The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-03-14

F,S[ 80 was the first
M " NV, American to
JGHxa1 scale the trenches
,ILNlzHGSV4E2of Fort San
EaNSlMHS1 Juan. But there
wv SHlx1 SfEs1is happily no
lS1EE 4 nkINE1xlquestion as to
mAfss& 3.2IAN1which command
IS&F /. ka Sjwas first in the
ky3TEsMza10 IENA attack or which
t-Y.l N1M&A \-yMJlOst the heaviest
in the encounter. Official figures are
not fables The honor belongs to the
Sixth United States infantry.
After all that has been written in
general way about the physical hard
ships of the soldiers in Cuba the pic
ture is incomplete without those little
details that linger in the memory Of
soldiers who faced everything, hour by
hour and day by day, from gnawing
terview with a man of the Sixth regu
lars was at the headquarters of Camp
Wikoff, where the commandant, Cap
tain w. Fl. H. Crowell, spoke for the
regiment. The captain had served in
the western army during the civil war.
He said that he had never seen any
thing in all his 81 years experience to
equal the hardships in Cuba.
The Sixth led the infantry division,
but before it reached the crossing of
the Aguadorres creek the column halted
to give the dismounted cavalry the road
This halt in the torrid jungle was
enough to sap the fervor of soldiers
who needed all the fire of their fresh
enthusiasm for what lay ahead. During
the wait General Hawkins, the brigade
commander. had been to the front across
San Juan river to look the ground over.
Confident of success, he told General
Kent, the division leader, that he could
take the San Juan blockhouse by flank
attack An aid sped back along the
road to summon the Sixth and Six
teenth forward. Reaching the ford,
General Hawkins pointed toward the
slope and the Spanish position and said
to Lieutenant Colonel Egbert of the
Sixth. Somewhat beyond here you can
get an enfilade fire upon those works. :"
At this time the leaders were waiting
for the Seventy first to march forward
and clear the road for Wikoff's brigade,
these two commands of six regiments
having been assigned to the capture of
the fort.
Hawkins orders meant that the Sixth
was to get into position and open at
long range on the Spaniards to reduce
the ferceness Of the fire then pouring
down the slope into the jungle. One
battalion Of the regiment went forward
to help the cavalry skirmishers in their
attempt to cope with the Mausers, and
as soon as the Sixteenth regiment
reached the fording place Colonel Egg
bert led Company E. Captain S. W. v.
Kennon, to the river and waded to the
opposite bank. Seven companies fol-
lowed, and in few minutes the two
battalions We're lined up at wire fence
inclosing road which ran between the
river and the blockhouse.
There were then no skirmishers in
front Of the Sixth, for it had left the
cavalry to its right and rear. A bat
TALON Of the Sixteenth crossed the river
and formed on the left Of the Sixth, and
in this position Colonel Egbert held his
regiment an hour. trying to carry out
the orders to enflade Fort San Juan.
Finding the range long one and par
TALLY INSTRUCTED, the colonel decided to
cross the road to ridge covered with
tall grass just beyond This forward
march Of the Sixth was to be the first
direct attempt upon the blockhouse.
| Meanwhile the little column had had
It's taste Of Mauser fire. Captain Gro.
we'll told Of following in the wake Oh
the balloon and coming under Spanish
| view while deploying at the creek t.
advance. He says the line found Itself
in hornets nest in the tangled un.
derbrush and that men dropped on al
sides. This deadly fire from the Span.
iards on the hill was mainly at random.
Their Mausers were set at fixed ranges
and they fred because they saw the
Americans massing in the valley of Sar
Juan river.
AS the Sixth moved forward aftel
crossing San Juan river it marched
directly from the positions where thu
Americans were deployed toward the
blockhouse. In Its direction. therefore
the Spaniards' eyes were fixed. looking
for the enemy. They did not look il
vain.
Captain Crowell says that the barbet
wire fence, the first encountered by tn,
infantry, was four to five feet high ant
the strands OF wire about ten inche
apart. The men had no tools for cuttins
the wire, but Cuban negro solved tn
case for them in short order. He wa
described as giant in size witt
strength to match Captain Crowel
said that he was amazed to see tn
negro's machete cleave through all tn
strands at a single blow. The maj
seemed to understand exactly what wa
needed, for he cut first one gap, the
another and when tha commands ha,