The National tribune., 1900-07-19

Every soldier of much actual campaign
experience has at some time in his career
engaged in the work of making recon
naissance, but it has been in most cases
a reconnaissance more or less IN force
and not partaking of the essence of IN
dividual scouting into the enemys coun'
try. OF those who have engaged IN real
scouting form of reconnaissance that
takes them close to the enemys lines, and
possibly within them, while entirely un-
supported by comrades within call III case
of discovery, there are very few. Such
scouting as this had TO be done IN the
Phillipines The country was practically
unknown. Maps We're of little account.
Information derived from the natives WitS
worthless. Attacks could not be mace
with prudence until the nature o1 the
country to be passed over was somewhat
understood.
Scouting is difficult and dangerous un-
der the best of circumstances, even III n
country whose general topography and
conditions are familiar and where the en-
envy speaks the same language and has
the same customs and habits, and par
ticularly when the same military meth
odS are pursued; but i'll Il strange land Ike
the Philippines. with everything new and
unfamiliar. and the customs and military
methods of the people but partially under
stood, scouting and personal reconnais-
sance work was especially difficult and
dangerous. What added to the difficulty
and risk more than any other thing was
the fact that the Filipinos are especially
active at night. All their offensive mill
tary operations are carried on during the
night time For this reason a scout was
far more apt to stumble upon an armed
party of Fihpinos, or be discovered and
ambushed by supposed peaceable citizens,
while feeling his way about the country
in the dark, than he would be were he in
the country of an enemy following the
Caucasian custom of fighting in the day
time.
After the capture of Malolos, the rebel
capital, about the first of April, 1899.
MacArthur's army lay behind the en-
trenchments for more than three weeks,
and then, while Lawtons column was
sweeping north on parallel lines in the
interior, Macarthur advanced against the
heavy entertainments of the insurgents
along the line of the railroad between Ma
lolos and the Rio Grande de Pampanga
River, at Calumpit. The advance was
series of skirmishes, interspersed with
brilliant charges of the strongest kind of
then by another. The formidable en-
trenchments along the Bag Bag We're cap
tured, the gallant Col. StotsenberE, of the
Nebraska regiment, being killed during
some of the sevcrest fighting, the success
sive lines of intrenchments between the
Bag Bag and Rio Grande were carried
by assault, and the latter stream was
reached too late to force crossing by
daylight, for darkness settles down like
a blanket as soon as the sun drops behind
the horizon in the tropics. On the right
of the track was the Montana regiment
and on the left the Kansas. Both were
halted in the line some distance back from
the river, and outposts were pushed al
most to the bank of the stream as soon
as darkness Obscured the movement, and
in that position the army rested for the
night.
The only means of crossing the stream
was q fine steel railroad bridge and COM
mon bamboo raft ferry just below it,
though both raft and rope had been re-
moved. On the opposite side of the river
were about 1000 insurgents, posted be-
hind some of the heaviest entertainments
encountered by our troops during the en-
tire campaign. In addition to common
earthworks, they had bombproofs made
of sections of boilers taken from sugar
mills near by. These intrenchments COM
pletely covered the bridge with a con-
verging fire from both sides of the track,
and at the same time covered the river for
q long distance above and below the struc-
ture. Notwithstanding this fact, it was
intention TO rush q column
over the bridge at daylight in the MORN
Ing, provided the structure was paSSable