Evening star., 1900-02-05
GEN. LAWTON's DEATH.
COrpOraI's Account of Battle in Which
He Was Killed.

Corporal Thomas P. Carroll, who is serv-
ing in the Philippines with Uncle Sam s
army, has written a letter home under date
of December o. 1899 from which the fol-
lowing extracts are taken:
I'VE left our old camp Monday morning,
the 18th, detachments from Companies E
and F to move around the left of San
Mateo, Companies A, B. c and NJ and
some mounted and dismeunted troops of
the 10th Cavalry left the night of the 18th,
four troops of the 4th Cavalry being al
ready on the way. We had hard trip
of it, rain poured down all day Monday
and Tuesday, and did not let up nutil
Wednesday morning, making roads al
most unable to pull through, and swell
ing all the streams and rivers on the
way. The fight started at daybreak of the
10Th and lasted about three hours, General
Lawton being killed about one hour after
the fight commenced, although some re-
ports state he killed at 9:10 am. He
was shot through the heart by a sharp
shooter, while he was off on hill direct
ing the movements of the troops.
THE Tagals were intrenched along the
river front for two miles or more, and If
they had any pluck at all they could have
held their position against ten times our
number, as their intrenchments were all
built of solid stone while we had to come
right up in the open front. The cavalry
and infantry made charge which drove
them out of the trenches, and sent them
fleeing back to the mountains, some going
into a church. As l have written before,
the churches are all suitable for use as
forts. The insurgents were soon driven out
of that. They all split up into bands and
went to the mountains. Our total loss was
one officer, General Lawton killed; two Of
ficers wounded one private shot through
the neck. who died this morning, and about
twelve wounded. One of our men named
Littefied. who is from Washington, was
shot through the thigh.
"Our detachment left that night to clear
the way for bringing back the generals re-
mains and to get rations, as We We're all
entirely without food. We reached the
Marquin river Wednesday morning, the
Goth, and on account of the hard rains it
was all most impossible. We got natives
to get a line across the river, and We
crossed by hanging to it. Our colonel
Joined US here with men from and H COM
panies, and several of the 11th Cavalry
troops who Were not in the fight We then
constructed a rude ferry pulled with ropes
and got it finished just as the cavalry came
down as an escort with the generals body
on an old two-wheel cart. The remains
were put on a stretcher. then on the ferry
and pulled across the river. and were then
put in an ambulance. with troops A, B and
d of the 4th Cavalry as escort. The body
was taken to his wife in Manila.
Later in the evening the rest of our
wounded were brought in, having been car
ried on stretchers by the prisoners We
captured about eighty and killed about
sixty. The wounded men were sent to the
hospitals in Manila.
I'VE worked all night getting rations
across the river. The outpost was at
tackled the night we captured the town
and one of our men, named Burke of A
Company. was shot through the head and
killed. Companies A, B, c and NJ and four
troops of cavalry are garrisoning the town;
but they want another battalion there and
some artillery. General Pillar is in this
vicinity with a large force. We are rest
ing. but expect to leave at any moment.
Orders come along when we least expect
them.
Since Lawton's death the men are all
after revenge and if the fight is pushed on
the same principle General Lawton was
pursuing we will soon wind them up, al
though they are pretty foxy lot. 1t won't
be long before there is another hot fight"