Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-10-10
WAS NOT AMBUSHED
Captain Fritz Muller Denies En-
phatically That the Rough Riders
Were Ambushed at La
Guasima.
THE HISTORY OF TROOP E
List of Killed and Wounded, Also the
Troops Official Roster-E the Crack
Troop of the Regiment.

Il troop was the first troop on San
Juan HILL said Captain Fritz Muller.
Saturday, on being asked for a few
words about the Rough Riders expert
ence on Cuban soil, land l don't care
who says to the contrary. Moreover,
Sergeant Jones and Trumpeter Griffin
were right with US"
In response to further questioning.
the captain consented to give a sketch
of the troop from it's organization, and
said: Troop E was mustered in May q,
the first troop to be mustered Of the New
Mexico squadron. We had IS men, with
myself as captain, w. f. Griffin as first
lieutenant and Sherrard Coleman as
second lieutenant. The non-commis-
stoned officers were: w. e. Dame, first
sergeant; quartermaster sergeant, John
s. Langston; duty sergents Royal Prem
tice, Fred C. Wesley, Hugh Wright, b.
f. Taylor, A. M. Jones, Timothy Breen,
Thomas Ledwidge and John Mullen;
corporals, Hartman H.. Wynkoop, J. Nj.
Dean, Edward Waller, G. r. Fortescue,
Edward Bennett, c. E. Knoblock. Rich
ard Conner and Ralph f. McFie; trum-
peters, A. J. Griffin and Ed. Lewis; sad
dler, Joe Sandoval; farriers, Howell and
Hill, and wagner, G. B. Chaplin. We
left Santa Fe on May 7, and went direct
to San Antonio, Texas. encamping at
ls.,o,esla NoyIy fnI1p r1IlnG from Hnrt
| Sam Houston. All along the line people
| gathered to welcome us, and at every
| station there were big crowds, who
cheered the boys. Even the women
waved their aprons at us. We went
around through Kansas. Shortly after
arriving in camp, 20 men were taken
from each troop of the New Mexico bat
TALON to form troops 1 and X. But as
enlisting went on the roster of troop II
was increased shortly to 106 men. The
| new recruits came from all over the
| country. We began to drill at once and
| the troop and regiment were presently
| fully equipped with horses and the ne
| cessary accoutrements. We reached
| San Antonio May 10, and left there for
Tampa May 20, arriving at Tampa In
| about five days thereafter. Their we
were brigaded with the 1st and 10th reg
| ular cavalry, with which commands, by
| the way, we remained brigaded through
| the war. General Young was in COM
mand, but he was taken sick, end Colo
mel Wood, of our regiment, was made
| brigadier, and Roosevelt colonel. We
! did not have as much time to drill at
| Tampa as at San Antonio, as we re-
manned at Tampa only about five days,
when orders came to move to Cuba
Four troops remained behind to care fol
the horses, viz, troops c, Fl, I and NJ,
under Captains Alexander, of Arizona;
| Curry, of New Mexico; McGuinness, of
| Indian territory. and Bruce, of Okla
homa. So eight troops boarded the
| transport Yucatan, with two companies
of the I'd infantry under Lieutenant
| Colonel Wherry. On the way we did
not know our destination, whether we
| were bound for Cuba, Puerto Rico or
! where, until a day before we landed at
Baiquiri. The troops began landing at
noon on June ~, and pulled through the
surf in small boats, most of the men
getting a good wetting. Two troopers
of the 10th cavalry were drowned in try
ing to land. We camped at Baiquiri un-
til next day about 4 p. m, n then
started for Siboney over the hill, arriv-
ing there about 9 o'clock that night
Next morning we started towards San
tiago, and about 9 a. m. we ran into the
Spanish, when firing commenced.
We were not ambushed, all newspaper
reports to the contrary Notwithstanding,
for Colonel Roosevelt told us the day
before we were about to run into the
| Spanish, who were 1000 strong. We
were sent over the trail first, with the
10th and the LIST regulars to our right
on the wagon roads, all three regiments
meeting the Spanish about the same
time. The fighting lasted about three
hours, with a loss to the Rough Riders
| of seven killed and about 81 wounded.
The other regiments lost a less number
of men. 1t was all bush fighting, as the
Spaniards could hardly be seen for the
underbrush. The newspaper men all
acted bravely, and one of the New York
Journal reporters, named Marshall, was
shot on that day. The foreign attaches
were continually with us, the German,
the English, the Jap, the Russian, the
French, and Swede. They were never
far from us, and showed no fear. The
German officer, Count Won Goetzen, re-
marked several times that he never saw
such grand behavior on the part of vol
unteers: and all the other foreign at
taches expressed similar sentiments.
The English representative was espe-
cially impressed. They Jared the same
as the troops and went hungry just as
the boys did. The firing lasted until
about noon, and then we moved into the
camp that the Spanish had retired from.
We found a little rice and other provis-
ions there; also plenty Of dead Span
iards, whom WE buried.
From the experience of that fight it
seems to me that the Mauser Is the best
gun Of the two in use, the loading being
done quicker with the Mauser than the
Krag-Jorgensen, and the mechanism Ia
simpler. The next day we buried our
dead, and then. breaking camp, march
ed towards Santiago, camping at Sea
| villa until the evening Of the Goth. Then
we broke camp again, and marched to
FL Poso, arriving there about II p. m.
On the mex morning, Grimes battery
took position on the top Of the hill in
front of us, and opened fire on San Juan
hill. The Spanlards returned the fire,
and about their third shell landed In the