Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1898-09-03
A SANTIAGO VETERAN.
Tells a Large Crowd of his Ex-
periences in the hercest For
eign Fighting.


Modest Nan and did not push Him.
self Forward Disadvantages the
Soldiers had to Contend with-How
They over came them-Heat, Rain,
Vegetation, Insects and Spaniards
all Conspired to make it Interesting
for Them-He is Former Preston
County Resident-NOtes of the Talk
He Made.
Charles Neal of the twenty fifth
infantry arrived in town yesterday
on his way to visit friends at Union
town, and while he was here he re-
lated some very interesting exper-
fences of the Santiago campaign in
which his regiment participated. He
is the first of the veterans of the
historic campaign to visit Morgan
town and he attracted a good sized
crowd who kept him busy for nearly
two hours answering questions about
the experiences of the soldiers in
Cuba.
The regiment is made up of color
ed troops and did some of the heav
lest fighting done during the bat
ties around Santiago. Neal is an in
telligent and observant man and his
answers while full of the modesty
becoming a brave man were most
interesting and thrilling.
The climatic conditions of the
island were described by him as
fearful The heat was awful and of
the fifty three days which his regi-
ment spent there it rained all but
three There was no shelter for the
men and they were of course drench-
ed to the skin. The food they got
was very small in quantity and they
have no accommodations of any
character.
In describing the heat the state
ment was made that on several oeca-
sions when the men had to lie down
to avoid heavy fire from the enemy
the perspiration from their bodies
wet the ground so that their cloth
ing was muddy from it when they
arose.
In addition to the heat the eharac-
ter of the vegetation which formed
an almost impenetrable mat caused
them great suffering. Roads had to
be cut through this. There were no
roads at all. The insects nearly ate
the men alive and the water that
they were forced to drink was fear
full. Everything was against them
but the men never lost heart.
The craftsmanship of the Span
iards was hooted at. The only men
who could shoot were the sharp
shooters and these were nearly all
Frenchmen. None of these were
taken prisoners but when they were
located they were shot out of the
trees in which they were nearly al
ways stationed without mercy.
Finding them was the hard part.
They had leaves over them and used
smokeless powder giving no sign of
their presence. They shot, wound
ed nurses, surgeons and non com
batants without Partially and were
in consequence treated as wild
beasts by the soldiers when they
were found.
But one charge against the Amer
leans was made by the Spaniards in
all the fighting and out Of the five
hundred men who made the attack
which came at night sixty escaped
to tell the tale. The rest were shot
down in their tracks. The bodies
were stacked up saturated with oil
and burned.
The Spaniards never waited for
the Americans to get close to them
but invariably ran when a charge
was made. The longer the fight
lasted the sooner they ran when
charge started for.them. The en-
trenchments behind which they
fought were almost impregnable and
had there been American troops be
hind them they would never have
been dislodged The barbed wire
fences were composed of three paral-
lei fences set three feet apart. These
in turn were connected with one an
other and loose pieces of wire were
thrown indiscrimately making an
obstacle which when defended by ar
tillery with deep trenches in front
one that would quail the stoutest
heart.
| The surrender came as welcome