The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-17

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not such very poor gunners as we had been
leading ourselves to believe.
They've got range or that nil pretty
fine" said an artillery officer; hut they'd
got it before We mounted it..
After time the Shrapnel storm seemed
to have Numbered itself out, and our bait
terry at Ell Poso. against which the storm
had broken as thunder clouds are ATTRACTED
by mountains was keeping quiet, too. so
started once more for my front-row seat.
AT the foot of the field was a field dress
hobb.ing or being carried in steady and aw-
full procession. There was a look OF panied
surprise on the faces of some of the less Sc
riously injured, the cause or which l soon
''The devils" said one man with a wound
In the hip. they got me before ever l saw
Spaniardi We'd only just crossed the
ford making ready to advance and, the
next thing know is enough for my curios-
ity."
A great many of the troops were hit by
spreading bullets from the shrapnel, the
road along which the troops were passing
| many were hit by dropping shots fired too
high at troops ahead of them.
And then there was the balloon--the OBJ
servation balloon, which was to disclose all
the secrets of the enemy's strength and de-
| lenses. 1t went up nicely enough. and no
| when it fioated some two hundred yards
above the talleSt palms in the plain Ii occu-
pied a very conspicuous posit , ana . the
day afternoon sportsman at carrier pig
| con. 1t did not matter so much for the bal
looms sake, but as 1t was trailed along the
| line of the road by which our men were
marching, many shot which was fired at
| 1t hit a soldier.
battery was not firing for time, we used
the earth mound in front OF the gun Tor
seats, and after a time had something TO
see; but to the right the rifle fire was still
as heavy and unbroken as full peal OF
balls And the worst OF II was rt mat IL qua
Caney was not yet taken But there was
| heavy firing now along the direct road. Gen.
| WheelerS dismounted cavalry were along
| there already, and General Kent's infantry
division was marching along. Now we
! should see something. There had been an
| Caney to-day for positions sake, and then
use the advantage of the position to-mor-
| hand right out to-day. However, that little
| Caney seems to be taking up a good deal
of time Rattle go the guns on the Santiago
road and along in the woods on either sldS
| of it. Occasionally loud and clear above all
| the volleying, and with a. metallic edge 70
| its sound, comes the. report of a single
rifle 1t is from Spanish sharpShooter hid
den in a palm tree picking Off passers-oy.
There were no volleys and answering vol
leyS. Both sides seemed to be shooting all
the time But the shooting was going fur
| Their and further away. Our men were max
ing ground rapidly; They came in sight on
| treating Spaniards to their next defenses.
| Only in one place was there anything to be
seen. From away beyond where the ROAD
| buried itself in the trees long cloud or
| blackish smoke arose, lowered and then lost
| itself. A few minutes later it would arise
| again. but a hundred yards so further on,
! and then further on again, and still further
on. 1t marked the advancing positions or
| the Seventy-first New York Volunteers,
with whose old Springfield rifles smoky
| powder is burned.
A DARING CHARGE
When afternoon camel lost exact count
of time-there was still tumble of volley-
ing over by Caney. But In front our men
were away out of sight behind ridge far
ahead. Beyond there arose a long. steepish
| ascent crowned by the blockhouse upon
which the artillery had opened fire in the
| morning
Suddenly. as we looked through our
| glasses we saw a little black ant go scram-
bling quickly up this hill, and an inch or
| two behind him a ragged line of other little
ants, and then another line of ants al am
until it seemed as if somebody had dug a
| stick into a great ants nest down IN the
valley, and all the ants were scramoling
away up hill. Then the volley firing began
| ten times more furiously than before; from
| the right beyond the top OF the ridge burst
| upon the ants a terrific fire OF shells; from
| the blockhouse in front of them machine
guns sounded their continuous rattle. But
| the ants swept up the hill. They seemed 70
they still went forward 1t was incredible,
but it was grand. The boys were storming
the hill The military authorlties were mos. most
splendid athletic dare-devilS of ours doing II.
But that military commander should have
allowed a. fortified and entrenched position
to be assailed by an infantry charge up the
side of long exposed hill, swept by ter
rible artillery fire, frightened them, not SO
much by its audacity as by its terrible cost
in human life.
AS they neared the top the different lines
came nearer together. One moment they
went a little more slowly then they nearly
stopped; then they went on again raster
than ever. and then all We sitting there on
the top Of the battery cried with excite-
ment. For the ants were scramDllng All
a moment or two we saw them inside II.
But then our hearts swelled up into our
throats for fearful fire came from some
where beyond the blockhouse and from
somewhere TO the right OF 1t and somewhere
to the left of it. Then we saw the ants
come scrambling down the Hill again They
had taken a position which they had not
the force to hold. But a moment or two,
and up they scrambled again, more or them,
and more quickly than before, and up the
lines, and the ridge was taken. and the
blockhOuse was ours. and the trenches were
full of dead Spaniards.
II was a grand achievement-for the sol
diers who shared it-this storming OF the
hill leading up from the ST. Juan river to the
ridge before the main fort. We could tell
so much at 1850 yards. But we also knew
that ii had cost them dear.
Later on we knew only too well how
heavy the cost was. AS / was trying 10
some meadow grass as wet with dew as
if there had been thunderstorm. / saw
man / knew In the Sixteenth, who had come
back from the front on some Grand.
''How's the Sixteenth" I asked him.
Good, WHAT'S left of it." he said: there's
fifteen men left or my company-nIteeb out
of a hundred.