Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-07-15
The Battle of Caney.
work orthe I'd Massachusetts voIunt,

Work Ofthe Id Massachusetts Volunteers
A. Maurice Low seuds to the Boston
Globe a graphic story of the battle of
July /, before Santiago, in which the "a
Massachusetts regiment suffered so severe
ly. Here are some of its more graphic
portions: ~ =
The forward movement began Thurs
day night, when the artillery, supported |
by the infantry of Chaffee's brigade, NOV
ed forward. The rain had fallen heavily |
that afternoon, and the roads were in
frightfu condition, which made marching .
extremely hard. Comparatively little |
work on the part of the engineer corps |
would have put the roads in fair cond- |
ton, and with very little labor trees might |
have been felled so that men could have |
passed over streams dry-shod, instead of |
having to wade through them, of being |
compelled to spend that night with wet |
feet and again next morning to wade
through more streams and 90 into action |
with their shoes feeling as if filled with |
lead.
During the best part of Thursday night !
the troops marched through mud, and |
when they were within striking distance
of their positions bivouacked on the road.
The men were too exhausted to think of
cooking. Some of them munched a hard
tack or two, the most sank down to sleep,
supperless. With many it was their last
sleep, with many more it was to wake up
next day to wounds and sutferngs.
1t was a gray, murky mornngr 1t was
! long past the hour of sunrise, but no sun
was visible, nothing but gray clouds which
seemed saturated with water. Suddenly
| the sun burst out from behind the clouds,
and as if by prearranged signal the
moment it showed itself one of Lieut..
| Hamilton's guns roared. 1t was GA eX-
| actly. The battle of Caney was opened
The Spanards had small gun in the
fort, which stood on the crest Of a steep
hill Lower down the ridge they had
earthworks, and at each angle rifle pits.
! The fort was pierced with lpophoes for
rifle fire
How many men the Spaniards had in
and about their fort it is impossible to say.
| According to one of their officers whom we
| captured with the fort, there were only
| three companies OF l20 men each. 1t seems
| impossible that $50 men could have made
such stubborn defence, and yet there
! could not have been room for any more.
While the artillery was playing on ;he
fort and doing very little damage, Chaffee's
men had been working their way around
! the hills so as to be i'm position 10 attack
! the fort when the artillery had made the
position untenable. But the enemy had
the advantage Of position, and could pour
whitening rife fire into our men. while
we could do nothing but fire az a stone
wall, which was impervious TO rifle bullets
The 7th regulars. which stood the brunt
of that part of the fight, had voley after
volley poured into its ranks from an un-
seen foe. and yet they never tlnched. As
men dropped the ranks simply closed up,
and not until there was lull did the well
look after the injured.
Pluck of the finest kind was to be seen
everywhere, not man exhibited the least
sign OF fear not man shirked his duty.
! There was no difference between veterans
and recruits, between regulars and volun-
teers.
The superb fighting power of the two
volunteer regiments, the End Massachu
sets and the list New York. commanded
the admiration OF the regulars. Really,
the task of the volunteers was harder than
that of abe regulars. The latter used
smokeless powder and their position could
not be defined; the volunteers, armed with
Springtields and black powder, revealed
themselves at every shot and drew
I massed fire. And yet no man faltered.
Hour after hour this contest was waged.
Gradually, slowly, inch by inch, we
crept forward.
At times we held small hill, only to be
forced to fall back, and then at the next
dash find ourselves forward another few
inches. Nor, one must admit, was the
bravery all on one side. When the Span
iards in the rifle pits ran short of ammu-
J milton, as they did several times during
the engagement, they simply walked out
and went back to the fort.
Instantly they were the targets for a
thousand rifles, but, marvellous as it may
sound, seldom was a man hit. There was
one officer in the fort who exposed him
self a dozen times, but who seemed to
bear a charmed life. Bullets fell all
around him, but none hit the mark.
/ 1t was quarter TO when the fire from
the fort slackened somewhat, and Gen.
Chaffee decided to end the fight with a
bayonet charge. On the left the 25th
came charging down, on the right Com
pany Z of the 18th. Both reached the OBJ
jective simultaneously. The charge was
: short and decisive. The Spaniards were
ready to surrender and Caney was ours.
followed the troops in and the sight
, which greeted me was horrible one. Fort,
! earthworks and rifle pits were veritabe
, shambles, the dead and dying lying in all
directions, many of them showing the
agony they had endured. In the village
itself were more dead bodies 1t was the
terrible side of war, the side which, when
a man has seen ii once, he is never anX
ious to see again.
The fort at FL Caney, now merely 8
mass of ruins, was ours, but the fighting
a was not yet over. The block house in the
village had been taken, but the one on the
I. extreme right, high upon the mountain
= was still in possession of the enemy, anC
kept up a desultory fire until late in thu
!. evening, when the Spanish were forced t.
il evacuate. At o'clock we were in com
p plete possession of Caney.
Fire Wednesday afternoon DESTROYED tn,