The San Francisco call., 1898-10-13


 of Manila. they saw the white flag fly < ing over the old town as they crossed the Luneta, they were drawn up in front of the northern gate of the walled city, were fired upon and lost two men through a stupid rebel blunder, had passed through and left behind them 2500 Spanish soldiers in arms, before General Greene himself caught them, and before the Eighteenth regulars or any other American troops We're any where in sight, The Colorado troops, so far as anybody at the front knows, stayed at Fort San Antonio all the bal ance of that day. Certainly they never got within hailing distance of the troops actually in Manila.
 General Greene himself was surprised to find the Californians so far ahead.
 How did you get here, COlOnel?"- he asked, as he overlook the victorious Californians before the walled city.
 T had orders to come ahead, Gen. eraI" was the answer. 'I came ahead. y"
 And Colonel Smith kept going. He advanced along the wide drive that sweeps around the walled city, sta toned his troops upon the Puente Els pana, cutting off the business part of the city from the citadel, and upon the "Uente COlsante, or suspension bridge, ~?1us virtually securing command of the Pasig, and made his way thence into the fine residence district of Mala- kanan, virtually holding Manila at his mercy. 1 rode across the Puente Es- pana and down upon the Escolta when the Californians on the bridge were In peril, because the citizens themselves did not then know the city had sur rendered.
 And for all this glorious achieve ment Colonel Hale of the First COlOradO-nOt Colonel Smith Of the First California, mark yOu-ls maQe a brigadier general. Colonel Hale is the h. -oTT, hlTr ra6 alarmed the camp on the first night or his arrival at Camp Dewey, causing the California boys to turn out in the rain because he had heard the insur- gents fire a few shots at MaIate-the Colorado man not being accustomed to Greene to leave his comfortable quar- ters on shipboard and pull for the shore Colonel Hale said after he had thought the matter over for feW dayS' that he had been giving his men prac- tice drill The sentry who came pant ing into the California camp to glYe the alarm was about the most badly scared man l ever saw at practice drill If he was acting part, he missed his vocation when he became soldier So did Colonel Hale, when he sent to the California Regiment TOT help because the Spaniards were "driv- ing in his pickets." It happened that reliable officer of my acquaintance was at the front that night, in the lnSurSeht trenches-for this was in the days De- fore General Greene had pushed Aguln- aldo's men aside to make room Tor ms own pet earthwOrks-and this officer told me nothing whatever had nap pened between the Colorado outposts and those OutpOsts were back or the rebel trenches-and the place where Aguinaldo had possibly halt hundred men stationed to guard his smooth bore guns The Spaniards were more than usually quiet, not relishing the notion of fight in the rain, ana the rebels were also saving thelf poWueF' The Colorado sentry who opened the rehearsal so far as anybody could see, had shot at his own shadow ana ran away as fast as his legs could carry him. It was masterly practice-tor Col onel Hale's men. Still, 1t was not klnu to keep the Californians in the darK concerning what was about to hapPeh' and certainly 1t was most unklnd 10 cause the boys to lose their sleep ID that way on the very first night Cole rado landed. and after the generous CaIifornians had even shared thelr to- bacco with the newcomers
 Mind. I have no criticism to make upon this kind of practice It is mas terly, in its way, but it Is not var Still, if it could be carried through With out q disturbance of the peace Of one neighbors in camp, I do not know of q better way to break men in to the fude alarms necessarily incident to the ex- istence of a condition of active hoslth- ties. I knew when Colonel Hale sent over to Colonel Smith for help that night on the plea that the Spanlard5 had driven in his pickets, there were some persons rude enough to assert that the Colorado man had cola Feet and was panicky, but those were sim ply the malicious, always to be found 4r, h1 R wholly and entirely great. Also, Col onel Hale made a full and complete eX- planation of the whole episode, after he had time to think about 1t, by the practice drill story, and about head quarters they were content to let It go at that Possibly it was the gener- alship shown in achieving any kind or acceptable explanation at that time which won Hale his stars, and not the part he did not take in the real advance on Manila.
 Or it may be that the tardy turning out of the First Colorado Regiment on the night of the real alarm, that awful 31st of July, when the First Cali fornia went down into the trenches through a hell of flying bullets and bursting shells, marking its path by it's dead to the relief of the hard pressed Tenth Pennsylvania, won the brigade for the Rocky Mountain colonel. It Is sometimes DetIeE SeIleI dISllIp lO save than to sacrifice men. Colonel Hale kept his in reserve, well out of the line of fire that night.
 Whatever it was, it was not being the first to enter Manila that gave Colonel Hale his honor. History will record that Colonel Smith of the First California led his men, fighting every step of the way, to the walls of the old town. That is a fact even the "pulr' is not strong enough to overcome. Whether Colonel Smith is to be a vic tim of the ingratitude of our own be- loved republic is a matter for the fu- ture to determine Californians, at all events, should unite to see that justice is done. The fact remains the fact and the witnesses are living. Every man of Companies B, D, H and I of the Second Battalion of the First Cali fornia Regiment. General Greene him. self, the correspondent of the London Times, MT. F. D. Millett, knows that the facts of the advance upon Manila are as here set down. Colonel Smith of the First California had the city at his mercy before the formal capitu- lation, and before even General Mer- ritt's representative, Colonel Whittier,