Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1900-03-08
DARING EXPLOIT OF
AN AMERICAN SQUAD
Nine Naked Soldiers Gross a River
on a Raft and Rout a Hundred
Entrenched Filipinos.
is LIKE ONE OF KIPLlNG's TALES
"Mulvancy's" Capture of Lung Tung
Pen Over Again---Captaim j. T..
Bachelors Report on Inct
dent to War Office.

Washington, March Ito see nine
men, the officers i'm their drawers and
the men naked. cross a stream on a
small raft and drive out an entrenched
force of ten times their number in
broad daylight, where their number
must soon become known. is some
thing not soon to be forgotten. His
tory does not relate u Drawer or more
striking incident of the war with less
thought of self or display
This description OF a squad of Amer
lean troops. charging upon force
ten times their number and capturing
trenches, while the Americans We're
clad i'm an undress uniform not pro-
vided for in the army regulations, is
taken verbatim from report just re-
ccived at the war department from
the Philippines. The report is made
by Captain ]. r. Batchellor, of the
Twenty fourth infantry, on the re-
salts OF am expedition from San
Nicholas to APART i'm Luzon.
Captain Bachelor had orders to
cross the mountains of southern Ben
gmct, OH the Gayapa trail. and prevent
| the insurgents from retreating into
the valley of the Rio Grande de Kaga-
yam.
The troops were ''to live upon the
country military phrase. which
means that the soldiers were to for
age for everything they We're to. eat,
except, perhaps some bacon and
hardtack.
Captain Batchellor had with him
Lieutenant Cashier, commanding
Lomc's scouts, and Lieutenants Nc
/ Master and Miller, of the Twenty
fourth infantry. Two hundred pri-
Yates and Il pack train made up the
column. The command marched nine
ty miles i'm six days. There was a
| fight with the elusive Filipino on
| nearly every one of the six days. Con-
corning the march, Captain Bachelor
says:
"Our march was a succession of
| fording rushing mountain rivers and
climbing cliffs. hardly amy of them
s,rmountable except by zig-zag paths
cut i'm the rock. from foot to seven
teen inches wide by the sixth day the
men were mostly bare footed, their
shoes having been cut to pieces. There
was hot fight at Feurte San Luis,
and then came the successful and ccr-
|
I!surgcnts at Naguillan. The remnants
of this part of Aguinaldo's army were
strongly entrenched beyond San Luis
river. a wide mountain creek.
Captain Batchefor describes the be
/ ginning of the action, and says:
"Lieutenant McMaster asked per
mission to swim the river with some
men of Company III. lie got the per
mission. The men stripped naked and
crossed the river, some swimming
singly and others with horses.
''.tll arms were lost, however. i'm the
struggle i'm the water. Corporal John
III. johnson was drowned. sinking
without asking for help for fear he
would delay his comrades.
"Leutenant McMaster sat down on
the bank and ordered three men to &c
back for arms. Sergeant Wilcox and
two men with bamboo poles, shelter
tents and canteen straps, fixed up q
crazy sort OF a raft.
"rhc insurgents We're firing at them
meanwhile, the bullets tipping around
! them. When the raft was completed
Lieutenant Miller, Sergeant Wilcos
and one man succeeded i'm recrossng
They got the arms, but when they re
turned they were unable to send back
for more men. This left Lieutenant
McMasterif on the further bank Will
two officers. clad only in their draw
ers. and seven naked men.
THE insurgents were popping away
from their trenches, and. tthhongl
Company a had arrived on'thc-opp
site bank, and was attempting IL
ferry men across the river to Lcutem
ant McMaster's aid. the process was
too slow. AS a last resort Lieutenant
McMaster mustered his seven naked
infantrymen, and, moving around. III
struck the insurgents on their left
driving them out of their trcnche.
through the town and into the jun
gle.
Il saw Miller and two naked men,
concludes Captain IEatchellor. charge
the main trench, from which forty in
s,irgents ran out. They captured herr
three men With cooked rifles in thei
hands,
Captain Bachelor then ends will
his description oil the remarkable APP
pcarance of the United States troop
who captured the trenches at Naguil
Ian