The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1914-05-15
eyer seen active service before. there
was no confusio..
advance on Square.


At 4:45 o'clock the order was given
to march and W proceeded without
mishap 70 tie big open square in
front Of he Terminal hotel Posses
sion Of this had already been secured
BY the crews of the Florida and the
Utah on the preceding Thursday af- i
ternoon; all the stress leadiag into
he square had been barricaded and
the power pant had also been cap
tured and held despite a very stub
born resistance. The saving Gf the
city's lighting system made possible
the speedy restora ion Of order and
peace.
At $50 o'clock We were completely
organized, and the command was is
sued for us to capture and occupy
the southern part of The city The
regiment was composed Of the New
Hampshire, New Jersey, South Caro-
lima and Vermont under Capt. Ander-
son of the New Hampshire. We
marched out of the square into a
side street leading toward the naval
academy. We advanced down mar
row stress, our ranks II deep and our
guns unloaded When we arrived at
tie rear of the naval academy, the
battalions were halted, and, as we
were expecting trouble a few blocks
further on, this was selected as a
| good place to load. The academy was
closed up and seemed to be deserted
Just as the command was given to
load, we suddenly found ourselves
in the very midst OF The rroubll
which We anticipated a few blocks
further on. The academy was not
50 ianocent as it looked. The spiteful
splitting Of machine gun, reinforced
by the barking of 100 Mausers, made
US realize that we were in pretty
bad trap. We broke ranks and
sought safety in the open field to our
lef,. This offered very little shel.er,
but we were spared the peril of be-
ing shot in,o close formation. Our
officers displayed great courage and
quickly established a firing line in
front and stopped a dangerous firing
that was going on in the rear. 1t
was soon manifest tnat we could ac-
complish little, and so we were with
drawn to a, safe distance, while the
United States ship, Chester opened up
her five-incn battery Her frs. shot
carried away Cne cornor of the roof,
and tight minutes afteTward the
place was in ruins and not a shot was
coming from it. Our forces buried AZ
bodies taken from this building, but
the exact number killed and wounded
at this place it not known.
Fire in Rear.
While the bombardment was going
on, We were suffering from a nasty
fire in our rear, coming from small
boats and isola:ed houses. So we be-
gan in a systematic way to clean up
the place We turned our field pieces
on every house tina, opened fire OH
us, and it was not long before this
method proved effective. By $50 in
the afternoon We mad Joined the
forces that were detained 10 take the
northern part Of the city. At 6. o'clock,
after an hours rest, the South Caro-
lima battalion received orders to
march out OF the city about three
miles and take up a position to defend
the city against night attack from
he direction of Mexico City. We
occupied small hill that overlook
ed both the railroad and the wagon
road. Our trenches were finished by
8 o'clock and then began a long
night of "watchful waiting" All
night we lay in the trenches without
covering. We had eaten nothing since
1 a. m. the morning before. Blu:
this gave US little concern, thanks to
the excitement OF the day, and the
suspense respecting what was yet to
come. 1t turned out that nothing
happened, and we returned to the
city next morning. The remainder of
our stay on land was taken up with
routine duties.
The arrival of the army was well
coined by ali, and now we are safely
aboard ship, hoping for orders to re-
turn home, having been in the
lropices for nearly five months.
1t was my good fortune to hear
Capt Anderson remark to our Cap
tain on the return of the Sou.h Caro-