Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-06-29

| brought to the front and placed in posi-
ton, while the men crOuched down in
| TIE road, waiting impatiently to give
| Roosevelt's men, who were toiling over
the little trail along the crest of the
| ridge, time to get up.
AT 1870 a. IN. Gen. Young gave the
| command to the men at the Hotchklss
guns to open fire. The command was the
| signal for fight that for stubbOrnness
has seldom been equaled. The instant
! the HOtchkiSS guns were fired the hill
sides commanding the road gave forth
vOlley after volley from the Mausers of
| the SpaniardS.
| Don't shoot until you see something to
shoot at" yelled Gen. Young, and the
men, with set jaws and cleaning eyes.
obeyed the order. Crawling alon1 the
edge of the road and protecting them
| selves as much as possible from the fear
| full fire Of the Spaniards, the troopers,
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 husky warrior of the Tenth caval-
! ry, with a ragged wound in his thigh.
ccoolly knelt behind a rock, loading and
hring, and when told by one of his com
rades that he was wounded, laughed and
| said: ooh, that's all right. That's been
! there for some time
! In the meantime, away off to the left
could be heard the crack of the rifles of
| Co!. WOODS men and the regular. deeper
| toned voIley firing of the Spanish. Over
| there the American losses were the great
| est.
Woods Men IL the Trap.
| Col. Woods men, with an advance
! guard well out in front and two Cuban
guides before them, but apparently with
| no Hankers, went squarciy into the trap
| set by the Spaniards, and only the I'M
| falterlng courage of the men in the face
! of fire that would even make veteran
! quall prevented what might easily have
! been disaster
! As 1t was Troop l., the advance guard
under the unfortunate Capt. Capron. was
! almost surrounded, and but for the rein
| t0rcements hurriedly sent forward every
man would probably have been killed or
! wounded.
There must have been nearly 1900
| Spaniards in front and to the sides of
u.s. said Lieut.-Col. Roosevelt today
! when discussing the fight. "They held
the ridges with rifepits and machine
! guns, and had a body Of men in ambush
! IN the thick jungle at the sides Of the
| road over which we were ADVANCING.
| Our advance guard struck the men in
! ambush and drove them out But they
| lost Capt. CaprOn and about fifteen men
! killed or wounded
The Spanish firing was accurate, so
! accurate, indeed, that it surprised me-;
| and Their hrlng was fcarfully heavy
''Not Man FIinched."
| Il want to say & word for our own
men. Every officer and man did his duty
up TO the handle. Not a man tiinched.'
From another officer who took a prom
lnent part In the fighting more details
were obtained. when the firing began, y
said he, 'Lieut.-Col. Roosevelt took the
right wing with Troops G. and H. under
! .IpWplVn
to the support Of Capt. Capron, who was
| getting 1t hard. At the same time Col
| Wood and Maj. BrOdie took the left wing
and advanced III open order on the Span
lsh right wing. Maj. Brodie was wound
ed before the troops advanced 100 yards.
| Col Young then took the right wing and
! shifted Lieut.-Col. Roosevelt to the left.
In the meantime the fire of the Span
lards had increased in volume. but. not
Withstanding this, an order for general
charge was given and with yell the
men sprang forward Col. Roosevelt in
front of his men, snatched rife and am
munitiOn belt from a wounded soldier
and, cheering and yelling with his men,
led the advance
For moment the bullets were singing
IKE swarm of bees all around them
and every instant some poor fellow went
down. On the right wing Capt McCin-
took had his leg broken by bullet from
a machine gun, while four of his men
went down. AT the same time Capt. Luna
OF Troop + lost nine of his men.
Then the reserves, Troops X and E,
were ordered up.
Capture of the B1ockhouse.
Col. Wood, with the right wing.
charged straight at a blockhouse, 800
yards away, and Col. Roosevelt, on the
left, charged at the same time Up the
men went, yelling like fiends and never
stopping to return the fire of the Span
lards, but keeping on with a grim deter
mination to capture that blockhouse.
That charge was the end. When with
in 800 yards of the coveted point the
Spaniards broke and ran, and for the first
time we had the pleasure which the Span
iards had been experiencing all through
the engagement, of shooting with the enc
my in sight.
I'm the two hours fighting. during
which the volunteers battled against their
concealed enemies, enough deeds of hero
ism were done to fill a volume One of
the men of Troop E, desperately wounded,
was lying squarely between the lines of
fire. Surgeon Church hurried to his side,
and with bullets pelting all around him
calmly dressed the mans wound, BAN
daged it and walked unconcernedly back,
soon returning with two men and litter.
The wounded man was placed on the lit
ter and brought into our lines.
Another soldier of Troop L, concealing
|
gave up his place to wounded companion
and a moment or two later was himself
wounded.
Capron Borrows a Rife.
"Sergt. Bell stood by the side of Capt.
Capron when the latter was mortally hit.
He had seen that he was fighting against
| terrible odds, but he never f1inched. Give
me your gun a minute he said to the SER
geant. and kneeling down, he deliberately
aimed and fired two shots in quick success
sion. At each shot a Spaniard was seen
to fall Bell, III the meantime had seized
dead comrades gun and knelt beside his
captain and fired steadily.
when Capt. Capron fell he gave the
| sergeant a parting message to his wife
and father and babe the sergeant good-by
in cheerful voice and was then borne
| away dying.
"Sergt Hamilton Fish. Jr.. was the first
man killed by the Spanish fire. He was
near the head of the column as it turned
from the wood road into range of the
| Spanish ambuscade. He shot one Spani-
ard who was firing from the cover of a
dense patch of underbrush When a bull
| let struck his breast he sunk at the foot
| of a tree with his ha ok against if Cant