Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1899-04-08

halted az ras creek said the wounded
there were hit in the same way Com
spicuous otficsrs were cut down while
ascending ths slope Of the hail and
companion Of Major Forse. First cav
airy. Sid that his friend was killed BY
sharpshoetsr while rec0anoitering
between Kettle Hiil' and San Juan
blockhouse NJ a time when there was no
trench FIRE over that ground There was
q lapse of about three hours between
the arrival Ut some commands at the
creek AMI the final charge 90 the crest.
Meanwhile there were lulls in the Span.
ish vollering, but still popping Of Mau-
sers in the air and victims falling
1t was SO evident that fatal shots
were coming from the rear into tn,
troops on the slope that officers were
sent back TO look to il. but the troops
in the rear We're not firing A soldier of
the Thirty Michigan. A. III
Ganser, noted down at the time the fol-
lowing experiences at hunting down
sharpshooters whom he classes ssguer
rillas Under date of July 3. 5 p. m.
he wrote in his diary as follows; ''At
6 a. IN. all of our detail were at San
Juan as ordered and already transfers
and the hospital corps had been fired
upon, chiefly from the south shore.
where retreat into Santiago was open
to the guerrillas. Two small squads
secuted up river to Ell Caney. one down
the thickets on the road to Shafter 9
headquarters, while the rest. II regu-
lars and four volunteers from the Thirty
fourth. took an old bride path through
the lowlands for long detour to the
foothills of Ell Poso to round mp those
providers. as our western scouts put
it. We had a hot days work in more
ways than one.
.tCrouching and creeping through the
open country in Indian file, our leaders
surprised a strapping young negro
armed with brass bullet ammunition.
A dubbed rifle, tough vine and a
young sapling did quick and silent exc
cution Here we separated into four
squads, ranging over mile of the river
bottom, and by noon their work was
thoroughly done. Our squad comprised
Scout Wallis Of the rough riders, two
colored fighters and silent sergeant of
the Fifteenth.
1--WE were in the river bottom proper
and advanced with the usual precau-
tion and examined every path, tree or
cover The cool and even CHEEKY daring
of these old rangers nerved one to every
task, but yet this mornings experience
stih haunts W mind. In the very first
cluster of IL kgrove trees w. y detect
ed four gu.hillas who werx marking
our lines in reckless security. Every
now and then they fired and banded
one another while we crept within easy
range. Each picked his man, and all
fired together. The reports were follow
ed by plunging through the limbs. a
dull thud of two more shots, more
crashing and tumbling, and then we
pushed quickly on, leaving the thou
sand land crabs with their prey, for our
fire might attract the enemy in force
SO near were we to their right flank.
Nor did we escape notice, for every
now and then spiteful 'whir-r-r'
showed we were detected, but at close
quarters we had all the advantage Of
the daring bushwhackers In the trees,
and our comrades far to our right were
effectively heard from, though we found
the 'dagoes, as the boys grimly called
them, all along the wooded bottom up
to within few yards of the trail to
San Juan. The detail lost one man
killed and three wounded, one the jolly
colored boy of the Twenty fourth but
thereafter our hospitals and water car
riers were little molested, and the west
erners gloried in their work as "a well
done job. To me it is the cruel neces-
sity of self preservation, grim wars
reality, but day of horrors that haunt
my thoughts nevertheless
Soldier Ganser's designation Of the
Spanish sharpshooters is close to the
truth. They were 'guerrillas, for it
must be taken for granted that soldiers
of the line would not risk certain death
in that way. 1t is said that some had
on civilian clothes and some the Ameri-
can uniform or "A close imitation of it.
Regular soldiers would know that they
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