Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-07-27

were coming from tho rear into tho
troops on the slope that officers were
sent back to look to it, but the troops
in the rear were not firing A soldier Of
the Thirty Michigan, A. II.
Ganser, noted down at the time the fol-
lowing experiences at hunting down
sharpshooters, whom he classes "guer-
rillas. Under date Of July 8, p. m,
he wrote in his diary Az follows: cat
@ a. IN. all of our detail were at San
Juan as ordered, and already teamsters
and the hospital corps had been fired
upon, chiefly from the south shore,
where retreat into Santiago was open
TO the guerrillas~ Two small squads
secuted up river t. FL Caney, one down
the thickets on the road to Shafter' s
headquarters, while the rest. II regu-
lars and four volunteers from the Thirty
fourth, took an old bride path through
the lowlands for long detour to the
foothills Of FL Poso to round up those
providers, as our western scouts put
It, We had hot days work in more
ways than one.
"Crouching and creeping through the
]
surprised a strapping young negro
armed with brass bullet ammunition.
A dubbed rife, tough vine and a
young sapling did quick and silent exc
cution. Here we separated into four
squads, ranging over mile Of the river
bottom, and by noon their work was
thoroughly done. Our squad comprised
Scout Wallis Of the rough riders, two
colored fighters and silent sergeant Of
the Fifteenth.
"We were in the river bottom proper
and advanced with the usual precau-
ton and examined every path, tree or
cover. The cool and even CHEEKY daring
Of these old rangers nerved one to every
task, but yet this mornings experience
still haunts my mind. In the very first
cluster Of mangrove trees Wallis detect.
ed four guerrillas who were marking
our lines in reckless security. Every
now and then they fred and banded
one another while we crept within easy
range. Each picked his man, and al
fired together The reports were follow
ed by plunging through the limbs, Q
dull thud Of two more shots, more
crashing and tumbling, and then we
pushed quickly on, leaving the thou
sand land crabs with their prey, for oul
fire might attract the enemy in fore,
so near were we to their right flank.
''Nor did we escape notice, for every
now and then spiteful 'whir-r-r
showed we were detected, but at clos
quarters we had all the advantage o
the daring bushwhackers in the trees
and our comrades far to our right wer,
effectively heard from, though we fount
the 'dagoes, as the boys grimly called
them, all along the wooded bottom NJ
to within few yards Of the trail (,
San Juan. The detail lost one maj
killed and three wounded, one the joll,
colored boy Of the Twenty-fourth, bu
thereafter our hospitals and water car
riers were little molested and the west
erners gloried in their work as "a wei
done job To me it is the cruel neces
sity Of self preservation, grim war
reality, but day Of horrors that haun
my thoughts nevertheless.
Soldier Ganser's designation Of tn
Spanish sharpshooters is close to tn
truth. They were "guerrillas, for i
must be taken for granted that soldier
of the line would not risk certain dealt
in that way. 1t is said that some hat
on civilian clothes and some the Ameri
can uniform or a close imitation of it
Regular soldiers wOuld know that the'