The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-14


concentrate their fire on the bridge.
They also had the advantage of the
trees and jungleS so the Americans
could hardly see ahead.
When the battle was renewed there
were reinforcements. Our battery hav-
ing silenced The enemy's guns, the
Americans, wading waist-deep in the
mud of the salt flats and pouring
steady volley of musketry at the reb-
els. drove their. opponents beyond the
river. The armies lay facing each other
across the deep stream. driving the
enemy practically out of sight, while
the men in blue and khraki laid in the
main bushes, many of them without
any shelter. for three hours, without
moments cessation in the firing,
pouring bullets at the enemy as fast
as they could load
The thousand rifles blended into q
continuous roar, which was vastly dif-
ferent from the intermittent skirmish-
like rattle of most of the engagements.
One battalion after another General
Lawton summoned from Las Pinas,
until only enough troops of reserves
were left in the town to prevent the
Filipinos from attacking the Ameri-
cans in the rear, which was feared, as
they We're creeping around our left
through the woods, delivering a flank
ing fire, which put a great strain upon
the endurance of the Americans, who
We're fioundering in the mud across the
river. while on the right the Filipino
sharpshoOters, hidden in the trees.
We're peppering our men,
Courage of Regulars.
But thanks to the poor marksman-
ship of the rebels, our loss was not as
great as it would have been if the Fill
pinos had shot straight. An army,
however, has seldom fought under
greater handicap or more courageous
ly than did our regulars. majority of
whom were, comparatively speaking,
recruits, who could have been pardoned
for retiring in the face of such a fierce
fire, from their exposed positions. The
Fourteenth 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
We're the bodies of two 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 and where they could see the en-
emy. 1t was every man for himSlf and
the best the men could do was to aim
ut lne IdlnL .nlSIS arising from the
rebels smokelesS powder.
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 directing and encouraging the
troops. General Wheaton and General
Ovenshine 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
the rebel bullets dropped thickly,
wounding several of our men.
Lull In the Fighting.
At o'clock there was an hours lull
in the fighting. and an artillery ser
geant galloped back to where two guns
of the mountain battery were waiting
in reserve, and shouted:
Bring up those guns"
The sergeant then tumbled exhaust
ed from his horse.
The American loss is conservativeIy
estimated at sixty. Twenty wounded
men were carried to a casco native
boaD waiting on the beach, which was
rowed to Paranaque. 1t is impossible
at present to estimate the number of
Filipinos dead. There are many dead
bodies in the fields the Americans trav-
ersed. This battlefield, incidentally, was
the scene of several of the
greatest struggles between the Span
iards and the F'ilipinos. The Seapote
was considered impregnable and hun
dreds of Spaniards and Filipinos have
been killed While fighting over the
same bridge in former contests for its
possession. In June, 1897, Generals Pho
del Pillar and Trias turned a scale of
war on the side of the Filipinos by de-
feating the Spanish army there on the
eve of decisive battle carrying native
militia with them and thereby breaking
the chain of defense around Manila