The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-03-01

recover the prestige that he has lost
through defeat. The rebels had regained
some of their courage and for three hours
they held their position. Then they could
no longer stand the American fire and
abandoned their Notifications.
Caloocan, which IS about twelve miles
north OF Manila, is so situated that 1t Is
within easy range Of the guns OF warships.
There Is no high ground, the town being
separated from the Bay Of Manila by wide
stretch of marsh.
The plan for the attack on the place pro-
vided that the warships should open the
ball. At half past o'clock on Friday
afternoon, therefore, the monitor Monad-
mock and the gunboat Concord, which had
been ordered up the bay by Admiral
Dewey, opened fire on the town. Their
shells went true and much damage WAS
done, in addition to making the rebels
very uncomfortable.
At the same time that the warships be-
gan shelling, the Sixth Artillery and the
Utah Battery opened fire on the rebel in
trenchments on the landward sides OF the
town. The artillery and the warships
pounded away until O'Clock, when orders
were given for General Harrison G..
Otis's brigade, except the Pennsyl-
vania Regiment which was held as q
reserve, to move on the enemy's works. The
order, and as the word was passed down
the line they responded with cheers. The
movement was made In the following or
der from left to right: Twentieth Kansas
Infantry, First Montana Infantry and Third
Artillery, the Twentieth Kansas and the
First Montana being supported by the First
Idaho Infantry and the Third Artillery by
the Fourth Cavalry.
The FIlIpinos were awaiting the advance
~ nd ha m haDpn
to move forward the rebels started rat
tling fire, which made considerable noise
but did no great damage. The Americans
declined to answer, but pressed steady
forward. They marched through the
woods and banana groves from the left,
but on the right the route was mainly
through paddy fields, which afforded no
protection from the rebel fire.
Not single stop was made until they
reached tbs intrenchments from which
most Of the natives hastily scrambled as
the Americans drew near. The rebels tried
to make their way to the shelter afforded
by the town, but scores OF them failed to
reach their goal. being stopped by Ameri-
can bullets.
just at this time the Flliplnos were
thrown into worse confusion by the dis
covery that they had been fanked. A
company OF First Montana Infantry, under
command OF Major J. Franklin Bell, Chief
OF the Bureau Of Military Information,
whose services here have been Invaluable,
had volunteered to execute the flank move
ment, and moving Off to the east had,
without being detected, arrived on the
enemy's flank back in the town. The na-
tives saw they were trapped, and scatter
ing, fed like sheep, many OF them drop
ping their weapons in their anxiety to es-
cape.
The Americans had jumped the trenches,
and, yelling and cheering, were in full
pursuit. 1t was simply a rout, and proved
that, even with the aid OF artificial de-
fences, the FIlipinos are no match for the
Americans who are fighting them.
As the Twentieth Kansas and First Mon
tana regiments entered the town from the
South, some Of the fleeing natives set fire
to the huts, whose roofs are made Of nipa
grass, thinking to start blaze which
would destroy the place. In this they were
disappointed, however, as the Americans
extinguished the fires.
The losses OF the Americans were slight
but the enemy suffered heavily both IN
killed and wounded. Most OF the casual
ties to the Filipinos were caused by shrap
mel, the creaming and effectiveness o.
which caused terror among the natives.
After the Americans were In possession