Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1898-07-01
IN A DEATH TRAP.
Some More Details of the cattle of La
0uasina.

Juragua, Cuba, June 28-The initial
fight OF Colonel Woods rough riders
and the troopers OF the First and Tenth
regular cavalry will be known in his
tory as the battle OF La Quasina.
That it did not end in the complete
slaughter of the Americans was not due
to any miscaloulation in the plans
of the Spaniards, for as perfect an nm
buscade as was ever formed in the
brain of an Apache Indian was pre-
pared and Lieutenant-Colone Roose-
welt and his men walked squarely into
it. For an hour and a half they held
their ground under a perfect storm of
bullets from front and sides, and then
Colonel Wood at the right, and Lieu
tenant-Colonel Roosevelt, at the left,
led q charge which turned the tide of
battle and sent the enemy flying over
the hills toward Santiago.
1t is now definitely known that 16
men on the American side were killed,
while 80 were wounded or are reported
to be missing. 1t is impossible to cal
culate the Spanish losses, but 1t is
known they were far heavier than those
Of the Americans, at least as regards
actual loss of life. Already 81 dead
Spanish soldiers have been found and
buried, and many others are undoubt-
ediy lying in the thick underbrush.
The wounded were all removed.
That the Spaniards were thoroughly
posted as to the route to be taken by
the Americans in their advance toward
Sevilla was evident as shown by the
careful preparations they had made.
The main body of the Spaniards was
posted on a hill in the heavily wooded
b%lockhouses, fianked by irregular en-
trenchments of stone and fallen trees.
At the bottom of these hills run two
roads, along which Colonel Roosevelt
and eight troops Of the First and Tenth
cavalry, with a battery of four howitz-
ers, advanced. These roads are little
more than gullies, and at places almost
impossible. In these trails the fight
occurred.
About two and a half miles out
from Siboney, some Cubans, breathless
and excited, rushed into the camp with
the announcement that the Span
iards were but a little way in front,
and strongly entrenched. Quickly the
Hotchkiss guns out in the front were
brought to the rear, while a strong
scouting line was thrown out. Then,
cautiously and in silence, the troops
moved forward until a bend in q road
disclosed the hill where th~esSpaniards
were located. The guns were again
brought to the front and placed in po-
%sition, while the men crouched in the
road waiting impatiently to give Roose-
velt's men, who were toiling over the
little trail along the crest OF the ridge,
time to get up.
At 1880 A. NJ, General Young gave
the command to the men at the Hotch-
kiss guns to open fire. The command
was the beginning of a fight that for
stubbornness has seldom been equaled.
The instant the Hotchkiss uns were
fired, the hillsides commanding the
road gave forth volley after volley from
the Mausers OF the Spaniards.
Don't shoot until you see some
thing to shoot at" yelled General
Young, and the men, with set jaws
and cleaning eyes, obeyed the order.
Crawling along the edge of the road
and nTptantinr than,gn1rO, ,a xa..,l -.
possible from the fearful fire of the
Spaniards. the troops. some of them
stripped to the waist, watched the
base OF the hill, and when any part of a
Spaniard became visible, they fired.
Never for an instant did they falter.
One dusky warrior of the Tenth, with
a ragged wound in his thigh, coolly
knelt behind a rock, loading and firing,
and when told by one of his comrades
that he was wounded, laughed and
said:
"Oh, that's all right; that's been
there for some time"
In the meantime, away off to the
left, was heard the crack OF the rifles
of Colonel Woods men, and then the
deeper toned volley firing OF the Span
ish. Over there the American losses
were the greatest.
Colonel Woods men, with an ad.
vance guard well out in front and two
Cuban guides before them, but appar.
emily with no Hangers. went squarely
into the trap set for them by the Span.
iards, and only the unfaltering courage
of the men in the face of a fire that
would make even a veteran quail, pre-
vented what might easily have been a
disaster. As it was, tropp L, the adj
vance guard, under the unfortunate
Cannon waS wall S,r, =.