Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-04-27
CAL[MPIT is NOW OURS
And Aguinaldo Ml5t sssk Still
Another Capital.
FIGHTING AT SHORT RANGE.

FIGHTING AT SHORT RANGE,
The Rebels Were Pres ed Back when
ever They Attempted TO Make
stand, ana Finally tiled to fhe Hnis,
Leaving IEaps Of Dead in Trenches.
Manila, lpFl 27.-calumpit, the
Filipino capital Is in the possession
of the American troops The flower
of Aguinaldo's army has been annihi-
lated and General Macarthur holds the
strategic KEY to the entire northern
part of Luzon.
Eight Americans were killed in the
assault upon the city The loss to the
rebels was terrific. What remained of
their army.was finally driven back into
the town and beyond it to the hills.
General Macarthur had 5000 troops
engaged in the attack. Their valor was
unparalleled.
Calumpit was on fire when the con-
certed advance of General MacArthur's
division. comprising the brigades of
Generals Hale. Wheaton and Lawton
was ordered.
The insurgents met the advance with
severe firing. The greater part of
Aguinaldo's army was in the town and
the trenches before it, having made a
stand there after the fall of Malolos
The strategic attack upon the city
was made by Hale's brigade. which
moved down the right bank of the
Quingua river, and by Wheatons bril-
gade on the left bank
General Wheaton's command, the
Kansas and Montana volunteers, re-
paired the bridge over the Bagbag river
in the morning. The volunteers then
crossed and rushed upon the Filipinos
in the trenches.
The order to advance upon Calum-
pit was received enthusiastically by
the American troops. There had long
been thirst among the troops TO
avenge the death of several of their
fellows during the fighting march from
Malolos, and they were eager for the
capture of the main stronghold of
Aguinaldo and his men.
Scouting parties sent out a short
time before the attack returned to re-
port that Calumpit had been set afire
by the rebels.
In the attack the American troops
were deployed in a long line before
the city. This line was gradually
closed in. maintaining an intense fir
ing upon the trenches and immediate
defenses of the capital.
1t was short range fighting, and the
Americans were more than equal to it.
while the insurgents were pressed
back whenever they attempted a stand.
The guns of the Utah artillery did
masterful work. They tore great gaps
in the trenches and drove the rebels
out with appalling slaughter. Then the
infantry mon charged the trenches.
The rebels stood their ground as long
as they could and then fed.
The Americans then had little diff
Guilty in entering the city The fire
set by the rebels was spreading rapidly
and it seemed forlorn hope to at
tempt extinguishing it.
On all sides was to be seen the havoc
wrought by the intensity of the Ameri-
can firing The dead rebels lay two.
The trenches were choked with dead
bodies.
What remained of the rebel army fed
to the hills, closely pursued by the
American soldiers, although the latter
were in a worn out condition from the
continuous fighting of the last few
days
The march on Calumpit began on
Tuesday, when MacArthur's brigade
fought its way to the trenches before
Calumpit. In the fighting six Ameri-
cans were killed and % wounded Com
pany K, of the Twentieth Kansas, per-
formed a most brilliant achievement in
charging a quarter of mile over an
open field in the face of a deadly fire
from the Filipino trenches, to protect
the armored train from the rebels fire
The rebels were driven out and fed to
the jungle The rebels had cut the
main supports Of the bridge across the
Bagbag river, hoping to wreck the
train, but the bridge fell of its own
weight before our troops reached it.
Colonel Frederick Funston called
for volunteers to cross the river, and
the colonel himself, Lieutenant Ball, a
private of Company K, private of
Company E, Trumpeter Barsfeld ana
Corporal Ferguson, of Company l.
crawled along the iron Orders.
While this was going on the men of
Company K. from the ditch, wero
fusillading the trenches in the eI.-
deavor to divert attention, but tho
F'ilipinos got the range from a trench
down the river, and their bullets sooa
spattered the water under the struc-
ture.
Having reached the broken span, the
small but valorous party of Americans
slid down the caisson, swan a few
yards to the shore and crawled up the
bank, the little colonel leading the
way to the trenches, revolver in hand
while the few remaining Fflipinos
bolted
Colonel Funston said afterward:
ut was not much to do We knew
they could not shoot straight, and that
our boys would attend to them while
we were crossing"
Then General Hale's men began to
ford the river, the general himself
wading up to his neck in getting across
Then the capture of the trenches on the
other side of the river was easy. The
Filipinos left 70 dead behind
The town of Quingua was captured
on Sunday, but in the fighting seven
Americans were killed and A wound !
ed Among the dead is Colonel Stot-
senberg. of the First Nebraska, who
fell at the head of his regiment, and
Lieutenant Sisson. of the same regi-
ment.