New-York tribune., 1898-11-23

| strap under the foot. TheN correct the "'uu az"
| get caked with mud The legginss shouid not
| reach down below the ankle. The clothing was
too no, for the men 1t was inferior to the
| SpanIsh clothing. The trousers were these
brown trousers that they called khaki. hut they
were not khaki for my khaki suit did MOI tear
| and those that the men wore tore very easily
STORY OF TIE SAN JUAN FIGHT
For fifteen minutes the Colonel went on to tell
| the sory of the fight on san Juan MI ~
body interrupted him. for his recital was ex-
tro,nelv interesting although the facts as he re
! lated them are already familiar.
"We captured Spanish officers mess, and an
evtronely good mess it was. compared with
/ what we had been getting" he said There
was a big kettle OF stewed beef Kettle "l
stewed peas. kettle OF stewed rice, ana hlE
demijohn of rum. We threw MP some very
aboriginal intrenchments. and that night We
had a feasi
We had an attack that night. | have s"en
some talk to the effect that we considered 70
treat then. but there no one ON my part ci
the line who had any dream of rctreatinS.
There was no one who did not feel satisfied tha'
We could hold that line against anything 'ha'
mieht co1nc ND in front of us There has been
much said about the attacks on us on the high's
Of July and = In way the Spaniards did
that was pushed home. 1t simply consisted III
their sharpshooters being more accurate.
never saw them make what could be called an
offensive movement They never pushed us III
any way to jeopardize our position at all On
the morning of July > We went on, and theh
came the troops.
HAMPERED BY BLACK POWDER.
81 want to speak OF the enormous superiority
hc II
hardly be realized by those who are not on the
cro,rd Wc felt that We could not depend
upon our artillery If it on the firing line
on account of the black powder. sa" the
artillery on our left open fire. In hal. minute
after the first shot there wouic be thick rioud
Of black smoke, and practically every spanish
gun and rifle within radius OF nan ih'e
would be turned on it. and our guns WoulH DE
driven out The Gatlings fought ny 'ap'alh
Parker were on the extreme front OF IN" sK"-
mish line but the artillery had to be iouGht
at The rear. Parker had smOkelcss powder II
he had not had IL we would not have allowed
him In the trenches with us. saw some OF IN"
list men come into the trenches with the cav
alry regiments. and the mon drove them out
They said they preferred to fight without ther
support than with them while they were "s'hs
the black powder.
O.-Your rations had lasted YOU -NcI9
insuficientiy The food We got from the Span
iards was about all that VIC got the hrs' ud!'
For several DAYS We didn't get Nha; | consid'
cred suffciency Of good food. We hah gen
erallv enough bacon and hardtack. We had
about half-rations Of coffee and sugar II the
climate had been good and the men perfectly
healthy. that would have been a trihng thing
but the men had begun to scken. Digging
hot eoil nd
was bound 70 bring out the malaria. When
they began to sicken 1t became very hard upon
the sick and haf-sick 70 have nothing but pork
and hardtack and half-rations Of coffee and
sugar.
PLENTY OF SUPPLIES AT SIBONEY
O-was there not plenty Of supplies back at
Sihoney A-Yes plenty.
O-Whv did YOU not get them? Al think
II must hare been for lack OF transportation.
| had a sort Of amateur transr ortauon train
Of my own that a queer sort Of an afair.
II consisted OF such o: the officers horses as
we're left some captured horses OF the Spanish
officers and some mules that had been wounded
and that my COW punchcrs had doctorod mp
With thcrc we used to GO out and forage for our
selves our chaplain was rusiler for food II
bIhere was sny food around he could got It. We
own money supplies that could not get from
the Government.
The orders OF General Miles said that We
should have twenty-five wagons each. We had
but one wagon as rule and sometimes We
didn't have any. r. we had been given some
transportation for ourselves. or II We could have
even had the mule train which We left at
Tampa we could have had that whole cavalry
division properly supplied. We never had, so
far az | know. more than one days rations for
the army at the front. II We had had a sur
hciency Of mule trains We could have had sew
eral DAYS rstions right there OF the firing lines
7 tried TO keep my regiment two days ahead. but
| had 10 feed one regimen: that had nothing to
eat Men from that regiment came 10 our camp
and picked mp the scraps of hardtack ore man
offered 81 for seven hardtacks.
GOT FOOD WHEN THERE WAS ANY.
when there was any food to be GO 7 got II.
Il was a case Of every individual rustlins tor
himself. and not the Government rustline FOR
him Colonel Weston. Of the Commissary De
partment. helped me on; greatly DO not want
TO compromise him. but think he paid no heed
to mere regulations, but that il he knew 1t was
q case or men really needing what they asked for
he would give It 10 them. He used TO let me
have beans for my mer without my swearing
they were for the officers.
O-How about the medica! supplies? A
They we're entirely insufficient. On that point,
however would suggest - You that the Soc
retary or War has report which covers tha'
ground FULLY and which viii be very much more
accurate than my memory would he now We
had bv that time only one doctor left Assistant
Surgeon church. He had the fever hiinsci'' Dut
he stuck II on: all the way through take par
ticular pleasure In saying this because ne -
being examined now for position IN the Army
lie may be rusty on written examinations hut
he has more good cOHmon-sense and knowledge
and ability to work than enough to Offset am