The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1898-11-23

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 was a mat
ter of surprise that the men were SO
ready and willing, as they had been On
board the transport 16 days before
landing in Cuba. The voice Of the
grulnbler was drowned by chorus from
his comrades. "What is the use?'' they
said. "The government is doing all it
can.
In the deployment of the right OF
Chafee's brigade, the Seventh regiment
took the lead, marching over the ridge
up path in single file. Finally it
struck sunken road on the crest of the
ridge $50 yards from the Spanish block
house, northeast of Ell Caney. The crest
of the ridge offered some protection
from Spanish fire. Looking across the
hollow between them and the village,
the men could seq the enemy in their
trenches. Firing sometimes by volleys
and sometimes at will, the Seventh was
unable to silence the Spanish fire. All
day, fer eight hours, the high key of
tie Mauser rifle could be heard above
the pop of the Krag- Jorgensen.
The slope in front Of the Seventh was
dense chaparral, and charge down
that across the ravine under the muzzi5s
Of the Mausers would have annihilated
the regiment. Besides, in advancing to
the fort the Seventh would have got
ten under the fire of Capron's guns.
They kept their colors flying all day as
markers for Capron. The i were
distributed over every hour OF the day
and over all the companies in the regi-
ment. The officers we're surprised in
the end to learn how many had been
lost, total of 140 out of $50 in line.
AS it was impossible for man to show
the smallest part of his body without
getting it punctured, all the firing was
done while lying down, and all the
killed were shot in the head. Its COM
mander,G S. Carpenter, a veteran of the
civil war, was on the firing line all day.
When the Twelfth regiment advanced
against the stone fort early in the morn
ing, it drew the Spanish fire from the
trenches, the loopholed fort and the
church. Spaniards in the church belfry
first sighted the Twelfth as it moved
from the mountain down through the
hollow to reach high ground 700 or 800
yards from the fort.
Captain Waltz's company crept up
within $50 to 400 yards, working right
and left and trying to get a positica
unswept by the Spanish fire. After the
fort had been preached by Capron's
guns a complete regimental line was
formed and swept forward to the fort,
which was taken possession Of by Com
panies A, D and F under Captain Wood,
Lieutenant Wilde and Captain Clarke.
It was then o'clock. Some of the men
of Company F crept through the holes
which Capron's shells had made in the
stone walls and got the Spanish flag.
Private Abel Of Company A raised the
colors Of the Twelfth over the fort.
Soldiers Of the regiment were wounded
in the fort after it had been taken. The
Spanish flag was handed first to Cap
tain II. L. Haskell, commanding the
battalion to which Company F be-
,onged. Captain Haskell gave it to
Creelman, the correspondent, who was
afterward wounded. The Twelfth men
finally got possession of the flag again,
tore it irto bits and distributed the
pieces through the regiment.
The Twelfth was 500 strong at Ell
Capey, and lost 49 killed and wounded.
Colonel Richard Comba, o war veteran,
was wounded, and was succeeded IN
command by Major H. A. Humphrey,
another war veteran.
After the fort fell the Spaniards in
the village made a weak attempt to re-
take it. They advanced with a scatter
ing line under cover of the fire from the
houses in the village, but were driven
back. Capron's battery moved up and
opened on the blockhouses around the
village. Chafee's regiments also charged
forward through the hollow. For an
hour it was Struggling fight between
the demoralized Spaniards trying to get
away, Americans heading them off, and
the few misguided Spaniards, who