Omaha daily bee., 1899-06-07
ECnoEs or TUE wan.

The official report OF General Arthur Mac.
Arthur concerning the origin Of the Filipino
tnsurrection places the blame on the natives
and confirms the press reports as TO wnc
fired the first shot. The FIRST shot was fired
on the American side by Private Robert
Grayson OF the First Nebraska, and tive
Ftlipincs gave UP the ghost in consequence.
The story Of the historic shot, though some-
what aged, is detailed in a Manila letter
I'm Leslie's Weekly, and is worth reproduc-
ing. The outposts Of the insurgents says
the writer, were gradually drawing closer
to ours, and on the Saturday evening of the
outbreak OF hostilities an insurgent lieuten-
ant attempted to pass a sentinel within the
Nebraska lines. He advanced toward our
fines with a small guard and signihed his
Intention of placing one of them beyond his
usual post. Private Grayson challenged the
insurgents, but they ignored his demand TO
halt. He waited a moment, but the guard
advanced and he fred his shot. killing the
lieutenant and one private. The other in
surgents promptly returned the fire, and re-
treated under cover OF some bushes near
their lines. A silence followed, but In the
Nebraska camp the sound OF the rifle and
the passing along OF the word aroused the
men to great activity. Not three minutes
elapsed from the sound of the alarm before
every man in the regiment was ready for
action. They Immediately marched, in
doublequick time, to their assigned posi-
TONS
The burial Of Colonel Stotsenberg Of the
First Nebraska in Arlington cemetery
called out at the War department many
"reminiscences of the brave officer, some of
which are taken from the Washington Star.
An army officer who knew Colonel Stotsen-
berg when he was a lieutenant of the Sixth
said:
1T did not take his tragic finish at Manila
to establish his bravery. He won the medal
Of honor in the Indian wars In the west,
earned it more than once for that matter
If he had cared to push his claim. But the
funny part of it was that Stotsenberg used
to calmly remark to his friends that he
really didn't deserve the medal the time he
received it. The people that knew him also
knew just how little that disclaimer was
worth.
1T happened in the Victoria cam
paign down in Arizona that Stot's gallantry
was officially recognized. Old Victoria's
band had been raising scalps and disturb
ances of ell sorts across a wide stretch OF
country when one Of the colored cavalry
troops cut their trail down in a bad mess
of canyon and mesa country, where the
Apaches had started in to a waterhole.
The troopers banged into a box canyon
close after them, closer a good deal than
the soldiers imagined, and the first news they
had of Victoria he and his band were shoot
ing them up in great shape from a natural
stone fort up at the head of the valley.
The Buffalo soldiers hunted cover in short
order, but the Apaches had pocketed them
so we'll that they could not get forward or
back, and the result was they were held
in a state of siege down in the canyon for
twenty-four hours or more. The Apaches
were in great spirits, too, having murdered
a couple of English ranchmen the day be-
fore a little way across the country. Out
of this piece of ~villainy they had got a
couple of express rifles with a couple OF
belts of cartridges with explosive bullets.
'They were also using a lot of old 90
caliber carbines with Winchester AS am
for lack of something that would
fit, wrapping the shells with rawhide to
make them stay in the chamber. OF course,
the express bullets went off like siX-shoot-
ers every time they hit the rocks where the
colored troopers were lying, and the misft
bullets from the carbines sang disconso-
lately as they tumbled over in the air. The
negroes swore the Indians were shooting
picketpins at them and were feeling pretty
uncomfortable when the detachment that
Stotsenberg was with came over the mesa
from the other side and chased the Indians
out of their vantage place.
'victoria didn't wait for much fight then,
but started across the country, all sails set.
The two detachments were right on his heels
and rounded him up for a fight at a place
called Chevalon Ford, but which is officially
known as the battle of the Big Dry Wash.
This was where Stotsenberg came in. The
fought under cover, according to
their lights, as long as they could, but the
went in after them, bulldog like,
just as they did after much worse marksmen
at San Juan and Caney.
Part of the Indians broke and the troop |
ers were opening out to gather in the frag-
ments when Stotsenberg and about eight
men surged up over an adjacent ridge to
help cut off the retreat. Stotsenberg al
ways declared with a laugh that he hadn't
an idea there were any Indians in that part
Of the country, and that II he had he would
have gone around the other way, but as it
vas he and his men pitched head on into a
bunch of about forty hostiles down in the
gully. There was more need for prayers
than time for praying. His sergeant got
knocked over at the first flash. Everybody
such cover as was most convenient,
and Stotsenberg gave the lie to anything he
subsequently, chose to say about himself by
picking up his wounded man and packing
him on his back to the nearest boulder,
where he tucked him away out Of the line
Of fire. Then he turned in with his handful
of men and conducted a little independent
of his own for the benefit of this
arroyo full of Apaches. The rest OF the
regiment came up in time to bury those
that did not get away.
That's, roughly speaking, how he won
his medal of honor. The only pity is he
be here to wear the other one that
he earned at Malate."