Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-08-03
The PASSING Of San Juan Hill.

pen is timely plea for the preser-
walton of San Juan hill. Cuba, mot
as It is. for already it's aspect is too
far changed to wish for that, but as it
was" 1t is unpleasant news that the
San Juan hill of that glorious July day
in 1898 is no more.
There are few in the United States
SO poor in relatives and friends who
did not in his or her heart send a
substitute to Cuba" declares Mr.. Davis,
after calling attention to the fact that
the men who fought there came from
every state in the union and from ev-
cry class of our social life. I'VE sent
there the best of our regular army, and
with them, cowboys. clerks, bricklayers,
football players, three future command
ers of the greater army that followed
the war. the future governor of Cuba,
future commanders Of the Philippines,
the commander of our forces in China,
a future president of the United States"
Yet all that remains today of San Juan
hill is d remodeled blockhouse in charge
of Spaniard who cannot speak En-
glish and who mangles the story of the
battle to suit his ideas of how it should
have resulted, few goats and a monu-
ment, already crumbling, with just
enough if it intact ito show the pencil
Id .nrih inc 10 F-l nj c n
tourists who did not take part in the
battle. but who in this public manner
show that they approve of its results"
The title of Mr.. Davis article in
the August issue of Scribner's Maya
zine colnpels attention: 1.-The passing
of San Jaun HILL 1t seems but a
few weeks ago that the news was
flashed over the continent: of the
charge of the Rough Riders and the
colorrd troops, of the work of the Tiff
fanny battery, of Roosevelt and Wood
and Wheeler and Sumner and those
other gallant fighters. San Jaun hill,
in the light of more recent battles,
such as have made the Russian-Jap-
anese war the bloodiest Of modern
times, may, indeed, have been but a
skirmish, but there was splendid hero
ism displayed and the desired result
was accomplished. Whether the
heterogeneous collection of men who
fought there together, since their re-
turn have become clerks and mil
lionaires and dentists, or risen to be
presidents and mounted policemen"
as Mr.. Davis asserts, they all remcm-
Der very kindly the days that they lay
huddled together in the trenches on
that hot and glaring skyline" But
| today what remains Of historic San
| Jaun hill? "A sunny, smiling farm
etables, the roofs of the mb-proofs
| fallen in and buried beneath creeping
vines, and the barbed wire entangle-
ments holding in check only the
browsing cattle"
Animated and even acrimonious
discussions are now being waged to
determine the battle line and honors
of regiments which participated in the
decisive battles of the civil war. For
ty years have been allowed to elapse
| before the determination of the mat
| ter. Doubtless forty years from now
similar controversies will rage over
honors of the Spanish war. 1t is to
obviate this that Mr.. Davis pleads.
| "If today there were erected at Dali
| uuairi, Siboney, Guasimas, FL Pozo, FL
| Caney, and on and about San Juan
dozen iron or bronze tablets that would
| tell from where certain regiments adj
vanced. what posts they held, how
| many or how few were the men who
| held those positions, how near they
| were to the trenches of the enemy
/ and by whom these men were COM
| manded. l am sure the place would
| reconstruct itself and would breathe
| with interest. not only for the re-
| turning volunteer, but for any casual
| tourist. AS it is, the history of the
fight and the reputation Of the men
1
| the care-taker of the park and the Gu
| ban guides" from the hotel. The care
taker speaks only Spanish, and, con-
| siderng the amount of transformation
| the guides disseminate. it is d pity
when they are talking to Americans,
| they are not forced to use the same
| language"
Such tablets would keep history
| straight. and nowadays history has a
way Of becoming crooked quite easily.
| The men who survived San Juan hill,
| as we'll as the men who fell there, re-
| serve such memorials to their en-
| deavOrs.
In the quarrel between Louisiana and
Mississippi in the matter Of quarantine