St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-01-11

,'4yEA1a course a%n' lt thni ibe %
were well NJ
with the foremost charging troops. 4
little later in the battle aud before il
was decided whether the bold Ameri
cans should stay on the crest or beat q
retreat in the face of odds they ad
vanced to the skirmish line and took
position in it with nothing in front but
armed Spaniards.
This method Of handling machine
guns is novelty in systematized war
fare Aside from the fact, which seems
apparent, that the Calling fire hastened
the capture of the fort and the trenches
on July |, Parker showed himself
throughout all quite as original, deter
mined and physically brave as the gal
liant Gushing when demonstrating the
awful power locked up in torpedo
lance. Gatlings were not new to the
army when it set out to smash the
Spanish power in Cuba; neither was
the torpedo, a new weapon when Cush.
with one small enough to lie hidden
underneath his coat II was the new,
bold way of doing things which scored
big results in each case. Nor was Par
ker's battery an ordinary appendage of
the army outfit supplied in the routine
way like so many other features, good
and bad merely because it existed and
had a rating in the military returns as
ION band for service" Its creation was
due to Parker's individual enthusiasm
and persistence and its adoption to the
sound sense and unconventional meth
DDS of the commander of the Santiago
expedition. Only six years out of West |
Point, the young lieutenant had chung
to his classroom theories and made
study of rapid fire guns, urging upon
his elders and superiors their wider use
IN warfare. In other words, he said
they might be so handled as to force
the fighting as well as to stand off the
enemy 8 attack Swarms of savages had
gone down before them when stationed
in the line of defense, as was the case
at the slaughter of the dervishes at ON.
durham; but Parker wanted to go
step further. He would hunt the Span.
lards out of their hidings by searching
the ground with hail of bullets, then
slaughter them while on the run.
AS soon as war was declared Lieu.
tenant Parker made application to or.
game Gatling battery, setting forth
MS theories as best he could The paper
1ad to go through regular channels, and
"hen II reached the colonel of the regi.
nent, tine Thirteenth infantry, tthhe
writer was summoned and greeted with
laugh However, the colonel took it
good humoredly and sent the paper
along 10 his surprise, it was returned
rom the war department approved, and
the colonel laughed again at what he
called the oredulity of the high officials,
But 1t ceased to be laughing matter
When Parker got his orders to select q
corps or men to carry ont his plans.
Inc colonel of the Thirteenth gave him
Tree choice Of nonoommissioned officers
and soldiers and the same with other
commanders in the brigade.
-Four improved Krag. Jorgensen Cat.
Iings were assigned him, and the bat
terry became an independent command.
From the start General Shafer backed
up the young enthusiast and gave or.
1ers that the Gatling detachment be put
ashore with the first troops landed at
cuba. In spite of Skaters orders there
was difficulty in getting the outfit
ashore, but it landed on the 25th of
June and hurried to the front, taking
position in the defensive line formed by
wheeler at Sevilla. Except for delay
in landing tho Gatings would have
been heard from at Las Guasimas on
the gath BY Skaters special orders,
again, Parker went to the front on Ell
foso hill the morning of July to
await the deployment of the troops for
battle, when he was to advance to the
front line His orders, and his own OK.
PLANTATION OF tho attempt to carry them
out literally, are very interesting at this
time. The instructions were Find
the Seventy first New York and go on
with them if you can If this is not
practical, find the best position you can
and use guns to best advantage.
Captain Parker says
Pursuant to these instructions, went for
ward and found the Seventy.frst hating TO
learn whit ppt Ion 4 Ia