The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-08-26


down at intervals along the way. sighting
and firing fast at the enemy's lines. From
the walls and the mud villages came a
CALLING fire that halted us frequently. Our
men were on open ground. unable to find
cover, and the casualties were frequent
and unnerving. Who was 1t said the Chi
nese could not shoot? We entertained the
same delusion about the Spanish before
the battle of Santiago. The Chinese in
the mud villages and on the walls on the
18th shot as we'll as the Spaniards. These
Chinese could not have been other than the
best product Of training by European Of
ficers.
While the walls were too solid for breach
ing by artillery. it proved also impossible
to reach the walls, for a deep canal lay
between the attackers and the wall. AT a
bend in the river the Ninth was halted
There was slight protection behind a mud
wall, but every time our men rose to fire
casualties resulted. The display Of a head
or an arm resulted an a wound. The
Ninth's splendid fellows were lying in
water, exposed TO a fire that threatened to
annihilate them, yet obeying every order
with a GOODNESS and precision that have
since brought them unstinted praise from
British General Dorward. 1t was Dor
wards mistake, since frankly admitted by
him. that placed our men in such a po-
| sition. But ii was not Forwards fault.
1t was one of those awful mistakes that
must sometimes happen in war, and no
American officer has other than praise for
the English commander.
Down the line Travelled the news that
| Colonel Liscum had been killed. 1t did
not dishearten the Ninth's boys, but made
them all the more determined on victory.
1t was proposed at one time to withdraw
| them from their position along the river.
Their officers protested. AS it was finally
decided that to withdraw would result in
as many casualties as to advance, the
Ninth was allowed to have its way, and
stuck TO its position, firing heavily at the
Chinese rifieman and gunners on the walls.
The light artillery fire of the Chinese
during the morning proved a snare. Those
yellow fiends had abundant cannon masked
along the walls. Besides heavy ordnance
there were numerous machine guns, adj
mirably served.
Are white men serving those pieces?"
was a question that Americans frequently
asked each other. We have heard plenty
of rumors that renegade white men were
the ones who ran uo our list of dead and
wounded. So far we do not know If 1t be
true. Nc white men were found among the
dead Chinese.
The Ninth's men wore their blue flannel
shirts, without khaki blouses. Those same
blue shirts nave before this proven splen-
did marks in the field. All day the sur
geons were busy, they and the hospital
men showing splendid pluck Men with
trenching tools and men using their hands
made artificial depressions in the ground
back of the firing line, and here the wound
ed were taken whenever possible and. cared
for. But there was no safety. There was
not even comparative safety for our
wounded. Major Regain, Major Lee and
Captain Bookmiller, when wounded, re-
sisted the idea of leaving the firing line.
The other wounded officers among our men
behaved with equal gallantry. Many of the
men were so slightly hit that they refused
to report to the surgeons, but kept on
firing.
WITHDREW AT NIGHT.
So the day wore on to night. Some three
quarters of an hour before dark the artil-
lery of the allies opened terrifically on the
walls.
This means a night assault on the WALL
was the word that passed along the Ninth's
line. 1t meant murder, pure and simple, as
those faded fighting men saw it. To swim
the canal and try to get through those
thick, high walls seemed an impossible feat,
as indeed it would have been. But the ar
tillery fire continued with undiminished fe-
rocity until after dark. Then word came
that a conference of commanders had de-
cided that the Ninth was to be withdrawn
under cover of the darkness. During the
latter part of the afternoon Lieutenant
Colonel Coolidge, now commanding the
Ninth, had foreseen this possibility. He
had been anxiously debating whether 1t
would be possible to carry away all the
wounded on Withdrawing. Unless he could
do so with comparative safety for the
wounded he was opposed to the idea of re-
treat. But dark came, and the tired men
were moved back in small parties, others of
their comrades remaining in position to
cover their retreat. Stretchers and i'm
p~rovised stretchers were used in getting the
wounded back. The maneuver was accom-
plished. And now the officers of the Ninth
naQ tnelr HTSI opportunity 10 90 more tndn
merely guess at their losses during the day.
Out of a total of a little over 400 men the
losses amounted to one officer killed and
five wounded, seventeen enlisted men killed
and seventy-two wounded. 1t was heavy,
frightful, but the men of the Ninth puffed
at their pipes when all was over and said
quietly:
"Oh, We'll get even"
These men were grimy with powder and
the foulness OF their rife barrels. They
were plastered with mud from head to foot
and there was no water in which to wash
Wash? There was none to drink. The
river and canals were muddy and foul with
the bodies of the dead enemy floating down
Sleep would have been a Godsend. What
do you think these men of the Ninth were
doing in the Carkness when they could
hardly keep their eyes open? Passing CUR
grease and oil to one another, tearing of
fragments of cloth and swabbing out the
barrels of their rifles. Everywhere that one
stepped through the close knots Of men ir
the night he came upon men so engaged
They wanted their guns up TO the mark fol
the morrow. The Ninth has been called the
Suicide Club by English officers. BY
sticking to their position all day on the 18th