Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-06-17

house and a fort at Daiquiri, II miles
from Santiago, setting them on fire in a
| rev minutes This occasioned but a
| brief delay and the transport and her
| escort arrived in Guantanamo harbor
shortly before 2 o'clock.
| AS soon as it was seen that no re-
| slstance would be made to landing
the small boats from several Of the ves-
sells were put overheard and the landing
| party was soon ashore. Every precau-
| ton was taken to guard against a sur
| prise by the enemy, but as it turned out
| this was needless. The first thing that
was done when the men were safely
| ashore was to set fire to half a dozen
| houses which marked the entrance to the
| bay. This was done by order of the
| commanding officer, who took this and
all the other safeguards possible to pre-
ent an outbreak of the dreaded yellow
| ever among the men.
Saturday afternoon the marines were
| subjected to a bush attack by guerillas
ana regulars. The fighting was almos'
| continuous Tor IL hours, when reinforce
| ments were landed from the Marblehead
-Four of our men were killed and one
was wounded. The advance pickets un-
der Lieutenants Neville and Shaw are
| unaccounted for.
Among the killed is Assistant Surgeon
John Gibbs son of Major Gibbs of the
regular army. who fell in the Custer
| massacre. His home was at Richmond
| Va, but he had been practising in New
| York, and he entered the service when
| the war began. The others killed are
| Sergeant Charles II. Smith Of Smallwood
! Private William Dunphy Of Gloucester
| Mass. and Private James McColgan Of
! Stonaham Mass. Corporal Glass was
| accidentally wounded i'm the head Thu
| Spanish loss is unknown. but II was proh-
! ably considerable. The splashes Of blood
| found at daylight at the positions the
| Spaniards occupied indicate fatalities
| but their comrades carried off the killed
and wounded
| The engagement began with GesuItorv
! firing at the pickets. 1000 yards inland
FROM the camp. Captain Spicer's COM
nany was doing guard duty and was
driven in. finally rallying on the camp
and repulsing the enemy at o'clock.
The bodies Of Privaies McColgan and
Dunphy were found. both shot IN the
head. The large cavities caused by the
bullets. which inside range Of GOO yard.
, have q rotary motion, indicate ttat the
victims were killed at close range.
The bodies were stripped of shoes. hats
| and cartridge belts, and horribly mutt.
| lated with machetes. When they were
| brought in the whole battalion formed
| three sides of a hollow square about the
| camp on the hilltop. Below in the bay
| were the warshps at anchor. Inland
| from the hill camp is deep ravne. and
| beyond this are high hills. The adjacent
| country is heavy with thiCket growth.
| The sky was blanketed with clouds. and
| when the sun set a gale was blowing
seward. Night fell, thick and impene-
trable. The Spanish squads concealed
| in the chapparel cover had the advan-
| tage, the Americans on the ridge fur
nishing fine targets against the sky and
| the white tents. The Spaniards fought
| from cover till midnight, discoverable
only by flashes at which the marines
| fred volleys. The repeaters sounded like
crackers in a barrel.
| The Marblehead launch, Colt machine
| gun in her bow, pushed up the bav. en-
| filading the Spaniards, and it is thought
| that some were killed. The marines
trailed much blood 10 the waters edge,
and there lost it. Sharks are numerous
| in the vicinity. The ships threw their
| searchlights ashore the powerful cleo,
tric eyes sweeping the deep tropic foliage
and disclosing occasionally skulking
| parties of Spaniards. 1t all resembled
| a transformation scene at theater.
| Each discovery of the enemy was greeted
| by the crackle of carbine fire along the
edge Of the camp ridge or by the long
roll OF the launch's gun, searching the
thickets with a leaden stream.
Shortly after midnight came the main
| a la cra1 la nj
charge up the southwest slope, but were
met by repeated volleys from the main
body and broke before they We're one
| third of the way up the hill; but they
came so close that al points there was
| almost a hand-to- hand struggle. The
| officers used their revolVers. Three
| Spaniards got through the open forma-
ton to the edge of the camp Colonel
| Campna, the Cuban guide, discharged
his revolver and they, turning and find
| ing themselves without support, ran
| helter-skelter down the reverse side of
the hill. 1t was during this assault that
Assistant Surgeon Gibbs was killed. He
was shot in the head in front of his own
| tent. He fell into the arms of Private
Sullivan, and both dropped. A second
bullet threw dust in their faces. Surgeon
Gibbs lived 10 minutes, but did not regain
|
pital corps then removed their quarters
to the trenches north of the camp
Estimates vary as to the attacking
force, some saying 200, and the figures
run as high as 1000. Colonel Campina,
the Cuban guide. says the Spaniards
were mostly irregulars, but the reports
OF the discharge of Mauser rifles would
indicate that they were regulars, as most
of the guerillas carry Remingtons. The
Cuban guerillas, as a rule have more
dash and courage than the regulars.
The new campaign uniforms proved
satisfactory, and are almost invisible at
a distance of 200 yards. The Lee guns
caused several accidents in drawing
cartridges. Corporal Glass shattered his
hand. Despite the loss of the men, who
are keenly regretted, the marines rejoice
that they have been engaged in their first
night on Cuban soil They sailed from
New York the day war was declared and
expected to land within a week at Ha-
vana. Since then, until they landed on
the shore OF Guantanamo, they had been
cooped up on the Panther, and they had
begun to fear that the troops would
beat them after all.
TRY ERhlN.n TRY GRhIN-0