Fergus County argus., 1899-05-24

i curled down with the rest and pa
tiently brolled in the sun while an in
surgent sharpshooter ON our front
made matters uncomfortable and in
teresting FIR us. However, he was
an alleged sharpshooter. for he hit
only the air. AT last heeXposed him
self to view and the terrible Swede"
Johnson and Echer both fired at him.
As Dick Roberts short time after
ward captured a prisoner in that
brush with big hole thro his right
shoulder, made by Springfield bull
let, | imagine Johnson knew what he
was talking about when he declared
she had him" even before he fired.
think we must have been In that po-
sition an hour and a half before we
received orders to advance. We then
formed in column Of fours and | was
placed in charge of the first platoon.
Next we heard the conn and, First
platoon in the firing line, form for at
tack" 1t TOOK my breath away. hut
in a minute we were off, with the sec
ond platoon and the captain in the
rear following us up and joining us
later after we had reached the tin
Der. Then commenced the advance
by alternate platoons, firing as they
marched forward, cleaning out the
timber frO" insurgents, a few of
whom were near us. but who fell
back before the advance. Just how
far we went / cannot say, but be-
lieve about half mile. never saw
"nigger" in the entire distance tra-
versed. In fact, the only thing to he
seen that showed the effect of our
craftsmanship at this time was n
water buffalo hit in the shoulder and
wild with pain and rage. As we ap-
preached the furthest point in our
first advance we reached the edge of
patch Of timber. beyond which was
an open rice field with a few Of the
native houses on the further side.
Just as we reached the edge Of the
trees and underground some of the
men discovered company OF natives
drawn up in the open preparing to
fire upon us. We were too quick for
them, however, and sent three volleys
into them that used up their stock OF
eight" for the time and ended the
careers OF quite number by sending
them to the regions where Spanish il
spoken exclusively. We received or.
ders here to fall back, as we were
further in advance than was intend
ed, being i'm fact directly in the track
of the oncoming Third U. s. artillery
We began to retrace our steps and
had done so for some little distance
when fire on our left flank was
opened upon us, compelling US to
seek cover, but fortunately it was al.
most parallel to the fire, henceit was
deemed best to fall back for better
shelter Before we moved we discov.
cred that ii was the Third artillery
firing into us, the brush and trees
completely hiding us from their view
We could not make them hear us by
shouting, the noise of their guns was
50 bad, and at last, under the hot
test fire our company has seen, We
| fell back few rods. 1t was during
this retreat that Meyersick was hit
saw him at the moment, but never
suspected that anything allied hin
except the extreme heat. and when
first saw hiIn stretched out on the
ground under cover felt relieved tG
think We had escaped from that traI
without any one being hurt. No,
until | saw the wound dill | dream
that he had sustained an injury
What makes my lack of cpmprehen
sion more strange is that at the mo-
ment he was shot was thinking We
could not possibly escape losing q
number of men while getting away
from that fire.
Meyersick was sent back to the field
hospital, and we were assured he