Red Lodge picket. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1889-1907, 1898-06-18
FIRST LAkO BATTLE IN CUBA
THIRTEEN HOURS OF FIGHTING
Four Americans Were Shot Dead
Advance Pickets Under Lieuten-
ants Neville and Shaw Are I'm
accounted For-Spanish Loss Is
Unknown.

| landed from the transport Panther on
Friday and encamped on the hill guard
inc the abandoned cable station at the
! entrance to the harbor of Guantanamo,
has been enga ged in heading off a rush
attack by Spanish guerrllas and regulars
since o'clock Saturday afternoon The
/ fighting was almost continuous for 10
hours. until o'clock this morning, when
reinforcements were landed from the Mar
blehead. -Four of our men were killed
and one wounded. The advance pickets
under Lieutenants Neville and Shaw are
unaccoumtcd for.
Among the killed is Assistant Surgeon
John Blair Gibbs, son of Mayor Gibbs of
| the regular army, who fell in the Custer
massacre His home was at Richmond,
| Va, but he has been practicing in New
! York and entered the service since the
war began. He was very popular Of
licer. The others killed are Sergeant
Charles II. Smith of Smallwood, Private
William Dunphy of Gloucester, Mass:
and Private James McColgan of Stone
ham, Mass.
Corporal Glass was acl lidentally wound
ed in the hand.
Spanish Loss Unknown.
The Spanish loss is unknown, but ii
was probably considerable. The splashes
of blood found at daylight at the posi-
tions the Spanish forces occupied mdi-
cate fatalities, but their comrades car
lied off the killed and wounded. The
engagement began with desultory firing
at the pickets, Il hundred yards inland
from the camp
Captain Spcer's company was doing
guard duty, and was driven in, finally
rallying on the camp and repulsing the
enemy by 5 o'clock.
The bodies of Privates McColgan and
Dunphy We're found, both shot in the
head The large cavities made by the
| bullets, which, inside a range of 500
( Yards, have a rotary motion, indicate
| that the victims We're killed at close
range. The bodies were stripped Of shoes.
hats and cartridge belts, and horribly
mutilated with machetes,
When the bodies were brought in the
whole battalion formed three sides of
hollow square about the camp on the hill
top. Below in the bay were the warslips
at anchor. in the land front Of the camp
is a deep ravine, and beyond this arc
steep hills. The adjacent country is
thick with bushes.
Americans Fine Targets.
The sky was blanketed with clouds and
when the sun set a gale was blowing sea
ward Night fell thick and impenetra-
be The Spanish guerrillas concealed in
the chaparal cover had the advantage,
the men furnishing fine target against
the sky. The Spaniards fought from COW
er until midnight discoverable only by
the flashes of their guns The repeat
ers sounded like crackers in a barrel. The
Marblehead's launch with a Colt machine
gun in her bow, pushed up the bay en-
fladino the Spaniarls and it is thought
that some We're killed. The marines trail
ed much blood to the waters edge and
there lost it. Sharks are numerous in
the vicinity.
The ships threw their searchliehts
ashore, the powerful eyes sweeping the
deep tropic foliage and disclosing occa-
sionally skulSing parties Of Spanish.
1t all represented a transformation
scene at the harbor. Each discovery of
the enemy was greeted by the cracks of
carbine fire along the edge of the camp
ridge or by the long roll of the launch
and the machine gun, searching thickcts
with a leaden stream.
Hand to Hand Struggle.
Shortly after midnight came the main
attack. The Spaniards made a gallant
charge up the southwest slope, but were
met by repeated vo1Ieys from the main
body and broke before they We're one
third of the way up the hill, but they
came so close that at points there was
almost a hand-to- hand struggle. The Of
fcers fired their revolvers. The Span
iards got through the open formation TO
the edge of the camp. Colonel Jose Cam
pima, the Cuban guide, discharged his re-
volver and they, turning and finding
themselves without support, ran helter
Skelter down the reverse side of the hill.
1t was during this assault that Assistant
Surgeon Gibbs was shot in the head in
front of his own tent, the farthest point
of attack He fell into the arms of Pri-
vate Sullivan and both dropped. A sec
ond bullet threw dust in their faces.
Surgeon Gibbs lived 10 minutes but did
not regain consciousness.
Continued All Night.
The surgeons of the hospital corps then
removed their quarters to the trenches
about the old Spanish stockade north of
the camp. The attacks We're continued
at intervals throughout the rest of the
night with firing by small squads in var
ious directions.
| Towards morning the fire slackened.
| Dawn is the favorite time for attack. and
as the east paled, the marines. lying on
| their guns. were aroused. Some were ac-
tually asleep, as they had had no rest for
4S hours and tired nature could not long
er stand the strain. But no attack
came Three new 2-pound field guns,
which could not be used during the night
for fear of hitting our own men, sheled
several squads of Spaniards after day
light. They dove into the bushes like
prairie dogs into burrows as the shells
broke over their heads in the gray
dawn.
Found the Sergeant's Body.
AS the correspondent of the Associated
Press talked with Major Cockrell, who
was in charge of the outposts, word
came of the finding of the body of Ser
geant Smith. He was reported as hav
ing been killed at o'clock on the pre-
vious day, but it appears that he had
been seen alive at 10 o'clock in the even
ing. When and how he was killed no
one knows at this writing. Neither had
the man been mustered out, nor had the
outposts of Neville and Shaw been re-
lieved.
Lieutenant Colonel Huntington and
Major Cockrell gave high praise to the
| nerve and steadiness of officers and men,