The age-herald., 1898-08-28
IN THE CHARGE ON FL CANEY
AiterWard His Regiment Reinforced Troops
 at San Juan.
LIEUT.. AuD's DASH UP THE HILL
formed by an Individual Soldier Dur ing the War-Lieut Estes Will
 Remain Here Some Time.


 Lieutenant G. H. Estes of the Twentieth United States infantry, who is very well known in Birmingham, has arrived in the city from Santiago, and is visiting relatives on the South Highlands. Lieutenant Estes was here for several weeks in May recruit ing for his regiment and secured over fifty men in and around Birmingham.
 He was in the fighting at Santiago, where he served during the entire campaign
 He received slight wounds in the foot and afterward had the malarial fever When his regiment arrived at Montauk Point he secured furlough and is now taking a much needed rest in Birmingham. He ar rived Friday.
 Lieutenant Estes gives a most interesting account of the battles around Santiago and of the campaign in general
 "The Twentieth infantry said he, twas in General Bates division, and very little of interest happened to us until the fight ing began on July
 Our regiment was under fire all the after noon of that day before El Clancy, and we were also in the final charge that was made or the city about dusk.
 "A fact that impressed me as much as anything else during my whole experience in Cuba, was how the men behaved when the first shots of the Spaniards were fired at us. They were apparently as cool as if on the drill ground and when the hnai order to charge came, they did it with will
 Reinforced San Juan
 ss'As soon as we took El Caney our divis- ion was ordered at once to go to the sup port of San Juan hill, which had been cap tured that same day. We arrived there about o'clock the next morning. July 2, in thoroughly exhausted state I have never heard how far that march through the jungle really was but it seemed miles and miles. We fell down in the trenches with the men who had captured the hill during the day, and took what sleep we could.
 .eThe Spanish bullets sounded reveile for us within a few hours. We lay there all day in the trenches some of the men get ting killed. That night our division was ordered to its final station on the extreme left of the line. where we lay entrenched until Santiago surrendered"
 Spanish Bullets
 Lieutenant Estes has in his possession number of Spanish bullets which he picked up in the Spanish trenches He has clip of five ugly little Mausers, bound to- gether just ready to be put into the Span- 1sh rifles. He also has one of the poisoned bullets which were used only by the Span- ish volunteers and guerillas that is a bull let of lead with a casing of brass The brass splits off when the bullet enters the body and the merest scratch from one of them almost invariably caused blood poi son.
 We didn't seem to mind the Spanish bull ments, but the shells from their artillery which exploded right over our heads, had terrible effect on ones nerves. l hope I shall never hear another one Their smokeless powder was, of course, of the greatest advantage to them, and remem- Der we tried all of one morning to locate one of their field pieces. We could hear the shells explode, but had no idea where they were coming from.
 Recruits From Birmingham
 ne IIty or more recruits which I took with me from Birmingham, were not given chance to fight, much to their regret but they with other recruits were held in the rear to form a reserve for the regiment None of them were killed, am sure, and they are now at Montauk, in good health, so far as I know.
 "As you know, only two volunteer regi- ments saw any of the fighting at Santiago, the rough riders and the Seventy-first New York. But all of the other volunteer reg iments showed the greatest enthusiasm considered it great hardship that they were not there in time to get into the scrap This did not prevent hundreds of their men from deserting and slipping to the front, where they went forward on the wild charge on Fl Caney and San Juan
 Lieut.. Aud's Brave Act
 "I think that it was exceedingly strange that there was only one act of conspicuous bravery performed in the whole army dur Ing the war, and that was Lieutenant 70 Aud's brave dash up San Juan hill. He was an officer of the Sixth infantry and was fifty yards in front of his men all the way up the hill; but he, poor fellow, never lived to enjoy his gallant act, for Spanish officer, who was lying on the ground shot him down just he reached the top The 0ssvA Is the basis of good health,