Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1898-11-30

I | kf7fAAAS4JS4ZEw was fought pre- l 6ANI ErANrt cisely as planned | ESH "A NGeneral ChafTee | l6 H~ NA IS universally | hS&A AETN S>K M pronounced by | r. 1kTSR@Ahis equals in | b~A A rank as well as
 his supefiors an able soldier. He personally reconnoit- cred all the region around Fl Canoy before submitting the plan which Law ton adopted without change. Of course it was supposed that the artillery (. Q would speedily render the fort, 3ae blockhouses, the church and O..
 buildings practically useless for defe:..
 and that short fight between the ia
 fantry would end the battle. Bat there were only four guns at hand, and wIil
 these were of the very best and vers | splendidly served. under the peI sCn... direction of Lieutenants W R l. ply and Allston Hamilton. they verc Lot able at the range which their smoking | powder compelled them to take 10 suias n things for Chaffee in tbe required time Every discharge of the guns was fol lowed by showers of Mauser bullets | flying wild, of course, but the result showed that the battery would have been silenced by Mauser fire alone had it attempted to do its work at short range In the old style of fighting, where both sides used smoking powder and short range rifles, infantry were counted upon to keep down infantry fire and give the artillery a chance At the old artillery range of 500 yards | Capron could have smashed the stone fort and blockhouses in short order. 4 veteran who commanded a Iegi- ment at Fl Clancy told me that the Span ish position there was an ideal ore; that one Spaniard was equal to four Americans in the charging line The village of Fl Clancy itself is compact group of stone houses The tallest of these, a. we'll as the church on the hill side back of them and its belfry, were loopholed, and on the outskirts of the village there were several ordinary blockhouses filled in with earth and one made of stone. The key to the position, as before stated, was the strong stone fort, southeast of the village, crowning hill about 100 feet high. The Fl Caney garrison has been variously esti- mated from 500 to 1, 900 infantry, no artillery nor machine guns. An esti- mate, which seems to be generally ac- cepted, places the strength at 460 men
 It has also been stated that 460 men were killed, wounded and taken prison CTS. The Spanish general, Vara del Key. with his brother and two sons, were among the killed.
 General Chaffee's plan was to throw the left regiment of his brigade against the stone fort, swinging his right in line with it around so as to sweep the interval between the fort and the viii lage and thus hold the Spanish between his line and that of Ludlow's During the night of the 90th he placed a com pany of the Twelfth regiment at the base of a hill which lay between his bivouac and the stone fort, with orders to seize the hill in the morning. He also placed a company of the Seventh regi- ment on a height northeast of Fl Caney.
 At daylight of the Ist Chaffee sent the Twelfth regiment to deploy to the right of the company posted on the hill and attack in a southwest direction- that is, toward the fort, and at the same time he led the Seventh and Seventeenth north by a road from Montanamo, changing directions southwest toward the village and the interval between that and the fort. At about 7:30, or an hour after Capron's guns opened, these regiments came tn view of the Twelfth and formed connection, So as to cover the whole Spanish position. The bri- Rade line was actually formed about $ o'clock, for in advancing the men on the right found themselves fired on from a blockhouse northeast of Fl Caney viii lage Fifty Cubans were sent against the blockhouse' to keep its fire down.
 The glory of taking the stone fort fell to the Twelfth regiment, but the Sew enth and Seventeenth, on its right, should share the honor. They fought the Spaniards flank and rear. The Sev- enteenth on the extreme right, near the village, crept forward to a sunken road on the crest, looking down into 8 val ley upon the village. Below them vas q hollow through which runs a creek, but when they attempted to advance down the slope toward the creek the men had Do cover at all In the low land was a rsvine completely covered by Spanish fire. The orders of the regi- nent were not to fire except they could 10 so effectively, which was seldom, as the SpaniaIds plying their Mausers at them were LiJden behind the stone walls of houses. Tn blind trenches and behind ba-.lcadCs where their smoke less powder did not give them away. The rcain-CLt went into the fight at bI Cauey 4OO s..uLE and lost l l men killed and % wounded Lieutenant Colonel J. T Haskell was wounded by three Mauser bullets. and the command de- voIyed upor Msiu L. M O'Brien. veteran soldier of the Twenty-seventn Michigan. The men of this regiment fought all day upon empty stomaches, having had no prepared meal since noon the day before. They had left their packs and haversacks behind them. Major O'Brien said that it ' as mat ter of surprise that the men were so ready and willing, as they had been on board the transport Is days before landing in Cuba The voice of the grumbler was drowned by chorus from his comrades. "What is the use?'' they said. "The government is doing all 1t can.
 In the deployment of the right Of Chaffee's brigade, the Seventh regiment took the lead, marching over the ridge up a path in single file Finally It struck a sunken road on the crest of the ridge s20 yards from the Spanish block house, northeast of Fl Caney. The crest of the ridge offered some protection from Spanish fire Looking across the hollow betwe4a them and the village the men could see the enemy in thelr trenches Firing sometimes by volleys and sometimes at will, the Seventh was unable to silence the Spanish fire. All day, for eight hours, the high key Of the Mauser rife could be heard above the pop of the Krag-Jorgensen-