The National tribune., 1902-02-06

had the honor of being second in COM
mand of an expedition sent out for the
rescue of Gen. LawtOn from unknown
dangers in the mysterious wilds of the
foothills Of LuzOn mountains early III
Nav. 1899 The honor never got any far
thar, for the first in command was with
us every minute of the time, but as we
did not succeed in rescuing the lost ten
ersI. we have never had any controversy
as 10 who was entitled to the credit. No
court Of inquiry has been called for by
either of us, while Congress has never
threatened US with promotion or any other
reward.
l did not understand then nor have L
ever since comprehended why Lawton
needed rescuing. but our commanding Of
fcer decided that he did, and of course
1t was not for me to contradict. II was
only to do and die in Il brave but futile
effort to find q man who was not lost and
rescue an army which was not IN danger.
But to my tale:
That morning we had captured the
town OF NOrZagaray, on the river of the
same name, after n short fight. We had
run against the defenders the night before
Just before dark, and had held our lines
during the night preparatory to taking
the town in the morning. L say taxing
the town instead of attacking the town,
because by that time there was no queS-
ton whatever of the result of such an
effort We always took the town when
we tried to do so. There has not been on
record a single case of a successful de
Tense of a town by the FilipinoS, or Of
any other place. They have not the stay
ing qualities necessary TO defend even the
strongest position against determined as
sault. Whenever our boys have had their
ears pleased with the bugle call of
charge" they have charged and the Fill
ipinOs have run, regardless of the strength
l,,r fl. info nm .l,arG
of the charging party. They simply have
not the nerve TO stand up to q hand-to-
hand encounter Therefore, as | said be-
fore, we took the town in the morning.
The occasion of our being there at all
was g desire of Gen. Otis 10 send col
umn into the interior and parallel with
the railroad line for the purpose of flank
ing the insurrectos, who were holding the
railroad in strength at the crossing of the
Rio Grande de Pampanga at Calumpit.
The AguinaldO government had lost its
original capital when Macarthur cap
tured MaloloS. and after shifting il q few
times the President had made San Isidro
the capital, a point some 30 miles from
the nearest railroad point. which was San
Fernando, and which was about 10 miles
in the rear of the line held by the insur-
gents at Calumpit.
a special brigade was formed of the
Oregon and Minnesota regiments, troop
OF Jle OH IdN. anu TWO guns OF Ine Otn
Art, under command of Col. Summers, of
the Oregons, and was sent to NOrzagaray
from BOcaue by the way of Santa Maria.
Another column, under Lawton, con
sisting of the North Dakotas. the Sd and
22d Inf, another troop and two more
guns, started from Manila by route far
ther inland, scheduled to join the first
column at Norzagaray the day We took
the town.
Had Lawton left his artillery behind he
would have kept his tryst with us, but
he was engaged in the necessary work of
learning by experience how to campaign in
the Philippines.
One of the results of this expedition
was tie knowledge that three-inch guns
are not practical in a campaign through
the undeyeloped interior, and also that
they are unnecessary Failure of. the
country to fit the map he carried was his
chief difficulty. Where the map showed
a road he found only a mountain trail
made by the use of sleds, drawn by cara
bao, which is the vehicle used in the