defended by
trenches and brick fort, surrounded
by barbed wire. Gen. Hawkins, some
time after reached the crest, reported
that the 9th and l6thinfantry had capt
ured the hill, which I now considered in
correct and credit is almost equally due
the 9th, 9th, 18th, 10th and oath regiments
Of infantry. Owing to Gen. Hawkins's
representations I forwarded tie report
sent to corps headquarters about p. M,
that the 9th and 10Th infantry regiments
had captured the hill The 18th infan
try captured the enen1y's colors waving
over the fort, but unfortunately destroyed
them, distributing the fragments among
the men, because, as was asserted, sit
was bad omen'' two or three men hay
ing been shot while assisting Private Ar
thur Agney, Co. Ell, 18th infantry, the
oaptor.
All fragments which could be recovered
are submitted with this report. The ut
most credit is due the officers of my COM
mand who so admirably directed the
formation of their troops unavoidably
intermixed in the dense thicket and made
the desperate rush for the 'distanb and
strongly defended crest. have already
mentioned the circumstances of my third
brigade's advance across thelford, where
in the brief space Oft ten minutes it lost
its brave commander (killad0, and the
next two ranking officers, by disabling
wounds Yet in spite Of these oonfus.
ing conditions the formations were
effected without hesitation, although I'M
der a heavy fire, companies acting singly
in some circumstances and battaiions
and regiments in Others, rushing through
the jungle, across the stream, waist deep,
and over the wide bottom thickly set