The National tribune., 1902-09-18

ORDERED THEM 10 HALT.
| to do the same thing the next night, and
the next, till the Americans either aban-
dOned the city or surrendered. or were so
| badly beaten that the Filipinos could en-
ter and work their sweet will. They
doubtless judged the Americans by the
Spaniards. That was the way they had
| done when attacking the city before, as
| | have fully explained. and as they had
thousands in this battle where they had
used hundreds. before, they must have
felt correspOndingly elated. How much
that was l was in a position to imagine
| from having heard their boasts about the
! terrible slaughter they were making among
I the Spaniards; at the time nobody was be-
| ing hurt on eithc- side. But before two
hours had passed after the sun made its
| appearance on the scene they had their
eyes opened to the difference between
Spaniards and Americans. or, as one of
| the men put it, they had discovered that
| there was a new coon in town.
CAPTURE OF FILIPINO INTREyCHMESTs.
Soon after daybreak. the men having
been served with coffee and hardtack, or
ders to advance were given, for the pur-
| pose of capturing the line of Filipino
| intrenchments and blockhouses and to es
| tablish again the defenses of the city at
| the strategical points formerly held by
| the Spaniards outside the city limits.
| The nature of the advance can best be
understood after brief description of the
topography.
Manila stands on low ground on the
very shore Of the bay, and tidal swamps
and inlets penetrate the country around it
ard run into the city itself. Much of the
! outskirts is swamp, the highways leading
| ont of the city running along little ridges
OF higher ground much like the spokes of
wheel. Ground not quite so low was
cut up into rice fields. some of which were
dyked heavily along their edges and these
dykes crowned with fringes of trees.
Other rice fields were broad and open and
margined at the further side with trees
and here and there among these trees
was Filipino trench. This was the
general condition to the south and east.
To the northeast the ground rose more
quickly, and there the Filipinos had
trenches, bloclhouses, stone walls and
| natural raviDes for defenses.
On the north side near the bay, where
the Kansas regiment fought. was again n
succession of SwampS and ridges Of tim
| Der, most difficult ground to operate over
and splendidly adapted to defense.
The advance was first taken up on the
| south and southeast in the PacO district,
where the Washingtons, Idahos, and Cali
fOrnlaS were, and was soon participated in
by the 18th Inf. and Sd Art. from the
Malate line, which advanced in the direc-
| tion of SingalOn and captured in success
sion dyke after dyke and trench after
| trench.
Later the Wyoming battalion, the two
Dakota regiments, the ColOradOs, Nebras-
kas, Pennsylvanias, Montanas, and Kan
| sans did their share of the work ON the
east and north lines, the Utah and the
9th Art. batteries being stationed at va
| riOus places in the line.
The Minnesotas. Oregons, and 23d Inf.
| were doing provost duty in the city, pre-
venting an uprising. The only regiment
at that time unassigned was the Ten
nessees, and in the morning this regiment
| was ordered to reinforce the south line
Just as it reached its position and was
deploying for the advance, Col. Smith, its
commander, fell dead from heart failure
He was a gallant old soldier and his death
was as much deplored, and as honorable
as though it had been caused by one of the
many bullets that were already whistling
around him.
l shall make no attempt to describe the
! fighting in detail. Indeed, could not, be-
cause l did not see it, being most of the
] time engaged in the performance of duties
that turned out to be far less dangerous
than had been expected, owing to the fail
ure of the uprising to materalize Just
after daylight the ships began to shell the
insurgent intrenchments, the general To-
cation Of which was known. The Buffalo
lay about four miles south of us, and 1
watched her through my glass; A puff
Of smoke would arise from her side, fol-
lowed little later by heavy boom, and
few minutes later, far over in the woods
and out of sight, another boom would an
nounce the bursting of the eight-inch shell
several miles inland. 1t - not known
that this shelling of the general Filipino
position created much mortality among the
insurgents, but it had most demoralizing
effect upon them and doubtless contrib.
uted to their heaviness Of heart and light
ness Of foot when the soldiers charged
them a little later. Still, l have seen