Smyrna times., 1899-06-14
THE VOLUNTEER.
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90
A Sketch of the
Cuban War.

With the intensity of a tropical day
the sun seemed to expend its entire
force of furnace heat upon the unshel
tered spot in front of Santiago, where
lay a grievously wounded American
soldier boy. The wide, tortured eyes of
the youth stared fearfully upward to
the glazing zenith past the foul birds
watching his sufferings with calculat-
ing vision and waiting for their human
feast which seemed sure to come. He
thought with sickening brain of his
northern home-the green hills, the
running streams. the dear mother.
Tears welled up into his aching orbs,
and the hot drops crept down his cheeks.
He did not try to wipe them away He
could not A Mauser bullet had struck
him in the thigh. another in the right
arm and another in the left. He was
helpless. But what matter! The dead
could not see, and the mother would
probably never know how he had noblY
fought even to the gates of death. At
his feet lay the dead body of a Cuban,
black and burly, slain by the bullet of
a Spanish sharpshooter For these Gu
bans he was dying, for them he had
come to help free the island from the
tyranny of Spanish rule.
Then he recalled the events of that
day at San Juan hill The American
troops had been on their feet since day
break. There was scanty breakfast,
and as the men ate it there, were indi-
cations of the coming clash of arms.
The files on the march to the firing line
were closed up. Every sense was alive.
The bugle sounded. and then came the
order to advance. The tempest of mus
kerry and shrapnel through which they
moved forward drove like a storm of
steel into the faces of the men, hut
nothing could resist the imperious ad-
vance, and the first line of the enemy
was swept away.
The battle grew. Here and there a
soldier went down. but the column
stood firm. The officers marched close
by the men. Sometimes through the
smoke they caught glimpse of the
colonel leading ON in front.
The din increased. The earth seemed
reeling underfoot. Shells burst with
death. Still the men pushed on An
officer picked up the gun of man who
had fallen and spoke CHEEKY word
The' Spanish artillery and the far
reaching Mausers swept within GER
tain limit every inch Of ground, hut
with firm and rapid step that unfiinch'
ing column moved forward.
Louder grew the tumult, and thicker
came the angry messengers. A sharI
cry of pain, and one of the men is help
ed to the rear. The bullets came hotter
and faster from the Spanish in th'
trenches and from the blockhouses
More comrades stretched out quietl,
with the death mark ON their faces
, There was no time for words only
mad swelling Of the heart and throb
bing of the brain. A deadly thirst TO
blood dried mp all other feeling as an
other man was lifted back.
Suddenly cool voice they had hear
before rang out an order: Come on
| boysl Chargel' And the thin line rushe
. through the smoke and advanced up tn
A hill. With cheer they answered tn
fiery blast that swept into their face
with sudden fury. The air seemed il
: stinct with leaden life, and vOlley afte
l volley pealed forth from the deadl
rifles.
For one awful moment the men fa
: teredl Groans of agony and hoarse con
a mands mingled. and all around Amer
s can soldiers lay down to die. But I'll
q check was only momentary, and on int
. the jaws of death the column wen
Every man leaned forward as thong
breathing a heavy wind. From righ
left and front they felt the pounding
the enemy's guns, and shrapnel swel
n through the ranks like hail.
:. On the summit of the hill the bloc
0 house swarmed with the foe, dimly see
II through putting lines of smoke from ol
= guns. The Spanish were intrenched-
Il Americans in the OPen. But new
I. mind Forward And soon the foreil
,. foe was driven back and the strongho
|. captured.
Half way down the slope, as the vi
tors pursued the flying enemy, wit
l. ering blast of Mauser bullets swe
ID across the open ground, and the b,
N who now lay dying in the open spa
e. in the tall grass fell forward with a bi
10 in his thigh A comrade ran to his 8
10 sistance. and he made his way painfr