Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-07-06

this little group CAPTAIN CAPRON, JR.
found dead Spaniard lying in the mid
die of the road. l tried to find out who
fired this first shot, but have been I'M
able to do so. After that Tom Isbell
saw Spaniard and cheerfully killed
him. Then everything opened up. The
Spaniards were in force in the bushes
and Isbell went down with seven shots
In him from the first volloy. Not five
seconds elapsed before Captain Capron
received his fatal wound. BY this time
the men had naturally ceased to ad-
vance as boldly as they had started to
and dropped behind whatever cover they
could find. Culver, who was also an In
dian, was on his face behind rock
Sergeant Hamilton Fish rushed up to
troop who were running forward as
yapidly as they could, and said:
"'Culver, have you got good placer
eyes. replied Culver.
"Fish lay down beside him at the
edge Of the road and began firing. After
lour or five shots he gasped;
I'm wounded.
Culver replied by saying, I'm
Killed.
"They had been hit by the same bull
Jet, and the cowboy warrior and the
dude soldier mingled their blood there
IN the Cuban trail. Fish died; Culver
lived.
THE man to come up first after
Hamilton Fish was Samuel Davis,
Enn 70 no
Bill. He was standing upright when he
Jaw Fish shot and had only time to
look at him second with wondering
.yes when he went down with a crash
himself. "
The disaster to Capron's troop and
The death of the gallant leader was the
most dramatic incident of the fight.
After that the advance Of the rough
tders was similar to that of the regu-
lars off on the right whose deeds that
day have never been exploited as re-
nlarkable. Lieutenant John r. Thomas,
who succeeded .Capron. has told his
itory and up to a certain point 1t 10 the
ZANE as Marshall's. He says that the
advance along the mountain trail was
madein single file, and the men expected
to meet the enemy every minute. Cap
tain Capron was with tho five in the
advance He had seen Spaniards in the
morning and knew that they were
around the buildings of sugar planta-
ton in a.valley to the left of the west
ern end of the ridge Troop l. was
within GO feet of the Spaniards when
the latter fred upon it, as Marshall
stated. The rest Of the company came
in ON tho run to help the men in the
advance. The Spanish line formed
crescent, and the rough riders had
walked into the concave side of it. Sud
heniy a terrific fire of Mauser bullets
was poured into the exposed men of
Troop l.. Says Lieutenant Thomas, at
was as hot hole as l ever hope to get
Into" In few minutes he was wound
ed, as Marshall had been just before.
Colonel Wood S report is not az clear
as it should be to enable the historian
TO tell the truth about this regiment.
1t treats of the march over the noun
tain trail, Of knowledge Of the enemy
and precautions against surprise. He
says; "The command was b,lted and
the troops deployed to the fight and
left in open skirmish order and the
command ordered to advance carefully.
The firing began immedi ately, and the
extent OF the firing ON each flank indi-
Gated that we had encountered a heavy
force. Two additional troops were de-
.PIoyed on the right and the left, thus