The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-07-16
HEROES UNDER FIRE.
STEPHEN CRANE DESCRIBES The
ROUGH RIDERS FIRST FIGHT.
Needless of Danger That Surrounded
Them. Noisily. careiessiy They Went TO
Death with superb cOurAge-Heroism of
Marshall, the Correspondenf.

If la Quasina a. follows.
And this j. the end Of the third da,
since the landing q the troops. Yester
day was a day Of insurgent fighting aud
runners Of insnrgent fighting The Gu
bans were supposed &C be fighting some
where In the hills with the regiment o.
Santiago de Cuba which had beer quite
cut Of from its native city No Amer
ican soldiery were implicated IN any
way IN the battle But today is differ
snt The mounted infantry-the First
Volunteer cavalry-TedGie's Terrors-
Wood 5 Weary Walkers-have had their
6rst engagement II was bitter hard
first fight for new troops. bat no man
san ever question their gallantry.
Aswe landed from a dispatch boat we
saw the last troop Of the mounted in
fartry vending slowly over the top Of a
hug, hill Three OF Us promptly posted
after them upon hearing the statement
that they had gone cut with the avowed
intention Of finding the Spaniards and
mixing il up with them.
They were far ahead Of rs by the time
we reached the top Of the mountain. but
We swung rapidly on the path through
the dense Cuban thiclets and ia time
met and passed the hospital corps-a
vacant unloaded hospital corps-going
ahead on mules Then there was another
long. lonely march through the dry
woods, which seemed almost upon the
point Of cracking into a blaze under the
rays Of the furious Cuban sun. We met
nothing but blankets, shelter tents,
coats ard other impedimenta. which the
painting rough riders had flung behind
them on their swift march.
In time we came in touch with few
stragglers. men down with heat, prone
and breathing heavily. and then we
struck the rear Of the column We were
now about four miles out, with no
troops nearer than that by the road. /
know nothing about war, Of course, and
pretend nothing, but | have been en-
abled from time to time to see brush
fighting and want TO say here plainly
that the behavior Of these rough riders
while marching through the woods
shook me with terror as / have never
before been shaken.
They knew nothing but their own
superb courage and wound along this
narrow winding path, babbling joyous
~, arguing, recounting, laughing, max
ing more noise than a train going
through tunnel. Any one could tell
from the conformation of the country
when we were liable TO strike the enc.
my's outposts, but the clatter of
tongues did not then cease. Also those
of Us who knew heard going from hill
lock to hillock the beautiful COO Of the
Cuban wood dove-ah, the wood dove,
the Spanish guerrilla wood dove which
had presaged the death of gallant ma
rines. For my part declare that was
frightened almost into commissions In
cidentally i mentioned the cooling of
the doves to some of the men, but they
said decisively that 10 Spaniards did
not use this signal. don't know how
they knew
Well after we had advanced we'll
that, well into the zone of Spanish fire
"a loud order came along the line,
There's Spanish outpost just ahead,
and the men must stop talking "Stop
talkin, can't ye - it" bawled SER
geant. "Ah, say, can't ye stop talkin?"
howled another was frightened be.
fore shot was fired, frightened because
l thought this silly brave force was
wandering placidly into great deal of
trouble. They did. The firing began.
-Four little volleys were fired by mem.
bers Of a troop deployed to the right
Then the Mauser began to pop-the ia.
miliar Mauser pop. A captain announced
that this distinct Mauser sound was our
own Krag -Jorgensen. oh. misery
Then the woods became aglow with
fighting. Our people advanced, deploy-
ed, REINFORCED, fought. fell-in the
bushes, in the tall grass, under the lone
palms-before foe not even half seen.
Mauser bullets came from three sides.
Mauser bullets-not Krag- Jorgensen-
although men began to cry that they
were being fred into by their own peo-
ple-whined in almost all directions.
Three troops went forward in skirmish
order and in five minutes they called
for re-enforcements. They were under a
cruel fire. Half of the men hardly knew
whence it came, but their conduct, by
any soldierly standard, was magnificent
The rough riders advanced steadily
and confidently under the Mauser bul.
lets. They spread across some open
ground-tall grass and palms-and
there they began to fall, smothering
and thrashing down IN the grass, mark.
ing man shaped places among those
luxuriant blades. The action lasted
about one-half hour Then the Span
iards fed. They had never had men fight
them in this manner. and they fed. The
business was too serious. Then the he.
roic rumor arose, scared. screamed above
the bush Everybody was wounded
Everybody was dead. There was no.
body Gradually there was somebody
There was the wounded. the important
wounded. And the dead
Meanwhile soldier passing near me
said, There's correspondent up there
all shot to hell. He guided me to