The Glenwood post., 1916-07-01
11r1 aAvHD BY cHAnam


against which the Americans struggled
at Carrizal. A survivor of the engage
ment, Sam II. Harris, dusky private
Of G troop, the Twelfth cavalry, was
brought to the border late this after
noon suffering from wounds in his left
shoulder and arm. From him came the
assertion that pitted against the eighty
four men of the American detachment
were fully 700 Mexicans.
"To top it off, said Harris, "they
had a machine gun and they surprised
"We approached them in peaceful
way and never had an idea that. they
would try to massacre us. Had we
known they wanted fight we could
have given it to them. I guess they
got enough at that"
Harris troop was entirely surround
ed by the Carranzistas, he said. He
escaped wounded from the Gordon the
enemy had drawn around the Amerl-
cans by riding straight through their
line on his charger, which also had
been wounded. He rode this horse un-
til it fell from loss of blood and then
nabbed another fleeing animal with
which he eventually caught up with
other survivors whom he accompanied
to field headquarters.
Harris account of the battle and his
escape, told in the manner peculiar to
his race, was expressive and colorful.
Tears came to his eyes as he recounted
the heroic efforts of his wounded
charger to bear him to safety.
"That horse sure saved my life, - he
said ~ want you to know l let him
see how I appreciated it.
"Our troop, with Captain Boyd con-
manding, had pulled up before Carrizal.
The captain ordered everyone to dis
mount, and we all got down. l was
horse holder and took charge of some
animals while their riders stood at at
tention.
"Just after Captain Boyd went for
ward, my horses got nervous and began
to prance around. l missed what was
going on, looking after those fool AMI
mails.
"Next thing I know, the shooting
had started. looked around. Captain
Boyd was down and couldn't see him.
I kept on looking. There were easily
700 of those greasers around us. They
had come up right out of the ground,
forming half circle. Our men kept
on falling. --F 'lathn q
"The first shots came from ma
chine gun. 1t was trained right on us,
and believe me, it talked fast. Every
few minutes--it might have been SEC
onds for all 1 know-it would let up
while the operator was putting in more
clips. Then you could pick out the
clicks of the rifle fire. 1t wasn't more
than two minutes before the Mexicans
had surrounded us. We were right
there in the middle fighting like the
dickens. All around the horses were
rearing and plunging. Every little bit
a horse OF man would get bullet
and go down.
"I couldn't fight for I had to keep
after those mounts. Pretty soon my
own horse, great big fellow, stag
gered and whined. They had hit him
in the neck.
"I put my hand on the spot whers
the blood was squirting out. Just then
they got me-in the shoulder.
81 lost control of the animals com
pletely. My own horse was whining
and tugging at his rope. l could see
fellows dropping all around me and
horses were running off over their
bodies. We didn It have show in the
world and l saw it. I cut the horses
loose and climbing on my animal hit it
for the thinnest part of the circle.
"I went right through the Mexicans.
Ny horse brushed two of them out OF
the way as we charged.
81 owe my life to that horse sure as
you live. Don't you know that animal
was so brave and big-hearted that he
carried ME along for ten miles before
settled down to walk. Five miles
beyond his legs just gave out and he
went down.
"Man, hope you don ever have 70
say goodbye to horse like that at
time and place like that. 1t scenes to
me I couldn't leave him. I looked
back to see if there was anyone follow
ing. There wasn't, so I knelt down
and poured little water from my cah-
teen on his tongue. He was slipping
fast and 1 just told him how sorry l
was. / thanked him for the mighty