Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-05-20

talked Of regiment here because of the
way the Loys swept everything before
them at the taking of Caloocan. a town
three miles north of Manila. Five Kan
sas boys have been killed and 81 wound
ed up to date.
1--WE buried 1919 Filipinos, piled up
on the ground that the Twentieth Kan
sas advanced over in the various fights.
and this of course does not include the
dead that they managed to carry away
1.-The trouble with the Filipinos is
that they do not shoot straight. while
our men keep their bullets down close
to the ground A good deal of our fight
ing has been at close quarters in the
dense bamboo jungle, and several fellows
were bayoneted by the Jayhawkers. -
A tritie more in detail is the story of
Captain Bishop, who commanded
company which took an important part
in the attack on Caloocan Says Cap
tain Bishop
Colonel Funston realized that sue
cess depended upon haste, and as he
hurried up and down the line urging
us on to Caloocan we realized that we
had the bravest colonel that ever led
regiment. and thousand brave Kansas
boys responded to the commands. AS
two.of our battalion commanders were
absent-Lieutenant Colonel Little and
Major Whitman-Colonel Funston left
part of theTegiment absolutely in COM
mand of Major Metcalf, and it was no
mistake he made. As we neared Caloo-
can it seemed as if all the devils imps
were in front of us We could hear, but
could not see The only thing that
saved us from great loss was the fact
that the natives invariably fire high
at would have done your soul good
to have seen my country schoolteachers
as they made these rushes, with Ser
geant Sampson always at my right
hand and Sergeants Brockway and Will
son urging their sections on We knew
our left flank was safe, as there was
Glasgow, with Sergeants Fox and King
looking after the second platoon. and
to the right of the road was the big
stone church, surrounded by a seven
foot stone wall, and that was what we
were after One more rush would take
us to it, and then over the walls we
would go. AS Harry Todd was ringing
the bell in the church tower with lead
from his Springfield cried out, How
many will follow mef' and every man
answered, 4 am readyl or Here.
herel' and away We went 1t was my
ambition to be the first man to scale
the wall, but, bless your soul, am get
ting old, and 40 or more brave lads sat
astride the wall shooting natives before
got there. And here we rested until
the other companies. which were pick
ing their way through the underbrush
and across trenches on either side of
the town. came up We were proud of
our rush on the town and proud of the
brave boys who forced the intrench-
ments right ard eft-intrenchments
concealed by brush and vines and full
of natives with Mausers and Reming
tons.
Like the rough riders in Cuba, the
Twentieth Kansas is in danger of over
praise. 1t is said that Colonel Funston
boasted that he'd make his hardy bor
derers the rough riders of the Philip
pines. They started in well For bat
tlecry they adopted the resonant, sig
nifcant legend, "Rock chalk, Jayhawk,
K. V" Jayhawkers in the best sense
these unconventional enthusiastic west
ern volunteers are.
1t is not necessary to depend solely
upon fiattering friendly reports of tho
doings of Colonel Funston and his Jay
hawkers to make out case of heroism
for the Twentieth Kansas. In the re-
port of the brigade commander, Gen
eral Harrison Grey Otis. the doings of
the Kansas men take up fully half, al
though they count numerically but one
fifth, of Otis force
The insurgent attack on the night Of
Feb. began On the Kansas outpost
Two battalions were rushed to the front
by Colonel Funston and the insurgents
held in check for the night Next day
the whole regiment charged gallantly
through the gardens and bamboo thick
cts directly upon the insurgent strong
hold When the Jayhawkers got within
60 to 20 yards. firing as they pushed
on, the insurgents gave way. Rallying
at the captured barricades, the Kansans
were about to storm the isolated block |
houses beyond when they were recalled.
Next day, however, it advanced to the
barricades and held them One COM
pany went forward into the brush and
stirred up sharp fight with the enemy
Colonel Funston took out three COM
panies and charged the insurgent posi-
tion, carrying it after fight of half an
hour at the roint of the bayonet.
There was quiet in front of the Kan
sans after that charge until the line
was ordered forward to attack Caloocan
on Feb. 10. The regiment had the left
of the brigade and charged through a
dense woods in the face of hot fire
from the insurgents, not stopping until
it had swept through the town and q |
distance beyond.
This is not the tale of all the fighting
done to date by Colonel Funston's Kan
sans. Every battle report has some ex-
plot to their credit They belong to
MacArthur's division and to Harrison
Grey Otis brigade. which means share |