The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1901-09-05


, Il splendid trap, and if the Filipinos haC
had the patience Cor rather the nerve fol
it was lack of the latter that was really
the matter, TO hold their fire. they might
! have waited until the column had marched
out upon the fat and lad the whole mass
to shoot at. GAS it was the column was
halted i'll the sum sen road until the situa
ton was discovered. meanwhile the ad
vance party deplosing near the edge and
lying down to, return the fire, losing hall
Il dozen killed and wounded while doing so
The plan was quickly made. The three
battalions of the Oregons were ordered
to the front, one. of them with instruc-
tons as soon us clear of the ravine to
deploy and carry the hill to he right, the
second to do the same to the left, and
the third to advance to the front against
the hill in that direction. 1t was pretty
work, and before the insurgents realized
what was going on Il battalion was charg-
ing up each hill. yelling and shooting at
every head and fleeing figure the men
could see. Notwithstanding all their adj
vantage of position the Filipinos did not
hold their ground. but fled along the mar
row mountain trails to other hills farther
south, whittier they were followed for O
distance, until, darkness having set in,
the General had the recall sounded and
camped for the night in the valley where
the fight had occurred, having about a
/
to or to send to Manila for burial
| Meanwhile we could hear the sounds
of fighting at Taytay, now not more than
| five miles away, while we were not over
| two miles from the road we should have
reached by noon and closed to the retreat
of the enemy. If we had not been called
back we could have made it before the
| tilipinos driven out of Taytay used it as
line of retreat. AS it was our entire
effort failed because of the time wasted
in the valley following worthless guides
and i'll building a bridge for artillery that
| was of no service when the actual fight
| ing came.
The men had only n few crackers in
their haversacks. the COmmissary wagon
| having been sent around by the way of
| Iaytay, where we were expected to meet
them that night The Volunteers were
better off than the Regulars, for they had
| had Il pretty good breakfast, while the
Regulars had been rushed off without any
thing and had nothing in their haver-
sacks. 1t was the middle of the next
afternoon before we saw anything to eat,
and by this time the Regulars We're nearly
furnished, and had to put up with lot
of chatting from the Volunteers besides.
The result WAS Il number of heat pros
trations the next day, especially among
the Regulars, who had not seen the hard
service of the Oregons, and one man
saw was so violently insane that three
men could scarcely hold him down. Hav-
ing got n square meal of coffee, crackers
canned beef and canned beans and having
filed our haversacks, we started about the
middle of the afternoon climbing the grade
leading to Antipolo. The pace was set by
the Lieutenant Colonel, on horseback, and
he kept pegging away, the men sweating
and putting and swearing behind him, un-
til his horse gave out, ant then he Or
dered a halt, only to be greeted by the
shout to Git him another horse" to
which he discreetly paid no attention. We
passed through AntipOlo, which is u Sum
mer resort town at the famous mineral
spring, though none the less scraggy and
dirty for all that, and continued on our
way across the base of a wide mountain
peninsula that divides two arms of the
Laguna, finally dropping down into a little
riceheld valley at the village of Teresa
about 10 O'Clock at night, having been on
the go since daylight over steep mountain
trails under a br0iling sun.
Our new object was to get into the rear
of Morong, Capital of the province of
that name, and situated on the shore of
the interior arm of the Laguna. The
Washingtons, after the capture of Tay-
tay the night before, had in the early
morning been loaded upon cascoes, which
are big scOwS of native architecture, and
towed around the peninsula, Il distance of
about 20 miles, to attack MOrong from
the front. We We're expected to get into
the rear and cut off retreat, but we failed
for the reason that we failed at Taytay
We did not move fast enough. If we
had started with n smaller column, or if
the General had only had as much ex-
Perience in chasing F'ilipnos as some of
his subordinates, we should have done
much better.
Before we started from Teresa the next
morning we learned that the Washing
tons had captured Morong the previous
afternoon in the gallant style for which
that regiment was famous. They had
waded ashore from the cascoes with the
water up to their armpits, each man hold
ing his rifle and belt above his head, and
then formed line on the ricefield south of
the town. Why the Filipinos did not open
fire upon them from the trenches that
margined the town while they were wad-
ing and helpless is "A mystery, for they
were within range, but they waited until
the deplOyment was made and the adj
vance taken up before they began to
shoot. AS soon as the shooting com
menced the bugle rang out the charge,
and away the WashingtOns went, yelling
at the top of their lungs for a full thou
sand yards before they struck the
trenches, only to find them empty, and the
valiant defenders on the dead run into
the hills in the rear of the town, leaving
by the very roads our column should
have closed.
The next day was one of the hottest
within my recollection. The sun poured
down with unbearable heat, and the ra-
dIation from the sides of the steep noun
tain road, which for the most part was
free from shade, made Il combination that
was hard to bear; but the limit of en-
durance was passed when the General I'M
dertook to make a forced march out of
1t. There was then no need for haste.
We had delayed the start until nearly
o'clock, and the town having been taken
Il did not much matter when we arrived, |
but the General had made two failures in |
succession and had been ''jacked up" by |
Gen Lawton for it. and he probably want |
ed TO show that he could do something At
any rate, he rushed us, with the result |
that the column arrived at MOrong a lit |
tie after noon with not more than % per |
cent of the men in line. The remainder |
were scattered all along the road, many |
of them under the care of the Hospital |
Corps, and not a few of them had to be |
taken in the ambulance and that night |
sent to the hospital in Manila by the |
launch Gen. LawtOn made us a flying |
visit in. Of my own company, which |
started out 33 strong in the morning, the
very pick of the survivors of the hard |
previous campaign, but IL were with me
when | halted in the streets of Morong,
and struggling was something that never
permitted. The General had made a rec
ord at last How he squared it with Gen.
Lawton l never learned.
To the amaZement of the Oregons and