Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 84, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1898 — A BAPTISM OF FIRE. [ARTICLE]

A BAPTISM OF FIRE.

The Rough Riders and Cavalry* men Take It Bravely. MORE DETAILS OF FRIDAY’S BATTLE. Information Place* the American Lonei at Twenty-Two Killed , and Seventy Wounded or Mlsstnat— Spanish Losses Heavier. Juragua, Cuba, June 25, Per Dispatch Boat Dandy, Via Kingston, Jamaica, June 27.—The initial fight of Col. Wood’s rough riders and the troopers of the First and Tenth regular cavalry will be known in histor3' as the battle of La Quasina. pot end in the complete slaughter of the Americans was not due to any miscalculation in the plan of the Spaniards, for as perfect an ambuscade as was ever formed in the brain of an Apache Indian was prepared and Lieut. Col. Roosevelt and his men walked squarely into it. For an hour and a half they held their ground under a perfect storm of bullets from the front and sides, and then Col. Wood at the right and Lieut. Col. Roosevelt at the left led a charge which turned the tide of battle and sent the enemy flying over the hills toward Sanliago. ( Say* 22 Were Killed. Gen. Wheeler, in his official report, places the number of dead in ti e engagement at Sevilla as 22 and the wounded as between 70 and 80. Mo attempt has yet been made to prepare an official list with the names of the dead and wounded. The high grass and bushes of the battleground make it difficult to find the bodies. The bodies of 39 Spaniards have been found and the Spanish loss* in killed and wounded was doubtless much heavier than the American. The Killed. l A complete list of the killed, revised to four o’clock Saturday, is as follows: Capt. Allyn K. Capron, First United States volunteer cavalry. Sergt. Hamilton Fish, Jr., troop L, First United States volunteer cavalry. Sergt. Doherty, troop A, First United States volunteer cavalry. Sergt. Marcus D. Russell, troop G, First United States volunteer cavalry. Sergt. Russell lived In Troy, N. Y., and was formerly a colonel on Gov. Hill’s staff. Private Leggett, troop A, First United States volunteer cavalry. Private Henry Heffner, troop G, First United States volunteer cavalry. Private Mllden W. Danson, troop L, First United States cavalry. Private W. T. Irwin, troop F, First United cavalry. Private Siennoc, troop K, First regular cavalry. Private B. Work, troop B, First regular cavalry. Private Krupp, Troop B, First regular cavalry. Private Stark, troop A, First regular cavalry. Private , troop K, First regular cavalry. • Private Kelbe, troop K, First regular cavalry. Private Barlin, troop K, First regular cavalry. Corporal White, troop K, Tenth regular cava.ry. Capt. McCormick and Capt. Luna, of the First volunteer cavalry, who were reported as among the dead or wounded, were unharmed, as was also Col. Wood, whom Adjt. Hall reported as mortally wounded.

Simulat'd* Well Prepared. That the Spaniards were thoroughly posted as to the route to be taken by the Americans in their movements towards Sevilla was evident, as shown by the careful preparations they had - made. The main body of the Spaniards was posted on a hill, on the heavily wooded slopes of which had been erected two blockhouses, flanked by irreguar intrenchments of stone and fallen trees. At the bottom of these hills run two roads, along which Lieut. Col. Roosevelt's men and eight troops of the First and Tenth cavalry, with a battery of four howitzers, advanced. These roads are but little more than gullies, rough and narrow, and at places almost impassable. In these trails the fight occurred. Nearly half a mile separated Roosevelt’s men from the regulars. and between them and on both sides of the road in the thick underbrush was concealed a force of Spaniards that must have been huge, judging from the terrific and constant fire they poured in on the Americans. The fight was opened by the First and Tenth cavalry, under Gen. Young. A force of Spaniards was known to be in the vicinity of La Qunsina and early in the morning Lieut. C 1. Roosevelt’s men started off up the precipitous bluff back of Slboney to attack the Spifninrds on their right flank, Gen. Voting at the same time taking the road at the foot of the hill. About two and a half m'les out from Siboney, some Cubans, breathless and excited, rushed into camp with the announcement that the Spaniards were but a little way in front and were strongly entrenched. Quickly the Hotchkiss guns out in the front were brought to the rear, while a strong . scouting line was thrown out. Then cautiously and in silence the troops moved forward until a bend In the road disclosed a hill where the Spaniards were located. The guns were again brought to tlje front and placed in position, while the men crouched down in the road, waiting impatiently to give Roosevelt’s men, who were tolling over the little trail along the crest of the ridge, time to get up.

Tlie null) lieu In*. At 7i30 u m., Uen, Young gave the command to the men at the Hotchkiss guns to open fire. The command was the signal for a fight that for stubbornness has seldom been equalled. The iiiatnnt the Hotchkiss guns were fired, the hillsides commanding the road pave forth volley after volley from the Mausers of the Spaniards. Crawling along the edge of the road and protecting themselves as much jis possible from the fearful fii ? of the Spaniards, the troopers, some of them stripped to the waist, watched the base of the hill •stid when any part of a Soaniord be-

came viilble, they fired. Never for aa instant did they falter. Cot. Wood’s Battle. j In the meantime, away off to the left could be heard the crack of the rifles of Col. Wood’s men and the regular, deep-er-toned volley firing from the Spanish. Over there the American losses were ( the greatest. Col. Wood’s men, with an advance guard well out in front,and two Cuban guides before them, but apparently with no flankers, went squarely into the trap set for them by the Spaniards and only the unfaltering courage of the men in the face of a fire that would even make a veteran quail prevented what might easily have been a disaster. As it was, Troop L, the advance guard under the unfortunate Capt. Capron, was almost surrounded and but for the reinforcement hurriedly sent forward every man would probably have been killed or wounded. Discussing the fight, Lieut. Col. Roosevelt said: "There must have been nearly l,jno Spaniards In front and to the sides of us. They held the ridges with rifle pits and machine guns, and had a body of men In ambush in the thick jungle at the sides of the road, over which we were advancing. Our ad-vance-guard struck the men In ambush and drove them out. But they lost Capt. Capron, Lieut. Thomas and about 13 men killed or wounded. The Spanish firing was accurate, so accurate, indeed, that It surprised me, and their firing was fertrfullheavy. I want to say a word for our owr men," continued Col. Roosevelt. "Every officer and man did his duty up to the handle. Not a man flinched.” A Graphic Account. From another officer who took a prominent part ln the fighting more details were oh’alred "When the firing began,” said he, "Lieut. Col. Roosevelt took the rtffht wing with troops G and K, under dapts. Llewelyn and Jenkins, and moved to the •support of Capt. Capron, who was getting It hard. At the same time Col. Wood and MaJ. Brodie took the left wing and advanced In open order on the Spanish righ* wing. Maj. Frodie was wounded before the troops had advanced 100 yards Col. Wood then took the right wing and shifted Lieut. Col Fooseve’.t to the left. In *he meantime tl.e fire of the Spaniards had i creased In vo.ume, but, notwithstanding tills, an 0.-dtr lor a general charge was given, and r ith a yell the men sprang forward. I.ii ut i 01. F.oosevelt, In front of his men, snt If l ed a rifle and ammunition beit from a f unded soldier and, cheering ard ye! !: ? tv Li* bis men, led the advance rL-r a n.oment the bullets were singing like a swarm of bees all around them, and every instant some poor fellow went down. On the right wing Capt. McClintock had his leg broken by a bullet from a machine gun, while four of his men went down. At the same time, Capt. Luna, of troop {T, lost nine of his men. Then the reserves, troops K and E, were ordered up Col. Wood, with the right wing, charged straight at a blockhouse, 800 yards away, and Lieut. Col. Roosevelt, on the left, charged at the same time. Up the men went, yelling like fiends and never stopping to return the fire Of the Spaniards, but keeping on with a grim determination to capture ’.nat blockhouse. That charse wasthe end. When within 300 yards of the coveted point, the Spaniards broke and ran, and for the first time we had the pleasure which the Spaniards had been experiencing all through the engagement, of shooting with thi enemy in sight.” Fisk’s Death. "Sergt. Hamilton Fl3h, Jr., was the first man killed by the Spanish fire. He was near the head of the column as It turned from the wood foad into range of the Spanish ambuscade.; He shot one Spaniard who was firing frotn the cover of a dense patch of underbrush when a bullet utruck his breast. He sank at the foot o&.a tree with hts back against It. Capt. capron stood > ver hlrrj shooting, and others rallied around hitn, covering the wounded man. The ground this afternoon was thick with empty shells where Fish lay. Hs lived 20 minutes. He gave a small lady’s hunting-case watch from his belt to a messmate as a last souvenir. Capt. Caprim’s Death. "Sergt. Bell stood by the side of Capt. Capron when the latter was mortally hit. He had seen that he was fighting against terrible odds, but he never fltnehed. ’Give me your gun a minute,’ he said to the sergent, and, kneeling down, he dellbo.-ately aimed and fired two shots In quick succession. At each a Spaniard was seen to fall. Bell In the meantime had seized a dead comrade’s gun, and knelt beside bis captain and fired steadily. When Capt. Capron fell he gave the sergeant a parting message to his wife and father and bade the sergeant good-by In a cheerful voice, and was then borne away dying.” Within Four Miles of Santiago. Headquarters of Gen. Chaffee, Two Miles Beyond Sevilla, by Dispatch Boat, Port Antonio, Jamaica, June 27.—The American troops are now within four miles of Santiago de Cuba. Two brigades of Brig. Gen. Lawton’s division, in command of Gen. Chaffee, and Col. 1L H. Hall, of the Second Massachusetts volunteers, Saturday night and Sunday moved forward past the village of Sevilla, where the Spaniards were expected to make a stand, and occupied the hills to the right and left. Two miles beyond, far out in the front nf the American forces and occupying the roads leading to Santiago, is a force of 1,500 Cubans under Gen. Carlos Gonzales. The entire Cuban army, under direction of Gen. Calixto Garcia, is mnssing for a cooperative attack on Santiago. Garcia, with 5,000 Cubans, is momentarily expected from the Interior, while from Aserraderos, 20 miles to the west of Santiago, 2,000 Cubans arrived Sunday. There are no Spaniards in the entire country between Baiquiri, whers mos>t . nf the American troops were landed, and Saniago. The retreat of the enemy jnfter Friday’s battle apparently* became a rout, which did not end until the fortifications nrouml the city were reached. The transport Leona brought to Juragua from Aserraderos nearly 2,000 insurgents, thoroughly armed and plentifully supplied with ammunition. They are part of the army of Gen Garcia nnd have been sent to the front to join the insurgents already occupy* Inp the roads to Santiago.