New-York tribune., 1900-01-29
HAWKINS DEFENDS list.
REGIMENTS BRIGADE COMMANDER SAYS
IT DID WELL AT SAN JUAN

The probability of reopening of the Court
or inquiry on the list Regiment has been wide
ly discussed among the officers OF that regi-
ment since the speech Of General Hamilton 8.
Hawkins to the officers after the recent review.
i mat MIS- remarks were OF a sensational char
acter has been whispered among the officers.
out the tenor of them was carefully guarded
he was guest of the Board of officers and it
4 was understood that nothing should be said OF
! his address. But Saturday afternoon several
| officers got together and decided that they owed
! it to the reputation of the regiment to let the
! public know exactly what he said in relation
! to the battle of San Juan and the conduct of
/ the list there
General Hawkins. who Is an officer of the
! United States Army, now retired, was in COM
! mand Of the brigade of which the list was a
part. The Importance of his speech lies in
/ its contradiction of the testimony Of Major
! General Jacob F. Kent, who commanded the
division in which the list regiment fought This
testimony appears in the proceedings of the
Court of Inquiry. The officers of the list have
always contended that the regiment on account
OF its black powder rifles and lack of expert
ence, was Intended for reserve, and that it did
not receive orders to cross the San Juan River.
The testimony in question reads as follows:
Question by Colonel Bacon-Then from the time
you left Colonel Downs at the forks 40 a. M
until Right b y9g sent no further orders to him?
doned him, as far as I concerned That be-
longed to his brigade commander.
General Hawkins said
AN Whsn Te TSre Of at Is%Ra the he officers had
had all formed good opinion OF it. When tie as
sign sig9ments were made & felt myself especially hon
brigade Going down the transports l saw little
OF it; but I saw that it was landed promp Jly. /
landed. for the reason that did not wish to have
my personal horses swim to sea. as most OF
renee. I had determined that the Navy should
which the horses could be taken ashore It took
trusted aids and left EFT the @ transpor so over 70 one OF my
When | put my foot on land was met by
place at the front and that we had met reverses
liz G sapsantate THIS sfatement ne pointed up the
wounded. 1 looked up the hill, and did see some
mand,. and l said that 1 did not know, but that
PSGssoy pos aL was then gave orders that my brig,
| Immediately for the front l was struck by the
the hill you gentlemen will no doubt remember
that we met some of the Rough Riders, who were
ported that the Rough Riders had been annihiated
regiment found coming up the hill was the 1st
in good order. We found that the great battle had
We now come to the morning Of July /. when
oGders r f @ & 5sfGd took place 3 The
not start until the morning We had no orders to
Shafter. General Kent seemed much troubled
Lieutenant Mey of General Skaters staff when
Kent that if he had no objection he would give the
To which General Kent repiied very we'll sir
and started down the road to give the necessary
Ny intention was that the list should be in the
l+ ds as rsar 3 3i hf sh @ aea 6 hs daa t9 ae
To Ru thst general y R9e ee Dsa69 sh1ud
detected the list Regiment TO- the left when its
evidently 7It thought that my intention was to have
would be shorter way to accom- mplish this object
but such was not my intention 1t was most
Pegient far from the rest of H Brigade h and
plae it in the most trying position in which
>, When hen the list came up the Hill placed II. on
acted spenddlS The firing had ceased but T Gem II
eral Shafter. who was in the rear, had sent word
right as he was needed It is certainly wonderful
how fierce battle seems when viewed from the
saw shell burst over the left company of the
but behaved in soldierly manner, and quickly
recovered itself and seemed to be kept well in
! battery seemed to be inactive, and sent word
reply from its commanding officer that his men and
horses were too much exposed and that he
then placed a. a. two or three companies of the list
and although tust as much exposed heard NJ
eo3aints COMP from i or It's officers Of being IN TOO
been pr, promoted. the list was dotng It's duty.
aee have every to h heeye that i the st
that It should, and was not detected TO the Ieft
equally as well as the other two regiments of nv
brigade and pleased testify to the worth
or the list Regiment at any time
Ex-ColoneI Wallace Downs was asked what he
thought Of the remarks OF General Hawkins
"They are" he said '1ust what I should expect
from fair and impartial man who was at the
scene and knew how the list was sacrificed by
being thrown into the trail. 7 hear that General
Hawkins went further and said that the
trail ought never TO have been discovered
It is perfectly true that was abandoned to my
brigade commander by General Kent and as he
had fixed 1t so that General Hawkins was COM
pletely out of touch with me I could get no
orders from him. 7 still waiting for them
Here is a fact that no military man has yet dis
puted. General Kent gave me his last orders he
admits the witness stand. at 10 a. M The
attack was not to begin San Juan till after
Lawton had taken Ell Caney This capture was
delayed, and finally with every prospect of our
position being made untenable Colonel Miley
at 1920 ordered the regulars to attack the hill
had been left by my brigade commander two
hours before and he could not communicate
with me.
IF the blunder had not been made of pushing
the list into the trail that had been discovered
only few minutes before and the outlet of
which no one knew anything about there would
have been OF the bunglng and confusion
which interested persons tried to unload upon
the list profoundly grateful to General
Hawkins for having let light In upon the situa-
ton at last"