Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-03-16

" ZassgS ~S,I was the first
~ f. yM A !,5,. ri ,.:",n to
In $JOINGN6fS.A of Fort San
t-SH, SGSasxPss3Ssssl Juan. But there
tE,%1S,y5ll' ~ sAsseF|is happily no
lNXNS Z n1yWW{l question as to
49, 49, .E-{s,5T TSNM which command
2WFYT feVEdsY WI was first in the
bNvsfSssks1Sr<N xyIS} attack or which .
in the encounter Official figures are !
not fables. The honor belongs to the /
Sixth United States Infantry.
After all that has been written in
general way about the physical hard
ships of the soldiers in Cuba the pic
ture is incomplete without those little
details that lngcr in the memory OF
soldiers who faced everything, hour by
hour and day by day, from gnawing
hunger to battle wounds My first in
tcrvicw with n man of the Sixth regu-
lars was at the headquarters of Camp
Wikoff, where tho commandant, Cay
tain w, H. II. Crowell spoke for the
regiment The captain had served in
the western army during the civil war
He said that he had never seen any
thing in all his 3; years experience to
equal the hardships in Cuba.
The Sixth led the infantry division,
but before it reached the crossing of
the Aguadorres creek the column halted
| to give the dismounted cavalry the road.
| This halt in the torrid jungle was
enough to sap the fervor Of soldiers
who needed all the fire of their fresh
enthusiasm for what lay ahead During
! the wait General Hawkins, the. brigade
commander, had been to the front across
! San Juan river to look the ground over.
| Confident of success, he told General
! Kent. the division leader, that he could
take the San Juan blockhouse by flank
attack. An aid sped back along the
road to summon the Sixth and Six
teenth forward. Reaching the ford,
General Hawkins pointed toward the
slope and the Spanish position and said
to Lieutenant Colonel Egbert of the
Sixth, Somewhat beyond here you can
get an enfilade fire upon those works -
At this time the leaders were waiting
for the Seventy-first to march forward
and clear the road for Wikoff brigade,
these two commands of six regiments
having been assigned to the capture Of
the fort.
Hawkins orders meant that the Sixth
was to get into position and open at
} long range on the Spaniards to reduce
the fierceness of the fire then pouring
down the slope into the jungle. One
battalion of the regiment went forward
to help the cavalry skirmishers in theil
attempt to cope with the Mausers, and
as soon as the Sixteenth regiment
reached the fording place Colonel Egg
bert led Company f, Captain s. w. v
Kennon, to the river and waded to the
opposite bank. Seven companies fol
lowed, and in few minutes the tw,
battalions were lined up at wire fence
y inclosing a road which ran between thu
, river and the blockhouse
= There were then no skirmishers il
6 front of the Sixth, for it had left tn
t cavalry to its right and rear, a bat
talon of the Sixteenth crossed the rive
a and formed on the left of the Sixth, an,
in this position Colonel Egbert held hi
: regiment an hour, trying to carry on
n the orders to enfilade Fort San Juan
r Finding the range a long one and par
5 TALLY INSTRUCTED, the colonel decided t
y cross the road to ridge covered wit
e tall grass just beyond. This forwar
u march of the Sixth was to be the frs
L direct attempt upon the blockhoust
- Meanwhile the little column had ha
1t its taste of Mauser fire. Captain Gre
h well told of following in the wake {
lie the balloon and coming under SPANS
view while deploying at the creek
80 advance. He says the line found itse
+ in hornets nest in the tangled III
:. derbrush and that men dropped on a
Of sides. This deadly fire from the span
10 iards ON the hill was mainly at random
#, Their Mausers were set at fixed range
10 and they fired because they saw II
m Americans massing in the valley Of Sa
u Juan river.
As the Sixth moved forward aft'
crossing San Juan river it marche
or directly from the positions where Il
V, Americans were deployed toward ii
Mt blockhouse. In its direction therefor
he the Spaniards' eyes We're fixed, lookir
w. for the enemy. They did not look
Of va -
81 Captain Crowell says that the barb'
81 wire fence, the first encountered by Il
he infantry, was four 70 five feet high al
ed the strands Of wire about ten inch
'r apart. The men had no tools for cuttil
u, the wire, but u Cuban negro solved +
III case for them III short order. He W
ra described as a giant in size, wi
'or strength to match Captain Crow
I'M said that he was amazed to see t
he negro 4 machete cleave through all I
,r- strands ut single blow. The IL
nd seelued to understand exactly what W
in needed, for he cut first one gap, til
he another, and when the companies h
'eu all passed through took his place at t
:. head Of the line, supposing there W
mi to be charge at once upon Fort s.
TX. Juan.
But Colonel Egbert had his orde
and the result showed that a precipita
attack upon the position at that no
an would have ended in terrible dis
'vo ter The cavalry on the right of the
Tho fantry had not carried the spur Of t
be ridge, known as "Kettle" hill, a
nd there were no Judgements for reser'