The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-06-16

and pushes, many OF them without n
shelter, for three hours, without a mo-
ment's cessation in the firing, pouring
bullets at the enemy as fast as they
could load. The thousand rifles blend
ed into a continuous roa vastly differ
ent from the intermittent skirmish like
rattle of most of the engagements.
One battalion after another, General
Lawton summoned the reserves from
Las Pinas until only enough troops
We're left in the town to prevent the
Philippines from attacking the Ameri-
cans in the rear, which was feared, as
they were creeping around our left
through the woods, delivering a flank
ing fire, which put a great strain upon
the endurance of the Americans who
were foundering in the mud across the
river, while on the right the Philippe
no sha%rpshooters, hidden in the trees,
were peppering our men; but thanks
to the poor workmanship of the rebels,
the loss We rot as great as if the Phil
ippinos shot straight.
An army has seldom fought under
a greater handicap or more courage
ously than did our regulars, a majori-
ty of whom were, comparatively speak
ing, recruits, who could have been par
doned for retiring in the face of such
a fierce fire from their exposed posi-
tons.
The Twenty-fourth regiment lay to
the right of the bridge and in front of
them was the Twelfth regiment, with
the Ninth on the right and the Twenty
first UP the road, facing the bridge,
which was the key to the situation.
On the bridge were the bodies of w
Americans who had attempted to rush
! across and many wounded men were
carried from the open ground before
the bridge.
After firing in volleys for a short
time the Americans were ordered to fire
when they could see the enemy. It was
every man for himself and the best our
men could do was to aim at mist made
by the smokeless powder.
THE GENERALS ON THE FIRING
General LaWton, though exhausted
by the mornings fight, rallied by sheer
will power, and was the commanding
figure in the battle. He went along the
lines directly and encouraging the
troops.
General Wheaton and General Oven
shine were equally courageous. In fact
the generals were among the few men
on the battlefield who refused to take
shelter under the hottest fire.
The only approach to the fighting
ground was by a narrow winding road
where the rebel bullets dropped thick
ly, wounding several of our men.
At 4 O'Clock there was an hours lull
in the fighting and an artillery sergeant
galloped to where two guns of the
1 ~ 0,1p4oir Ioffa~x, -yon .
serve and shouted: Bring up those
guns" The sergeant then tumbled ex-
hausted from his horse.
Twenty wounded men were carried
to a cascoe ~(native boat waiting ON
the beach, which was rowed to Pasai-
que.
1t is impossible at the present time
to estimate the number of Philippine
dead. There were many dead in the
fields the Americans traversed.
AN OLD BATTLE-GROUND.
This battlefield, incidentally, was for
merly he scene Of several of the great
est struggles between the Spaniards
and the Philippines. The Zapote was
considered i~mpregnable and hundreds
of Spaniards and Philippines have been
killed while fighting over~Ssne same
bridge in former contests for its posses
sion. In June 1897, Generals Pho del
Pillar and General Trias turned a scale
OF war on the side of the Philippines
by deserving the Spanish army there on
the eve of a decisive battle, carrying
the native militia with them and there
by breaking the chain Of defenses
around Manila.
FIGHTING ALL DAY.
Manila, June 13.-S:1O D. m.-The
fighting at Las Pinas continued hotly
all day long. General Lawton called
out the whole force of 5000 men and at
5 O'Clock he was only able to push the
insurgents back 500 yards to the Zapote
river, where they are entrenched. The
insurgents resisted desperately and ag-
excessively. They attempted to turn the
left flank of the American troops. The
American loss is ~conservatively estimat-
ed at sixty. The battle continues.
AT day light today the rebels at Ca
vite Viejo dropped two shells from a
big, smooth bore gun mounted in front
of the church into the navy yard. The
only damage done was splintering the
top of the huge shears on the mole.
The gunboats Callao, Manila and Mos
quito then proceeded to dlSmount the
gun. After breakfast the rebels open
ed fire along the beach to Bakoor.
After silencing the big gun at Cavite
Viejo, the gunboats ran close along the
shore, bombarding the rebsl position.
The rebels replied with tie and with
the fire of some small pfUces of artil-
lery. So vigorous was the enemy's fire
that at 800 o'clock a.. m. the gunboat
Helena Joined the small gunboats al
ready named and the Princeton, Mon
Iterey and M~onadnock from their anch-
orages, dropped occasional big shells
among the rebels. This, apparently,
only served to incite the rebels as they
kept up IN incessant fire of musketry
and artillery near the mouth of the
IZapote river, two miles north of Ba-
koor. The fire of all seven warships
was concentrated or this point shortly
| after noon, when the upper bay pre-