The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-02-04
BATTLE OF BELMONT.

Lord Methuen'S account OF the battle OF
Belmont shows that he was forced into
making a frontal attack.
Maj. Gen. Sir H. Colville,' he writes,
Shows the grenadiers lost direction, and
I found myself committed to frontal
attack
On. the. same. battle Lore, Methuen re-
ports: @. @...sl.s.9
; "a towards trick now occurred. A
white flag was displayed, and when with
in fifty yards our men ceased firing, and
while the flag was flying a shot was fired
by one of the party at our men. The en-
tire force adds the general '.is animal.
ed with the best spirit, and my sole res.
greet Is that 1 have lost and must lose
many more whenever have to fight large
numbers of mounted Beers in strong de-
fensive- positions
OF Enslin Gen. Methuen reports:
1.-The fighting was far harder than on
Thursday, and would not let man go
forward until had covered the two high
hills with shrapnel. The manner in which
the batteries were handled, their accuracy
in firing, Is beyond all praise, and why
this action is to my mind interesting Is
that you can compare 1t to Belmont. In
the battle of Belmont you have a sur
prise, and one battalion losing direction
and suffering heavy loss; In the battle
of Enslin you have position well pre-
pared by shrapnel, the batteries firing 1900
yards, and you have the naval battalion
behaving splendidly, but not taking ad-
vantage enough Of cover, and suffering
accordingly. The loss was great in both
cases, and convinces me that If an enemy
has his heart in the right place, he ought
to be able to hold his own against vastly
superior forces, and it does our men
great credit to say that nothing stops
them
GEN. BULLER'S EXCUSE.
The Associated Press cab.ed from Lon
don on the night Of Jan. 26 extracts from
the Gazette giving Gen. Buffers explana-
ton of his defeat, in which he placed ths
entire blame upon Col. Long, who, he de-
clared, disobeyed orders by outpacing
with his guns the escort. Gen. Butler adds
to this report:
lit was very awkward position to at
tack, but I thought that if I could effect
a Judgment under cover Of Fort Wylie,
the .OlileT ILLS WOulU 10 d great extent
mask each other, and want OF water
would clear them out in time.
1.-THE men fought their guns like heroes.
Col. Bullock, Second Devons, behaved
with great gallantry; he did not notice the
orders to retire; his party defended them
selves and the wounded of the two bat
teries until nightfall, inflicting considera-
BILE loss upon the enemy, and 1t was only
when surrounded that he consented to
surrender, because the enemy said they
would shoot the wounded if he did not.
1--WE. were engaged for eight hours with
an enemy occupying commanding posi-
tions-positions 80 carefully prepared that
it was almost impossible for infantry to
see what to aim at-and I think the force
opposed to us must altogether have equal
ed our own. We had closed on the en-
enys works, our troops were in favor
able position for an assault. and had
at the critical moment had at my dispo-
sition the artillery had, as believed. ar
ranged for, think we should have got In.
But without the immediate support of
guns, I considered that 1t would be a.
reckless waste Of gallant lives to attempt
the assault