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. 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. Thea everything opened up. The
Spaniards were in force in the bushes,
and Isbell went down with seven shots
in him from the first volley. Not five
seconds elapsed before Captain Caproa
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
him in advance of the other men of L
troop, who were running forward as
rapidly 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
four or five shots he gasped;
I'm wounded.
Culver replied by saying, I'm
killed.
"They had been hit by the same bull
let, and the cowboy warrior and the
dude soldier mingled their blood there
in the Cuban trail. Fish died. Culver
lived.
THE man to come mp first after
Hamilton Fish was Samuel Davis,
known to the regiment as Cherokee
Bill. He was standing upright when he
saw Fish shot and had only time to
look at him q second with wondering
eyes when he went down with o 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
riders was similar 10 that of the regu-
lars off on the right whose deeds that
day have never been exploited as re-
markable. Lieutenant John r. Thomas,
who succeeded Capron, has told his
story and mp TO a certain point Il Is the
same as Marshall's. He says that the
advance along the mountain trail was
made In single file. and the men.expected
to meet the enemy every minute Cap
tain Capron was with the five in the
advance. He had seen Spanisrds 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 90 feet Of the Spaniards when
the latter fred upon it, as Marshall
stated. The rest Of the company came
in on the run to help the men In the
advance. The Spanish line formed q
crescent, and the rough riders had
walked into the concave side Of it. Sud
denly terrific fire of Mauser bullets
was poured into the exposed men OF
Troop l.. Says Lieutenant Thomas, "It
was as hot hole as l ever hope to get
into" In a few minutes he was wound
ed, as Marshall had been just before
Colonel Woods report is not as clea
MS 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 enem,
and precautions against surprise. H,
says: 1.-The command was h2lted ant
the troops deployed to the Tight ant
left in open skirmish order and TIT
command ordered to advance carefully
The firing began immedia tely. and TIT
extent OF the firing on each flank indi
Gated that we had encountered a heav
force, Two additional troops were de
ployed on tho right and the left, thu