Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-07-06

infantry, the Seventy-first New York
and the Ninth cavalry. But II so hap
pened that the last two organizations,
together with the Rough Riders, had to
bear the brunt of it.
Coolly the men prepared themselves
for the desperate undertaking that all
realized lay before them. Every man
saw to it that his cartridge belt was
full, and the fence clippers were sta
toned in proper position. With every
thing in readiness the advance was
commenced under heavy fire. The
men went forward shooting and cheer
ing. The artillery and machine gun
fire coming down on them from the
top of the hill was terrific but Oh they
went steadily. AS the generally even
line approached the wire fence, the
clipper men rushed forward, three
men TO pannel. One man would clip
the wires in the middle; two others
would wrap and twist the loose ends
about the posts. Several brave men
were killed and wounded here but
the advancing Americans suffered no
check. In the face of the heat and
fire, the soldiers fought their way on
up the hill, to the very top. The
Spaniards beat a hasty retreat toward
the city, and although tired and ex.
hausted, the Americans succeeded III
shooting dozens of them in the backs.
Most of the dramatic incidents OF
the battle will have to be written up
later. There were many, however.
While the Twenty-frst infantry was
suffering heavily from the fire of the
Spaniards, some one in the lines struck
up the "Star'Spangled Banner" 9th
ers joined in with the first notes. Even
the wounded took it up, and soon the
valley began to echo with the cadence
of the soul-inspiring song.
The Cubans fought bravely under
Garcia and other generals. The gen.
erals proved that they had as much
courage in the open as in the brush.
Wherever the hardest fighting was go
ing on, the Cubans tried to get there.
They were impressed with the sublime
courage of the Americans, and they
wanted 10 show that they too knew
how to fight. The American volun-
teers proved to be worthy comrades
for the regulars, and the regulars held
up the honor of the flag in a way that
many have supposed to be entirely
within the province of volunteers.
During Friday afternoon the ammu-
milton of several brigades became al
most entirely exhausted, and for
time it looked rs if they were to be
placed in a critical position but, for
tunately, there arrived pack train
with supplies, and empty cartridge
belts were replenished.
From about 10 o'clock on up to
nightfall, the few roads back to camp
were thronged with wounded soldiers.
Many were able to walk, but hun
dreds had to be carried on litters.
The prostrations from heat were also
quite numerous. The work of the
Red Cross corps, under Clara Barton,
was simply magnificent. The noble
ladies pressed close to the front, or
wherever their duty seemed to call
them, and by giving timely and eff.
cient aid, there is no doubt that they
saved many lives which would have
otherwise been lost. At times the he
roic ladies were in great danger from
the enemy's bullets but as to whether
any were injured has not yet been re-
ported.
One incident, if true, shows the cow
ardly nature of the Spaniards. Dur
ing the stormiDg of San Juan heights,
it is said that the Spanish sharpshoot-
ers gave especial attention to the pick
ing off of the Americans who we're
engaged in the work of carrying their
wounded comrades to the rear. And
this while the advancing Americans
were still engaged in storming the
heights.
At about o'clock, Friday afternoon,
the entire reserves of the American
army were ordered to the front, and
the order was hurriedly obeyed. The
idea of the order, however,
was to relieve the men who had been
fighting all day. The Spaniards had
been whipped, and when the
reserves arrived, had evacuated most
of their positions and retreated on
Santiago. When night fell the Ameri-
cans were occupying line two miles
nearer Santiago than in the morning.
and they Immediately entrenched
there to facilitate the hold
ing of all that had been gained.
FIGHTING OF SATURDAY.
Darkness Friday night saw the
American army entrenched every
where before Santiago. The night was
spent in strengthening entertainments
and in carrying wounded to the rear.
This was done largely in army wagons
and the jostling over the rough roads
inflicted agonies on the poor soldiers.
The main hospital was at Siboney, nine
miles away. Here a comparatively
small force of surgeons was busy all
night, with hundreds of wounded men