The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-05
Party of Three Got Through
Lines and Saw Battle
From Hilltop
GRUESOME JOURNEY
OVER BATTLEFIELD
L. G.. Howle Tells of Awful Carnage
and the Careless Handling
of Dead and Wounded
After the Battle
TO the Editor of The Age-Herald.

TO the Editor of The Age-Herald.
] will try to give a description of the
battlefront second battle of Juarez-
as seen through field glasses from a
mountain just beyond the range eof
rifle fire. First will give you some idea
OF the two armies and the preliminary
hghting before the main battle.
On Sunday, November 23, General
Villas scouts reported that the federals
were advancing toward Juarez along
the line of the Mexican Central rail-
road. General Villa Immediately adj
vanced to meet them, sending his In
fantry, artillery and supplies by train,
and marching his cavalry overland. The
country between Mesa, IL miles from
Juarez, and TERRA Blanca, about eight
miles farther, is a level desert plain
This plain extends from the mountains
west of the railroad to the river on the
east. To the south and west are ranges
of mountains. Villa established his CEN
ter at Mesa on the Central railroad
and at Bauche, on the North Western
his right flank extending southwest to
the mountains, and his left to the east
toward the river In order to reach
him the federals had to cross the level
plain. He used infantry and artillery
In the center and cavalry on the
tanks. In all he had about 5000 men,
while the federals had some $500.
The advance guards clashed at about
4:s0 p. M, November "a. and at o'clock
the fire was general all along the line.
At o'clock the fighting was fierce and
i.,+, n
began to look like a real battle and not
one staged for the movies, as we gem
orally speak of the Mexican fighting.
On up till $50 things We're lively and
real interesting on both sides. The fed
erals began their attack upon the rebel
center and at the same time attempted
to flank both wings and thus get in the
rear of the rebel army. But Villa was
too much of soldier for them and they
failed in their flank movements The
line of battle was some IL miles in
length, extending from near the river
on the east to the mountains on the
west. Villa forced the federal center
back about $3.50 p. m, but the fun kept
up on both wings. the cavalry fighting
all through the night. Lured by the
excitement we posed as newspaper men
and secured passes to the scene of ac-
tion. In our party were L. G. and r. NJ
Howle of Birmingham, Ala, and A. E..
McGrew of Tampa, Fla. Early Tuesday
morning we were in position over
looking the field, but as the bullets be-
gan to sing around us, saying "howdy'
as they passed by, the rebel officers
placed us on supply train and started
us to wards Juarez. We slipped off and
after hard climb reached the top of
q mountain where. by the aid of glasses,
we could get good view
Resulted at Daybreak
AT daybreak the fighting was re-
sumed and Villa was forced to check
another attack upon his center. In this
he showed splendid generalship and
Judgment The federals seemed adverse
to leaving the railroad and Villa moved
his artillery to a high mesa overlooking
the battlefield from the west. This gave
him the advantage as from this positfoy
he could rake the plain for miles
Directly below us a fierce hand to hand
conflict was going on. Very few of the
rebels were equipped with bayonets
but they used their rifles as clubs and
many broken heads were the result The
federals were forced to fall back about
eight miles to TERRA Blanca, where
they could find shelter in the ravines
At noon Villa began general advance
along the entire line, but had to rein
force his right wing as the federals un-
der General Mercardo were forcing his
men back. General Mercado was the
only federal general that did any real
fighting that troubled the rebels. The
left wing had very little trouble in
driving Salazar back, for when it got
too hot for him he turned and ran.
The scene of action changed from