The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-07-06

Port Antonio. Jam. July s.--The Span
ish made a desperate attack upon our
left shortly before 10 o'clock Saturday
night. The assault was directed at the
position that had been carried by Gen.
eral Kenrs men. The spaniards left
the trenches and charged across the
open. striktng heavily upon General
Wykoff's brigade. consisting of the
Ninth. Thirteenth and Twenty-fourth
infantry. They were reinforced by a
heavy Are ell along their hne of guns
and batteries, and succeeded in driving
some OF our men from the trenches: but
the heavy fire the Americans in turn
Soured In staggered the Spanish line
and sent II reeling backward with heavy
loss. The Americans had advanced
from the trenches for the first time
and while the Spaniards were In the
open some Of our gatlings on the extreme
left didNterrible execution. The casual
hies among our men were not heavy.
General Hawkins was shot In the foot.
Over 200 additional wounded were taken
to the rear during the night, one batch
consisting of 100.
Under General Skaters orders the
battle was reopened ct o. clock Sunday
morning along the whole line. the re-
cruits being ordered TO the front. Our
loss has now reached 100 killed and
wounded. Part OF the night attack was
directly opposite the station of the Third
and Sixth cavalry.
Captain Bowden of the Third cavalry
went with working party at I a. IN. to
straighten the line OF entrenchments
between General Chaffee's brigade on
the right and General Kents division
on the left. Whether there was an ac-
udent u unknown; but he ciashed in
the dark with the Spanish. who were
advancing In front of the working
party. and was obliged to retire. -Rollo
of troop + was killed and Poole OF troop
" was wounded. The Spanish did not
advance close enough to draw the fire
or the American main line. The action
lasted Is minutes and went on stimuli
tanecusly at other points on our front
fhe Spanish loss could not be ascer-
NAMED.
shortly before noon Sunday, orders
were sent up and down our line to cease
nring; and at exactly 1e o'clock n
nag OF truce was raised above the rifle
trenches on San Juan hill. The Span
iards observed the nag. and a few mo-
ments later CoIonsl Dorst Of General
Shelters star conveyed across the dis
puted ground the following demand for
the surrender Of the city TO the command
Ing general OF tho SPANS forces: Sir.
III n s,.<
less you surrender I shall be obliged to
shell santiago. Please instruct the for
sisn citizens and all women and children
that they should leave the city before 10
o'clock tomorrow morning..
The enemy observed the flag of truce.
and not shot was fred until Colonel
Dorst returned. At first the men in
the rife pits on both sides showed them
selves gingerly; but when they saw
there was no danger all climbed out OF
their narrow quarters, stretched their
legs and surveyed one another curlousIy
across the intervening valleys Men
who had been trying to pick each other
on for three days examined each Others
persons and made mental notes for fu-
ture use.
The hghting Friday and Saturday cost
the American army 1900 men. This es-
innate Is made by the surgeons at di-
vision headquarters after caref,1 fgun-
Ing by the surgeons At the hospitals.
The list OF wounded, as made up at the
division headquarters, u very large in
proportion to the list OF those killed out
right. Probably less than 100 all told
OF the number OF wounded have died,
making the total number OF deaths in
the neighborhood OF 100 The remainder
OF the wounded will probably recover.
Considering the fact that not over II, 900
men were engaged on our side. and that
not all of these we're actually under fire,
the percent OF loss Is very heavy. The
slaughter was brought about mainly
by the gallantry with which our troops
advanced into the open ground i'm the
face OF very heavy hre from the Span
ish cntrenchments and rifle pits. Our
men generally had the opinion that the
fpaniards could not shoot. and many.
IL must be confessed, thought they
would not fight. Both impressions
were erroneous. particularly the latter.
The Spanish have fought with. great
determination and bravery. The re-
turns show that q number of regiments
suffered very heavily. the Seventy-first
New York being the worst cut up OF the
volunteer regiments and the Thirteenth
and Sixth regular infantry suffering
most among the regulars. with the
Seventh and Sixteenth infantry close In
the race for glory. 'ffrt s.