Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1920-01-27
THE BATTLE OF zARAGARA.


was member of the 5th United
States Cavalry, and in the service on
the Mexican Border for several
months has received the following
letter from Private Braden Keiser,
of that regiment, conrad of his
which gives vivid description of
the battle of Zaragara, in which he
took part:
Santa Elena, Dec. %, 1919.
Dear Fred -
viii try and give you graphic ac-
count of the battle of "Bull Durham"
or rather Zaragara.
On the afternoon of the 18th of
June all men of the 5th Cavalry were
notified to pack their saddles and pre-
pare for "Call to Arms" which was
supposed to go at l a. M, as the
Villistas and Carransistis were then
fighting in Juraz. All the boys were
excited and prepared every little
thing just so. But we didn't go into
Mexico that day, shure enough Off
GERS call went at a. m. We all
mounted up and rode quietly six
miles below elpaso and dismounted.
All we could see was an occasional
spick, some mounted and some afoot.
as they fight under cover, we couldn't
see many, but could hear cannon
near Jurez. We stayed there until
i a. M, rode in, groomed and rest
ed until retreat. Just after retreat.
Call to Arms" went, and / ran up
stairs, grabbed six sacks of smoking
and rushed to the carroll.
We went to the same place on the
river and dismounted until TO- 80 that
night. At 1880 Col Hornbrook
called us to Attention" Prepare to
Mount" Mount" and then "Raise
Pistol, insert loaded magazine, load
lock and return pistol" That's all
knew about going into Mexico. We
Immediately crossed the river and
rode towards Jurez. At the same
time the oath Infantry, (colored)
crossed at the International Bridge.
They were sending up green lights
to show us their location. Troops
III" and &C." were in front and we
rode probably l u miles without any
trouble. On each side of the road
| were large cottonwood trees and
|, like Shakespeare, could see a man
IN every one, ha. ha!
We came to halt where the roads
forked and all dismounted, 9Th, 7th
and SIND F. A., while patrols search
ed the surrounding locality for ma
chine gun nests. We were there
about 38 minutes and "whizzr' went
a bullet and it seemed as if that
about fifteen men were shooting at
us. Quite few horses were killed
that night and two men were killed
and two or three wounded as they
continued to fire until 2 o'clock We
didn't return fire as the oath Infan-
try were opposite us. | didn't feel
very comfortable, although / wasn't
scared as there wasn't enough bullets
to excite a man.
After a while my Lieut. ordered
Corporal, two others and myself to
ride up the road and see if we could
locate the enemy" There's where
l felt foolish, for the moon wasn't
shining much and that part of the
country was full of trees / rode in
front and we halted after going
about half mile and the Spicks open
ed up on us. 1t seemed like | drew
mostof the fire as my horse had a
white face and they could see him.
| sat motionless with my pistol in my
hand and actually about every half
minute bullet would pillow up the
dirt in front or on the side of me-
| felt '1eary" and if l had been a
"Civvy" l would have dismounted
and took to the tall timbers, but
just sat there and tried to kid my
self, saying calm yourself Keiser,
that's a spent ball and besides those
Spicks can't shoot" About then a
bullet would whizz over my head and
l would say your a liar Keiser,
that's a 5000 and that Spicks only
| 200 yards away. We stayed there
until called in and l began to breathe
normal once more.
Just at dawn we mounted and rode
towards the river as if we were going
to cross the river again. Just as we
neared the pontoon bridge, Quilt by
| the Sth Engineers) we fed and water
ed and rode southwest for about 8
miles-just opposite Ysleta. AS we
neared Zaragasa Villas Fort) we
swung into ''Colum of Masses" and
galloped towards his first line of de-
tense. The Spicks had flooded the
irrigation bitches so we couldn't
cross, so we dismounted and went
| into action-I didn't though, as
held the Lieutenants horse, therefore
| could see it all.
The whole outfit opened up on
those poor poems, 9Th, 7th Sind, etc.,
and actually annihaliated them.
Their horses were grazing in the
wheat fields and we killed most of
them. | never knew whether they
fought US or not as we didn't give
'em time They mounted as soon as
possible and headed for the foot hills
towards Cast Grande. We mounted
quickly and started in pursuit but as
the bitches were full of water we
couldn't find but one crossing and we
crossed it by "Colum of Troopes. p"
By the time we crossed the ditch the
'sSpicks" were about 6 or miles
ahead of US and were going to beat
Hi.
We tore out like mad men and rode
after them for about Is minutes, but
couldn't overtake them, as they had
a train on the track between Jurez
and Casa Grande and left most of
their horses and every thing else.
There were dead Spicks, saddles,
dead horses, pack saddles and every
thing immagianable in their trail.
After a while our horses gave out
and we turned back to Fort Bliss.
was so blooming tired, hungry and
sleepy by then that | really didn't
care whether l lived or not.
could have collected lots of SOU
venirs but / felt Indifferent at the
time. The only thing l got was a
80 foot raw hide laso, a bolt to a
rifle and a pair of horse hair bride
reins. | never ate nor slept for "a
hours, and when we neared water the
officer forbade US to drink, so | drank
the ''soup" in the wheat fields-water
from dead horses, etc. / couldn't
keep from drinking it though.