Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1899-06-15
HOT FIGHTING
At LAS P|NAS
General Lawton's Men Have a
Fierce Engagement With a
Rebel Force.
BATTLE IN PROGRESS ALL DAY
Two American Companies Narrowly
Escape Being AnnihiIated
by the Rebels.
THE LATTER ARE FINALLY ROUTED
Savage Resistance Made, and Quite
a Number of Americans Killed
--Luna Reported Assas-
sinated.

eidl I1uWlOu unexpectedly SIlTTCQ up
one of the liyeliest engagements of the
war, south of Las Pinas, this morning,
upon which occasion the American
field guns We're engaged in the first
artillery duel against Filipino bat
terry, concealed in Jungle. Com
panies L and l., of the Twenty first in
fantry, were nearly surrounded by Il
large body of insurgents, but the
Americans cut their way out without
heavy loss.
The Monadnocll and the gunboats
Helena and Zafiro trained their batter
les on Bacoor and the rebel trenches
near Las Pinas all morning. Bacoor
was once on fire, but the natives
| stopped the spread of the flames. Dur
ing the night an insurgent cannon was
| fired three times at the Americans on
the outskirts of Las Pinas.
General Lawton this morning took
a battalion of the Fourteenth and two
companies of the Twenty-frst to To-
cate the rebel battery, then two guns
of the Sixth artillery and four noun
tain guns were planted against it at
600 yards distance. The rebels had Il
large guns, from which they were fir
| ing homemade canister loaded with
nails, and two smaller guns.
Rebel Fire Is Accurate.
| Their shooting was most accurate.
The first lot of canister burst direct
| ly in front of Scott's guns and another
shattered the legs OF private in the
Fourteenth infantry. Several shots
struck the edge of the town.
The country traversed was as bad as
it is possible to imagine, being mainly
lagoons and mud and water fringed
| with bamboos. AS soon as the fighting
opened the Americans were attacked
| by hidden ritlemen on all sides, even
| the amigos or friendly" natives, i'm
| the houses of the town, shooting into
their rear. The companies OF the
Twenty-frst regiment, skirmishing
along the beach, with amigo guides
found, apparently IL handful of rebels
who rctreated. The men of the Tween
ty-first followed and suddenly the reb-
| els opened Il terrific fire ON the troops
I from the sides and rear. The soldiers
withdrew to the waters edge, to find
what shelter they could, and were
| picked off rapidly. After their ammu.
| milton was nearly exhausted the com
| panies of the Twenty-first retreated
but General Lawton dashed down and
rallied the men.
Ilwton Uses Il Rifle.
The little group made Il desperate
stand, General Lawton, Major Starr
and Lieutenants Starr and Sonnely
taking rifles from the wounded men
and firing at the enemy. bringing
down some of the rebels shurpshoot.
ers from the trees. Finally theil
cartridges were all gone and they were
forced to break through the enemy
tanks, carrying the wounded to the
main body of the troops.
Lieutenant Donovan, whose leg
through a bog after leading his mcr
in the face of u greatly superior force
General Lawton ceased fighting unit
reinforcements could be brought up
| Two battalions of the Fourteenth reg
| iment and one battalion of the Ninth
| regiment were hurried to the front
| and in the afternoon the battle was re-
| sumed.
Warsbips Take Part.
The Monadnocls anchored close IL
| the shore and her heavy guns pounded
| the rebels continuously, while the
| smaller warships, steaming along the
shore, poured bullets from their rapid
| fire guns at the enemy.
The Filipino force engaged appears
| 20 have been the largest and best or
| ganized body of men which has met
| our troops.
At daylight the rebels at Cavitt
| Niejo dropped two shells from big
of the church in the navy yard. Jh,
only damage done was spintering TIL.
huge spears on the mole. The gun
boats Callae, Manila and Mosquito theI
proceeded to dismount the gun. After
| breakfast the rebels opened fire along
| the beach to Bacoor. After silcncina
| the big gun the gunboats ran close
along the shore, bombarding the rebe
| position. The rebels replied with {;
| rife fire and with small pieces of ar
| tillery. So vigorous was the enemy's
| fire that the Helena joined the gun
| boats already named, and the Prince
ton. Monterey and Monadnock. frou
| their anchorages, dropped occasional
shells among the rebels. This appar
emily only served to incite the rebels
as they kept up an incessant fire
of musket artillery near the mouth Of
| Iapote river, two miles south of Ba
coor. The fire of all seven warships
was concentrated at this point shortly
after noon, when the upper bay pre-
scented the appearance of great ma
| val battle. The insurgents eventually
| we're forced to abandon their guns
after holding out for hours, only to be
confronted by Lawton's forces in the
rear, where there was heavy fighting
| Beyond the destruction of seyera
buildings along the water front the eff
| feet of the bombardment is not known