Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-07-21
FROM THE FRONT
Graphic Description of La Quasina
Fight Myracle That Any Amer
leans Escaped Unhurt.
HOW ROUGH RIDERS FOUGHT
The Sort of Country Our Volunteers Are
In-Oourage and Valor Displayed By
Our Interesting Notes
and Personals.

'Tis some time since l got a commune
cation OFT to your paper, but l simply
could not do SO, being always placed in
a position where | either could not find
time or could not find anything inter-
esting. Now, | believe, l can furnish
you with Il piece OF news, which, UNI
doubtedly, you have had through the
Associated Press, but which may be in
teresting, inaSmuch as it is from one of
the actual participants and told from
his own point of view. / refer to the
first battle between the American and
Spanish armies. We were expecting it
during the day, but not so suddenly.
Neither did we expect to find the Span
iSh so cowardly as to lay in wait I'M
| pushed for US. How on earth a single
man escaped with his life will never be
satisfactorily explained to me, at least.
Had we had had their position with our
900 men, no $4,000 troops could have
passed rs alive. They were entrenched,
behind boulders, in trees and hidden in
large clumps of sugar cane and cactus.
Before telling the story of the combat l
want to remark there were 1000 Span
iardS to 900 Americans; 500 of these be-
ing Rough Riders" $50 of the LIST U. s.
cavalry and $50 of the 10th cavalry. To
the regulars we owe our thanks that we
are alive today, and vice versa, they
have us to thank for their being alive.
The Rough Riders" were the first fired
upon. On the morning of the battle we
arose at 4 o'clock and Immediately after
breakfast started over the mountain
trail toward Santiago. We were walk
ing at rather a lively clip when one of
the Cuban scouts, who was sent out
ahead, came in and notified General
Wheeler of the presence of the enemy
just ahead. The LIST and 10th cavalry
detachments were then thrown out on
the right flank, and the Rough Riders
were ordered to move ahead cautiously.
Troop l., under Captain Capron, II OF
the finest men | ever had the pleasure
of meeting, was in the lead, followed by
A, E, B, D, G, f and X troops, in the
order named. We marched slowly
down the pathway, when all of asudden
a volley was fired. The word came
back it was from the enemy. Then
came another and another volley. l.
| bIOUp IlSucu " WluH SdplOh u
the lead, A troop to the right, deployed
as skirmishers. Captain Muller was
told to take his troop to the left, along
with the balance of the troops, except
X, and march them forward in an ex-
tended order. Although realizing that
he was leading his men into almost GER
tain death, our brave captain went
ahead and, as coolly as though in an eX-
hibition drill, gave the commands and
placed his men to what he thought the
best advantage. We went forward
amid a hailstorm of bullets, being cross
fired and fired upon from the front, and
by rapid fire guns placed on a high knoll.
After the men were in position we were
ordered to advance. In doing so the
whole of E and part of + troop were
thrown into a large open space. making
a clear target for the enemy. Realizing
our dangerous position Colonel Wood
told III to lie down and advance when
ever the fire would let up enough for us
to move forward. Fol two and three
quarter hours the same terrific rain of
bullets continued with the Spaniards
always retreating. They finally outran
us and the battle ended. The work of
placing outposts and gathering the dead
and wounded was Immediately COM
menced, with the result of nine dead
and 80 wounded in our regiment, seven
dead and seven wounded in the 1st, and
one dead and ten wounded in the 10th.
There were nine missing, all Of whom
have turned up. Since then another
has died, Captain Knox, Of X troop, 1st
U. S. cavalry. Among our dead are Cap
tain Capron, Hamilton Fish and Ser
geant Russell. The formers father is
the captain of one Of the artillery bat
teries now here, and the two latter were
young New York m~illionaires The
other dead l do not know, but presume
you have heard through the daily dis
patches. The Santiago paper comes
out, and as neal as l can translate it,
| speaks Of the ~gallantry of the 1000
| Spanish troops in holding at bay for
| two hours and a half the entire Ameri-
can army of 10000 troops, with the
small loss of 100 dead and 800 wounded.
They say, also, that the American loss
I could not be ascertained, but it was
presumed to be very heavy, as thou
sands of rounds of ammunition were
fired by them. Our actual loss Is 10
dead, ont of 900; and when they admit
1850 dead, out of 1900, it makes our
victory a very good n The
fact that they admit this heavy
loss proves that there were twice as many.
| Up to last evening there was reported to
have been PA found dead on the battle
field, bodies being found in every nook
and corner partly covered over with
weeds and brush. Every hour someone
| comes in and reports another found. All
their dead. with the exception of the
guerrillas, they carry off with them.
! During the retreat a mule was shot
down, which was loaded with wine, rice,
meal and women's clothing. | wonder
If they have their women in arms? All
| the wines and meal captured from their
supply stores was destroyed. Several