The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1900-08-05
SEVENTY-FIRST
NOT COWARDS
Officer of That Regiment
Tells the Facts.
THEY WERE NOT RUN OVER
Vivid Account of Assent of San Juan
RllI-cowaTdlee Confined TO
Few Officers.

An Astorian representative had an
interview yesterday afternoon with an
ex-oflcer Of the Seventy-First n. T.,
late U. S. ", who IS spending a few
days here on visi.; for reasons OF
his own he desires that his name may
not be mentioned. His remarks all
trend one way, as in a spirit Of remin-
iscence, he recalled how, just two
years ago, his regiment was leaving the
Cuban coast for Montauk point and
home.
TT is circulated and bruited about
this western country that the Ninth
regular cavalry. the negro regiment
ran over you people while you were ly-
ing on the slope Of san Juan hill, refus-
ing TO advance. Is this true? " was one
OF the questions asked him.
This was Indignantly denied in the
following words:
Early on the morning OF the nght'
we were moved along the trail to the
front. Just as the first four 1--WE were
in column of four). reaching the edge
of the clearing. started 10 deploy as
skirmishers, three out Of the first fve
men. including one commissioned officer,
were shot, and fell backward on the
four behind them. There had been no
smoke. no flame, no noise, and the
bullets were as a bolt OF lightning from
a clear sky. Naturally enough the men
were little denoralized. have never
seen a man who was at that night, and
who is not either an habitual liar or
braggart, who did not confess 70 feel
ing Of trepidation or fear. do not
mean to say that they showed this, Tor,
on the contrary, the more frightered
the men seemed to get the more stead
lily did they pour in their fire and hold
to their posts. Old soldiers. men train
ed to the noises and mortality Of war,
regular army officers, nurtured, one
might say, In the cradle OF death, all
said that it seemed as If there was
a voice within each one Of them whis-
pering duck and rum; or else they
were too nervous to do anything ex-
cept AUTOMATICALLY.
How then are you going to blame
brand new regiment, composed OF men
who had nothing in common, who had
never lived together before, some Of
whom had never met. previous to their
enlistment. the men now standing at
their shoulders? As a poet put it.
They were only raw troops, an undis-
ciplined mob,
And old world officers sneered again,
To think Of their undertaking the job,
OF facing the seasoned soldiers Of Spain.
They had never been taught to cringe,
you see,
To a padded, beer-drinking German
brute.
OrHttle swaggering French chimpanzee,
They merely were men who could fight
and shoot.
They hadn't enlisted to sport gold lace
And jingling spurs in a coffee-roOm,
Their only pride was the pride of race,
Not scarlet cuni9 or snowy plume.
And they hadn't gone to the war for
fun,
It isn't romantic--not a bit.
To march in the swconing tropical sun.
Or steam in a swoltering rihe-pit.
When first under fire and called on to
face
The tune Of the deadly Mauser's crack,
OLD tight have faltered-'twere
not disgrace.
For many sprang forward who never
came back.
But over the trenches they charged
on a run,
Through that storm of bullets and hail
of lead
And the whitening flame Of the Hotch-
kss gun,
Til the hillside was strewn with their
dying and dead.
In an alien land and unmarked grave,
They siner in the rest Of eternity,
Where the feathery palms and tree
ferns wave,
To wake at the last Reveille.
AMI whom we have come to the end
0f nur race
And u,uyt weight in at last; when from
tho post we've been sent,
May We have such a chance for the
heavenly place.
As the men of the list Regiment.
After dcplOying, we lay at the edge
of the woods. firing in volleys so steady
that It seemed as If It was only tar
ger practice after all. and not real war
We were commended for this in genera
orders the next lay. At first. the only
two things -discernible to the eye ac.
cust0med to the half-light Of the trai
were the top Of the hill and the block.
house perched thereon. After the mer
had become used 70 the glaring light
we could distinguish the position Of
the enemy by the fire from HIS guns
and so deadly was our aim that We