YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

MEMORIES OF TWO WARS

-QoftyUgAt Ifflfi.^U- .SrfatUd & Stvptig

MEMORIES OF TWO WARS

CUBAN AND PHILIPPINE
EXPERIENCES

BY

FREDERICK FUNSTON
Brigadier-General U. S. Army

ILLUSTRATIONS BY F. C. YOHN

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
191 1

Copyright, iqii, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Published November, 1911

TO THE MEMORY OF
ARTHUR MacARTHUR FUNSTON
the little boy who in happy days gone by
often sat on my knees and, open-eyed and
wondering, listened to the story of the cruise
of the Dauntless and to accounts of mid
night rides in the Philippines ; but who now
sleeps forever in the national cemetery of
the Presidio of San Francisco, under the
shadow of the flag his childish heart so loved
THIS BOOK
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

PREFACE
It seems to be expected nowadays that every one
who writes a book, unless it is a society novel, will use up
a page or more of valuable space in explaining why he did
it. In this particular case the publishers are largely to
blame, as they had not a little to do with hatching the
conspiracy. At least, they are where the public can get
at them, while the writer, being on the other side of the
world, assisting in a small way in bearing the white man's
burden, is safe; and before his return to within the juris
diction of the courts of the home-land the statute of limi
tations will have thrown over him its protecting mantle.
If any person should start to read this book with the
idea that he may find therein discussions of military
strategy or tactics, or an elucidation of personal views on
our recent incursion into the realm of world-politics, this
would be an excellent moment for him to put on his hat
and return the volume to the neighbor from whom he
borrowed it. For this is nothing more than a contribu
tion, such as it may be, to the literature of adventure. It
has fallen to the writer to be brought into more or less
close personal contact with some of the men who have
had to do with the making of recent history in our own
country, Cuba, and the Philippine Islands, and he has
been an humble participant in some of the events of those
few fateful years that changed us from an isolated and

viii PREFACE
self-contained nation into a world-power. The last Cu
ban insurrection against Spain, the war between the latter
country and the United States, and the subsequent in
surrection of the Filipinos, are no longer matters of cur
rent interest, but have become a part of history — history,
however, which does not deal with events so remote that
it is devoid of all personal interest to people now living.
As certain as fate, some caustic critic, after hastily
skimming through the pages of this book, will rise up, and
with his typewriter smite the author for having presumed
to refer to some of the military functions that he has at
tended as "sieges" or "battles." So let it be understood
now that the writer is not altogether ignorant of history,
and that he would be one of the last men in the world to
compare Guiguinto with Gettysburg, or to speak of the
sieges of Cascorra and Sebastopol in the same breath.
The words "battle" and "siege" are terms that designate
certain sorts of military operations, and they are not limited
in their application by the numbers of men who participate
in them. These words have been attached to many minor
affairs in the histories of all countries, and habitually have
been applied to clashes of arms that did not approach
Jiguani, Las Tunas, Tuliajan River, or Calumpit.
Several of the chapters that go to make up this volume
have already appeared in Scribners Magazine. The
original scheme was the publication in that periodical of
four articles describing in detail several of the more im
portant incidents of the Cuban insurrection in which the
writer had participated, no attempt being made to write
a complete history of personal experiences in that war.

PREFACE ix
After the articles referred to had been published there
was planned a book which was to include them, and
besides contain a complete and chronological account of
what the writer saw in the Philippines. To fill out the
breaks of many months that occur between the incidents
of the Cuban insurrection that form part of this book
would necessitate rewriting everything on that subject,
besides a trip to Havana to consult official records; and
the whole thing when finished would in itself be a volume.
It is believed, however, that these four chapters will give
the reader a fair idea of the conditions under which we
marched and fought in those days.
It should be understood that this book is in no sense a
history of the two small wars in which the author par
ticipated, being merely an account of what he saw, with
just enough on general conditions to assist the reader in
following the narrative.
In writing reminiscences it is difficult to avoid over
working the personal pronoun in the first person singular,
without making the style so stilted that the account might
be taken for an official report; but in this case an attempt
has been made not to offend too deeply against the canons
of good taste in that particular respect. Acknowledg
ment is hereby made of the fact that in the times described
the writer was by no means the only person present in
either Cuba or Luzon.
The author would scarcely advise a young man to fol
low in his own footsteps, and go into foreign lands looking
for trouble merely because his own country did not fur
nish enough; as the chances are that he would finally rest

x PREFACE
in a forgotten grave, as was the case with not a few of our
countrymen who assisted the Cubans in their struggle for
independence, but whose very names are not now known
by the people for whom they gave their lives.
After we have passed middle age the tendency of most
of us is to live in the days that have gone by, and to give
but little thought to the future. Whatever may happen
to one later, if on many more than a hundred days of his
life he has heard the popping of the bullets of the Maus
ers, he can congratulate himself on the fact that he is still
alive ; and can sit back in an easy chair and spend many
pleasant hours thinking of the things that were. It is
worth while if you win, but not if you lose. It is good to
have lived through it all.
Manila, August, 1911.

CONTENTS
CUBAN EXPERIENCES
CHAPTER PAGE
I. To Cuba as a Filibuster  3
II. Cascorra, the First Cuban Siege .... 29
III. The Fall of Guaimaro  62
IV. A Defeat and a Victory  98
PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
I. The Making of a Regiment  149
II. Caloocan and Its Trenches  188
III. Up the Railroad to Malolos . . . . . 225
IV. From Malolos to San Fernando .... 265
V. San Fernando and the Beginning of the
Guerilla War  297
VI. More of the Guerilla War  336
VII. The Capture of Emilio Aguinaldo . . . 384
VIII. Closing Days  427
Index  445

ILLUSTRATIONS
General Frederick Funston  Frontispiece
Photogravure from a -photograph. FACING PAGE
My recently acquired knowledge . . . now became of use ... 6
Overboard we went . . . caught the boat by its sides, and ran up
on to the beach with it on the next wave  20
A black column of smoke poured from the funnel of the Daunt
less, and the race for life began  22
An almost ideal natural gun-pit was found near the beach . . 24
A well-directed volley at this time might have rid Spain of the
fiery old guerilla  38
Never anywhere have I seen the equal of what was poured into us
during the hour that we held this position  52
Taking the trail-rope, we made a quick run  54
Every Spaniard in Guaimaro could see him, and I believe to a man
tried to bring the gallant fellow down  74
Janney half carried and half dragged the wounded man up that
slope under a fire that it would seem impossible a man could
live through  76
For a couple of hours deliberately shelled that work and others in
the vicinity  78
The church was a hard proposition, and it was some time before
we made progress against it  88
The march was painfully slow, the roads being in shocking con
dition  94
With superb nerve the operators stuck to their post .... 104
xiii

xiv ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

To the dynamite gun was given the honor of leading the ball . . 122
The battle of Jiguani  I24
With cries of " Al machete," rushed into the barb wire ... 132
As a most engaging grin overspread his features, whispered, "Try
the next sentry. He's easy"  156
His blouse decorated by a bouquet that would not have shamed a
debutante at her coming-out ball  156
Their front was blanketed with a pall of white smoke that resem
bled a fierce prairie fire  •  182
When we were within seventy yards, the " Charge " was blown, and
the yelling and excited men dashed forward on the run . . . 184
The enemy had a very fine silken flag. ... It became the centre
of a short and sharp struggle. ... It resembled as much as
anything some of the confused scrambles that are seen on the
foot-ball field  198
I ordered the "Charge" blown, and all who could hear it sprang
forward . . . the whole regiment breaking into yells as we
closed  202
When the odd little gun was fired we saw the projectile mount a
couple of hundred feet into the air  212
Captain Edgar Russell had been wig-wagging from the church
tower certain angles, elevations, and other scientific stuff to a
couple of naval vessels  216
The next few days were ones of comparative quiet  220
As the first of these men came up the bank the Filipinos bolted . . 234
The Colt automatic gun going into action  236
As soon as the raft reached our side I got on it with Lieutenant
Hopkins and twenty-one men of Company C  248
The prisoners were brought across the river on the raft and in a
canoe that had been found  250

ILLUSTRATIONS xv

FACING PAGE

Every man as he cleared the bridge leaped down the embankment
and followed suit  252
Although I had got into the water first, Ball beat me to the bank . 274
As each raft load arrived, the men were ordered to crouch low . . 284
Before he could turn around Hilario had grasped him about the
waist, and said, "You are a prisoner of the Americans" . . 420

CUBAN EXPERIENCES

TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER
I happened to be in New York City in 1896, and
one evening in the spring or early summer was strolling
past Madison Square Garden, and impelled by curiosity
dropped in to see the Cuban Fair then in progress.
This fair, promoted by resident Cubans and American
sympathizers with the cause of Cuban independence, was
held ostensibly for the purpose of raising funds for the
purchase of hospital supplies for the insurgent forces in
the field, but a subsequent acquaintance with what was
being done on the distracted Island justifies a suspicion
that more of the money was expended for dynamite and
cartridges than for quinine and bandages.
The principal attraction at the fair on the occasion of
my visit was a fiery and eloquent speech by General Daniel
E. Sickles, well known to be one of the most valued friends
of the Cubans in their struggle.
Since the outbreak of the insurrection I had taken con
siderable interest in its progress, and had indulged my
self in a vague sort of idea that I would like to take part
in it, I fear as much from a love of adventure and a desire
to see some fighting as from any more worthy motive.
Of course, I shared the prevailing sympathy of my coun
trymen with the Cubans, and believed their cause a
worthy one. Whatever doubts I may previously have had

4 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
on the expediency of mixing up in the rows of other people
vanished after hearing General Sickles's speech, and I
returned to my room that evening with my mind made
up and spent a sleepless night, as befits one who has just
determined on going to his first war.
The next morning, without credentials of any kind, I
presented myself at the office of the Cuban Junta at 56
New Street, and inquired if I could see Mr. Palma, but
did not succeed in doing so. Mr. Zayas, one of the at
taches of the Junta, took me in hand and was most cour
teous, but assured me that they were sending no Ameri
cans to Cuba, and were confining their efforts in this
country to raising funds and doing what they could to
direct public sentiment in favor of their compatriots. I
have since often wondered how I could have been so
guileless as to expect them to receive me, a total stranger,
with open arms. I could have been a fugitive from justice
seeking a hiding-place, a worthless adventurer, or, worst
of all, a spy in Spanish pay. It was evident that different
tactics must be tried. Through a mutual friend I ob
tained a letter of introduction to General Sickles, and the
next day called on the old veteran at his residence, and
not only had a most pleasant chat with him, but left
with a personal note to Mr. Palma in which the General
stated that, though he did not know me personally, he
felt justified in vouching for me on the strength of the
letter I had brought him. Back to the Junta without loss
of time, and now it was different. I was admitted with
out delay to the office of the kindly faced, honest old
patriot who afterward became the first president of free

TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER 5
Cuba. Mr. Palma asked me if I had had any military
experience and was told that I had not, but had read con
siderably along military lines and felt that I had it in me
to make good. A question as to my knowledge of Span
ish brought out the fact that I had a fair reading but not
a speaking acquaintance with that language. Mr. Palma
then stated that in order as much as possible to avoid
violating the neutrality laws of the United States the
Cubans could not receive applicants into their service
in this country, but that I could be sent down on one of
the first expeditions, and might, after my arrival, offer
my services to whatever insurgent chief in the field I de
sired. My urbane but non-committal friend of the day
before, Mr. Zayas, was now sent for and I was turned
over to him.
This gentleman took my address and told me that as
it was impossible to intrust the secrets regarding the sailing
of filibustering expeditions to any one, I must not expect
to be informed as to when I could leave, but must possess
my soul in patience until sent for. In the meantime I
was to call at the Junta once a week. On one of these
visits Mr. Zayas told me that the Cubans were having in
different success with their artillery in the field, largely
because their people did not seem to know how to handle
the guns, and suggested that if I were to acquire some
knowledge on that subject before sailing it might add to
my welcome. This struck me favorably, as my father had
been an artillery officer in the Civil War, and I had been
brought up on stories of fierce struggles in which the old
brass Napoleons of that day had done their part. My

6 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
own artillery experience consisted in once having seen a
salute fired to President Hayes at a country fair in Kansas.
The result of Mr. Zayas's suggestion was that I took a
note from him to the firm of Hartley & Graham, the arms
dealers from whom the Cubans purchased their imple
ments of war, and had explained to me by one of their
experts the mysteries of the Hotchkiss twelve-pounder
breech-loading rifle, and was allowed to fondle that ugly
looking instrument of death to my heart's content and
take it apart and put it together again. A book of instruc
tions as to its use and a lot of formidable tables of veloci
ties at various ranges, etc., I all but committed to memory.
My keen interest in this new subject so pleased Mr.
Zayas that he suggested that I impart some of my valuable
lore to some of his countrymen in New York who were
presumably waiting in feverish anxiety for the sailing of
the next expedition. This I agreed to do, though it struck
me as a somewhat indiscreet performance in a city where
Cubans were closely watched by Spanish spies, and where
there were innumerable enterprising reporters looking for
"scoops." But I kept my feelings to myself, and a few
evenings later was conducted by one of the attaches of
the J unta to a small hall over a saloon, well up on Third
Avenue. All but a few of the lights were turned off and
the window-shades were well drawn. Here we found
about fifteen Cubans, callow youths in the main, the most
of them, I judged, being students. These aspiring patriots
chattered like magpies and smoked the most astounding
number of cigarettes. In addition to this promising
material, there were in the room several large and im-

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TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER 7
posing-looking crates labelled "machinery." These were
opened and turned out to be the various parts of a Hotch-
kiss twelve-pounder. My recently acquired knowledge,
what there was of it, now became of use, and the gun
was set up and taken apart a dozen times, and the breech
mechanism, sights, and ammunition explained. As this
gun is transported in sections on mule back, as well as
dragged by a shaft, the various heavy pieces were lifted
up to the height of an imaginary or "theoretical" mule
and then let down again, a form of calisthenics that soon
palled on the embryo artillerymen, the night being hot
and the room close. Several times the pieces were allowed
to fall to the floor with a noise that should have aroused the
block, and I spent a good bit of time figuring out how I
would explain to the police, if they came to investigate,
what I was doing with such warlike paraphernalia in
peaceful New York. But we were not molested, and for
a month, once a week, went through this performance.
But it was wasted effort. Whether any of these young
men ever reached the Island to participate in the war,
I do not know, but certain it is that there was not one of
them in the artillery command of the "Departamento del
Oriente," the only one that did any serious work with ar
tillery during the struggle. But it was different with the
gun that we trundled and knocked about on those hot
summer nights above that Third Avenue saloon, for it
had its baptism in that hell of Mauser fire at Cascorra,
where it was served within two hundred yards of a trench
full of Spaniards, until human endurance could stand the
strain no longer, and the gun was dragged backward into

8 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
a ravine by the survivors of the detachment. And later,
at Guaimaro, Winchester Dana Osgood, Cornell's famous
foot-ball player, fell across its trail, shot through the brain.
It helped to batter down the stone fort at Jiguani and took
part in the duel with the Krupp battery at Victoria de las
Tunas, and I understand now rests in the Havana Ar
senal and is pointed out to visitors as one of the relics
of the War of Independence. Verily, the old gun had a
career not to be ashamed of.
An interesting incident of the summer was a trip with
several members of the Junta to the coast of Long Island
to see a demonstration of the working of the newly in
vented Sims-Dudley dynamite gun, an instrument that
looked more like a telescope on wheels than an implement
of war. This gun was fired several times out to sea, to the
evident consternation of an excursion boat which made
the most phenomenal speed in getting out of the way.
The explosions of its nitro-gelatine-loaded shells threw
water and spray a hundred feet in air. Nearly a year and
a half later I saw one of these guns, possibly the same one,
at Victoria de las Tunas, reduce blockhouses and stone
barracks to heaps of rubbish, wreck a Krupp eight-centi
metre field-piece, and terrify hundreds of Spanish regulars
into surrender.
So the summer wore along, but one afternoon in August
came the fateful telegram, and after all these years I can
quote its every word: "Be at Cortlandt Street Ferry at
7 p. m., ready to leave the city." My trunk was hastily
packed and left behind, and with a few belongings in a
small valise, and, I must acknowledge, with some sinking

TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER 9
of the heart, I made my way to the ferry accompanied by
an old friend of college days. Here I met Mr. Zayas and
by him was introduced to a Mr. Pagluchi, a nervy-looking
Italian of good address and appearance, who, I afterward
learned, was a marine engineer and presided over the
engine-rooms of the various steamers sent out by the Junta
for the purpose of carrying reinforcements and arms to
Cuba. Mr. Pagluchi was accompanied by four men, none
of them Cubans, and not one of whom I had ever seen
before. These were Charles Huntington, a fine-looking
Canadian of soldierly bearing, who had served in the
Northwest Mounted Police ; Walinski, an Englishman of
Polish descent; Welsford, a young man from New Jersey,
and Arthur Potter, a former English marine soldier who
had lived in the United States for several years. Hunting
ton was one of the bravest men I ever knew, being, in
fact, absolutely reckless. He served with distinction in
the Cascorra and Guaimaro campaigns, and was finally
killed in a fight with Spanish guerillas, his body falling
into the hands of the enemy. Potter and Welsford were
chums, careless, go-lucky young fellows; the former was
terribly wounded at Desmayo, having both legs shattered,
and spent nearly a year on his back in a "bush" hospital.
He remained in Cuba after the war, and now lives in
Camaguey. Of the final fate of Welsford and Walinski I
know nothing.
On the ferry-boat the five of us tried to appease our
boundless curiosity as to where we were bound by attempts
to extract information from Pagluchi, but without success,
as it was evident that one of the things that individual was

10 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
paid for was keeping his own counsel, and he fully justified
the confidence reposed in him by the Junta. He kept our
tickets in his possession and said we would know all in
due time. At Jersey City we took berths in a sleeper on
the Pennsylvania, early the next morning passed through
Washington, and in the fulness of time reached Charles
ton, South Carolina, where we were conducted to a hotel,
and found among the guests about thirty Cubans, well-
dressed, superior-looking men, standing about in little
groups, conversing in low tones and worried about some
thing. I recognized, among others, General Emilio Nunez,
afterward governor of the province of Havana under the
administration of President Palma, whom I had met at
the office of the Junta, and by whom I was introduced
to General Rafael Cabrera, a kindly and considerate
old gentleman who was one of the veterans of the Ten
Years' War, and who had lived in exile since its close.
He was now returning to renew the struggle of younger
days, but to lose his life without seeing the realization
of his hopes.
Among other guests of the hotel were some fifteen or
twenty well-groomed, quiet-appearing men whom we were
at once warned against having anything to do with, as
they were operatives of a well-known detective agency
in the employ of the Spanish minister at Washington,
with the exception of a few who were said to be United
States Secret Service men or United States deputy mar
shals. It was the duty of these men to learn what they
could as to our intentions in order that they might give to
the proper authorities the information necessary to enable

TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER ii
them to seize the vessel on which we were to sail. They
had had no success with the wary Cubans, but their eyes
brightened when they saw Pagluchi's five wards, and
they lost little time in trying to get acquainted. Two of
them took me in hand and suggested that there was noth
ing like a mint julep to make one forget Charleston's
August climate. But I told them I was from Kansas,
whereupon they suggested an ice-cream soda ; there was a
place a few blocks distant where were concocted cooling
drinks that were the talk of the town. Would I not stroll
down there ? It was difficult to shake them off without
retiring to my room and sweltering in the terrific heat.
Finally, Huntington saw my plight, and coming over very
genially offered to thrash both of them if they did not
leave me alone. This had the desired effect.
Our curiosity as to how and when we were to reach
Cuba was not yet satisfied. It was known that the
steamer Commodore, famous as a filibuster, was lying in
Charleston harbor closely watched by a revenue-cutter.
She had been searched for arms, but none were found on
board, and, as she carried no persons besides her crew and
her papers were correct, there was no justification for her
seizure. The vessel was merely under surveillance, and
the arrival of the parties of Cubans in Charleston had
added much to the importance of watching her. As will
be shown later, the Commodore was merely there as a
blind, and served her purpose well.
On the afternoon of the day following our arrival the
Cubans, carrying their hand baggage, began to leave the
hotel in little groups, each followed by one or more

12 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
"sleuths." About half-past three Pagluchi told his flock
to come with him, and we made our way to the station
of the Plant Line system of railways, where we found one
of the regular trains about to leave.
We were conducted to the rear car of the train, a day
coach, where we found the Cubans who had preceded us
from the hotel. Several of the detectives who attempted
to secure seats in this car were told that it was a special
chartered by a party of excursionists, and that we would
be obliged to deny ourselves the pleasure of their company.
So they found seats in the car ahead, and in due time the
train pulled out of the station. As to the destination of
the train to which our car was for the time being attached,
I cannot say, but I know that we pounded along over the
rails at a fair rate of speed until some time late at night,
when we stopped at an obscure station in the woods; a
locomotive backed up to our car from a siding, the car was
quickly and quietly uncoupled from the train, which then
proceeded on its way, while our car with its engine flew
back on the track a few miles, was switched onto another
line, and sped along for hours without making more than
the few absolutely necessary stops. From a special car
we had grown to be a special train, a small one, it is true,
but none the less a special. The whole plan for escaping
the men following us and throwing them entirely off the
scent had been thought out by Mr. Fritot, the Charleston
agent of the Plant Line, and worked to perfection. We
had many a chuckle over the chagrin that must have been
felt by our attentive mentors when they found how neatly
they had been "sacked."

• TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER 13
Just after sunrise we came to a stop at a little station
in a region of pine woods. There was a small station
building and possibly one or two other houses, and a good-
sized sluggish river crossed by the railway bridge, under
which lay a big tug, the Dauntless, soon to become famous
as the most successful filibuster in the Cuban service, now
making her first essay in the exciting work of dodging
American revenue-cutters and outrunning Spanish gun
boats. On a siding near the river bank were three large
freight cars, supposed to contain saw-mill machinery
arrived two days before from New York. There was no
longer any occasion for secrecy, and we were informed
that the station was Woodbine, on the extreme south
eastern coast of Georgia, the river was the Satilla, the
freight cars were laden with arms and ammunition, and
the panting tug in the river was to carry us to Cuba.
We alighted from the cars, stretched our cramped limbs,
and looked over our surroundings with no little interest.
Our engine and car pulled out, and the engineer, who
evidently suspected that he was helping to make history,
called out, "Good-by and good luck, don't let them Span-
ions git you." We were served with a hasty breakfast
of strong coffee and hard bread from the Dauntless, the
freight cars were opened, we took off our coats and went
to work, and work it was. The forenoon was sultry and
the boxes heavy, but fortunately the carry was downhill
and we returned up the river bank empty-handed. There
were many among the thirty-five of us who had never
done a stroke of manual labor in their lives, but we five
were not in that class. Nevertheless, we were heartily

14 CUBAN EXPERIENCES ¦*
glad when the task was over, and all felt that we had qual
ified for membership in the freight-handlers' union. In
five hours there had been transferred to the hold of the
Dauntless the Hotchkiss twelve-pounder, with its pack-
saddles and other gear, and 800 shells, 1,300 Mauser and
Remington rifles, 100 revolvers, 1,000 cavalry machetes,
800 pounds of dynamite, several hundred saddles, half a
ton of medical stores, and 460,000 rounds of small-arms
ammunition. In truth, the Madison Square Garden fair
for the raising of funds for the purchase of "hospital sup
plies" had evidently been a howling success. I can testify
that the cargo of the Dauntless put many a man in the
hospital for every one it took out.
It was about noon when we were ready to cast off, and
the Dauntless, giving several defiant toots, as if in exul
tation, slipped down the river toward the sea. On the
bridge was her master, Captain John O'Brien, a noted fili
buster, usually known by the honorary title of "Dynamite"
O'Brien, from some incident connected with one of the
Central American or West Indian revolutions that he had
been mixed up in. Blockade-running was an old story
with him, even before the Cuban insurrection, and dur
ing that war he had safely conducted a number of expedi
tions to the Cuban coast. He was an ideal man for the
perilous business, cool and resourceful, and a splendid
seaman. And all of these qualifications were needed for
filibustering in this particular war, for if there was one
thing well understood it was that every member of one of
these expeditions, if captured by the Spaniards, would get
the shortest shrift possible to give him. The Spaniards do

TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER 15
not fight revolutions with rose-water, and maybe they are
right. Consequently, filibustering in those days was grim
and terrible business, fit occupation for lion-hearted men.
Insurrections with their attendant blockade-running are
not so frequent as in the good times gone by. The in
dustry is in the "dumps," and Captain O'Brien is now
chief harbor pilot of Havana, the mild-mannered, thick
set man with iron-gray mustache who has conducted
many a one of you on a passenger steamer through the
narrow entrance past Morro Castle. I saw him ten
years later, when he came out to bring in the vessel on
which I was a passenger at the time of the second inter
vention, and we had a good embrace in Cuban style in
memory of our hazardous voyage of former years. His
present occupation must seem to him as tame as raising
chickens. Pagluchi had long before turned over his five members
of the expedition to General Cabrera, doubtless glad to
be rid of us, and was now in charge of the engines of the
Dauntless. The crew consisted of just crew, and they look
alike the world over. It seemed rather a shame to run
these men, who probably did not know what they were
doing, up against the chance of being blown out of the
water by a Spanish gun-boat or of being lined up against
that famous wall at the Cabanas fortress, the scene of so
many pitiful tragedies. In a short time we were out of
the river and on the Atlantic. A sharp lookout was kept
before getting well out to sea, but not a wisp of smoke
was in sight. As a part of the game to give us a clear
field, the Commodore had left Charleston the evening

16 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
before and steamed north, followed by the revenue-cutter,
finally putting into Hampton Roads. So there was no
danger to be apprehended from that particular vessel.
Now followed four days of rolling and pitching on the
broad swells of the Atlantic. How small and inconse
quential the little Dauntless seemed on that wild waste of
waters. She could have made the passage in two days
but for the necessity of economizing her supply of coal
for the return trip to some United States port, and to have
enough fuel to enable her to speed up and make a run for
life if the occasion arose. Always a victim to sea-sickness,
even under the most favorable circumstances, I can never
forget those four days of suffering as the little steamer
labored through the sea, rolling and pitching, our only
home, the deck, swept from time to time by clouds of
spray, with an occasional wave for good measure. We
lay about day after day in our water-soaked blankets,
getting such snatches of sleep as we could, and now and
then staggering to the rail to make the required contribu
tion to Neptune. We certainly were as unhappy and as
unheroic-looking a lot of adventurers as ever trusted them
selves to the sea.
On the afternoon of August 16 we were told that we
were approaching the north-east coast of Cuba. The wind
and sea now moderated somewhat, and the worn and har
assed filibusters began to come to life. All realized that
this was the most critical period in our voyage, as the
coast was patrolled by gun-boats and armed launches,
and capture meant death, swift and inevitable. We five
had among ourselves talked over such a possibility, and

TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER 17
it was pretty well understood that if worst came to worst
we were to take Kipling's advice,
" Just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier."
But not without making a fight for it, for the Hotchkiss
twelve-pounder, the same gun at which I had drilled for
the perspiring patriots in New York, was now unpacked
and mounted on the deck forward and several boxes of
ammunition opened. This was a task of great difficulty,
a gun on a field-carriage mounted on the deck of a rolling
vessel being about as dangerous to those serving it as to
any possible target. But the brake ropes were adjusted
and the piece anchored as securely as possible by means
of other ropes, the wheels being also blocked by timbers.
The muzzle pointed over the port bow, and if a necessity
had arisen to train the gun in any other direction it was
intended to accomplish the purpose by turning the vessel
accordingly. As I was the only one on board who under
stood this weapon, General Cabrera placed it in my
charge, and I had my four companions to assist in set
ting it up and in serving it in case of need. There were
known to be two classes of vessels patrolling the Cuban
coast — several gun-boats of rather low speed and a con
siderable number of fast, large launches, each carrying
a crew of about a dozen men and armed with a Norden-
felt rapid-fire gun of small calibre. It was intended, in
case we encountered a gun-boat, to depend entirely on the
speed of the Dauntless to escape, but if our antagonist
was a launch we were to let her get as close as possible

1 8 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
and then open on her. We had no doubt that we could
drive off any launch, and even hoped that we might
frighten the crew into surrender. A tarpaulin had been
placed over the gun as soon as mounted, in order that
it could not be seen until needed for action. It is inter
esting to know that some months later, while attempting
an expedition on the south coast of Cuba, the Dauntless
had a gun mounted in this fashion and was pursued by an
armed launch, whereupon she fired one shot, missing the
target about half a mile, but the launch could hardly be
seen for the spray she tore up in getting out of the way.
This incident created much amusement, being spoken of
as the first and only "naval battle" of the war.
We made out in time the low mangrove-covered coast,
and could see far away the dim outline of the hills of the
interior. We stood on deck with beating hearts and tense
faces as the little steamer drew near the inlet known as
Las Nuevas Grandes, a short distance east of the entrance
to Nuevitas harbor, on the coast of the province of Puerto
Principe or Camaguey. No vessel was in sight, but we
were troubled by the appearance from time to time of a
bit of smoke along the shore line far to the eastward. All
who were supplied with glasses kept them trained on
that part of the horizon. It was plain to be seen that
Captain O'Brien and Generals Nunez and Cabrera were
anxious, as they held several whispered consultations on
the bridge. The smoke might be from a fire on shore or
from a vessel bound eastward, the latter supposition be
ing in favor from the fact that it was not seen for the last
half-hour before darkness settled down over land and sea.

TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER 19
As night came on we could plainly see the flashes of the
Maternillos light to the westward. And so, minute by
minute, we drew nearer to our goal. A man was now
taking soundings, and his voice and the throbbing of the
engines were the only sounds that broke an oppressive
silence. We five would-be Lafayettes and Von Steubens
were grouped about the gun on the bow; the weapon
had been loaded and the primer inserted, and the only
thing that remained to be done, in case a necessity arose,
was to remove the tarpaulin, get her pointed in the gene
ral direction, and pull the lanyard. We were taking no
chances on nervousness and confusion at a critical moment
cheating us out of one shot, at least, in case an inquisitive
launch should poke her nose around the point that we had
now passed. If I must tell all, our teeth were chattering,
and not from cold, but from the terrific strain and from
trying to force ourselves to be calm and cool.
Las Nuevas Grandes is merely an indentation in the
coast and in no sense a harbor, and when we were about
half a mile from the surf the engines were stopped. The
Dauntless carried two regular sea boats, but these were
not used in landing our cargo. Instead, she had brought,
piled up on her deck, eight broad, flat-bottomed skiffs,
each with two pairs of oars and a steering oar. A sea
man would scorn to be seen in such a craft, but they were
quite well suited to an aggregation of land crabs like our
selves, and owing to their flat bottoms could easily be
hauled through a moderate surf. Each of us five "Amer
icans," as we were called, to distinguish us from the Cu
bans, was put in charge of a boat, while the others were

20 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
intrusted to three of our Cuban fellow-voyagers. The
boats were lowered by hand over the rail without difficulty,
but once in the water pounded about in a way that was
most disconcerting. The crew of the steamer went below
deck and passed up the cargo, which was tossed into the
boats with feverish haste, no attempt being made to stow
it properly. As no one was now left on board to serve
the gun, it was dismounted and the various parts lowered,
after much difficulty, into my boat. I was able to get
away first, and with a crew of four at the oars pushed
toward the surf, which, owing to the darkness, could not
be seen, but was distinctly audible. About half-way to
the shore we could dimly make out the line of breakers.
Years before, I had had some pretty stiff surf work in
Indian canoes on the Alaskan coast and thought I knew
something on that subject, but the prospect before us
was not alluring. The greatest drawback was the dark
ness, which made it impossible to see whatever rocks there
might be, as well as to estimate the height or violence of
the surf. But it was too late to turn back, and in we
went. There was a lot of pitching and bucking, and a
wave or two broke over us, but as soon as we struck, oars
were dropped and overboard we went, up to our waists,
caught the boat by its sides, and ran up onto the beach
with it on the next wave. Fortunately, it was a perfectly
clean, shelving, sandy beach, and we got through with
nothing worse than a superb ducking and a boat half full
of water. The gun with its wheels and carriage was
carried beyond reach of the tide and thrown down in the
grass, and the boat overturned to get out the water it had

Overboard we went . . . caught the boat by its sides, and ran up on to the beach with it on the next wave

TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER 21
shipped. Just as we were preparing to launch, in order
to go for our next load, we heard excited voices near us,
and knew that the second boat was coming in. We ran
down the beach to assist, but arrived too late to be of
service. The boat was caught on one quarter, turned
broadside on, and hurled onto the beach. The air was
literally full of Jesus Marias, interspersed with the im
pressive type of English cuss words in the use of which
one of my companions was no mean artist. But the boat
was dragged out, and the next day at low tide its cargo was
recovered. Both boats were now launched and started on
their return to the Dauntless. On the way we met several
others, and gave them the information that the beach
was a good one but the surf troublesome. All lights on
the steamer had, of course, been screened or extinguished,
but a lighted lantern had been hung over the shore side
for the purpose of guiding returning boats.
As it was deemed inadvisable to build a fire on shore,
there was no guide in that direction, with the result that
our cargo was scattered along about seven hundred yards
of beach. So the work went on far into the night, an oc
casional boat upsetting, but without loss of life. Luckily,
the excitement kept away all feeling of fatigue or hunger.
The wind was rising and the sky had become overcast,
and there were occasional squalls of rain. My boat was
nearing the Dauntless for its sixth load, when we heard
an excited exclamation from the bridge, and saw to the
northward, over the mangrove bushes on the point, a
peculiar white light sweeping the horizon. The steamer
had not anchored, but was keeping her approximate

22 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
position by means of her screw, and had had on a full
head of steam ever since approaching the coast, ready to
do her best in case she had to run for it. At this time
two boats were loading alongside, but their crews piled
into them and pulled clear, under some sulphurous orders
yelled down from the bridge. There were a few tense
moments in which we lay on our oars and awaited devel
opments. Nearer and nearer came that cursed light,
but the vessel itself could not yet be located owing to
intervening land. But there was no time to lose, as to
be caught in this little pocket of a bay meant disaster.
The engine bell rang viciously, a black column of smoke
poured from the funnel of the Dauntless, and the race for
life began. It was known that this could be no launch, as
launches — at least those at that time in the Spanish navy —
do not carry search-lights, but must be a cruiser or a gun
boat of some size.
The Dauntless plunged through the water, and for a
couple of miles we could trace her by the smoke and sparks
from her funnel. In order to clear the point she had to
run straight out to sea, at first in the direction of the enemy.
The search-light wavered here and there on the shore line
and over the surface of the water, and finally fell on the
Dauntless. There was a painful moment for those of us
watching, and then came the distant booming of the guns;
but finally these sounds died away and both pursuer and
pursued faded from sight. With heavy hearts we rowed
ashore, and the members of the expedition gathered about
the piles of cartridge boxes and bundles of rifles on the
beach, shivered in their wet clothing, and in subdued

A black column of smoke poured from the funnel of the Dauntless, and the race for life began

TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER 23
tones discussed the situation. All were present, but only
about three-fourths of our cargo had been landed. Our
position was not an enviable one, as we felt morally cer
tain that the Spaniard would return after daylight and
deal with us. We could, of course, escape into the bush,
but all our war material would be captured. The hours
dragged along, but finally morning came and ushered in
a windy and sodden day, the trees and grass dripping
moisture, and everything seemingly conspiring to depress
our spirits and harass our worn bodies. On the suppo
sition that the gun-boat would honor us with a visit during
the day, search was made as soon as it was light for a
suitable position for the gun, with the intention of doing
our best to beat her off. An almost ideal natural gun-
pit was found near the beach. In some violent storm a
large log had been hurled beyond the ordinary high-tide
mark, and had fallen across the mouth of a little gully,
where sand to the thickness of several feet had been blown
up against it. The gun was set up in the gully, its muzzle
pointing over the log which served as a revetment for the
sand. The position was most satisfactory, so far as pro
tection was concerned, but had the disadvantage that the
muzzle could not be depressed sufficiently to use the piece
at short range. From fearing that the gun-boat would
come in, we now began to worry lest it should not. We
reasoned that the advantage was all on our side, as we had
good protection and a steady platform, which the gun-boat
could not have, the Dauntless having demonstrated how a
small vessel could roll on that shallow and exposed coast.
We would have a good, clear target, while to harm us the

24 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
gun-boat must make hit on the muzzle of the gun, the
only portion of it exposed. We knew that she must be
an unarmored vessel, and that our shells would reach her
vitals if our marksmanship was equal to the occasion. We
even chuckled as we thought of the possibility of a lucky
shot disabling her machinery, after which we could de
liberately bombard her into a surrender and then go out
to her in our small boats, thus beautifully turning the
tables on our pursuer.
In the meantime a fire had been built and coffee made
and bacon broiled, and this with some hard bread re
freshed all greatly. It was thought best to carry our
tons of military stores, piled helter-skelter along the beach,
to some place concealed from view, and this slavish task
consumed the greater part of the forenoon. Advantage
was taken of low tide to recover those articles lost from
the boats overturned in the surf on the previous night.
Fortunately, boxes of cartridges and bundles of rifles
are not easily swept out to sea, so that eventually the
only shortage was one bundle of ten Remington rifles.
The small-arms ammunition was not injured by its im
mersion, the boxes being tin-lined, but several cases of
cartridges for the twelve-pounder were practically ruined,
as we were to learn to our cost at Cascorra a few weeks
later. While carrying out these tasks many anxious glances
were cast seaward, and about eleven o'clock a film of
smoke was noticed far to the north. Closer and closer
it came, until we could make out the hull of the vessel,
but we were kept in a fever of uncertainty as to its identity.

An almost ideal natural gun-pit was found near the beach

TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER 25
If we could have had a broadside view our doubts would
have been dispelled. It was considered unlikely that the
Dauntless would return, and if not that vessel it must
be a gun-boat. The Cubans, armed with Mausers, were
scattered in groups along the beach to resist a landing
party, and we five went to our gun-pit, loaded the piece,
and made all preparations to open the ball. Considering
our excitement when in danger the night before, all were
remarkably cool and self-possessed, which probably arose
from our conviction that if the gun-boat came close enough
to open fire with effect she was " our meat." I was already
sighting the gun and estimating the distance for a trial
shot, when the vessel suddenly swung her broadside to,
and we recognized the Dauntless. Captain O'Brien,
fearing that we might use him as a target, had swung
around purposely in order that we might identify the ves
sel. There was a wild run for the boats by all except a
small guard left on shore, and we were soon out to the
steamer. No time was lost in landing the remainder of
the cargo, a task of a couple of hours. As to the advent
ures of the past night, we were told that the Dauntless
had led the gun-boat a straight chase to the north for
several hours, and, outdistancing her pursuer, had finally
made a wide circuit and come back to get rid of the re
mainder of her cargo, being aided in her escape by the
thick and squally weather. Months afterward we were
informed, and I presume correctly, that the vessel that
had given us such a close call was the torpedo gun-boat
Galicia. It is almost certain that it was either the Galicia
or the Jorge Juan, as they were said to be the only naval

26 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
vessels, other than launches, on that portion of the coast at
the time of our landing.
As the last boat load pulled away, the Dauntless,
brave as her name, gave three defiant blasts from her
whistle as a parting salute and steamed away, leaving
us to our own devices on a strange and inhospitable coast.
As we silently watched her fade from sight we realized
that we had burned our bridges behind us and were in for
the war. We made ourselves as comfortable as possible
under the circumstances, keeping a lookout for any gun
boats that might drop in on us. It has always been a
mystery to me why the Spaniards at Nuevitas were not
informed as to our landing by the gun-boat that discovered
us. An expedition could have been sent against us with
success at any time within the next four days. Although
we could have kept a vessel off with our gun, fifty men
landing out of its reach could have captured all our
material, though we could have escaped into the jun
gle. It was, of course, impossible for thirty-five men to
attempt to move our tons of impedimenta for any dis
tance from the beach, and immediately after the final
departure of the Dauntless, four men had been sent into
the interior to get in touch with the rebel forces. Four
anxious days passed, but finally a man was sighted coming
along the beach, and two of our party went out to meet
him. We heard them, when within calling distance, give
the insurgent challenge, "Alto! Quien va?" and the reply,
"Cuba," and knew that the new arrival was a friend.
The man was one of the scouts of the advance guard of
General Capote's portion of Maximo Gomez's command.

TO CUBA AS A FILIBUSTER 27
He was a ragged, unwashed individual, armed with a
Remington rifle and machete, and was so glad to see us
that he insisted on bestowing on each one of us the abrazo,
a form of embrace much in vogue in Cuba. I took my
medicine along with the rest, but not with noticeable en
thusiasm. Soon came the advance guard, and then the
main body, in all six hundred men, with a large number
of pack-animals. It was too late in the day to begin the
march into the interior, but the next morning all were on
the move, every horse and man loaded to the limit. By
nightfall we had covered thirty miles, and we new arrivals,
being "soft," were about done for. We went into camp
along a beautiful potrero, or pasture, with about a thousand
men under General Maximo Gomez, who had marched
thither to meet us. Before morning I had found in this
force four fellow-countrymen, Walter M. Jones, a native
of New York State, who had lived in Cuba for ten years,
and who died after the war as chief of the harbor police of
Havana; Arthur Royal Joyce, of South Egremont, Mass.,
who, a few weeks later, was to be terribly wounded in the
grim work at Cascorra; William Smith, second in com
mand of Gomez's personal escort, and James Pennie,
of Washington, D. C, who afterward had the doubtful
pleasure of contributing a leg to the cause of Free Cuba.
We sat late around the camp-fire that night, exchanging
experiences with these already seasoned campaigners.
The next morning I was presented by General Cabrera to
the grizzled and silent old chieftain, Maximo Gomez,
veteran of the Ten Years' War, and had a good oppor
tunity to see something of my future comrades in arms.

28 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
It was a rather impressive-looking force, the men, though
very, very ragged, being well armed and well mounted.
Much to my surprise, fully nine-tenths of them were white
men, which was accounted for by the fact that these
troops were raised in Camaguey, which has a smaller
percentage of negroes than any other province in Cuba.
Later I was to see organizations from the southern part of
Santiago province, consisting almost entirely of negroes,
but, take it through and through, there were many more
whites than blacks in the insurgent forces. The next
morning we were on the march, and in due time we new
arrivals had our first taste of war, but that is another
story.

II
CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE
The day after reporting at the always shifting head
quarters of Maximo Gomez was spent by the expedicio-
narios, as all recent arrivals from the United States were
called, in resting after the trying march from the coast and
in accustoming themselves to strange surroundings and
to a manner of life entirely new even to those who had
seen no little of rough life in the open. All day long there
arrived trains of pack-animals laden with the cargo of the
Dauntless, and before nightfall there was a stack of boxes
and bundles that looked decidedly larger than the hull
of that vessel.
During the day I had an occasional glimpse of our
chieftain, whom I had met the previous evening. He
was seated in a canvas hammock swung between a couple
of small trees, and spent most of the day going over his
mail that we had brought with us from the New York
Junta, the only means of communication with the outside
world enjoyed by the insurgents in the field. He dic
tated a few letters to his secretary, and after the noon
day meal took a nap. Upon awakening he swore roundly
about something, addressing his remarks to his asistente,
or personal servant. I did not at that time understand
Spanish, but judged from his gestures and tone of voice
that he was not complimenting that individual on his
29

30 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
accomplishments. Shortly after this he sent for me, and
having but recently witnessed his outburst, I approached
with some misgivings. A member of his staff, Major
Miguel Tarafa, in times of peace a Matanzas banker,
acted as interpreter. The general began by expressing
his appreciation of the spirit which had impelled us for
eigners to leave our homes and cast our lot with a people
struggling for independence, and then bluntly asked me
what I knew about artillery. I told him frankly that my
accomplishments were limited, to which he replied by
saying, "Well, you cannot know any less than another
American who came down here and said he knew it all."
He then stated that he would place me in charge of the gun
brought down on the Dauntless, and also of another and
smaller Hotchkiss, one of 1.65 inch calibre, that he had
with him, and said further that I would have the status of
an officer with the privileges pertaining thereto, but that
I would not actually be commissioned until after "mak
ing good." Then passing from weightier subjects, he
asked me if I had ever eaten sugar-cane, and I had to
confess that my acquaintance with the edible properties
of that plant were about on a par with my knowledge of
artillery. "Well," he said, with a grim smile, "you can
not be a real rebel until you know how to eat sugar-cane";
whereat he took one of several joints from the ground under
his hammock, and with the fine Moorish scimitar which he
carried in lieu of the omnipresent machete, showed me
how to strip off the tough bark and get at the juicy
pulp. He then had me try it with my own machete, and
was no little amused at my awkwardness.

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 31
From that time he always took a great interest in me,
and if we came in contact when there was an interpreter
at hand he would inquire how I was getting on and how
I liked being a "mambi," the uncomplimentary term
by which the Spaniards usually referred to the insur
gents. He always called me "Capi," an abbreviation
of the Spanish word capitan (captain).
He was a stern, hard-hearted man, with a violent tem
per, but had in his nature some streaks of human kind
ness that shone luminously by contrast. He resembled
exactly the many pictures of him that were published
while he was in the public eye. He was a thin, wiry man
with snow-white mustache and goatee, and was of pure
Spanish descent, having the swarthy complexion of most
Latins. The officers of the force that we were now with were, as
a rule, planters, cattle-raisers, farmers, or professional or
business men from the towns, and were as a class the best
men of the native Cuban population. Scores of them spoke
English, having been educated in the United States or
having lived there. At this period of the war they were
well mounted, and were dressed neatly in white duck,
which, being the clothing of the country, really constituted
the uniform of the insurgents, so far as they could be said
to have any. All were provided with appropriate insignia
of rank, and wore on their hats the tricolored Cuban
badge. The rank and file consisted mainly of employees
of the plantations and cattle-ranches, and scattered among
them a good many small farmers and cattlemen, with also
clerks, mechanics, and laborers from the towns. They

32 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
were ragged, and some, though not many, barefooted.
They were armed with Mauser and Remington rifles and
had well-filled cartridge pouches. Their rifles were badly
cared for, nearly all being not only rusty, but fouled from
not having been cleaned after use. All mounted offi
cers and men carried the long or cavalry machete, with
a blade about two and one-half feet in length. These
were formidable weapons for hand-to-hand work, and
had all been brought to the island on filibustering expedi
tions, having been especially manufactured for military-
purposes by a firm in Providence, R. I. Dismounted
troops carried, in addition to their rifles, the short machete,
used mainly in times of peace in cutting cane and brush.
Earlier in the war, before the insurgents had been supplied
with an adequate number of fire-arms, there had been a
number of occasions when small Spanish detachments
had been surprised and overwhelmed by superior forces
of Cubans rushing them with the machete and cutting
down all who did not surrender. The principal object of
these attacks was to obtain the fine Mausers with which
the Spanish troops were armed; but at the time of our
arrival, the Cubans having been well supplied with rifles,
and the Spaniards operating in larger columns and taking
greater precautions to prevent surprises on the march, the
machete had fallen from its high estate as a weapon of
war and was relegated to such prosaic work as digging
sweet-potatoes, chopping firewood, and cutting up beef.
Every officer and man carried a hammock made of
canvas or gunny sacks, and immediately on going into
camp swung it between a couple of trees, using it by day

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 33
as a chair and by night as a bed. Nobody except newly
arrived foreigners ever slept on the ground, and they
only once, the various brands of ants and other insects
that thrive in Cuba being particularly industrious and
pestiferous. The second morning after our arrival the whole force
assembled at this place started on one of those aimless
marches that were the chief weakness of the insurgent
leaders. The cargo of the Dauntless, except some ammu
nition and medical stores that had been distributed, was
left behind under guard, to be removed a few days later
and stored under sheds constructed for the purpose at
a point more distant from the coast.
Reveille sounded at three o'clock, hours before day
break; the few provided with coffee had some prepared,
horses that had been grazing throughout the night tied
to picket-pins were saddled, another bugle-call sounded
through the darkness, we fell into column of twos, and
the cavalcade started.
We new arrivals, all of whom except General Cabrera
had marched on foot from the coast, had been provided
with mounts, and I drew the first of the nineteen horses
that I was to lose in one way or another. We were fol
lowing a narrow country road leading in a southerly direc
tion. Daylight came in due time, and then flankers and
scouts were thrown out from the column. We foreigners
were in ecstasies over the beautiful scenery, now that we
had left behind the savannas and mangrove swamps of
the coast, and were crossing the rolling uplands of the in
terior. A large part of the country was primeval forest.

34 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
with here and there little clearings in which were grown
corn, beans, sugar-cane, squashes, sweet-potatoes, yucca
or manioc, and other vegetables. There were also great
potreros, or prairies, of thousands of acres of guinea grass
from three to six feet high, on which grazed herds of fat,
sleek cattle, at this period the principal source of the food
supply of the insurgents.
In this motley band winding its way across country we
of the Dauntless, in our New York clothes, seemed strangely
out of place and looked about as ridiculous as we felt.
At eleven o'clock the bugles blew "halt," and we scattered
out along the margin of a wood. Horses were unsaddled
and picketed to graze, hammocks swung, and fires started.
A detail of men rode out to the most convenient herd and
drove in a number of beeves, which were killed and
dressed and the meat distributed in less than an hour.
During the forenoon, as we had passed the numerous
houses with their little clearings, toll had been taken in
the form of such vegetables as were to be had. Also,
some men had ridden a mile or two out on the flanks of
the line of march and had come in with their pack-animals
laden with vegetables. The beef and vegetables were cut
up and placed in small iron kettles to boil. These kettles,
which would hold, as a rule, enough for four or five per
sons, were carried on the march on the backs of men or
strapped onto saddles, to the great discomfort of the un
fortunate beasts concerned. Those who had been unable
to procure kettles roasted their food before fires.
A negro had been assigned to attend to the wants of
the five foreigners who had come on the Dauntless, so

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 35
that we were spared the hardships that would have been
our lot if we had been compelled to hustle for ourselves
in the midst of such strange surroundings. At one o'clock
the first meal of the day was ready. We were fiercely
hungry, and had no fault to find with the food set before
us, it being very satisfying to healthy men with good ap
petites. Some weeks later we began to make depreca
tory remarks about this "aijacco," or everlasting stew of
meat and vegetables, and to long for the wheaten bread
and mutton chops of other days. Luckily for our peace'
of mind, we could not look into the future and see the
days when the whole country should have been deso
lated by war, when the cattle were all gone and we had
to live almost exclusively on fruits and vegetables, and
mighty few of those. When the lean times came and
we rode for days fairly faint from hunger, when a piece
of meat of any kind was a luxury, we looked back
longingly to those days of comparative plenty in Cam
aguey and wondered how we ever could have been dis
satisfied. After the meal had been finished, all stretched out in
their hammocks and slept for a couple of hours. Then
the camp livened up, there were visits back and forth,
card games, and some singing by those who had accom
plishments in that line. The newspapers that we had
brought down from New York were passed from hand to
hand and read and reread until they were worn out.
Just after dark came the second and last meal of the day,
exactly like the first. Then groups gathered about camp-
fires and talked until late at night. Then tattoo and

36 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
taps, blown by a superb bugler, whose equal I have never
heard in the United States service, and we stretched out
in our hammocks to sleep. Again at three o'clock came
reveille and the beginning of another day's march. This
march and camp have been described somewhat in detail,
as they were typical of those features of our life for the
next two years. Unless chasing Spaniards or being chased
by them, the Cubans rarely made more than one march
a day, and this began two hours before daybreak and
ended before noon. But there arose occasions when we
tore through the country regardless of this custom. The
first day's march of the column had been through a part
of the country not yet touched by the war, but on the
second day there was a decided contrast. As we ap
proached the great Camino Real, or Royal Road, leading
eastward from Puerto Principe, we saw on all sides the
ruins of burned houses, and barb-wire fences had been
cut until there was but little of them left but the stand
ing posts and tangled meshes of wire in the grass. Before
the war was over Spaniards and insurgents had clashed
on nearly every league of that road from Puerto Principe
to historic Guaimaro, a distance of seventy miles. We
passed through the potrero of La Machuca, where a few
weeks later we were to "mix it" with a column of the
enemy under General Castellanos, and marched through
the ruins of the little town of Sibanicu, and had pointed
out to us, three miles to the eastward, the church tower of
Cascorra, that obscure village so soon to add to the glory
of Spanish arms, every survivor of its heroic garrison to
receive the coveted "Cross of San Fernando," the Span-

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 37
ish equivalent of our Congressional Medal of Honor and
of the Victoria Cross of Great Britain.
At ten o'clock we passed to the southward, and an
hour later went into camp at the abandoned cattle-ranch
known as La Yaya. The owner's house had not been
burned, and General Gomez's staff established themselves
in it, but the "Old Man," as we had learned to call him
behind his back, ordered his hammock swung from a
couple of trees across the road.
About two miles distant was the humble home of a very
decent Cuban family, and soon there came an invitation
for Huntington, Potter, Welsford, and myself to stay with
them until we could be suitably outfitted for life in the
field. Walinski did not accompany us, having gone to
the westward with General Cabrera, and we never saw
him again. The invitation to visit this family was no
doubt the result of an intimation from some member of
the general's staff, but nothing could have exceeded the
kindness and courtesy with which we were treated during
our stay. We chafed at the delay, but finally there ar
rived our outfits — white duck suits, heavy shoes, leggings,
and Panama hats — and we were ready for war. While we
were being rigged out, General Gomez had gone on one
of his usual aimless marches and had returned to La
Yaya. He sent for me, and through Major Tarafa stated
that he was going to attack the town of Cascorra, but with
small hope of success, as it was known that the comman
dant was a man of exceptional resource and courage, and
that the garrison, a part of the Fourth Battalion of Tar
ragona, was made up of Catalonians, those northern

38 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
Spaniards famous for the desperate courage with which
they usually defend any post intrusted to them. I told
the general frankly, that so far as the artillery was con
cerned, it could do no more than batter down the block
houses and fortified buildings with common shell, the only
form of projectiles other than canister with which we were
provided, and that without shrapnel but little damage
could be done to the defenders after they had taken to
their trenches, which would be as soon as we began to
blow the buildings about their ears. The result of this
observation was a round cursing of the Junta for having
sent n<3 shrapnel. General Javier Vega, Gomez's chief of
staff, was present at this conversation. He was a silent
sort of man, and apparently knew as little as did his chief
regarding the limitations of the small guns that we were
to use. After a few days we started on a long, roundabout
march. I do not know where we went except that our
course was generally to the eastward. We passed around
the town of Guaimaro and saw the Spanish flag floating
defiantly from the head-quarters building, little dreaming
that in a few short weeks it was to be lowered after des
perate and prolonged fighting, and that the entire garrison
would become our prisoners. On this occasion a group
of us, including the general and his staff, sat on our horses
on a ridge only eight hundred yards from the nearest
Spanish work. With us was the insurgent flag carried by
head-quarters, so that our character was known to the
garrison, but there was no exchange of shots. A well-
directed volley at this time might have rid Spain of the

A well-directed volley at this time might have rid Spain of the fiery old guerilla

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 39
fiery old guerilla who through two wars had been a thorn
in her flesh. After leaving Guaimaro, the general con
cluded he would like to try out his two guns, the target
being a rock in a pasture, distant about eight hundred
yards. It was the first time I had ever had anything to
do with firing a cannon, and my shooting was not good, but
the shells when they struck the ground burst with a lively
bang and much smoke, and the onlookers were very much
impressed. From here we marched back to La Yaya,
passing north of Guaimaro. A day or two later the gen
eral announced that he was ready to try Cascorra, and sent
General Vega and myself to select positions for the artil
lery. We set out accompanied only by a few orderlies,
and leaving these finally in charge of the horses, crawled
on our hands and knees all about the town, a task that
consumed the entire day. The town was a small one,
having under normal conditions a population of only a
couple of hundred, but there were now but very few non-
combatants left, they having either fled to Puerto Principe
for the protection of a larger garrison or taken to the field
with the insurgents. The garrison consisted of one hun
dred and sixty men, all infantry, and having no artillery.
These troops occupied three defensive positions as fol
lows : At the western or Puerto Principe side, at the point
where the Camino Real enters the town, a brick building
strengthened by bags of earth extending to the loop-holes,
which were about five feet above the floor. In times of
peace this building had done duty as a tavern. About
five hundred yards to the south-east, and lying directly
south of the centre of the village, was a strong stone

40 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
church, which like the tavern was loop-holed and strength
ened by bags of earth. Both the church and the tavern
were surrounded by standing trenches. On the east side
of the town was a strong earthen redoubt defended by
about half the garrison. This, as well as the fortified
buildings, was surrounded by a maze of barb-wire en
tanglements, while the three works, which formed an
almost equilateral triangle enclosing the town, were con
nected by closely built barb-wire fences. It was plain,
even to a layman in the art of war, that we had a big job
cut out for us. It would not be difficult quickly to render
the church and the tavern untenable, but this would re
sult only in driving their defenders to the trenches, where
they would be in but little danger from shell fire, while the
destruction of the small but substantial redoubt was a siege-
gun job. Artillery positions were hard to find. It must
be remembered that this was before the day of indirect
fire, and even if it had not been, there was among us no
one who could have made use of it. We would have to
be able to see our target. There was a low ridge fifteen
hundred yards to the eastward of the redoubt, and I
favored this position, knowing that from it we could destroy
the church and tavern, and that we could not seriously
damage the redoubt at any distance. It was believed
that with these buildings battered down, the infantry
could rush the trenches surrounding them, and then might
be able to work up closely enough under cover of the
houses of the town to stand some chance of getting into
the redoubt. In the opinion of General Vega, the posi
tion preferred by me was entirely too far from the two

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 41
most vulnerable defences, which it was desired to attack
first. We had crawled through the grass to within four
hundred yards of the tavern, and at this point the general
selected the first position for the artillery. I was horrified,
but kept my views to myself. The intervening ground was
level, and covered with a growth of bushes and of guinea
grass about four feet high, with here and there a few
scattered trees of good size. During the day spent in
spying out the environs of Cascorra we had not seen a
Spaniard, but had heard the soldiers laughing and sing
ing. Little they foresaw the storm that was soon to break
upon them.
We returned to La Yaya late that night, and then
things began to happen more rapidly. The next day
Gomez and his eight hundred men marched over to the
town and went into camp in several positions, completely
surrounding it. That night a detail of men under the
engineer officer attached to head-quarters constructed a
typical Cuban trinchera, a sort of parapet, at the position
selected for the artillery. As we were to make use of this
type of defence on many subsequent occasions, this one
merits a brief description. Two rows of stakes about six
feet high and three feet apart were driven into the ground
and the space between them filled in with tightly tamped
earth, which was held in place by a revetment of poles
and fence rails, laid one on top of the other inside the two
rows of stakes as the earth was filled in. A gap about
the size of an ordinary door was left for the gun to be
fired through. There was thus protection for a few of
the infantry support and for the ammunition and the men

42 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
handling it, but those actually loading and aiming the piece
would be completely exposed. We Americans watched
the work for a while and then walked over to camp in no
particularly hilarious frame of mind. While a detail of
Cubans had been provided to attend to the transportation
of the guns and their ammunition and do other heavy
work, we were expected to do the actual loading, aiming,
and firing, and realized that we were up against it good
and hard. We lay down in our hammocks, but I for one
could not sleep a wink. At four o'clock we rose and walked
over to the position. The parapet was practically com
pleted, and soon the infantry support of about a hundred
men arrived. A few of these found cover behind the
parapet, but the majority were deployed on its flanks and
lay down flat on their faces. The insurgents had sur
rounded the town so quietly the day before that it is
doubtful if the Spaniards had suspected their presence.
It must be taken into consideration that it was impossible
for so small a garrison to send out patrols, as they would
quickly have been cut up by the ever-watchful Cubans.
The noise made in building the parapet must have been
heard, however, although it was no doubt difficult to esti
mate the distance from their position. As a matter of fact,
if a hot fire had been opened and maintained, keeping the
bullets well down to the ground, the work would have been
materially interfered with. The two hours remaining
until daylight dragged heavily. It had been resolved not
to use the smaller gun at this time, but the Hotchkiss
twelve-pounder, that had begun its warlike career over the
Third Avenue saloon, was placed in position, the wheel

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 43
ropes, sight, and other paraphernalia put on, a number
of boxes of shells were brought up, and we sat down and
waited for daylight to lift the curtain. It was to be the
baptism of fire for four of Pagluchi's wards, and a sizzling,
red-hot one. Except for the calls of the sentries and the
occasional howl of a dog, the little town was as quiet as
death itself.
At last the suspense was over, the darkness began to
give way, and we could make out the upper part of the
tavern, the view of the lower part and of the surrounding
trenches being obstructed by the brush and grass. It had
been left for me to decide when to open fire, and now I
gave the word. The veterans, Jones, Joyce, and Pennie,
rolled and lighted fresh cigarettes, Welsford sought solace
in an unusually large bite from the remnant of his last
plug of "store tobacco," Joyce handed an ugly looking
shell to Huntington, who slipped it into the breech as Potter
opened the block, Pennie took the lanyard, and I squatted
behind the gun with one hand on the elevating screw and
aimed at that part of the building visible, while Jones, be
hind me, moved the trail to left or right, as I indicated.
In a few seconds I was satisfied, gave the screw a turn to
lower the muzzle, and stepping from the piece, climbed on
top of the parapet to the windward of the gun in order
to observe the shot, yelled "Fire!" to Pennie, and the ball
had begun. I had forgotten to place my hands over my
ears and was almost deafened by the crash within a few
feet of my head. A fraction of a second later I saw a
burst of flame and smoke from the upper part of the build
ing and saw the bricks come tumbling down. Jumping

44 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
down at once from my exposed position, I landed on the
back of a Cuban patriot who was lying behind the parapet
and put him out of that battle, the first casualty in the
siege of Cascorra. My shot had been a bit higher than
was intended, but had done its work. As the gun had
roared out and the smoke was seen pouring from the build
ing, the Cubans all about the town raised a great yell of
"Cuba Libre!" We rushed to the gun and soon sent in
another, a centre shot that blew a lot of earth-filled bags
to smithereens and made a fine hole. We had begun to
wonder whether there was to be a fight or not, as not a shot
had been fired in reply, but now the storm broke, and a
fine blizzard it was. The air was suddenly full of those
peculiar popping noises that we were soon to know so well,
leaves dropped from the trees, there were odd movements
in the grass, a patter against the opposite side of our
shelter was distinctly audible, and a bullet struck the tire
of one of the gun wheels with a sound like a blow from
a hammer. The nervousness of waiting was over, the
fighting blood in us mounted quickly, and with yells and
cheers and amid the enthusiastic "Bravos!" of the near
by Cubans, we sprang to the gun and for a short time
loaded and fired so rapidly that the barrel of the piece
became badly heated. The parapet afforded excellent
protection for those who were behind it, but the exact
position of the gun was indicated by its smoke, so that an
uncomfortable number of bullets came through the gap
left for it. We could see only the roof of the church, and
could not easily bring to bear on it on account of its angle
from the parapet, but the men in the trenches around it

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 45
made out our exact location from the smoke and soon be
gan to take an interest in the proceedings. We were par
tially protected from their fire by the right wing of the
parapet, though the ground all about us was made ex
ceedingly dangerous. Less than a minute after the enemy
had opened fire, a Cuban infantryman standing near us
had his attention called to blood trickling down his once
white trousers, and sank to the ground, calling on most
of the saints in the calendar. The man had received a
flesh wound, being shot through the thigh, but was so
excited that he did not know it, thinking that some one had
accidentally struck him. I have known of several simi
lar cases. As I was aiming the gun for about the twelfth
shot, I felt a hard blow on the sole of my left foot and made
a fall that afterward cost me no end of chaffing and in
quiries as to whether or not I had at some time been one
of the ornaments of the theatrical profession. A bullet
had split the sole of my left shoe and knocked off the heel,
but had inflicted no more severe injury than a considera
ble bruise. Occasionally a man was hit and carried away,
but despite all the uproar there were but few casualties.
And so this strange little battle went on for an hour, now
fast and furious for a few moments and now almost dying
out for a like time. So far it had been a contest between
about eighty Spanish infantrymen and a handful of men
with a cannon. The Cuban infantry had not yet opened
fire, as there was no satisfactory target for them and there
was danger of hitting their comrades scattered around the
town; and the Spaniards in the redoubt could do nothing
but listen to the sound and fury, as the tavern was in a

46 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
direct line between them and our position. The building
which had at first been our target had been almost re
duced to rubbish, and we were firing low in order to make
hits on the trenches around it, but it was unsatisfactory
work, as there was no way to ascertain the effects of our
shots owing to the intervening grass. Several times we
dragged the gun from behind the parapet and took shots
at the church, with no other effect than to damage the
building somewhat and to draw an increased fire from its
defenders. We had accomplished all we could from our present
position, so I walked over to General Gomez's head
quarters, distant about four hundred yards, and suggested
that we keep up a slow fire during the remainder of the
day and that at night a new parapet bearing on the church
be built. This was agreed to, and I started on my return
to the gun. On the way I walked over to where our am
munition mules were standing to see how they were getting
on. A couple of them had been slightly wounded, and
while I was looking them over, one big fellow received a
Mauser bullet through the nose. He was cropping grass
at the time, and for a few seconds shook his head vigorously
and then went on eating. We Americans took a great
interest in those mules, having been told by the Cubans
that they were "countrymen" of ours, as they had been
taken from a sugar plantation the owner of which had
bought them in the United States.
The gun had become so heated by a rapid spurt of
firing toward the last, that the breech-block had expanded
to such an extent that it could not be worked. The

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 47
mechanism was taken apart and thoroughly oiled, but
we finally had to resort to pouring water on the af
fected parts, a very slow process, as the supply had to be
brought from some distance, and naturally was not cool.
The Spanish fire had died down to an occasional vol
ley, and our "battle" was beginning to drag. We sat
around behind the parapet discussing the incidents of
the day, and about every half-hour sent in a shell just
to let our friends the enemy know that we were still on
the job.
At dark we returned to our camp, near head-quarters,
and I had a long talk with the general, who expressed his
keen appreciation of the way we had done our work. He
was apparently in doubt as to the next step to take. I
took the liberty of telling him that he would never take the
town unless he was willing to throw in his infantry just so
soon as we had destroyed the church. It must have
seemed abominably cheeky for a man just out of his first
fight to be giving advice on military matters to a man who
had been under fire before he was born, but no offence
was taken. The general explained that while his men
had captured some small towns by surprising and rush
ing the garrisons, they had never yet made an assault on
men on the alert in good trenches, protected by entangle
ments, and he feared that they were not equal to it. A
repulse, he said, would badly demoralize them. He felt
that they could take the church and tavern positions, but
with the redoubt bearing on both still in the hands of the
enemy, no advantage would be gained. His men could
not successfully assault this, the real key to the position.

48 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
It was evident that the promised parapet bearing on the
church would not be built that night.
The second day was a repetition of the afternoon of
the first — a shot about every half-hour at either the tavern
or the church and an occasional volley from the trenches
in reply. That evening we Americans talked the matter
over, and Jones and I were delegated to say to the general
that if he would have a good position constructed that night
from which we might effectively shell the church, and give
us an hour in the morning in which to destroy that build
ing, we would gladly lead an assault on that and the tavern
positions, fixing two hundred as the number of men re
quired for the enterprise. It was our theory that if we
made the dash the Cubans would follow us, and that once
in the shelter of the trenches we could not be driven
out by fire from the redoubt, and if the eighty men in the
latter made a sortie against us, which was unlikely, their
works would quickly be occupied by a force kept in hand
for the purpose. In view of the successful assaults made
subsequently by the Cubans at Guaimaro and Las Tunas,
I have not the slightest doubt that we would have suc
ceeded, though at heavy cost. Several Cuban officers,
hearing of our proposal, volunteered to assist in leading
the attack. At one time the general came near yielding,
but finally came out with an abrupt "No!" telling us that
we were madmen. He gave us the cheering information,
however, that he was going to order the construction of
another parapet for the gun, much nearer to the trenches
around the ruins of the tavern, where our view would be

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 49
unobstructed by grass and brush, and that he expected
us from this new position literally to blow the dons out of
the ground. Jones and I maintained a discreet silence
until out of earshot, and then made a few unprintable
remarks about the turn affairs had taken.
Among the officers serving with the insurgents was
General Avelino Rosa, a Colombian, exiled for political
reasons from his own land. He was a man brave almost
to rashness, but exceedingly unpractical. General Rosa
was in direct command of the force of infantry and dis
mounted cavalry surrounding the town, and had worked
some of his men nearer and nearer to the tavern position
by taking advantage of inequalities of the ground, and
during the second day of the bombardment had livened
matters by exchanging shots at short range with its de
fenders. He had reported to General Gomez that by
taking advantage of the cover afforded by a ravine we
could obtain a position within two hundred yards of the
tavern, where we would be in full view of the trenches
and could undoubtedly destroy them. He was ordered to
construct the necessary parapet that night. This in itself
was an extremely ticklish operation, but the material was
prepared at a distance and placed in position as quietly
as possible. The work had to be carried on intermittingly,
as at the slightest noise the Spaniards opened up with
volleys. The parapet was completed just before dawn,
having cost the lives of several men. It was very short,
extending only about eight feet on each side of the open
ing left for the gun. The upper part had been built across
the top of the opening with a hope of affording some pro-

50 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
tection to those actually handling the piece. Before day
light a detail dragged the much-abused Hotchkiss quietly
into the ravine and along it until we were directly opposite
the new position, when it was hoisted out, the unavoida
ble noise drawing a fire that killed one man. I felt mor
ally certain that we could never serve the gun from here,
but it was agreed among us that whatever might occur,
we were not to show the white feather or ask to be allowed
to get out. Months afterward Pennie and I, visiting the
ruins of Cascorra, paced the distance from our parapet to
the trenches and found it to be two hundred and sixteen
yards. Here we were protected from the fire of the church
by intervening buildings, but, to the dismay of all con
cerned, it was found after it was too late to remedy the
defect that we were exposed to fire from one corner of
the redoubt. So far, the smaller gun, the two-pounder
Hotchkiss, had not been used, but on this same night a
position was constructed for it about two hundred yards
to our left rear and placed under charge of Jones.
We waited in our new posts until it was thoroughly
light before opening fire, but not so with the enemy.
With the breaking of day the Spaniards made out the
exact location of the little parapet, the construction of
which had drawn their fire during the night, and opened
on us hotly, but without result, as we were in the ravine
a few yards to the rear of the gun, where also was a strong
infantry support under General Rosa. When it was
thoroughly light we crawled out of the ravine on all-fours
and sent in a shell that landed squarely on the low line
of earth-filled bags that capped the low parapet of the

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 51
Spanish trench, exploding with a bang that sounded al
most as loud to us as the report of the piece itself. The
men at the two-pounder were awaiting the cue, and almost
immediately we heard its sharp crack, and a shell whistled
past us. We had fastened a rope to the trail of our gun,
and immediately dragged it behind shelter to be reloaded.
Again it was pushed up to the gap and fired. The Span
iards were replying furiously, and the worst of it was that
their bullets were all coming close down to the ground,
and were aimed at the gaping port-hole which they could
so plainly see. It has fallen to me to participate in a good
many fights in Cuba and the Philippines, but never any
where have I seen the equal of what was poured into us
during the hour that we held this position. The air was
fairly alive with the sound of bullets, and their patter
against the side of the parapet was so incessant that it
would have been impossible to count them. The bark on
near-by trees was cut to ribbons, and small bushes on our
front were destroyed. After a few shots from our gun,
the head cover connecting the tops of the two wings of the
parapet was blown to pieces, a result that should have been
foreseen, as the barrel of the piece was not sufficiently
long for the muzzle to clear the parapet. Under such
circumstances, aiming the gun, the only part of its service
which was required to be done while it was exposed, was
enough to try the nerves of any but a wooden man. Fort
unately this was the work of but a couple of seconds, the
target being so plain and so close at hand. In an attempt
to keep down the Spanish fire, our infantry supports
opened vigorously and added to the racket and confusion,

52 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
but under the circumstances could not be expected to ac
complish much, the enemy being too well sheltered. We
were in a bad box, and I am sure all hoped to be ordered
out of it soon. We were tearing up the tops of the Span
iards' trenches, but their fire was not diminishing, and
they were constantly repairing the damage by filling bags
of earth in the trenches and placing them in position with
out exposing themselves.
The fight had lasted about three-quarters of an hour
when I noticed some thirty Spanish soldiers, the first I had
ever actually seen, leave the redoubt and dash for the tav
ern trenches. They covered the ground by short rushes,
throwing themselves prone about every sixty yards. At
first it was thought that they were going to attempt to
rush our position, improbable as such an enterprise
seemed, but it was merely a reinforcement for the worn-
out men who were making such a gallant fight against
us. I attempted to take a shot at them, but the gun
missed fire.
I was aiming the fifteenth shell when a bullet struck
one of the trunnions almost at my nose. My nerves had
been getting pretty shaky from several narrow escapes
in sighting preceding shots, and I must confess that I
threw myself flat on the ground and rolled to cover. Joyce
jumped over me, quickly sighted the piece, and sprang
from the gun. The imperturbable Pennie, lying on the
ground and smoking a cigarette, jerked the lanyard and
fired the last shot from this terrible death-trap. General
Gomez had delegated to General Rosa the necessary au
thority to discontinue firing from this position whenever

Never anywhere have I seen the equal of what was poured into us during the hour that we held this position

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 53
he thought best, and the latter, who was near at hand,
ordered us to take cover in the ravine, abandoning the
gun for the time being, although it was in no danger of
capture, owing to the proximity of strong supports. Now
that they had put the gun out of action, the Spaniards
concentrated their fire on the Cuban infantry and in
flicted several casualties. It was necessary to recover the
gun, so in about half an hour three of us crawled stealthily
out of the ravine and wriggled our way to it. Taking the
trail-rope, we made a quick run, and despite a hot fire,
reached the ravine and tumbled down the bank with little
ceremony, pulling the gun after us with such haste that it
landed upside down in the bottom. The two-pounder,
being in a less exposed position, continued to fire at in
tervals during the day, but with practically no effect, owing
to the small size of its projectiles.
I reported to our chief, and half expected a wigging
because we had been unable to slaughter all the Spaniards
in the trenches, but, on the contrary, was very kindly re
ceived, General Rosa having made a somewhat glowing
report of what we had done.
That night two Cuban non-combatants, despite the
vigilance of the Spaniards, succeeded in escaping from
the town and came to our camp and were brought before
the general, who abused them roundly for having remained
under the protection of the enemy while their country
men were undergoing the dangers and privations of the
field. They were a very abject pair, and told all they
knew about conditions in the town, and some besides.
The garrison were badly worn out by the constant vigi-

54 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
lance imposed, but apparently were well supplied with
provisions and ammunition, and were improving their
defences every night. They also stated that an assault
was momentarily expected. There had been about twenty
casualties so far, all except one from shell fire, whereupon
we amateur artillerymen patted ourselves on the back at
the first opportunity. The first shell of the fight, taking
them by surprise, had killed three men in the tavern.
Early the next morning, the fourth day of the siege, the
general sent me with General Vega to look for a position
from which we could fire on both the redoubt and the
church. For the time being he was through with fighting
his artillery at long pistol-range, and quickly approved
when informed that we had chosen the low ridge east of
the town, this being about fifteen hundred yards from the
redoubt and eighteen hundred from the church. It had
the further advantage that a shell clearing the redoubt
would almost certainly land in the much-battered tavern
position. The two-pounder was left where it was to amuse our
friends in the tavern trenches, and I was ordered to take
the larger gun around the town to the ridge. The dis
tance was so great that it was not considered necessary
to construct cover. About noon we opened, landing the
first shell squarely in the centre of the works, and until
dark fired slowly, as our ammunition was now running low.
Occasionally, just to vary the proceedings, we paid our
respects to the church, though I managed to miss it a
couple of times, the end instead of the sides being toward
us. The Spaniards were not inclined to expend much

Taking the trail-rope, we made a quick run

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 55
ammunition on us at this distance, and kept up a slow
fire, evidently using their best shots for the purpose, as
their shooting was fairly accurate. We suffered no cas
ualties here during the two days that the ridge was oc
cupied, though the gun was struck once. Our infantry
support, which had had the unhappy faculty of catching
bullets meant for us, was some distance to the rear and
flank, and consequently out of danger. A portion of the
Cuban infantry still held on to the ravine near our old ar
tillery position, and kept up a useless fusillade.
The next day, for the first time, the general visited the
gun while it was in action. On one occasion, just as it
had been laid, he looked through the sights and jokingly
remarked that we must be trying to shoot over the target,
and said he would try his luck. He gave the screw a
sharp turn, lowering the muzzle, and then himself pulled
the lanyard. The shell ripped up some of the scenery
about three hundred yards short of the redoubt, but the
reader can rest assured that nobody thought of laughing.
I relieved the strain by assuring the general that the car
tridge must have been defective.
About the middle of the afternoon he came again,
accompanied by his entire staff, and we realized from the
looks on the faces of all that something was about to take
place. The general, sitting on the ground a few paces
from us, dictated a letter to his secretary, and after it had
been copied, signed it; a Porto Rican major in the Cuban
service, a gallant fellow whose name I cannot now recall,
mounted his horse and, holding aloft a white flag, trotted
toward the redoubt. Some time previously instructions

56 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
had been sent to all the Cuban detachments to cease fire.
The appearance of the Porto Rican in the open was the
signal for a hot fusillade directed at him, despite the flag
of truce. For a time it seemed inevitable that he must be
hit, but he never faltered. We had about concluded that
the enemy would not recognize the flag, when his fire died
out, and we saw two officers leave the redoubt and proceed
on foot to meet the bearer. They met about four hundred
yards from the Spanish works; the plucky officer delivered
his letter, and was compelled to sit on his horse with his
back to the enemy's position until a reply from the Spanish
major could be delivered, when he galloped toward us.
That night a member of the general's staff showed us the
correspondence. General Gomez's letter was a brief and
courteous communication complimenting the commander
of the garrison on his heroic defence against such great
odds, and suggesting that he had done all that duty de
manded of him in that respect, and ended by demanding
his surrender, assuring him that he and his officers and
men would be as well treated as the limited resources of the
Cubans would permit. The Spaniard's reply was equally
courteous, but stated that he would defend his post to the
last extremity. A short time later firing was resumed, but
this sort of fighting had become pretty monotonous to all
concerned, and not much spirit was shown on either side.
One of the bits of information brought to us by the
two non-combatants who had escaped from the town, was
that the garrison of the church position, with the exception
of those actually on duty in the trenches, slept in the build
ing at night, taking it for granted that we could not then

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 57
use our artillery. The result was an order for me to sight
the gun at the church very carefully before nightfall, station
a guard over it, and have the piece fired at ten o'clock. I
did not exactly like this task, as it savored somewhat of
assassination, but carried out my instructions. It was
subsequently learned that this shell killed and wounded
four men.
The siege had now lasted five days, and practically
nothing had been accomplished except to kill some Span
iards, damage their works considerably, and all but wear
out the garrison. There were only about thirty shells left
for the twelve-pounder, and a hundred shell and canister
for the smaller gun. A supply for both guns had been
sent for to a deposito far away in the woods of Santiago
province, but could not arrive for some days.
The next four days the artillery was out of it, but the
infantry kept the town closely invested and denied sleep
and rest to the harassed defenders. During this time one
of the few Cubans remaining in Cascorra was caught try
ing to sneak through the insurgent lines at night. The
next day he was tried and condemned. As the trembling
wretch was led through our camp to die it made us sick
at heart, as did many an event of like nature afterward.
But any American who will read of the cheerful manner
in which his ancestors hanged each other during the fight
ing between patriots and Tories in the Carolinas and Geor
gia in our Revolution can throw mighty few stones at the
Cubans or any one else. Another tragic incident was
the trial and execution of an insurgent officer. We could
never get the straight of this, as our comrades were very

58 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
loath to discuss the matter with foreigners, but it was
rumored that he was found to have been in correspond
ence with the Spanish authorities in Puerto Principe.
In the early days of the investment, without our knowl
edge, the Spanish commander had sent a sergeant through
our lines at night, and this man, by the greatest resource
and courage, travelling by night and hiding in the woods
by day, had succeeded in reaching the railway line north
of Nuevitas, whence the news that Cascorra was under
going siege was telegraphed to General Castellanos, the
commander of the district of Puerto Principe, in the city
of that name. The result was that one day a mounted
messenger dashed into our camp and brought the news
that a large column was en route from Puerto Principe,
and was being observed and harassed by a small force
of cavalry. During the siege various organizations had
joined us from near-by parts of the island, and the gen
eral now had about fifteen hundred men. He ordered us
to expend at once all the remaining artillery ammunition
on the town, not with any hope of taking it, but to do as
much damage as possible before its impending relief.
We begged that we be allowed to save what little we had
left and use it in the fight with the advancing column, but
he would have none of it. So that night a parapet, the
best we had yet had, was constructed at the astonishingly
short distance of one hundred and eighty-three yards from
the tavern trenches. The brief fight there the next day
until we could expend our thirty shells was in a milder way
a repetition of the third day. The Spanish fire was hot, but
not so well directed. Nevertheless, at such short range

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 59
it was serious work. Three men were killed behind our
short parapet, and toward the last I heard a bullet strike
Joyce, and turned around just in time to hear him say
with the utmost self-possession: "Well, this reminds me
of a little story." A man who can make such an off
hand remark as a bullet tears a big hole in his thigh
probably deserves the palm for self-possession. We had
a hard time carrying him out under fire. He was sent to
one of the lonely hospitals in the bush, and so missed our
great victory at Guaimaro, but was back to duty long be
fore Jiguani. A few more shots and the twelve-pounder
was through. That night the rain poured in torrents, the
Cubans were drawn from about the town and concentrated
a mile to the westward, all except a small escort for the
two-pounder, which enlivened the night by fighting until
its last cartridge was gone. The next day we remained in
a sodden camp. The siege of Cascorra was over, but every
hour couriers raced madly into camp with news of the
whereabouts of the column of two thousand five hundred
men with ten guns under General Castellanos. The next
day was an eventful one, but is not a part of this story.
The guns were sent away under escort, but we artillery
men at our request were allowed for the time being to join
the cavalry as volunteers, and were provided with car
bines. Couriers came in faster and faster, and finally we
heard the crackle of rifle-fire to the westward as the Span
ish column came on, brushing aside the tormentors hang
ing on its flanks. Then came the clash, the battle of La
Machuca. There was no hope of preventing the relief
of the town, but the general was determined to make the

60 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
Spaniards know that they had had a fight, and he certainly
accomplished that purpose. The day was a perfect one
and the entertainment of the best. For three hours the
Spanish volleys and the rattling irregular fire of the Cubans
made a pandemonium, added to by the booming of the
Spanish batteries. A thin film of smoke drifted above
the tree tops, and all was excitement and noise. But the
Spaniards broke through and entered the town. Cer
tainly visitors were never more welcome. They camped
there that night, and the Cubans fired on them incessantly.
It is a safe guess that not one of them had a wink of sleep.
The garrison was increased, the ammunition supply re
plenished, and the defences improved ; and on the evening
of the next day the Spaniards issued from the town on their
return, and the Cubans were promptly upon them. They
made a few miles before nightfall and bivouacked, pep
pered all night by their tormentors. The next morning
about three o'clock they resumed the march. The whole
fifteen hundred of us were drawn up on both sides of
the Camino Real to give them another fight, but the col
umn turned to the north-westward, passed our left flank
before our dispositions could be changed, and headed for
the railroad between Las Minas and Nuevitas. Our in
fantry followed and attacked their rear-guard repeatedly,
while five hundred of us mounted men, under the general
himself, hung on to their left flank. It was a lively and
exciting day. A few shots would grow into a heavy roll
of fire, to die out in a few moments and begin again in an
other quarter. And so we swept along all of a beautiful
day. Just after dark, as they were going into bivouac, the

CASCORRA, THE FIRST CUBAN SIEGE 61
last clash with the rear-guard occurred. The next morning
our mounted men made a savage attack on the enemy's
advance-guard, and a lively scrimmage ensued in which
we had three killed and sixteen wounded. Poor Potter,
one of Pagluchi's wards, had both legs shattered and had
his horse killed under him, and spent the next year on his
back in one of the lonely hospitals. He never returned
from Cuba, but became a resident of Puerto Principe,
where he lives to-day.
The Spaniards reached the railroad on this forenoon,
and we marched eastward to meet General Calixto Garcia,
and in combination with his force to more than wipe out
the failure of Cascorra.

Ill
THE FALL OF GUAIMARO
After the brief but exciting Cascorra campaign, Gen
eral Maximo Gomez and his force, reduced by casualties
and the detaching of various organizations to about one
thousand men, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, with two
guns, had marched to the eastward, and in a few days was
encamped alongside the force of General Calixto Garcia,
about two thousand men, that, after a forced march made
in obedience to orders from Gomez, had just arrived from
east of the Cauto River. We Americans, having learned
that General Garcia also had a few guns officered by our
countrymen, proceeded to look up these latter without
delay, and found several likable and interesting men who
were to be our comrades through many months to come.
These were Major Winchester Dana Osgood, who had
won fame as a foot-ball player at Cornell and the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania; Captain William Cox, of Phila
delphia; Lieutenants Stuart S. Janney and Osmun La
trobe, Jr., of Baltimore, and James Devine, of Texas,
and Dr. Harry Danforth, of Milwaukee. All except the
latter, who served as a medical officer, belonged to the
artillery, with Osgood in command.
As General Garcia, like General Gomez, had but two
guns, it will be seen that the artillery of both forces was con
siderably over-officered. But this fault extended through-
62

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 63
out the whole insurgent army, the number of officers, es
pecially those of high rank, being out of all proportion to
the number of men in the ranks.
We were soon presented to General Garcia, and were
most kindly received by him. As the future service of
the most of us was to be under his command, as he was
one of the most prominent chieftains not only in this war,
but in the ten years' struggle, a few words regarding his
personality will not be amiss. He was a man of most
striking appearance, being over six feet tall and rather
heavy, and his hair and large mustache were snow-white.
What at once attracted attention was the hole in his fore
head, a souvenir of the Ten Years' War. On September
3, 1874, being about to fall into the hands of the Spaniards,
and believing his execution to be a certainty, he had fired
a large-calibre revolver upward from beneath his lower
jaw, the bullet making its exit almost in the centre of his
forehead. It is safe to say that not one man in ten thou
sand would have survived so terrible an injury. He was
taken prisoner, and owed his life to the skill of a Spanish
surgeon, though he remained in prison until the end of
the war, four years later. To the day of his death, nearly
twenty-four years later, the wound never entirely healed,
and he always carried a small wad of cotton in the hole in
his skull. General Garcia was a man of the most un
doubted personal courage, and was a courteous and kindly
gentleman. His bearing was dignified, but he was one of
the most approachable of men. He seldom smiled, and I
never heard him laugh but once, and that was when on
one occasion he fired every one of the six shots in his re-

64 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
volver at a jutea, a small animal, at a few yards range
without disturbing its slumbers. With him life had been
one long tragedy of war and prison. He lived to see his
country free from Spanish rule, but not yet a republic.
Those of us Americans who had served under Gomez
always regarded him with something akin to awe or
fear, but all who came in close contact with Garcia
had for him a feeling of affection. He was always so
just and so considerate, and though some of us must
have exasperated him at times, so far as I know he
never gave one of us a harsh word. When the provoca
tion was sufficient, however, he could be terribly severe
with his own people.
General Garcia's staff consisted of about a dozen
young men of the best families of Cuba. All of them
spoke English, a great convenience for us foreigners who
were constantly under the necessity of communicating
with them. The chief of staff was Colonel Mario Menocal,
a graduate of Cornell, and a civil engineer by profession.
Declining a commission at the beginning of the war, he had
entered the ranks, and was with Gomez on his memorable
march from eastern Cuba to the very walls of Havana.
He was a most capable and daring soldier, and his rise
had been rapid. He was the nominee of the Conservative
party for the presidency of Cuba at the last election. An
other member of the staff was Colonel Carlos Garcia, a
son of the general, and the present Cuban minister to the
United States. He was a great friend of all of us Ameri
can mambis, and we usually went to him with such troubles
as we had.

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 65
General Garcia's force, having been raised in the
province of Santiago, had a much larger proportion of
negroes than the one that we had been with. With him
here were several well-known negro chieftains, among them
Rabi and Cebreco, the former one of the most striking-
looking men I have ever seen. Some of the negro officers
were quite capable in guerilla warfare, while others were
mere blusterers and blunderers. Although the color line
is drawn in Cuba in social matters, white men of the best
families did not hesitate to serve under negro officers,
and sometimes on their staffs. The Cuban negroes in
the insurgent army were to me a most interesting study.
They seemed much more forceful and aggressive than our
own colored population as a rule, probably the result of
most of the older ones having served in the Ten Years' War.
And then, too, they had lived a more out-door life than the
majority of the negroes of our Northern States, being
plantation hands and small farmers, and had not been
weakened and demoralized by city life. A surprising fact
was that not a few of the older negroes of Cuba were
born in Africa. Although the foreign slave-trade was
abolished by law many years ago, it is a matter of common
knowledge that up to as late as 1870 small cargoes of
slaves from the west coast of Africa were run into Cuba.
Juan Gonzalez, the man who served for more than six
months as my "striker," or personal servant, told me that
he distinctly remembered his capture, when about ten
years of age, by Arabs on the Congo, his sale to the Port
uguese, and the journey in a sailing-ship across the Atlan
tic. He ran away from his master and served in the Ten

66 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
Years' War, and so gained his freedom. These African
negroes often conversed among themselves in their native
dialect, nearly all of them having come from the same
region on the Congo.
After a few days in camp to allow the men and horses
of both forces to rest, the three thousand of us marched
toward doomed Guaimaro, and drew our lines about the
town. The combined forces were under the command of
General Gomez, he being the insurgent commander-in-
chief. General Garcia had with him two guns, a Hotch
kiss twelve-pounder and a two-pounder of the same make,
they being identical with the two guns that Gomez had
used at Cascorra, and that we had brought with us. So we
now had four pieces of artillery, all steel breech-loading
guns, using fixed ammunition.
The little town of Guaimaro, in the extreme eastern
part of the province of Camaguey, and sixteen miles east
of Cascorra, has figured largely in Cuban history. Here
convened on April 10, 1869, the first Cuban legislative
body, which framed the constitution that served during
the Ten Years' War, and which adopted as the Cuban
flag the beautiful banner that to-day waves over the Presi
dential Palace in Havana, but was first seen on Cuban
soil when the unfortunate Narcisso Lopez landed to start
a war for independence in 1850. Practically all the
Cuban population of Guaimaro had left the town months
before, and the resident non-combatants consisted almost
entirely of a few Spanish store-keepers and their families.
The garrison, about three hundred men of the Second
Battalion of Tarragona, was commanded by a major,

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 67
whose name I have unfortunately forgotten, and was dis
tributed among eleven defensive positions, mostly large
two-story blockhouses, called fortines, though the strong
est positions were the brick church with stone tower and
the barracks, the former in the south part of the town
and the latter at its south-west corner. All of these had
earth banked up around them to the lower tier of port
holes and were surrounded by barb-wire entanglements.
All except the church were also surrounded by standing
trenches. The key to the situation was the Fortin Gonfu,
an isolated blockhouse on a low hill due north of the cen
tre of the town and seven hundred yards from the circle
of blockhouses surrounding it. The nearest support was
the Fortin Isabella. Once established in the Gonfu block
house, the Cubans would completely dominate the town,
which lay in easy artillery range on the level ground to
the southward. The blockhouse in question was neither
large nor strong, and its isolated position made its capture
certain if a vigorous attack were made.
On the night of October 16th Gomez and Garcia with
their staffs and personal escorts were encamped about a
mile to the north of the Gonfu position, and we Americans
with our four guns were near them. I had been commis
sioned a captain immediately after the Cascorra campaign,
but Osgood being a major, I was ranked by him, and he
was very properly placed in command of all the artillery.
On the night referred to, General Gomez was in a some
what irritable mood. One of the insurgent officers had
sung in grand opera in Europe, and was entertaining a
number of us within earshot of where our chief was trying

68 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
to rest. The grim old fellow stood the Italian airs as
long as he could, and then sent word to the offender that
he had a horse that sang considerably better. But he did
not interfere when General Garcia's fine band struck up,
and played for a couple of hours. The Cubans were
making no attempt to conceal their presence from the
garrison, and the wind being favorable, the music must
have been heard in the town. It no doubt gave the Span
iards a creepy feeling when they heard the Cuban national
hymn, the Bayames, and listened to the cheers and the
shouts of "Cuba libre!" that followed its playing.
At three o'clock the next morning I was startled from
a sound sleep by a leathern-lunged bugler blowing reveille
within a few feet of my hammock, and it is a peculiar and
to me inexplicable fact that though I have certainly heard
reveille several thousand times since that occasion, it inva
riably to this day brings to mind that depressing, chilly
morning that ushered in the siege of Guaimaro, and calls
up for the moment those stirring days that now seem so
long ago. As the call was taken up by a score of bugles
all about the town, I could not help wondering as to the
feelings of the brave little garrison, so soon to begin their
struggle against overwhelming odds. Completely isolated
from the outside world, except when every three months
a convoy reached them with supplies, they had for nearly
two weeks in September listened to the booming of guns
in the fighting about Cascorra, but could have had no
inkling as to the result. Now they must have realized
that their time of trial had come.
It had been determined to use but one gun in the attack

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 69
on the Gonfu blockhouse, and this was the twelve-pounder
that belonged to Garcia's command. During the night
a short parapet had been constructed for it about four
hundred yards to the westward of the blockhouse, and
practically on a level with it, though separated therefrom
by a grassy swale. The piece was in position before day
light, with Osgood in personal command. For the time
being, Gomez's artillerymen were to be but spectators, so
Pennie and I took our post about a hundred yards on the
left flank Of the gun and about equally distant with it from
the blockhouse, and awaited developments. After it was
fairly light we saw a flash of flame and smoke from the
shrubbery behind which the gun position had been con
structed, and almost simultaneously a shell struck the
ground a few yards short of the blockhouse, but on the
ricochet went through it without exploding. The six
teen Spaniards in the little fort were on the lookout, ready
for business, and in a few seconds came their fire, a con
tinuous crackle, as they were using their magazine rifles
at top speed. At first they fought from the lower story of
the blockhouse, but after the structure had been hit a
couple of times they abandoned it, and took to the trenches
outside. At Guaimaro there were not the bags of earth in
front of the trenches that at Cascorra had given us some
thing to shoot at, the enemy having instead deep standing
trenches. A man's head would be exposed for only the
few seconds that it took him to empty his magazine. As
soon as he saw no more fire coming from the blockhouse
itself, Osgood confined himself to attempts to make hits on
the top of the trench in the hope of landing a shell in it,

70 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
but it was practically impossible to do so at such short
range, the trajectory being so flat. And then, too, the am
munition that General Garcia had brought with him had
been some months on the island, exposed to all sorts of
weather and treatment, and many of the shells failed to
burst. Our people shot slowly and carefully, but did not
succeed in diminishing the enemy's fire to any great ex
tent. Pennie and I, animated by a desire to get a little
closer to the fireworks, made a run over to the gun, and
reached there just in time to see the Hotchkiss on its recoil
knock a Cuban senseless. These twelve-pounders, very
light guns for their heavy powder charge, were nearly as
dangerous toward the rear as toward the front. Despite
the brake ropes, which were adjusted before every shot,
I have seen them kick down a slope or along slippery
ground for twenty feet, so that we soon learned to have
the deepest respect for the ground in rear of one of these
guns. The only time we attempted to limit these antics
was by means of a bank of earth, and this experiment re
sulted in a broken carriage. Pennie and I stooped down
beside the gun detachment and watched our perspiring
and powder-begrimed countrymen work. The protection
was scarcely half as high as the parapets behind which
we had fought at Cascorra, and becoming somewhat care
less in our anxiety to see the results of the shots, we were
warned by Osgood to be careful, as the Spaniards were
shooting well. The bullets were coming in steadily, and
keeping well down to the ground. Osgood had just re
marked to me that he had accomplished all he could, by
driving the Spaniards from the blockhouse to the trenches

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 71
outside, and that the infantry must do the rest, when a
staff officer arrived to state that the Cubans were going
to charge from the foot of the slope to our left, and to give
directions that a lookout should be kept, in order that the
fire of the gun might cease at the proper time. This was
refreshing after what we had seen at Cascorra, where fail
ure to use the infantry at the proper time had thrown
away a victory. Of course, however, assaulting this iso
lated blockhouse was no such proposition as going against
the much stronger and better-supported positions of the
other town. Anxious to see the charge, Pennie and I
hastened back to our old stand, and had hardly got settled
down when a bugle rang out in the edge of the woods a
hundred yards to our left, there were a number of briskly
given commands, some faint cheering and a rattle of shots,
and a company of men, mostly negroes, led by Garcia's
chief of staff, Colonel Menocal, began to climb the grassy
slope. Ordinarily chiefs of staff do not lead charges, but
no chances were being taken on some bungler making a
mess of this job. The slope was so steep and the grass so
high and dense that the attack was made at a walk, the
men in single line, firing and yelling excitedly. Pennie and
I watched for a few seconds, , when he said, "Me for this,"
and we started for the blockhouse, and at the same time
saw Janney, Latrobe, and one or two others cutting across
from the gun position, with revolvers drawn. When about
half-way to the top we two stumbled over a negro, who as
soon as he saw us began to writhe and moan, calling out
that he was wounded. Desirous of rendering assistance,
we turned him over, but could see no blood. "The

72 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
damned coward is flunking," yelled Pennie, and twisting
the fellow's Remington out of his hands, gave him the
butt of it several times, thus making his lamentations
more realistic. This man was the only one of the fifty
who fell out, the others facing the music gamely. The
first man through the wire entanglement and into the
trench was Janney, who had joined the attacking com
pany just before it reached the summit. Owing to our
delay with the supposedly wounded man, the blockhouse
was taken before Pennie and I reached it. The Spaniards
had not waited for the Cubans, but had bolted out of their
trench on the opposite side when the latter were about
half-way up, and were doing a Marathon for the Isabella
fortin, distant seven hundred yards. The victors fired on
them from around the captured blockhouse, and killed
one man about a hundred yards down the slope. The
infantry company had lost its formation, and had dis
solved into a mob of men, yelling and firing, until Men
ocal restored some semblance of order by knocking
down several of the worst with the flat of his machete.
Not one of the men making the assault had been hit,
as the garrison of the blockhouse had not fired after they
came in sight, and the enemy in the other forts could not
see the attacking party until it reached the summit. The
mob of men about the captured position now made a fine
target, however, and from every blockhouse, the church,
the barracks, and other points came a most terrific and
well-sustained fire. There must have been some pecu
liar atmospheric or other condition that redoubled the
sound, as these comparatively few rifles made for the time

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 73
an almost unbroken roar, reminding us of the racket at
La Machuca, where four thousand men were in action.
The summit of the hill rapidly became too hot. Colonel
Menocal screened some of his men in the trenches, and
others behind the blockhouse, but sent about half of them
down the hill, not, however, until several of them had
been hit. Of course something ridiculous had to happen.
A chicken, which the late garrison had evidently hoped to
add to their next bill of fare, escaped in the confusion, and
ran cackling around the blockhouse half a dozen times,
pursued by Pennie, who finally killed it by throwing his
machete at it. As all the remaining Spanish works were
on a lower level than ourselves, the fire from them was
necessarily directed upward, with the result that thou
sands of bullets, clearing the hill, spattered over the coun
try for nearly two miles to the north. An aged colonel of
Gomez's staff, lying peacefully in his hammock a mile and
a half from the nearest Spanish work, was shot through
the body, but recovered, and several other casualties in
the camps resulted from this fusillade. In the meantime
a number of us had entered the blockhouse and were
exploring it. The lower story was littered with broken
timbers, and a barrel of drinking water had been pierced
at about its middle by a shell, but without destroying it
or knocking it over. The remaining half-barrel of water
quenched many a thirst that day. In the upper story we
found a number of boxes of hard biscuit and some other
food, and after filling our pockets began pitching the bal
ance out to the men hugging the lee side of the building
to escape the storm of bullets still sweeping the hill. A

74 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
Spanish soldier, wounded by a shell, had fallen across
one box of biscuits and had bled there so profusely that
half of them were saturated, but it was no time to be fas
tidious, and we emptied the upper part of the box and
threw the uninjured contents to the hungry men outside.
In the meantime several officers of General Garcia's
staff had reached us, and called attention to the fact that
the Spanish flag was still floating from the pole on the
blockhouse. This would never do, and it must come
down. But it could not be lowered, being nailed to the
staff. One of these officers, Lieutenant Luis Rodolfo
Miranda, said he would bring down the flag, and several
of us went out and from the safe side of the structure
watched the operation. With assistance Miranda reached
the roof, and slowly and painfully began drawing himself
up the pole, which was about eighteen feet high and four
inches in diameter. Every Spaniard in Guaimaro could
see him, and I believe to a man tried to bring the gallant
fellow down. Bullets hissed and crackled all about, and
beat a constant tattoo on the blockhouse. The pole
above or below him was hit several times. For a few
moments that seemed endless we looked on in an agony of
suspense, expecting every moment to see him come crash
ing down on the tile roof. We begged him to give it up
and wait for night, but he kept on, reached the flag, cut it
loose with his pocket-knife, slid down the pole with it, ran
to the eaves, and leaped to the ground fifteen feet below.
It would be difficult to imagine a feat of more reckless
daring, and yet I have heard some of my own countrymen
damn the whole Cuban people as a race of cowards.

Every Spaniard in Guaimaro could see him, and I believe to a man tried to bring
the gallant fellow down

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 75
We re-entered the blockhouse, and Osgood and I
were discussing the possibility of getting the gun into it
under such a fire, when Devine spied a magnificent saddle-
horse tied to a long rope in a little swale about two hun
dred yards to our left front and about five hundred yards
from two of the Spanish blockhouses. The horse, being
out of the line of fire, had not been hit, but was prancing
about, snorting with terror. "That horse would suit my
style of beauty," remarked Devine, and before any one
could stop him he had got out and started down the hill
on a run. Once at the foot of the slope he was out of
view of most of the Spaniards, but was in plain sight
from three blockhouses, two of them quite close, and every
man in them did his best to get him. He reached the
rope, untied it, and tried to lead the animal, but the
terrified beast declined to follow, and was soon brought
down. Devine, having no use for a dead horse, started
back up the hill. Osgood and I were breathlessly watching
him from adjoining port-holes, when we saw him pitch
forward into the grass. Osgood cried out, "My God, he
is hit! I am going after him," and started down the ladder
to the lower story, the only way to get out. I followed
with no very definite idea as to what I was going to do, but
in my haste slipped on the top round of the ladder and
fell into the lower story, taking Osgood with me. Both
of us were well bruised but not disabled. Reaching
the outside, we found that Janney was running down the
hill, racing like mad. The enemy now concentrated their
fire on him, as they had on Devine. Janney was a power
ful man, and half carried and half dragged the wounded

76 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
man up that slope under a fire that it would seem impos
sible a man could live through, it being especially severe
after he had got half-way up, and was exposed to nearly all
the Spanish positions. Several of us assisted him to lower
Devine into the shelter of the trench. He was shot in the
hip, a very severe wound from which he did not recover
during the war, though he returned to duty after a couple
of months. In our service Janney's act would have
brought him the Medal of Honor, or in the British army
the Victoria Cross, but the Cubans had not yet reached
the stage of distributing decorations for gallantry.
After this incident the garrison apparently became
somewhat tired of sweeping the hill with their fire, and
gave us a respite, simply sending in an occasional volley.
In the meantime General Garcia, accompanied by several
officers of his staff, had reached the hill for the purpose
of examining the captured position, one of his orderlies
being killed at his side shortly after his arrival on the
summit. Owing to the inevitable loss of life involved in
the undertaking, the general determined to wait until night
fall before attempting to install a gun in the blockhouse.
We artillerymen recognized the wisdom of this decision,
though, maddened by the action of the Spaniards in trying
to kill Janney while he was rescuing a wounded man, we
could scarcely possess our souls in patience until we could
have a chance to blow them out of their blockhouses.
During the remainder of the day nothing was done
except to move some of our infantry closer to the captured
hill lest the enemy should attempt to retake it by a sortie.
We Americans went down to our camp for supper, but a

Janney half carried and half dragged the wounded man up that slope under a fire that it would seem impossible a man
could live through

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 77
few hours later returned to the position. Not having had
enough excitement during the day, Captain Jose Estrampes
of Gomez's staff and I crawled down in the darkness to
the point between the Gonfu and Isabella blockhouses
where the Spanish soldier had been seen to fall in the re
tirement from the former, and came back ahead an excel
lent Mauser rifle. The task of the night was to get a gun
into the captured position, from which we could bring to
bear on every one of the remaining Spanish works. Be
cause something had gone wrong with its breech mechan
ism, the piece used during the day was not utilized, but
we brought up the other twelve-pounder, the old veteran
of Cascorra. A hole was broken through the north wall
of the blockhouse, and the gun taken in through it. A
port-hole was made on the opposite side bearing on the
town, and before daylight we were ready for business.
Just as the sun came over the horizon Osgood landed a
shell squarely on the Isabella fortin, and for a couple of
hours deliberately shelled that work and others in the
vicinity. As always when these fragile blockhouses were
under artillery fire, the enemy left the structures and
fought in the trenches around them, where only by chance
were they liable to suffer casualties from our shells. Here,
however, our slight elevation above the town gave us some
advantage in this respect. During most of the bombard
ment of this morning I remained outside, some forty feet
east of the blockhouse, calling the shots for Osgood, as
none of those in the structure could observe the effects of
their fire owing to the smoke. I spent a part of the time
in the building, however. Our infantry supports were well

78 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
covered in standing trenches on the flanks of the block
house, these having been constructed during the night, so
that there were no groups on the hill to draw the Spanish
fire. The result was that the enemy apparently paid but
little attention to us. It was finally noticed, however, that
about once a minute a bullet would come through the
port-hole, or strike very near it. The regularity of these
shots and their accuracy convinced us that some excep
tionally fine sharp-shooter was giving us his attention.
On one of my runs to the blockhouse to announce the re
sult of a shot, one of these bullets came in the port-hole
just as I entered the gap in the rear, missing me only an
inch or two. Several of those serving at the gun had had
narrow escapes, and everybody was keeping as much as
possible out of the danger zone, though a certain amount
of exposure was unavoidable. Partly owing to our de
fective ammunition, and partly to a brisk wind blowing
across the line of fire, several unfortunate shots had been
made, and Osgood stooped over the gun to make on the
sight a correction for wind. He had adjusted it satisfac
torily, sighted the piece, and made the remark, "I think
that will do," when all those near by heard a bullet strike
him with a sound like a base-ball being thrown against a
building. The few words just spoken were his last on
earth. He sank across the trail of the gun, unconscious,
and was lifted from it by his horror-stricken comrades and
hurried down the hill to one of the dressing-stations. He
did not recover consciousness, and in four hours was dead.
The bullet had gone through his brain, and he passed from
the vigor of early manhood into the long sleep in the

For a couple of hours deliberately shelled that work and others in the vicinity

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 79
fraction of a second. He could never have known that he
had been hit. A year and a half later, it fell to me to re
count the circumstances of Major Osgood's death to his
father, Colonel, afterward Brigadier-General, Osgood of
the United States army. The latter knew that his son had
been killed, but was ignorant as to the attendant circum
stances. The little group of aliens, fighting in a strange
land for a cause not their own, were sore stricken. It
was the first time one of our own number had been killed.
Bound together by ties of race and language, and sharing
the daily dangers and privations, we had become closer
to each other than men ordinarily do in years of acquaint
anceship under different circumstances, and now felt that
the war was coming home to us. For a time we did noth
ing but sit in the blockhouse, well back from the fatal
port-hole, and gaze in awe at the spatter of blood on the
gun trail and note the devilish regularity with which the
missiles from the sharp-shooter's rifle whistled past us.
A staff-officer who was in the blockhouse with us had
hastened to head-quarters with the news of Osgood's cer
tainly fatal wound. We had asked him to obtain instruc
tions as to who was to take command, Cox or myself, both
being captains. It was General Garcia's desire that the
former, having served directly under him, should be desig
nated, but Gomez overruled him, and I was from that
time in command of the artillery of the Departamento del
Oriente. Cox, like the good soldier that he was, served
under me faithfully and loyally until the end.
It was rightly guessed that the sharp-shooter was
stationed in the church tower, distant eleven hundred

80 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
yards, and I determined to make it my special business
to kill him if I could. It was subsequently learned that
he was an officer using a rifle with telescope sight. As
the gun had not been touched since Osgood had sighted
it, I ordered the lanyard pulled, and a shell smashed its
way through one of the blockhouses. The poor fellow's
last work had been well done. But hit the church tower
I could not, owing to the defective ammunition and strong
gusts of wind, though I struck the roof of the building
within a few feet of it several times. If we could have
had the deadly Driggs-Schroeder that we afterward used
at Jiguani and Las Tunas, one shot would have done the
work. But the fact that the tower was being fired at
caused the sharp-shooter to abandon it for the day. Until
nightfall our shots were distributed impartially among the
three or four works nearest us, with an occasional shell for
the church or barracks just to keep from hurting the feel
ings of their garrisons. During the afternoon we wit
nessed a futile and ridiculous charge made upon the badly
battered Isabella blockhouse. The officer in command of
this enterprise was a negro lieutenant-colonel of Cebreco's
brigade. He had a battalion, and instead of deploying
his men out of sight, under cover of the woods, he rushed
them in column into the open within four hundred yards
of his objective, and attempted to form line under a wither
ing fire from the trenches around three blockhouses. His
men huddled up, became panic-stricken, and fled, leaving
their numerous killed and wounded on the ground, whence
they could not be removed until nightfall. We poured
shells into the Isabella during this performance as rapidly

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 81
as we could load and fire, in order to confine the enemy
to his trenches and keep him from reoccupying the remains
of the structure. General Gomez witnessed this fiasco,
and was wild with rage. That night the blunderer was
tried by court-martial and sentenced to death, but this
was commuted to reduction to the ranks, and the next day
we saw the doleful-looking man carrying a Remington in
the battalion that he had so recently commanded.
During the night of this day we brought up one of the
two-pounders, cut a port-hole for it to the left of the larger
gun, and placed it in position. The projectiles fired by
this piece were too small to do much damage, but its ac
curacy was wonderful, and it had ammunition that had
not been damaged. The next morning our friend in the
church tower resumed operations, and we promptly went
for him. Every shot fired at the tower from the little
gun struck it, one shell, as we subsequently ascertained,
striking within a foot of the small window from which the
officer was firing. All the shells from this gun burst on
the outside, however, the masonry being too strong for
them. But they had the desired moral effect, and we had
no more trouble with the tower sharp-shooter. During
the day we used first one gun and then the other, as owing
to the confined space it was not practicable to serve both
at the same time.
All this while the Cuban infantry had the town closely
invested, and from time to time there would be lively fire
fights between them and the defenders of the trenches. Oc
tober 20, the fourth day of the siege, was largely a repetition
of the preceding day. We were firing slowly, as ammuni-

82 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
tion was running low, when we met with quite a serious
misfortune. I had just given the order to fire the twelve-
pounder, when, instead of the usual loud report and re
bound to the rear, the gun remained motionless, while for
half a minute a stream of flame and gas poured from
the vent. A shell had stuck in the barrel, half-way to the
muzzle, the powder in the charge having become so dam
aged that it would not force it out. The removal of this
loaded shell, with no special appliances for the purpose,
was a most delicate and dangerous operation, and re
quired several weeks, the work being done by a Cuban
mechanic. The piece was not permanently damaged, and
fortunately we had with us another of the same calibre.
The next day we fired but few shots, as we were all but
out of ammunition for the twelve-pounder. An additional
supply in a deposit many miles to the eastward had been
sent for, but could not arrive for some time. It looked as
if we were going to have another Cascorra fiasco. We
had been considerably exasperated because of being com
pelled to fritter away our precious ammunition in a des
ultory bombardment of ten separate positions, instead of
placing all our guns in action at one time and concentrat
ing their fire on some one of the more important works for
half an hour, as a prelude to an infantry assault. The
good work of the first day was not being properly followed
up. The guns were taken to the rear, though the infantry
held on to all their positions and from time to time ex
changed shots with the enemy. The question of the sub
sistence of so large a force had become a serious one.
Large herds of cattle were driven in, but the surrounding

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 83
country had been denuded of vegetables. The question
of camping-grounds was also an embarrassing one. For
sanitary reasons the Cubans moved their camps to new
ground every few days, but not much more shifting could
be done without taking the main body of troops so far from
the line of investment that it could not be properly sup
ported. Time hung heavily on our hands, but we had some
diversions. One night Huntington made a lone-hand raid
on the town. He crawled through the Spanish lines,
roamed unchallenged through the streets, and came back
with a fine turkey. Inspired by this feat, Colonel Carlos
Garcia's negro servant, who had known the town well in
times of peace, begged his chief for permission to enter and
endeavor to obtain a supply of Spanish delicacies from
some of the abandoned stores. Permission was reluc
tantly given, and the plucky fellow set out on his perilous
errand. He wormed his way through the grass, crawled
under the barb-wire entanglements, reached the centre
of the town, and effected entrance into a general store.
Inside it was pitch dark, and he dared not strike a light,
but by feeling about found a lot of promising cans, and de
posited them in a sugar sack that he had with him. Han
dicapped by his heavy load, the return was slow and pain
ful, as well as dangerous, but finally after an absence of
five hours the exultant negro deposited his cargo at the
feet of his waiting and appreciative master, whose friends
promptly gathered about to see the result of this raid,
and mayhap to partake thereof. By the light of a camp-
fire the sack was emptied of its contents, eighteen cans of

84 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
house paint. If there was any one thing that nobody
had any use for in those days it was house paint. The
subsequent proceedings were appropriate to the occasion.
Last year when I had the pleasure of entertaining the
present Cuban minister to the United States at my quar
ters at Fort Leavenworth, and we were going over the
tragedies and comedies of the long-ago days in the bush,
we dwelt long and lovingly on this incident.
One night about this time a very tall negro, one of the
few Cubans left in the town, was caught trying to get
through the Spanish lines. A rigid search of his person
resulted in the discovery of a letter from the commandant
to General Castellanos in Puerto Principe informing him
that the town was undergoing siege. There was also
found the sum of two hundred dollars in Spanish gold,
which the unfortunate man confessed was his pay, given
him in advance. He was promptly tried, and as promptly
hanged, and the commander, unlike his brother officer
besieged in Cascorra, waited with sinking heart as the
days passed, listening for the sound of guns to the west
ward, and hoping for the relief that never came.
At last on the 28th, the eleventh day of the siege, the
pack train arrived with the longed-for cartridges for our
guns. General Garcia gave me instructions to bombard
every position on the next day, and stated that under cover
of darkness a general assault would be made. I was
given entire discretion as to what use to make of the guns,
and so that night had a small shelter constructed outside
the Gonfu blockhouse and had installed in it one of the
two-pounders, while the remaining twelve-pounder was

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 85
placed inside in the old position, the extra port-hole being
blocked up. It was desired to find a position for the re
maining two-pounder close to the church, as that building,
except its tower, was of brick, and consequently not proof
against the shells of the smaller gun. An excellent loca
tion was found four hundred yards from one of the rear
corners, approach to it being afforded by a shallow draw.
The intervening ground was perfectly level, and bare of
grass or bush. Half-way from this position to the church,
and a little to the right of our line of fire on that building,
was one of the badly battered blockhouses with some
twenty brave fellows hanging on to the trenches about it.
This was a serious disadvantage, as we were subject to
their fire at two hundred yards range and could not harm
them, but there was nothing better to be had. An excel
lent parapet with overhead cover was constructed at this
point. I had become heartily tired of the Gonfu position,
and so placed Cox in charge of the two guns there and
myself took the two-pounder near the church. Cox had
Janney, Latrobe, Jones, and the majority of the Cubans
with the artillery, while I had Huntington, Pennie, and
the remainder of our enlisted men. Everything went off
smoothly, and when daylight came on the 29th all the guns
were in position. I took the first shot, and sent a shell
through the wall of the church on the line of port-holes
just above the surface of the ground. The Spaniards in
the church, instead of having their port-holes about five
feet above the floor, had torn a part of this up and dug
standing trenches all about the inside of the building.
So they were covered by the natural ground up to their

86 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
shoulders, and above this were protected from infantry
fire by the brick wall. It was an excellent arrangement,
and I have never seen its like elsewhere. The enemy
lost no time in replying, and all day gave us so hot a fire
that the service of the gun was exceedingly difficult. Half
a mile to our right we could see the discharges of the guns
in the Gonfu position. All along the north and east sides
of the town were heavy lines of infantry lying down and
not firing. Just a few yards to the left of my position,
down in the hollow, Dr. Danforth had his dressing-station,
with instruments and bandages laid out for use. The
fighting all day was pretty hot, and at times the fire on
my position would compel us to delay for a time. All of
our guns fired very slowly and deliberately. The newly
arrived ammunition was much better than that we had
been using, and there were practically no misses. It had
been ordered that before darkness came on one of the
guns in the Gonfu position should be sighted at the church
tower and left until nine o'clock, when it should be fired.
This was to be the signal for the assault. In order to
avoid a misunderstanding all the guns were to cease some
time before that hour. I kept up with my two-pounder
until a little after dark, firing most of the time at the church
but giving the pestiferous blockhouse on my right front
an occasional compliment. The walls of the church had
been well perforated, and the little shells had burst inside,
inflicting casualties, but they were not heavy enough to
shatter the walls or make breaches, so that the building
retained its shape. At last an ominous silence fell over
all, contrasting strangely with the turmoil of an eventful

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 87
day. The last hour dragged with leaden feet. All were
at high tension, as it was realized that the crucial hour
was at hand. Was it to be a victory, or were the plucky
Catalans to hurl us back in a bloody repulse ? Every
moment we would strike matches down behind the parapet
in order to consult our watches. At last the hour came.
There was a tongue of flame from the Gonfu position, and
for an instant the church tower was lighted up by a burst
ing shell. A second later we heard the crack of the two-
pounder. At the start there was no blowing of bugles and
no yelling to draw the Spanish fire. Colonel Menocal
had personal charge of the assault, but was at all times in
communication with Generals Gomez and Garcia. He
had systematized everything and left nothing to chance.
Every unit had its objective indicated in advance, and it
was pretty well understood that if there should be any
serious blundering there would be some executions the
next day. In order to avoid confusion and possible acci
dental encounters in the streets in the darkness, the at
tacking force was limited to five hundred men. It was
thought that even if the job could not be completed during
the night such advantages of position would be gained
that it would not take much of daylight to finish it.
The echo of the gun had scarcely died away when a
few low commands were given just to the right of my
position, and about fifty men, deployed in a single line
and without firing, rushed for the nearest blockhouse, the
one that had warmed us up so persistently during the day.
As there would not for some time be any use for the guns,
I gave Huntington and Pennie permission to join the at-

88 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
tacking party. This had covered half the distance before
being discovered. There was then a lively popping from
the blockhouse, and the Cubans raised a yell and covered
the remaining hundred yards at a run. A few moments
later those of us who had remained at the position saw
a group of men coming out of the darkness. It was a
detail bringing back the captured garrison of the block
house. About this time quite a furor broke out in the
direction of the Isabella, but lasted only a few seconds. I
did not propose to stay by a cannon that could not be used
in this mix up, and knew that nobody would carry it off
and that it could be found when needed, and so went in.
Afterward in the town I came across all of my brother
artillery officers. We were a fine lot, having run off and
left our guns to take part in an infantry attack. In any
other service we would have gotten into serious trouble,
but the Cubans were lenient with us, apparently regarding
this as the American way of doing things. I do not believe
that any one can give a correct and detailed account of the
events of this stirring night. There was a series of de
tached fights, some of them of short duration and others
exceedingly brisk. The darkness was intense. Bullets
were whistling in all directions, and one was in about as
much danger from friend as from foe. The church was
a hard proposition, and it was some time before we made
progress against it. Dynamite was brought up, and
Captain Estrampes and Huntington made an attempt to
breach the walls. They got into the ditch outside with
about fifty pounds of the explosive and the necessary fuse.
The men in the church could not get at them where they

The church was a hard proposition, and it was some time before we made progress
against it

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 89
were, and divining what was up, asked if quarter would
be given. Being answered in the affirmative, they sur
rendered and were sent to the rear. By midnight every
thing except the barracks had fallen, and the firing had
died down to an occasional sputter. There was now much
yelling and cheering, and the Cubans were busy looting
the captured positions, buildings, and shops of food, cloth
ing, and cooking utensils. Many of those that had not
taken part in the assault now broke away and entered
the town, in order not to be left out in gathering in the
spoils. The confusion became great, and it was evident
that formations could not be restored until daylight.
Colonel Menocal and I, as soon as it became light enough
to see, made a reconnaissance of the barrack by getting
into buildings in the vicinity. It was a one-story brick
structure, about one hundred feet long, loophooled, and
surrounded by the most effective barb-wire entanglement
I have ever seen. I doubt if a dog could have crawled
through it. It was evident that we must use a gun from
one of the near-by houses, and I went back for the two-
pounder that during the day had shelled the church.
We selected for it a building at an angle across the
street and forty yards distant from the nearest portion
of the barrack building. As we did not dare expose
ourselves in the street in view of the barrack, the gun
was placed in position by breaking through the walls of
several brick houses. From the inside of the house a few
bricks were removed from the wall, and the muzzle shoved
through within a stone's throw of its intended target.
Ammunition was brought in, and infantry supports placed

90 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
in rear of the row of buildings. We now waited for
daylight. The yelling and the occasional shots had died
out and the town was perfectly quiet. Hundreds of ex
hausted and hungry insurgents had thrown themselves
down in the debris-littered streets and gone to sleep. It
was now discovered that the Spanish hospital, full of
wounded, was directly across the street from the barrack
and only two buildings from where we had the gun. This
was a nasty complication, and about five o'clock Meno
cal and I went in to discuss the situation with the surgeon
in charge. This officer pointed out that a fight for the
possession of the barrack must involve the hospital, and
that there would be great danger of a conflagration.
Menocal desired him to remove the wounded, offering
assistance, but was informed that many of them were so
terribly injured by shell wounds that it was out of the
question. But we could not give up the advantages of our
position. Menocal promised that in case of a fight he
would not occupy the hospital, and in this way it might
not be brought under fire. As soon as it was light Meno
cal, holding aloft a white handkerchief, boldly walked
into the middle of the street and waited a moment. In the
meantime I had the gun pointed to partially rake the
building, and Huntington stood with lanyard in hand to
fire in case he should be shot down. In a short time a
captain emerged from the building and informed Menocal
that he was in command, the commandant having been
disabled by a shell wound during the day. The chief
of staff replied by demanding his surrender, assuring him
that all would be treated as prisoners of war. The cap-

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 91
tain replied that while he realized his position to be a
desperate one, he still felt that he had a chance to repulse
an assault. Menocal pointed toward the building that
we were in, and the Spaniard saw for the first time the
black, lean muzzle of the Hotchkiss. He seemed thunder
struck, realizing that the flimsy brick building would be
but a death trap, as the shells would explode all through
it and rake it from end to end. About this time a number
of insurgent soldiers impelled by curiosity to see what was
going on came out into the street within full view of the
barrack, and some fifty yards from it. At this juncture a
very lean pig escaped from somewhere, and dashed across
the street, followed by a dozen laughing Cubans. They
caught the animal within twenty yards of the wire en
tanglements, and were not fired on. In fact several
cheers and "bravos" came through the Spanish port
holes. It was evident that it was about over. Menocal
came back to the building where we had the gun, slapped
me on the shoulder, and said: "They give up." In a
few moments the door of the barrack opened and a white
flag was hung out. The Cubans crowded about the
entanglements, and the Spanish soldiers and some store
keepers who had taken refuge with them began to throw
out packages of cigarettes. Generals Gomez and Garcia
arrived and found the job completed. A number of us
officers now entered the barrack, escorted by the Spanish
captain. The men still had their Mausers, and were
standing at the port-holes, evidently uneasy as to the
treatment they were to receive from the ragged and motley
crew outside. Their commander told them it was all

92 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
over, and Menocal assured them that they were in no
danger. They seemed glad that the end had come, being
completely exhausted by the constant vigilance imposed
by the thirteen days' siege. They laid down their arms
and marched out, and soon were mingling with the men
whom they had been fighting but a few hours before. For
the time no restrictions were placed on their movements,
and they were allowed to roam about at will. The most
of us had reached the limit of physical endurance, having
been without sleep since the morning of the second day
before, and sank down anywhere in the shade, letting the
war take care of itself for a few hours.
All the stores and dwellings in the town were thoroughly
looted. It was not a pretty sight, but men in such des
perate straits as were the Cubans could not be expected
to spare the property of the enemy, either soldiers or non-
combatants. Considering the fact that the Spaniards
waged a war of absolutely no quarter, even murdering the
wounded who fell into their hands, it was a matter for
congratulation that not a single one of the prisoners taken
at Guaimaro was in any way injured. In fact the Cubans
seemed to bear no hatred whatever against the Spanish
regulars, knowing that they had no option either as to
their participation in the war or the methods of carrying
it on. But the Spanish volunteers, made up of Spanish
residents of Cuba who had of their own volition gone into
the struggle, often fared badly at their hands, while for
the hated guerillas, Cuban mercenaries in the Spanish
service, it was certain death to fall into the power of the
insurgents. It was these wretches who in that war com-

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 93
mitted many of the horrible atrocities that brought a
stain on the Spanish name. Fortunately there were nei
ther volunteers nor guerillas in Guaimaro, so that we
were spared a painful sequel to the victory. The spoils of
the siege were considerable, about four hundred Mauser
rifles, several hundred thousand rounds of ammunition,
and subsistence and medical stores.
As soon as we had had a few hours' sleep we started
out to explore the town, being especially interested in the
church. The interior was a scene of almost indescribable
confusion. In addition to being the strongest fort, this
building was the commissary storehouse, and the floor was
littered several feet deep in flour, peas, broken hard bread,
and boxes of sardines, our shells on the last day having
ploughed through or exploded in this mass for hours.
Blood was spattered everywhere, but the most grewsome
sight was as much as a handful of brains mixed with
fragments of bone sticking to the south wall several feet
above the floor. Prisoners told us that on the previous
day, while the commandant was trying to cheer up his
men by calling their attention to the fact that the shells
that were exploding all over the room were of small
size and could not bring down the building, his orderly
standing at his side was beheaded, his shattered cranium
being hurled clear across the church against the opposite
wall. The next shell, exploding almost in the face of the
officer, had given the gallant soldier his death wound,
three fragments striking him in the chest. In fact, had it
not been that the garrison of the church was fairly well
protected by the standing trench inside the building, the

94 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
place would have been a veritable slaughter peri, as the
wall offered just enough resistance to the shells to burst
them immediately after penetrating.
During the day Gomez wrote to General Castellanos,
Spanish commander at Puerto Principe, a letter that must
have given the old man the keenest satisfaction. It was to
the effect that he had taken the post of Guaimaro after
thirteen days' siege, and that every man of the garrison
not killed was a prisoner in his hands. He would not
follow the precedent set by the Spaniards, but would give
them the best care possible. He wished, however, to be
rid of the wounded, and if General Castellanos would
send the necessary number of ambulances, escorted by
unarmed men and carrying the Red Cross flag, to the
cattle ranch, "El Platano," about a day's march east of
Puerto Principe, they would be delivered to him. This
communication was sent by mounted courier, and was
delivered at the outposts of Puerto Principe, seventy miles
distant, in less than twenty-four hours. Messengers were
sent out to bring in the organizations that as before stated
had been sent away during the siege, and preparations
made for the march to "El Platano" without waiting for
a reply to the letter to the Spanish commander. Insur
gent commands from remote parts of the Oriente had
been coming in, so that the force that took up its march
on the morning of the 31st reached the respectable total
of four thousand men.
It was the height of the rainy season, and for months we
had been accustomed to being drenched at any time day
or night, so that the good night's sleep in the buildings of

The march was painfully slow, the roads being in shocking condition

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 95
Guaimaro had been very much in the line of a treat. It
must be remembered that there was not a tent in this
whole force, and all were expected to take the weather as
it came. The march was painfully slow, the roads being
in shocking condition, and much delay was caused by the
slow progress of the prisoners carrying their wounded
comrades in improvised litters. The rain poured in tor
rents, day and night, and it was almost impossible to build
fires for cooking. At our first camp a Cuban officer,
talking to the sorely wounded Spanish commandant just
as I happened to pass, said to him, I thought with wretched
taste, "That American is the man who gave you your
wound, as he personally sighted every shot at the church
on the last day." The wounded officer, a very handsome
and dignified man with snow-white hair and beard, looked
at me in a reproving and wondering way, and I slunk out
of sight, my peace of mind pretty badly disturbed. After
four days of gruelling work we reached our destination,
and had only a short time to wait for the train of ambu
lances escorted by a detachment of insurgent cavalry
from among those constantly watching every outlet from
Puerto Principe. Several surgeons and a detail of men of
the hospital service accompanied the train, and were much
interested in the rather formidable array of insurgents
camped where they could be well seen along a couple of
miles of the road. The Spanish and Cuban officers treated
each other with the most punctilious courtesy. The
wounded were delivered to their countrymen, and started
on the journey to Puerto Principe, travelling more com
fortably than they had during the past four days. The

96 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
brave old commandant survived his wounds only a few
days more. The remaining prisoners were held for some
months at a camp far back in the woods, but were event
ually released, the problem of feeding our own people
being one that taxed the ingenuity of all. Our force now
marched to the potrero, "Auracana," near La Yaya, and I
had the pleasure of receiving my commission as major,
dating from the fall of Guaimaro, and of seeing it signed
by both our chieftains.
The fall of Guaimaro gave the Spanish commander
of this district grave fears for the safety of the little garri
son of Cascorra that had successfully resisted our attacks
in September, and he determined to relieve it and abandon
the town, and so came out with a force of more than four
thousand men. Gomez and Garcia resisted desperately
with a like number, and the next week saw some of the
hardest fighting that ever took place in Cuba. For four
days it was almost one continuous battle, but limitations
of space compel passing over this campaign other than to
say that the Spaniards finally reached their goal, after
losing several times the number of men that they had
come to rescue. In this fighting General Garcia had his
magnificent saddle-horse, of which he was very fond,
killed under him.
Gomez now marched to the westward to take charge
of operations in the province of Santa Clara. Huntington
went with him and was shortly afterward killed in battle.
All of the remainder of us artillery officers remained with
Garcia, who kept all the guns.
The moral effect of the Guaimaro victory on the Cu-

THE FALL OF GUAIMARO 97
bans was very great. For the first time they had made
assaults on men in trenches and protected by barb-wire
entanglements. They were schooling themselves for the
far bloodier work at Jiguani and Las Tunas, to be re
lated in the next and closing chapter of these Cuban
reminiscences.

IV
A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY
JIGUANI
Nearly five months had passed since the victory of
Guaimaro, and in this time the forces of Garcia had
roamed at will through the provinces of Oriente and Ca
maguey. Large convoys escorted by formidable bodies of
Spanish troops moved slowly along the main roads, carry
ing supplies to the isolated garrisons of the interior, and
were harassed and fought from the time of starting until
their return. Occasionally a column unhampered by trans
port would sally out on operations, and move ponder
ously for a week or so from town to town; but it was never
for a moment out of sight of the Cubans, who fought it
or not as seemed most expedient. Now and then a band
of guerillas, well mounted and thoroughly familiar with
the country, would dash by night out of one of the larger
garrisons and raid through the country, cutting up such
small bodies of insurgents as they might encounter,
and making a specialty of hunting out our hospitals
and murdering the helpless wounded found in them.
These detestable wretches were more mobile than the
insurgents themselves, their horses being better fed,
and usually managed to return to their home stations.
When they were run down, however, it was a fight to
the death, quarter being neither asked nor given. On

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 99
one occasion Major Pablo Menocal, a brother of the
chief of staff, while scouting with eighty insurgent cavalry
in the Holguin district, encountered a band of sixty gueril
las on a raid. He formed line before being discovered
and made a furious mounted charge. The guerillas fought
desperately, but were driven back into a barb-wire fence
and annihilated. Not one escaped, and there were no
wounded when it was over. In this encounter both sides
had gone back to the days of the Crusades, as not a shot
was fired, the long machete doing it all. But Menocal's
victory cost him heavily in killed and wounded.
During this period no attacks had been made on
Spanish towns, however, but early in March the order
had gone forth for a part of the troops in the province of
Oriente to concentrate near the town of Jiguani, in the
Bayamo district of that province. The days of hardship
and hunger had come with a vengeance. The thousands
of Cuban families living in the "bush," off the lines of
operations of the enemy's columns, were eking out a
miserable existence. All the able-bodied men being in the
war, the women and children could barely raise enough
vegetables to keep off starvation. Clothing could not be
obtained at any price, and it was no uncommon sight to
see women who had been gently reared whose raiment con
sisted of a patchwork of gunny sacks, while children of
both sexes went as naked as they were born. And day
and night they lived in terror of the raids of the merci
less guerillas. The insurgent forces were barefooted and
clothed in rags and tatters, and were always hungry. In
this desolated and starving country the question of feeding

ioo CUBAN EXPERIENCES
the more than four thousand men about to be concentrated
for the coming campaign was one that taxed the resources
of our leaders to the utmost. The remnants of the great
herds of cattle that a few months before had been grazing
on the plains of Camaguey were gathered up and driven
over the long road to the east of the Cauto. Pack-trains
scoured the country, taking from the miserable people
the last sweet-potato, ear of corn, or banana that could
be found. The prefects, officers of the civil government,
were ordered to bend every energy to the task, and did
their work thoroughly. In a short time all the units or
dered to take part in the coming operations were on the
move, and, it being in the dry season, the concentration
was rapidly effected, and by the ioth four thousand two
hundred of us, well armed but ragged and hungry, were
in camp. On the first night after our arrival in the camp
we Americans indulged ourselves in a picturesque poker
game, some one having found a deck of cards. Gathered
about a rubber blanket stretched on the ground, the neces
sary light being furnished by a few candles stuck onto bay
onets, and revolver cartridges being the chips, we played
far into the night, an audience of Cubans watching every
move. I suppose we might have been in better business,
but our recreations were certainly few enough.
No time was to be lost, so the whole force marched
toward Jiguani and surrounded the town. By this time
we Americans were seasoned campaigners, and had been
under fire so many times that going into battle awakened
no emotions in our breasts, and we went about the neces
sary preparations with scant thoughts as to what might

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 101
happen to us individually. We had seen so much of
death and misery that we were in a way hardened, and I
believe had become the victims of a sort of fatalism, think
ing that the war would last for years and that our chances
of seeing home again were pretty small. It did not seem
important when the end came or how.
We now had with us a gun that had not been used in
the sieges described in the two previous chapters, a twelve-
pounder Driggs-Schroeder naval landing gun, one of the
inventors of which was the present Admiral Schroeder of
the United States navy. This gun came near to the field-
piece type, having a long barrel and high velocity. It,
of course, could not be packed, but was drawn by mules.
Like the guns that we already had, it used fixed ammuni
tion, but unlike them, dispensed with the nuisance of the
friction primer, the pull of the lanyard causing a bolt to
descend through the breech block and fire the cartridge.
This weapon had been purchased with funds raised by
Cuban residents of Key West, known among Spanish-
speaking people as Cayo Hueso, and so came to be known
by that name. We always spoke of it as "Cayo Hueso,"
just as we would have applied the name to an animate
being. The town of Jiguani was much larger than any we
had heretofore attacked, being a local commercial centre
of importance. The garrison was about eight hundred
strong, consisting mostly of infantry, but with a detachment
of artillery and a troop of guerillas. The strongest work,
and the one that was really the key to the whole situation,
was a very substantial two-story masonry fort known as

102 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
El Castillo, the Castle. This was situated on the end of a
ridge, about eighty feet above the streets of the town, and
was surrounded by formidable trenches and wire en
tanglements, both of which extended for some distance
along the ridge to the northward. Very near the fort,
in fact almost under its walls, was a small earthen redoubt.
In the upper story of the Castle was an eight-centimetre
Krupp gun and on the roof was the heliograph station,
used in communicating with the town of Bayamo. Around
the town was the usual circle of blockhouses, about a
dozen of them, connected by barb-wire fences and sur
rounded by trenches and entanglements, while in the
town itself were several well-fortified barracks and other
buildings. Besides Cayo Hueso we had a Hotchkiss twelve-pounder
and a two-pounder, the former being our old friend of
Cascorra and Guaimaro, and the latter the gun that had
riddled the church on the last day at Guaimaro. The
ridge, on one end of which stood the Castle, extended for
a considerable distance in a north-westerly direction, and
eight hundred yards along it from that work we selected
the position for our battery, or rather for the most of it,
as it was realized that against these masonry walls one
might as well use a bean-shooter as the smaller Hotchkiss.
On the night of the 12th a strong parapet with overhead
cover and embrasures for two guns was constructed at
the principal position, and on the south side of the town,
in easy range of several of the blockhouses, a smaller one
for the two-pounder. I took command of the main battery
and assigned the smaller one to Cox, who had Janney

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 103
with him, while Jones, Latrobe, Joyce, and Pennie were
with me.
When dawn came, on a beautiful but very hot day,
the Castle loomed big before us, while down to our right
about five hundred yards was a blockhouse, and beyond
that at a like distance another. The town was in easy
range below us to the right front. The more than four
thousand insurgent infantry and cavalry were all about
the place, the strongest lines being near us on the north
side. Down in the town we could hear the calls of sentries,
the crowing of roosters, and the barking of dogs. If the
garrison had discovered our gun positions they made no
sign. Our guns were loaded and pointed and we sat
about waiting for orders. These came just after sunrise,
and old Cayo Hueso with a crash sent a shell that made a
beautiful burst on the identical spot at which it had been
aimed on the side of the fort. We realized that now we
had something of a gun. In a couple of seconds the
Hotchkiss twelve-pounder let fly and scored a hit, and
then we heard away beyond the Castle the bark of the
little gun stirring up the blockhouses. We sent in two
more shells, both of them bursting against the stone walls
without penetrating. The projectiles from the Driggs-
Schroeder would have breached the wall in a hurry but for
the fact that their fuses were so sensitive that they burst
before the full effects of their blows could be felt. At this
time we saw a cloud of smoke puff from a port-hole in the
upper story of the Castle, and soon heard a rumble as of
a train crossing a bridge, followed by the swish of a shell
as it rushed past us so close that the blast of air was very

104 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
perceptible. It missed the left end of the parapet about
two feet, and slashed through the tree growth behind us
with a noise like a runaway team, cutting off branches and
tearing up things generally. A regiment of our infantry
had been halted a couple of hundred yards behind us at the
foot of the slope, the drop of which just about coincided
with the angle of fall of the shell. The result was that
the projectile landed among them and burst with a very
impressive crash. There was no panic, but the men were
quickly ordered out of the dangerous locality, but not
until another shell just clearing our parapet had burst
among them. We had, in the meantime, sent in a couple
more, and the fight was fairly on. We were on the point
of concentrating the fire of both guns on the port-hole with
the hope of disabling the Krupp, when our attention was
called to flashes of light from the top of the fort, the helio
graph undoubtedly sending news of the attack to Bayamo,
to which station General Linares was known to be en
route from Manzanillo with a strong column. The helio
graph must be disabled first, and I took a careful sight
with Cayo Hueso. The shell cleared the top of the fort,
and there was borne to our ears the sound of its explosion
in the fields beyond the town. The second shot hit the
top of the fort in a perfect line and the smoke of the ex
plosion completely obscured the instrument and the men
working it. We thought the job was done, but with
superb nerve the operators stuck to their post and the
smoke of the explosion had barely drifted away when we
again saw the little flashes. The next shell was a centre
shot, striking the roof right at the instrument, exploding

With superb nerve the operators stuck to their post

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 105
and making a clean sweep of everything. But the two
gallant fellows had not died in vain, for Bayamo had the
news. In the meantime the Krupp was sending in its
compliments as fast as it could be loaded and fired. The
shooting was uncomfortably good, but we had to ignore it
for the time. One shell made a square hit on the parapet
but exploded without penetrating, disarranging the scenery
quite a bit, however. Others would barely clear us and
burst in the woods behind after cutting down a few trees,
while some fell a few feet short, bursting on the stony
ground and showering us with pieces of iron and rock
splinters. We fired a few more shells against a particular
part of the wall where we hoped by a number of hits to
breach it arid make a big gap, but in vain. Our shells
burst too easily, and we longed for solid shot. The fuses
could not be removed, being in the bases of the shells.
About now the same thing happened to the twelve-pounder
Hotchkiss that had befallen one of those guns at Guaimaro.
A defective cartridge was fired, there was a stream of
flame from the vent, and a shell stuck hard and fast half
way to the muzzle. It may be said in passing that three
months were required to remove it. So now it was
Driggs-Schroeder versus Krupp on even terms. It was a
pretty fight, and with a large and appreciative audience,
as owing to the fact that both gun positions were well
elevated above the surrounding country everybody in the
town and probably half of those in the Cuban lines could
see the result of every shot. The enemy's gun did not
seem to be so accurate as ours, but its shooting was by no
means wild, every shell coming in close, and an occasional

106 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
one making a hit on the parapet. At a burst of smoke
from the Castle the one of us on lookout would call out
"Down," and everyone, no matter what he might be do
ing, would throw himself flat on the ground. In a couple
of seconds the shell would strike and burst, and then we
would leap to our feet and try to give them a couple before
they could fire again. The discovery was made that by
watching carefully we could discern the enemy's shells up
in the air when about half-way to us, and several times
when we saw that they had a line on the parapet we suc
ceeded in avoiding them by quick jumping to either the
right or left. Before the day was over we had become
quite expert in judging the shells and getting out of
the way of them. The gun that they were being fired
from was a Krupp of one of the older models and of
low velocity compared with ours, or this could not have
been done. A man would have had to get a mighty
early start to dodge a shell from Cayo Hueso, even if he
could see it.
For a time we paid no attention to the Krupp other
than to avoid being hit by its shells, and confined ourselves
to trying to breach the wall below it by hammering a par
ticular spot, knowing that if we succeeded the gun and its
detachment would be involved in the catastrophe. But
the Spaniards' shooting was becoming better and better,
and it was only a question of time until they would land
a shell on our sole remaining big gun and take from us
the last chance of victory. The Krupp must be put out
of action. Very careful sight was taken at the port-hole,
which was about four feet in diameter, and the shell

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 107
struck the lower sill, the smoke of the explosion completely
obscuring the embrasure. We hoped that the gun had
been disabled, but vainly. But the thing that opened
our eyes to possibilities was the fact that this shot loosened
some of the masonry where it struck, we having seen some
of the fragments fall to the ground. In a minute or so
came another shot just as the lanyard of our piece was
about to be pulled. The customary dive to cover or vig
orous side-stepping took a couple of seconds, and then we
sent one straight home. Instead of the usual burst on the
outside of the wall a torrent of smoke poured from the em
brasure, and the sound of the explosion of our shell was
muffled. This shot disabled the Krupp for several hours,
and as was subsequently learned killed or wounded all but
one of the twelve men serving it. This hit was greeted by a
tremendous outburst of cheering from all the Cubans who
could see it from the lines about the town. The gun hav
ing been disposed of, we determined to go about tearing
down the fort in a systematic manner. There was one
little matter that required our attention first, however.
Although we had heard considerable infantry firing on
the south side of the town, there had not been a great deal
directed against us with the exception that the blockhouse
below us to our right front had kept up a persistent and
annoying peppering of our position. We were partially
protected from this fire by the lay of the land, but deter
mined to endure the nuisance no longer. Three shots did
the business, and sent the survivors of the garrison on a
run toward the town, we speeding them up with a shell
after they had got a good start. We were so much above

108 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
them that their trenches had been but little protection,
as we could fire right down into them.
The next shot was fired at the lower sill of the em
brasure of the Castle, and went as true as if it had been
fired at pistol range. Half a wagon-load of masonry fell
to the ground and some of it rolled down the hill slope.
This brought another outburst of cheering. From that
time we fired very slowly and carefully, planting the shots
alternately two feet to the left of and below the ever-widening
gap, until soon practically the whole corner of the fort had
been shot away, and we could see a great pile of debris on
the ground. The structure was by this time abandoned,
and so weakened that it was deemed inadvisable to waste
on it any more of our precious ammunition. So we gave
our attention to some of the blockhouses and the fortified
buildings* in the town, more as an object lesson to their
defenders than for any other purpose. During all of this
time there were occasional bursts of infantry fire against
us, and in one of them General Garcia's chief engineer
officer who was returning to head-quarters from a visit to
us was killed.
It was known that it was the general's plan to make
a night assault, but several of us now went to him and
pleaded hard and earnestly in an endeavor to induce him
to storm the ridge at once, pointing out that the Castle
was abandoned and that the men in the trenches could be
so distracted by the shells that we could send in on them
at the rate of four a minute that they could be overcome
by mere weight of numbers. It was argued that to a
certainty nearly the whole length of the ridge would be

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 109
occupied in force as soon as darkness came on, a thing that
could not be done in daylight, as our battery would be on
an extension of the left flank of a line so formed and would
rake it from end to end. The general discussed the matter
freely, but was unyielding, being convinced that the dark
ness would be of more advantage to him than to the enemy
as the assaulting line could make considerable headway
before being discovered. Furthermore, his orders had
been already promulgated and any change in them now
might lead to confusion and misunderstanding. It was a
terrible and costly mistake, but mighty few men have waged
war without making more grievous errors of judgment.
By ten o'clock the day was dragging and it seemed
that there would be but little more for us to do than at
the appointed time fire the signal for the assault. We
could hear Cox's two-pounder barking away and there
was some infantry fire of a desultory nature. The heat
was terrific, and we were suffering greatly from thirst,
water not being obtainable. Latrobe, who had remained
in the position all day though very ill from pernicious
malaria, was pretty well done for, but stuck it out. A few
yards to the left of the parapet was a tree the shade of
which was very inviting, and I went over and sat down
under it, leaning against the trunk. In a short time I felt
something bite the back of my neck and discovered that a
lot of little black ants were skurrying up and down, and
so shifted my position away from the tree a foot or two.
Not two seconds later a bullet hit the trunk at a point
where it would have gone through my body. I suppose I
should be a friend of ants, but am not.

no CUBAN EXPERIENCES
And so the hours dragged on until about three o'clock,
when, no one being on lookout, we heard the boom of the
old Krupp, and a shell passed close over us. Leaping to
our feet, we saw a cloud of smoke over the small redoubt
near the Castle. The Spaniards had removed the injured
gun from the fort after the shot entering the embrasure
had disabled it, repaired the damage and mounted it in
the small earthwork. Hot, thirsty, and hungry as we were,
we sprang to Cayo Hueso to begin anew the artillery duel.
The enemy's new gun position was infinitely better than
his first, as the piece would be shoved up so that only its
muzzle appeared over the low parapet of the redoubt, the
recoil after firing carrying it down to safety. Time and
again we tried to dismount the gun, but to no avail. It
was loaded before being placed in the firing position, so
that it was exposed for only the couple of seconds neces
sary to take aim. If we fired on the appearance of its
muzzle, which could usually be detected by means of
glasses, the gun had been fired and had recoiled to cover
before our projectile could reach it. Every one of our
shots struck the redoubt at the exact spot or landed in it
on a perfect line, and a score of times, as we saw the
Krupp's position fairly buried under a shower of earth,
we cheered wildly and congratulated ourselves on having
put it out of business. But as certain as fate in a few
moments the black muzzle would reappear for an instant
and be followed by a puff of smoke. Our gun, already be
ing loaded and aimed, would be fired, and we would run
into the open in order to be able to the more easily jump
out of the way of the shell. As our parapet had by this

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY in
time been badly battered, and all the enemy's shots were
aimed at it in the hope of dismounting our gun, the open
was much the safer place. There was one thing that im
pressed itself on our minds, and that was that side-step
ping shells from a breech-loading rifle at eight hundred
yards range was no business for rheumatics. Joyce finally
got tired of these jumps to the open and announced that he
was going to stand his ground. So when the next warning
yell came he sat down with his back to the parapet. The
shell landed squarely on the top, and burst about two feet
above his head. Joyce was fairly covered with a few
shovels-full of earth, and a couple of fragments fell in his
lap. He arose very deliberately and began to brush his
clothes, remarking in a bored way that it was no way to
treat a man who had gone to the trouble to dress neatly for
this occasion. But the next time he accompanied the rest
of us. In front of our parapet about ten feet, and just
enough to the left of Cayo Hueso's line of fire not to be
injured by its blast, stood a young palm tree about twenty
feet high. Shells had barely missed it many times, and
we had speculated on the probability of it surviving the
battle, but now its turn came, it being struck about three
feet above the ground and cut down. The shell exploded
from the force of the blow and threw fragments all over
Jones and myself, we having jumped to the left when we
saw where it was going to strike. This bootless duel
kept up until nearly dark, each gun trying in vain to dis
mount the other. The Spanish gun was quite safe owing
to its ability to kick down a slope to cover, but how old
Cayo Hueso went through that day without being wrecked

112 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
is a most unaccountable thing. Certainly fifty shells struck
or passed within fifteen feet of it.
In due time orders were received to aim the gun at the
ruins of the Castle while it was still sufficiently light, and
to fire at exactly ten o'clock. This shot, like the last one
at Guaimaro, was to be the signal for the assault. We
of the artillery had almost reached the limit of endurance
from heat, thirst, and hunger, and dragged ourselves
down to camp for a scanty meal, but not for sleep. For
there was to be no sleep for human beings at Jiguani that
night except for the poor fellows whose bodies in a few
short hours were to litter the streets of the town and the
slopes of that fatal ridge.
About half-past nine, it now being very dark, we re
turned to the scene of our grilling day's work and awaited
the appointed hour. Without exception we had fore
bodings of disaster, and well we might, for the command
ing officer of this post was the one who had made such a
game fight against us at Cascorra six months before. The
assault was to be made by about two thousand men. On
our right twelve hundred under various leaders were to
capture the blockhouses and trenches on the north side
and enter the town from that direction. The assault on
the ridge and Castle was under the general direction of
General Enrique Collazo, who had at his disposal eight
hundred men. Of these, six hundred and fifty under Au-
gustin Cebreco were to go up the side of the ridge on our
left, while one hundred and fifty under Lieutenant-Colo
nel Charles Hernandez were to assault the Castle direct up
the south end of the ridge, directly opposite the side that

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 113
we had been battering. This officer, one of the bravest and
most capable in the insurgent forces, is well known to
many Americans, having been subsequently Director of
Roads and Posts during the period of intervention. Gen
eral Collazo in person accompanied Hernandez's detach
ment. What we had feared happened. As soon as dark
ness came on half of the garrison had quietly moved up
from the town and occupied the southern half of the ridge
in a close line.
As for the last half-hour before the assault at Guai
maro, the silence after the uproar of the day was oppressive.
At last our watches marked ten o'clock. I stepped over
to Cayo Hueso and pulled the lanyard, and before the
crash had died out of our ears a shell bursting against the
walls of the Castle lighted up the ruins for an instant.
We climbed up on the parapet and strained our ears for
the first sound. For a moment the silence was absolute,
and then down to our left where Cebreco's men were wait
ing we could hear a noise like that made by a drove of
cattle breaking through brush. Then we made out a few
commands and immediately afterward heard a great roar
of yells and cries of "Adelante, Adelante, Arriba, Arriba,"
as they broke into the open and started up. In an instant
the whole south half of the ridge was lit up as if by a
thousand fire-flies, and a moment later we could make out
Cebreco's front by the flashes of the rifles of his men, as
firing rapidly and yelling like madmen they pressed up the
slope. But it was more than they could endure, and soon
they threw themselves on the ground and kept up a fire
fight with the Spaniards on the summit, two hundred yards

n4 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
above them. While this uproar was going on the twelve
hundred men on our right carried all the blockhouses on
their front and reached the shelter of the buildings of the
town. In the face of a murderous fire Hernandez rushed
his men up the south end of the ridge to within a stone's
throw of the trenches around the Castle and for seven
terrible hours held on to the position gained. We artillery
men sat on our parapet listening in awed silence to the
hellish uproar and wondering whether it would ever end.
It must be remembered that the nearly three thousand
Spaniards and Cubans using breech-loaders, the most of
them magazine rifles, could do as much firing in a speci
fied time as ten times their number armed with the muzzle-
loaders of our Civil War days. We thought that through
the din we could make out the drumming of machine-
guns, but I have never learned whether the Spaniards were
supplied with them on that occasion or not. But this
could not last forever. Cebreco's men began to give up
some of the more advanced positions they had reached
and to retire down the slope at the foot of which they were
re-formed. The fighting in the town after the Cubans
penetrated it and began to attack the barracks added to
the pandemonium of sound, and we saw flames shooting
up from houses that had been fired either accidentally or
intentionally. Although Cebreco had been repulsed the day was by
no means lost, as the insurgents had the upper hand in
the town and Hernandez was hanging on like grim death
fo the ground he had gained. And now came the disaster,
and from a most unsuspected source. A messenger from

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 115
the scouts watching the Bayamo road raced into camp
with the news that Linares's big column was close at hand
and would arrive shortly after daybreak. To be caught
as we were with all our forces scattered about the town
and with many of them inside it, would spell inevitable
defeat. General Garcia was in an agony of suspense as
to what he should do, but finally sent officers to call in all
the troops and to concentrate them at daylight at a certain
near-by point. Cebreco's men and the two thousand that
had not taken part in the assault were easily got at, and
began their march through the inky darkness. The with
drawal of the men who had penetrated the town was nat
urally a problem of great difficulty, as they had scattered
to loot or were engaged in isolated fights. The first mes
senger sent to Hernandez was killed in trying to reach him.
After waiting for hours, and wondering why he did not
come in, the general sent another, who at five o'clock in
the morning gave Hernandez his orders, and that coura
geous officer withdrew with the handful that remained
to him. Before daylight it was all over, and we brought
the guns back to the general rendezvous.
The sun rose over a sorrowful scene. Our wounded
were everywhere, the few surgeons doing what they could
to alleviate their sufferings. Our gray-haired and much-
loved chieftain sat apart with bowed head, his grief being
made the more poignant by the receipt of information to
the effect that Linares's column was still miles away, a
force of guerillas scouting on his front having in the dark
ness been mistaken for the main body, so that his with
drawal had been unnecessary. In general, the Cuban

116 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
scouting service was excellent. In nearly two years I
heard of but two false reports being brought in, and this
was one of them.
Our losses were heavy. Of one hundred and fifty
men, Hernandez had twenty-four killed and of course
many more wounded, although the proportion of killed
to wounded was unusually large because of the fact that
some of the wounded lying for hours under fire were hit
several times. His losses reached nearly seventy per cent,
but for hours that must have seemed endless he had held
his men to their work just outside the impenetrable barb-
wire entanglements and had withdrawn only under orders.
Cebreco lost twenty per cent in killed and wounded. The
losses in these two commands, combined with those of the
twelve hundred who had entered the town, brought the
total up to about four hundred, just a few short of the
losses of Lawton's division of more than six thousand
Americans at El Caney.
VICTORIA DE LAS TUNAS
Nearly six months had passed since our futile attack
on the town of Jiguani. Garcia's forces, more hungry
and more ragged then ever and considerably reduced by
battle casualties, continued to range the Departamento del
Oriente, harassing Spanish convoys and columns sent out
on operations and maintaining a sleepless vigilance about
all the garrisoned towns. The enemy had long ceased to
leave the protection of his forts and blockhouses in col
umns of less than three or four thousand men, except that
the guerillas from time to time ventured out on brief raids.

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 117
The march of nearly four thousand of us to the Bay of
Banes to meet the third expedition of the filibuster
Laurada, the fight between the Cubans and the Span
ish gun-boat Jorge Juan anchored close to shore, the
encounters with General Luque's powerful column sent
to take the expedition referred to, the blowing up by
means of a mine of a small Spanish gun-boat on the
Cauto River, resulting in the death of every one of her
crew of thirty-four, the all but successful attempt on
a transport at the entrance to the Bay of Banes, our
disastrous attack on the town of Sama, and many other
stirring events cannot be told here. Suffice it to say,
however, that this expedition of the Laurada, the larg
est that reached the island during the insurrection,
brought us a new weapon, the newly invented Sims-
Dudley dynamite gun, one Hotchkiss twelve-pounder,
one Colt's automatic gun, three thousand five hundred
rifles with nearly three million cartridges, a considerable
supply of artillery ammunition, some medical stores, and
such sundries as dynamite and machetes.
After the Bay of Banes expedition the various organi
zations of Garcia's force had scattered to their respective
districts and had engaged in minor operations against
the enemy whenever he ventured outside the towns. In
August orders were issued for a concentration in order to
attack the town of Victoria de las Tunas, in the northern
part of the province of Oriente and very near the Cama
guey line. This place was far stronger than any we had
yet attempted to take, but had the fatal weakness that the
town, which lay on a perfectly level plain, was dominated

118 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
•On the south side by a low ridge within easy artillery range.
Doubtless the Spaniards would have been glad to include
this ridge in their line of defence, but this would have made
it so long that with the garrison available it could not have
been strongly held at any one point. The garrison con
sisted of about eight hundred infantry, a detachment of
artillery with two Krupp field-pieces, and a troop of forty-
seven guerillas. This force was distributed among twenty-
two defensive positions. The outer line consisted of nine
teen fortines or blockhouses of the usual type and a large
brick building which had been a cavalry barrack, and
was known as the Cuartel de la Caballeria. This structure,
the first to be attacked, lay directly south of the centre of
the town. Inside the outer line of the defences, and at
the north-west corner of the town, was the Cuartel de la
Infanteria, or infantry barracks, a massive masonry build
ing about two hundred feet long and having extending
southward from its west end an L about sixty feet in length.
At the north-east corner of the town was the Telegraph
Fort, a two-story brick structure surrounded by a brick
wall five feet high, this wall enclosing something less than
an acre of ground. Many buildings were loop-holed, and
everywhere were trenches and barb-wire entanglements.
The insurgent organizations affected by this concen
tration order aggregated about five thousand eight hun
dred men. Of these about two thousand were held some
distance south of the town to watch the road to Bayamo,
a like number under Rabi being to the eastward to watch
Holguin, from which point relief was most likely to come.
In case a relieving column should issue from either of

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 119
these places the appropriate force was to make a delaying
fight until the other could join it. The troops that were
to make the attack on the garrison consisted of eighteen
hundred men under the direct command of our chieftain.
We had six guns, as follows: One Sims-Dudley dyna
mite gun, our old friend Cayo Hueso, two Hotchkiss
twelve-pounders, and two two-pounders of the same
make. On this occasion a dynamite gun was for the
first time to be used in war. The projectile of this weapon
consisted of a cylindrical brass case about two inches in
diameter and eighteen inches long, containing a bursting
charge of five pounds of nitro-gelatine, the whole shell
weighing ten pounds. A small charge of smokeless pow
der was used to compress the air by means of which the
projectile was expelled from the gun. The powder charge,
of course, could not act directly on this explosive, or the
gun would have been blown to atoms at the first shot.
The initial velocity of the piece was low, only about six
hundred feet per second, so that it had to be fired at a
considerable elevation for all but very short ranges. The
projectile was easily deflected by wind, so that at the longer
ranges it was difficult to do good shooting. The shell
could easily be seen in the air, resembling a swallow in
flight. Against earthworks and massive buildings the gun
was not of much use other than for its terrifying effect,
but it blew blockhouses and the weaker class of buildings
to rubbish in a few shots.
On August 27 the Cubans began closing in about
the town. The Spaniards were on the alert, and on a
couple of occasions sent shells from their battery at groups

120 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
of men who exposed themselves. On the night of that
day our artillery parapets were constructed. On the low
ridge south of the town, five hundred yards from the Cuartel
de la Caballeria and about equally distant from the Con-
cepcion fortin to the east of it, was our main position, a
parapet about sixty feet long. No head cover was made,
as we had learned from experience that it could not long
survive the blast of our own guns. The parapet was made
with the greatest care, as it was known that it would have
to withstand a very severe artillery fire. In this position
were placed the dynamite gun, the Driggs-Schroeder rifle,
and the two Hotchkiss twelve-pounders. Half a mile to
our right was constructed another battery, with two two-
pounder Hotchkiss guns to bear on some of the lighter
blockhouses. This battery was commanded by Jones,
who had with him Pennie and a number of Cubans. The
larger battery was under my personal command, and I
also did the sighting of the Driggs-Schroeder. Janney
and Devine, with a number of Cubans, had the two Hotch
kiss twelve-pounders. Four young Cubans who had come
down to the island on the Roloff expedition had been
assigned to the artillery with the rank of lieutenant. These
were Portuondo, Poey, Marti, and Sedano. The former
had charge of the dynamite gun. Joyce had returned to
the United States on leave, and so was not with us, while
Latrobe, having been appointed to the staff of General
Collazo, was in the force to the eastward, and so missed
the fight.
We all went to our respective positions early in the
night and remained there watching the construction of

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 121
the cover behind which we were the next day to fight.
When daylight came on the morning of the 28th the mists
rose slowly from the level plain on which the town was
built and disclosed a scene of absorbing interest. Five
hundred yards to our front and about thirty feet below
us lay the Cuartel de la Caballeria with its trenches and
maze of barb-wire entanglements. Seven hundred yards
beyond it loomed the masonry walls of the far stronger
Cuartel de la Infanteria. Twelve hundred yards to our
right front was the Telegraph Fort, with the main part of
the town directly in line. Blockhouses were everywhere.
There was absolute silence, and not a sign of life was to be
seen. General Garcia had established his head-quarters
on the reverse slope of the ridge about sixty yards to
the right rear of our position. Colonels Menocal and
Garcia remained the greater part of the day in the battery.
At last the former gave the word to open on the Cuartel
de la Caballeria. The guns had been already loaded and
pointed, and to the dynamite gun was given the honor of
leading the ball. There was no little uneasiness as to
what would happen when this uncanny weapon was fired,
and there was not much of a tendency to stand too close
to it. When the lanyard was pulled the gun gave what
sounded like a loud cough, and jumped a little. We were
in some doubt as to whether it had gone off or not, but
looking toward the Cuartel de la Caballeria saw a most
astounding spectacle. A section of the brick wall was
blown in, making a hole large enough to have admitted
a good-sized truck, while the sound of a dull explosion was
borne to our ears. A cloud of dust and fragments of the

122 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
wall rose fifty feet in air and descended in a shower on
the roof. We raised a great cheer, which was taken up
and re-echoed by our people all about the town. For the
moment we stood so spellbound and exultant over the
results of this shot that we all but forgot the other guns,
but only for the instant. The dust was still settling down
over the scene of the explosion when every man rushed
to his place, and the other three guns crashed out,
making a wall of smoke in front of our position. Then
we heard the cracks of Jones's two-pounders to our right.
In no time the battle was fairly on. From the various
forts and blockhouses came a crackling sound that soon
swelled almost to a roar, and in less than a minute a
big puff of smoke rose from a gun-pit about two hundred
yards beyond the Cuartel de la Caballeria and a little
to its right, and almost instantly a shrapnel burst in
front of our parapet, showering it with fragments and
bullets. Then came a puff of smoke and a boom from
another pit near the first one, and a second shell barely
cleared our heads, bursting a few yards to the rear. For
the time we paid no attention to the enemy's guns, but
continued to fire on the cavalry barracks. While the
shells from our rifled breech-loaders made very respecta
ble holes in the walls, those from the dynamite gun created
havoc, every shot blowing quantities of bricks and roofing
tiles high in the air. Very wisely, the garrison had vacated
the building after the first shot, and now from the trenches
around it maintained on us a hot and persistent fire. The
barrack having been wrecked in short order, there was
nothing to be gained by a further bombardment of its

To the dynamite gun was given the honor of leading the ball

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 123
ruins, and we aimed at the trenches with the double pur
pose of throwing shells into them and of breaking up the
wire entanglements immediately in front. Our elevation
above them made it comparatively easy for us to burst
shells right in the trenches, and as we were using so many
guns, and at so short a range, the Spaniards could not keep
up firing and save themselves by squatting down on the
flash of a gun. The result was that we fairly smothered
the fire of the hundred men in those trenches, and turned
our attention elsewhere. All of this time we were being
pelted by shells as fast as two Krupp breech-loaders
could be served. Shells were bursting all about us, and
occasionally one would wreck a portion of the parapet. I
hope it will not be taken as unseemly boasting, but as
stating an absolute fact, when I say that far from feeling
any uneasiness we were as cool as cucumbers, and con
sidered that we were having the time of our lives. But
it had taken participation in a good many stiff fights to
bring us to such a state of mind. Above the noise of our
fight we could not now hear the reports of Jones's guns,
but could see the puffs of smoke from them as they en
gaged the Telepraph Fort and the blockhouses in its
vicinity. Shortly after our fight had begun it had de
veloped that the weeds on our front were interfering with
the sighting of the guns. I considered cutting them out
of the way a soldier's and not an officer's job, and called on
several of the rank and file, but they were so slow in re
sponding that Janney ran out into the open and with his
machete did the work, utterly oblivious of the bullets and
shells that were coming in thick arid fast. At this time

124 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
something went wrong with the breech mechanism of one
of the Hotchkiss twelve-pounders, and for the time being
we were reduced to three guns in the main battery. The
enemy's guns must now be attended to, or we would soon
have no parapet left, and there was much uneasiness lest a
shell should strike the dynamite gun while it was loaded
and blow up the whole battery and everybody in it. So
we switched our fire from the trenches around the cavalry
barracks to the gun-pits, but as soon as the shells began to
strike around them both pieces were dragged out of action
and hidden behind near-by buildings. To our right front,
and distant only five hundred yards, was the Concepcion
blockhouse, the garrison of which had with a strange fatu
ousness remained inside the structure instead of taking to
the trenches, and were firing rapidly from the port-holes
of the lower story. • But their time came quickly. The
dynamite gun was dragged from behind the parapet in
order that it could be brought to bear, and careful aim
taken. When it gave its characteristic cough we saw the
projectile sail gracefully through the air and strike the
blockhouse squarely in the centre. The shell penetrated
and burst inside, killing every one of the sixteen defend
ers. The structure was all but demolished, portions of
the roof being blown a hundred feet in air.
One of the few Americans serving with the Cubans,
and not attached to the artillery, was Joseph Napoleon
Chapleau, who had the rank of lieutenant-colonel. As
his name would indicate, Chapleau was of French descent,
and he had all the characteristics of his race. He was
volatile and dashing, and had made a reputation for dare-

The Battle of Jiguani

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 125
devil exploits. The Americans whose service under Gar
cia antedated mine knew him well, but I had not met him
until the Bay of Banes campaign. On this occasion he
was with some infantry just to our right. When he saw
the disaster to the Concepcion blockhouse he took his cue
and waited for no orders. With about fifty men he rushed
it under a hot fire from the trenches around the cavalry
barracks. There was not room for all his men in the
trenches, and so Chapleau and some of them fought on the
outside, exchanging shots with those who now opened on
them from several positions. Chapleau himself, using a
rifle and encouraging the men with him, received a wound
that cut a blood-vessel in his neck. He was brought back
under fire and attended by a surgeon attached to General
Garcia's head-quarters. The general with his staff was
only a short distance to the right rear of our battery, and
as soon as it was learned that Chapleau had been brought
in wounded I stepped over to inquire as to his condition.
There I saw the general and his staff, standing uncovered
and with bowed heads, while the blood gushed in torrents
from the wounded man's throat, drenching the surgeon
who was attempting in vain to stop its flow. Chapleau,
perfectly conscious, was muttering, "It is finished," "It
is finished," "It is all over," his voice growing gradually
weaker until his head sank down on his breast, and another
brave man had died a soldier's death. The scene just
described is such a one as we have all seen on the stage in
melodramas and military plays, and have always thought
overdone and unreal. But within a stone's throw was a
battery in action, and as Chapleau sank into the last sleep

126 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
with the silent and uncovered men about him, the last
sounds he heard were the booming of its guns and the
crackle of the Mausers and the whistling of their bullets
while the wisps of smoke blowing back from the battery
gave a setting that could not be had on any stage.
The men who had taken the Concepcion blockhouse
held on to it until the end, although under heavy fire from
time to time. The fast work had heated our guns until
I believe eggs could have been fried on their barrels, and
it was necessary to suspend fire for awhile, this being
feasible as we thought we had scared the Krupp guns
out of the fight. Our parapet was badly shattered and
at one end nearly demolished, but was still serviceable.
The only thing that had saved us was that the enemy had
used shrapnel as well as common shell, and these former,
often bursting by means of time fuses in front of the para
pet, had done it but little damage. While we were resting,
allowing the guns to cool and taking stock of the wreckage,
to our great surprise the Krupps reopened on us from a
new position somewhat in rear of the old gun-pits, and
we went for them in a hurry. Portuondo landed a shell
from the dynamite gun squarely under one of them.
The explosion killed every man serving the piece and
completely wrecked it, shattering the carriage and one
wheel. After the surrender we examined this gun with
the greatest interest. One peculiar fact was that the
minute fragments of the thin brass case that contained
the bursting charge had been blown into the steel barrel
so hard that they remained there and made it look as if it
had been inlaid with gold. The other gun "dusted" for

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 127
cover before we could hit it, and a little later fired several
shots from the streets, but never more than one from the
same place. Finally it was removed to a pit near the
Telegraph Fort, and from time to time fired on us until it
met its fate from old Cayo Hueso. We now began to
take shots at the various forts and blockhouses, giving
every one two or three in order to get the ranges of all,
and then deliberately destroyed several of the latter. It
was now discovered that the dynamite gun could not be
depended on for work at over nine hundred yards range, as
its velocity was not sufficient to make it accurate. Several
shots from it fired- at the Telegraph Fort fell on the roof of
the hospital, which was in direct line, and, as we afterward
learned, created a panic among the sick and wounded.
At this juncture some one called attention to what seemed
to be a white flag flying from the roof of one of the build
ings of the town. By a mere coincidence the Spanish in
fantry fire died down at the same time. Captain Cardenas
of the staff mounted his horse, and holding aloft a white
flag rode into the town, passing within a few rods of the
wrecked Cuartel de la Caballeria. Cardenas was allowed
to enter unopposed, and upon inquiring as to the meaning
of the flag found that no one had seen it until he pointed it
out. It was discovered that a Chinese shopkeeper, hop
ing that the emblem of his country might save him from
our shells, had hoisted this work of art, which was a black
dragon on a white ground. The trouble with his flag
was that it was very old, and the dragon had washed out
to such a degree that it could be detected only by minute
inspection. The Spanish commander had it hauled down

128 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
at once. The officers crowded about Cardenas and in
quired as to the nature of the terrible bombs that were
being thrown against their defences, and were told that
they were from a dynamite gun. It seems that they had
never heard of the weapon. The Spanish commander
took advantage of this interview with Cardenas to ask
for permission for all the women and children to leave the
town. This was granted, and all firing was suspended
until the sad procession of a hundred or more, weeping
and wailing and wringing their hands, had passed over
the ridge just to the right of our battery, at which they
cast frightened glances. They were the families of Span
ish residents and of the guerillas. It was a sight to un
nerve the best of us.
We now fired slowly and carefully at the two strongest
positions, the Cuartel de la Infanteria and the Telegraph
Fort. The walls of the former were too strong for our
shells, which burst on the outside, though we managed to
do damage by landing several on the roof. The latter
was exceedingly hard to hit except on its upper portion
because of the hospital being in direct line. The remain
ing Krupp now opened on us from excellent cover and a
well-screened position near the Telegraph Fort, and did
good shooting, the gun detachment evidently being cooler
than they had been while fighting at the shorter ranges.
To dismount this gun had to be the work of the Driggs-
Schroeder, as it was beyond the range of the dynamite gun
and better shooting would be required than could be done
with the Hotchkiss twelve-pounder. I aimed a number
of shots very carefully, and though every burst seemed

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 129
to be right on the spot, it would be only a moment until
another flash would presage the coming of a shell. It will
be recalled that at Jiguani we had taken pride in our abil
ity to get out of the way of the shells from the Krupp used
there, but these guns were of much higher velocity. At the
ranges at which they had been fought earlier in the day the
shell would follow the flash so quickly that one scarcely
had time to move, but now at twelve hundred yards one
could dive to cover if he lost no time. Immediately after
sighting Cayo Hueso I had been climbing part-way up on
the parapet to the windward of the smoke to observe the
effects of my own shots. Whenever in this position I
saw the flash of the enemy's gun I would yell "Down!"
and would drop into one of the short ditches with the
others. Finally I took a foolish notion that this getting
down with such haste looked undignified, and that I
would do no more of it. So when the next flash came I
gave the warning cry and stood my ground. A couple of
seconds later I was literally hurled backward through the
air for fifteen or twenty feet, landing on my head and
shoulders and being half buried under earth and poles, and
at almost the same instant heard the explosion of the
shell. I heard Menocal cry out, "My God, he is cut in
two!" and a second or so later was half drowned under
a deluge of filthy water. Colonel Garcia had picked up a
bucket containing the water in which the sponge used in
swabbing out one of the guns from time to time had been
dipped, and had poured it over me. About a year ago I
inquired of him as to the object of this well-meant atten
tion, and was informed that it had been the only thing

1 30 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
handy, and that water is always good for people. This
having been the color and something like the consistency
of printers' ink, I certainly was not a very inspiring object
when helped to my feet, and was not fit to appear in polite
society without a change of raiment and a bath. The
shell had pierced the parapet about two feet from me, and
had burst some twenty feet beyond. But my revenge was
coming, and in about two shots more the offending gun
was dismounted and the enemy left without artillery.
It was well on in the afternoon of a wild and stirring
day when Menocal told me that the trenches around the
cavalry barracks were to be assaulted and that the guns
would support the attack until the last moment. Owing
to the close and accurate work required, the dynamite gun
could not be used, but Janney took one of the Hotchkiss
twelve-pounders and I the Driggs-Schroeder. The assault
was to be made by the Victoria Regiment, and was to be
led by Colonel Carlos Garcia of the staff. This organ
ization, about three hundred strong, had lain all day in a
shallow draw two hundred yards in front of us and three
hundred from the position to be attacked. For hours
the shells of the artillery duel had swished only a few
feet over their heads. For a few moments we shelled the
trenches as rapidly as the guns could be served. I heard
some one cry out, "There they go!" and saw two lines
of men emerge from their cover and rush toward the front,
yelling like madmen and firing with great rapidity. The
next moment was certainly the most intense in the lives of
any of us serving the guns. The slightest mistake might
result in landing a shell among our own people. I know

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 131
that, inured as I was to scenes of war, I fairly shook with
excitement, and kept saying to myself, "Keep cool, keep
cool." In a very short time the charge reached the maze
of entanglements. Our shells, plunging at the rate of
three a minute from each gun into the trenches, were de
moralizing the defenders to such an extent that they could
do but little firing, but from a trench on its right the at
tacking regiment was brought under a hot flank fire at
seven hundred yards range, and suffered severely. A
number of the officers having been shot down, and it
seeming impossible to get through the entanglements,
some confusion arose. The men began to bunch up
and lie down. Of course our shells, barely clearing their
heads and bursting thirty yards in front of them, did not
add to their equanimity. It looked as if the gallant at
tack must fail, and that it was only a question of draw
ing out those who could be saved from the wreck, when
Menocal and two other officers of the staff mounted their
horses and at a dead run rode into the charge, actually
coming within thirty or forty yards of the trenches before
their horses all went down killed and Menocal had his
leg shattered. But the other two officers, with Colonel
Garcia and those of the regiment, rose to their feet and,
with cries of "Al machete," rushed into the barb wire. The
men followed their lead, and with their machetes began
to hack frantically at the wires, and in a few moments
had cut their way through. We had continued our artil
lery fire until this time, but now were glad to cease. The
Spaniards took advantage of the opportunity to escape
while the Cubans were getting through the entanglements,

132 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
and under cover of the ruins of the building reached the
town, and were distributed among the other defences.
They had left behind a very considerable number of killed
and wounded.
All of us Americans, in common with many of our
Cuban comrades, were suffering from a very severe form
of malaria, and took it as a matter of course that about
every other day we were to go through the racking expe
rience of a burning fever with its accompanying delirium
and the depressing chill in which it seemed that every
man was trying to shake his teeth out. At this juncture I
felt mine coming, and knew that in a short time I must
be unconscious and delirious, and so turned the battery
over to Janney, and led by my faithful orderly, fifteen-
year-old Sergeant Cecilio Betancourt, stumbled back to
the head-quarters camp, distant half a mile. During my
ravings, while imagining I was another person, I could
hear a long-continued roar of infantry fire punctuated by
cannon shots. Finally came the welcome unconsciousness,
and when I awoke late at night there were no people near
except Sergeant Betancourt and my striker, Juan Gon
zalez. About ten o'clock I felt able to mount my horse,
and riding back to the artillery position found that all the
guns were gone. A few men who happened to be in the
vicinity informed me that they had been taken into the
town. We rode down past the ruins of the Cuartel de la
Caballeria, making inquiries from persons encountered en
route, and I finally rejoined my command. The roar
heard during my delirium was occasioned by the Spanish
sortie, made in an attempt to retake the works lost and

^

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 133
probably with the intention, if successful, of sweeping over
the artillery position. The attack had been repulsed after
severe fighting. There was more or less desultory firing
going on all of the time, the Cubans having loop-holed a
number of the houses to facilitate their operations against
those of the Spanish works that had not yet been taken.
The whole force of insurgents, with the exception of those
men stationed to escape on the north, were now in the
town in the shelter of the houses. The capture of the
cavalry barracks and the Concepcion blockhouse had
opened the chain of defences on the south side, and the
insurgents in making their entry had taken by assault a
number of the blockhouses adjacent to these two works
on either side. So there had arisen a peculiar situation,
in that the remaining defences, which included two of
the strongest works, were to be attacked from the inte
rior of the town instead of from its outside.
There would be no use for the guns until morning, so,
hungry, tired, and sick, we sank down on pavements or
on brick floors to get what rest we could. The only one
of us artillery officers hit during the day was Lieutenant
Francisco Sedano, killed late in the afternoon.
With the breaking of day on the 29th we began pros
pecting for positions from which to attack the remaining
forts. The strongest work was the Cuartel de la Infanteria.
Its masonry walls were three feet thick, loop-holed, and
defended by two hundred men. The main business street
of the town could not be crossed by us, being swept by
the fire of this work at one end and by that of the Tele
graph Fort at the other, so that in our operations we were

134 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
confined to the south half of the town. No building could
be found from which a fire could be delivered that would
strike the walls of the big barracks at right angles, so we
were obliged to content ourselves with a warehouse dis
tant from it one hundred and fifty yards, but so situated
that our shells would strike the walls at an angle of thirty
degrees, a most serious disadvantage, as much of the force
of their blows would be lost. The ammunition of the
Driggs-Schroeder was nearly exhausted, and as it was
thought best not to try to use all the guns, embrasures
were made for two, the dynamite gun and one of the
Hotchkiss twelve-pounders. The latter had to be made
very large, as the barrel of the piece was not long
enough for the muzzle to clear the wall, which would
have been shattered by the blast. The guns had to be
dismounted to get them through the doorway, but by ten
o'clock were in position. The protection was the best we
had ever fought behind, we being perfectly safe from in
fantry fire except for such bullets as might come through
the port-holes. But we had a sneaking fear lest the enemy
had another Krupp up his sleeve. If he had, it would
have been over with us in short order, as the walls of the
warehouse could have been breached very quickly. The
breaking through of the port-holes for our two guns had
been the signal for a hot fire from the line of loop-holes in
the great barrack which loomed up across two vacant lots.
We kept under cover and allowed this spurt to die out
and then gave it to them. I had had a small observation
port-hole cut for myself, and saw the two projectiles
strike. The Hotchkiss shell glanced from the wall and

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 135
then burst. That from the dynamite gun made a ter
rific explosion, but the result was about the same as would
be caused by throwing an egg against a house. There
was a fine spatter and nothing else. Not a stone was dis
placed by either shot. But the moral effect of the ex
plosions of the nitro-gelatine bombs was in time to do the
work. The defenders of the building poured such a fire
against our embrasures that the greatest care had to be
used in serving the guns. Immediately on being dis
charged each piece would be dragged out of danger,
loaded, and carefully run into position again. A mo
ment's respite in the fire would give the few seconds
necessary to take aim. On the smooth concrete floor the
Hotchkiss cut the most astounding antics. In spite of
brake ropes it would recoil clear to the opposite wall, and
once turned over and bent the sight, which we had got
into the bad habit of not removing for each shot. And so
it went on all of a long, tiresome, and dreary day. From
illness and hunger and as a result of the exhausting work
of the preceding day, we were in a half-dazed condition,
and could keep on our feet with difficulty. Yesterday had
been my day with the fever, and to-day some of my com
rades took their turn, and sank on the floor to let it work
its devilish will. For the several reasons given our fire
was exceedingly slow. During the day we got in twenty-
eight shots from the dynamite gun and about forty from
the Hotchkiss. The most of our fire had been concen
trated on certain spots in the hope of weakening the wall,
but to no avail. Several of the stone columns in front
of the building were shattered, and toward the last some

136 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
shells from the dynamite gun, landed on the roof by
most careful aiming, had terrified the defenders by show
ering them with tiling and broken timbers. Devine, be
coming disgusted with the work of the artillery, borrowed
a Mauser and spent an hour or two at a loop-hole of
his own, sharp-shooting at those of the enemy. More or
less infantry fire between the Spaniards and Cubans at
other positions had taken place during the day, but at no
time reached any great volume.
At last night came again to give us some rest and
sleep, and we stretched ourselves on the hard floor. About
ten o'clock it seemed that the Spaniards in the barrack
had been struck by some sort of a panic, probably believ
ing that the Cubans were about to assault, and opened a
terrific fire. This was taken up by the Telegraph Fort
and the uncaptured blockhouses. This stirred up the
Cubans, and they began to reply, and for an hour or two
both sides kept up a most shocking waste of ammunition.
We of the artillery listened to the uproar for awhile, and
then went to sleep in the midst of it.
When daylight came again the fight had lasted forty-
eight hours, but the end was near at hand. Very early in
the morning a soldier had escaped from the cuartel and
brought to Colonel Menocal the information that he was
an emissary from his comrades, who had come to the con
clusion that they had reached the limit of human endur
ance. They were in sore straits from hunger, thirst, and
fatigue, and their nerve had been completely shattered
by the' explosions of the nitro-gelatine bombs. The com
mander and the other officers would fight to the end, but

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 137
if he would take possession at daybreak they would throw
down their arms. It was evident that they were not made
of the stuff of the defenders of Cascorra or of Baler in the
Philippines. But they knew the situation to be absolutely
hopeless, and did not propose to be sacrificed to save the
honor of their officers.
The sun had not yet risen when a few officers, includ
ing Janney and myself, left the warehouse and walked
into the open. We felt a bit ticklish as we approached
the grim line of loop-holes, but no flash came from them,
and at a run we went over the mound of earth protecting
the great gateway. The door swung open and the hag
gard and wasted men, barely able to stand, threw down
their arms, while their officers looked on in helpless aston
ishment. But they accepted the inevitable, and made no
resistance. I was so hungry that I had pretty nearly lost all regard
for the proprieties, and made a quick run for the kitchen,
a Spanish soldier showing me where the officers' provisions
were kept. The first thing I found was some sausages in
cans, and cutting one of these open by one blow of my
machete, began to get at the contents in the most primi
tive way imaginable. I saw two Spanish officers looking
at me with disgust plainly evident on their features, but
feeling sure that I would never meet them socially, went
on appeasing my hunger.
During the night the insurgents had penetrated the
north part of the town by running a trench six feet deep
across the main street, swept by the fire of the two strongest
works, and swarming into the houses had opened fire on

138 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
the two blockhouses occupied by the local detachment of
guerillas. The defenders of these two positions saw the
fall of the Cuartel de la Infanteria, and knew that it was
only a question of time until the deadly dynamite gun from
the shelter of near-by houses would blow their flimsy
blockhouses to bits. They were in a terrible position, as
they could not expect the quarter given the Spanish regu
lars. Their captain came out to ask what terms would
be given them. The laconic reply was, "The same that
you have given the helpless wounded in our hospitals."
It was merely a choice of the form of death, so they
marched out, threw down their arms, and to their credit
met their fate with courage. They were cut down with
the machete. It was a shocking spectacle, but it was
retributive justice if there is such a thing, for these men
had never known what mercy was. Other blockhouses,
garrisoned by regulars, now gave up one by one, and at
eight o'clock only the Telegraph Fort held out. Its brick
walls would quickly yield to our artillery, and Menocal and
I went to select a gun position. This was found in the
residence of the surgeon of the garrison, a brick building
directly across the street.
And now occurred a lamentable tragedy. Lieutenant-
Colonel Angel Guardia, only twenty-four years of age, had
obtained some liquor from one of the looted stores, and
had taken several stiff drinks. Tired and famished as he
was, the stuff had gone straight to his brain and con
verted him into a madman. He walked boldly out into
the street within fifty feet of the walls of the fort, began
flourishing his machete and cursing the Spaniards, telling

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 139
them that they had murdered his father in the Ten Years'
War and that he wanted nothing better than to get at them.
The unfortunate man's comrades called to him and begged
him to come back. The Spanish officers pleaded with him
to return, stating that they did not wish to kill him. But
he was lost to all reason. Finally a sharp command rang
out from behind the brick wall, fire spurted from the loop
holes, and the poor fellow fell riddled with bullets. He
was the last man killed at Las Tunas. It speaks well
for General Garcia's sense of justice that he did not hold
the commander of the Telegraph Fort to account for this
incident. We of the artillery, gathered in the parlor of the resi
dence of the surgeon, breached the wall from the inside
and looked through at our expected target, distant only
sixty feet. Men had been sent to bring up a gun, and
while we were waiting Captain "Barney" Bueno of the
staff sat down to the piano and played the "Bayames,"
"Yankee Doodle," and the "Washington Post March."
A lot of our men were sprawled about the floor looking
at the pictures in some French periodicals. Outside there
was still some exchange of rifle shots. The Spanish com
mander knew that we had him in a trap, and rather than
have his men uselessly slaughtered, hauled down his flag,
and at nine o'clock the fight was over, having lasted with
out cessation for fifty-one hours. To say that we were
glad of the end but mildly expresses our feelings.
It was a good piece of work, the best the Cubans ever
did. They had gone at the thing right, pressed every
advantage, hung on like grim death, and made no serious

140 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
mistakes. We had captured two Krupp guns, both dis
abled, with some ammunition for them, fifteen hundred
rifles, there having been stored in the town a number in
excess of the needs of the garrison, more than a million
cartridges, some real food, and, most precious of all, seven
hundred and fifty pounds of quinine. The day was spent
in resting and sleeping and the night in feasting and re
joicing. Salvador Cisneros, the aged president of the pro
visional republic, with his cabinet, had arrived from Cama
guey during the siege, and we artillery officers had the
old patriot to dinner as our special guest. Our cooks out
did themselves in getting up a fine meal from some of the
captured food supplies.
For a couple of hours in the afternoon we roamed about
the town admiring the havoc wrought by our shells. The
streets in places were littered with timber, brick, and
tiling, while shell fragments were everywhere. Our guns
standing in the street were surrounded by Spanish officers,
who took the most interest in the dynamite gun. They
were a fine, game lot of fellows, and were generous enough
to express a high opinion of the service of our artillery.
It is a pleasure to state that they and their men were well
treated. It was impossible for the Cubans to feed them,
and the Spanish authorities would recognize no parole
given to the insurgents, so they were marched to near-by
garrisons, turned in under the flag of truce, and in a short
time were in the field against us.
General Garcia showed his appreciation of his artillery
officers by promoting all of them one grade, so that I be
came a lieutenant-colonel, the highest rank I held in the

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 141
insurgent service. Our first sergeant was a negro as
black as night. He was a brave and faithful fellow and
had long ago deserved promotion in the organization in
which he had served, but our chief had feared that we
Americans would resent such action. But Las Tunas
settled it with us, and we went to the general in a body and
said we would be glad to have him as a fellow-officer. He
was glad to comply, and it was my pleasant task to sur
prise the gallant soldier by handing him his commission
as second lieutenant.
After so many years I cannot give the losses suffered
by both sides. They were very considerable, but not ex
cessive, so much of the fighting having been under cover.
Naturally the Spaniards got the worst of it, owing to the
effects of artillery fire on some of their flimsy defences.
They had about two hundred killed and wounded.
The end was still nearly a year in the future, when
American intervention put a finish to this destructive war.
How it would have terminated had it not been for inter
vention is a question which it is about as futile to discuss
as it is to waste words over the old controversy as to
whether our own forefathers would have won their fight
for independence without the assistance of the French.
Had the Spaniards succeeded in carrying out all over the
island the policy of concentration of the Cuban population
which they were able to enforce in certain districts, it is
quite possible that in the course of time the war would
have ended owing to the extermination of the people.
After the cattle had been destroyed we in the field were

142 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
dependent for subsistence on what could be raised by the
thousands of women and children cultivating small patches
of ground far back in the woods, where the Spanish troops
seldom went. But Spain, too, was fast being worn out
by the drain on her resources, and there were at home
mutterings of revolution. In Havana and Matanzas prov
inces the insurgents in the field were pretty well used up
and were being chased from pillar to post. In Pinar del
Rio and Santa Clara it was about give and take, while
we of the eastern two provinces of the island had the
decided upper hand, and if we wanted a fight had to look
for it.
Owing to the not very efficient assistance rendered our
army by the insurgents during the Santiago campaign,
there has grown up among our people an idea that they
never did any fighting to amount to anything and that
their efforts were bent entirely to the destruction of prop
erty. There were two things that the insurgents did
especially well, one being their scouting and the other the
keeping of records. After the close of the war a commis
sion of which Maximo Gomez was president revised the
rolls of the army, and after long and patient investigation
made its report. This shows that from first to last 53,744
individuals served in the insurgent forces as officers or
men. Once incorporated in this force, so far as a native-
born Cuban was concerned, there was no getting out
except by death, desertion, or absolute disability. The
few foreigners in their service could quit whenever they
wished. The result of this holding every man to service
was that the great majority of them were in the field until

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 143
the end. It is estimated that at the time of the interven
tion there were still about 35,000 actually under arms. Of
the total number serving in the war, 3,437 died of disease
and 5,180 were killed in action or died of wounds. As
to these latter, their names, the organizations to which
they belonged, the engagements in which they were killed
or mortally wounded and the dates thereof, are to-day in
the files of the national archives at Havana, and cannot
be disputed. The killed and died of wounds of the land
forces of the United States, as taken from official records,
in four of our wars were as follows: War of 181 2, 1,877;
Mexican War, 1,721; Spanish War and Philippine insur
rection, in round numbers, 1,300 — a total of 4,898. It is
difficult from data that I have consulted to segregate the
losses in the last two wars named, for the reason that a
number of organizations suffered losses in both wars and
I have never seen any table which separates, for instance,
losses suffered in fighting the Spaniards in the Philippines
and in the same organizations fighting the insurgents a
few months later. For the Spanish War, however, the
battle fatalities were approximately 300 and for the Philip
pine insurrection 1,000. So we arrive at the astonishing
fact that not quite fifty-four thousand Cubans in three
years of war had more battle fatalities than the several
hundred thousand Americans who fought in the four wars
named. Could anything more be said on that subject ?
There are no data to show the battle losses in the American
Revolution, but no one who is reasonably familiar with
the history of that struggle believes that anything like
five thousand men were killed in action or died of wounds

144 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
in that war. It is not that there were any great battles
in the Cuban insurrection, for there were not; but for
that matter neither were there in the other wars named.
There were no engagements in the Cuban insurrection of
the magnitude of Bemis Heights or the Brandywine, and
no siege to compare with Yorktown, but there was almost
no limit to the number of encounters that in numbers en
gaged and in casualties exceeded many of the engagements
of that war, the names of which are familiar to every
American school-boy. For swift marching and almost
continuous fighting there was nothing in the American
Revolution that approached Maximo Gomez's great march
of more than six hundred miles from east of the Cauto
River to the very environs of Havana, striking column after
column of Spanish troops sent to intercept him. There
was more fighting on that one march than in our whole
War of 1 812. Throughout the whole struggle it was the
vast number of engagements in which from five hundred
to four thousand men were engaged on either side that
finally made up that fearful percentage of casualties,
almost unprecedented in modern wars.
There were many faults on both sides, so far as the
conduct of the war was concerned. The Cubans did not
take full advantage of the great superiority that their
mobility gave them, and having won a success they seldom
followed it up properly. They took poor care of their
arms, wasted ammunition in battle, and too often were
not dependable under fire. One of their chief faults was
that one never knew just what they were going to do.
At times they would go to pieces with no reason, and at

A DEFEAT AND A VICTORY 145
others stand up to their work manfully and fight splen
didly. The Spanish soldier was brave, patient, and by no
means the inhuman brute that he has been made out to
be, but he had little heart in the war and was always
getting yellow fever and other undesirable things. The
Spanish strategy was all wrong. They tied up in the
garrisoning of unimportant towns and trochas tens of
thousands of men who had better have been left in Spain.
If they had held only a few places on the coast as bases
of operations, and had covered the country with fifty
thousand mounted troops, they would have kept us on the
jump. But their ponderous columns of infantry, ham
pered by transport, wore themselves out in aimless marches
along the main roads, to find finally that the Cubans were
all about them, shooting into the column front, flank, and
rear, only to desist when they thought they had had
enough of it.
I believe that fair-minded Americans who will famil
iarize themselves with the history of Cuba's two great
struggles for independence and consider the tremendous
sacrifices made by the people of the island will want to see
the young republic endure. I am sure that is the attitude
of the few of their countrymen now surviving who shared
with the patriots the dangers, the hunger, and other pri
vations of the final struggle.
A pleasant sequel of my own service came a few years
ago when I was the guest of honor at a banquet given in
Havana by my old comrades of the revolution. The pres
ent Cuban minister to the United States, General Carlos
Garcia, was toastmaster, and at the table were eighty-one

146 CUBAN EXPERIENCES
former insurgent officers, one of them being the present
president of the republic. Sixty-five had been old com
rades of the Departamento del Oriente. It was hard to
realize that those well-groomed men in evening dress were
the worn and wasted men who had led the Cubans at Cas
corra, at La Machuca, and many another good fight, and
had stormed the ridge at Jiguani and led their men through
the wire entanglements at Victoria de las Tunas; or were
the same comrades, always kindly and considerate, who
in the grim days of hunger always saw that the American
mambis got their share when food strayed into camp.
That one evening of reminiscence and good-fellowship
was pay enough for it all.

PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT
Temporarily broken in health, I had returned to
the United States from Cuba early in 1898, and was at
my old home in Kansas, enjoying the companionship of
family and friends, and doing my best to obliterate the
memory of lean days in the "bush" by a generous patron
age of everything in the nature of real food. The Maine
had already been blown up, and the country was full of the
rumblings of the approaching war with Spain. To the
last I doubted whether it would really come to a clash,
having in mind several cases within my own recollection
when we had apparently come to the verge of war, but in
which the matters in dispute had been settled without re
course to arms. But the clamor of the yellow section of
the press and the deliverances of politicians playing to
the galleries so inflamed public sentiment that the hand
of the administration was forced, and we were in for a
sharp and short little war, with its sequel in the form of a
more protracted and far bloodier struggle in the Philip
pine Islands.
Although my health had been quite restored by the
time of the outbreak of hostilities, I had but very little
hope or expectation of participating in the coming war, as
I was without friends or acquaintances among those high
in official life in Washington, and took it for granted that
149

1 50 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
in filling the quota of my own State the governor thereof
would utilize as far as possible the existing organizations
of the national guard, of which I was not a member. The
governor of Kansas, John W. Leedy, was one of those who
had come into power as the result of recent victories of
the Populist party. He was a man of many admirable
and sterling qualities, but immovably stubborn, once he
had made up his mind on any proposition. He had two
pet aversions, the regular army and the national guard,
rather unfortunate prejudices for one upon whom was
to be thrown the responsibility of organizing several regi
ments for possible active service. On a visit to Topeka
several weeks before the declaration of war, I had met
Governor Leedy, and had had a very pleasant interview
with him. He was much interested in my accounts of
fighting between Spaniards and insurgents in Cuba and
in descriptions of conditions on the war- wasted island.
When the President issued to the governors of the various
States his call for volunteers, Kansas was asked to fur
nish three regiments of infantry of about one thousand
men each. Under a subsequent call there was organized
a two-battalion colored regiment, and three hundred re
cruits were provided for each of the three existing regi
ments. Immediately upon the issue of the first call,
Governor Leedy sent me a telegram requesting that I
come to Topeka at once. Upon reporting, I was informed
that he had determined to ignore the national guard or
ganization of the State, building three new regiments from
the ground up. Members of the national guard could
enter these organizations as individuals. I was to be

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 151
named as colonel of one of the three regiments. I pro
tested against the expediency of a policy which I thought
might keep out of the service a number of officers and
men who had had at least the rudiments of military train
ing, and further stated that while I had seen much cam
paigning and no little fighting, my service had been in a
force in which drill or other training was a practically
unknown quantity. I felt that the instruction of a regi
ment made up largely of absolutely raw material should
be under the direction of one who knew at least something
of infantry drill. But the governor told me bluntly that
he had not sent for me to hear my views, as he had some
of his own. If I did not take the regiment he would give
it to Mr. So and So. I knew that I could not be a worse
colonel than the man named, and accepted. With all
due respect to my excellent friend, the former governor, I
think he was taking some pretty big chances in his rather
off-hand way of selecting officers. Mr. Edward C. Little,
a well-known lawyer of the State, formerly United States
consul-general to Egypt, and at the time private secretary
to the governor, was chosen lieutenant-colonel. He had
had no previous military experience. As the regiment, al
though one of three battalions, was to have but two majors,
the lieutenant-colonel was to command a battalion, and,
of course, the regiment in case of the absence or disability
of the colonel. The majors were Frank H. Whitman, a
second lieutenant of the Second United States Infantry,
who had graduated from the Military Academy two years
previously, and Wilder S. Metcalf, colonel of one of the
now disbanded national guard regiments. John A. Rafter

1 52 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
was surgeon, with the rank of major, while Henry D.
Smith and Charles S. Huffman were assistant surgeons,
with the rank of captain. John G. Schliemann was chap
lain. All of the above-named served through the cam
paign in the Philippines with the regiment. William H.
De Ford and L. C. Smith were adjutant and quartermas
ter, respectively, with the rank of first lieutenant. Both
resigned before the regiment left for the Philippines.
The field and staff officers included in the above were
sent separately to twelve different towns to recruit the
various companies. There was no dearth of applicants
for enlistment, the recruiting officers being fairly over
whelmed with them. If a town had a national guard
company its members had precedence in enlistment, so far
as they could meet the physical and other requirements,
but had to come in as privates, regardless of whatever
rank they may have held in their old companies. After
them came applicants in general, and the companies were
soon filled to the authorized strength. The regiment as
it existed before the second call brought some three hun
dred recruits, was about one thousand strong, and included
in its roster about three hundred former national guards
men and sixty former soldiers of the regular army, the
balance being men without any military training whatever.
Company officers were chosen by the indefensible system
of having the men elect them. However, the results on
the whole were more satisfactory than would have been
anticipated. In a town where a national guard company
existed the officers thereof were usually chosen for the
corresponding grades in the new company, with the result

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 153
that the captain in selecting non-commissioned officers
largely chose those of his old organization, so far as these
had enlisted. Three of the officers were veterans of the
Civil War, and two were former enlisted men of the regu
lar army, while a considerable number had seen service
in the national guard. The remainder were without any
previous military experience, but some of them by virtue
of hard work and natural aptitude became highly efficient.
Taking the officers of the regiment through and through,
some of them after a few months' service were as capable
in the performance of their duties as the average regular
officer of corresponding grades, others were of rather
mediocre quality, and a very few were not worth the pow
der it would take to blow them up. Three of them were
killed in action and ten others wounded. I never knew
of one of them showing the slightest "yellow streak" un
der fire, though some of them brought occasional discredit
on their uniform by personal misconduct. In due time I
found out that the best way of getting rid of an officer who
was attempting to establish a reputation as the regimental
"cut up" was to prepare a carefully written set of charges
covering such of his antics as had come to light, and at
the same time his resignation from the service, the latter
lacking only his signature. An invitation to call at my
tent and read both papers usually resulted in making the
latter document complete and ready for transmission to
the War Department. It should not be inferred, however,
that all resignations were forced, as several officers left
the regiment in that manner with perfectly clear records.
The rank and file of the regiment consisted in the main

i54 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
of an especially fine body of young men. Naturally there
were among them some with physical or moral defects,
but a process of elimination by one method or another
had rid us of the most of these before we took our place
on the fighting line, nine months later.
While the various companies were being raised, Gov
ernor Leedy had telegraphed an inquiry to the War De
partment as to whether the Kansas regiments would be
supplied with uniforms before leaving the State or after
reaching the concentration camps. The reply was to the
effect that as soon as Organized they would be sent to Fort
Leavenworth for immediate equipment. Warm weather
had already set in in Kansas, and winter clothing had been
packed away in moth balls. It would have been most
uncomfortable to wear it at that season, and it was not
desired to have the men placed under the necessity of re
turning their civilian clothing to their homes by express.
So instructions were issued for all of the men not provided
with national-guard uniforms to leave their homes with
clothing that they would be willing to throw away in a
couple of weeks. The result was that about seven hun
dred men of my regiment reached Topeka clad in a fear
ful and wonderful aggregation of seersucker coats, linen
dusters, and "ice-cream" trousers, and for weeks they
shivered in these garments on the fog-drenched and wind
swept sand lots of San Francisco. It was a shocking and
cruel blunder, costly in the lives and health of not a few
of them. And the fault did not lie with any one in Kan
sas. It is not pleasant to write these things, but the Span
ish War is now as much a part of history as is the Civil

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 155
War and one is under no obligation to assist in covering
up anything connected with it. With the War Depart
ment conducted as in .recent years it would be impossible
for such a thing to occur.
The companies of the regiment to be were sent to
Topeka as soon as recruited, and, in common with those
destined to form the other two regiments, went into camp
on the State Fair grounds, State tentage and other equip
ment being used. Kansas had had nineteen regiments in
the Civil War, and in numbering those raised for the Span
ish War the same sequence was followed, my regiment
becoming the Twentieth Kansas. The muster into the
service of the United States, an impressive ceremony,
took place on the 13 th of May. The only officers and
men provided with uniforms being those who had come
from the national guard, I was still in "cits," and conse
quently on the day of muster-in played a part in a rather
ludicrous incident. I was staying at a Topeka hotel, and
on going out to the camp to participate in the ceremony,
was halted at its boundary by a sentry in the national-guard
uniform, who informed me that visitors were not allowed
within the limits of the camp. I replied somewhat icily
that I was the colonel of the regiment. The sentry was
a very tall man, and altitude has never been one of my
charms; so the man bent his head until his mouth was
within a couple of inches of one of my ears, and, as a most
engaging grin overspread his features, whispered, "Try
the next sentry. He's easy." And he was so stubborn
and immovable that the officer of the guard had to be
called before I could join my command. The man's face,

156 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
when he saw what a break he had made, was a study.
The recollection of incidents of this kind is one of the
many things that make life worth living.
On a visit to Fort Leavenworth a short time before the
declaration of war, I had met Colonel Hamilton S. Haw
kins, United States Army, who a short time later was to
render such gallant and distinguished service as a brigade
commander at the battle of Santiago, and had told him
something about conditions as they had existed in Cuba
a few months before. Colonel Hawkins had written a
letter to the War Department suggesting that it would
be worth while to send for me in order to obtain such
information as I might be able to give relative to the
strength, etc., of the insurgents in that part of Cuba in
which I had so recently served, and the distribution and
approximate strength of the Spanish garrisons in the
same region, as well as other data that might prove use
ful for our army, about to campaign in a country of
which we really knew but very little. The result was
that a day or two after the muster-in of the Twentieth
Kansas, I received a telegraphic order to proceed at once
to Tampa, and report upon my arrival to the commanding
officer of the troops being concentrated there. Arriving
at my destination, I reported to General Shafter, and
was turned over by him to Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur L.
Wagner, intelligence officer attached to his head-quarters.
This officer questioned me thoroughly on all points, and
made copious notes, and after several days had succeeded
in pumping me pretty dry. I doubt if any of the in
formation obtained from me was ever of any value, ex-

As a most engaging grin overspread his features, whispered,
"Try the next sentry. He's easy."

His blouse decorated by a bouquet that would not have
shamed a debutante at her coming-out ball

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 157
cept that as to general conditions, as I was not familiar
with the country in the immediate vicinity of the city of
Santiago, the scene of the only campaign. Had it been
otherwise, I am of the opinion that the data as to roads,
rivers, and the practicable crossing-places thereof, as
well as other information on local conditions, which had
been given in such detail, would not have been utilized.
General Shafter seemed to regard me with suspicion, while
General Miles, who had in the meantime arrived, was
very courteous, but neither officer seemed to care to talk
with me as to conditions on the island, and I had too much
self-respect to give unasked-for information. This was
the attitude of the higher officers generally, a number of
whom I met, but it was different with those of lower rank,
bright and capable men, enthusiastic over the fact that they
were going to their first war. One could scarcely answer
their questions fast enough. Years afterward, when I was
stationed in San Francisco, in command of the Depart
ment of California, and General Shafter, then on the re
tired list, was living in the city, I came to know him quite
Well, and we were good friends. But I never mustered
up sufficient courage to ask why I had made such a poor
impression on him at Tampa. He was a blunt man,
and might have told me. In the meantime I had learned
that my own regiment had been ordered to San Francisco,
and as it was not "then known that land forces would be
sent to the Philippine Islands, I supposed that to be its
finish, so far as any participation in the war was concerned.
I therefore indulged myself in a hope that I might be
sent to Cuba on detached service with the Fifth Army

158 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
Corps, and be able to render some service on account of
my knowledge of the country. But General Miles, who
was then commander-in-chief of the army, took a differ
ent view of it, and very properly stated that, as a colonel,
my place was with my regiment, and directed me to join.
I am, of course, now heartily glad that he did so. For
the reasons stated above, I could have been of little or no
use in the Santiago campaign.
Proceeding direct to San Francisco, I found my regi
ment in tents at Camp Merritt, in the western suburbs of
the city. The department commander, General Wesley
Merritt, had his head-quarters in the city, while General
Elwell S. Otis was in command of what was known as the
Independent Division of the Eighth Army Corps, the force
of about ten thousand men, mostly volunteers from the
Western States, at Camp Merritt, and lived at the camp.
The Twentieth Kansas had been assigned to the brigade
commanded by General Charles King, the well-known
soldier and writer, the other two regiments in the brigade
being the First Tennessee and the Fifty-first Iowa. The
Independent Division at Camp Merritt was really a
"feeder" to the troops now being sent to the Philippines
to take part in the land campaign against Manila, each
regiment, as soon as its equipment and training made it
serviceable, being sent out on one of the expeditions that
from time to time left the port.
My first duty after joining was to pay my respects
to the brigade, division, and department commanders in
succession. As General Merritt was soon to leave for
Manila, and as from the nature of things I was not brought

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 159
in close contact with him, my acquaintanceship with that
officer was limited to one or two brief interviews. We
young officers, knowing of General Merritt's achievements
in the Civil War, in which he had commanded a division
before reaching the age of thirty, stood in considerable
awe of him, though there was nothing in his manner to
inspire fear, as he was very kindly and courteous to all of
us who met him. General Otis was of a somewhat different
type. While always civil, he was a very reserved man,
and an indefatigable worker, who took upon himself the
decision of all sorts of minor matters,* ordinarily left by a
general officer to the members of his staff. One would
about as soon think of cracking a joke in his presence as
of trying to pull his beard. It should not be inferred that
he was of the pompous type, for he was anything but
that, being a most simple and unaffected man, though
without the saving grace of humor. We were most fort
unate in our brigade commander, General King, who
was, as he still is, a captain on the retired list of the regu
lar army, having been compelled to leave active service
some years before because of a very severe wound received
in the Indian wars. He had returned to active service
with the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers. Though
his retirement dated back to 1879, he had kept closely in
touch with military matters and was thoroughly up to
date. General King's temperament was peculiarly suited
to his task of commanding a brigade of raw volunteer
troops, and directing their training. His keen eye took
in every defect and noted every improvement. In the
former case the needed correction or admonition was

160 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
made in a way that left no sting, he never being either
brutal or sarcastic. His readiness to encourage or to
praise stirred all to put forth their best efforts.
The location of Camp Merritt was in some respects
most unfortunate, especially for those who, like so many
members of the Twentieth Kansas, had not yet been sup
plied with warm uniforms. Chilling fogs and cold winds
make San Francisco's summer climate anything but com
fortable except for those who have been properly prepared
for it, and the camp was located at the extreme western
limit of the city, within a mile or so of the beach, where
the winds had full sweep. I have seen the fog so dense
that one could with difficulty see from one flank to the
other of a company in line. Everywhere was sand, sand,
sand, deep and fine, blowing into tents, getting into the
food, and making itself generally an unmitigated nuisance.
Several car lines furnished easy access to the heart of
the city, and the camp was naturally at all times overrun
with swarms of visitors, not only from San Francisco, but
from all over California, while venders of fruit, candies,
and pastries, who could not be kept off the public streets
running through the camp, made officers responsible for
the health of their men long for an open season as regards
these particular pests. San Francisco was then, as it is
now, a gay and beautiful city, there being nothing just like
it in the whole country. The people are proverbially
hospitable, and laid themselves out in those days to give
the soldiers in their midst a good time. The most of the
men of the Twentieth Kansas were from the farm or from
small towns, and the life and gayety of the city seemed

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 161
quite to overwhelm them, so much so, in fact, that there
was from the start too much of an idea that they were out
on a magnificent lark, instead of for the serious purpose
of training for war. It would have been vastly better
from the stand-point of the health and general well-being
of the men, as well as from that of their training, if the
camp had been somewhere along the coast line of the
Southern Pacific, anywhere from ten to thirty miles south
of San Francisco. There would have been found ideal
conditions as to climate, while the appreciable distance
from the attractions of a great city would have been es
pecially desirable, as well as relieved us somewhat from
the crowds of sight-seers. In that region there would
have been available for extended order drills and field
manoeuvres thousands of acres of diversified country, in
stead of our being confined for such work to the limited
area of the Presidio reservation, a mile or two from the
camp, where there was great difficulty in deploying and
exercising in battle tactics a force larger than one regiment,
and where we always had to work over practically the
same ground. With all its disadvantages, one thing, how
ever, could be said for Camp Merritt, and that was that
the water supply was ample and convenient, the mains
of the city system running through the entire camp.
The three hundred recruits raised for the regiment
under the second call had arrived at about the same time
I did, and brought its strength up to nearly 1,400, officers
and men, a force equal to many of the brigades that fought
in the Civil War.
I found on arrival that considerable progress had been

1 62 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
made in the elementary training of the regiment, princi
pally in guard duty, the manual of arms, and company
drills in close order. A few battalion, but no regimental,
drills had been attempted. In this preliminary training
of the regiment the services of Major Metcalf were invalu
able, his energy, tact, and comprehensive knowledge of
the drill regulations making him indispensable. For my
self the struggle was a hard one, as to me the drill regu
lations were Greek. From previous experience in war I
knew mighty well that I could march and fight a regi
ment if the opportunity arose, but realized that we could
not hope to be given a chance for field service until we
could go through the complicated movements of regimental
drill in close order and take part in reviews and parades
without tying ourselves into a hard knot. Parades and
reviews are non-essentials in war, but are in a measure
valuable in the preliminary training of troops, while some
of the simpler movements of regimental close-order drill
are often quite necessary before actual deployment in ex
tended order for fighting.
It was not long after my arrival that those of the men
of the regiment who had not uniforms were able to dis
card the fearful and wonderful assortment of old summer
clothing that they had brought from Kansas, and appear in
something that was at least warmer. At the breaking out
of the Spanish War there had been in the country but a
small quantity of the blue cloth from which all military
uniforms were then made, the demand for it under nor
mal conditions being very limited, so that large quantities
of cloth of proper weight and texture, but not of the desired

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 163
color, were obtained and dyed, and then made into uni
forms. The spectacle the troops made after the dye be
gan to fade, which it did in a few weeks, would have been
laughable if it had not been so maddening to those most
concerned. But the new clothing was warm, and answered
a good purpose until it could be replaced by better.
In due time came the Fourth of July, and of course
the whole Independent Division had to turn out for a
parade through the streets. Owing to the prevailing un
certainty as to whether we were going to the Philippines
or whether we were to remain for an indefinite time in
San Francisco, none of the officers of the regiment re
quired to be mounted had purchased horses, but hired
from livery-stables those needed at drills. I had, after
a few hair-raising experiences, got one brute so that he
would not turn a somersault or execute a waltz every
time a band struck up or a body of troops came to "order
arms," and expected to use him at this formation. But
he had suddenly become lame, and the stable sent out
to me on that never-to-be-forgotten morning a handsome
black animal with arched neck and ugly eye. The regi
ment had formed prepared to march in column through
the streets the several miles to the foot of Market Street,
where the parade was to start. I mounted with some
difficulty, and the band broke forth into a lively air as the
regiment stepped out. That horse quivered in every limb
for an instant and then bolted. I might as well have
tried to hold a cyclone. In front of the tent that was my
home was a large fly, and under this the animal went,
and I was ignominiously scraped off in the presence of

164 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
some thirteen hundred grinning and delighted patriots.
Right there I became an ardent admirer of the soft and
bottomless sand that passed for ground at Camp Merritt,
and considered myself lucky also that I had not been
impaled on my sabre. In his struggles the horse tore
down the tent fly and was with some difficulty got out
from under it. All the way down to the starting-point of
the parade he cavorted, danced, and threatened to bolt,
but the real trouble began after the parade had formed
and the thousands of men, filling the wide street from
curb to curb, and with the blare of many bands, swept
up Market Street. The hoodlum men and big boys had
unrestrained license. They were well supplied with fire
crackers, and the helpless officers on their horses were
from their stand-point fair game. The police were use
less, and might as well have been so many cigar-store Ind
ians. The clubbing of these miscreants would have been
a positive pleasure to any right-minded man. The whole
thing was a disgrace to the city. My horse, probably the
worst in the lot, became wild with terror after half a dozen
"cannon" crackers had been exploded under him, and
charged and reared from one side of the street to the other,
often endangering the lives of people on the sidewalks.
One big ruffian, having made a bad throw, lit another
large cracker, and under the very nose of a policeman ran
out into the street and tried to throw it under my horse.
Right then and there murder came into my heart, and I
made a hard and conscientious effort to kill him. Of
course, I was carrying my sabre, and at the proper in
stant cut at him with all my strength. Only a quick

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 165
jump backward saved him from death or a severe injury,
as the point of the blade passed within six inches of his
throat. I deeply regretted my failure, and would have
been willing to take my chances with any American jury
as to the outcome. I have seen too many good men go
down to death to have had any more compunctions about
killing a hoodlum of that type than over despatching a
savage dog. Before the parade had ended my left arm
had become so exhausted from efforts to control the mad
brute that I was riding that I was compelled to sheathe
my sabre in order to take the reins in my right hand.
Finally the ordeal was over. I have been in but few
battles in which I would not rather take my chances than
to repeat the performance.
Time passed pleasantly enough for the next few weeks.
The days were filled up with drills and other duties, but
our evenings were free, and the theatres and restaurants
of the city gave ample opportunity for relaxation ; besides
many of us had had opportunities of meeting socially very
agreeable people. There are no other people in the coun
try just like the San Franciscans. They are in a class
all by themselves, and can certainly do more things to
make pleasant the stay of the stranger within their gates
than the people of any other American community. Ma
nila had not yet fallen, and expedition after expedition
sailed from the port, taking the various regiments from
Camp Merritt as their training and completeness of equip
ment justified. There was much chafing and disappoint
ment in Jie Twentieth Kansas as the regiment was time
and again left behind, but the large percentage of untrained

1 66 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
men in it was a handicap not to be overcome in a few
short weeks. General Merritt sailed for the Philippines,
shortly to be followed by General Otis, the former being
succeeded as department commander by General H. C.
Merriam, while General Marcus P. Miller succeeded Gen
eral Otis as commander of the Independent Division. I
had been pretty much impressed by the somewhat austere
demeanor of General Otis, and when I went to pay my
respects to his successor, approached his tent with some
misgivings, supposing that all division commanders were
necessarily alike. When I entered, saluted rather stiffly,
and announced the object of my visit, General Miller
looked up, and, as a kindly smile overspread his features,
said, "Well, well. So you are a colonel, are you? Sit
right down on this box and tell me how anybody came to
make a young chap like you a colonel ? " He talked to me
a long time in a fatherly sort of way, and told me to come
and see him any time that I felt blue or discouraged. He
was one of the kindest and most considerate of men, and a
mighty good soldier, too.
One thing about the chill summer climate of San
Francisco is that people soon become accustomed to it,
and learn to enjoy it, and this with the fact that the regi
ment had been supplied with suitable clothing made life
in camp much more agreeable. Under the watchful eye
of General King the regiment made satisfactory progress
in its training, and soon began to have regimental drills.
When I gave a command I flattered myself that I had a
voice that would reach from one end of the regiment to
the other, but at first could not always tell whether the

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 167
move had been properly executed or not. One day Gen
eral King mentioned to me the fact that my regiment did
not seem to be as spry as some others in turning out the
guard to do the required honors to officers entitled to them,
and requested that I give the matter attention. It should
be explained for the benefit of readers not familiar with
military matters, that turning out the guard for an officer
consists in the sentry at the guard-house, or structure which
does duty as such, calling out as the officer approaches,
"Turn out the guard — general officer," or whatever other
it may be for. The members of the guard at the guard
house, which means all not at the time on sentry duty,
fall into ranks under arms, ready to be inspected. On
returning to the regimental camp after this conversation
with the brigade commander, it occurred to me to ascer
tain if the sentry then on duty at the guard tent, which was
just inside the entrance to the camp, knew what to do and
how to do it in that respect if the occasion should arise.
In response to an inquiry as to what he would do if the
brigade commander should approach his post, he said
he would turn out the guard. This was quite satisfac
tory, but further questioning developed the fact that he
was not sure whether he knew that officer by sight. I
briefly described General King, and further said that he
had two rows of gilt buttons on his blouse and always
rode a big, bald-faced sorrel, and then went into my tent,
little dreaming of what was to follow. I had scarcely
had time to remove my sabre when I heard the deep voice
of this same sentry bawl out, "Turn out the guard — gen
eral officer." I stepped out of the tent to greet the new

168 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
arrival, and was inwardly congratulating myself on having
primed this particular sentry in time, when to my horror I
saw Captain James G. Blaine, Jr., the adjutant-general
of the brigade, mounted on General King's bald-faced
sorrel. The guard was forming in commendable haste,
and Captain Blaine seemed so overcome by the unex
pected honors thrust upon him that he forgot to call out,
"Never mind the guard," the only way to untangle the
mess. After dismissing the guard, I strode over to the
unfortunate sentry in righteous wrath, and said, "What
in thunder did you do that for?" The man replied in
tones of sorrow, "Well, I knew that must be the horse,
but I forgot to look for the buttons."
The hospitable ladies of San Francisco were contin
ually sending out to the various camps contributions of
cakes, pies, and other articles of food not included in the
ration. This was very commendable on their part, but
I would have done almost anything to be able to put
a stop to their benefactions without mortally offending
them, as one of the essential things connected with the
training of troops is to get them used to the army ration
and have them satisfied with it. This ration is, and was
then, ample and nutritious, but men were not going to
eat it if all of their storage capacity was taken up with
sponge-cake. One officer tried to remedy the matter, so
far as his own company was concerned, by himself eating
its quota, but gave up when there seemed no end to the
supplies of this nature. Flowers were often sent to us,
and these did no harm except on one occasion. I was
going the rounds of the camp to see if the sentries were

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 169
on the alert, when to my horror I espied one of them,
Private John M. Steele, calmly walking his post with his
blouse decorated by a bouquet that would not have shamed
a debutante at her coming-out ball. At the same time I
saw General King coming from the opposite direction,
and at such a distance that we would certainly meet op
posite the flower-decked sentry. Regulating my voice so
that the sentry would hear me and the general would not,
I called out frantically, "Steele, take that damned thing
off. Take it off, I say," repeating this command with
appropriate trimmings several times. The rattled Steele
jumped about, apparently uncertain whether I wanted
him to take off his blouse or his trousers, and finally
wound up by coming to "present arms" to General King
and myself alternately. The general passed on with a
look more of sorrow than of anger, and in a few moments
the floral decorations were scattered on the sidewalk.
In time most of the regiments at Camp Merritt had
sailed for the Philippines, and our brigade was moved to
a much more desirable camp site on the Presidio reser
vation. On August 5 General King himself sailed for
Honolulu, to proceed later to the Philippines, and I,
ranking by a few days the commanders of the other two
regiments, succeeded to the command of the brigade, but
at the same time retaining command of my own regiment.
At the Presidio we had target practice and many battle
exercises with blank ammunition, and the men began to
get a mild foretaste of what a battle is like as the ad
vancing companies rushed forward, throwing themselves
prone at every halt, their front thick with smoke, while

170 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
the roar of the old Springfields drowned all commands, and
could scarcely be pierced by the shrill notes of the bugles.
Finally came the news that the Spanish War was over. It
seemed that all our work had been for naught, and ex
cept that we entertained a vague hope that we might have
a short tour of garrison duty in either Hawaii or the
Philippines, looked as if we might as well be mustered
out. Under the circumstances it was no easy matter to
keep up interest in the daily round of drills and instruction.
But it was all to be for the best, for when the regiment
finally saw service in a different war than the one for which
it had been enrolled, the long, dreary months of training
counted, and it knew its business. Another advantage
derived from the long delay was that before sailing we had
rid the regiment of a considerable number of men who
were physically not up to the mark or who were in various
ways unsuited to the service. The resignations of the
regimental adjutant and regimental quartermaster, both
of whom felt compelled to leave the service for personal
reasons, left two important vacancies which were filled
by the designation for those positions of Lieutenants
Charles B. Walker and Walter P. Hull, both of whom
proved highly efficient. One captain was mustered out,
and a second lieutenant resigned. These vacancies, after
the necessary promotions had been made to fill them, re
sulted in the promotion from the ranks of four of the most
capable non-commissioned officers, while the resignation
of another second lieutenant just before sailing brought
up another man from the ranks. One of the first sergeants
promoted was Clad Hamilton, now a well-known lawyer

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 171
of Topeka and member of the State senate. Without
previous military experience, he had enlisted as a private,
made himself so proficient by study and hard work that
in a few weeks he was first sergeant, and was finally
mustered out of the regiment a captain. Edward J.
Hardy, another of the first sergeants promoted at this
time, developed into a dare-devil sort of scout, and also
came home a captain. The promotion of the regimental
sergeant-major, Frederick R. Dodge, made a vacancy in
his position that was filled by the promotion to it of Cor
poral Cassius E. Warner, who was destined to be mus
tered out with the regiment as its adjutant. A man who
can go out as a corporal and come home regimental adju
tant can look back to his military career with no small
satisfaction. During the fighting in the campaign up the
railroad from Manila I always kept Warner, who was still
sergeant-major, at my side, and used him as a highly
intelligent orderly, one who could remember a message
given him and transmit it correctly. We went through
it all unscathed until Santo Tomas, when we were hit
within two seconds of each other, and in exactly the same
place. It was a queer, almost uncanny, coincidence.
October came, and found us still at the Presidio going
through the daily grind of drills. Hope of going to the
Philippines or anywhere else had practically been aban
doned, and we were expecting the order to return to Kan
sas for muster-out, when we were electrified by the order
to sail for Manila on the transport Indiana on the 27th of
the month. During our stay in San Francisco I had met
Miss Eda Blankart, of the near-by city of Oakland, and

1 72 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
we were married on the 25th of the month. This is by
all odds the smartest thing I ever did in my life.
At last came the great day, and the Indiana, bearing
the head-quarters and the second and third battalions of
the Twentieth Kansas, and cheered by a great throng,
pulled away from the wharf and started on the eight
thousand miles' journey to Manila. Nobody supposed
that we should ever see any fighting, as it was thought
that our duties would consist in helping to sit on and hold
down the "little brown brother" for a few months; so
that the transport carried as passengers the wives of Major
Whitman, Captain Buchan, Chaplain Schliemann, and
Lieutenant Haussermann. Mrs. Funston was not ready
to sail, and followed on the Newport, which left on No
vember 8, carrying among other troops the first battalion
of the regiment. The voyage of the Indiana was without
incident, but was broken by a pleasant stay of four days in
Honolulu. Kansas has a law, enacted during the Civil
War, to the effect that members of military organizations
raised by the State may participate in State elections, even
though they be at the time outside its boundaries. Bal
lots had been received before sailing, and election day
finding us at Honolulu, the Hawaiians had their first
object-lesson in civil government under the American flag,
the voting booths being erected on the wharf alongside
the transport. A rather amusing incident was the attempt
of one captain to compel his whole company to vote the
Populist ticket.
As darkness was settling down on the night of Novem
ber 30 we passed Corregidor Island, at the entrance to

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 173
Manila Bay, and at midnight the engines of the Indiana,
that had never ceased their throbbing since we had left
Honolulu, three weeks before, were still, and we were
anchored off the big city. Going ashore the next day,
I paid my respects to General E. S. Otis, commander of
the Pacific Division and Eighth Army Corps, and was in
formed that my regiment would not disembark for some
days, as there was doubt as to what command it would be
assigned to. In about a week we were assigned to the
First Brigade of the Second Division, and ordered to
disembark. The head-quarters of the regiment and the
second battalion were quartered in a large building in the
Binondo district, and the other two battalions in other
buildings in the Tondo district, the first battalion having in
the meantime arrived on the Newport. Our brigade com
mander was General Harrison Gray Otis, the well-known
editor and owner of the Los Angeles Times. He was not
a regular officer, having come in for the Spanish War with
volunteer rank. He had served through the Civil War
in the same regiment with President McKinley, and had
made an excellent record. He should not be confused
with the corps commander, General E. S. Otis. I be
lieve they were not related. Our division commander,
Major-General Arthur MacArthur, had been in the regu
lar army ever since the close of the Civil War, in which
as an officer, while but little more than a boy, he had
especially distinguished himself. He had commanded a
regiment in that war when he was twenty years of age,
and had been awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry
at the storming of Missionary Ridge. At this time he was

i74 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
a lieutenant-colonel in the regular army, his commission
as a major-general being in the volunteer forces.
General MacArthur's division, consisting of the bri
gades of Hale and Otis, furnished the details for a strong
line of outposts covering the city on the north and north
east. All of the regiments of this division were quartered
in the buildings of the city, with the exception of the First
Nebraska, which was in camp at Santa Mesa, on the
extreme right of the division's line. The First Division,
Eighth Corps, Major-General T. M. Anderson com
manding, covered the south side of the city, its right
resting on Manila Bay and its left on the Pasig River,
directly opposite the right of the Second Division, which
swept in a curve to the west and north-west for about
five miles, its left resting on the marshes and sloughs
that cut up the shore line immediately north of the
city. The extreme left of this line was assigned to the
Twentieth Kansas, the line to be guarded by it extend
ing from the salt marshes on the left to the line of the
Manila-Dagupan Railway on its right, where it con
nected with a battalion of the Third United States Ar
tillery, eight hundred strong, serving as infantry, under
the command of Major W. A. Kobbe. The regiment kept
about seventy men on outpost duty day and night, these
covering a front of about six hundred yards. Close in
front of them were the sentries of the insurgent Filipinos,
who faced the American line through its entire length.
The Twentieth Kansas outpost line was intersected at
right angles by a wagon road and the tramway connecting
Manila with the suburb of Caloocan. The wagon road

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 175
was lined on both sides with nipa houses, each surrounded
by trees and garden, so that the view to the front was much
obstructed. Appropriate orders had been issued to the
effect that regimental commanders should at all times
have their respective commands in readiness to move out
at short notice in case of trouble to support the outposts
of their regiments. We had not been many days in Manila
when we realized that there was something a great deal
more interesting than garrison duty ahead of us, it being
the almost unanimous opinion of officers who had been
on the ground for some time that unless we got out of the
islands in a short time a clash with the numerous, trucu
lent, and well-armed forces of the so-called Filipino Re
public was inevitable. The only question seemed to be
as to when it would start and how. The most stringent
orders had been issued to the American troops to the
effect that they should bear insults and threats in silence,
and under no circumstances take things into their own
hands. It was the evident intention to lay the onus of
starting the trouble on our opponents, a plan which
worked out all right, as the Filipinos began soon to take
our forbearance for fear, and brought on themselves a
swift and terrible retribution.
The various regimental commanders of the division
were detailed in turn as division officer of the day, their
duties being to inspect carefully the entire line of outposts
and report any lack of watchfulness on their part. These
rides, which came to every one of us in six days, were most
interesting, and I always looked forward to them with
the greatest anticipation. One could not help being im-

176 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
pressed with the formidable lines of intrenchments that
sheltered the Filipinos at nearly all points opposite our
line. Incidents showing their aggressive spirit and desire
to start trouble were not lacking. One morning while I
was officer of the day a Filipino soldier strolled over to one
of the sentries on the outpost of the First South Dakota
and asked the man for a cigarette. As the Filipino was
unarmed, the American was somewhat off his guard, and,
as he started to search his pockets for the desired smoke,
was terribly cut across the face by a bolo which the ruffian
suddenly drew from under his clothing. Though blinded
by his own blood, the plucky soldier managed to settle the
score then and there, fairly blowing the man's head off
with a short-range shot with his big Springfield. I came
along on my tour of inspection a short time later and saw
the man lying where he had fallen. He looked as if he
had been struck by a shell. There was one thing to be
said for those old Springfields that the volunteer troops
were armed with, and that was that if a bullet from one
of them hit a man he never mistook it for a mosquito bite.
On one occasion a large force of Filipino soldiers engaged
in drill advanced on the outpost of the First Montana.
The sentries of the latter fell back on their supports, and
the trouble came within an ace of starting right there,
instead of several weeks later. These are but sample
incidents. It was a condition that could not last long.
Unarmed Filipino soldiers were allowed to come through
our lines to visit the city, and occasionally Americans were
allowed to go through their lines. It occurred to some
of us that turn about was fair play, and as a number of

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 177
the " enemy," as we already considered them, had passed
through the outposts of the Twentieth Kansas, one day
early in January, Lieutenant-Colonel Little, Major Met
calf, Captains Bishop and Boltwood and myself mounted
our Filipino ponies and set out up the road toward Caloo-
can. Riding through our own line, we presented ourselves
to the Filipino post a hundred yards beyond and requested
that we be taken before the officer of the day. This func
tionary was found about half a mile up the road, and in
reaching him we passed over the ground that we were to
charge over on that never-to-be-forgotten 5th of February.
We gave our swords and revolvers into the keeping of the
Filipino officer and proceeded on our way a short dis
tance beyond the town of Caloocan, passing within a
stone's throw of the church that we were to take by assault
on February 10th. The knowledge of the ground that we
were so soon to fight over obtained on this trip, as well as
information as to the location and strength of the insur
gent trenches, proved of no little value.
Major and Mrs. Whitman, Major Metcalf, and Mrs.
Funston and myself had started up house-keeping in a
very passable house in the Binondo district. Our orderlies
slept in the same building, and the horses were in a
stable in the court-yard. On the night of February 4 we
had just retired, and I was not yet asleep when Major
Metcalf pounded vigorously on the door and called out,
"Come out here, Colonel. The ball has begun." I
scarcely realized at first what he meant, but hastily slipped
on a few clothes and came out into the hallway. Metcalf
conducted me to a window, and asked, "Did you ever hear

178 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
that racket before ? " And sure enough, from a little
north of east, floating over the house-tops of the great city,
came the distant rattle of the Mausers. There was no
mistaking it, and we realized that a war had begun. As
the preliminary rattle swelled into a great roar, there were
excited voices in the streets, rapid closing of doors and
windows, the sound of people running through the streets,
and then the city became almost as quiet as death. In
the meantime our orderlies had been awakened and were
saddling our horses in frantic haste. We dressed hastily,
said hurried good-bys, and in a few moments were gal
loping through the silent streets to the regimental head
quarters. The men of the various companies were al
ready dressing and falling in. It was plain to be seen
that their condition was one of suppressed excitement.
But as they heard the ominous sound borne to their ears,
I will warrant there was not one of them who grudged the
dreary months of drill at San Francisco. It all seemed
well worth while then. Getting onto the roof of the build
ing I could make out that the fighting was entirely along
what we knew as the "north line," that is, the front of
the Second Division. The First Division did not become
involved until daybreak. We were just ready to march
out when the telegraph instrument in the building clicked
out the order from the brigade commander to proceed at
once with two battalions of the regiment to support our
own outpost line, the other battalions to be for the time
being left in the city as reserve. So we swung down the
Calle Lemeri, the second and third battalions, in column
of fours. As we made our way to the northward through

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 179
the darkened streets we could hear firing directly on our
own front, and knew that our own outpost must be con
tending against great odds. The commander of the out
post, Captain Adna G. Clarke, now a captain in the regu
lar army, and the officer on duty with him, Lieutenant
A. H. Krause, had taken prompt steps as soon as they
had heard the firing break out on the front of the First Ne
braska, miles to their right, and were alert and ready for
business with the full strength of the outpost, some sev
enty men, when the Filipino fire, gradually extending to
the westward, struck them. Sheltering their small detach
ment as well as the conditions would permit, they replied
with vigor, directing their fire toward the flashes of the
enemy's rifles. Of course, this sort of fire fight in the
darkness is not very productive of casualties, and by the
time the main portion of the regiment had arrived only
one man had been hit. In the meantime the nearly a
thousand of us were coming along at a fast walk. Al
ready the spiteful bullets from the enemy's Mausers were
enlivening the air overhead with their peculiar popping
noise, or striking the roofs or sides of the nipa shacks.
The men of the regiment were strangely silent as they
trudged along listening to the sounds' made by these mes
sengers of death. It was a new world for all but a few
of them. As we were coming up in rear of our own out
post, of course no advance-guard was necessary, and a
small group of us officers were riding just a few yards
ahead of the column. Just as we reached the tramway
car barns there was a tremendous boom half a mile or
more to our front, and a couple of seconds later some-

180 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
thing struck the ground a few rods ahead of us, bounded
into the air, passed overhead with a loud "swish," trav
ersed the length of two companies, and then, with a
sound like a young cyclone, demolished two or three nipa
houses. It was a bit amusing the way the front half of
the regiment all but prostrated itself as the big round
shot passed overhead, though such action was the most
natural thing in the world. During the night and the
next day this gun fired thirty-eight shots at us, causing
no casualties, though there were a number of narrow
escapes. It was captured a few days later standing by
the railroad round-house at Caloocan, and proved to be
a bronze, muzzle-loading siege-gun of the type of sixty
years ago. Its projectiles were spherical cast-iron shell,
not loaded, so that in effect they were solid shot. Only a
bend in the street, which caused the shot to be a few feet
to one side of the column when it struck the second time,
saved the regiment from a terrible disaster, as had it
ploughed its way through the six rear companies of the
two battalions in column it could scarcely have killed or
disabled fewer than a hundred men. By all the rules of
the game, being now under artillery fire, we should have
formed line in order to minimize the effect of a projectile
striking the regiment, but the maze of fences and houses,
not to speak of a slough, or estero, a short distance ahead,
which would have to be crossed at the bridge, made such
action impossible. There was nothing to do but to
double time and as quickly as possible get to the compar
atively open country where we could deploy. The com
mand was given and forward we went at a good, swinging

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 181
trot. Another boom, and a second big shot came tum
bling and bounding along, but was a few feet to the right
of the street, and so did not give us so close a call as the
first one. By the time the third one came we had cleared
the nipa houses and crossed the bridge, and were deploy
ing in the fields on either side of the road. All of this
time the rattle of rifle fire was not diminishing, and now
the bullets from the Mausers were not only passing over
head, but striking all about. The detail on outpost, that
had now been fighting for an hour or more, was relieved
by several companies, while the others were sheltered as
well as possible, and held in reserve for the time being.
For an hour or so the companies that we had deployed
on the firing line did some firing, mostly in the form of
occasional volleys, but as there was not much but the
noise on our front as a target, it seemed rather unprofitable
business, and the men were ordered to lie down as closely
as they could behind the rice dikes and take it easy, get
ting what sleep they could. Of course enough men were
kept on lookout to give warning of any attempt to rush
us. There was scarcely any diminution in the fire of the
enemy, it being so incessant that the darkness on our
front seemed to emit an almost continuous roar. But it
was badly directed, as the Filipinos were evidently crouch
ing down in their trenches and using their Mausers as
rapidly as they could, but simply splattering the whole
country with bullets, the great majority of them going far
over our heads. The big cannon, in an excellent gun-pit
a thousand yards up the road, let fly from time to time,
and the shot, like overgrown croquet-balls, would come

182 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
tumbling and bounding along, smashing down the bam
boos and occasionally wrecking a house behind us. The
men soon got over whatever uneasiness they may have felt
regarding these projectiles, and began to call out derisively,
"Low ball" or "High ball," according to the merit of each
shot. We had a few men wounded during the night. It
will be wondered why our casualties were not quite severe
under so heavy a fire, badly directed though it was. But
a line of men lying close to the ground behind rice dikes
gives mighty little chance to bullets fired at random through
the darkness half a mile away. The Filipinos would have
done well to have saved the possibly a million. cartridges
that they fired at the Second Division on this night, for we
were no more deeply into it than the other regiments
along the front to our right.
; ' The longed-for daylight came at last, and with it some
lessening in the fire of the enemy. Two field-pieces of
the Utah Artillery Battalion had arrived during the night,
having been dragged by hand, none of the batteries hav
ing yet been supplied with horses, and as soon as they
could do so to advantage, opened fire up the road, giving
their principal attention to the big gun, the approximate
position of which could be made out from the smoke which
a few seconds after each discharge could be seen drifting
over the tops of the bamboos. The exact location of the
gun could not be made out. Major Richard H. Young,
commanding the Utah Artillery, and I were standing talk
ing a few feet to the rear of the two guns while they were
in action when we heard again the boom of the bronze
siege-gun, and an instant later we saw a dark object com-

Their front was blanketed with a pall of white smoke that resembled a fierce
prairie fire

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 183
ing down the road, just a few feet above the ground.
The shot cut off a banana-stalk not more than four feet
from the right wheel of one of the guns, struck the ground
a few rods down the road behind us, tore up a lot of
earth, and the last we saw of it was rolling and bounding
along, looking like a small iron kettle that had suddenly
come to life. It would have been interesting to see what
that field-piece would have looked like after the thing was
over if this shot had passed a few feet nearer the centre of
the road.
Company M of the Twentieth Kansas, under the direc
tion of its commander, Captain William H. Bishop, was
just to the right of the road, fairly well protected by a
rather high dike, and was firing volleys slowly, when
Private Charles Pratt, the first man of the regiment to die
in action, sank down without a sound, shot through the
brain. For some time his body .lay there, a grewsome
spectacle for those who had occasion to pass near the
company and were not yet used to such sights.
General Otis, our brigade commander, visited the regi
ment several times during the forenoon, but spent most
of his time farther to the right. We were hoping for
an order to advance and bring the thing to a close, so
far as it concerned ourselves, but fearing to disarrange
the plans of our higher commanders, I thought there
was nothing to do but bide our time and make the best
of it. A short time after noon came the order to advance
as far as the Lico road, which ran parallel with our front,
about six hundred yards in advance. In the meantime
the first battalion of the regiment had come out from the

1 84 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
city, and two of its companies were placed on the firing
line. The battalion was under the command of Captain
Frederick E. Buchan, Lieutenant-Colonel Little having
a couple of weeks previously been so unfortunate as to be
severely wounded by the accidental discharge of his own
revolver. At the order the line rose to its feet and, with
out firing, advanced rapidly, the movement not being de
tected by the enemy, owing to the heavy growth of trees
and bamboo between the lines. But we had scarcely got
into our new position within three or four hundred yards
of the enemy's trenches, and begun to construct hasty
intrenchments, when a terrific fire was opened on us.
The two Utah guns were brought up and, without cover,
in the middle of the road, fired several shots. But such a
fire was concentrated on them at this short range that the
men were ordered to leave them for the time and take
cover. The five companies that constituted our firing line
were working their Springfields for all they were worth,
and their front was blanketed with a pall of white smoke
that resembled a fierce prairie fire, for we had not yet re
ceived smokeless powder for these weapons. It was an
impossible situation. The enemy in his excellent trenches
was pouring into us a fire that we could not hope to over
come by merely firing back at him. There was no time
to ask for instructions from the brigade commander. It
was one of the times when subordinates must take the bits
in their teeth. I stepped over to Captain Bishop, and,
more to hear what he would say than because I had any
doubts on the subject, asked him if the men were equal to
it. He replied, "You bet they are!" I turned to Chief

When we were within seventy yards, the " Charge " was blown, and the yelling and excited men dashed forward on the

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 185
Trumpeter Barshfield, at my side, and directed him to
blow "Cease firing." Then the order was passed down
the line to fix bayonets, and the ominous clatter could be
heard along the whole front. Then to our feet, and for
ward on a fast walk, firing as we went. The advance
was much interfered with by fences, but the men, now
yelling like fiends and fairly smothering the yellow tops
of the earthworks with their fire, pressed forward. Com
pany F, Captain Charles I. Martin, got the worst of it, and
had six men hit. I particularly recollect a sergeant in L
company, an old regular, who was having the time of his
life, addressing imprecations impartially to the enemy
and the men of his section, and at the same time plying
his rifle with vigor. When we were within seventy yards
the "Charge" was blown, and the yelling and excited
men dashed forward on the run, and in a few seconds we
were over the works. The enemy did not wait for the
bayonet, but broke and ran as we made the final dash,
many of them being shot down in their flight before they
could reach cover. We found in the trench some thirty
killed, while others were scattered here and there as they
had been brought down in flight. There were also some
badly wounded, but very few of those, as men fighting up
to their necks in trenches do not expose their legs and the
lower parts of their bodies. One of the imbecile and
childish things that the insurgent leaders had done was
to organize in the mountains of northern Luzon several
companies of Igorrote spearmen. These poor naked sav
ages had been drilled in some sort of fashion, but were
provided only with their spears and shields, and then,

1 86 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
apparently under the impression that their very appear
ance would frighten the Americans into retreat, had been
distributed here and there through the insurgent trenches.
A few of them were in the works carried by us, and three
or four lay dead. One poor fellow was on his back, his
spear lying across his legs and his shield over his breast.
A ragged hole showed where one of the heavy bullets had
gone through the shield and then through his body. That
spear is one of the few relics that I brought from the war,
and that did not go up in the San Francisco fire. While
the men were cheering over their first victory, and, I re
gret to say, getting the companies pretty well tangled up,
fire was opened on us from what was known as Block
house No. One, about two hundred yards to our right
front. This was a part of the old Spanish line of de
fences against the insurgents. The men were so mixed
up that it was hopeless to get a company or platoon in
tact, so I gathered about a dozen of the officers and men
nearest me, and we carried it with a rush, killing or capt
uring every man in it. "Assembly" was blown as soon
as possible, and the companies formed. While this was
going on, we witnessed to our right, about half a mile,
an inspiring spectacle, the Third Artillery storming the
Chinese cemetery. The well-trained regulars swept up
the hill as if they were merely doing a "stunt" at manoeu
vres, but we could see that they were having a fight of it.
I had at once sent to the brigade commander a verbal mes
sage to the effect that I had advanced beyond the Lico
road, and giving the reasons for doing so. Shortly after the
regiment had assembled orders were received to fall back

THE MAKING OF A REGIMENT 187
to the road and bivouac along it for the night in a line
facing the enemy. As we were marching back we nar
rowly escaped a disaster. The cruiser Charleston, in the
bay opposite our left, had thrown during the day a num
ber of shells at the enemy's works, and had now been
relieved by the Concord. This vessel, not knowing that
the enemy's works had been carried, the distance being
great and the country close, opened fire. For a while it
looked bad for us, as one shell barely missed cutting
through a company in column. We had to run for it,
and put the regiment to double time. The men were
cool, and there was no tendency to break ranks. In
my opinion the commander of the Concord was in no way
to blame, as we were not supposed to be so far in ad
vance, and would not have been except for the reasons
stated. We reached our position, formed line, and prepared
to spend the night. Firewood and water were abundant,
and the men were soon munching bacon and hardtack
and drinking "soldier-coffee." They were a happy lot,
having gone not without credit through their first engage
ment, and spent a good deal of the time, when they should
have been sleeping, in exchanging experiences. They
seemed to worry themselves but little over the serious
business ahead, and were inclined to let each day take
care of itself.

II
CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES i
Shortly after daylight on February 5 [1899], orders
were received for the Twentieth Kansas to advance from
the Lico road and occupy a line somewhat beyond the
trenches captured on the preceding afternoon. It was
not known whether these had been reoccupied by the
enemy or not, but after a part of the regiment had been
deployed scouts were sent to work their way carefully to
the front in order to report on the situation. These men
stated that the enemy had not returned, so that there
would be no necessity to fight in order to regain the ground
given up. The regiment moved into its new position with
out incident, and was soon intrenching. As the lagoons
from the bay did not come in so close at this point, we
had more room, and it was found practicable to extend
our left so far that with its right resting on the railroad
the regiment could have every one of its three battalions
on the line. Immediately on our right we joined with the
Third Artillery, which, it must be remembered, was serv
ing as infantry, which in its turn connected with the First
Montana, occupying the high ground near La Loma
church. Six guns of the Utah Light Artillery Battalion
under Major Richard W. Young and two guns of the
Sixth Artillery under Lieutenant Adrian Fleming were
posted at advantageous points along the line. During the

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 189
day we could hear some firing far to our right, but there
was little done on our own front, though the occasional
crack of a rifle in the woods and the "zip" of a bullet
furnished the necessary incentive to make the men cau
tious about exposing themselves. The left of the regiment
fronted on dense woods, where nothing could be observed,
but its right was partially in the open, while the other
two organizations of the brigade were entirely so.
During the day an officer rode over to my regiment,
stated that he was Major Bell of the division staff, and
desired that I should furnish him with a non-commissioned
officer and a few other men in order that he might ascer
tain something as to the location of the insurgent trenches
covering the town of Caloocan, on our front. At this I
bristled up somewhat and announced that if there was
any scouting to be done in advance of my regiment I
could do it myself or have it done. Upon being assured
by Major Bell that he was acting under orders of the
division commander, I yielded the point, but I fear not
with very good grace. Thus, rather inauspiciously, be
gan my acquaintance with my excellent friend, the pres
ent Major-General J. F. Bell, who was destined, be
cause of his exceptional services in the suppression of the
Philippine insurrection, to rise within a few years to the
highest rank now attainable in our army. I suppose
that General Bell has by this time entirely forgotten the
incident described. Later in the campaign that officer
had at his disposal for scouting purposes a picked body
of men, and did some most astonishing things in the way
of penetrating the enemy's lines and bringing back in-

190 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
formation as to the location of his trenches. The non
commissioned officer that I directed to report to Major
Bell on this occasion was Corporal Arthur M. Ferguson,
a man whose soldierly qualities and daring were eventu
ally to win him the Medal of Honor and a commission in
the volunteer service and afterward in the regular army.
We shall hear more of him later in connection with the
passage of the Rio Grande at Calumpit. Of course, what
ever information Major Bell obtained on this reconnois-
sance was transmitted to the division commander. I was
desirous of learning something on my own hook, and later
in the day took a few men and crawled with them into
the dense woods in front of the left of the regiment, work
ing gradually around to the right until we were within
a few hundred yards of the trenches just south of the
Caloocan church. The country here was comparatively
open, and we could see that the Filipinos were working
with feverish haste in improving their defences. Being
so close, the temptation to stir them up with a fusillade
was very great, but it would never do, as we might be cut
off before we could fall back on our lines.
I had established regimental head-quarters about two
hundred yards to the rear of our trenches, just to the right
of the Caloocan wagon road, which cut the regiment's
line at right angles about one-third of the distance from
its right to its left. As night came on the men were
instructed to lie down and get what sleep they could be
hind the low shelter that they had constructed, a number
from each company being detailed to remain on lookout
in order to give warning of any attempt to rush our line.

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 191
It was not thought best to have men on outpost in the
woods on our front, as in case of a sudden attack they
would mask the fire of the regiment, or possibly be sacri
ficed before they could retire to its line. So far as firing
was concerned, we had a quiet day of it, but nightfall
brought trouble. The regimental staff officers with my
self and a few orderlies had just spread out our blankets
and were preparing to lie down, when a lively rattle of
fire opened up in the direction of the enemy's lines, and
bullets began striking about us and whistling overhead.
I was of the opinion that it was a mere spurt and would
die down, but nevertheless rose and walked over to the
trench, where I was joined by Major Metcalf. The firing
increased in volume, and apparently was not coming from
the enemy's trenches, which were eight hundred yards
on our front, but rather from a point about half-way to
them. None of our men were asleep yet, and some of
them began to reply without orders.
There was some delay in finding a trumpeter to blow
"Cease firing," and in the meantime one of our men was
hit, and gave a shriek that was heard almost the length of
the regiment. In an instant the men were beyond con
trol. As the firing on our front increased they thought a
charge was coming, and, kneeling behind the low shelter,
worked their old Springfields for all they were worth. It
was a form of panic, but not half so bad as bolting to the
rear. The men were in as close a line as they could be
and work their rifles, and they crammed cartridges into
them and fired as rapidly as possible. The roar was
deafening, while the rapid spurts of flame along the whole

1 92 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
line made in the darkness a show of fireworks that was
not to be despised. The dense blanket of smoke, added
to the gloom, made it impossible to see anything. We
soon had every trumpeter in the regiment blowing "Cease
firing," but in some cases blows and kicks had to be re
sorted to in order to bring the men to their senses. As
our fire died down enough for one to be able to make
himself heard, the officers began to open the vials of their
wrath on their respective companies, while I, having to
"cuss" twelve companies instead of one, was quite over
come by my efforts. But the insurgent fire had abso
lutely ceased, the enemy having stirred up more of a
hornets' nest than he had bargained for.
What had occurred was that several hundred of them
had advanced from their trenches to a point where there
was good natural cover, whence they had started a fire
fight, which they were doubtless glad to cease. It was
in no sense an attempt to take our line by a rush, but that
was what the men had feared. The regiment expended
about twenty-five thousand rounds of ammunition in this
piece of foolishness, but it was the last performance of
that kind, involving any considerable number of men,
that we had during the campaign. One of the insurgents
wounded in this affair was the Filipino major, Hilario Tal
Placido, who, captured more than a year later in Nueva
Ecija province while I was in command there, became an
" Americanista," and accompanied me on the expedition
that brought in his old chief, Emilio Aguinaldo. Hilario,
after I had come to know him, assured me that this expe
rience cured him of any further desire to assist in unnec-

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 193
essarily stirring up the Americans just to see what they
would do, and that he felt lucky in getting out of it with
nothing worse than a big bullet through one of his lungs.
The next day while visiting La Loma church I took
occasion to express to General MacArthur, who had his
head-quarters there, my regret that the regiment had got
into such a panic, but was assured by him that it was
nothing to feel badly about, as it is a very common ex
perience of troops until they have been under fire a few
times. As a matter of fact, very few regiments in the
Philippines escaped going through the same thing during
the process of getting used to being under fire.
During the afternoon of the day following this inci
dent, it being very quiet, I rather unwisely sent word to
Mrs. Funston, in Manila, telling her that if she wished
she could come out to the lines for a short visit, as it would
give her an opportunity to see something of troops in the
field, and we could have a brief chat. But in the mean
time Captain Christy, who was officer of the day and was
patrolling in front of the regiment with a few men, be
came involved in a sharp fight at about two hundred yards]
range with some hundred and fifty of the enemy, who had
advanced from their trenches and were behind a dike,
probably the same one from which they had fired on us
during the night. I went out into the woods to investi
gate, and found that the redoubtable Christy had bitten
off considerably more than he could masticate. He had
only a few men, but they were fairly well sheltered and
were having a hard fight, being so deeply involved that it
was going to be a problem to get them out. I crouched

i94 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
down with the men for a few moments in order to decide
what to do, and finally, by having them cease fire sud
denly and then spring to their feet and make a dash by
the right flank to some "dead" ground, stopped the fight.
Going back to my head-quarters, behind the regiment's
line, I found that Mrs. Funston had arrived, escorted by
my orderly and Major Metcalf's. She had ridden in a
carromato, a Filipino vehicle distantly related to the one-
horse buggy, it being driven by one of the soldiers while
the other rode along on horseback and acted as escort.
The party had arrived during the skirmish in the woods,
and as quite a few bullets were flying overhead, Mrs. Funs
ton was sheltered for a time behind a portion of the Filipino
earthwork that we had assaulted and carried two days be
fore. Realizing that another fight was liable to break out
at any moment, she went back to the city after a brief stay.
The hope that the Filipinos who had been stirred up
by Captain Christy would desist, now that they were
being let alone, proved an illusory one, as they kept up
a slow fire on that portion of our trench nearest to them.
Deeming it necessary once for all to break up this form
of amusement, and fearing that it might continue through
out the night, I sent a staff officer to explain the situation
to the brigade commander and requested leave to ad
minister the necessary castigation. The desired permis
sion was granted, but I was cautioned not to attempt any
pursuit after the force annoying us had been dislodged,
as it was feared that such action might bring on a gen
eral engagement, thus interfering with the plans of the
division commander. * Three companies were considered

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 195
more than sufficient to do the work, and their com
manders were directed to hold them in readiness. It
was not known how far into the woods the enemy's right
flank extended, and an attempt to turn his left would
have exposed us to fire from the trenches near Caloocan,
so that a frontal attack was decided upon as giving the
greatest chance to inflict heavy loss.
Major Metcalf was to assist me in leading the attack.
At the word of command the three companies rose to their
feet and fixed bayonets. Leaping over the trench, the
start was quickly made. Our right was directly opposite
the enemy's left, but it developed that our left considerably
overlapped his right. For the first hundred yards the
woods screened our movements, but when we broke into
the open at a distance of three hundred yards from the
dike we could see that it was fairly alive with the straw
hats of the Filipinos, and they opened on us as rapidly as
they could fire. Our men, perfectly steady, did not re
ply until ordered to a few seconds later, and when they
did they fairly combed the top of that dike with bullets.
We were advancing at a walk and it was point-blank
range, and our fire so disconcerted the enemy that though
they plied their rifles with great vigor, they were not ex
posing themselves enough to get any sort of good aim.
They were armed entirely with Mausers so that they had
no smoke to interfere with them, while our Springfields
produced the usual prairie-fire effect. What little wind
there was, however, served to drive the smoke behind
instead of ahead of us, so that we were not so much
troubled by it as ordinarily.

196 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
The men were under perfect control, and while some
what excited, were attending to their knitting. There
had been scarcely a word spoken except for the occasional
commands given by officers and non-commissioned officers,
but when we were within eighty yards I had the "Charge"
blown. Only the men near the trumpeter could hear it,
but as they raised a yell and went forward on a run the
others followed suit. It does not take long to cover eighty
yards if you are in a hurry, and in no time we were among
them. Of course, as soon as our men began to run, they
ceased firing, though it was recommenced to a certain
extent when we closed. As we reached the position and
went over the dike all of the Filipinos who had not been
killed or disabled rose to their feet and tried to get away.
If we had molested them no further, and had let them go,
it is probable that the fight would have ended at once,
but our men were among them and a good many fought
to save their lives. It did not seem to occur to them that
they would be spared if they threw down their arms, but
they had been used to fighting Spaniards, who had given
them the same kind of quarter that they had given the
insurgents of Cuba. A confused melee followed. It was
the only time in my life that I saw the bayonet actually
used. Within twenty feet of me, a plucky little Filipino, one
of the few of them who had his bayonet fixed, made a
vicious jab at one of our sergeants, and a second later was
run through the body. And he was not the only one to get
the cold steel. During the mix-up I saw a Filipino raise
his rifle and at a distance of only a few yards take a shot

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 197
at one of our men. Just as the bullet struck the soldier in
the thigh he saw the man who had shot him lowering his
rifle. At first he seemed dazed, dropping his own weapon,
but without stopping to pick it up sailed into that Filipino
barehanded, twisted his rifle out of his hands and beat
his brains out with it. The enemy had a very fine silken
flag with the emblem of the Katipunan embroidered on it.
A number of them tried to get away with it, and it became
the centre of a short and sharp struggle in which fire-arms
could not be used. In fact, it resembled as much as any
thing some of the confused scrambles that are seen on the
foot-ball field. When we finally got the flag it had been
riddled by bullets and was drenched in blood. It is now
in the State House at Topeka. All of the Filipinos who
could do so were getting toward the rear as rapidly as
possible. Those who could cover the sixty yards to the
dense underbrush were safe, as our orders did not permit
us to follow them.
The whole affair had lasted less time than it takes to
tell it. The companies were assembled as soon as pos
sible, preparatory to returning to our own lines, as a
counter-attack which might be made on us by the Filipi
nos in the Caloocan trenched, distant only a few hundred
yards, might have brought on the general engagement that
I had orders to avoid. The Filipinos suffered severely
in this combat, but we did not take the time necessary to
make a complete count of their dead and disabled, though
along the left of their trench, where the hardest fighting
had taken place, I counted thirty dead. There were not a
great many wounded left on the ground, as all who were

198 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
able to rise had escaped to the rear. Among the dead we
were surprised to find a very large and coal-black negro.
As this was many months before any of our colored troops
had been brought to the islands, the man could not have
been a deserter from them, but was probably some vaga
bond seaman who had run away from a merchant-vessel
in Manila Bay. The storm of bullets that we had poured
into the enemy as we advanced, disconcerting and "rat
tling" him, as well as the fact that the Filipinos were ab
solutely no match for our much larger men in the hand-
to-hand struggle, had .saved us from heavy loss. First
Lieutenant Alfred C. Alford, commanding Company B,
an excellent officer, who had been one of my schoolmates
at the University of Kansas, was killed just as we carried
the position. Sergeant Jay Sheldon, of Company I, was
so badly wounded that he died the next day, while five
other enlisted men were wounded, all severely. After we
had returned to our line I went over to the dressing-station
to see our wounded. I tried to cheer up and encourage
Sergeant Sheldon, though the surgeon had told me that
his condition was very grave. He was a plucky fellow,
and, though suffering greatly, made the remark, "Well, it
was worth getting hit to have been in so fine a fight."
We had left the enemy's wounded where they had fallen,
knowing that their friends would come for them during
the night, now close at hand.
After the affair just described practically nothing of
note occurred along the front of the Twentieth Kansas
until the afternoon of the ioth, though we could occasion
ally hear firing far to the right along the front of Hale's

The enemy had a very fine silken flag. ... It became the centre of a short and sharp
struggle. ... It resembled as much as anything some of the confused
scrambles that are seen on the foot-ball field

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 199
brigade. After consideration of the situation General
MacArthur determined to rectify the line occupied by the
division to the extent of advancing our brigade, the First.
From left to right the three regiments of the brigade were
distributed as follows : Twentieth Kansas, First Montana,
and Third Artillery, the last-named organization connect
ing with Hale's brigade on the ridge near La Loma church.
The contemplated movement really constituted a partial
wheel to the right, pivoting on the right of the Third Ar
tillery, so that that regiment had to make a very slight
advance, the First Montana considerably more, while
my own regiment had to push forward through the woods
for more than half a mile, incidentally taking the town
of Caloocan and the trenches covering it. Major Whit
man had become ill a day or two previously and had re
turned to Manila, so that his battalion was commanded
by Captain Edmund Boltwood, a gallant old veteran of
the Civil War, in which he had served as an officer.
After the orders for the attack had been issued I had
a heart-to-heart talk with Major Kobbe,of the Third Artil
lery, and confided to him that I expected my regiment to
lose heavily, as it would have to carry the strong trenches
covering Caloocan on the south, as well as the massive
church and adjacent wall. That officer agreed that I
had a hard job cut out, and coincided with my view that
the best way to avoid heavy loss in the advance would be
to cover the Filipinos with fire as we attacked, and to make
no attempt to save ammunition. The experience obtained
in our attacks of the 5th and 7th had convinced me that
by sweeping the ground that we were advancing over with

200 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
a storm of bullets we could so demoralize the enemy that
his fire would be badly directed. Appropriate orders were
issued to battalion and company commanders, and we
formed for the attack, being, so far, completely screened
from the enemy by the woods on our front. The prelimi
nary bombardment of the Filipino position by several
vessels of the fleet and all our field artillery took half an
hour, and fairly filled the air with its roar. Owing to
intervening tree growth the trenches could not be seen
from the fleet, but their positions were approximately
known, being marked by the church, which was in sight.
The eight-inch and six-inch shells, following each other
in quick succession, were continuously exploding in the
woods to our front. They must have been a severe trial
for the insurgents, as they had no adequate protection
from them.
Of course, however, the fire of the fleet had to cease
before the beginning of the infantry attack, so that they
had some time in which to recover their composure. At
last the pandemonium of sound ceased, and we dashed
forward into the woods. Although the insurgents could
not yet see us, they knew from the movements of the other
two regiments in the open ground that the advance had
begun, and how they did fill those woods with bullets!
We had all twelve companies on the firing line, our sup
port marching in rear being a battalion of the First Idaho,
brought over for the occasion from the First Division, and
the whole regiment as the bugles rang out the command
to commence firing became wreathed in smoke, while the
noise was so great that it was out of the question to make

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 201
one's self heard. The attack was made at a walk, the
men firing to the front as rapidly as they could, regardless
of the fact that at first no target could be seen. Many
bullets were stopped by tree trunks, but thousands more,
striking about the Filipino trenches or passing close over
them, so demoralized the defenders that their fire, while
of great volume, was very wild. I had started to ride my
horse through the fight, but finally concluded to dismount,
as fences confined me largely to the road, down which was
coming the heaviest fire. So I followed the attack on
foot, immediately behind Company C. We passed over
the scene of the severe little fight of the 7th, and saw the
Filipino dead still lying where they had fallen, though
their wounded had been removed. In this company was
a unique character, Sergeant John C. Murphy, who died
only a couple of years ago as a retired officer of the
regular army. Throughout the whole advance Murphy
serenely smoked a large brier-wood pipe, which he only
removed from his mouth when it became necessary to
address some pointed remarks to the men of his section.
He saw one of his men crouch quietly down behind a low
shelter as if he contemplated remaining there as the com
pany passed on. Murphy walked back to the man, de
liberately removed his pipe, as if he were afraid of biting
the stem in two, and then with unhoneyed words fairly
kicked him up onto the firing line, where the man made
up for lost time by plying his rifle with great vigor.
The five companies on the right of the regiment had
now broken into the open in full view of the church and
the trenches near it. These trenches and the top of the

202 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
wall near the church were alive with straw hats bobbing
up and down, while from both came a severe but badly
aimed fire. It was a pretty exciting moment. For half
a minute one company showed some signs of disorder, the
men beginning to halt and lie down, but Major Metcalf
and the officers and sergeants of the company strode up
and down the line and quickly got them going again.
I ordered the "Charge" blown, and all who could hear it
sprang forward, the men to the right or left taking the
cue and advancing with them, the whole regiment break
ing into yells as we closed. In no time we were over the
trenches, the survivors among the defenders bolting to
the rear, the wall near the church being abandoned at
the same time. Some of them were shot down as they
ran, but our men were so "winded" that their shooting
was not so good as it might have been. Major Metcalf
saw one man bring down a fleeing Filipino by hurling his
rifle at him with both hands, muzzle first. The bayo
net passed entirely through the man's skull. The bot
tom of the trench was a shocking spectacle, being simply
covered with dead and wounded men, the most of whom
had been brought down in the brief fire fight at close range
that had preceded the final rush. The town had been fired
in many places by the Filipinos as they retired. The
nipa houses burned like tinder, and through the smoke
and flames we took up the pursuit.
There was a moment's delay after the church was
reached, the field and staff officers remounted their horses
that had been brought up in the rear of the line, and the
irregular and waving line of a thousand yelling men

I ordered the " Charge " blown, and all who could hear it sprang forward ... the whole regiment breaking into yells as we closed

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 203
pushed through the burning town in pursuit. We were
soon in the open country, but the fleet-footed Filipinos had
several hundred yards the start of us, and we did not bring
down many of them, the excitement of the chase and the
exhaustion of the men not being conducive to good shoot
ing. Occasionally a group would turn and fire on us
for a few seconds, but the most of their efforts were bent
on placing the Tuliajan River between themselves and
our line. We chased them to the summit of the ridge over
looking that stream, about half a mile beyond Caloocan,
and then halted, being far beyond where we had been
directed to establish our new line.
The dusk was now gathering, but across the river near
Malinta we could see long lines of the enemy, some of whom
opened on us with a rather sharp but quite ineffective fire,
the distance being about twelve hundred yards. We did
not at first reply, but finally Captain Orwig of his own
initiative began volley-firing with his company. I rode
over to his position and pitched into him rather savagely
in the hearing of his men, telling him that we could not
hit anybody with our old Springfields at that distance, and
that the fire of the enemy could do us no harm. Hardly
had I delivered myself of this sage opinion when my horse
whirled suddenly and began to sink down. Dismount
ing immediately, it was discovered that the animal had
been shot clear through the neck, one of the surgeons later
removing the bullet from under the skin on the right-hand
side. In view of my heated remarks only a moment be
fore, this incident caused a derisive chuckle throughout
the whole company. The horse, a fine little bay of the

204 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
better type of Filipino pony, sure-footed, and indifferent to
the noise of firing, completely recovered in time, and I
rode him through all of the campaign up the railroad.
After dark the regiment fell back to a point about
four hundred yards north of the Caloocan church where
it was to intrench and remain until the general advance,
six weeks later. Considering the heavy fire that we had
been under, especially while the right flank of the regi
ment was engaging the trenches near the church, our
losses had been small, consisting of two enlisted men
killed and Captain Christy and eight enlisted men wounded.
This did not include several slight wounds and contu
sions from spent bullets. The next morning we counted
sixty-four insurgent dead, mostly in the trenches near
the church or in their vicinity. Their wounded who had
been left on the ground we gathered up and sent in to the
hospital with our own. About one hundred rifles and
several thousand rounds of ammunition were captured
and destroyed, as we had no way of sending them back
to the city. We also found standing near the railway
repair-shops the big bronze siege-gun that had fired at
us during the fighting of the night of the 4th and the next
day. It had not been used in the present engagement,
possibly because its ammunition had been exhausted. It
must by no means be inferred that all the fighting on this
day had fallen to the Twentieth Kansas, as the other two
regiments of the brigade were just as severely engaged,
but in the open country; while a detachment under Major
Bell had assisted in the operation by crawling up a ravine
and attacking the enemy in the left flank.

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 205
The regiment's new line was an undesirable one for
several reasons, all of them beyond the control of anybody
other than the insurgents. Its left was on the narrow
causeway which connected Caloocan with the consider
able town of Malabon, this causeway being parallel with
the regiment, or rather being on an extension of its left
flank. This condition subjected us constantly to a long-
range enfilading fire which in the long run cost us numer
ous casualties, but which was in a measure provided
against by the construction of sand-bag traverses six feet
high in the shelter occupied by the battalion on the left.
On the front of this same battalion the woods and bam
boos came very close, and the ground was cut up by shal
low ravines, the insurgents thus being enabled to con
struct trenches almost under our noses. The town of
Malabon could not be taken except under the most dis
advantageous conditions until our line had been ad
vanced beyond the Tuliajan River, as the only method
possible would have been a charge up the narrow cause
way, flanked on both sides by swamps, and would have
been a costly enterprise, especially as a bridge on it had
been removed.
A week or so later I volunteered to try to rush the
causeway by night with a small detachment in the hope
that we could effect a lodgment in the town and hold on
until the arrival of reinforcements. But General Mac-
Arthur did not think much of the project, and I have no
doubt that his judgment was correct. At the time we had
not a sufficient number of troops to hold the town even if
we had succeeded in taking it. The centre of the regiment

206 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
occupied an old Spanish trench which we improved, while
the right, extending across the railroad, made some very
satisfactory cover for itself. All day of the nth was spent
in intrenching, the work being done under an almost in
cessant long-range fire from Malabon. The left flank
battalion was protected by a loop-holed sand-bag para
pet six feet high, and was provided with traverses at short
intervals. Just to the front of the centre of our right the
field artillery constructed a redoubt open to the rear in
which were installed several field-pieces. Lieutenant Sea
man, of the Utah Artillery Battalion, was wounded while
supervising the work, and was succeeded by Lieutenant
Fleming, Sixth Artillery, who, under the general direction
of Major Young, the chief of artillery, had charge of the
battery thereafter. The Twentieth Kansas had four men
wounded during the day, while two men of the Thirteenth
Minnesota who in order to see some fighting had run
away from their own regiment, which was still on duty
in the city, were also hit, which came about being what
they deserved.
General MacArthur established himself in the tempo
rarily abandoned residence of Mr. Higgins, general man
ager of the Manila-Dagupan railway, this building being
located in a very exposed position just west of the railroad
track and less than a hundred yards behind the trench of
my regiment. The brigade commander, General H. G.
Otis, was camped in the open in the rear of the centre of
his command. As head-quarters for my own regiment, I
took the Caloocan church, and rather think that I had the
JLv better of my superiors.

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 207
On the previous evening, just after bringing the regi
ment back from the ridge overlooking the Tuliajan, I
had entered the building for the first time, and had had a
small adventure that was to rise up and plague me months
later. I had found there, rummaging about among the
few articles that had been left in the building, an iron-
visaged American woman, somewhat past middle-age. I
had seen her on several occasions, and knew her to be
one of those self-appointed, so-called nurses, but really
meddlesome busybodies, who are so apt to be found in
the wake of armies in the field. This person had two
names, or at least went by two different ones. Women
of her type should not for a moment be confused with the
members of that splendid and efficient body who go to
make up the Army Nurse Corps, who remained on duty
in the hospitals where they belonged, and who never made
nuisances of themselves. I watched the woman for a few
moments, and seeing her roll into a bundle a few articles
of really no intrinsic value, told a sergeant to inform her
quietly that she would not be permitted to take anything
from the building. She replied to the effect that she
would do as she pleased, and that it was nobody's business
what she took. This courteous message having been de
livered to me, I walked over to her, made her drop the
bundle, and received a most artistic tongue-lashing in re
turn. I closed the scene by telling her that if she did not
at once leave the building I would send her under guard to
Manila, even if I had to tie her up. She flounced out of
the building in high dudgeon, vowing she would have me
dismissed from the service. As a matter of fact, the

208 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
things that she had attempted to take were of no intrinsic
value, being merely an old and much-worn priest's robe
and some sheet music, there being nothing else left in the
church; but our orders to prevent looting, and especially
to protect the churches, were so strict that I did not feel
justified in permitting her to remove anything.
The rapidly moving incidents of the campaign made
me all but forget this affair, but on my return to the United
States, this woman, having preceded me to San Francisco,
made and furnished to the newspapers an affidavit to the
effect that she had entered the Caloocan church immedi
ately after the battle and had seen me kick open a glass
case containing a statue of the Virgin, from which I had
stripped a gold-embroidered robe worth more than a
thousand dollars, sending it to my wife in Manila. I made
indignant denial, but a day later a man named Fitzgerald
came out with another affidavit stating that he had been
a witness to the occurrence. That, of course, settled it.
This man was a fireman who had deserted from one of
the transports, weeks after the taking of Caloocan, and
had followed the army as a hanger-on during the cam
paign that had ended in the taking of Malolos, nearly two
months later. One day shortly after the taking of Malolos
I had caught him coming out of an abandoned residence
with his arms full of clothing, and had sent him before the
provost-marshal, who had punished him severely.
The allegations of this sweet-scented pair of perjurers
all but ruined me. It almost destroyed my faith in the
fair-mindedness of my countrymen, that except among
my friends my denials went for absolutely nothing. The

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 209
whole pack, from high dignitaries of the church down,
were after me in full cry, and the only thing that saved me
at all was the vigorous defence of me by my excellent
friend, Chaplain McKinnon, of the First California, him
self a Catholic priest, who stated that, having come out
to see the fight as a spectator, he had entered the church
before I did and that there was in it no statue of the Virgin,
or for that matter anything else of the slightest value from
either a sacred or any other stand-point. The idea that
nothing of value would have been left in a building in
which services had not been held for nearly a year, and
which during all of this time had been an insurgent fort
and barrack, never seems to have occurred to my detract
ors. But to this day not one of the men who took the mat
ter up through the press and in public addresses has had
the decency to express regret for his action. There never
was a grosser slander against an army than the stories of
church-looting in the Philippines. That there may have
been isolated instances I am not prepared to deny, but
such articles as the soldiers brought home were usually
purchased from Chinese or Filipinos who had themselves
stolen them from the churches when these were aban
doned by their priests, which was long before the outbreak
of the insurrection against the authority of the United
States ; and in most cases the purchasers knew nothing of
any sacred character that these articles may have had.
So far as the incident recounted has had any effect on
myself, I feel that there is one thing mighty certain, and
that is that if Uncle Sam should ever in a moment of
confidence intrust me with the command of an army in

210 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
the field, no camp-follower, male or female, will ever get
within sight of it.
I""" We now settled down to a by no means humdrum ex
istence, waiting for the arrival of troops from the United
States, who were to hold the "north line" of Manila while
our division advanced against the insurgent capital. In
the Twentieth Kansas was a large number of railroad
men, and we soon had the tramway to Manila in opera
tion hauling out to the front ammunition and subsistence
supplies. On the wheezy engine at our disposal the men
painted such legends as "Kansas and Utah Short Line,"
^"Freddy's Fast Express," and such other bits of soldier
humor as occurred to them. The insurgents were heavily
intrenched within two hundred yards of the left of our
line, having taken advantage of the cover afforded to dig
themselves into the ground. We could have chased them
out by an attack, but it was contrary to the plans of the
division commander to bring on a general engagement
before he was prepared to follow it up. So we had to
bide our time. In spite of all precautions bullets from the
trenches on our front or from Malabon kept taking their
toll. If a man moved about by daylight for a bit of ex
ercise he was liable to become the target for a hundred
rifles and have to dive for cover. Fortunately a Filipino
seldom hit anything that he shot at, so that the greatest
danger arose from the long-range dropping fire from
Malabon. There would be days of comparative quiet, and then
others in which the enemy would sweep us with a hot fire
for half an hour or so. He seemed to have no end of

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 211
ammunition, and was not lacking in a willingness to ex
pend it. The field-guns in the redoubt sent occasional
shells at our opponents, but they seemed so well sheltered
that but little harm could be done them. But they had
awaiting them a most unwelcome surprise, for in a few
days a field-mortar was installed among the other guns.
A mortar, it should be said for the benefit of non-military
readers, is a very short gun using a small charge of pow
der. Instead of sending its projectile a long distance on
a comparatively flat trajectory it throws it up into the air,
and it comes almost straight down, being especially useful
against troops behind cover at short range. There was,
one big yellow trench opposite the left of my regiment that
had peppered us persistently, and the mortar gave it atten
tion first. When the odd little gun was fired we saw the
projectile mount a couple of hundred feet into the air and
then sweep down with a graceful curve. It was a shrap
nel with time fuse, and burst about thirty feet above the
trench, being an absolutely perfect shot. The Filipinos
swarmed out of the work like bees and began to run for
cover. Several companies of the regiment had been
warned to be in readiness for the occasion, and at short
range poured in a fire that littered the ground with them.
An occasional mortar shell at those of the trenches that
we could see served to keep the enemy out of them during
daylight, forcing them to lie behind low and inconspicu
ous cover. The trenches opposite our right, distant about
eight hundred yards, caused us some annoyance, but did
not do harm to compare with the others.
Among the vessels lying in the bay was the great

212 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
British cruiser, Powerful, commanded by Captain the
Honorable Hedworth Lambton, who less than a year
later with his officers and crew was to win world-wide
renown for his work with the naval guns in the defence of
Ladysmith. The officers of the cruiser frequently came
out to our lines, and were much interested in the novel
situation. Commander A. P. Ethelston and I had become
great friends, and one day he visited us accompanied by
about a dozen junior officers of the Powerful, saying that he
would like to show them about. I was very uneasy about
having them visit the trenches, fearing that so large a party
might draw fire, and some of them be hit, especially
as they were quite conspicuous on account of the white
uniforms worn by them. I, however, felt some delicacy
about referring to the possible danger. We walked down
from the church to the right of the regiment's line, and
then slowly strolled toward its left. We had covered half
the distance, and I was beginning to thank my stars that
we were going to get through without mishap, when the
trouble began. About twenty men in a trench some six
hundred yards distant opened on us, and bullets whistled
all about, several passing through the group without hit
ting any one. As soon as the fire began I quickened the
pace to a fast walk, and Ethelston, looking around at
the young men with him, saw one or two of them flinch
to the slightest degree, and spoke out sharply, "Remem
ber, gentlemen, no ducking," and they threw their heads
back and went through it without batting an eyelash.
But they were all soon to go through a war that must
have made our Philippine affair seem like play, and poor

When the odd little gun was fired we saw the projectile mount a couple of hundred feet into the air

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 213
Ethelston himself, only nine months later, was to die a
hero's death in the desperate assault of the naval brigade
at Gras Pan in South Africa.
The night of February 22d was the date set by the
insurgent leaders for a grand coup, a demonstration against
our north line to hold all our troops in it, while a large^
number passed our left flank, which it has already been
explained did not reach to the bay shore, and entered the
city, where they were to be joined by the so-called militia,
a lot of riffraff numbering several thousands, armed
mostly with bolos. They were then to set fire to the city
in numerous places and attack Americans wherever they
could be found. Up to a certain point this admirable
project was carried out according to programme. Just
after nightfall a severe fire was opened along our whole
front, the entire brigade at least being attacked, and this
continued almost without cessation until daylight. At
times it was so severe that we anticipated that it was the
prelude to an assault. The regiment had a number of
men hit, despite the fact that we kept the men well
down and did not allow them to reply except by a
few volleys fired under the direction of company com
manders. Major Metcalf had a very neat hole punched
through his right ear close up to the head by a Mauser
bullet. It was as close a call as one could get and not
be killed. I
On this night occurred a very unique incident. Com
pany L was firing a few volleys, and one of the men hav
ing just discharged his piece felt a second blow against
his shoulder, it being almost as hard as the kick of the gun.

214 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
Upon trying to reload it was found that the breech of the
piece could not be opened, and it was laid aside to be ex
amined by daylight, which was done in the presence of a
number of us officers. Upon forcing the breech open it
was found that the base of the copper shell of the cartridge
that had been fired just before the weapon had been dis
abled had been shot away, while mixed all up in the breech
mechanism we found the remains of the steel jacket and
the lead filling of a Mauser bullet. There was a very
pronounced dent on the muzzle of the piece. What had
happened was that while the man had the gun extended
in the firing position a bullet had gone down the muzzle.
A man will go through a good many wars before he will
encounter another such case. This weapon is now in
the Army Ordnance Museum in Washington.
| *• While we were having all this furor on our front, about
a thousand of the best insurgent troops, taking advantage
of low tide, crossed the estuaries between Malabon and
the Tondo district of Manila, attacked and drove from the
tramway car-barn the small guard of half a dozen men of
the Twentieth Kansas, wounding one of them, and then
swarmed through the Tondo and Binondo districts, set
ting scores of fires and attacking detachments of the pro
vost guard. The street fighting came within a few blocks
of the business centre, and the portions of the city burned
aggregated probably a hundred acres, mostly the poorer
class of nipa houses. From Caloocan we anxiously
watched the glare of the great conflagration and listened
to the continuous rattle of rifle fire miles in the rear of
our lines^ It was a bad night for those of us who had

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 215
their families in Manila, but it was out of the question to
think of leaving our posts for the purpose of protecting
them. The whole regiment had, of course, been awake and
on the alert the entire night, and shortly after five o'clock
the next morning, while I was down on the trench line, I
saw a big puff of smoke rise from the summit of the hill
near Malinta, about four thousand yards to the north.
In a second came the telltale rumble, like the sound made
by a train crossing a bridge, and at the same time a loud
report was borne to our ears. When we first saw the puff
of smoke it was thought to be the result of an accidental
explosion, but the sound of the coming shell told us what
to expect, and in a couple of seconds we saw it come
sweeping down in a beautiful curve. It struck fifty yards
in front of that portion of the trench occupied by Com
pany E, threw half a wagon-load of earth into the air,
and exploded with a noise like the report of a young can
non, while what looked like a general assortment of shelf
hardware flew in all directions. The report had brought
almost every man in the regiment to his feet, but the way
the men of Company E dived to cover when the thing
struck was worth going to see. It was subsequently
learned that the shot was fired from a Krupp breech-load
ing rifled coast-defence gun which, after what must have
been infinite labor, had been brought from either Cavite
or Subig Bay. It was served by Spanish artillerymen
who were prisoners among the Filipinos and who were
compelled to do the work. It had been aimed at the
Higgins house, known to be General MacArthur's head-

216 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
quarters, and was an excellent shot, being in perfect line
and less than a hundred and fifty yards short.
During the first day's fighting, as has been told, we
had been fired at a number of times by a good-sized gun
of antique type, and one day a shell from a Nordenfeldt
field-gun had landed among us while in the Caloocan
trenches, though it had not exploded ; but we were greatly
astonished to receive the attentions of so large a weapon
as this one. We were still discussing the matter when
another cloud of smoke rose at Malinta. This shot was
perfect on elevation, but a few yards to the right. It
cleared the trench by only a few feet and exploded when
it struck. The thing was becoming interesting, and all
eyes were riveted on Malinta. After a few moments
came the third, and poorest shot of all, it being far to the
right and with too much elevation. It struck about half
way between the trench and the church, and did not ex
plode, but sailed up into the air and, tumbling end over
end, passed a hundred feet over the roof of the church and
fell to the south of it. A number of the men went out
and brought it in. It was an elongated projectile about
six inches in diameter and weighed about eighty pounds.
The gun from which these shots were fired was dug up in
the streets of Malolos after the capture of that place.
In the meantime Captain Edgar Russell, chief signal
officer of the division, had been wigwagging from the
church tower certain angles, elevations, and other scientific
stuff to a couple of naval vessels, the Monadnock and
Charleston, if I am not mistaken, lying off Malabon, and
soon puffs of smoke rose from them as they began to take

Captain Edgar Russell had been wig-wagging from the church tower certain
angles, elevations, and other scientific stuff to a couple of naval vessels

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 217
an interest in the proceedings. The distance was great,
but the shooting was beautiful, especially when it is
considered that the target was not in sight. The shells
struck all about the offending gun, blowing big craters in
the ground as they exploded, and we heard no more from
it. For months we took it for granted that the navy fire
had either disabled the gun or made the gunners afraid
to serve it, but the Spaniard, Segovia, who was serving as
an officer with the insurgents, and who was present at the
time, told me more than a year later that the third shot had
broken the elevating gear of the gun and that they were
trying to remove it when the navy opened, the shells com
ing so close that everybody ran from the piece.
Soon stories began to drift in to us to the effect that
twenty-four men had been killed by a shell at Malinta, and
our field artillerymen began to pride themselves that one
of their long-range efforts had potted a group of insur
gents. But this same Segovia gave me the facts when I
came to know him, and his statements were corroborated
by Filipinos. According to him, the day after the occur
rences just described a number of men of the Nueva
Ecija Battalion, from the province of that name, dug out
of the ground an unexploded navy shell, which from the
description given me must have been of either ten-inch
or eight-inch calibre. They were unable to carry it, but
managed to stand it on end, point down, and a large
crowd gathered about, among them General Llanera and
his adjutant, Segovia. Finally most of the group dis
persed, their curiosity satisfied, but a considerable num
ber remained, and by much effort, using a hammer and

2i 8 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
chisel, managed to unscrew the fuse which was in the
base of the shell. Of course, all crowded around to look
into the aperture, and a corporal who was smoking a
cigarette, being jostled, let it drop from his mouth into
the shell. When the smoke cleared away half an acre of
ground was littered with fragments of human beings, the
head of one man being found in a mango tree, a hundred
yards away. Strangely enough, several who were in the
group recovered from their injuries, one of them having
been close enough to see what had caused the accident.
It was hopeless to arrive at the number of killed by try
ing to match the fragments scattered about, but twenty-
four men of the battalion who had responded to roll-call
that morning were never heard of again. The story has
some rather improbable features, but I believe it to be
true, as it was common talk in Nueva Ecija, where I
afterward served for two years. At any rate, on the day
after we had been fired on by the big gun, those of us at
Caloocan had seen a big puff of white smoke at Malinta
and had heard an explosion. To my mind this incident
furnishes a most convincing argument against the use of
.^cigarettes, especially while looking into loaded shells.
But to get back to what was happening to us. During
the forenoon of this day, the 23d, a strong demonstration
was made against our lines, without actually attempting
to drive home the attack. The ridge opposite our right
and centre was lined with Filipinos lying down and firing,
while those in the trenches on our left were very active.
Even Malabon contributed to the gayety of the occasion
with its long-range fire. Our field-guns were in action at

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 219
intervals during the day, and the regiment did consider
able firing. We had a number of casualties, and the
demonstration did not cease until toward noon. In the
meantime the Filipinos who had sneaked into the city
and the bolo-men who had joined them there were meeting
a terrible retribution at the hands of the provost guard,
consisting mostly of the Twenty-third Infantry and the
Thirteenth Minnesota. There was much fighting be
hind street barricades, which were assaulted by our troops.
After it was over hundreds of dead were found. I saw
one barricade, while on my way into the city that after
noon, behind which the ground was literally covered with
dead men. We had been actually cut off from our base
for hours. In opening up communications, Major J. S.
Mallory of the division staff, who had gone back with a
company of the First Montana, had had a very severe but
successful fight near the scene of the Twentieth's baptism
of fire on the night of the 4th.
The next few days were ones of comparative quiet,
though we had to contend with the continual sniping!
Captain David S. Elliott, one of the three Civil War vet
erans in the regiment, and a most efficient officer, was
mortally wounded on the 28th, dying the next day. Pathos
was added to his death by the fact that he had two sons
in his company. A day or two after the death of Captain
Elliott a flag of truce appeared in front of the centre of
the regiment, and I went out to meet it. It was a com
mission from the insurgent government desirous of having
an interview with the military governor, General E. S.
Otis. Before admitting them through our lines I had to

220 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
receive the authority of the division commander, and this
took some time. While the flag was flying it was very
amusing to see the Filipinos as well as our own men crawl
out of their holes and move about with unconcern. The
enemy's trenches fairly swarmed with men.
The truce gave me an opportunity to talk with a Fili
pino officer commanding the troops opposite our left, and
I told him that in my opinion the everlasting sniping that
his men and ours were doing at each other served no use
ful purpose and was making life a burden to all concerned,
calling attention to the way everybody was enjoying him
self during this brief respite. I told him that I had no
authority to make any agreement with him, but that I
could assure him that my men would do no more firing
unless his people started it. He seemed rather favorably
impressed with my views, but said that he could make no
definite promise. The results of this interview were most
gratifying. I at once issued orders to the regiment to do
no more firing until ordered, but for a while to be careful
about exposing themselves, and not to gather in large
groups. From that time for three weeks not a shot was
fired along the "front of the Twentieth Kansas, though
conditions did not change on the front of the other two
regiments of the brigade. Gradually our men became
more confident and moved about with the utmost freedom.
Some of them even wanted to visit the insurgent lines,
but this, of course, was not allowed. A couple of base
ball teams were organized, and played numerous games
in full view of the enemy. The Filipinos showed the
same disregard of our presence that we did of theirs, and

The next few days were ones of comparative quiet

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 221
could be seen taking their ease on top of their trenches
instead of down under the ground. In fact, life became
much less irksome for all of us. But the oddest thing
was brought about by the fact that our band sent in to
Manila for its instruments, the men since the outbreak
having been fighting in the companies, and every evening
we had a concert on our lines. The Filipinos would
crowd the tops of their trenches to hear the music, and
would vigorously applaud pieces that struck their fancy.
Every concert closed with the playing of "The Star-
Spangled Banner," at which not only our men but all
the Filipinos stood at attention, uncovered. This state
of affairs was the cause of much wonderment among
visitors to our lines, and well it might be.
But it was too good to last, and one day the discovery
was made that the enemy was running a zigzag trench
toward our left, the work being done under cover of
dense undergrowth. They were already within seventy-
five yards of the left flank of the regiment and within fifty
of the Malabon causeway. This would never do, as it
would enable them to get in our rear by running a short
sap under the causeway and the left of our trenches. In
this way they might by a sudden rush do us great damage,
even if they did not for a time drive us out. Holding aloft
a white handkerchief, I walked out in front of the sand
bag parapet that covered the First Battalion and ap
proached the working party, but was warned back by an
officer. I called to him that we could not allow the work
to proceed, but received no reply, his attitude being dis
tinctly hostile. Going back to the regiment, I had Com-

222 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
pany F fire a volley into the brush, and the long truce was
broken. In a minute came the spiteful popping of the
Mausers, and everybody dived into the earth. The
trenches that half an hour before had been busy with life
looked deserted. It would be interesting, however, if we
could know how many casualties were avoided by this
informal arrangement. But we were nearly through with
the Caloocan trenches, as the arrival of a number of regu
lar regiments from the United States had increased the
number of troops at the disposal of the division com
mander, so that the longed-for campaign against the in
surgent capital could begin.
On the afternoon of the 24th of March orders were
received making radical changes in the distribution of the
troops of the division preparatory to the advance. The
First Montana, which had been on the centre of the bri
gade line, was shifted to its extreme right, where a por
tion of Hale's Brigade had been, and, having sent back
to Manila all its useless impedimenta, the Twentieth
Kansas just after dark formed in column of fours and
moved away from the position that it had so long occupied,
and in which it had had one officer and seven men killed
and two officers and fifteen men wounded, marching in
rear of the line to La Loma church, where in line of masses
it went into bivouac for the night. Hale's Brigade had
been moved by the right flank, and now my regiment was
sandwiched in between the First Montana on its right and
the Third Artillery on its left, this organization not hav
ing changed its position. Troops recently arrived from
the United States occupied the old trenches on our front,

CALOOCAN AND ITS TRENCHES 223
in order to hold them and thus deny access to the city
during the advance of the Second Division. The positions
in the trenches on the extreme left of the division were
occupied by what was known as the Separate Brigade,
temporarily attached to General MacArthur's command.
This brigade consisted of the Twenty-second United States
Infantry and the Second Oregon, the first-named regiment
having just recently arrived from the United States. It
was commanded by Brigadier-General Loyd Wheaton,
a dashing and aggressive soldier who was to win great
laurels in the coming campaign. He commanded our
own brigade later, and we shall hear much of him in the
story of the campaign north of Malolos.
We of the Twentieth Kansas were in a measure dis
appointed that the changes preparatory to the advance
spoiled our chance of settling a few scores with the insur
gent trenches that had been on our front for six weeks.
The Second Oregon, that was the next day to take them
by direct assault, had very severe fighting, losing more
men, I believe, than any other organization did in any
one fight in the Philippines. To the right of Hale's was
still another brigade, that of Brigadier-General Robert
H. Hall, which for a day or two was to act in conjunction
with the Second Division. The general plan for the com
ing advance was for the brigades of Hale and Otis to ad
vance rapidly just after daybreak and carry the insurgent
lines on their front, Wheaton's brigade for the time to
stand fast. After forcing the passage of the Tuliajan
River the brigades of Hale and Otis were to execute a
wheel to the left as rapidly as possible in order to cut off

224 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
the main force of the insurgents near Malinta and pin
them up against the bay shore north of Malabon. After
the attack had progressed to a certain point Wheaton was
to carry the trenches on his front, the hope being that the
men falling back before him would find their retreat barred
at Malinta. Hall's brigade on the extreme right was to
engage the attention of the enemy on his front and protect
the right of the Second Division.
Not counting the troops to be left in the trenches to
cover Manila, this movement was to be participated in
by about nine thousand men on a front of eight miles.
The enemy opposed to us was of about equal strength,
well armed, with an abundant supply of ammunition, and
occupying an almost continuous line of trenches and field-
works. These facts are submitted for the prayerful con
sideration of those who affect to think that there was noth
ing but guerilla fighting in the Philippines. The next day
was to see the most extensive combat that United States
troops have been engaged in since the Civil War, with the
sole exception of the ist of July, 1898, at Santiago.

Ill
UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS
The bugles blowing reveille on the morning of the
25th ushered in the longed-for day when the Second
Division was to take up the march for Malolos, the insur
gent capital, and we knew that before us was a week or
so of almost continuous fighting, for the way was barred
by the best troops of the rebel army, commanded by
Antonio Luna, far the ablest and most aggressive leader
in the service of Aguinaldo. The insurgent troops were
better armed than were the volunteers that composed the
bulk of the Second Division, having that splendid weapon,
the Mauser, while we still used the Springfield, of much
shorter range. It might be said here that the advantage
had by a weapon of high velocity over one of low is that the
former, having a flatter trajectory, is not so much affected
by errors in aiming or in estimating distance. The Spring
field could reach as far as effective fighting could be done
with any small arm, but at a thousand yards its bullets
were coming down at a very considerable angle, thus
diminishing the dangerous space. But we were through
with our black-powder days, as we had now been supplied
with cartridges which, while not absolutely smokeless, did
not at once shroud us in a cloud of our own making.
The force opposed to us was about equal in strength
to our division, and was an enemy not to be despised,
225

226 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
as it was made up mostly of former native regiments
of the Spanish army. These had gone over to the in
surgents intact, keeping their former organization, and
largely having their original officers. They had been in
service more than a year, and had had considerable train
ing in the matter of drill, but I fear not very much in
target practice. They retained their old Spanish uni
forms, so that these became really the insurgent uniform.
-It was not until the later period of guerilla warfare that
the Filipinos fought in civilian clothing. While not very
capable troops on the offensive, these insurgents showed
no little mettle in defending positions, for they often
stuck to them until the bottoms of the trenches were
literally covered with their dead. Some of our people
have affected to despise the courage of the Filipino ; but
the most of them are among those who did not get
mixed up in the fighting until after the greater part of
those who fought us during the first four months had been
killed or disabled, and their places had been taken by
yokels snatched out of their rice fields and compelled to
fight. The real test of the morale of troops is the ability
to bring them time and again to face the music, to suffer
almost inevitable defeat, and to have their ranks deci
mated by appalling losses. Judged by this standard, the
Filipino does not by any means stand at the foot of the
list. Deaths from bullets and disease, as well as a con
siderable list of sick and wounded in the hospitals, had
reduced the Twentieth Kansas to a strength bf about a
thousand men. These, as soon as the bugles rang out,

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 227
set themselves to making coffee and broiling bacon, ancV
had soon made away with a typical soldier breakfast in
the field. Lieutenant-Colonel Little had recovered from
his accidental injury received before the outbreak, and
was now in command of the First Battalion, while Major
Whitman, returned to duty from sick leave some weeks
before, had his own battalion, the Second. Our orders
were to have two battalions on the firing line and one
marching in rear as a regimental reserve.
Night passes into day quickly in the tropics, and the
sun had almost risen by the time the men had stowed their
mess tins in their haversacks, buckled on their tin cups
and cartridge belts, and stood at ease awaiting the first
order. This was not long in coming, and we soon formed
line, still in close order, marched the few rods to the sum
mit of the ridge, jumped over the trenches occupied by
the men of one of the recently arrived regular regiments,
and started down the gentle slope. As soon as we had
cleared the steeper part of the slope the Second and
Third Battalions began deploying, while the First re
mained stationary, with orders to let us have five hundred
yards start, when it was to follow in line of platoons in
column. The First Montana, on our right, had already
started, as also had Hale's brigade, still to its right, and
already the crackle of the Mausers was heard to our right
front as these regiments came under fire. The Third
Artillery, on our left, waited until we were even with its
position and then leaped over its trenches and started-^
for the goal. We were crossing an almost level plain, and
nearly all of the two brigades could be seen at one time,

228 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
as they silently advanced in a long, irregular line toward
the woods that sheltered the enemy's outpost line. It was
a spectacle enough to inspire any man. It looked like a
manoeuvre, but it was war. Already the woods fifteen
hundred yards on our front were crackling and popping
and the bullets were kicking up dust spots on the dry
ground. All our fighting heretofore had been in close country,
so that we had not tried the advance by alternate rushes,
but this was a good place for it, and although the distance
was too great for us to begin firing with effect, we put into
practice what we had learned on the drill ground at the
Presidio. One platoon, that is half a company, would
rush forward for about fifty yards and throw itself prone,
while the other platoon would rise and rush past it. Of
course this made an irregular and apparently waving line,
but we were getting over ground at a good rate.
Hale's brigade, not having so far to go to close with
the enemy, had opened fire, as also had the First Mon
tana, and now we were within seven hundred yards of the
woods. I turned to Chief-Trumpeter Barshfield walking,
or rather trotting, along beside my horse and ordered
"Commence firing" blown. The men had been anxious
to reply, and went at it with a vengeance, each platoon
firing while it was prone, and then rising at the word of
command and dashing to the front. My horse, the same
little bay that had been shot under me at Caloocan, showed
that he remembered something, and for the first time was
skittish under fire. Nothing could be seen on our front
that looked like an enemy, so that our target was the edge

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 229
¦c
of the woods, where it was known that the line must be.
The fire of the enemy not being of much volume, we knew
that this must be merely a line of strong outposts, and
that the real trouble would be farther in the depths of
the woods.
During this advance by rushes a man in Company D
received a most peculiar wound. He had just thrown
himself prone when he felt a severe blow on his right
shoulder, being completely prostrated. The Hospital
Corps men who accompanied the firing line applied the
first-aid bandage and sent him back to the dressing-station
at La Loma church. Here an examination disclosed the
wound of entrance in his right shoulder, and also the sup
posed exit of the bullet in the form of a hole in his right
side just where his cartridge belt had been. Sent into
the First Reserve hospital in Manila, he was treated under
the very natural supposition that he was rid of his bullet,
but eleven days after his admission one of the nurses in
bathing the man noticed what appeared to be a swelling
just above his right knee. Calling the attention of the
surgeon to the matter, that individual went after the object
with his instruments, and extracted a Mauser bullet. The
missile, traversing his body lengthwise close to the sur
face, had struck the tight and unyielding belt where it
would have made its exit, but, being foiled, and having
considerable energy left, had continued its journey through
the unfortunate man's anatomy until its force was ex
pended just above his knee. It is disturbing to be shot
through the body in the orthodox manner, but it is enough
to make one positively peevish to have a hole drilled

230 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
through him lengthwise. Astonishing to relate, the man
recovered in a short time.
We continued the advance by rushes until within about
two hundred yards of the enemy, when the "Charge"
sent the two battalions over the remaining ground in no
time, the enemy's weak line bolting into the woods. It
was only a line of outposts behind not particularly good
cover, and ought not to have remained as long as it did,
but when we opened fire should have retired on the
main line.
The men of Company G had a bull-dog that they had
brought with them from Coffeyville, Kansas, and of which
they were exceedingly fond. I had heard much of the
antics of this animal in battle, and on this occasion had
an opportunity to see him perform. He was perfectly
frantic with excitement, apparently thinking that the
whole show was something for his especial benefit, and
ran up and down the line of his company barking furiously.
At the charge he distanced everybody in the race to the
enemy's position. This dog was in every engagement
that the company was in, and went through it all without
mishap, but after his return he indiscreetly bit Coffey-
ville's police force in the leg and was promptly shot, an
ending for the company pet that all but started a riot.
The Filipino line having been weakly held, we natu
rally found but few of them on the ground. I do not
know the number that were along that portion of their
line carried by my regiment, but counted seven dead at
the place struck by the right of our line. There were also
two badly wounded that they had not been able to remove,

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 231
and these we sent in with our own wounded. At the same
place we picked up nine rifles.
Positive orders had been issued before the advance for
the First Montana to keep its left on a road which ran at
right angles with its direction, while the right of my own
regiment was to rest on the same road. But from the
start the regiment named had inclined too much to the
left, and before we reached the enemy's line nearly two
companies were on our side of the road. We were being
telescoped, and in order to avoid crowding the Third
Artillery on our left we had to take several companies out
of the firing line, but not until I had lost my temper and
"cussed out" an officer of the offending regiment, who
bristled up and told me he took no orders from out
siders, and that he had no instructions to keep his left
on the road. Filled with wrath, righteous from my own
stand-point, I determined to appeal to higher authority.
The brigade commander was somewhere in the rear of
the line of his command, but I did not know just where.
However, a group of mounted officers only a short dis
tance back on the road I recognized from the distinguish
ing flag as General MacArthur and his staff. While the
regiment was straightening itself out and getting its breath
I rode back as fast as my horse could run and sputtered
out my tale of woe. The general looked at me in a quiz
zical sort of way and said, "Well, well, Funston, is that
all is the matter ? Let's not get excited about little things.
It is better to wait for something serious." But he sent
an officer to straighten out the tangle. He evidently was
considerably amused by my outburst.

232 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
Returning to the regiment, which by this time had got
itself pulled together, we resumed the advance, now over
somewhat rougher ground and through woods that in
places were rather dense, but here and there comparatively
open. We knew that somewhere on our front was the
Tuliajan River, but owing to the wretched maps of the
country that the Spaniards had made, the distance was
uncertain. Naturally our own people had never been
able to map this region, lying as it did in the insurgent
lines, nor would it have been possible for patrols to have
made the necessary examination.
The whole brigade was, of course, participating in this
renewed advance, and we were working our way cau
tiously forward, examining the country on our front as
well as we could under the circumstances. The ground
was sloping gently downward, and it was realized that we
must be near the river. An occasional rifle shot and a
bullet zipping through the tree tops was the only sign of
an enemy. We suddenly heard a most terrific crashing
in the woods to our left as the Third Artillery engaged in
a desperate close-range struggle in which it lost about
thirty men killed and wounded, and in an instant the
woods on our own front added to the pandemonium. It
was exceedingly difficult to decide what to do. To rush
the men down to the river, which we could now make out
about three hundred yards ahead of the line, might place
the regiment in a position where it would be shot to pieces
by the well-intrenched enemy on the opposite bank in
case it should be too deep to wade. To retire was of
course out of the question, so the only thing to do was to

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 233
close as rapidly as possible and take chances on the
depth of the stream. Past experience had shown us
that even with the enemy intrenched we could over
come his fire. So the companies on the firing line now
rushed down the bank, threw themselves flat, and fought
desperately. In order that I might be able to exercise some influence
on the firing line as a whole, and not get mixed up in a
local fight where I could see only one or two companies,
I remained abqut two hundred yards behind the line for
the time being. Here I was joined by the well-known
correspondent, Mr. James Creelman. I had sent Ser
geant-Major Warner and Trumpeter Barshfield away to
carry orders, and was glad to have company. The noise
was so overwhelming that it was difficult to think, for
the whole brigade was fighting as hard as it could and the
woods were filled with the roar. Creelman and I sat on
our horses for awhile, and then unanimously dismounted,
the idea seeming to strike both of us at the same time.
Companies E and H had struck the worst of it, being
opposite the most formidable trench, and Creelman and
I were directly behind them. A natural tendency of the
Filipino, and for that matter, most people, to shoot high
made our position one of the warmest places I have ever
been in. Only once, and that at Cascorra in far-away
Cuba, had I seen bullets thicker. The two companies
were right on the river bank, and as the stream was not
more than forty feet wide, and the Filipiho trenches were
on the opposite bank, the two firing lines were not more
than fifty feet apart. The river looked deep, but as yet

234 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
our people had not overcome the enemy's fire sufficiently
to allow the matter to be tested.
Captain Adna G. Clarke, now a captain in the regular
army, was in command of Company H, and I could see
him standing erect in order to better direct the fire of his
men, who were lying down. In a short time I saw him
crumple up and go down with a wound from which I be
lieve he has not fully recovered to this day. Majors Met
calf and Whitman were close up to the river bank, their
two battalions being most hotly engaged. Finally I could
stand it no longer, and in the hope that a place could be
found where there was a practicable crossing, rode toward
the left of the regiment, which had not been so severely
engaged, but managed to get my horse stuck in a boggy
ravine, and so gave that up and, dismounting, started on
a run to join the two companies that were so deeply in
volved, in the hope that by swimming, if necessary, we
could bring the thing to a finish. Passing a little clump
of bamboos, I heard a groan coming from them, and saw
four of our poor fellows scattered on a space no larger
than an ordinary bedroom.
As soon as I reached the firing line I motioned, for
no commands could be heard, for some of the men to
get into the water and try to cross. Captain William
J. Watson, commanding Company E, and two or three
men plunged in and struggled across, the water being
nearly to their shoulders, and were followed by a number
of others, the men holding their rifles over their heads.
As the first of these men came up the bank the Filipinos
bolted, knowing it was all over, and but few of them could

As the first of these men came up the bank the Filipinos bolted

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 235
be brought down in flight, as the north bank was higher
than the one our men were on, and the men could not see
them. However, I saw Lieutenant Colin H. Ball do some
good short-range work with his revolver, he being one of
those who had crossed.
In the meantime my horse had extricated himself
from the mud, and had come trotting toward the excite
ment. A soldier caught him and brought him to me, and
by the time I had mounted, the fighting on our front was
over. A better crossing was found about a hundred
yards down-stream, and I had no difficulty in getting the
pony through. The men of the regiment, now that the
fighting had ceased, waded the stream at the same place,
and were allowed to throw themselves on the ground to
rest until further orders should be received.
Only a very small portion of the regiment had been
seriously engaged, as the enemy's trenches were not con
tinuous, although there had been resistance all along the
line, but in many cases the fire had come from men lying
down a hundred yards or so from the river bank. After '
our men had got close to the river they had not suffered
much, as the Filipinos did not like to rise up enough to
do even fairly good shooting, but Companies E and H
had been pretty well shot up in getting to close quarters.
Our loss was Privates Craig, Anibal, and Plummer
killed, and Captain Clarke and twelve enlisted men
wounded. Craig was the youngest of three brothers in
the same company, one of them being a first lieutenant
and the other a sergeant, these last two being now officers
in the regular army. In and near the trench that had

\

236 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
given us the most trouble we found twenty-nine of the
enemy's dead. As usual, the most of his wounded had
succeeded in escaping, though we found seven. Scattered
about on the ground were about thirty rifles that we
broke up and threw into the river.
In the meantime the Third Artillery, on our left, had
fought its way across the stream, overcoming more seri
ous difficulties than those that had confronted us, as in
addition to trenches they had to take an elaborate and
obstinately defended field-work.
The First Montana had had a fight about as stiff as
our own, and had crossed the river to our right. Still
farther away we could hear a scattering fire as Hale's
brigade was making its way, overcoming great difficulties
in the way of dense brush and badly cut up country. Still
farther to the right Hall's brigade was having its fight,
but the sounds of battle, if they reached our ears, were
confused with that of other firing in the same direction.
Much nearer in, on our right, at the place where the
Novaliches wagon road crosses the Tuliajan, was an almost
incessant small-arms fire punctuated with cannon shots
and the tap, tap, tap of a Colt automatic gun. At this
place a very strong field-work and flanking trenches,
constructed for the purpose of protecting the crossing,
were stoutly resisting a detachment of the Fourth Cavalry
and some artillery. A field-piece and the automatic gun
were run up to the bank of the river and served in the
open at a distance of a few rods, and it was not until the
shells began to pierce the well-made parapet that the
defenders fled. The Colt gun was under the command

u

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 237
of Ensign Cleland Davis of the navy, he having a detach
ment of three marines to serve it. Ensign Davis had
joined us in the Caloocan trenches, and had had occa
sional opportunities to try out his weapon. He accom
panied us through the whole campaign to Malolos, and we
often heard the rhythmical popping of the little gun, which
could be distinguished through quite a heavy infantry fire.
Davis always got into close quarters with his little weapon
whenever there was opportunity, and made it count.
The navy's detachment was very popular with the army,
and they seemed to enjoy their part of the campaign im
mensely. According to the plans of the battle, Wheaton's brigade,
which, it will be remembered, was on the extreme left of
the line, occupying the old Caloocan trenches, was to wait
until the brigades of Otis and Hale had pierced the centre
of the line and then move out straight to the front, the
supposition being that Hale's brigade by making a rapid
left turn would cut off the retreat of the enemy. We were
straightening ourselves out after the rather confused cross
ing of the river, and were sending out patrols to the front,
when we heard toward our left rear a crackle of rifle fire,
which in a moment swelled into a most appalling amount
of sound, and we knew that the fiery Wheaton was going
after them hammer and tongs. His brigade was more
than two thousand strong, and was resisted by a somewhat
larger number of the enemy occupying successive lines of
trenches. If any one thinks that more than four thousand men
using breech-loaders as rapidly as they can load and fire

238 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
cannot wake the echoes, I wish he could have heard the
astonishing roar that smote our ears on this occasion.
There was no rattle, just a roar that drowned individual
shots, and through which the crashes of the field-pieces
could barely be distinguished.
This brigade soon reached the south bank of the river,
but did not cross, as it was now known that our turning
movement was meeting with difficulties, and it was not de
sired to push the insurgents any farther up the railroad at
present. The country on the front of Hale's brigade was
to us a veritable unknown land. To have explored it
before the outbreak might have precipitated matters with
the insurgents, and any attempt to examine it after the
war began could -only have resulted in the loss of the
detachments sent out for the purpose. It turned out to
be a dense tangle of forest and undergrowth, cut up with
ravines. It was out of the question for troops in extended
order to make any rapid progress through it, and the day
had turned out to be very hot. The situation made it neces
sary for us to remain where we were until the next morn
ing, and we proceeded to make ourselves comfortable, no
difficult matter with water and firewood in abundance.
» The brigade commander had joined us at this point
just after the crossing of the river, and camped near us.
It was in the midst of the dry season, and the men did
not even use their shelter-halves, commonly known as
pup tents, so that all that was necessary was to stretch
ourselves out under the stars and sleep as well as the
hard ground would let us. It was, in fact, campaigning
under almost ideal conditions.

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 239
During the night we were aroused by about a dozen
shots from one of our outposts, and a man came in to re
port that a small band of the enemy trying to sneak up
on it had been driven off. The officer of the day went
out to investigate, and after some searching found a very
old and innocent-looking carabao bull in the last stages
of dissolution, with half a dozen bullet holes in him. The
men of this outpost had to stand considerable chaffing
from their comrades the next day. But they were at least
entitled to credit for good shooting.
The next morning, the 26th, an adjustment of the line
made it necessary for us to move half a mile up the river,
and a little before noon the march was resumed, this time
in a westerly direction along a wagon road leading from
the Novaliches ford across the Tuliajan toward the town
of Malinta. We were still in rather close woods. The
Third Artillery had the advance, and we followed. We
could hear heavy firing toward Malinta, and knew that
Wheaton's brigade was shoving the enemy out of the
trenches near there. It was evident from the amount
of firing that the fighting was severe. As we approached
open country, the great level plain that stretches northward
for two or three miles from Malinta, we could hear firing
on our own front, and soon saw that the Third Artillery
was deploying in open country and firing into the flank
of a large body of the enemy, more than two thousand
strong, flying before Wheaton's brigade. One portion
seemed to have kept its formation, and was replying to the
Third Artillery with a brisk fire. Two field-pieces under
Major Young, that were with the advance, were already

240 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
in action, and it looked as if we were going to have a fine
fight. General MacArthur and his staff were sitting on
their horses near the guns, and I rode up in advance of
my regiment and asked for instructions, being directed to
deploy on the right of the Third Artillery and close in as
rapidly as possible. The artillerymen were fairly skip
ping over the ground in an endeavor to come to close
quarters, and with their Krags were delivering an effective
fire, having a splendid target, the flank of a large body of
broken infantry.
I put my regiment to double time, moved to the right
of the road, and crowded the men for all they were worth.
It was rather a poor piece of business, for by the time
they began to deploy they were so "winded" as to be
almost useless. Finally we got a few companies in line
and commenced firing, at the same time going forward
by rushes. But the distance, nearly fifteen hundred
yards, was too great for our Springfields, and I doubt if
we hit a man. The men fell out by dozens, completely
exhausted. I rode among them and I am afraid did not
exactly bless them, but it was no use. Soon the fleeing
Filipinos were out of range of even the Krags of the
Third Artillery, and the affair was over. The Twentieth
Kansas had had only one man hit, Private Fairchild,
killed. If we had only had a regiment of cavalry well in hand
at the time we came into the open, there would have been
a different story. A man might go through several little
wars before he would again see such an opportunity for a
cavalry charge. The country was perfectly open and as

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 241
level as a floor. There was no escape possible in the time
that it would have taken cavalry to reach the enemy. I
do not believe that a hundred of them could have escaped,
possibly not one. Whatever doubt there may be as to
the possibility of cavalry charging infantry in line, there
is none as to what it can do if it gets in on the flank of a
disordered and retreating force. But we had but little
cavalry, and that not properly mounted.
We again formed column and resumed the march to
Malinta, which place we found occupied by Wheaton's
brigade after severe fighting. I saw General Wheaton and
was informed by him that Colonel Egbert of the Twenty-
second Infantry had been killed a short time before. The
place where that gallant old veteran died is now marked
by a monument which can be seen a few hundred yards
to the east of the railroad track just south of Malinta.
Our part of the fighting was over for the day, and we
were allowed to take it easy.
Hale's brigade had pushed through the woods toward
the town of Meycauayan, where the insurgents made a
strong stand in trenches previously constructed. At a
distance we watched the beautiful fight taking place in the
[open country, and with our field-glasses could make out
quite well what was going on. In this combat General
Hale was slightly wounded, and Captain Krayenbuhl of
his staff was killed. Enough high bullets from the fight
dropped among us to give us something of a personal in
terest in the matter, and a man of the Third Artillery near
us was wounded by this long-range, dropping fire. There
are some disadvantages about being even spectators of a

242 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
fight when the modern high-power rifles are being used,
for, if they are given too much elevation, as the Filipinos
were very prone to do, the bullets sometimes do not come
to earth short of a couple of miles.
After the fight was over, and Hale's brigade had oc
cupied the town with the fearful and wonderful name,
or rather the place where it had been before the Filipinos
in their retreat burned it, our brigade resumed its march
for a couple of miles, and bivouacked in line in the open
fields. Near the Twentieth Kansas were a number of
stacks of rice straw, and everybody in the regiment had a
soft bed that night. As there were other troops ahead of
us, we were not required to place outposts, so that all had
a much-needed rest.
The big town of Malabon had been burned as soon as
Wheaton's brigade had begun its advance past it, Malinta
had gone up in smoke on the morning of this day, and
Meycauayan, in spite of its name, had met a like fate in
the evening. It was evident that the Filipino leaders were
carrying out with a vengeance an idiotic policy of destroy
ing the property of their own people under the impres
sion that such action would hurt our feelings or make us
peevish. A few days later, a copy of the order to destroy
all towns before delivering them to the Americans, signed
by Luna himself, was found. This action did not even
inconvenience us, as in such weather all preferred bivou
acking in the open to taking chances with vermin and dirt
in the native houses. But it seemed a terrible pity to see
these towns, some of them well built, go up one after the
other. We did all we could to save them, but usually

/

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 243
could accomplish nothing, as they burned like kindling-
wood. The enemy also destroyed as many as possible
of the bridges, both on the railroad and the wagon roads,
and destroyed the telegraph line, and took out consider
able sections of the railroad track. These acts of destruc
tion were, of course, justifiable from the stand-point of
military necessity, and caused us no little annoyance and
delay. The morning of the 27th we arose refreshed from our
beds of straw, had our bacon, hardtack, and coffee, and
began a rather strenuous and noisy day. The work of
Hall's brigade, so far as it bore on the Malolos campaign,
was over, and it operated in and near the Mariquina^val-
ley. Wheaton's brigade, which really belonged to the First
Division operating south of Manila, was to follow us up
and act as a reserve, and guard our line of communica
tion with Manila, while the Second Division was to re
sume the march on the insurgent capital. Hale's brigade
was to march on the right of the railroad, while ours,
Otis's, was to keep on the left. The Third Artillery was
again to have the advance in our brigade, followed at a
distance of five hundred yards by the Twentieth Kansas,
and behind us came the First Montana, the two last-
named regiments marching in column in the road.
As we pushed slowly north, the advance of my regi
ment five hundred yards in rear of the Third Artillery,
a lively popping broke out a mile up the road, and we
knew that the advance guard of the brigade was again
getting into touch with the enemy. For a time two or
three of the companies of the Third Artillery had been

244 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
in column on the road in the heart of the town. We
noticed that most of the men seemed to be in little groups
along the side of the road, apparently very busy about
something, but had no idea what was keeping them so
occupied. As the firing on the front increased Major
Kobbe ordered all his men to the front to reinforce the ad
vance guard. The men fell in and marched up the road
toward the sound of firing, casting longing glances toward
the place they had just left. My regiment marched up to
this point, and we at once saw the cause of the tender
solicitude on the part of the gallant artillerymen. All
along the road were little fires, and over each one was
broiling a chicken. The men had had less than an hour
in which to catch and dress them and get them started to
broiling, so that they were not yet done, and as a half-
cooked chicken is a little worse than none, they were com
pelled to leave them to the mercies of the Jayhawkers.
It is an ill wind that blows no good, and as we halted to
await the progress of events, the men were allowed to
fall out. They did so with great alacrity. Only the
leading battalion got any benefit from this windfall, as
every chicken had been pre-empted before the men of
the other two could arrive, they having been halted a
little farther down the road. One artilleryman had lin
gered and was carefully watching one bird. I asked him
why he did not join, suggesting that his company com
mander might call him to account for straggling. "No
sir. He won't. It's his chicken. I'm his striker. But
I'll have to let it go. It won't be done in time." I replied
that it would be a shame to waste so fine a bird, and that

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 245
I would see that it was well appreciated. So I took the
chicken, after it had cooked, and the man departed in
sadness. So I owe Lieutenant, now Major Abernethy,
one fine young chicken, which I hope to pay him for some
day. After the chickens had been disposed of we sat
about, listening to the firing on our front and right front.
It was evident that a stiff fight was on. In compliance
with my orders to keep five hundred yards behind the
Third Artillery, we now fell into column and pushed up
the road through the ruined town. We had just halted,
seeing some troops the required distance ahead of us, when
much to our surprise we were briskly fired on from our
left front. This was more than disconcerting, as it is
bad business to come under fire at close range while in
column. I did not know, however, that the firing line of
the Third Artillery did not extend far enough to the left
to cover the point from which the shots were coming.
The men were at once ordered to lie down, being still in
column, and Major Metcalf and I dismounted and ran out
to the left into an open field to study the situation. Our
appearance was the signal for an increased fire, and we
could see to our front and left, not more than five hundred
yards, a line of detached trenches, from which the fire was
coming, and we could see the straw hats bobbing up and
down. They appeared to be in the margin of a growth
of woods and bamboo, and the country between us and
them was perfectly level and open, being obstructed only
by the low dikes of the rice fields.
That the enemy was on the opposite side of an im
passable river occurred to no one. Neither of us had

246 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
seen any map of the locality, and though it was known
that we were approaching the Marilao River, it was
thought to be a mile or more in advance. So we took the
two leading companies from the advance battalion of
the regiment, rushed them into the open, deployed under
fire, and began the attack, advancing by rushes in the or
thodox manner, until within about a hundred yards of our
objective, when the charge was ordered, and we went
at them with a rush. The men had raised the usual yell,
and we thought that in a few seconds we would be among
them, when we were brought up with a start, and the
men instinctively threw themselves on the ground. We
had rushed to the very brink of a river about eighty feet
wide and ten feet deep. No wonder the Filipinos had
stood their ground and had continued to salt us. It was
a rather bad situation, as the enemy was sheltered in good
trenches and our men had no cover other than rice dikes
not more than a foot high. We had already had several
men hit, including two mortally wounded, and I deter
mined to withdraw the two companies from their position
until a way could be found to ascertain if the river could
be crossed. Before the beginning of the advance from the Manila
lines the various regiments had been provided with Chinese
litter bearers. The men that we had had already shown
at Tuliajan River that they were made of pretty good stuff,
and now they were sent up to the firing line, only a few rods
from the enemy's trenches, to bring back the wounded.
They crossed the open stoically, picked up their burdens,
and fell back with the two companies. It was a hard

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 247
test, as they were fired on repeatedly while coming up.
The two companies fell back only a short distance to a
point where there was cover, and remained in line lying
down. The retirement had been made without further
loss and in perfect order. In the meantime the brigade
commander had come up, and I explained the situation
to him. He was of the opinion that I had made a mis
take in retiring, though I represented that it was in no
sense a retreat, but merely for the purpose of sheltering
the men until a method of crossing could be found. I ex
pressed my willingness to go back, and he consented.
The two companies that had made the attack, H and I,
were now reinforced by C, and firing with great rapidity,
and, fairly combing the tops of the trenches with bullets,
we regained the bank of the stream without further loss.
The Filipinos were kept down in their trenches by the
fire poured in upon them, so that they simply could not
rise up to take any aim at all. As we gradually overcame
them our men rose to their feet to fire, in order to do better
shooting than they could lying down. If the muzzle of a
rifle appeared over the trench a score of bullets would
strike the spot within a couple of seconds. In the mean
time a number of us were running along the river bank,
trying to find some means of crossing, and while engaged
in this work I became aware of the fact that a very brisk
fight was going on with a couple of trenches to our right.
I did not at the time know just what troops were involved,
but could see a field-piece in action right on the bank of
the river, firing on a trench across the stream, and could
hear thejfap, tap, tap of the Colt automatic. There were

248 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
also a number of infantrymen. These latter had been
engaged in the fight for some time, but we had not known
it, being engaged with our own affairs farther to the left.
Our three companies farther down the stream had com
pletely mastered the fire in the trenches opposite them,
but could not cross. I went over to where the artillery
and the automatic were in action, and at this time Com
pany D of my regiment, Captain Orwig, came up to take
a hand in the fracas. Still a little farther up was a com
pany of the Tenth Pennsylvania of Hale's brigade that
Major Bell, who was in command at this point, had
brought over from beyond the railroad. In the mean
time a raft was noticed moored to the opposite bank of
the stream, about eighty yards below the trench that was
fighting Major Bell's detachment. It would be necessary
to swim the stream to get it, and I called for volunteers
to do the work. Lieutenant Hardy, Trumpeter Barsh
field, Corporal Drysdale (now a first lieutenant in the
Tenth Infantry), and Privates Huntsman and Willey
stripped off their clothing and plunged over the bank into
the stream. They swam across, got the raft, and towed
it to our side. It was a gallant piece of work well done.
During this time the field-piece, the Colt gun, and Com
pany D were pounding the near-by trench with great
vigor, while the Pennsylvania company was handling an
other trench a little farther up-stream.
As soon as the raft reached our side I got on it with
Lieutenant Hopkins and twenty-one men of Company C,
and we poled it to the other bank. After sending out
patrols to the front in order to give warning of a possible

As soon as the raft reached our side I got on it with Lieutenant Hopkins and twenty-one men of Company C

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 249
counter attack from any force that might be concealed in
the vicinity, we gave our attention to the trench opposite
the artillery, it being the nearest. But upon reaching it
we found that the men in it had already raised the white
flag and had signified to those across the river their de
sire to surrender. This was not on account of our cross
ing, but because of the fact that the gun was literally tear
ing their shelter to pieces, while the small-arms fire made
escape from it impossible. As we came in the lower end
of the trench a lieutenant and a private of the Tenth
Pennsylvania, whose names are unknown to me, came in at
the other end, they having crossed the stream by swimming
a short distance above. We found in the trench twenty-
four killed, and took thirty-four prisoners, of whom
twelve were very badly wounded. We broke up and threw
into the river thirty-one rifles and about four thousand
rounds of ammunition. The prisoners were brought
across the river on the raft and in a canoe that had been
found. Among the dead found here was one man who
had in his chest, in a space that could be covered by one
hand, five holes made by the little six millimetre bullets
of the Colt automatic. Ensign Davis had served this
gun in the open at a distance of about a hundred feet.
After we were all back in the United States some of the
patriots of my regiment and those of the Tenth Pennsyl
vania tried to engage in a bloody newspaper war over
the question as to who had crossed the river first, the men
of one regiment or the other. I doubt if anybody could
say to a certainty, as the two crossings were made from
points that were not in view of each other, and probably

250 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
no one man saw them both. It was a matter of absolutely
no importance, as the two enterprises were independently
carried on, and either would have succeeded alone.
Company D of the Twentieth Kansas had had one
man killed at this point. Those of us who had crossed
the river now went to the two trenches that our three
companies farther to the left had overcome. The oc
cupants had fled, taking their wounded with them, but
had left a number of dead that we did not take the trouble
to count. I now hoped to be allowed to ferry the whole regiment
across on the raft, a task that would have taken an hour
or so, but was directed by the brigade commander to re-
cross with the men that I had. For some time after
ward I believed that if I could have had my way we could
have rendered valuable service by marching up the stream
on its north side, rolling up the insurgents in the trenches
on that bank. I have subsequently learned that there
was on our front a narrow but deep lagoon that would
materially have interfered with such an operation. We
might easily have been involved alone in a very nasty
fight, so that I have no doubt that the wisest thing was
done. We remained on the south bank for some time, await
ing orders that depended on developments in other parts
of the field. In the meantime the First South Dakota, of
Hale's brigade, had after a very severe fight forced the
passage at another point above the bridge. This affair,
carried out under the direction of the commander of that
regiment, Colonel A. S. Frost, was about as stiff as any-

The prisoners were brought across the river on the raft and in a canoe that had been found

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 251
thing that occurred in the Philippines, the regiment in
question losing seven killed, including three officers, and
having about twenty-five wounded. It was totally inde
pendent of the crossing effected by my own regiment
farther down the stream, neither operation having any
effect on the other or being aided by it. About four
o'clock the brigade commander directed me to cross the
railroad bridge with the regiment and deploy on the left
of the Third Artillery. So we formed colurrin of fours and
set out.
As one ascends the Marilao at this point the stream
makes a considerable turn to the north until opposite the
town of Marilao, whence its course is easterly. There
fore, though we were right on the stream, and near the
railroad, we were nearly a mile from the bridge. As we
drew near we were met by the adjutant-general of the
division who informed me as to the situation, and stated
that General MacArthur desired that I make all possible
haste in extending the existing line to the left. Hale's
brigade and the Third Artillery of our own brigade were
already across and in line of battle, awaiting the move
ment of a body of some thousands of the enemy, who
could be seen coming up and deploying across the fields
to the north, with the evident intention of making an at
tack before all the division could cross the stream. From
the south bank we could see the enemy's line, which ap
peared to be about two miles long, and quite heavy, while
behind it were troops in reserve. The ties had been re
moved from the bridge, making crossing it a very slow
operation, but we made the greatest haste possible. The

252 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES

*

orderlies of the mounted officers managed to get their
horses across by swimming them.
We had just begun the crossing, the men picking their
way gingerly over the stringers, when the whole Filipino
line opened fire on the troops deployed on the north bank,
the distance being about twelve hundred yards. As the
firing line of our troops was not more than a hundred
yards in advance of the bridge, those of us on the struct
ure naturally got our share of the bullets. The men were
very quiet, and apparently somewhat nervous, as they
knew that a man badly hit while on the bridge would in
all probability fall into the stream. One man was killed
in the crossing, and a few wounded. All of our troops that
were in line were replying vigorously, the men lying close
to the ground. Under such a fire it would have been
folly to hold the regiment in such an exposed position until
it could be properly formed. I had crossed the bridge
at the head of the regiment, and found that my faithful
orderly, Caldwell, had my dripping horse awaiting me,
and so mounted and conducted the first few men as fast
as they could run along a road which ran a few yards
in rear of the prostrate and silent men of the Third Ar
tillery, working their Krags for all they were worth, and
directed them to continue the line of that organization to
the left. Every man as he cleared the bridge leaped down
the embankment and followed suit. It was a method of
deployment not laid down in any drill book, but worked
beautifully. Just after leaving the railroad embankment I had
passed two gray-haired sergeants of the Third Artillery,

¦ ¦ 7' ' ¦

Every man as he cleared the bridge leaped down the embankment and followed suit

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 253
lying within a few feet of each other, still and calm in
death, their faces as placid as if they were only asleep,
and had a hurried glimpse of General MacArthur and his
staff, standing near the right of the Third Artillery's line.
As our right began to hook onto the left of the Third
Artillery a number of the men greeted us with cheers, and
cries of "Good for Kansas." It was not that they were in
a pinch, but because a strong friendship had grown up
between the two regiments. They were, however, natu
rally glad to see their exposed flank covered.
The fire of the Filipinos was of such volume that we
were pretty well satisfied that they were going to crowd
the attack and come to close quarters with us. Even above
the roar of firing we could hear that they were yelling.
Only two battalions of my regiment were able to get on the
firing line, owing to a lagoon that ran at almost right an
gles to the line, so that one had to be held in reserve. It
was now getting dusk, and the flashes of the enemy's
rifles could be made out in the gathering darkness. The
field that we were in was perfectly dry, and the bullets
from the Mausers striking in it flicked up innumerable
little spots of dust, just like the effect of big drops of
rain in a dusty road at the beginning of a shower.
Much as I had to think about, there went through my
mind those words of Kipling, "the bullets kicking up
the dust spots on the green." How bullets could make
dust spots on green turf, however, I leave for the poet to
explain. I do not know just how long the fight lasted, probably
half an hour after we had got on the line. It stopped as

254 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
suddenly as it had begun. What had occurred, though
we did not know it at the time, was that Colonel Stotsen-
burg with his fine regiment, the First Nebraska, forming
the extreme right of Hale's brigade, had in the gathering
dusk moved forward quietly, and turned the Filipino left,
rolling it up and inflicting heavy loss, thus making it nec
essary for the enemy's whole line to fall back. As the
Filipino right rested on lagoons it could not have been
turned. The troops bivouacked in line of battle, and lay
down to sleep where they had fought. During the day,
besides its wounded who recovered, the Twentieth Kan
sas had lost Cook Scherrer and Privates Carroll, Hatfield,
Keeny, and Wahl, killed or mortally wounded.
The necessity of repairing the railroad bridge and the
much damaged track so that trains bringing up supplies
from Manila could cross, as well as the construction of a
bridge for our wheeled transportation, made it necessary
for the whole division to remain on the north bank of the
Marilao all the next day, and it was not until the morning
-of the 29th that we resumed the march. The day's rest
and quiet had been a God-send to all, as the weather
was becoming uncomfortably hot in the middle of the
day, and in spite of short marches the men were begin
ning to show signs of fatigue, this condition being partly
due to the watchfulness imposed at night. But the regi
ment, in common with the whole division, formed line
of battle, having the First and Second Battalions on the
firing line and the Third in reserve, five hundred yards in
rear, and we trudged across the open fields, still having
our right on the railroad. On our left was the First Mon-

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 255
tana, and across the railroad, to the right, the Tenth Penn
sylvania. The Third Artillery was in reserve.
As the long irregular line of blue approached the river
near Bocaue we could see trenches on the opposite bank.
Soon came the crackle of the Mausers and the usual whin
ing and zipping of bullets. We quickened our pace, and
when we were within eight hundred yards the two bat
talions on the firing line opened up. We made the attack
at a fast walk, each man stopping only long enough to
take aim, and reloading as he advanced. In some re
spects this method of attack is to be preferred to the ad
vance by rushes, as the shooting is much more accurate.
The enemy's fire was rather heavy, but, after we opened,
very wild. Major Metcalf and six enlisted men were
wounded. Metcalf, as has been told, had been shot
through one ear in the trenches at Caloocan, and now went
to the other extreme by getting a bullet through a foot, an
exceedingly painful and annoying wound. For several
hours he tried to stay with the regiment, but finally gave'
it up and sorrowfully allowed himself to be hauled back
to Manila. He recovered in time to join us at San
Fernando. The Filipinos had learned by bitter experience that
it was not always best to remain too long in their trenches,
especially if the ground to the rear was open, so that they
could be shot down in getting away, and now, as the regi
ment began to yell and rush forward, they vacated. A few
of us seized the railroad bridge, which they had not much
injured, and several regiments crossed on it, deploying
again on the other bank preparatory to continuing, the

256 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
advance. The loss of the enemy had been light, and we
found only a few dead in their trenches and near them.
While we were forming on the north bank of this
stream we could see at Bigaa station, about two miles
up the track, a number of railroad trains, and could see
that the enemy's troops were entraining. Our field-guns
opened and created much confusion among them. As
they fell back from Bigaa they burned the town, and we
could see the dense clouds of smoke rolling skyward as
we took up the march. Passing through Bigaa at about
half-past eleven, we met with no resistance on our part of
the line, though we heard some firing by other organiza
tions. We began fondly to hope that we might camp
that night in Malolos, but it was not to be. At a little
after four o'clock we approached the Guiguinto River,
and found the trenches on the opposite bank deserted.
The railroad bridge was burning, but the fire had made
but very little progress, and was put out by the men of
Company B of the Twentieth Kansas, the men carrying
water from the river in vessels that they found in near-by
houses. The stream was deep, and the banks high and
steep, so that our seizure of this bridge was a most for
tunate circumstance.
Across the river for about twelve hundred yards
stretched a perfectly level field from which the rice had
been harvested. Beyond that was what appeared to be
dense woods. There was not a sign of life anywhere,
but scouts were sent out up the railroad track a few hun
dred yards. The large force of the enemy, concealed in
elaborate trenches in the margin of the woods, held their

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 257
fire until they could make it count better than by giving
themselves away in order to stir up a few scouts. No one
had any doubt that the coast was absolutely clear, and
the crossing began immediately. The ties had not been
removed from the bridge, so that this was not a matter of
difficulty. The Tenth Pennsylvania and the Twentieth
Kansas began crossing at the same time, the former using .
the right-hand side of the structure and the latter the left-
hand. Two field-pieces and the Colt automatic were
brought across the bridge by hand and prepared to open
to the front in case the necessity should arise. For the
time being all horses had to be left on the south bank.
I was standing at the north end of the bridge, talking
to General MacArthur and watching my regiment cross,
when we were startled by a most terrific fire opened on us.
The bullets came from the north, and it was correctly
surmised that the enemy's trenches were in the edge of the
woods on the opposite side of the field. It was by far the
best shooting that I have ever seen the Filipinos do. They
were beyond the effective range of our Springfields, and
knew it. They had the exact range and were using their
sights, and had a good rest for their rifles over the para
pet of their trench. The bullets were whipping up little
dust spots all about, and actually filling the air with their
various sorts of noises. Major P. B. Strong, adjutant-
general of the division, standing within three feet of Gen
eral MacArthur, was wounded, and dozens of bullets
struck the bridge.
The two regiments crossed with great rapidity, each
company, as it cleared the bridge, deploying and rushing

258 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
up to the firing line. The Tenth Pennsylvania deployed
to the right of the railroad and the Twentieth Kansas to
the left. It was enough to warm the cockles of a soldier's
heart to see the perfect coolness of these now veteran
fighters under that rain of bullets to which they could
make no adequate reply. Each company of the Twen
tieth Kansas, as it cleared the bridge, formed line at one
pace interval, moved on a run by the left flank, faced to
the front at a point that would make its right coincide
with the left of the company that had preceded it, and
then fairly flew over the ground until it came up on the
firing line, when it went down flat to the earth and the
men began to work their rifles with great vigor. The
most of our firing was by platoon volleys, and crash suc
ceeded crash with intervals of only a few seconds. The
two field-pieces and the Colt automatic were in action,
and were adding to the uproar. We soon began to ad
vance by rushes, in order to come to close quarters. I
was up on the firing line and, having occasion to look to
the rear in order to see if all of the regiment had cleared
the bridge, was astonished at the number of writhing
forms in the little part of the field that we had crossed,
and at the number of men being assisted to the shelter
of the few straw stacks. The cry "Hospital Corps" was
coming from all sides.
Chief-Trumpeter Barshfield and I were stooping down
behind the prone men of Company G, and my attention
was attracted to the difficulty one of the men, Private Bir-
lew, was having in extracting a shell that had jammed in
his piece. I was so close I could have touched him, and

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 259
do not suppose I watched him more than three seconds,
when I saw one whole side of his head torn open, and his
face dropped down into the rice stubble, his hands clutched
convulsively, and life's battle with him was over. The
Filipinos had no mind to allow us to come to close quarters
when they had no friendly stream to stop our rush, and
when they saw that we were going to close with them,
vacated their trenches, and the firing ceased as abruptly
as it had begun.
I went at once toward the bridge to report to the divi
sion commander, and on my way passed one of the little
straw stacks, and noticed behind it half a dozen wounded
men being treated by the surgeons of the regiment who,
by the way, got under fire as much as any of us. The fight
had not lasted more than fifteen minutes, but the Twen
tieth Kansas had Privates Birlew, Dix, and Wilson killed,
and Captain W. J. Watson and eighteen enlisted men
wounded. Captain Watson, one of the best officers in
the regiment, carries to this day, just back of his heart,
the bullet received at Guiguinto. It was the last of his
active service with the Twentieth Kansas, but he came
back to the Philippines a year later in the Fortieth United
States Volunteers, and lost a leg in an engagement in
Mindanao. Having had his system sufficiently ventilated
' by bullets, Watson is now engaged in the peaceful pursuit
of presiding over the post-office at his home town of Pitts
burg, Kansas.
The troops that had fought at Guiguinto bivouacked
in line of battle. The next forenoon was spent in the
necessary but prosaic work of distributing rations and

260 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
ammunition, and it was after two o'clock in the afternoon
when we resumed the march, the Twentieth Kansas hav
ing the same relative position as on the preceding day.
We were more than interested in the long and well-made
trench, twelve hundred yards north of the bridge that
had sheltered our assailants of the night before. If there
had been any dead or wounded in them they had been
removed. It is very unlikely, however, that the Filipinos
had had more than a few men hit, as they had fought
at long range behind excellent cover, while we had been
in the open. We advanced slowly and cautiously, pass
ing line after line of formidable trenches that must have
cost an enormous amount of labor on the part of the non-
combatants who had been rounded up by thousands by
the insurgent leaders and compelled to work on them.
During the afternoon no resistance was encountered, and
at night we encamped within three miles of the insurgent
capital. We would have had time to go in, but it was
supposed that resistance of a serious nature would be
offered, and it was not desired to bring on a fight when
there was not sufficient daylight left to finish it in style.
From a strategic stand-point, Malolos was a place of
no importance, but it was taken for granted that the enemy
would desperately resist our occupation of his capital be
cause of the moral effect that such a disaster would have,
not only discouraging their own people, but giving the
impression in foreign lands that the insurgent cause was
lost, for it must not be forgotten that to the last the
deluded Filipinos gave themselves "Dutch courage" by
believing every ridiculous rumor of foreign intervention in

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 261
their behalf. All reports agreed that the great fight of
the campaign was at hand, and it looked ominous, for
on our front were line after line of trenches and some
formidable earthen redoubts. Scouts reported that up to
this evening they were strongly held.
The next morning we were up bright and early in an
ticipation of an eventful day, for, fighting or no fighting,
the occupation of an enemy's capital is a historical event
of importance. When daylight came not a trace of life
was apparent in the trenches on the front of our brigade,
but the Filipinos might be playing one of their sharp tricks,
trying to lure us into an incautious advance. Beginning
at exactly seven o'clock there was an artillery prepara
tion of half an hour, in which the eight or ten field-
pieces with us, under the direction of Major Young, vigor
ously shelled the trenches and redoubts at a distance of
about a mile, but without causing any stir in their vicinity.
Immediately upon the cessation of the cannonade the in
fantry advance began, the whole Second Division being
deployed on a front of over two miles. As for two days
past, the Twentieth Kansas formed the right of Otis's
brigade, which was on the left of the railway.
The various regiments of the division had been so
reduced by sickness, heat prostrations, and battle casual
ties that they did not aggregate the formidable total that
a week before had forced the passage of the Tuliajan.
Wheaton's brigade, which had been coming up in rear
of the division, guarding the line of communication, was
now deployed immediately behind us as a support, so
that as the two lines moved forward we numbered about

262 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
six thousand men. As the advance was to be made suc
cessively from the right of the division to the left, Hale's
brigade got the first start, and we heard some lively firing
on its front and saw that it was carrying one or two lines
of trenches. Immediately in advance of the Twentieth
Kansas was a redoubt covering probably an acre of ground,
with flanking trenches. We were within a thousand yards
of it, when I had the regiment lie down, and sent a few
scouts to examine the work. It was a ticklish job, but
manfully done. It would be better to sacrifice half a dozen
men than five or six times that number. We watched the
scouts anxiously as they darted forward and threw them
selves on the ground between dashes. Finally they made
the last rush and went over the parapet of the redoubt.
It was with great relief that we heard no firing, and soon
they were back on the parapet signalling that the coast
was clear. We then went forward rapidly, and soon
passed the work and were halted some distance beyond it
by the division commander, who was close up to the firing
line. There was still a little firing in the direction of Hale's
brigade, and a number of high bullets fired at his right
reached us, one man of the regiment being wounded.
We were now less than a mile from the nipa houses
in the suburbs of Malolos. I was on the railroad track
with the division commander, when he asked me if I would
like to take a few men and feel my way into the town.
I said I would be glad to, and took Lieutenant Ball and
about a dozen men from Company E, leaving. the regi
ment in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Little for the
time being. Moving rapidly over to the left of the regi-

UP THE RAILROAD TO MALOLOS 263
ment, our little detachment found a narrow road leading
into the capital, and we went up it on the jump, now and
then halting for a few seconds to peer around corners.
The road soon became a street, and here we were joined
by the ubiquitous Mr. Creelman, quite out of breath from
his exertions in overtaking us, he having "smelled a rat"
when he saw us leave. We were fired upon by about a
dozen men behind a street barricade of stones, gave them
a couple of volleys, and then rushed them. A minute later
we were in the plaza or public square, and exchanged shots
with a few men who were running through the streets
starting fires. The buildings occupied by Aguinaldo as a
residence and as offices and the Hall of Congress were
burning. We gave such cheers as a few men could, and
I sent back word to General MacArthur that the town
was ours. In a few moments troops from all the regi
ments of the brigade, as well as the brigade commander
himself, joined us.
Some time before we entered the square the First
South Dakota had occupied the village of Barasoain,
which is practically a continuation of Malolos, though it
has, or at least then had, a separate municipal govern
ment. This circumstance caused some of our compa
triots from the far north to feel irritated by the none too
modest boast of a few of the men of the Twentieth Kan
sas to the effect that the Kansans had been the first men
actually in the capital.
After all of us were comfortably seated about our own
firesides in the United States the newspaper war waged
over this question was only less bloody than the sanguinary

264 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
long-range contest carried on by the Kansans with the men
of the Tenth Pennsylvania over the Marilao affair. This
is one of the weaknesses of troops having local or State
pride to cater to. Circumstances had simply enabled men
from these two regiments to be the first to enter Malolos
and the neighboring town. As a matter of fact, the vic
tory belonged to the whole division and the troops co
operating with it. Malolos was defended, not at Malolos
itself, but at Caloocan, Tuliajan River, Malinta, Polo,
Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, and Guiguinto.

IV
FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO
Various considerations made it necessary for the Sec
ond Division to remain at Malolos for more than three
weeks before resuming the advance along the railroad.
A short delay would have been welcome, as the men had
been much exhausted by the week of marching and fight
ing that had placed them in possession of the enemy's cap
ital. The marches, it is true, had as a rule been short,
but we were in the midst of the hot season, and the troops
were not properly clothed for service in the tropics. With
the exception of the Third Artillery, that had been desig
nated as provost guard, the various regiments constituting
the division were not sheltered in the buildings of the
town, but were bivouacked on its outskirts, each covered
by its own outposts, this arrangement being necessary
in order to avoid surprise and disaster in case of a sudden
attack. Our brigade commander, Brigadier-General H. G.
Otis, believing that the war was about over, resigned
his commission and returned to the United States in order
to attend to important private interests that he had been
compelled to neglect while in service, and was succeeded
by Brigadier-General Loyd Wheaton, who had hereto
fore been in the command of a separate brigade acting as
263

266 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
a reserve and as line of communication troops in the
advance up the railroad.
General Wheaton, who is still living as a major-general
on the retired list of the army, was without doubt the most
striking individual and the most interesting character
among those who served in our army in the Philippines.
He had served in an Illinois regiment throughout the entire
Civil War, rising from sergeant to lieutenant-colonel com
manding his regiment, was desperately wounded at Shiloh,
and had received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at
the storming of Fort Blakely, on which occasion he was
the first man to enter the enemy's works, leaping sword in
hand through a gun embrasure. The passage of half a
lifetime since that great struggle had not abated to the
slightest degree his military ardor nor his fiery valor, or
caused any diminution in his restless energy. He was of
slender build and quick in movement, and had a voice
that could be heard above the roar of the stiffest fight.
He seemed to enjoy fighting for its own sake, and had
a positive contempt for danger. The only sort of man
he despised was a coward, and woe unto him who in his
sight showed the slightest yellow streak, for he would
hear something that he would remember for many a year.
General Wheaton, on the other hand, was most generous
in his recognition of every gallant action by members of
his command, and was very much inclined to stretch a
point to give to others the credit for successes that were
largely due to himself. It is needless to say that he in
spired all the members of his command with a feeling of
personal devotion.

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 267
The delay at Malolos was not without stirring inci
dents. The insurgent forces, still under the able and
energetic Luna, were in heavy force on our front and right,
and, despite the numerous drubbings they had received,
were full of fight. Our line of communication with our
base, Manila, was guarded by the Second Oregon and
the Thirteenth Minnesota, there being, as a rule, one or
two companies stationed at bridges and other important
points. But a line of railroad is especially vulnerable, on
account of the ease with which it can be damaged in a
very few moments, and on the night of April 10 the attempt
was made by some thousands of the enemy who had
swung around our right flank for the purpose. It was
a little after midnight when those of us at Malolos who
happened to be awake heard the indistinct rattle of rifle
fire far to our rear. Then came a few brief and alarming
messages from Marilao, Bocaue, Bigaa, and Guiguinto,
and nothing more, for the telegraph wires had been sev
ered. The sound of firing became more distinct as the
attacks on the various posts progressed, and as those
nearer Malolos became involved. With an escort of only
a few, dismounted cavalrymen, General Wheaton hurried
on foot down the track, picking up here and there detach
ments from the companies on guard at various places,
and with his small force struck the enemy like a cyclone,
routing him in four stiff fights. Near Guiguinto we had
an armored car with several machine guns. This was
pushed into the various fights by hand, and those of us
listening at Malolos could distinguish the drumming of
the Gatlings above the heavy and incessant rifle fire.

268 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
The insurgents had gained some minor successes before
being driven off, but practically all the damage done had
been repaired by daylight.
During this period our outposts were occasionally
attacked at night, and we had some lively scrimmages
in the darkness. On one of these occasions a very pro
fane captain of the Twentieth Kansas caused no little
merriment by falling into a shallow but unguarded well.
The sulphurous remarks that reached the ears of those
in the vicinity were the theme of many a subsequent
camp-fire story and are still dwelt on fondly at re
unions. In the meantime all preparations were made for con
tinuing the advance up the railroad. Our old comrades
of the Third Artillery were to be left behind to garrison
Malolos, so that the First Brigade was reduced to the
Montana and Kansas regiments. In the Second Brigade
the Tenth Pennsylvania was relieved by the Fifty-first
Iowa, a regiment that had not yet had opportunity for
field service. As one of the preliminaries of the resump
tion of the campaign, Major J. F. Bell with Troop K,
Fourth Cavalry, was sent on April 23 on a reconnoissance
toward the town of Quingua, on the river of that name,
and became so deeply involved in an engagement with a
greatly superior force of the enemy under Pablo Tecson
that portions of the Nebraska and Iowa regiments were
sent to the scene. The ensuing combat was one of un
usual severity, the Nebraska regiment alone losing four
killed and thirty-one wounded, among the former its able
and gallant commander, Colonel John M. Stotsenberg,

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 269
an officer who during the campaign had won an enviable
reputation for dash and courage.
The division resumed operations on the next day,
Hale's brigade moving out from our right flank, crossing
the Quingua near the scene of the fight of the previous
day, and sweeping down its right bank, carrying one line
of trenches after another. The distance to be covered by
this brigade was much greater than the march required
to bring our own in such a position that the whole division
would be in line at the Bag-Bag, the first stream up the
railroad from Malolos ; so that we were merely formed in
column and marched out of the town to await develop
ments. The men were allowed to fall out of ranks and
lie down or make themselves as comfortable as possible,
but were all held well in hand so that the march could be
resumed at a moment's notice. The day was one of the
hottest I have seen in the Philippines, and as there was
but little shade where we were along the railroad track,
we lay about fairly sweltering and listening intently to the
heavy firing some miles to our right.
To me the sounds of battle have always had an absorb
ing interest. We were so far from the scene that the gen
eral effect was not destroyed by any uproar in our im
mediate vicinity. Individual shots could not be heard,
and had it not been for the cloudless sky and the pitiless
blazing sun one could have imagined it the rumblings of
a distant thunder-storm, now rising and now falling, but
always drifting toward the Bag-Bag. All day we were
held in position, and bivouacked there for the night, but
on the morning of the 25th Hale's brigade, having reached

270 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
the desired position, resumed the march, following a cart
road to the left of the railway track. General Mac-
Arthur accompanied our brigade, and the armored train
was pushed along the track by a number of Chinamen.
This train was in command of Lieutenant C. H. Bridges,
Twenty-second Infantry, and consisted of four cars, the
first and last being flat cars, while the other two were box
xars. The first car was to do all the fighting, and was
armed with a naval six-pounder rifle and three machine
guns, the others being merely to carry the impedimenta
and serve as a living quarters for the personnel.
A few miles brought us to a field of young corn about
a foot high, and half a mile across it we could see the
railway bridge over the Bag-Bag and the brown earth
works of the enemy on the other side of the stream.
Under cover of several lines of bamboo a few companies
each from the First Montana and the Twentieth Kansas
were deployed, those belonging to the former regiment
to the right of the track, while we were on the left. A
few hundred yards above the bridge the Quingua and a
lagoon known locally as the Rio Chico unite to form the
Bag-Bag. Hale's brigade was separated from us by the
former, while the latter lay between it and the enemy,
whose trenches lay along the Bag-Bag and the Rio Chico.
So far not a shot had been fired, and as we peered
through the screen of bamboo across the light green of the
cornfield to other fields of corn and lines of bamboo across
the river it was hard to realize that in a few short moments
this placid landscape would be marred by lines of madly
rushing men, yelling and firing, while the air would quiver

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 271
with the rattle of rifle fire, the crash of artillery, and the
demoniacal drumming of machine guns. But the trans
formation came like a whirlwind. I was standing near
Generals MacArthur and Wheaton and their staffs, just
to the left of the armored train which was slowly being
pushed into view. There was a spurt of flame from the
long, slender muzzle of the naval gun, and a sharper and
more vicious crash than we were used to from our field-
pieces, for this was a high-power gun, and a shower of
earth flew from the top of the trench across the river as
the shell struck and exploded. Shell after shell from the
quick-firer followed in rapid succession, while the machine
guns opened from the sides of the car on such portions of
the trenches as they could be brought to bear on. Two
field-pieces with our brigade, and the guns with the Sec
ond Brigade across the Quingua, as well as all the infan
try of both brigades that had been deployed, added to
the uproar.
With the first shot from the naval gun the apparently
empty trenches had come to life, straw hats bobbed up
and down, once more we heard the peculiar "pow," "pow"
of the Mausers, and bullets zipped through the bamboos
or flicked up dust spots in the dry cornfield. A private
of the Hospital Corps, waiting with his pouch for the call
to others in need, leaped from one of the box cars, grasped
wildly at his throat, deluged with blood those who were
trying to assist him, and fell dead at our feet. A nor
mal man can hardly become so used to the tragedies of
war as not to be shaken by such a spectacle.
For half an hour the uproar continued, when I received

272 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
orders from General Wheaton to seize the bridge. The
attack on the structure could not be made to advantage
by more than one company, so that I directed Captain
Boltwood to advance his company rapidly across the corn
field, the movement being covered by the fire of several
other companies and the armored train. The company
selected went at its work with a vim, and closed in quickly,
making the advance by rushes. Accompanied by Sergeant-
Major Warner and Chief-Trumpeter Barshfield, I kept
abreast of its right flank, running along the margin of
the cornfield about thirty yards from the railway track.
As we came to close quarters the troops supporting us
had to cease their fire, and for about ten minutes the situ
ation was interesting, to express it mildly. The men of
Company K lay close to the ground just to the left of the
north end of the bridge, and fought silently and hard.
They had no breath left for yelling, and it was a poor time
for it. Absolutely in the open, at seventy yards range,
they were at a disadvantage against the men in the loop-
holed trench on the other bank. But the enemy's nerve
had been shaken by the severe fire he had been under for
more than half an hour.
Hale's brigade was already about to force the passage
of the Rio Chico, and the men of the First Montana were
closing in. We could see that the farthest span of the
fine steel bridge had been let down into the water, so
that an attempt to rush the structure and get directly into
the trenches on the other bank was not practicable. I
thought it might be done by swimming around the broken
span, and called on the men nearest me to come along.

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 273
Most of these were from a small detachment of Company
E, under Lieutenant Colin H. Ball, that had just reported
from a reconnoissance down the stream, but I was -also
accompanied by Barshfield and Warner and by First-
Sergeant Enslow, of Company K. About ten of us ran
up the embankment to the end of the bridge, and then dis
covered that the ties and rails had been removed, so that
we had to work ourselves along the sides, a slow and
tedious operation. But very few shots were fired at us,
none at all after we had got half-way across, as the enemy
had already begun to vacate the works. I thought it
advisable to get into them at once, nevertheless, for fear
that they might be reoccupied.
The bridge, including the sixty-foot span that had been
dropped into the water, was a little more than two hun
dred feet long, but in time we reached the gap. It devel
oped now that some of us could not swim, but it would
at any rate be a good idea for some men to remain on
the bridge and cover us with their fire in case the enemy
should be "playing possum" or should make a counter
attack on those of us who succeeded in crossing. Taking
off our shoes and leaving behind our arms and ammuni
tion, Lieutenant Ball, Sergeant Enslow,. Chief-Trumpeter
Barshfield, Corporal A. M. Ferguson, of Company E, and
myself swung ourselves down until we could grasp a steel
rod that ran diagonally from the top of one pier to a point
on the opposite one a few feet above the water, slid down
this, and were soon in. As soon as I got in I reached for
bottom, but could not find it, subsequent examination
showing the stream to be ten feet deep at that point, so that

274 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
we had to swim for it, no great task, as the distance was
about forty-five feet. Although I had got into the water
first, Ball beat me to the bank, being a faster swimmer,
and the four of us, barefooted, unarmed, and dripping,
rushed into the trench, to find in it only the dead and
disabled. The firing at this point had ceased before we entered
the water, but we hastily gathered up a few rifles and
cartridges to use in case of emergency, and awaited de
velopments. At about the same time troops belonging to
Hale's brigade had forced the passage of the Rio Chico
above us, and as this stream in conjunction with the Quin-
gua forms the Bag-Bag they were on the same side with
us. The sharp little fight of the Bag-Bag was over in
less than an hour after the naval gun on the armored train
had opened the ball, and one more of the elaborately built
lines of the Filipino defences had been given up to the
invader. The infantry of Hale's brigade, having crossed the
Rio Chico by wading, pursued the enemy to the town of
Calumpit, about two miles, and was there brought to a
stand by the broad and deep Rio Grande. The engineers,
having succeeded in constructing a foot-bridge over the
broken-out span of the Bag-Bag bridge, our infantry
crossed the next day, the artillery of the whole division
having been brought across by fording the Quingua and
the Rio Chico at their junction. As the position at
Calumpit was so contracted there was not room for the
whole division to operate, the task of forcing the passage
was intrusted to General Wheaton, the division com-

Although I had got into the water first, Ball beat me to the bank

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 275
mander remaining with his brigade and exercising general
supervision. Reconnoitring parties crept cautiously forward to the
river bank and seized advantageous positions, from which
they opened fire on the enemy. The position was by all
means the strongest that we had yet been brought against,
the river being about four hundred feet wide, deep and
swift, while the opposite bank was defended by fully four
thousand men occupying elaborate trenches. These were
so constructed as to afford excellent head cover, long slits
being left for firing through, the earth being held in place
by strong revetments of bamboo. The works for some
distance above and below the bridge were roofed with
steel rails taken from the railway. There were bomb
proofs, traverses and flanking trenches, and, in fact, noth
ing that the cunning ingenuity of General Alejandrino,
chief engineer of the insurgent forces, could conceive of
had been overlooked. In addition to their infantry the
insurgents had three pieces of artillery and a Maxim gun.
In an old trench we found fair shelter for the main body
of the Twentieth Kansas, a few hundred yards from the
river bank. The railway freight-house, a brick building,
stood a hundred yards from our end of the big steel bridge
spanning the river, and Company I under Captain Flan
ders succeeded in occupying it. We loop-holed the build
ing and opened a blistering fire on the trenches across the
river, but could make no impression, merely succeeding
in drawing a hot return fire that continually peppered the
building and swept the ground all about it. A piece of
artillery in one of the enemy's works at the end of the

276 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
bridge fired twenty shells at the building, but failed to
hit it. When we captured the gun the next day it was
found that the sight had been lost, which undoubtedly
accounted for such bad shooting at only a little more than
two hundred yards. One of these shells landed among the
men back in the main position of the Twentieth Kansas,
but did not get any one, and after I had gone back of the
track to explain the situation to General Wheaton and
was talking with him, one of them struck and exploded
within a few yards of us, whereat the general merely
sniffed contemptuously. Major Young, the chief of artil
lery, and Lieutenant Ball of my regiment had been with
us, and had just started away, when the shell struck and
threw earth all over them. Ball was badly wounded in
the face by a bullet a few moments after.
Returning to the freight-house half an hour later, a
few of us rushed the ruins of a burned rice mill right on
the river bank, and a detachment from the cover of its
walls continued to keep up a fire on the enemy. The
First Montana, on the other side of the railroad track,
was doing its share, and some of our guns, having found
suitable positions, opened fire. And so wore away all
of a fiercely hot day, with the popping of rifles, the occa
sional boom of a cannon and swish of a shell, and no end
of stirring incident; but when night came to the exhausted
men, with its cooling breezes, but little had been accom
plished. I talked with both the division and the brigade
commanders, and saw that they were deeply concerned
over the situation, and thought it was up to some one to
do something, and so volunteered to attempt to carry the

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 277
bridge by assault with about a dozen picked men. Gen
eral MacArthur at first seemed appalled by the proposi
tion, but after a moment's hesitation gave his permission.
I knew that if a dozen of us with plenty of ammunition
ever got into the trenches on the other side all the Filipinos
this side of Kingdom Come could not get us out before
daylight, when we could cover the crossing of other troops.
It had already been ascertained that the rails and ties
had been removed from the bridge, and that there was
nothing left but the stringers, these being about eight
feet apart. The plan was for each man to carry a strong
plank and use it to bridge his way from stringer to stringer.
The attack was to be covered by the fire of both regiments
and all of our artillery, which were to advance to the river
bank and sweep the trenches above and below the bridge.
There was a suspicion, however, that even the stringers
had been removed from a part of the bridge, in which case
the enterprise must surely meet with disaster.
Corporal A. M. Ferguson, now an officer of the regu
lar army, who had on several occasions shown himself
equal to any emergency, volunteered for the hazardous
enterprise of ascertaining the condition of the bridge
throughout its length, and accompanied by Captain
Flanders and myself crawled carefully to the end of the
structure, where he removed his shoes and nearly all his
clothing, and crawled hand over hand through the angle
irons underneath the stringers. It was a perilous and ex
hausting task. A single slip would have meant a drop into
the dark waters, forty feet below. For two long hours
Flanders and I crouched at the south end of the bridge,

278 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
but finally Ferguson came back with the information
that at the far end of the bridge the stringers had been
removed for several yards. Our cherished enterprise
was shown to be absolutely hopeless, but in the meantime
the requisite number of men had volunteered to assist in
the assault.
I sent word to my superiors that the plan was hopeless,
and with one hundred and twenty men from my regiment
sneaked down the river for a mile, thinking that we
might find a raft or improvise one, and by effecting a
surprise get enough men across in the darkness to hold on
until others could cross. Just as we were scouting for a
good crossing a dog barked, there was a flash of a score of
rifles on the other bank, and we were again beaten. At
tfie same time a cannon boomed through the night to warn
the insurgents to be on their guard, and a number of rock
ets ascended. At one o'clock in the morning, tired, dis
gusted, and disheartened, we dragged ourselves back to
the regiment's position and threw ourselves on the ground
for a little sleep. Both sides were worn out, and there
was no firing until daylight.
The sun rose blazing hot on the morning of the 27th
of April and the "sniping" back and forth across the river
recommenced, being varied by an occasional cannon shot.
Some of our men engaged in this sharp-shooting discovered
close in to the bank, six hundred yards below the bridge, a
small raft which the enemy had unsuccessfully attempted
to burn. This find suggested a way out of the difficulty
of crossing the stream. A light rope of the necessary
length was obtained, but in order to be able to make a

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 279
ferry it was necessary to get one end of this fastened on
the enemy's side of the river. Several men volunteered
for the perilous feat of swimming the stream with the
rope, though they would necessarily have to land within
a few feet of trenches occupied by the enemy, and from
these were selected Privates W. B. Trembley and Edward
White of Company B. Before leaving Malolos twenty-
five Krag-Jorgensen rifles had been distributed to each
company of the volunteer regiments, and now one hun
dred picked men armed with these weapons were selected
from the whole regiment, rushed down to the river bank,
and given the necessary instructions as to covering the
crossing. General MacArthur had placed at the disposal
of General Wheaton all the artillery and machine guns of
the division, and by his orders all these were placed iri
readiness to assist in the enterprise.
White and Trembley stripped stark naked behind
the cover of a clump of bamboos, took the end of the rope
between them and plunged into the river. They were
powerful swimmers, but their progress was slow, owing
to the strength required to drag the rope, which was being
paid out to them by their comrades on the bank. As
soon as they struck the water the music began. The
hundred men crouching on the bank with their Krag-
Jorgensens began to sweep with bullets the top of the
trench where the two were to attempt to land; just nx
their right Lieutenant Fleming with several machine guns,
including a Hotchkiss revolving cannon, was pounding
the same work. Still farther to the right, that is, toward
the bridge, several field-pieces under Major Young were

280 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
battering the heavier trenches near the enemy's end of
the bridge in order to keep down their fire, while one field-
piece in the freight-house was firing diagonally across our
front and partially enfilading the trench where the two
men were to make their landing.
As a melodrama the whole scene was a howling, or
rather a roaring, success. The greatest lover of the sen
sational could not have wished for anything more thrill
ing. The two men battling slowly across the current,
with the snake-like rope dragging after them; the grim
and silent men firing with top speed over their heads into
the trenches on the other bank; the continuous popping
of the revolving cannon, a gun of the pompom type ; the
steady drumming of Gatlings and the constant succession
of crashes from the big field-pieces, their shells flying
harmlessly from the armored trenches on the other bank,
or hurling steel rails and wagon loads of earth into the
air; the thin film of smoke rising along both banks of the
river, and the air filled with dust thrown up by striking
shells and bullets, made a scene that could not fade from
one's memory in many a lifetime. There was now being
carried out one of the most difficult of military operations,
forcing the passage of an unfordable river in the face of
an entrenched enemy. The Rio Grande was, in fact, a
vast moat for the defences on the north bank.
Finally, the two swimmers, panting and all but ex
hausted, dragged themselves out on the other bank at the
base of the work that had been so mercilessly battered.
The fire of the artillery and the machine guns on that
particular trench had, of course, now ceased for fear of

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 281
hitting the two men, and only a few of the detail of infan
trymen were allowed to fire, and they under strict super
vision, as their bullets must clear White and Trembley
by only a few feet if the latter stood up. There was, how
ever, no cessation of the fire on the works between them
and the north end of the bridge.
The situation of the two naked and unarmed men was,
of course, precarious, as they were separated from all
the rest of the division by a deep and swift river that had
taken all their strength to cross, while all around them
were hundreds of the enemy, who, however, were pre
vented from molesting them by the fire still sweeping the
adjacent trenches. We could see the two men groping
about on all-fours trying to find something to which they
could tie the end of the rope. In order to see whether
there were any of the enemy still alive in the trench near
est them they made mud balls and pitched them over the
parapet. Several men dashed out and toward the rear,
but the most of them were brought down by our men on
the south bank. Finally, White and Trembly made a
noose in the end of the rope, gathered in several feet of
slack, and, astonishing to relate, made a dash for the
trench and slipped it over one of the bamboo uprights of
the work, returning then to the river bank, while we
opened fire again directly over them to prevent the occu
pants of the trench from cutting the rope.
The ferry was now established and we were ready for
the next move. It was highly desirable to take the arms,
ammunition, and clothing of the two men to them at
once. After White and Trembly had taken to the water

282 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
some one had found concealed under a house a very
small and cranky dug-out canoe. Corporal B. H. Ker-
foot, now a captain in the regular army, and Private
O. E. Tyler launched this craft and started across, but
upset in the middle of the stream, and had to swim out,
having lost not only their own arms, but the arms and
clothing of the two men on the other side, their very
laudable enterprise having failed through no fault of their
own. In the meantime the raft was floated down the few
yards to where the rope was tied on our side of the stream,
and preparations made to ferry across enough men to
drive the enemy from the end of the bridge. I realized
perfectly well that according to the rules of the game a
colonel should not leave the bulk of his regiment on one
side of a stream and accompany a detachment smaller
than a company in size, but I had initiated this enter
prise and felt that I must see it through. I could not but
consider the outcome as doubtful, and knew mighty well
that if I should send a small force across and sacrifice it
I would be damned in my home State all the rest of my
life, and held up to scorn by all the corner-grocery tac
ticians in the country.
It was found that the raft would support eight men;
so I got on board with seven others, and by pulling along
the rope we had in a few moments joined White and
Trembley on the other bank. In the meantime the ar
tillery and infantry fire against the trenches near the
bridge had decreased in volume, but had by no means
ceased. Two men took the raft back for another load,

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 283
and as two were always required for this purpose, the
net gain for each trip was usually about six men. As
soon as the six of us had landed we dashed into the trench
near us, finding it simply full of dead and wounded men.
The few who were uninjured surrendered at once. As
each raft-load arrived, the men were ordered to crouch
low under the cover of the river bank. Finally, I had
with me Captain Orwig, Lieutenants Whisner and Hop
kins, and forty-one enlisted men, every man of whom car
ried two hundred cartridges for his Krag.
Leaving orders for the raft to continue its trips, and
for all subsequent arrivals to form in order to beat off
any attack on our left flank and rear, I formed the little
detachment in a single line with its right near the river
and we began moving up the stream. About half-way
between the spot where we had landed and the bridge a
small but deep stream called the Rio Francis empties into
the Rio Grande. Until we reached this we found the
trenches of the enemy deserted, but the works between
this and the bridge were fairly swarming with men. We
opened fire straight down the trenches across the Rio
Francis, enfilading them from end to end, but the oc
cupants were well protected by traverses and the roofs of
steel rails. However, they saw that if we succeeded in
crossing the Rio Francis we would be among them, and
having been terribly shaken by the fire poured into them
from across the Rio Grande, they began to vacate, not
across the fire-swept open, but along trenches leading to
the rear. For a moment it looked as if the fight was won,
and we tried to cross the Rio Francis, but found that it

284 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
was beyond depth, though not more than sixty feet wide.
Accordingly, we moved rapidly up it, marching by our
left flank, and soon were in a veritable hornet's nest. We
had come out from the shelter of the bamboos along the
bank of the Rio Grande and were in the margin of a field
of young corn about two feet high. The whole farther
bank of the Rio Francis was a maze of trenches, and as
the stream curved around our left flank we were getting
it from two sides. The nearest trenches of the enemy
were within a stone's throw, but we could not rush them
because of the intervening stream.
As soon as we had broken into the open, the men had
been ordered to lie flat and fire from that position, as
otherwise we would have lasted about as long as the
proverbial snowball in a blast furnace. We officers went
down on one knee, as it was necessary to have something
of a lookout, once in a while jumping to our feet for a
few seconds to survey the situation. The men, though
having the hardest fight of their lives, were under perfect
control. We changed the front of the left flank of the de
tachment in order to bring a fire to bear on the trenches
that were enfilading us, and as all of the trenches that
we were now engaged with were of the open, standing
variety, we were able to accomplish considerable in the
way of keeping their occupants down.
But the situation would have been hopeless had it not
been for the splendid support rendered by the artillery,
machine guns, and infantry on the south bank of the Rio
Grande, the fire from these troops enfilading some of the
trenches that we were fighting. The shrapnel from our

As each raft load arrived, the men were ordered to crouch low

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 285
own guns, sweeping across our front at a distance of some
times less than a hundred feet, caused us no little uneasi
ness, as a defective fuse might cause a burst short of us
with disastrous results. We were not sure, either, that
our own people could exactly make out our position, as
the air was laden with smoke from bursting shells and with
dust thrown up by striking projectiles. Had it not been
for the fact that all the troops engaged on both sides
were using powder that was at least nearly smokeless,
our position would have been impossible. Although there
were four thousand insurgent troops on the north side
of the Rio Grande, the portion that we were engaged
with did not probably number more than six hundred
men. The fire of the enemy had begun to lessen somewhat
when a startled exclamation began to run along the line
of prostrate men, as we heard directly on our front the
unmistakable whirring of a machine gun, and at the same
time, just past our right flank, at a distance of not more
than thirty feet, the dust was being whipped up along a
space four or five feet wide and sixty feet long. A dozen
men cried out, "It's the Maxim," and one added the cheer
ful prediction, "We're goners," being immediately after
ward affectionately kicked by his colonel, with an injunc
tion to keep his views to himself. I had stood up as soon
as the Maxim opened, and, by following back the direc
tion indicated by the stream of dust kicked up, had no
difficulty in locating the gun and the men serving it. It
was under a stone culvert of the railway, about two hun
dred yards north of the bridge, and three hundred yards

286 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
from our front, being completely protected from the fire
of our troops on the south side of the river.
"Cease firing" was blown, and as soon as one could
make himself heard the men were ordered to load their
magazines, then to rise to their feet, and then the com
mand, "Under that culvert, rapid fire." The Maxim
stopped business then and there, every man in the de
tachment serving it being killed or disabled. It is my
firm belief that, if the weapon had been played laterally
instead of being held on the same spot, not a handful of
us would have survived, as they had our range perfectly.
It was now plain that the enemy were rapidly vacating
the trenches on our front, the most of them taking ad
vantage of numerous trenches and "get aways" to retire
under cover. I had heard firing in our rear, and looking
around saw the men who had followed us on the raft and
who had been deployed to protect us from rear attack
were having a lively little affair of their own.
The time had come to cross the Rio Francis, and we
swarmed down the steep bank, where for a moment we
were out of sight of the enemy as well as of our own people
on the other side of the Rio Grande. A number of the
men waded out, but found the sluggish stream too deep.
But there were several small "dugouts," and we piled into
them and began scrambling up the opposite bank, one
man taking back each one of the boats. The first one,
containing Captain Orwig and several enlisted men, be
ing overloaded, sank. The strain was now over, and at
the spectacle of that gallant officer spouting muddy water
like a small whale as he swam for shore, I sat down and

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 287
had a good laugh. As soon as half a dozen of us were
across we dashed for the end of the railway bridge, but
not a shot was fired at us, the trenches being empty except
for the dead and dying, and what a shambles they were in
some places!
During all this time Generals MacArthur and Wheaton
had been standing in the open near the freight-house
closely watching the progress of events, and directing
the work of the troops that had given us such invaluable
support. As soon as General Wheaton saw us dash down
the steep bank of the Rio Francis he had called on the
nearest organizations to follow him, and had started for
the bridge. They worked along the wrecked structure,
holding on to the sides, and were nearly across when Orwig
and I with a few men reached the north end. The place
where the girders had been entirely removed was bridged
over with planks and timbers. The general and his staff
were the first to reach us, and there were some vigorous
hand-shakings and mutual congratulations. Companies of
the First Montana and the Twentieth Kansas followed as
rapidly as they could work their way over the bridge, and
by order of General Wheaton took up the pursuit of the
enemy retiring toward Apalit. The open plain was fairly
covered with them, the whole four thousand of them,
minus those left dead or wounded in our hands, being in
sight. They were beyond rifle range, but the pursuing
troops had a lively brush with their rear guard, in which
Captain W. H. Bishop, one of the most capable and cou
rageous officers of the Twentieth Kansas, was severely
wounded.

288 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
In a redoubt just above the end of the bridge we
found the cannon that had made such poor practice on
the freight-house. It was a bronze muzzle-loading, rifled
howitzer of about three-inch calibre. A visit was at
once made to the culvert under which had been stationed
the Maxim that had come so near to being our undoing,
but it had been removed, the wheel marks being plainly
visible. On the ground under the culvert were about
twenty dead and wounded men, seven of them being
Spanish prisoners of war in the hands of the insurgents,
they being still in the uniform of their service. One of
the wounded, a corporal, told me that he and his six
comrades had been compelled, under threats of death, to
handle the Maxim, as the insurgents did not understand
the weapon. When we had risen to our feet and opened
fire four of the seven had gone down killed and three of
them wounded. The corporal assured me that the gun
had jammed just as we opened on them, so that after all
our fire had not silenced it, though it had wiped out the
personnel. The three surviving Spaniards had been hit
in several places, and all died that night.
The battle of Calumpit was over, and the passage of
the Rio Grande had been forced. Our dead and our
own wounded, as well as the enemy's, were sent to Manila
at once, while the enemy's dead were buried in the trenches
'they had so bravely defended. I do not think anybody
took the trouble to count them. Hundreds of rifles and
many thousands of rounds of ammunition had been capt
ured. In his official report General MacArthur, a man
not given to gushing even to the slightest degree, stated,

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 289
"The successful passage of the river must be regarded
as a remarkable military achievement, well calculated to
fix the attention of the most careless observer and to stim
ulate the fancy of the most indifferent." Based upon the
recommendations of Generals MacArthur and Wheaton,
both of them eye-witnesses of the whole affair, White,
Trembly, and myself were, by direction of the President,
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Several days were required to ferry across the river
the artillery and trains of the division, and it was not until
the morning of the 4th of May that we were ready to
resume the advance. Our brigade had been in bivouac
near the town of Apalit, and early in the morning we had
formed in columns of fours, and were pushing up the
railroad track. Hale's brigade had the wagon road to the
right, and a number of lagoons made necessary a consider
able gap between the two brigades. Our friends of the
Second Brigade got into it first, and, as the country was
perfectly open and flat, we were interested spectators of
the fine fight that they were having. But in a short time
our advance guard, consisting of Company H of the
Twentieth Kansas, came under fire.
The country was so cut up by watercourses that effec
tive work was very difficult. A deep and sluggish lagoon,
crossed by the railway bridge, was defended on its farther
bank by several hundred of the enemy in open trenches.
We had with us on a hand-car one of our Gatling guns,
and this weapon was placed in position and opened fire,
sweeping the enemy's defences from right to left. Gen
eral Wheaton, who, as usual, was on the firing line, be-

290 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
came somewhat impatient at the volume of fire deliv
ered by this weapon, and called out to the sergeant in
charge, "Turn that damned thing faster. Are you trying
to take a nap ? " whereat the thing was made to fairly
hum for a few moments, until the sergeant, a grizzled old
regular with an Irish brogue that could not have been cut
with an axe, turned about, saluted very correctly, and
said, "Sir, we are out of ammunition." The return blast
from the brigade commander was in every way worthy of
the occasion.
In the meantime Company H had deployed and ad
vanced, under a very hot fire, to the bank of the lagoon
and had tried to rush the bridge, but found it dismantled
as usual. The men under command of Lieutenant A. H.
Krause lay down and engaged in a hard short-range fight
with the enemy entrenched on the opposite bank, and
finally drove him out, losing Private Wilcox killed and
three other enlisted men wounded.
While this affair was going on I had sent for Captain
W. S. Albright, commanding Company C of my regiment,
and was giving him instructions as to what to do with his
company when a bullet struck one of the steel rails of the
railway track on which we were standing, missing General
Wheaton less than a foot, and then buried itself in the
thigh of the unfortunate Albright. It was this officer's
birthday, and as he dropped to the ground an embarrassed
grin overspread his features as he said, "Well this is cer
tainly one hell of a birthday present."
As the enemy vacated the trenches on the opposite
bank of the lagoon our men pushed out on the bridge and

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 291
were able to cross a few at a time, their progress being
very slow owing to its wrecked condition. I had got
across with two complete companies and was examining
trenches abandoned by the enemy, when General Wheaton
sent me orders to push up the railway track toward the
Santo Tomas station and ascertain what was going on
in that vicinity. We hurried forward, reached the sta
tion, which was some distance from the buildings of the
town, and mighty soon found out what was doing. The
insurgent commander-in-chief, Antonio Luna, had just
deployed a force to make a counter-attack on those of us
who had crossed the bridge, and was advancing with it in
person, apparently not knowing that our small detach
ment had pushed up toward the railroad station. The
two forces, having been screened from each other by a line
of bamboo, came into contact in the open at four hundred
yards range. The enemy outnumbered us about three
to one, and for a few moments there took place one of
the finest stand-up and knock-down fights that one would
care to see. The gallant Luna himself was hit, shot in
the abdomen, and we could see the riderless and terrified
horses of himself and staff tearing across the fields. It
was a wild five minutes. Fortunately, the scouts a short
distance out on our front had given us sufficient warning,
so that we had formed line before being struck.
Lieutenant W. A. McTaggart, a most capable officer,
sank to the ground with both eyes shot out, but happily
died before regaining consciousness. This horrible spec
tacle for a moment sickened me, and then I saw a corporal,
shot through the brain, from one temple to the other, fall

292 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
almost across McTaggart's feet. It should be of interest
to know that this man entirely recovered from his wound,
and died of disease a year after his muster out of the ser
vice. Our fire soon mastered that of the enemy and the
greater portion of them fled in disorder, but their left,
consisting of about eighty men, had reached the shelter
of a roadway, and lay down in it, keeping up a lively fire
at a distance of about two hundred yards. I saw that
Company G, commanded by Captain Howard A. Scott,
was coming up at double time, and resolved to have him
turn the enemy out of his cover by a flank attack, in the
meantime ordering the two companies with me to lie
down behind the railway track, which here was on a level
with the general surface of the ground, there being neither
cut nor fill. Captain Scott arrived in advance of his com
pany, and I was giving him instructions as to what to do
when I felt a most terrific blow on my left hand, in which
J was holding a pair of field-glasses. At first I did not
realize that I had been shot, but Lieutenant B. J. Mitchell,
who for some years afterward served me as aide, picked
up the glasses, which had been hurled through the air for
some twenty feet, took me by the arm, and called a man
of the Hospital Corps. Blood was spattering all over me,
and I had no desire to look at the offending hand, and so
held it out to the man, looking the other way in the mean
time. As he examined it, I asked, "Is there anything
left of it ?" He replied, "Clean shot," and told me to sit
down. As I backed up against the little station building
I saw Warner, the regimental sergeant-major who had

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 293
been at my side through every fight of the campaign, reclin
ing against the wall and looking decidedly peevish. I
said, " Warner, where did you get it ? " He held up his left
hand, and it was a most remarkable coincidence that we
had been hit in exactly the same place, barring the frac
tion of an inch. My hand was being bound up, and I
was not yet on my feet when General Wheaton, who, ac
companied by Captain H. C. Cabell and Lieutenants F-
D. Webster, P. P. Russell, and E. S. Kimmel of his staff,
had crossed the bridge and hurried on foot toward the
sound of the firing, joined us. The general, seeing the
men lying down behind the railroad track, and engaging
in a fire fight with the enemy on their front, and noting the
fact that I had been wounded, misunderstood the situa
tion, thinking that the men had "flunked," and strode
among them. With his tremendous voice he called out,
"Get on your feet, you damned mice, lying down here,
with your colonel shot. Get on your feet, and charge."
My bandage having been put on, I got up and ran
toward the general to explain the situation, telling him
that I had ordered the men to lie down. But it was too
late. One company had risen and started forward, fol
lowed quickly by the other two, "Company G having in
the meantime been deployed. It was a quick dash, and
soon over. The general, accompanied by his staff officers,
was on the firing line, and I was a few yards to their left.
The recollection of that little charge is one of the things
that I treasure. The fiery old veteran discharging his
revolver and calling out to the men near him to shoot
faster and "burn their powder," and the general hub-

294 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
bub and excitement, gave us a lively minute. There could
be but one result. We had covered but half the distance
when the Filipinos began to break and run to the rear.
They were followed by storms of bullets, but our men were
so exhausted that their shooting was about the worst I
have ever seen, notwithstanding which fact the enemy
left on the ground a heavy toll of killed and wounded.
Some of the bravest had fired until we were within fifty
yards of them.
Darkness was now coming on. We gathered up our
wounded and those of the enemy for transportation to the
hospitals in Manila. Warner and I, not being in the
habit of walking on our hands, were able to take care of
ourselves for the time being, and went back to division
head-quarters, General MacArthur and his staff having
come up and established themselves in a field a few hundred
yards to the rear. The general had heard that I had been
hit, but not seriously, and as I came up with my bandaged
hand, and khaki blouse drenched with blood, said very
quietly, as if he were making a remark about the weather,
"Well, Funston, you got it at last. I am glad it is no
worse." In the meantime ambulances were collecting to take
us back to the Bag-Bag River bridge, where we could take
a train to Manila. The ride was a very trying one, the
road being horribly rough, and the four native horses that
we had on our vehicle being very fractious. I rode on the
seat with the driver, the interior of the ambulance being
very properly reserved for those who were not able to sit
up. Among these was Captain Dillon of the First Mon-

FROM MALOLOS TO SAN FERNANDO 295
tana, a red-haired Irishman with a brogue that would
have turned the edge of a knife. He was desperately
hurt, shot clear through the body, and suffered intensely
as we were jolted over the atrocious road. On one oc
casion we stopped to enable the driver to untangle the
leaders from a clump of bamboo near the roadside, and
the suffering captain called out, 'Dhriver, is the domned
road all like this ? " Being assured that it was, he replied
"Well, be God, I'll get out and walk," but he was not
allowed to try the experiment.
But all things end at last, and at about ten o'clock at
night the ambulances with their loads of suffering and
groaning men reached the Bag-Bag, the wounded were
carried in litters across the now partially repaired railway
bridge, and placed on the train awaiting them. There
was no light in the ordinary day coach that we occupied,
and the heat was stifling, but finally we pulled into Manila.
As the train stopped at Caloocan I was handed a telegram
addressed to me as a brigadier-general. It was signed by
Colonel Thomas H. Barry, now Major-General Barry, and
read, "Congratulations. Shake, if your wounded hand
will permit. No man better deserves the star."
For a moment I was dazed, not understanding what
was meant, but it soon dawned on me that a cable had
been received from Washington announcing my promo
tion to the grade of brigadier-general of volunteers. It
had been quick work, being largely the result of the pas
sage of the Rio Grande at Calumpit, only a week before,
and was brought about by a cabled recommendation from
the corps commander, Major-General Elwell S. Otis,

296 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
based on the reports and recommendations of Generals
MacArthur and Wheaton. I must confess that I was
highly gratified, and nearly forgot the throbbing in my
hand.

V
SAN FERNANDO AND THE BEGINNING OF THE
GUERILLA WAR
The ten days spent in Manila after being wounded
passed pleasantly enough, as I suffered practically no
pain. I was not compelled to enter a hospital, but re
mained in quarters, going once a day to have my hand
treated. Finally I was allowed to return to duty, though
I had to carry my hand in a sling for a couple more weeks.
General Wheaton had been assigned to other duty, and
I succeeded him in command of the First Brigade of the
Second Division, which still consisted of the Twentieth
Kansas and the First Montana. Major Metcalf, who
had now about recovered from his wound received at
Bocaue, succeeded me as colonel of the Twentieth, while
Sergeant-Major Warner was promoted to second lieuten
ant, and I appointed him as my first aide. His wound
being like mine, we recovered at about the same time.
On the night of the action at Santo Tomas the Second
Division had marched up the railroad to the consider
able town of San Fernando, and had occupied it without
further resistance.
Upon arrival at San Fernando and reporting for duty,
I found that our troops were quartered in the town, but
maintained all about it strong outposts, those of my own
brigade being along the west and north sides of the town.
297

298 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
The insurgents were numerous all about us, and from
time to time stirred things up. They had, out near the
town of Bacolor, a Krupp field-piece of about three-inch
calibre, and on several occasions let fly with it. They
were using shrapnel, bursting with time fuse, but did
not succeed in hurting anybody, though one burst in the
quarters used by Colonel Kessler, of the First Montana.
We made several attempts to capture this gun, but the
enemy always saw us coming and got away with it.
They also fired at the town with small arms from time
to time, and managed to get a few of our people. One
morning while I was lying in bed contemplating the ad
visability of getting up, a bullet passed through the head
of the bed and assisted materially in making up my mind
on that subject. In the meantime I had obtained as
adjutant-general of the brigade Captain E. V- Smith,
Fourth United States Infantry, who was destined to be
with me in that capacity for a couple of years.
About three-quarters of a mile in front of the First
Brigade's outpost line was a dry water-ditch, quite deep,
and more than half a mile long. Every morning the
First Montana sent out a patrol to ascertain if this ditch
had been occupied by the enemy during the night. On
approaching it on the morning of the 24th of May this
patrol was sharply fired on and retired. I ordered both
regiments to their respective outpost lines, and went
there myself. As a direct attack on the ditch would re
sult in unnecessary loss of life, it was resolved to turn the
enemy out by attacking both ends of it, thus rolling up
his flanks. Lieutenant-Colonel R. B. Wallace, of the

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 299
First Montana, was directed to attack the enemy's right
flank with two battalions of that regiment, while Major
Whitman, with two battalions of the Twentieth Kansas,
was to go at the left flank, one battalion of each regiment
being retained on the line as a containing force, while two
guns of the Utah artillery opened fire from the same posi
tion. Major, now Major-General, J. F. Bell volunteered
to guide the Kansas detachment into the best position,
as he knew the ground, and in fact largely directed the
fight that ensued. Owing to the nature of the country
and its careful approach, this force got into position
almost at right angles to the enemy's line and very
close to it before being discovered, when it was briskly
fired on.
Those of us who had remained on the outpost line
saw as pretty a little fight as one could care for. The
Kansas men advanced quickly through the tangled rice,
firing rapidly, and cleared all of that part of the ditch.
Of course, they had the enemy at a great disadvantage.
There were picked up on that part of the field forty-eight
dead Filipinos, and fifty-three prisoners, about half of
whom were wounded, besides many rifles. But the regi
ment had not come out unscathed, as it had Privates
Ryan and Sullivan killed, and Second-Lieutenant R. S.
Parker, a veteran of the Civil War, and five enlisted men
wounded. One of the men wounded was a magnificent
big Dane, Private Sorensen. As they were carrying him
off the field I passed by and said, "Well, Sorensen, you
are going to get well, aren't you ? " He was smoking a
big cigar, which he removed form his mouth very care-

300 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
fully, blew a cloud of smoke into the air, and then replied
very deliberately, "Yah, General, I tank so." And he
did, though he had been very badly hit.
The First Montana did not have quite such good luck,
being discovered in getting into position, but had a brisk
little fight, losing four men wounded and killing five of
the enemy who were found. It was the last time the
enemy tried the trick of getting into that water ditch in
the night with the intention of peppering a patrol the
next morning. The main body of the enemy escaped by
retreating rapidly through the town of Bacolor, and our
men were suffering so with the heat, a number having
fallen out, that they were pursued but a short distance.
During this time a number of minor affairs occurred,
none of them of any importance, but all serving to add
zest to life. One day I went out with two and one-half
companies of my former regiment to reconnoitre through
the town of Bacolor toward Santa Rita, being accom
panied by Major Bell and the Italian attache, Captain
Vitale. We struck a good-sized outpost between the
towns and had a brief skirmish with it, but this outfit had
but little fight in it, and, anyway, could see that it was
badly outnumbered. We chased them for awhile, but
they were too fleet-footed. As a matter of fact, when it
came to getting over ground, our infantry was no match
for these barefooted natives.
One day General MacArthur sent for me and stated
that he wished me to make a reconnoissance along the
road leading north from Bacolor, and said that I could
take eighty men, and no more. I asked to be allowed

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 301
to have a larger force, stating that I was pretty sure
to get into a hornets' nest in that neighborhood, but
the general declined, saying: "If I give you a force of
any size, you will bring on a pitched battle, and that is
not the object. You are going on a reconnoissance and
nothing else. Examine that road, and if you encounter
any considerable number of the enemy, come back."
Captain James Lockett, Fourth Cavalry, one of the gen
eral's aides, had overheard this conversation, and followed
me out into the hallway, saying: "If you go out there
with eighty men you will get hell licked out of you. I am
going out to the Montana regiment, get it under arms, and
when I think the firing has lasted long enough, come out
and pry you loose." As long as I was limited to eighty
meri, I concluded to get the best in the shop, and directed
the commanding officers of each of the two regiments of
the brigade to have picked out from their respective com
mands forty of the best and steadiest men, all of them to
be from among those armed with Krags. From these
men were made up two "scratch" companies of forty
men each. The Kansas detachment was commanded by
Second Lieutenant J. C. Murphy, who had recently been
promoted from first sergeant. I am sorry that I cannot
recall the name of the plucky officer who commanded that
from the Montana regiment. I was accompanied by Cap
tain Smith and my aide, Lieutenant Warner, and we took
with us a number of Chinese litter-bearers.
We reached Bacolor without incident, and here I left
Lieutenant Murphy with his detachment, with instruc
tions for him to get into the church tower, where he could

302 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
have a good view, and watch our progress from there. If
we became deeply involved, and either one of our flanks
was about to be rolled up, he should come out in such a
direction as to protect that particular flank, and assist in
our retirement to Bacolor where, in the church or other
strong building, we would be all right until the expected
help came. As we were not to advance much more than
a mile up the road, this was not leaving our reserve too
far behind. So the remainder of us pushed to the north,
along a road lined on both sides with bamboos, though
the country on either side was quite open.
About three-quarters of a mile beyond the town the
few men constituting the advance guard reported that they
could make out a few heads above what appeared to be
a short trench a few hundred yards in advance. I went
up to them, and after watching for a moment concluded
that the best way to find out the strength of this outpost
was to stir it up, and gave the necessary order. A fine
little blizzard came back, and the Filipinos stood their
ground. Still, the thing did not look at all serious. The
officer in command of the Montana detachment promptly
deployed his men, had them take cover lying down behind
a rice dike about two feet high, though he stood up through
the whole fight, and opened fire. We could see that the
enemy's fire was rapidly increasing in volume, and noted
that his line was being extended to the right. The Lord
alone knows where they all came from, as the ground
literally seemed to spew them up, and soon we were out
numbered about ten to one. Their fire was furious, and
as they were yelling, we knew they felt confident that they

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 303
had us. All of the Filipinos, and all of us except the offi
cers and the orderlies holding their horses, were lying
close to the ground.
The distance between the lines was about five hundred
yards, and I had just made up my mind to charge with
the men I had right into the enemy's left flank, and then
trust to the superior quality of our men to roll them up.
But then we noticed several hundred of them advancing
in line from the north and moving in such a direction that
it would further extend to the right the force that we were
now engaged with. They were coming with great rapid
ity, and soon began firing, though at such a distance that
their fire was for the present not much to be feared.
When they joined on to the right of the Filipino line this
was fully half a mile long. The enemy's left being im
mediately on our front, showed no tendency to advance,
but his right had soon worked so far forward that it was
on an extension of our left, and at a distance of seven to
nine hundred yards was enfilading us. It was time to go.
Our horses were sent to the rear, and at the same time
the litter-bearers with two men who had been very badly
hit. At the same time we heard volleys crashing out
to our left rear, and saw Murphy bringing up his men to
extend our already turned left. At the order the Mon
tana men ceased firing, filled the magazines of their rifles,
rose to their feet, and at the word of command dashed to
the rear for a hundred yards, then faced about and gave
it hot and heavy to the Filipino line that had risen and
with yells was coming for us. Those immediately oppo
site us were beaten down, but their right kept advanc-

3o4 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
ing. The Montana men took cover and fired rapidly
while the Kansas men fell back even with it, this "per
formance being repeated several times. The men were
absolutely cool, and not one of them showed the slightest
tendency to break ranks. Captain Smith, Warner, and
I retired a few yards to the right of the Montana detach
ment, and Smith and I stooped down for a moment be
hind a barrel of corn in the ear that stood near a small
nipa house. We were looking over the top of it when
within two seconds two bullets hit the corn on the top
of the barrel, knocking the grains into our faces, and a
dozen bullets hit the sides of the house. Never before
had I seen the Filipinos take the aggressive, and I was
astonished beyond measure.
The Montana men were now down to a handful of
cartridges each, though they had gone into the fight with
a hundred and fifty on each man. The Kansas men still
had plenty, but we could not redistribute under such a
fire. How I wished for a machine gun, or for a field-
piece to warm up with shrapnel the yelling outfit that
was continually passing around our left flank, and to
which we could not give a great deal of attention because
of the troubles on our immediate front. Suddenly we
noticed the Filipino line begin to give way to the rear,
and looking around saw the whole Montana regiment de
ploying across the fields in the direction of San Fernando.
As the Filipinos fell back we gave them a good salting.
This ended it, as our friends, the enemy, had no inten
tion of standing up against an equal force. I think that
in the long run we would have made all right, but still we

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 305
had had enough, and were heartily glad of the results of
Captain Lockett's action.
Partly because of the splendid way in which the two ,,
detachments were handled by their respective command
ers, and partly because the Filipino insurgent was about
the worst shot ever intrusted with a rifle, our loss was
astonishingly small, only two men. The enemy's shots
struck everywhere from immediately in front of their own
line to a mile behind us. That at least fifty thousand
rounds were fired by them, I have not the slightest doubt.
Our own expenditure was about seven thousand rounds.
Two years later, after all the insurgent forces of central
Luzon had surrendered, an officer who had taken part in
the fight told us that the force opposed to us on this occa
sion consisted of nine hundred men, and was commanded
by San Miguel and Mascardo, its loss being one hundred
and two, killed and wounded. During the subsequent
period of guerilla warfare, I was in a considerable num
ber of small affairs in which we had approximately the
same number of men engaged, in which we suffered more
loss but did not punish the enemy near so severely as on
this occasion. But these were usually short and snappy
little combats at close range, in which there was not the
one-hundredth part of such a quantity of ammunition
expended. One afternoon during this period a brisk attack was
made on the outposts of a portion of Hale's brigade, and
the firing gradually spread until it involved the Twentieth
Kansas, of the First Brigade. Some time previously Colo
nel Metcalf had sufficiently recovered from his wound

306 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
to return to duty, and he took out the regiment with
Lieutenant-Colonel Little, second in command. I went
with them more as a spectator than anything else. But
the enemy on our front would not make a good stand, and
retired after a sharp little skirmish, leaving a few dead
and wounded on the ground. The Kansas regiment had
four men wounded. There were a number of occasions
of this kind, when we got after them, but they would not
face the music. On the 16th of June, however, they took
the offensive, attacking the town of San Fernando on all
sides, and there resulted a fight that involved the entire
division, while bullets fell in showers all over the town.
So far as the First Brigade was concerned, the first
development was when Captain Howard A. Scott, of the
Twentieth Kansas, who was in command of the outpost
of that regiment, reported just before dawn that he had
returned from a patrol half a mile to the front, and had
distinctly heard commands being given and could hear
men talking. I was aroused, sent the information to the
division commander, ordered the two regiments of my
brigade under arms and to proceed at once to reinforce
their respective outposts, and then with the officers of the
brigade staff went out to where the Bacolor road cut
through the Twentieth Kansas outpost line. By the time
we reached it there was just light enough for one to be able
to see fairly well. We heard a sharp rattle of shots in
the direction of an old sugar mill near Bacolor, where the
Montana regiment had a strong advanced outpost, and
then saw to our right front, about a mile away, a cres
cent-shaped line of battle about three-quarters of a mile

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 307
long, containing about eight hundred men. We could
not believe that they were actually going to charge us,
but that is what they did, and did gamely, too. The line
advanced rapidly, doing considerable ineffective firing, as
they were not stopping to take even such aim as a Fili
pino takes.
The two companies on the Kansas outpost line stood
up on top of their trenches in order to get a better view,
and fired as rapidly as they could load and aim. They
inflicted considerable loss even at this stage of the fight,
but there were not enough of them for their fire to stop
the advance. In the meantime the First Montana was
briskly attacked. All in all, it was a very novel perform
ance for this particular war. In a short time the line
advancing on the Kansas position reached good cover,
its right in a deep ditch that ran nearly parallel with our
front, and its left in broken country where there was a
deep road, and where they were fairly well screened by
bamboos and growing crops. They kept up a brisk fire
from this cover, the bullets nearly all going over our
heads. The two regiments now arrived and deployed
under cover, and I was just about to give the orders for
a counter-stroke, when some of the enemy who had
been working up a ravine got close in to our front, and
a small group of the bravest dashed into the open and
died to a man within fifty yards of the front of D Com
pany. What strange fatalism possessed them one can
only guess. It seemed a pity, as they certainly deserved
a better fate.
A few of us with about half a company made a start

308 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
from the left of the regiment to get into the ditch, but were
met by such a fire that I considered it unwise to continue
and so ordered them to retire until orders could be trans
mitted to several companies to carry out the enterprise
more effectively. On the extreme right of the line of
this regiment, Major W. H. Bishop, who had recently
been promoted from captain, took two companies and
made a dash forward for about seventy yards into what
we knew as the "sunken road." He had been getting a
stiff fire from there, and found it heavily occupied. His
men jumped in among the Filipinos and did heavy exe
cution at very short range. I do not want to say just
what a short section of that road looked like after it was
over, but there are a good many people still living who
will bear me out in the statement that it was not a pretty
sight. This was not because no quarter was given, as
there was nothing of the kind.
The enemy now retreated rapidly, taking advantage
of several ravines, and suffered but little in his retirement.
Sixty dead and thirty wounded were found in front of
the Twentieth Kansas, and a dozen dead and a few
wounded in front of the First Montana. Only the ab
solutely helpless of their wounded were left on the ground,
as all who could be assisted to the rear got away. Two
native priests in their robes, and with crucifixes in their
hands, were lying dead within ten feet of each other. To
obviate criticism, I might say that they fell six hundred
yards in front of the line, that distance being so great that
it was impossible to recognize and spare them. I have
no doubt that their presence and exhortations on that occa-

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 309
sion had no little to do with the unusual pluck and dash
shown by this particular force.
While we were examining our own part of the field we
heard hot fighting break out in front of the other parts of
the division. The Second Brigade on the north, south,
and east, and the Fourth Cavalry on the south-east, had
good fights, but, of course, I was not a witness to any
of them. General MacArthur directed me to have the
Filipinos who had fallen in front of the First Brigade
brought into the town and buried, instead of here and
there all over the field where found. It is customary in
the army, whenever you have a disagreeable job on your
hands, to hunt up a quartermaster and lay it on to him.
A young officer who held volunteer rank in that depart
ment had just arrived in the Philippines, and had been
assigned to the First Brigade. He had transportation,
tools, and Chinese coolies, and was directed to undertake
the task. He had been up since early in the morning,
and had been tremendously interested in his first fight,
and went at his assignment with vim, but about one
o'clock in the morning came into the head-quarters build
ing, and with "tears in his voice" said to Captain Smith:
""I can't get those goo-goos buried until daylight, and,
anyhow, I'm no damned funeral director."
We at San Fernando were much mystified as to what
the insurgents had expected to gain by so ill-timed and
disjointed an attack; but two years afterward, while
Aguinaldo was a prisoner in our hands and we were con
ducting him to Manila, he told me a good deal about it.
He had ordered the attack and had arranged some of the

3io PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
details, though he was not present in person. For carry
ing out his purpose he had ordered troops from several
near-by provinces, the total number concentrated being
about seven thousand. It had been directed that the
various organizations should surround the town during
the night, but at such distances that they would not be
discovered by our patrols. At 3 a. m. they were to rush
over our outposts, enter the town from all directions, and
set fire to every possible building, literally burning the
Americans out. It was thought that the consequent con
fusion would enable them to deal us a finishing blow.
But not a single unit reached its place at the appointed
time, some of them not arriving until after daylight, while
a few did not report until the fighting was over. The
commanders of the various organizations thought, how
ever, that they must do something, and as they arrived in
position delivered their separate attacks, but against men
on the alert, and with disastrous results. It is rather diffi
cult to guess whether or not this lovely scheme would
have worked if the plans had not miscarried. All Filipino
towns are constructed of very inflammable materials, and
the night of February 22, when the insurgents burned al
most the entire Tondo district of Manila, shows that they
were not inexpert in that particular work. At San Fer
nando our troops were quartered all over the town, and
there can be no doubt that if a large number of fires had
been started we would have had a hard time of it, princi
pally for the reason that we would have feared to use our
rifles owing to the danger of hitting as many of our own
people as of the enemy. But the chances are that instead

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 311
of running over our outposts the insurgents would have
delayed to engage in fire fights with them, and so would
have given time for their reinforcemnet.
A couple of weeks later the Twentieth Kansas and
First Montana were relieved from duty at the front, the
time when, according to the terms of their enlistment, they
were entitled to their discharge having passed months
before, and were sent to Manila preparatory to returning
to the United States, and though I returned to San Fran
cisco with my old regiment, this severed my official con
nection with it. It was a good regiment, considering
especially all the handicaps with which it had begun its
existence; not by any means the best regiment that ever
fought under our flag, like several that we have all read
about, but still a mighty trustworthy and reliable organi
zation after it had had six months of training and had
weeded out the most of its "weak sisters." In a year and
a half of service it had had but two desertions, both of these
occurring shortly after its muster-in. It lost thirty-five
men from disease, fourteen of whom were victims of a
small-pox epidemic that broke out in the barracks of the
First Battalion shortly after our arrival in Manila. Its
battle losses were three officers and thirty enlisted men
killed, and ten officers and one hundred and twenty-nine
enlisted men wounded.
The Kansas and Montana regiments were relieved in
the First Brigade by the Ninth and Twelfth United
States Infantry, commanded, respectively, by Colonel
Emerson H. Liscum and Lieutenant-Colonel Jacob H.
Smith. Within a short time after these regiments re-

3i2 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
ported, I was under the necessity of going to Manila for
the purpose of playing a prominent part in a surgical
operation, and on recovery was ordered to return to the
United States for muster-out of the service. Mrs. Fun
ston and I were passengers on the transport Tartar, the
vessel carrying all of those members of the Twentieth Kan
sas who had not joined some one of the new regiments
being raised in the Philippines, besides a number of dis
charged men from various organizations. We sailed from
Manila on September 3, and had an uneventful voyage.
Shortly after arrival in San Francisco I was informed
by the War Department that instead of being mustered
out I would be retained in service. I had not expressed
any wishes on the subject, but was not averse to returning
to the islands, though I thought the insurrection could
not last many months longer. After a visit to Kansas I
returned to San Francisco, and sailed again for Manila
on the same old Indiana that I had gone out on before,
leaving Mrs. Funston with her parents in her old home,
I being accompanied by my aide, Lieutenant Burton J.
Mitchell. This officer, a first cousin, had been an enlisted
man and officer in my old regiment, and had been recom-
missioned in the Fortieth United States Volunteer Infan
try. He was one of those with me later in the capture of
Emilio Aguinaldo.
Upon arrival in Manila I reported to General Otis,
who was still commander-in-chief of the forces in the isl
ands, and was assigned again to the Second Division, and
ordered to report to General MacArthur, whose head
quarters were at Bautista, province of Pangasinan, near

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 313
the northern terminus of the Manila-Dagupan Railway.
I was placed by the division commander in command
of the Third Brigade, which was scattered all over the
province of Nueva Ecija and parts of Pangasinan and
Pampanga. The head-quarters was at San Isidro, in the
first-named province, and the troops consisted of the
entire Twenty-second and Twenty-fourth Infantry, the
head-quarters and two battalions of the Thirty-fourth
Volunteers, Troop G, Fourth Cavalry, and the Macabebe
organization known as the Squadron Philippine Cavalry,
which was really a battalion of infantry, as I never saw
one of its members on a horse. A number of organiza
tions were formed later from the loyal Ilocanos of northern
Nueva Ecija. The staff assigned to the brigade consisted
of Captain E. V. Smith, adjutant-general, Major W. C.
Brown, inspector-general, Captain Alexander Perry, chief
quartermaster, Major H. S. T. Harris, chief surgeon, and
Captain Frederic H. Pomroy, chief commissary.
The war was now entering upon an entirely new phase.
His forces having been broken up and scattered as the
result of the hammerings they had received, Aguinaldo
had directed his subordinates to return to their homes
with their men and arms, and after a rest to carry on a
relentless guerilla warfare against the Americans, who
were now scattered all over the archipelago in garrisons
ranging in size from a regiment to a company, or even
less. Although all the State volunteers raised for the Span
ish war had been sent home and mustered out, twenty-
five regiments of United States Volunteers had been raised
and were in the Philippines, as was also the greater

3i4 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
part of the regular army. At this time we probably
had in the islands as many as seventy thousand troops,
distributed among some hundreds of towns. The insur
gents provided with rifles were, of course, far short of
this number, but their knowledge of the country, their
mobility, their control over the population either through
sympathy or fear, and, above all, their habit of passing
from the status of guerilla soldiers to that of non-com
batants really gave them an advantage that more than
made up for the disparity in numbers. Aguinaldo, from
his various hiding-places in the mountain fastnesses of
northern Luzon, remained the actual head of the insur
rection, and exercised a general control over the opera
tions of his subordinates. To each one of his numerous
"generals" was assigned the command of a district or
zone, and these had under them various subordinate gue
rilla chiefs with their bands.
In the closing days of December, 1899, Captain Smith,
Lieutenant Mitchell, and I left the railroad at San Fer
nando, mounted on good native ponies, and in two days
of stiff riding reached the station that was to be our head
quarters for the next year and a half. The country was
so quiet that it was deemed safe to make the trip without
escort, though we took the precaution to carry carbines
in addition to our revolvers. We stopped at the various
garrisoned towns en route for meals and rest. The con
dition of the country seemed perfectly normal, the towns
being full of people and the usual work going on in the
fields. There was not a sign of the war to be seen, though
there had been some brisk campaigning through this re-

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 315
gion. In fact, this condition existed through the whole
of central Luzon during the period of a year and a half
of guerilla warfare that was soon to begin. If any one
imagines that this was a desolated country, with the in
habitants fleeing to the woods and mountains for shelter,
he is entitled to imagine again. The tendency of the peo
ple was to flock to the garrisoned towns for shelter from
their own ruthless countrymen, they having not the slight
est fear of the troops. I have no doubt that in the year
1900 Nueva Ecija raised as much rice as it ever did; at
least all suitable land was in cultivation. And yet there
was a nasty little war going on all of the time. It cer
tainly was an odd state of affairs.
The garrison of San Isidro consisted of a battalion of
the Twenty-second Infantry, under Major John A. Bald
win, and Troop G, Fourth Cavalry, under Captain L. M.
Koehler. There were in the vicinity a number of good-
sized towns garrisoned by one or more companies of the
Twenty-second and Thirty-fourth Infantry. The first
thing to do after arrival was to visit a number of the gar
risons in this province, incidentally becoming acquainted
with the country. On a trip of this kind it would not do
to trust too much to the good luck that had brought us
three officers through from San Fernando without escort,
as there were already current reports of the appearance
of guerilla bands in certain parts of the province. Ac
cordingly, there was organized a detachment of mounted
men, who not only did duty as a personal escort, but
quickly developed into a fine body of trustworthy and
fearless scouts. This detachment, consisting at first of

316 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
only a dozen men, finally grew to be about twenty-five
strong, and was made up of men selected by their vari
ous commanders on account of their horsemanship, cour
age, and reliability. They became known as the " Head
quarters Scouts," and hereafter will be referred to by that
name. Their first commander was Lieutenant E. L.
Admire, Twenty-second Infantry, the non-commissioned
officer on duty with them being Corporal Hull of the same
regiment. They were armed and equipped as cavalry,
and for the first three months of their service were mounted
on native ponies, American horses being obtained at the
end of that time. They were a really remarkable body
of men. During the year and a half that they accom
panied me on every trip or expedition of any kind, and
including several "hikes" that I was not on, the aggre
gate of the number of miles that they marched reached
such a figure that I hesitate to give it, though the facts
are known to a number of officers besides myself. But I
have no desire to be bothered by procuring affidavits after
this is published. They were in the field more than half
of the time, and always on the go. They could take care
of themselves and their horses anywhere, and could whip
ten times their number of Filipinos any day. I have
often thought of the things that could be done with a regi
ment of cavalry made up entirely of such material.
A few days after settling down and getting the head
quarters started going, for the brigade had just been
organized, Lieutenant Mitchell and I started out to in
spect the garrisons of Cabanatuan, San Jose, and Car-
ranglan. We were accompanied by the Scouts under

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 317
Corporal Hull, no officer having as yet been assigned to
command them. It was a most interesting ride, but
devoid of adventure, as while outside of the garrisoned
towns we kept moving so rapidly that persons who might
have desired to attack us had no more time than that
necessary to formulate the wish before we were gone.
The round trip of approximately one hundred and forty
miles was made in nine days, including a day spent in
each of the three towns mentioned. Upon our return we
heard more stories of the presence of guerilla bands, none
of them large, in the vicinity of San Isidro, and after a
rest of a couple of days started on a little raid with the
Scouts to see if we could stir up anything. Going first
to the good-sized town of Gapan, three miles east of San
Isidro, we struck south-east along a country road and
entered the barrio (small village) of Santa Cruz. The
fact that the population unanimously took to their heels
was regarded as a suspicious circumstance. Leaving
Lieutenant Mitchell in the town with all of the Scouts
except Corporal Hull, I rode with the latter to a point
about seven hundred yards distant in the outskirts. Here
we saw a man armed with a rifle tearing across a bare
field. My first inclination was to try to ride him down,
but we observed that before we could come up with him
he would have gained cover in some brush that he was
heading for. If we had dismounted and opened fire with
our carbines we might have got him, but I hesitated a
little too long. As soon as the mail gained cover he
turned on us, firing two shots, one of which passed be
tween us. We could tell from the smoke as well as from

318 ' PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
the sound of the bullets that he was using a Remington
instead of a Mauser. It was the first time I had heard a
hostile shot since seven months before at San Fernando.
We returned to San Isidro that evening, not having had
any more excitement, if being shot at by one man could
be called by that name. Within the next week a couple
more trips were made with the object of becoming ac
quainted with the country, but none of the enemy were
encountered. In the meantime we had been gathering
as much information as possible as to conditions in this
particular province, being greatly aided by data that had
already been collected by the officers of the garrisons that
had been established before our arrival. The insurgent
commander in this region was General Panteleon Garcia,
who had commanded the brigade that was on the imme
diate front of the one in which I was serving at Caloocan a
year before, and who had served as Aguinaldo's chief of
staff for a time in the fall of 1899. Garcia, however, was
ill and in hiding, and the active commander was Colonel
Pablo Padilla, the man who had made the perfunctory
defence of San Isidro against General Lawton's column
during the previous summer. Neither of these was a man
of much force and energy, and, as we shall see, both were
soon captured, being succeeded by Urbano Lacuna, a
man much more capable than either of them.
There were in the province about fifteen hundred
rifles, but the most of these were still in places of con
cealment. In the mountains of Bulacan province, which
was a part of the district commanded by General F. D.
Grant, were Simon and Pablo Tecson, the latter a most

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 319
capable chief. As the Filipinos naturally did not pay any
attention to the limits of the jurisdictions of the Ameri
can commanders, and as Pablo Tecson was a particu
larly enterprising individual, I finally had about as many
fights with him as with Lacuna. The various station com
manders were showing commendable energy in sending
out detachments to scour the country, and there were
occasional small encounters. About this time Colonel
L. W. V. Kennon, commanding the Thirty-fourth Infantry,
the head-quarters of which was at San Jose, began the
organization of the Uocano Scouts, a body of men that
during the rest of the war rendered most loyal and cou
rageous service. While many of the Ilocanos from the
two provinces that are the home of those people had taken
sides against us, their compatriots of northern Nueva
Ecija, who were immigrants to this province, had no
sympathy with the insurrection. These men were com
manded largely by officers of Colonel Kennon's regiment,
though there were a few detailed from other organizations.
These Ilocanos were splendid marchers and fighters, and
were as trustworthy as the Macabebes, and that is saying
a great deal.
The large town of Gapan, which lay so close to San
Isidro that the two were almost one, had not as yet been
garrisoned, and information was received to the effect that
a number of insurgent officers and men were taking their
ease there with their families, and that there were a num
ber of concealed arms. Accordingly, I issued the neces
sary orders, and one night just before daybreak the town
was quickly and quietly surrounded by the garrisons of

320 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
several of the near-by towns, about eight hundred men
being used in the operation. The search that followed
was so thorough that not a house, stable, out-house, well,
or even a single room escaped. But few arms were found,
but we captured a number of men who had with them
correspondence that showed them to be insurgent officers.
All except one were sent to Manila as prisoners of war.
This one showed a letter from a captain of the Thirty-fifth
Infantry, at the time provost-marshal of the town of San
Miguel, province of Bulacan, to the effect that the bearer,
Doroteo del Rosario, was in his employ as a secret-service
man, and requesting that he be released by any persons
who might capture him. The prisoner was a Filipino of
the "smooth" type, being well dressed and plausible. I
put him through a long examination, but he stuck to the
story that he was doing secret work for the officer who had
given him the letter, and this in spite of incriminating
documents found in his effects. I held him, and wired the
facts to the officer at San Miguel, receiving a request to
release the man. This I declined to do, and in a few days
received from Manila a peremptory order to turn the
man loose, which I did. We shall see how I afterward
met him under a flag of truce as Lacuna's adjutant, and
how a year and a half later he died on the scaffold for the
brutal murder of five helpless American prisoners and one
of our few loyal presidentes.
General MacArthur desired to place a garrison in the
town of Baler, in the province of Principe, on the east
coast of Luzon, and hoping that this might be accom
plished by a shorter march than the one by way of Pan-

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 321
tabangan, directed me to make a reconnoissance with that
end in view. So Lieutenant Mitchell and I, accompanied
by the Scouts and a company of the Thirty-fourth Infan
try, besides a small pack-train, struck out across country
toward the mountains to the north-east of San Isidro.
The region that we passed through was practically un
inhabited, being for the first three days a beautiful,
rolling, grass-covered plain, with trees scattered over it
here and there, and occasional well-wooded creek bot
toms. The fourth day was in very difficult mountains.
Though very steep, they were not very high. Their
slopes were covered with grass, and so slippery that it
was very difficult for either men or animals to keep their
feet. All of us who were mounted led our horses, and
were getting along fairly well until we came to follow the
summit of a very narrow "hog back," and here trouble
began. It seemed impossible for the mules to keep their
feet; so we took off their loads and had them carried for
a distance by the men. Then ropes were passed around
the animals, and with a dozen men supporting each ter
rified beast, we worked our way slowly along. In spite
of these precautions, one mule fell five hundred feet and
was killed. It is a pretty rough country where an Ameri
can mule has to be held up to keep him from shooting off
into space. For three days we had not seen a human
being, though we had crossed a number of trails leading
from the lowlands to the mountains, but on the fifth day,
we being at the time crossing what is known as the Sabani
Valley, where the grass was very high and dry, we were
fired at a few times, and immediately afterward the small

322 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
band of insurgents that had discovered and was following
us tried new tactics by setting fires in the grass. This
burned with great rapidity, and they made it pretty warm
for us, though we were never in any danger from their
polite attentions. We returned to San Isidro via Bon-
gabong and Cabanatuan, having marched one hundred
and twenty miles in eight days, some of it in bad country.
The company of infantry, ninety strong, came in without
a straggler. It had been ascertained that through this
region there was no route to Baler.
But Baler must be garrisoned, and the march would
have to be made via Pantabangan, crossing the great
mountain range to the eastward of that town. It was
about the middle of February when we made the start,
there being the Scouts and three companies of the Thirty-
fourth Infantry, besides a pack-train of more than fifty
mules. Major W. A. Shunk, who was to be left in com
mand at Baler, was in command of the infantry, and we
were joined at Cabanatuan by Colonel Kennon. The
march as far as Bongabong was over excellent roads, then
a grilling day's work up a canyon to the little town of
Pantabangan, garrisoned by a company of the Twenty-
fourth Infantry. From here it was a hard pull to the
summit, and we lost five mules, either killed by falls or so
injured that they had to be shot; and then two days down
the bed of a stream over slippery rocks brought us to
the edge of the flat country on the Pacific coast, and that
evening we entered Baler, all of the inhabitants fleeing
except one man, and no resistance being offered. The
march of a little over one hundred miles had taken ten

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 323
days, owing to the great difficulties of the last half of it.
The principal thing of interest was the little stone church,
scarred by shot and shell and peppered by bullet marks,
where a mere handful of Spanish soldiers, fifty men at
the start, had for eleven long months, in the years 1898
and 1899, held out against an overwhelming force of in
surgents provided with several pieces of artillery. The
stubborn defence of their post by these starving men is
an epic of heroism, and the reading of the simple account
of it, written by the sole survivor of the three officers,
makes one feel that after all it is not bad to be a soldier.
It was in trying to communicate with this garrison and
give them authentic information to the effect that months
before the sovereignty of Spain had ceased over the Philip
pine Islands, that Lieutenant Gillmore of the navy and his
detachment met disaster at the hands of the besieging
insurgents. We gazed with interest on the wonderful
trenches, redoubts, and approaches of the insurgents, and
on the well that the garrison had dug in order to provide
themselves with water, not to speak of the pathetic row
of graves within the walls of the building. The Scouts
and one of the companies of the Thirty-fourth escorted
the pack-train back to San Isidro, while, leaving Major
Shunk and two companies in this lonely place, the re
mainder of us officers returned to Manila by sea on a
steamer that had arrived with supplies for the garrison,
and in a few days were back at our respective stations.
Upon our return to Nueva Ecija it was learned that the
insurgent bands were increasing in size and number, and
that several officers, especially Major Joseph Wheeler, Jr.,

324 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
Thirty-fourth Infantry, commanding the station of Peiia-
randa, eight miles east of San Isidro, had had some sharp
and successful encounters with them. Within a day or
two after the return from Baler I started out with Lieu
tenant Mitchell, the Scouts, Troop G, Fourth Cavalry,
under Captain Koehler, and a small pack-train, and we
penetrated the mountains to the south-east of San Isidro,
learning considerable of the country, and incidentally
surprising two small bands of insurgents, with disastrous
results to them. American troops had never yet pene
trated this region, and we were unexpected as well as un
welcome visitors. We were out about a week, and pretty
thoroughly " combed " a large extent of mountain country.
After our return Koehler gave his men and horses a few
days' rest, and he again took to the mountains, remaining
out another week and surprising and breaking up several
small bands, burning a barrack and capturing some arms.
This officer showed the most boundless energy in this
sort of work, and was ready and anxious to go out at
any time of the night or day. This mountain region was
absolutely uninhabited, the only people in it being the
guerilla bands that had sought there a safe place of ren
dezvous, being supplied with food by their friends in the
towns. During Koehler's absence I had had opportunity to
clear off the accumulation of work on my desk, and a
few days after his return we again took to the road
with his troop and the Scouts. I had in the meantime
appointed an additional aide, Lieutenant O. R. Wolfe,
Twenty-second Infantry, and he and Mitchell accom-

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 325
panied me. In order that we might reach the mountains
without being discovered, we left San Isidro just after
dark, and keeping off the trails and simply depending
on our knowledge of the country, were in the foot-hills,
twenty-five miles from San Isidro, by daybreak. Here we
captured an insurgent patrol armed with a Remington,
and then concealed ourselves in a clump of woods until
nightfall. In the meantime the captured man was put
through a long examination, and finally agreed to lead
us to the main insurgent camp, the stipulation being that
if he did so he would be released instead of being sent to
Manila as a prisoner of war. No violence was used on
him. The man explained that he could lead us through
the line of sentinels, but that in order to reach the main
camp we would have to go down a very narrow canyon,
where there was a strong outpost, as there was absolutely
no other route. He requested that he be sent to the rear
as soon as he had brought us to the outpost, in order that
he might not be brought under fire. This was agreed to,
and after it was good and dark we made the start, pro
ceeding on foot, leaving the. horses in the woods with a
part of the troop as a guard. The guide marched ahead,
his arms tied behind him by means of a picket rope, one
end of which was held by a husky soldier. It was highly
undesirable that he should make a quick dive into the
brush, and leave us to find our way out of the mountains
the best we could. The night was villanously dark, and
it was raining part of the time. One could not see even
the outline of a person ten feet away.
All night we kept at it, up hill and down, wading

326 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
streams, pushing our way through brush, and finally at
two o'clock in the morning coming onto a fairly well-
beaten trail. An hour later the sky cleared and we could
make out something about the country. A little before
four o'clock the man whispered to me that he was about
to take us through the line of sentinels, and pointed out
a low conical hill on our right, where he said was a post
of two men. The hill, though only a couple of hundred
yards away, could barely be made out. A few hundred
yards farther on (we now walking so quietly that not
the slightest sound was made) he pointed out the glow
of a small fire. We were in a canyon not more than
twenty feet wide, with absolutely perpendicular walls, the
fire being a hundred yards from its entrance. The guide
was sent to the rear, and cautiously, step by step, we ad
vanced. The canyon was so narrow that but five men
could deploy, and after a whispered consultation with
Koehler it was resolved to overwhelm the outpost and
then rush down the canyon in the hope of getting into
the main camp before all of its occupants could get away,
the guide having stated that it was on some level ground
at the far end of the canyon, which was a short one.
One of the privates of the Scouts was James E.
Murphy, an Arizona cowboy. Partly because he always
wanted to be at the front, and partly because he had eyes
like a hawk, was a splendid shot, and always cool, Mur
phy usually rode alone from fifty to a hundred yards
ahead of any detachment of troops of which the Scouts
formed a part, being what is known in military parlance
as the "point," this being a precaution against suddenly

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 327
encountering the enemy while we were in close forma
tion. Of course, when we were out with a force of any
size the point was farther in advance, and consisted of
more than one man, being a sort of advance-guard modi
fied to suit the conditions of this sort of war. Murphy
had served in the First United States Volunteer Cavalry
in the Spanish War, and had been shot through the head
at the battle of Santiago, but had recovered, and subse
quently had enlisted in the Thirty-fourth Infantry for ser
vice in the Philippines. On this occasion he was in his
accustomed place, my two aides and I being a few feet
behind him. All the remainder of the force having been
directed to halt, we four and a man of the Scouts, which
one I cannot now recall, walked quietly forward a few
yards. During this guerilla war all of us officers carried car
bines in order that we might not be entirely dependent on
our revolvers in case we should be dismounted and cut off
in any of these close-range affairs. We were now within
thirty yards of the fire, and could plainly see the two sen
tries standing near it, leaning on their rifles conversing in
low tones, and apparently paying no attention to keeping
a lookout. It is not pleasant to tell of having shot down
these unsuspecting sentries, but it had to be done. If we
had called upon them to surrender, they to a certainty
would have bolted into the darkness and from there added
to the fire with which we were soon smitten. And then,
too, it would have meant getting away with two rifles to
be used against us later. In this period of the war the
capture of arms was considered of much more importance

328 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
than the killing of men. The former could not be re
placed, while the latter could. I gave a whispered com
mand, two carbines cracked, and the men pitched forward,
both shot through the heart. All of us then emptied the
magazines of our carbines, firing down the canyon, as we
had seen a number of men leap to their feet. Then came
the reply, a rattle of about thirty shots. Wolfe, at my
left elbow, swung around and collapsed, falling into a hole
about six feet deep that we had not seen in the darkness,
while Murphy, at my right, sank to the ground with a
groan. In ten seconds it was all over. In this little clash we
had suffered as many casualties as in the reconnoissance
near Bacolor, where a detachment of about equal size
was engaged an hour and had fifty thousand shots fired at
it. There are some queer things in war. Owing to the
intense darkness, an attempt of some of the men to chase
down the now flying enemy was fruitless. By the light
of brands snatched from the fire, we hastened to attend
to the injuries of the wounded. We had great difficulty
in getting Wolfe out of the hole that he had fallen into
without adding to his suffering. His case looked serious
at first, as he was shot through one lung and one arm,
while Murphy was terribly injured, one of his brawny
arms being cut entirely off at the elbow, the bullet that
struck him having evidently first hit the canyon wall and
then tumbled. We quickly applied a tourniquet, but he
had lost much blood in the meantime. Finally, we had
the two stretched out near the fire, where there was ade
quate light. It was absolutely out of the question for all

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 329
of the small detachments that were constantly leaving the
garrisons on operations to be accompanied by medical
officers, and we had none with us on this occasion.
At the first streak of dawn, which came in a short
time, some of us pushed through the canyon, found and
burned the now abandoned camp, and, coming back to
the scene of the fight, picked up four Remington and
eight Mauser rifles and about eight hundred rounds of
ammunition. Trails of blood showed that the two sentries
had not been the only ones of the enemy hit. I stooped
down by the wounded Murphy and said: "This looks
mighty bad, but I hope you can pull through." He
replied quietly and calmly: "Well, General, if I can't,
I think I can die like a soldier." We were thirty miles
from San Isidro and five from our horses. Several men
were sent back to where we had left the animals, with in
structions to bring up four of the ponies. They took the
direct trail to the foot-hills instead of the circuitous route
of about eight miles that we had marched over during
the night, and found the horses without difficulty. In the
meantime, litters were improvised from poles and strips
of bark, and we started on the return, each litter being
carried by four men, who were allowed to change off
with others every few hundred yards. Having ridden
one night, been awake most of the next day, and then
marched on foot all of the following night, it can be sur
mised that we were tired. Both the wounded were patient
and cheerful throughout the trying ordeal. We followed
the direct trail, and before noon met the men with the
ponies, and proceeded to make what are known as pony

330 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
or horse litters. Four long poles were cut, and saddle-
blankets that the men had brought with them from the
camp were stretched between them. Two ponies were
put in each litter, one in front of and the other behind the
man to be carried, the poles being fastened to the sides of
the saddles. We first tried out this arrangement by hav
ing several of the men ride about in the litters, the ponies
being led by men holding the bridle reins. The animals
acted well, and we placed the wounded men in the litters.
When we started, one of the infernal animals, the led one
in Wolfe's litter, began to rear and plunge, and ended
up by kicking the wounded man out. Finally, we got
going, and in the afternoon reached the place where we
had concealed the horses and their guard. I felt that I
must remain out and attempt to hunt down the band
that we had struck, but the wounded must hasten to the
hospital at San Isidro, and I directed Mitchell to make
preparations to take them in as soon as he and those who
were to accompany him could have something to eat.
As the country was infested with guerilla bands, I in
structed him to keep moving, once he had started, and
not to stop under any circumstances. He started on
his perilous journey shortly after dark, his only escort
being the Scouts, who now numbered about fifteen
men. Luckily, all the ponies now in the litters behaved
well. I almost hesitate to tell of an amusing incident in
connection with so sad an affair, but on the march one
pretty rich thing occurred. Wolfe, who was suffering
and worn out, wanted to go into camp for awhile at a

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 331
point about eight miles from San Isidro. The neighbor
hood was an especially dangerous one, and Mitchell had
his orders, and said that they would keep moving, where
upon Wolfe said: "I am your senior, and put you in
arrest, and take charge of this outfit myself." Mitchell
replied: "You are on sick report, and can't put anybody
in arrest." The spectacle of these two lieutenants, both
of them my aides, discussing this important point out there
in the darkness must have been an edifying one. Finally
the detachment reached its destination, most of those
composing it not having had a wink of sleep for two days
and three nights. That is soldiering. Wolfe recovered
and returned to the United States on sick leave, but poor
Murphy survived his wound only a couple of days
more. Captain Koehler and I remained out two days, and
thoroughly scoured a large extent of mountain country,
but, owing to the fight in the canyon, our presence was
known, and the enemy abandoned the region for the
time being, leaving to us only the small satisfaction of
burning a few abandoned camps. On our return to San
Isidro we had ridden all night, and just after daybreak of
March 27 were going in single file along a trail through
some high cogon grass, being at the time almost in the
outskirts of one of the barrios of the town of Gapan, when
I, happening at the time to be riding with the point, was
surprised by seeing a man, whom from his uniform I recog
nized as one of our Macabebe soldiers, come running down
the trail toward us. The man had both his arms bound
behind him so tightly that his elbows almost touched,

332 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
and he was so agitated and out of breath that he could
say but little. He pointed to our right front, and gasped
out in Spanish, "My companions, my companions." I
correctly guessed that he and some other Macabebes had
been captured and were being taken to the mountains,
and that the men in charge of them, meeting us suddenly
in the trail, had fled with all of the prisoners except this
one who had broken away from them.
There was no time to ask questions, and I called back
to Captain Koehler, riding at the head of his troop, " Right
front into line and charge," at the same time pointing in
the direction indicated by the Macabebe. Koehler turned
in his saddle and gave the command that brought the
troop quickly into line, the command to charge was given,
the men drew their revolvers, put the spurs to their horses,
and in almost no time were tearing through the grass.
The man on the point and I joined onto the left of the
line as it passed us. Soon came the popping of shots,
and when it was over three Filipinos lay dead on the
ground. So far we had not found any other Macabebes,
but the men were still scouring the neighborhood, and a
sergeant brought in two Filipinos, who from their dress
and bearing I at once knew to be officers, though neither
they nor any of their men that we had seen were in uni
form. Accompanying them were two horribly wounded
Macabebe soldiers, one of them having seven gashes
across his head, face, and shoulders, and the other five.
The sergeant explained that having ridden into a shallow
ravine he had come upon the two Filipinos chopping with
their bolos the two Macabebes, who were helpless, their

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 333
arms being trussed up behind them. Captain Koehler
and I and a few of the enlisted men were standing at the
time in the principal street of the village. There was
a hurried inquiry made in order to get at the facts in the
case. After the sergeant had told his story, I repeated
the gist of it to the two men, who had in the meantime
acknowledged that they were officers of Lacuna's gueril
las, one of them being a captain and the other a lieu
tenant, and asked them if they could make any denial of
the facts, the reply of both being in the negative. Both
of them were then asked if they could give any reason
why the penalty of death should not at once be inflicted
for having violated the laws of war in attempting to kill
prisoners to prevent their escape. They replied that
they could say nothing that would help their case. I
turned to Captain Koehler, and asked: "Doesn't this
come under General Orders 100 of 1863 ?" He replied:
"If it does not nothing ever did." Two picket-ropes
were called for, there was a tree near at hand, and within
ten minutes after the commission of their brutal crime the
two had paid the only appropriate penalty.
This recital will cause cold chills to chase themselves
up and down the spinal columns of a number of good
people, scattered all the way from Eastport to San Diego,
so that it might be as well to state that this execution was
absolutely as legal as any that ever followed trial by jury.
If any one doubts this, let him peruse carefully the gen
eral order above referred to. The two men were literally
caught red-handed in the commission of their crime, their
persons and their clothing being spattered with the blood

334 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
of their intended victims. The authorities who have dis
cussed and elucidated the provisions of General Orders
ioo agree that the accused must have been actually
caught in the commission of the crime, and that the
death penalty must be immediately inflicted. If I had
even taken the two men to San Isidro, I could not
legally have executed them, and they would have had
to await the results of trail by a military commission.
The moral effect of this summary action was most bene
ficial. More than a year later, after Lacuna had surrendered,
I discussed the matter with him, and was assured that he
considered that I was justified in what I had done. The
uninjured Macabebe, having in the meantime recovered
his breath, explained that he and his three companions
belonged to one of the companies stationed at San Isidro;
the evening before they had strayed a block or two from
their barracks, when they were seized by a number of men,
gagged and bound, and taken to a house in Gapan, where
they were kept overnight. At daybreak their captors had
started to Lacuna's camp in the mountains to deliver
them to him. There can be no doubt as to what Lacuna
would have done to them. Shortly after leaving Gapan
they had by chance run into us, and in the confusion one
of the men had escaped. They led us to the house where
they had been confined, and as we approached it three
men leaped from the windows and started to run. They
were called upon to halt, but paid no heed, two of them
being killed by the fire that was opened, while the third
escaped by dashing into a crowd of women and children.

BEGINNING OF THE GUERILLA WAR 335
In an hour more we were back in San Isidro, after five
days full of excitement and tragedy. I at once reported
to higher authority all the incidents of the morning, and
was upheld.

VI
MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR
Early in April the organization of the troops in the
Philippines into tactical units, such as divisions and bri
gades, was changed into one on a geographical basis, the
entire command becoming the Division of the Philip
pines, which was divided into four departments, these
being in their turn subdivided into districts. General
Otis was relieved, and returned to the United States,
Genera1 MacArthur succeeding him in supreme command,
with head-quarters in Manila. General Loyd Wheaton
became the commander of the newly organized Depart
ment of Northern Luzon, his head-quarters, also, being
in Manila. The Third Brigade of the Second Division,
my command, now became the Fourth District of the De
partment of Northern Luzon. Under the old arrange
ment the higher tactical units had become such only in
name, and the new order of things was certainly much
more logical.
The conditions existing in the Fourth District at this
time were typical of those throughout the archipelago,
and from numerous stations, scattered from the extreme
north of Luzon to the shores of the Celebes Sea, there was
being carried on by small detachments a most energetic
war against the bands of guerillas that infested almost
336

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 337
every locality. Naturally, conditions differed to a degree
in the various provinces, depending largely on the tem
per of the people and the personal equation of the local
guerilla chiefs.
In the district under my command, the local chieftain,
Panteleon Garcia, was still in hiding, while his principal
subordinate, Pablo Padilla, seemed to be losing his ini-
portance, the more energetic Lacuna making us the most
trouble. It was known that the notorious Pio del Pilar,
a man who had been a thorn in the flesh of both the
Spanish and American authorities, was hiding in the
mountains along the boundary between the districts com
manded by General Grant and myself, but just what
authority he exercised was not known. Becoming tired
of the lean life in the bosque, he finally ventured into
Manila, and was captured by a native police officer, who
was promptly assassinated for his pains. It may be of
interest to know that eleven years after this time I,
as commander of the Department of Luzon, approved
awarding the contract for furnishing firewood to the post
of Fort William McKinley to this same Pio del Pilar.
The thought of this old scamp earning his living honestly
will be viewed with incredulity by many persons familiar
with his past record.
During the early part of April I went out with the
Scouts on several occasions, but had bad luck, not suc
ceeding in meeting any of the enemy, though considerable
was learned about the country. Lieutenant Admire had
some time previously reported for duty, and was now in
personal command of this detachment, and on two occa-

338 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
sions took them out and had successful brushes with small
bodies of the enemy. Major Wheeler made an expedition
into the mountains from Peiiaranda, had one or two
fights, and burned some barracks and supplies, as did also
Captain Koehler with his troop, while there were a num
ber of enterprises carried on from various stations in the
district, some of them resulting satisfactorily in punishing
insurgent bands and capturing arms.
On April 22 I made another try, and started out, ac
companied by Mitchell and by the Scouts, now increased
to eighteen men, under Admire. Our native ponies had
been replaced by excellent American horses, and we
hoped to catch some insurgents in the open, and see what
we could do with our new mounts. Instead of going
to our old hunting-ground, the mountains, it was deter
mined to try the flat country lying west and north of San
Isidro, and just at daybreak we forded the Rio Grande,
in itself a somewhat thrilling operation, and struck north
through a country not known to any of us. Owing to
their unreliability, we seldom used native guides, and on
this march had to depend almost entirely on our knowl
edge as to the relative positions of the various towns that
we expected to visit.
The first day was without adventure, and we spent the
night at Aliaga, where there was stationed a company of
the Thirty-fourth Infantry. The next day we turned to
the westward, and were about five miles from that town
when we had a lively little scrimmage. As there were
so many trails, cutting here and there through the high
grass, and as the man on the point had several times been

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 339
in doubt as to what direction he should take, I was
riding with him, accompanied by Lieutenant Mitchell, the
detachment being about a hundred yards behind us. We
were approaching a very shaky-looking bamboo bridge
spanning a wide and deep ravine, when we saw two armed
men start to run from its farther end. They struck out
across a level field covered with short grass, and then we
saw about a dozen more, all armed, emerge from the
brush on its farther side, about four hundred yards distant,
and advance a short distance to where they were met by
the fleeing sentries, when they all formed line and opened
fire. At the time they probably saw only the three of us.
I directed Mitchell to fall back to the detachment, take
off the six rear men, and then ride down the ravine to our
left in order to protect the rest of us from a possible flank
fire after we had crossed, as the ravine made so much of a
curve that we might be exposed to such a fire from men
that we could not get at without again crossing the bridge.
Admire was directed to follow me across the bridge with
the Scouts, but not to allow more than one man on it at
a time. I did not like the looks of the structure, it not
being wide or strong enough for wheeled vehicles, though
we could see that animals had crossed it, but gritted my
teeth and spurred my horse onto it. The others crossed
as rapidly as they could, coming into line on my right.
To our surprise, the Filipinos stood their ground to a
man, and continued to fire with great rapidity. I had
taken it for granted that when they saw that we equalled
them in numbers they would break, and that it would
merely be a matter of running them down. As soon as

340 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
the men were in line they were ordered to draw their re
volvers and charge at a gallop. It was an exciting mo
ment, and the Filipinos did not start to run for cover until
we were within sixty yards of them, and even then they
turned and fired a number of shots in their retreat. But
they had delayed too long, and in almost no time we were
among them, our big American horses, frantic from being
the first time under fire, rearing and plunging so that we
had to think about as much of keeping our seats as of doing
anything else. I picked out as my man a fellow who I
could see was armed with a Krag carbine, paying no at
tention to the officer in command of them, who was re
treating, revolver in hand, and whom I passed at a distance
of about four feet. Just as I passed the officer he fired
right into my face, but the bullet missed, though I was
slightly burned by the sparks. I was armed with a 45-
calibre Colt, and shot at him as soon as I saw what he
was going to do, the heavy bullet cutting his left hand
practically off at the wrist. I kept on after the man with
the Krag, who I could see was filling the magazine of his
piece as he ran. When he heard the horse close behind
him he faced about, and we had it out. My horse was so
wild that it was impossible for me to have a fair chance
at the man. I fired four times, and the plucky fellow
emptied his magazine of the five shots in it, neither of us
scoring, though the distance between us varied from only
ten to thirty feet. No doubt the plunging of my horse had
something to do with saving me, though the man had
made no attempt to take any sort of aim. My opponent
now started to run again, and jumped over a ditch about

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 341
four feet wide. I had one cartridge left in the revolver,
and tried to close with him, but my crazy horse, wild with
terror from the discharges in his face, would not jump the
ditch, and tried to spill me off backward. The Filipino,
seeing that I could not get at him, stopped and again be
gan cramming cartridges into the magazine of his carbine,
and I now noticed that the ditch between us extended
only about thirty yards to the right, and quickly rode
around its end to the other side. The man knew that my
revolver must be about empty, and as I tried to ride down
on him, faced about. By this time my hair was nearly
ready to stand on end, and I made up my mind if the
last shot failed to draw my carbine from its boot and throw
myself off the horse on the opposite side, knowing that if
I got on the ground the thing would be quickly over. For
some reason my horse was now acting much better, and
just as the man started to work the bolt to throw a car
tridge from the magazine into the chamber I fired, and
struck him over one eye, killing him instantly, the dis
tance being about forty feet.
Being so absorbed in my own troubles, I had seen
nothing of what the others were doing, though I had heard
the popping of numerous shots and some exclamations
and "cuss words." I looked around just in time to see
the finish, one of the men leaping from his horse with his
carbine and killing a man whom he had been unable to
hit with his revolver. Eight Filipinos were on the ground,
either killed or so badly wounded that they must have
died shortly, among the former the officer, who had con
tinued to fight even after he was so badly wounded. Six,

342 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
probably nearly all of them wounded, had escaped by
getting across the ditch, which none of our untrained
horses would jump, and running for the near-by brush.
We captured quite an assortment of fire-arms : one Smith
& Wesson revolver, one Winchester, three Krag carbines,
two Mausers, and two Remingtons, besides several hun
dred cartridges. Although the enemy must have fired
three hundred shots, we had not a man or horse touched.
Except for one shot fired from a carbine, all our work
was done with a revolver. The Krag carbines captured
were undoubtedly from among those lost by the upsetting
of a raft ferry on the Rio Grande near Cabanatuan dur
ing General Young's advance through this region some
months previously. In order to get rid of the captured
arms we returned to Aliaga from the scene of the fight,
and remained overnight, the next morning striking out
across country for the town of San Jose, which I had
visited on an inspection trip early in January.
The head-quarters of the Thirty-fourth Infantry had
been transfererd to Cabanatuan, and San Jose was now
garrisoned by several companies of the Twenty-fourth In
fantry, with Major Keller in command. This officer had
just received information as to the existence of a consid
erable insurgent camp in the mountains about ten miles
east of his station, and we resolved to make a night march
in an attempt to surprise it. An Ilocano guide was ob
tained, and we started just after dark with the Scouts
and a company of the Twenty-fourth. Although we were
in the midst of what is known as the dry season, a heavy
rain began, and lasted all night, rendering the narrow

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 343
trail through the wooded hills an abomination of mud.
As is well known to many, the rank and file of the Twenty-
fourth consists of negroes. It was the first time I had
ever made a march with these troops, and I was very much
interested in seeing how they would conduct themselves.
The thing that most impressed me was their everlasting
good nature during the hard work and discomforts of the
night. Rain, mud, and the gruelling work up and down
the steep and slippery trails seemed to have no effect on
their spirits, there being such a tendency to laugh and
talk and to chaff each other that it was often necessary
to caution them to keep quiet. Major Keller was un
fortunate in having as his mount a pony built on such
lines that it was impossible to cinch his saddle so that it
would not slip backward in going uphill. He was a rather
stout man, past middle-age, and had a most pronounced
German accent. A dozen times his saddle worked back
ward until it would suddenly turn, and he would be
spilled off, both himself and the saddle being replaced by
several of the big black fellows, after which the march
would be resumed. My own saddle-girth having become
loose, I dropped out of the trail to re-cinch. The men
were plodding past, and probably saw me, but in the
darkness mistook me for one of the Scouts, when I heard
one of them say : " Sam, what do you think of this damn
foolishness, anyhow ? " Sam stopped for a second or two
to accumulate some breath and ideas, and then responded
very gravely: "De only ting dat I tinks is dat dat ole
Dutch major o' ourn suttenly do like to fall offen dat rat
he's a-ridin'."

344 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
Our guide did not seem to know the country any too
well, and it was dawn when we cautiously approached the
camp, hidden in the dense woods. The enemy was gone,
and the only direct result of this march was the burning
of the grass-covered sheds that had been their shelter.
We went into camp here for the day in order to rest the
men and horses, and give the latter an opportunity to
feed, some excellent grass being found near by. During
the day we were visited by another Ilocano, who said he
could lead us to an important insurgent deposito in the
hills a day's march to the south. The company of the
Twenty-fourth was directed to return to its station, as
we wished to go faster than men could march afoot, and
just after nightfall we were off with the Scouts, the Ilocano
being mounted on his own pony. Hour after hour we
kept going, at times crossing grassy uplands and at oth
ers riding through gloomy forests. During a part of the
night we were following trails, but usually were not. This
guide certainly knew his business, but about all we could
make out of it was that we were going south, which at
least had the merit of bringing us nearer to San Isidro.
We were fortunate in having no rain, and, the sky being
clear, the darkness was not intense. About 8 o'clock the
next morning the guide stated that we were within a few
hundred yards of our destination. We dismounted, tied
the horses, leaving them under a guard of a few men, and
cautiously followed the Ilocano, every man with his loaded
carbine in hand. We soon came to the foot of an abso
lutely perpendicular cliff about forty feet high, from the
top of which hung a rattan ladder, and could make out

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 345
the roofs of several sheds. We saw the head of a man
looking down for a moment over the edge of the cliff,
but he soon disappeared. Desiring to frighten away the
guard and prevent fire being set to the stuff in his charge,
several shots were ordered fired, and immediately after
ward one of the Scouts went up the swinging ladder. As
soon as he had reached the top I followed, the other men
coming up as rapidly as possible, though no two were
allowed on the ladder at the same time.
And what a find it was! There were several large
sheds filled to their roofs: almost the entire records of the
Malolos government, letter-press books having copies of
all orders and correspondence sent out, hundreds upon
hundreds of official letters and telegrams, fourteen hun
dred rounds of fixed ammunition for the Hotchkiss two-
pounder, four thousand rounds of small-arms ammuni
tion, five hundred pounds of powder, twelve cases of petro
leum, a thousand yards of cloth in bolt, several tents, a
quantity of dynamite bombs, reloading tools, box after
box of official blanks and stationery, one million postage
and revenue stamps, and an endless lot of miscellaneous
stuff. It took us hours to sort out the find and decide
what to destroy and what to bring away. We could
scarcely believe our eyes as we went through it all.
In the meantime inquiry had been made of the guide as
to which one of the garrisoned towns was nearest, and we
were informed that two hours of fast walking would bring
one to Bongabong. Accordingly, guided by this man, a few
of the Scouts were sent there with a note to the command
ing officer directing him to send to us any pack-animals

346 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
that he might have. As luck would have it, a train of
twenty-six mules was in the post, having just returned
from carrying supplies to Pantabangan, and they reached
us about noon. Mules are not very good at climbing rat
tan ladders, at least not unless they have been especially
trained for that work, but we found that an approach
could be made from the rear along the summit of the
ridge, one end of which was the cliff that we had scaled.
The guide had not brought us in that way for the reason
that an outpost that we would be bound to encounter was
maintained some distance out in that direction, and if
shots had been exchanged with it the sentry at the sheds
in all probability would have set fire to everything. The
Ilocano informed us that the stuff had been here nearly a
year, and it is my opinion that it was sent to this place
when Aguinaldo left Cabanatuan for Tarlac, San Isidro
and Cabanatuan in succession having been his capital
after the fall of Malolos. It might be said here that it
was at Cabanatuan that Antonio Luna, far the ablest of
the insurgent generals, was killed by members of Agui
naldo's guard.
But to get back to our find. The records were con
sidered the most important, and were loaded first, being
followed by other things in the order of their value, as we
could scarcely estimate how much the pack-train could
carry. The barrels of powder, ammunition for the Hotch
kiss and for small-arms, dynamite bombs, stationery,
and a lot of miscellaneous stuff were piled in one of
the sheds, and we moved several hundred yards away,
leaving a soldier to start the fire. This man touched a

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 347
match to the grass roof and then lit out to join us. I had
never before realized how fast a man can run if the in
ducement is sufficient, as this gallant warrior scarcely
seemed to touch the ground as he increased the distance
between the blazing shed and himself. When the thing
got to going it sounded like a young battle, and the explo
sions lasted for half an hour. As the various sheds caught
fire a column of smoke rolled hundreds of feet into the air.
Even after we had started on our march we could hear the
explosion of an occasional shell.
We struck south, just at dark forded the Rio Grande,
and shortly afterward reached the small village of Cabu,
where we camped for the night. The next day brought
us to Cabanatuan, and the next to San Isidro, our prog
ress having been much delayed by the heavily laden pack-
train. We had been out six days, and had marched about
one hundred and thirty miles, and came in with men and
horses dead tired, but so far as we were concerned we were
quite happy, and if the horses felt badly about it they kept
their views to themselves.
During the next three weeks I went out on several
more expeditions, sometimes using the Scouts alone, and
at others having Troop G of the Fourth in addition, but
had rather poor luck. On one occasion we "jumped" a
small band in the flat country south of Gapan, and had a
little fight in which we killed one man and captured fifteen
rifles and seven hundred rounds of ammunition. This
force was in camp at the time, most of the men having
laid aside their weapons, which they abandoned as they
ran for the brush when we attacked. On May 6, while

348 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
I was absent on one of these expeditions, Captain Smith,
adjutant-general of the district, learned through spies of
the presence of Panteleon Garcia, commander-in-chief of
all the insurgent bands in the central provinces of Luzon,
in the near-by town of Jaen. With a detachment of cav
alry, Captain Smith crossed the Rio Grande after dark,
surrounded the house, and not only captured Garcia, but
his adjutant, Hilario Tal Placido, who was afterward to
accompany me on the expedition which resulted in the
capture of Aguinaldo. Garcia was succeeded in com
mand by Jose Alejandrino, who made his head-quarters
on the densely wooded slopes of Mount Arayat, in Pam-
panga province. Ten days later, Lieutenant Jernigan,
Thirty-fourth Infantry, with a small detachment oper
ating from Aliaga, captured Colonels Pablo Padilla and
Casimerio Tinio, the former the commander in the prov
ince of Nueva Ecija. Padilla was succeeded by Lacuna,
who had heretofore been one of his subordinates.
On May 29 Captain C. D. Roberts, Thirty-fifth In
fantry, whose station was San Miguel, in the Fifth Dis
trict, while scouting some miles north-east of there with
six enlisted men, was overwhelmed by a greatly superior
force of insurgents under Tecson, three of his men being
killed and one wounded, while Captain Roberts and two
soldiers were captured. The prisoners were taken to the
mountains, and as they were as liable to be in the Fourth
District as in the Fifth, the fight having taken place about
on the boundary between the two, I was directed by tele
graph to hasten to that region and attempt to rescue them
— quite a hopeless task, as the insurgents would naturally

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 349
take every precaution to hide their prisoners far back in
the mountains, and would keep going with them if pur
sued. I got away on the evening of the 30th with the
Scouts, Troop G, and a mounted detachment of the
Twenty-second Infantry. Captain Koehler was tempo
rarily absent in Manila, and on this occasion his troop
was commanded by Lieutenant Samuel A. Purviance,
who had been on duty with it on many of our previous
expeditions. We hurried across the country, and just after day
light drew near to a place that we had often used on these
expeditions as a rendezvous and camp-ground, which we
called Stony Point. As we came in sight of this place we
discovered, to our surprise, that it was occupied by an out
post of the enemy, a sentry being in plain view, standing
near a big rock. In the meantime, Purviance, having been
informed of the presence of the enemy, was dismounting
his men, the country being too rough for a mounted charge,
and soon had them deployed. A red-hot little fight fol
lowed, and lasted about five minutes. The enemy was
so thoroughly screened by the bowlders that had given the
place its name that there was nothing but the flashes and
puffs of smoke for us to shoot at. We soon rushed the
little hill and the enemy retired precipitately down its
other side. When we reached the point where they had
been there was not a dead or wounded man to be found,
and no blood was to be seen on the grass, but we capt
ured four ponies, with their saddles and bridles, and
five hundred Remington cartridges in a sack. None of
our men had been hit, but we had two horses killed.

350 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
We got several glimpses of the enemy as they crossed
open places in their retreat, and fired a few volleys at
them. Orders were at once given to take up the pursuit.
We had with us a few pack-mules, and not wishing to be
hampered with them, they were left at Stony Point with
a small guard, while the main body of us mounted and
lit out at a fast trot along the trail taken by the enemy.
The Scouts were in the lead, with a couple of men out as
point. As we came out of a strip of woods we saw that
the enemy, now increased to about fifty men, was making
a stand on the summit of a steep, grass-covered ridge. We
again dismounted and deployed, and after a fight in which
we suffered no loss, drove them off. While firing we had
hugged the ground pretty closely, only rising to our feet
to rush forward a few rods at a time. I had the interest
ing experience of having a bullet hit the ground directly
under my face and so fill my eyes with earth that for a few
seconds I was blinded. When we gained the summit of
the ridge we saw a force of nearly a hundred men a mile
on our front, marching rapidly in the direction of Stony
Point, where we had left the pack-train with its small
guard. They were already nearer to it than we were, and
we had to make a run for our horses and mount in haste
in order to beat them to it. They saw us as we climbed
the ridge up to the point, and did not attack.
We were now very short of ammunition, having no
reserve on the small pack-train, which was laden with
grain and rations, and besides I wanted some more troops,
as the hunting seemed particularly good. So the Scouts

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 351
were sent in to San Isidro with orders for a company of
the Twenty-second and the remainder of the pack-train,
laden with rations and ammunition, to join us. They
arrived late on June 2, the company of the Twenty-second
sent out being commanded by Captain George J. God
frey. Lieutenant Admire, being required for duty with
his company, had been relieved temporarily from the
command of the Scouts by Lieutenant Hanson E. Ely,
of the same regiment, who now came out from San Isidro
with them.
On the morning of the 3d we were ready, and again
left Stony Point for the grassy ridge that had been the
scene of the second fight three days before. I had sent
the cavalry off in another direction, and so had only the
Scouts and infantry and a part of the pack-train. The
ridge was again found occupied by the enemy, but in a
sharp little action of five minutes Captain Godfrey cleared
it, his company being assisted by the Scouts, and its recent
occupants could be seen retreating rather deliberately in
single file along a well-beaten trail leading into the higher
mountains to the eastward. After a delay to allow the
men to get their breath and refill their cartridge belts,
we took up the pursuit, the Scouts under Ely being ahead,
then Mitchell and myself, followed by Captain Godfrey
and his company at a distance of seventy-five yards. I
had directed Lieutenant Ely to push ahead and make
no attempt to scout the country on our flanks, merely being
careful not to march too fast for the infantry. As was
inevitable in this war of small detachments operating in
a country of forests, jungle, and high grass, we were tak-

352 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
ing the risk of falling into an ambuscade. If we were
not willing to do this we might as well be in Manila.
The fire discipline of the Filipinos was usually so
poor that they almost invariably let fly as soon as our
point came in sight, not waiting for the main body, which,
being thus warned, had time to deploy. But this outfit
was better handled. We had just emerged from some
dense woods, and were crossing a glade of about two
acres, the Scouts being nearly across and the rest of us
in the open, when from the margin of the woods, seventy
yards to our left front, crashed out a volley from about
fifty rifles, the bullets whistling all about us, but, strange
to say, not hitting a man. We instinctively threw our
selves off our horses, and the infantry company very
naturally went to the earth, but at the command of their
captain rose to their feet, advanced their left sufficiently
to face the enemy, and then at the order lay down and
commenced firing. As we later discovered, the enemy
was in a splendid deep trench that he had prepared
months before, and he now maintained on us a very
persistent fire. One of the first things noticed was that
between them and ourselves was a very deep ravine
which it would be impossible for us to rush across.
The combat was severe, and lasted about four minutes.
All the enlisted men were lying down and fighting hard,
with the exception of one who stood up among some of
the officers. This was a member of the Scouts, a half-
breed Pawnee Indian by the name of Bates. He was a
few feet to my right, and I was perfectly fascinated by the
man's coolness and the care with which he aimed every

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 353
shot. He could not have been calmer if he had been
shooting at a mark. Those of the Scouts in the rear of
that detachment had fallen back to fight alongside the
infantry, while the balance under Ely were pushing up
the trail in an attempt to get onto the flank of the trench.
I happened to glance along the company of prostrate
infantrymen, fighting hard and silently, when I saw poor
Godfrey sink to the ground, dead. How we cursed that
ravine that had kept us from ending the thing as soon as
it started ! But now Ely had got on to the enemy's flank,
and they broke back into the woods. In addition to Cap
tain Godfrey, one man of the company, Private Ethridge,
was killed. If the enemy had any loss they managed to
carry their killed and wounded away, but it is my opinion
that they suffered but little, if any, as they were fighting in
a deep trench, and had the further advantage of being
somewhat above us. For a time some of us pursued the
fleeing men, but there was no hope of coming up with
them, as they vanished into the depths of the forest.
It was a sad procession that made its way back to
Stony Point. All who knew Captain Godfrey bitterly re
gretted his death, he being one of those jovial, kind-hearted
men without an enemy in the world. He was a great
favorite with the Filipinos in San Isidro, especially among
the children, and after our return to that town I heard
among its inhabitants many expressions of what I believe
to have been genuine regret. It seemed the very irony of
fate that one so liked by the natives should have died at
the hands of their countrymen. After reaching Stony
Point the infantry company marched for San Isidro with

354 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
its dead, the pack-train accompanying it. I remained out
a couple of days more with the mounted men, but the in
surgents seemed to have vanished from the earth, except
as regards one small band with which we had a futile long-
range skirmish.
Heretofore our campaigning had been under the most
favorable conditions as to weather, except that it had
usually been very hot during the greater part of each day,
but now the rains had begun and would last for six months,
so that from this time on these expeditions were filled with
discomfort. Not even shelter-halves, popularly known as
"dog tents," were carried, and many and many a night
we stretched out in the rain to get what rest we could.
Saddles were used as pillows, while each one had a saddle-
blanket between him and the ground, and a rubber blanket
as the only protection from the weather. And how it did
rain! Often for days at a time we were drenched to the
skin. Officers, of whatever rank, dressed, marched, and
camped the same as private soldiers, ate the same food,
bacon and hardtack, and drank the same strong coffee.
It was a rough life, but we were healthy, and as hard as
nails, and the experience was in many ways enjoyable.
When one who took an active part in this phase of the
Philippine insurrection reads of the thousands of men
who were enrolled for service in the Spanish War, but
who never saw the outside of the continental limits of the
United States, and who are now drawing pensions because
of the alleged privations and hardships of the concentra
tion camps, he cannot help thinking that there are in this
world some things that are pretty hard to understand.

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 355
From the stand-point of excitement and adventure the life
that we were now leading was in the same class with tiger-
shooting, as it required initiative and acting quickly when
the occasion arose, and was by no means devoid of the
element of personal danger.
One of the unique features of this period of the war,
at least so far as the Fourth District was concerned, was
the pleasant social relations between the officers of the
American garrisons and the better class of the people in
the towns. Often we would come back to San Isidro from
a raid into the bosque, and that same evening attend a
baile or other social function given at the home of some
prominent resident. While we never had any fear that
our host, whoever he might be, would be so treacherous
as to take advantage of us on such an occasion, we real
ized that it was not impossible that some over-zealous
leader might seize the opportunity to make a "ten strike"
by swooping down on the town, surrounding the house that
we were in, and carting all of us that he had not killed
out to the mountains and giving us an opportunity to ad
mire the scenery for a few months. So we habitually came
to these affairs with our revolvers and an ample supply of
cartridges. Of course, it would be bad form to appear
armed in the parlor or ballroom, so that we always fes
tooned the hat-rack with a collection of belts and holsters,
each one weighted down by a big weapon. On a certain
occasion at the home of Senor Sideco, who lived only a
block from the building used as district head-quarters, I
was late in arriving, and as I hung my contribution on
the hat-rack took the trouble to count those already there,

356 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
and found that mine was number seventeen, which was
the exact number of officers present.
As hosts, the more cultured among the Filipinos are
most agreeable. The Malay (and all pure-blood Filipi
nos are Malays) is a rather reserved but courteous and
hospitable man, having little sense of humor, and being
much averse to anything in the way of "horse-play."
Our sometimes rough but good-natured and really kind-
hearted soldiers did not much appeal to them, but the
relations between them and the officers of the garrisons
were often quite cordial.
In the Fourth District we were quite fortunate in the
way the war was carried on. This was not due to any
particular merit on my part, being largely because of the
policy pursued by the most prominent among the insur
gent leaders who did me the honor to keep things stirred
up in my own particular parish. It was well known to
all of us that Aguinaldo was a man of humane instincts;
but he was not always fortunate in the selection of his
subordinates. It is a fact beyond dispute that Alejan"
drino, who succeeded Garcia in command of the "Centre
of Luzon," carried out a most relentless policy in his treat
ment of those of his unfortunate countrymen who were
so unlucky as to incur his displeasure, and the scores of
executions by our own military authorities of men who
had carried out his orders are matters of record, the in
stigator of these hideous crimes saving his own skin by
avoiding capture, and finally surrendering after the govern
ment had all but stayed its hand. But while Alejandrino
had in many of the provinces subordinates who thought

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 357
as little of burying a man alive as of killing a chicken, La
cuna and Pablo Tecson (for there were three of the Tec-
sons) were of a different stamp, and though they did not
hesitate to destroy property, were chary when it came to
taking life unnecessarily, both of them being in addition
quite humane in their treatment of such Americans as
fell into their hands. Teodoro Sandico, who carried on
some perfunctory operations on the northern part of
Neuva Ecija, while a nonentity as a military leader, was
not a bad sort of fellow personally, and treated well the
few prisoners of war in his power. Tagunton, one of
Lacuna's subordinates, was, however, a monster of cru
elty, and we shall see how, in the course of time, he "got
his." On June 5 a detachment of the Thirty-fifth Infantry,
operating from San Miguel de Mayumo, in the Fifth Dis
trict, had struck in the mountains east of that place a
force of some four hundred men under Pablo Tecson,
and had been pretty roughly handled, leaving one of its
wounded in the hands of the enemy. Upon hearing of
this reverse the department commander ordered General
Grant, commanding the district named, to take steps to
drive the enemy from his position, and I was directed to
gather up from my own command as many men as I could
without losing too much time, and report with them to
General Grant at San Miguel. By drawing on San Isidro
and several of the near-by garrisons, I got together eight
hundred, and with these and our pack-train reached the
rendezvous thirty-six hours after receiving the telegraphic
order, but it required some quick work and a strenuous

358 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
night march. With the troops that General Grant had
with him we now reached the quite respectable total of
thirteen hundred men, infantry, cavalry, and artillery,
and proceeded with them toward the mountains.
On the second day after leaving San Miguel we reached
the scene of the reverse to the detachment of the Thirty-
fifth. But Tecson was too shrewd to fight a force of
such size, and, as he afterward told me, was so far away
with his main body that he could barely hear the reports
of our mountain guns in the affair that followed. He had
left behind a delaying force of forty men under Captain
Claro, and this plucky fellow held on for quite a time,
having his men distributed along the summit of a steep
ridge in deep rifle-pits, the only ones I ever saw in the
Philippines. If he had bunched his men up in a short
trench he undoubtedly would have suffered loss, though
most of the firing was at twelve hundred yards range; but
these excellent pits, so far apart that they made most un
satisfactory targets, so protected his men that he came off
unscathed, as he and Tecson both personally assured me
a year later, when, all the insurgents in the region hav
ing surrendered, we were fighting the battles over again.
Besides, immediately after Claro vacated the ridge I per
sonally examined the position, and could not find a drop
of blood. When Claro fell back he burned the large num
ber of sheds that had been the barracks of Tecson's force,
sparing the one in which was lying the wounded prisoner
taken in the fight of the 5th. During the most of the
time that we were out on this expedition the weather was
atrocious, and on the night following the fight we slept

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 359
out in one of the worst rain-storms I ever saw any
where. We had been back in San Isidro only a day or two, and
men and horses had not yet had time to rest, when about
noon of the 14th a telegram was received from Major
Wheeler, of the Thirty-fourth, commanding the garrison
of Peiiaranda, stating that he had been informed by one
of his spies that Lacuna with four hundred men was in the
barrio of Papaya, about two miles from Peiiaranda, and
that he intended to burn the latter town that night. Major
Wheeler was going after him immediately with the force
at his disposal, but feeling that some mounted troops
would be necessary in order to make a successful pursuit
after the expected fight, I directed him to await my arrival.
Troop G and the Scouts, the latter again under the com
mand of Admire, were ordered to saddle immediately, and
we took up a keen trot for Peiiaranda.
Besides the officers on duty with the organizations
named, I was accompanied by Major H. S. T. Harris,
chief surgeon of the district, Captain Smith, my aide
Mitchell, and Lieutenant D. C. Lyles, Thirty-fourth In
fantry, all of whom had at one time or another participated
in a good many expeditions. Reaching Peiiaranda, we
found that Major Wheeler was ready to march out with
one company of his command under Lieutenant L. L.
Dietrick, an officer who had already quite distinguished
himself in the work of hunting down guerilla bands.
There was also a detachment of eighteen mounted infantry,
who were directed to report to Admire, who was then or
dered to follow the south bank of the stream known as the

360 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
Rio Peiiaranda until he reached the small barrio of Callios,
across the stream from Papaya, where he was to await
developments. The remainder of us crossed the river
and pushed rapidly forward to Papaya, and were informed
that Lacuna had gone toward Callios. For a time I feared
that Admire and his small force might suddenly run into
Lacuna and have a hard time of it before we could reach
him, but shortly one of the Scouts came up with a mes
sage from that officer to the effect that he had located the
enemy and was keeping him under observation.
Lacuna, thinking that he had only Admire's few men
to deal with, had formed line of battle in partially open
country, and was awaiting an attack. I detached Lieu
tenant Purviance with twenty men of the cavalry to watch
a certain ford, and the remainder of us hurried south
ward. In less than an hour we had joined Admire, and
the situation was explained to us. The march was con
tinued along a road well screened by trees, so that our
approach was not observed. Major Wheeler had charge
of the advance, having the company under Dietrick, the
cavalry being held in rear in order that it would be at
hand to charge when needed. The infantry, joined by
Admire's men, who had dismounted, was deployed, and
broke into the open, being greeted by a fierce rifle fire
from the grass on its front and left front. The men were
ordered to lie down, and at a distance of three hundred
yards a savage little fire fight took place, and lasted a few
moments. Some of the enemy, however, taking advan
tage of inequalities of the ground, were quite close in on
our left. I had dismounted and tied my horse to a tree,

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 361
when I noticed a puff of smoke from the grass under a
bush not seventy yards from the left front of the prostrate
company. It would take too long to get a soldier to
attend to the matter, so I stepped over to my horse, drew
my carbine from its boot, and fired three of the shots in
the magazine at the base of the bush, aiming each one
very carefully. After the fight was over I went to the
spot, and found a dead Filipino, with his Remington
still in his hands. He had been hit in the head and in
the shoulder.
Major Wheeler was ordered to close with the enemy
and did so with great vigor, his men firing as they ad
vanced, and at the same time Koehler, having formed
line behind a narrow screen of trees, broke into the open
in a mounted charge against the enemy's left. As the
infantry company advanced it was hotly fired into from
the left by a group of insurgents, who were attended to
by Captain Smith, who took a few men and drove them
out of a shallow, brush-filled ravine. The Filipinos stood
their ground well, and fought hard though ineffectively,
and the dismounted men were almost among them before
that portion of the line struck by them gave way, the most
of them, including the majority of their wounded, reach
ing the brush and escaping. A considerable number,
however, were driven into the open by the charge of the
cavalry, which then kept up the pursuit as long as there
were any to be found. My big black horse had been
making such frantic efforts to pull up by the roots the
tree that he was tied to, that I began to fear he might suc
ceed, and being a warm advocate of forest conservation,

362 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
I mounted just as the advance started, and thereafter the
most of my efforts consisted in trying to keep the brute
from jumping clear off the island of Luzon. Major
Harris's horse also bolted with its rider just at the begin
ning of the fight, and had the bad taste to run under a
tree' with our energetic medico. Major Wheeler's horse
was killed, while those of Admire, Mitchell, and Lyles
broke loose and escaped into the woods, being eventu
ally picked up by the enemy. Some months previously
Mitchell had ordered from the States a fine rain-coat, and
this was the first time he had taken it out, it being tied on
behind his saddle. For the next year this coat served to
protect Lacuna from the rigors of the climate of his native
country, and when he finally surrendered he brought it in
with him. For some time the subject of rain-coats was
tabooed in Mitchell's presence.
The fight that had just ended was from our stand
point about the most successful that we had in the Fourth
District. Not including those who were run down by
the cavalry in the pursuit, and whom there was no oppor
tunity to count, we found twenty-two dead, and took six
teen prisoners, all of them wounded, besides capturing a
considerable number of rifles. After his surrender La
cuna told me that he had had four hundred men in the
fight, and that of these forty-four were killed or died of
their wounds. First Sergeant O'Brien, of Troop G, a
fine old soldier of many years' service, was killed in the
mounted charge, and a man in the infantry was wounded.
O'Brien was hit first through the arm, and called out to
Captain Koehler, "Captain, I'm shot," the reply being,

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 363
"Don't fall; stick to your horse," but an instant later he
was shot through the heart, and pitched to the ground,
dead. Our loss had been small in numbers compared with
the punishment inflicted on the enemy, though I would
rather have foregone it all than pay for our success in the
death of such a man as Sergeant O'Brien.
Some years previously there had arrived at an infantry
post in the States a young recruit by the name of Paul
Draper, he having enlisted in order to win a commission
from the ranks. For a time there was a tendency on the
part of some of the rougher men of the company to which
he belonged to make life a burden for Draper and to
impose on him generally, but he found a friend and pro
tector in one of the non-commissioned officers of the
company, the same O'Brien who on this day died in the
fight at Callios. In time Draper became an officer, and
O'Brien, his term of service having expired, re-enlisted,
this time in the cavalry, and became a first sergeant.
Since then their paths had not crossed until Draper, as an
officer of the Twenty-second Infantry, was on duty with
the company garrisoning the town of San Antonio, and
O'Brien was stationed at San Isidro, only three or four
miles distant. Whenever Draper came over to San Isidro
he hunted up the old friend of his "rookie" days and
had a chat with him. One day Draper, while superin
tending the construction of a raft ferry on the Rio Grande,
fell into the river and was drowned, his body being re
covered and interred in the cemetery at San Isidro. The
day after the fight at Callios all of us officers from dis
trict head-quarters, Troop G, and many officers and men

364 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
from various organizations stood bareheaded in a howling
storm of wind and rain while Lieutenant Purviance read
the burial service and the body of Sergeant O'Brien was
lowered into the grave next to that of the officer that he
had befriended and protected in a quiet garrison on the
other side of the world. Certainly, all the romance is not
contained in the pages of novels.
At this season rain-storm followed rain-storm in such
quick succession that the streams were so swollen as to be
unfordable except at a few places, the mountain trails
became quagmires, and all the elements seemed to con
spire to make it impossible for us to continue the active
campaign that so far had been waged unless we were will
ing to break down every man and horse in the command,
and be satisfied with meagre results, as the Filipino is at
home in mud and water, and in this aquatic game had
every advantage over our soldiers. The plucky little
Macabebes under Major Batson and such able subordi
nates as Captains J. N. Munro, F. H. Cameron, and oth
ers, and our Ilocano allies in the north part of the prov
ince, were about the only ones of our troops who could
keep in the field to advantage. The not unnatural result
was that the insurgent leaders began to think that we
could not follow them into the mountains, and so became
more aggressive. Lacuna, by great effort, and by obtain
ing help from Pablo Tecson, concentrated more than
seven hundred well-armed men, made the foolish mis
take of dividing them into three detachments, and on
the night of the Fourth of July savagely attacked the
garrisons of Pefiaranda, Gapan, and Manicling, all east

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 365
of San Isidro at distances varying from three to eight
miles. We at San Isidro, hearing the heavy and continuous
firing, could not spare troops to help out the other towns,
as it was thought that our turn would come next; but I
felt no uneasiness as to the result of these attacks, hav
ing confidence in our now veteran troops and their com
manders. Peiiaranda and Gapan came out all right after
sharp fighting, but suffered some loss, while the struggle
at Manicling was a hard one. This small town had not
heretofore been garrisoned, having, in consequence, be
come a rendezvous for insurgents; but on this very day
there had arrived a detachment of forty men of the
Twenty-fourth Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant E. B.
Mitchell. The new garrison had not as yet had time to
construct anything in the way of adequate protection, when
a force outnumbering them eight to one, commanded by
Lacuna in person, made a determined effort to get them.
Lying close to the ground behind some improvised shelter,
the negroes fought long and hard. Lieutenant Mitchell
was badly wounded early in the fight, but continued to
exercise general control, being ably seconded by First
Sergeant Washington, a fine-looking old soldier, who was
killed in an engagement a few weeks later. Unable to
make any impression, Lacuna finally gave it up, having
inflicted on the garrison a loss of one enlisted man killed
and one officer and one enlisted man wounded.
The incidents of this night settled it with us; and,
mud and quagmires notwithstanding, we again had to take
the field. A few scouting expeditions, made under the

366 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
most trying conditions, and the work of Major Wheeler's
spies informed us that Lacuna had established himself in
a rainy-season camp far back in the mountains, and, now
that he thought we could not go after him, contemplated
a series of raids into the lowlands. Accordingly, there
was organized a column consisting of the Scouts, now
under Lieutenant Richard C. Day, Thirty-fourth Infan
try, whom I had taken on as the second aide to which I
was entitled, Troop G of the Fourth Cavalry under Koeh
ler, a battalion of the Twenty-second Infantry under Cap
tain J. F. Kreps, two companies of the Thirty-fourth under
Major Wheeler, and the so-called squadron, really battal
ion, of Macabebes under Major Batson, in all about eight
hundred men. I was accompanied by nearly all of the
district staff, and we had the complete pack-train laden
with rations and ammunition. A short time previously I
had applied for and received a Vickers-Maxim mountain
gun, throwing a twelve-and-a-half-pound shell, and this
weapon was now taken out for the first time. There was
no artillery organization in the command, but several of
the Scouts were given instruction in caring for and hand
ling the gun. The concentration of the various elements
going to make up this mixed force was made at Peiia
randa, and before dawn of July 16 we marched from there
toward the mountains again to try conclusions with the
redoubtable Lacuna.
Before long Major Batson with three-quarters of his
command and Captain Koehler with his troop were de
tached and ordered to the southward, the former to bar
Lacuna on the only trail to the south, while with the

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 367
main body I marched straight into the mountains toward
the insurgent camp. A little before noon the advance-
guard came under a long-range fire, and we began de
ploying for action, Captain Cameron, commanding the
only company of Macabebes left with the main body, being
sent forward to develop the enemy's position and strength.
Lacuna retired from his camp, and on the summit of a
steep, grassy ridge immediately behind it formed a line of
about four hundred men. The temptation to try out our
new gun was too strong, and the Vickers-Maxim was taken
from the backs of the mules carrying its various parts,
set up, and loaded. I had a vague recollection of having
once been an amateur artilleryman, and so did the aiming.
The first shrapnel exploded a short distance in front of
the line, being followed by two more. But the insur
gents would not stand for the shells, and the line began to
retreat. In the meantime the several organizations were
getting into position and opening fire, and everything was
coming our way, when an officer who throughout almost
the whole war had rendered gallant and efficient service,
made a grievous error of judgment, and, overcome by a
desire to get into the fight immediately, ruined everything.
Lacuna escaped after having suffered trifling loss. The
officer who blundered had done so well heretofore that I
could not bring myself to take the action usual under such
circumstances. So we contented ourselves with the doubtful
pleasure of burning twenty-six grass-roofed buildings used
as barracks, and destroying some supplies, and then camped
near the ridge where Lacuna had made his brief stand.
Our only loss during the day was two Macabebes wounded.

368 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
The next morning the force was split up and sent in
various directions to clear out the whole mountain coun
try. I went with Koehler and his troop, and we struck
Lacuna's trail and hung to it, up hill and down, across
raging streams and through dense tropical forests until we
were in the country of the Ilongotes and Negritos, doubt
less where no white man had ever been, coming very close
to the divide that separates the drainage of the Rio Grande
de la Pampanga from that of the Pacific slope of the island.
But we had to give it up, as we were practically out of
rations, and there was no grass for the horses.
On this trip we came across the first real human habi
tation that we had ever seen in the mountains of this re
gion, passing a small house surrounded by an acre or so
of cultivated ground, while a few chickens and pigs were
running about. The owner of this place was without
doubt one of the class of people known in the Philippines
as remontados, men who for one reason or another have
fled from civilization, and with their families begun life
anew in regions where the hand of the law is not apt to
reach them. If there was any one thing understood by
our soldiers during this period of the war, it was that they
were not allowed to take anything from the inhabitants
without payment, and as the proprietor of this establish
ment had not tarried after he saw us coming, commercial
transactions even to the extent of buying a few chickens
or some green corn were quite out of the question.
A couple of hours after passing through this place we
had gone into noon camp, and Koehler and I were sitting
on the ground waiting for our bacon, hardtack, and coffee

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 369
to be brought to us, when the former sniffed the air, and
said: "I smell chicken cooking. I'll bet it's that little
cuss Albright." The unfortunate Albright was sent for,
and approached looking exactly like a boy who has been
caught with an arm up to the elbow in one of his mother's
jars of peach preserves. "Albright, have you been steal
ing chickens again ? " "Yes, captain." Then a long and
judicial silence, ending in an order for the recently de
ceased bird to be brought up for inspection, in order, I
suppose, to establish a corpus delicti, as the lawyers would
say. The sizzling fowl was placed on the ground before
us, then another judicial silence, followed by the dictum:
"You know the orders about looting. You are fined one
broiled chicken." The enterprising soldier walked away,
glad to have got off so easily, but in the meantime the fra
grance had smitten our nostrils and we could feel our rec
titude fairly oozing out of us. Koehler broke the painful
silence by saying, " It would be a positive sin to leave that
for the ants to eat, and it won't do to let the man who stole
it have it. We must do our duty" — and we did, but I
could not help feeling a bit sneaking as I got away with
my part. Seven years later I was the guest of Major H.
C. Benson, Fourteenth Cavalry, then superintendent of the
Yosemite National Park, on a fishing trip, and recognized
among the soldiers on duty with the small pack-train we
had with us the same man who on the occasion described
had so inadvertently contributed to my lunch. I said:
"Hello, Albright, is there anything doing here in the
ckicken line ? " He grinned sheepishly, and said it was a
poor country for chickens. A peculiar coincidence was

370 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
the fact that the man in charge of the pack-mules on this
fishing trip was the same old chief-packer Gayler, who
had hustled along the mules on this very expedition in the
Philippines. This brings us logically to a few words about. the men
who handled the pack-mules that accompanied us on
nearly all of the more extended of these "hikes." They
were Americans of the type so familiar to those of us who
have lived or travelled in the more isolated portions of our
own West. They were civilian employees of the Quarter
master's Department, and had been obtained in those
States and Territories where the pack-mule is still in
vogue. They were not pretty, as a rule drank whenever
they could find anything potable, swore large, round oaths,
and ate with their knives; but if it should ever fall to me
to pick out a lot of men who would stand by until the
finish, I would not ask for better. Mr. Gayler, who had
charge of them, was quite an elderly man, but vigorous
and full of life. He was a mild-mannered person, never
swore, and would only take a drink when he considered it
necessary to do so in order to keep going. At first these
packers were armed only with revolvers, but finally car
bines were obtained for them, whereat they were greatly
pleased. They had been much disappointed because of
the fact that they had always been taking care of the pack-
train while the soldiers did the fighting, but at least once
they got their chance. On one of our expeditions to the
mountains, which one I am not absolutely sure, Sergeant
Frank White, of Troop G, had been ordered to go into San
Isidro with a detachment of twelve men, and escort out to

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 371
Stony Point the pack-train with a lot of rations and am
munition. He was half-way back with his convoy, the
whole train of fifty-six mules and the necessary number
of packers, when he was attacked by a very considerable
number of the enemy. The affair soon became a running
fight across a rolling prairie country with a little scattered
tree growth here and there. Sergeant White handled his
small detachment very well, acting as a rear-guard for the
pack-train being hurried toward its destination; but the
attack was pushed so vigorously that it soon came to a
"show down," and the soldiers had to have help. This
was the chance of the packers, and leaving the train in
charge of a couple of unwilling men, they dismounted,
for the man who could fight on a mule has yet to be
born, and, carbine in hand, got into the fray. Acting in
conjunction with the soldiers, they literally chased those
Filipinos off the earth, and that night, having reached
Stony Point, kept the most of us peaceful and unwarlike
old gentlemen awake by violent arguments as to which
one had done the most killing. Their only loss was one
of the mules killed, but they saved his saddle and cargo.
But to get back to the other detachments that after
the recent fight had been sent in various directions. I
had directed Major Wheeler to go straight south through
the mountains, in the hope that he might get onto the
trail of those of Tecson's men who had assisted Lacuna in
the late operations. Wheeler was joined by Major Bat
son with Munro's company of Macabebes, and after a
brisk fight, in which he had one man wounded, pushed
still farther to the south, having with him now only two

372 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
short companies, C of the Thirty-fourth and F of the
Twenty-second, the former under Captain George E.
Gibson and the latter under Lieutenant David L. Stone,
the Macabebes having separated from him and gone in
another direction. On July 22, six days after our all but
fruitless fight on the headwaters of the Peiiaranda, he
struck Tecson, who was awaiting him in a carefully
prepared position. The combat that ensued was the
most severe that occurred in the Fourth District, and was
ended by an assault on a steep, grassy ridge, led by Major
Wheeler in person. The fight was a desperate one, our
men being greatly outnumbered, but the summit was
reached and the enemy driven from it in disorder. Our
troops suffered a loss of two enlisted men killed and Cap
tain Gibson and five enlisted men wounded. Nearly two
days and nights of the most gruelling work were required
to get the wounded in to San Isidro. Captain Gibson
was a Scotch Highlander, with a "burr" to his accent
that was the delight of all of us who had ever listened to
him. Although he finally recovered, his wound was of
the most terrible nature, a Remington bullet having struck
him under one eye and ploughed its way through his face
and one shoulder, coming out in the small of his back.
He had been one of our most capable officers, and his loss
was keenly felt by all of us. The Filipinos, however, re
strained any emotions they may have experienced, as
Gibson had served long as provost judge of the district,
and had given malefactors something of a taste of what
military law means.
Our long-drawn-out raid into the mountains had the

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 373
effect, for the time, of relieving the garrisoned towns from
the affairs which we usually referred to as attacks, these
incidents usually consisting in a force of Filipinos taking
shelter behind natural cover at night and indiscrimi
nately shooting into a town until the local garrison could
get under arms and chase them off. It is a fair guess to
say that for every one of our own men hit in these per
formances half a dozen Filipinos — men, women, and chil
dren — suffered death or injury. The fragile houses in
which most of the inhabitants lived offered less resist
ance to a bullet than would a board fence. The situation
of the people who had taken refuge in the garrisoned
towns was in many ways pitiable. We knew that every
one of them who was even suspected of having money
was contributing to the insurgent cause, we having a secret
service that it would be hard to beat under the circum
stances, and more than once some prominent resident was
invited to visit head-quarters, told the amount of his latest
contribution and the date thereof, and then allowed to go,
it being known that the most of the people were acting
under compulsion.
It must be remembered that the insurgent bands were
not recognized as operating under the orders of anything
in the way of a real government, and that, as they were
carrying on an irregular warfare against the only consti
tuted authority, they were in theory merely bandits, or, to
use the legal term, war rebels, and as such were not en
titled to treatment as prisoners of war. In the eyes of the
law persons contributing to the support of these bands or
giving them aid and comfort were as guilty as those who

374 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
were in the field. In actual practice our enforcement of
the drastic provisions of military law was very mild ex
cept in cases where it was proven by trial before military
commission that the accused had been guilty of murder
or other crimes of violence. In these instances the death
penalty was not infrequently imposed. The American
people in general have no conception of the horrors of that
period of the Philippine insurrection that began early in
1900, when the only thing that approached a responsible
native government had been broken up, and the power of
life and death over their unfortunate countrymen passed
into the hands of the leaders of the guerilla bands. There
can be no doubt that during the period of the war referred
to the number of persons — men, women, and children —
the most of them innocent of wrong-doing from even the
insurgent stand-point,. who were brutally and senselessly
murdered far exceeded in the aggregate the total of the
men in arms killed by our own troops during the same
time, as the figures reached into the thousands. This is
not mere personal opinion, but is a matter of common
knowledge among those who served in the Philippines in
those days. If one wants to feel the cold chills creep
over him, let him read the general orders of the Pacific Di
vision for the years 1900 and 1901, in which are reviewed
the findings and sentences of the military commissions that
tried such of the culprits as could be caught and against
whom evidence could be obtained. It is a record of mon
strous and savage cruelty, and though nearly three hun
dred men paid the penalty on the gallows, and many more
were sentenced to terms of imprisonment, only a small

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 375
proportion of the victims was avenged. Even in Nueva
Ecija, we did not entirely escape these atrocities, though,
owing to the personalities of the principal insurgent lead
ers in that province, their number was not great. A little
ten-year-old boy, son of a prominent man who had had the
temerity to show some leaning toward the Americans, was
kidnapped by Tagunton's men, and by order of that chief
flogged to death, while the wife and daughter of a member
of the municipal police of San Isidro were tied together
and thrown alive down a well, where they perished.
With us now, in spite of mud and rain, the war went
merrily on. It was a sort of process of attrition by which
we hoped in time to wear the insurgent bands down to
nothing. Our losses were not great, and every rifle capt
ured from the enemy lessened his power just so much, for
while men could be gathered up from the fields and forced
to fight, the weapons lost to us could not be replaced.
On August 1 Lieutenant F. W. Alstaetter, Corps of Engi
neers, while making an examination of the road between
San Miguel and San Isidro, was overwhelmed by Lacuna.
Alstaetter had three enlisted men of his own corps and an
escort of eleven men of the Fourth Cavalry. Outnum
bered more than twenty to one, he put up a long, hard
fight, surrendering after his last cartridge was gone, hav
ing suffered a loss of one man killed and three wounded.
Lacuna, with the humanity that usually distinguished him
in dealing with captured Americans, sent the dead man
and the three wounded into San Isidro, carrying the oth
ers as prisoners into the mountains. Within a couple
of weeks the enlisted men were released, but he still held

376 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
the officer. It was only a short time, however, until the
opportunity presented itself to bring about his release.
A concerted movement of the garrisons of half a dozen
towns was made with the object of clearing of insurgents
the flat country between the mountains and the Can-
daba swamp. The operation was greatly interfered with
by bottomless mud and swollen rivers, but some good
little fights were had, nevertheless. In one of these Lieu
tenant-colonel Manuel Ventus, one of Lacuna's subordi
nates, was wounded and captured, being placed in our
hospital for treatment. As soon as he was near recovery
I wrote Lacuna stating that while I could not arrange an
exchange of prisoners with him, I promised to release
Ventus if he would do the same with Alstaetter. A few
days later the latter was escorted to our outposts by a
couple of insurgents and Ventus was released at the same
time, but was allowed to remain in the hospital until his
recovery. For months we had known of the presence with
the insurgents of this region of an American negro named
Fagan, a deserter from the Twenty-fourth Infantry.
This wretched man was serving as an officer, and had on
two occasions written me impudent and badly spelled
letters. It was mighty well understood that if taken alive
by any of us he was to stretch a picket-rope as soon as
one could be obtained. Fagan was prominent in the fight
in which the detachment above referred to had been capt
ured, and appropriated Alstaetter's West Point class ring,
declining to give it up on the eve of the latter's release.
We shall see how in the course of time we got not only
the ring, but Fagan's head in a sugar-sack.

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 377
The horses of Troop G of the Fourth Cavalry, that had
served so long and efficiently in the Fourth District, had
become so worn out that it was necessary for that organi
zation to go to Caloocan to refit and remount, its place be
ing taken by Troop A of the same regiment, commanded
by Captain George H. Cameron, with Lieutenant C. S.
Haight second in command. Captain Cameron, however,
had to be relieved shortly, having been appointed regi
mental adjutant, and was succeeded by Lieutenant John
Morrison, Jr., a splendid officer, who within a few months
was to make the great sacrifice. In order partly to make
up for the lack of cavalry, so necessary in this sort of war,
horses had been obtained some months previously, and
at all garrisons there had been organized small detach
ments of mounted infantrymen, these proving most use
ful. That from the portion of the Twenty-second Infan
try stationed at San Isidro was commanded by Lieutenant
Raymond Sheldon, a young officer of great energy, and
rendered especially notable service. And still the hard
work went on without cessation, there being scarcely a
garrison that did not have some of its troops in the field
at all times. Many and many a swift night march was
fruitless, as was also many a well-laid plan to surprise the
enemy, but we had occasional successes.
On October 13 I went out on a short raid with the
Scouts under Day, and Troop A under Morrison, Major
W. C. Brown going along for the excitement, Mitchell be
cause he was my aide, and Dr. Pease in order to mend
our hurts. We had a brisk little fight with an equal force
of the enemy, driving them with some loss, and having

378 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
Private Robinson of the Scouts wounded. Ten days later
I started out just after dark with the same two organiza
tions. We plodded along through the sodden fields, keep
ing off all trails and roads, and just after daybreak were
about fifteen miles south-east of San Isidro, when the man
on point reported that we were approaching a small group
of houses. These little isolated hamlets were always apt
to yield something during the rainy season, when the in
surgents, like ourselves, were not averse to sleeping under
cover. We trotted quietly into this one, when Gantzhorn,
of the Scouts, who was in the lead, was fired at from the
window of a small nipa shack at a distance of not more
than six feet, but was not hit. Gantzhorn had his revolver
in hand, and returned the fire, hitting in the neck the man
who had shot at him, killing him almost instantly. In an
instant men began to run from the houses, some of them
stopping to fire, but the most of them thinking only of
gaining the brush. One man, who from his appearance
we knew to be an officer, dashed down the bank of a ravine
and through water up to his waist, while Gantzhorn and I
emptied our revolvers at him. The former then plunged
his horse over the bank of the ravine, fully fifteen feet,
but I had not the nerve to do it. The fleeing man was
none other than the long-sought Lacuna himself, and
months later he told me that it was the closest call he
ever had. Once into the jungle, he was safe, and es
caped. He had been spending the night here accom
panied by a small escort. In the house that he had fled
from we captured much of his correspondence, and, most
important of all, the stamped paper on which were after-

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 379
ward written the bogus letters over Lacuna's signature
that were to be the undoing of the famous Aguinaldo,
the king bee of them all. In this affair we suffered no
loss, but killed two men and took five prisoners, three of
them wounded, and also captured six rifles, some ammu
nition, and four ponies with their equipment.
For some time three of the officers stationed at San
Isidro and several others in various towns of the district
had had their wives with them, and I had sent for Mrs.
Funston to come out from the United States. Accom
panied by her sister, she arrived in November, I going to
Manila to meet the two and escort them to San Isidro.
The American women who lived in San Isidro in those
days had some experiences that in these times do not ordi
narily fall to those of their sex, as the town was fired into
on several occasions by bands of marauders, and one time
a portion of it was burned.
On the night of December 5 we started out on one of
our endless expeditions, I having with me the Scouts under
Day, Troop A of the Fourth under Morrison, Major H.
S. T. Harris as surgeon, and Mitchell. It was a dark and
rainy night, and we steered by compass, having informa
tion from one of our spies as to the exact location of Tagun
ton's band. We swung in a curve, first north-east, then
gradually to the south-east and south, just at daybreak
striking a tributary of the Peiiaranda near where it emerges
from the foot-hills. We crossed the stream to its south
bank, and then hurried down it, straight west in the direc
tion of San Isidro, thus having made a wide circle of the
enemy, and were coming in on his rear. Just an hour

380 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
after striking the stream we approached the unsuspecting
enemy, and dismounted for the attack, as the country was
so close that a mounted charge was impossible. We had
to dash straight across the stream under a hot fire, as they
discovered us as we were dismounting. We killed four
men and captured two wounded, besides getting five rifles
and some ammunition. In this fight I got a fairly good
look at the notorious Fagan at a distance of a hundred
yards, but unfortunately had already emptied my carbine.
First Sergeant Alexander and Sergeant Schwartz, of Troop
A, were severely wounded, the former receiving from the
War Department the Certificate of Merit for his gallantry
on that occasion. Sergeant Schwartz was within ten feet
of me when he was hit, and as I heard the bullet strike him,
I saw him throw his hands over his face, and, as the blood
gushed through his fingers, whirl clear around, and fall
face downward between two rows of growing sweet-
potatoes. Thinking his eyes had been shot out, I had
not the courage to go to him, as such spectacles are too
much for me. But it was not so bad, the bullet having,
however, gone clear through his head. In time he com
pletely recovered.
For a time now I had bad luck, and did not succeed in
getting any good fights out of the enemy, though out nearly
all the time; but various other officers in the district made
up for it, and struck the insurgents some hard blows. On
one occasion Captain J. F. Kreps, of the Twenty-second
Infantry, Mitchell, and I, with an escort of a dozen
mounted men of the Twenty-second, were nosing about
in the country south of Peiiaranda, and had a little fight

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 381
in which we killed one man and wounded several, and
had one of our own detachment wounded, though not
severely. On January 17 of the new year, 1901, we suf
fered a great loss in the death of Lieutenant Morrison,
who, operating in the country south-east of Peiiaranda,
struck a much superior body of the enemy, and was
killed in the fight that ensued. A sergeant, who succeeded
to the command, dispersed the Filipinos, and brought in
the body of the unfortunate officer.
Twelve days later we evened up some scores by kill
ing the monster Tagunton, who had shown such heart
less savagery in dealing with his own countrymen. With
Major Brown, Lieutenants Mitchell and Sheldon, and Dr.
Chamberlain, I had gone out with twenty-five mounted
men of the Twenty-second Infantry to scout the country
along the Malimba River, some miles south of San Isidro.
About two o'clock in the afternoon we were riding quietly
through some high cogon grass, following a fairly good
trail, my orderly and I being some yards ahead of the re
mainder of the detachment, when the former called at
tention to a saddled pony on the opposite side of a ravine,
some thirty feet deep and fifty wide. Brown, Mitchell,
and Sheldon joined us, and for a moment we sat on our
horses, peering through the grass to see if we could make
out anything. But we were discovered by some one on
lookout, and a rifle cracked from the opposite side of the
ravine, being followed by quite a fusillade of shots. We
instinctively drew our revolvers, and began shooting at
the several men who could now be seen. Major Brown
was armed with a Colt automatic pistol, a weapon that

382 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
had just been invented, a few having been sent out to
the Philippines for trial under service conditions, and he
and my orderly, Private Ward, gave their polite atten
tions to a bulky individual who was making frantic efforts
to mount the pony that had first attracted our attention.
The frightened animal was jumping about, and the man
was hardly in the saddle when he slipped out of it. Just
before reaching this point Mitchell had noticed a practi
cable crossing of the ravine, and now rode down there
with a few men and got onto the other side.
In the meantime a number of the detachment had dis
mounted and begun firing. It was soon over, as the only
ambition of the enemy seemed to be to get away. We had
no loss, and the enemy did not suffer much in numbers,
as besides the big officer, wearing the shoulder-straps of a
lieutenant-colonel, there was one other man dead, while
two wounded were found on the ground. From descrip
tions that we had of him, we were quite sure that the big
fellow was the noted ex-bandit who for some time had
been an insurgent officer, but the proof was not positive.
A good-natured dispute had arose as to who had killed
him, it being between Major Brown and Ward, but Dr.
Chamberlain, who was examining the body and had
noticed a lump over the left breast, settled it with his
pocket-knife, bringing to view the steel-jacketed bullet
of the automatic. It was a good shot, through the heart
at seventy-five yards, and Major Brown received many
bouquets from all of those present. The pony that the
Filipino officer had attempted to mount had escaped,
and was tearing around. All efforts to catch him being

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WAR 383
futile, he was shot, in order that we might be able to
examine the contents of the pair of saddle-bags that we
could see flapping up and down, and in them were found
dozens of letters addressed to Tagunton, and other papers
that established beyond doubt the identity of the dead
man. There was also a photograph of one of the most
prominent of our fellow-countrymen, and written under
neath it in Spanish the words, "The friend of the Fili
pinos." Of course, this picture had not been sent to
Tagunton or any one else by the smiling gentleman whose
wholesome visage was there portrayed, it having been
clipped from a newspaper, but still it gave us a good
laugh, and we needed laughs in those days, for they came
mighty seldom. Don't think I am going to say whose
photograph it was. It being now in the possession of
Major Brown, it would obviously be discourteous to him
for me to do so. He can tell if he wants to.
We were exultant over the result of this little scrimmage
of a few minutes. Had we killed either of those good
fighters and decent men, Lacuna or Pablo Tecson, it
would not have been much of a satisfaction, and the only
fly in our ointment was the fact that Tagunton had the
privilege of dying a soldier's death, instead of stretching
hemp, as he deserved. With the exception of the few
moments' fusillade at the time of the capture of Aguinaldo,
I have not heard the whistle of a hostile bullet since that
day on the Malimba River, ten and a half years ago.

VII
THE CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO
It was the 8th day of February, 1901, and in the room
that served as an office in the head-quarters building
at San Isidro, I was going over the morning's work with
the adjutant-general of the district, Captain E. V. Smith,
when there arrived a telegram that for the moment dis
turbed our equanimity — a brief message that was to have
no small part in the making of the history of the Philip
pine insurrection. It was signed by Lieutenant J. D. Tay
lor, Twenty-fourth Infantry, commanding the company of
that regiment that constituted the garrison of the town of
Pantabangan, about sixty miles to the north-east, at the
foot of the western slope of the massive mountain range
that separates the great central plain of Luzon from the
Pacific coast of the island, and was to the effect that a
small band of insurgent soldiers had voluntarily presented
themselves to him, and that the man in command had
stated that he was the bearer of despatches from Emilio
Aguinaldo to certain subordinates in central and southern
Luzon. The letters addressed to Baldomero Aguinaldo,
Alejandrino, Urbano Lacuna, Pablo Tecson, Simon Tec
son, Teodoro Sandico, and other insurgent leaders were
in cipher and so could not be read, and evidently signed
fictitiously, though in a handwriting that seemed to re
semble that of Aguinaldo. 384

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 385
For more than a year the exact whereabouts of the
elusive chieftain of the insurgent Filipinos had been a
mystery. Rumor located him in all sorts of impossible
places, but those best qualified to judge thought that he
was somewhere in the great valley of the Cagayan, in the
northern part of the island, or in one of the extensive
mountain ranges on either side of it. Probably few if any
of those in high command among the insurgent forces
knew where he was, as he was taking every precaution
against treachery, or the disclosure of his hiding-place by
the capture of correspondence, having gone so far as to
forbid that the name of his temporary capital should be
put on paper in any of the letters sent out by himself or
staff. A few trusted men saw that letters to him reached
their destination.
The period of guerilla warfare that had succeeded the
heavier fighting of the earlier days of the insurrection had
now lasted more than a year and a half, and it must be
confessed that from our stand-point the results had not
been satisfactory. Scattered all over the Philippines we
had more than seventy thousand troops, counting native
auxiliaries, and these in detachments varying in size from
a regiment to less than a company garrisoned every town
of importance and many places that were mere villages.
Through the country everywhere were the enemy's guerilla
bands, made up not only of the survivors of the forces that
had fought us earlier in the war, but of men who had been
recruited or conscripted since. We had almost worn our
selves out chasing these marauders, and it was only occa
sionally by effecting a surprise or through some streak of

386 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
good fortune that we were able to inflict any punishment
on them, and such successes were only local and had little
effect on general conditions. These guerillas persistently
violated all the rules that are supposed to govern the con
duct of civilized people engaged in war, while the fact
that they passed rapidly from the status of peaceful non-
combatants living in our garrisoned towns to that of men
in arms against us made it especially difficult for us to
deal with them. It was realized that Aguinaldo from his
hiding-place, wherever it might be, exercised through their
local chiefs a sort of general control over these guerilla
bands, and as he was insistent that the Filipinos should
not accept American rule, and as he was still recognized
as the head and front of the insurrection, many of us had
long felt that the thing could not end until he was either
out of the way or a prisoner in our hands.
Therefore it was but natural that the telegram from
Lieutenant Taylor should have created no little excite
ment, though as I now recollect the circumstances I do
not believe that it occurred to any one of us that we would
be able to do more than transmit the information for what
it might be worth to higher authority, the plan which after
ward worked so successfully being evolved later. It was
directed that the leader of the surrendered band, with the
correspondence that he had given up, be sent to San Isidro
with all possible speed. With an escort of soldiers he
arrived in less than two days, and proved to be a very in
telligent Ilocano, giving his name as Cecilio Segismundo.
After being well fed he told me the story of his recent ad
ventures. During this recital he looked me squarely in

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 387
the eyes, answered all questions frankly and apparently
without reserve, and seemed to be telling the truth and
keeping back nothing. This conversation was carried on
in Spanish, which the man spoke quite well.
According to his story he was one of the men attached
to Aguinaldo's head-quarters and had been with him many
months, his principal duty being such errands as the
one that he had now been sent out on, that is, carrying
official mail between the insurgent chief and his subordi
nates. On the 14th of January, accompanied by a de
tachment of twelve armed men of Aguinaldo's escort, he
had left with a package of letters to be delivered to Ur
bano Lacuna, the insurgent chief in Nueva Ecija province,
who was to forward to their final destinations those that
were not meant for him. After a terrible journey down
the coast and through mountains he had in the vicinity
of Baler encountered a small detachment of our troops out
on a scouting expedition and had lost two of his men.
It subsequently developed that this was a detachment of
the company of the Twenty-second Infantry garrisoning
the town of Baler, and was commanded by Lieutenant
Parker Hitt. After this encounter Segismundo and his
little band had made their way across the pass through the
mountain range to the westward, and finally, twenty-six
days after leaving Palanan, had reached the outskirts of
the town of Pantabangan. Here, foot-weary and hungry,
he communicated with the local presidente, or mayor, who
had formerly acted in the same capacity for the insurgent
government that he was now filling under American rule.
Segismundo not unnaturally thought that this man, like

388 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
practically all of the Filipinos who in those days took
office under us, was a double dealer, but this one was
true to his salt. He told Segismundo that he was in the
service of the Americans, and strongly counselled him to
present himself to the commander of the local garrison,
give up the correspondence in his charge, and in fact at
tach himself to the chariot of progress and be an Ameri-
canista. I don't suppose the loyal presidente put it just
that way, but that is what he meant. Segismundo was
loath to take so radical a step, and with his band remained
in hiding in the woods. It took much diplomacy on the
part of Lieutenant Taylor, the presidente at first acting
as go-between, to get him to surrender, but he finally did
so. Lieutenant Taylor deserved the greatest credit for
the excellent judgment he used in the whole matter. Of
course, any attempt to capture the band would have spoiled
everything, as the most of them would probably have es
caped. Segismundo then went on to tell of conditions at
Palanan. Aguinaldo, with several officers of his staff and
an escort of about fifty uniformed and well-armed men,
had been there for several months, and had been in con
stant communication with his various subordinates by
means of messengers. The residents of the town and
most of the soldiers of his escort were not aware of his
identity. He passed as "Capitan Emilio," and by those
who did not know him to be Aguinaldo was supposed to
be merely a subordinate officer of the insurrection.
So far we had no evidence beyond the word of Segis
mundo that the man who had sent him on this long jour
ney was really Aguinaldo, and it was not impossible that

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 389
the man himself might be mistaken. Our attention was
now given to the surrendered correspondence. All the
letters were addressed to the persons for whom they were
meant, but those not in cipher contained little of impor
tance. What there was, however, tended to bear out Segis-
mundo's story. All official communications were signed
by what were evidently fictitious names. A number of
personal letters from soldiers of Aguinaldo's escort to
their friends and families helped us some, as two or
three of them referred to "Capitan Emilio," and one or
two to the "Dictator," and stated that the writers were
still with him. Not one of these referred in any way to
the town of Palanan, so that we were entirely dependent
on Segismundo's word so far as that place was concerned.
The cipher letters completely balked us for many
hours. They seemed to be made up of a jumble of letters
of the alphabet, making words in no particular language.
Captain Smith, Lazaro Segovia, the versatile and coura
geous Spaniard who for nearly a year had done such excel
lent secret-service work for me, and I took off our coats
and even other things, in fact, stripped for action, and
with pencils and pads of paper seated ourselves around a
table and racked our brains, while Patterson, our negro
soldier cook, from time to time brought in copious liba
tions of hot and strong coffee in order that we might be
able to keep awake, for daylight became darkness, and
dawn was at hand before the peerless Segovia, whose
knowledge of both Spanish and Tagalo now stood us in
such good stead, found the key word of the cipher, which
was in the latter language, having done it by ransacking

390 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
his brain for every word in that Malay dialect that he had
ever heard of. Among us, we then slowly unwound the
mess, and mess it was when there are taken into con
sideration the difficulties of reducing a cipher and of
rendering it through two languages to get the letters in
which it was written into English. When it was over,
tired and sleepy as we were, we had left enough energy
to be wildly enthusiastic over the result, for it was realized
that there had been laid bare the plans of the one man
who, for what seemed to be a long time, had been the
head and front of the insurrection against the author
ity of the United States. Before we had finished it was
nearly noon, and despite Patterson's administrations of
hot coffee we were nearly done for. We had been without
sleep or food for twenty hours. Some of the cipher letters
were signed "Colon Magdalo" and others "Pastor," this
apparently depending on to whom they were addressed,
but from their context these communications could come
only from one who was recognized as the leader of the
insurrection, as they gave positive orders to officers of the
highest military rank. But besides that I had once heard
that Aguinaldo had used "Colon Magdalo" as a nom de
plume. The body of all of these letters had evidently
been written by a secretary, but the handwriting of the
signatures very much resembled several of Aguinaldo's
that I had seen in captured correspondence.
Not one of the communications, either official or per
sonal, intimated the name of the obscure town in which
Aguinaldo had taken his refuge. Two, those to Lacuna
and Baldomero Aguinaldo, stated that the trusted messen-

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 391
ger knew the name of the town where he had his head
quarters. The most important letter, and the one that
was the final undoing of its writer, was to his cousin,
Baldomero Aguinaldo, then in command of the insur
gent bands operating in Cavite province just south of
Manila. This directed the person to whom it was addressed to
proceed at once to the "Centre of Luzon," and, using
this communication as authority, to supersede in command
Jose Alejandrino, who evidently was not giving satisfac
tion to his chieftain. As soon as he had established him
self in command, Baldomero was to direct his subordi
nates, that is, Lacuna, Mascardo, Simon, and Pablo Tec
son, and possibly one or two others, to send him detach
ments of men until the aggregate should reach about four
hundred. These were to be made up of picked troops, and might
be sent by whatever routes their respective commanders
thought best. A letter to Lacuna contained nothing of
importance, but was of interest for the reason that for
more than a year the troops under my command had been
trying to break up the guerilla bands that recognized him
as chief. After translating the letters we went to bed, but I had
great difficulty in sleeping, as plans began to evolve them
selves. About four o'clock I got up and sent for Segis
mundo. I thought the best way was to go at him boldly,
now that he had apparently cast his lot with us, and told
him that I was going to capture his chief and expected him
to help in the operation. He had already told me that the

392 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
trail leading eastward from the valley of the Cagayan was
so carefully watched by outposts that any advance from
that direction would be discovered days before it could
possibly reach Palanan. Some months before a company
of our troops had, after a most trying march, entered
Palanan from that direction, but Aguinaldo, his staff
and escort, had leisurely retired to the mountains in the
vicinity, taking with them all their archives and records,
and compelling all the inhabitants to accompany them.
As we learned afterward, this was a company of the Six
teenth Infantry, commanded by Captain Cochran. Ac
cording to Segismundo, the trail along the coast to the
south was so carefully watched by the Negritos and Ilon-
gotes, primitive savages, that the same conditions existed.
In reply to a question as to whether an expedition from the
sea, landing at night on the beach about seven miles from
Palanan, would have any chance of success, he stated
that the presence of any vessel off the coast would to a
certainty be reported, and that, even if such an expedi
tion succeeded in landing, it would be discovered before
reaching Palanan. The prospects did not seem any too
bright, and I went to bed to sleep it over. In the mean
time I had taken into my confidence Captain Smith, Lieu
tenant Mitchell, my aide, and Segovia, and had discussed
the matter with them. By morning I had thought out
the general features of the plan which was eventually to
succeed, and on asking Segismundo whether it was in his
opinion practicable, he replied in the affirmative. There
were now all sorts of details to work out, and in these mat
ters I had much assistance from those who had been taken

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 393
into my confidence. We knew exactly where Aguinaldo
was, at the obscure and isolated village of Palanan, a few
miles from the east coast of Luzon and very near the north
end of the island. We knew that he would be expecting
reinforcements from the guerilla bands in central Luzon,
he having sent orders to that effect. It was settled beyond
the possibility of a doubt that no force the nature of which
was known could get even within several days' march of
him. So the only recourse was to work a stratagem, that
is, to get to him under false colors. It would be so
impossible to disguise our own troops that they were
not even considered, and dependence would have to be
placed on the Macabebes, those fine little fighters, tak
ing their name from their home town, who had always
been loyal to Spain and who had now transferred that
loyalty to the United States. As it would be absolutely
essential to have along some American officers to direct
matters and deal with such emergencies as might arise,
they were to accompany the expedition as supposed pris
oners who had been captured on the march, and were not
to throw off that disguise until there was no longer neces
sity for concealment.
This plan was briefly outlined in writing and sent to
the department commander, General Wheaton, who was
stationed in Manila. This officer ordered me to Manila
for immediate consultation, and approved the project, as
also did the division commander, General MacArthur.
The latter was to arrange with Admiral Remey, command
ing the Asiatic Station, for a small naval vessel to trans
port the expedition to the east coast of Luzon. After a

394 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
few days in Manila I returned to San Isidro to complete
the plans.
As mentioned in the last chapter, when, during the pre
ceding October, with a detachment of scouts and Troop A
of the Fourth Cavalry, I had "jumped" Lacuna's camp,
though that individual escaped we had found ourselves
in possession of all his personal effects, besides much cor
respondence, records, and his official stationery. This
last had been kept and now proved to be of the utmost
value. In order to pave the way for' the bogus reinforcements,
which were supposed to be those from Lacuna's command,
it was considered essential to have them preceded by let
ters from that individual. In, fact, had this not been done
the expedition would without a particle of doubt have met
a disastrous end. Aguinaldo himself afterward told me
that it was the supposed letters from Lacuna that threw
him entirely off his guard and caused him to welcome
the supposed reinforcements. The stationery captured in
Lacuna's camp had at the top of each sheet the words
Brigada Lacuna — in English, Lacuna's Brigade — they
having been put on with a rubber stamp. It would be
necessary, if we were going to utilize supposed letters from
Lacuna, to imitate his signature, which was without doubt
known to Aguinaldo. In captured correspondence we
found several examples to serve as models, and had at
hand the man to do the work. Nearly a year before an
insurgent officer by the name of Roman Roque had volun
tarily presented himself to me, and since then had been
employed at district head-quarters as interpreter and clerk.

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 395
He was an expert penman, and I set him to work practis
ing on Lacuna's signature. I, of course, did not inform
him as to the object of this work. The faithful Roque
kept at it with such success that in a few days his work
could not be distinguished from the original. After he
had reached this degree of perfection, one of the bogus
signatures was placed at the foot of each of two of the
sheets of the stamped "Brigada Lacuna" writing-paper.
The bodies of the two letters were not to be filled in until
we were at sea.
It was now necessary to make up the personnel of the
expedition. Captain Smith was exceedingly anxious to
be taken along, but the nature of his duties was such that
he could not be spared from San Isidro. I selected as
one of the officers Captain Harry W. Newton, of the
Thirty-fourth United States Volunteer Infantry, now a
captain in the Coast Artillery Corps. Captain Newton
had had some experience at sea, and, besides, while
stationed at Baler about a year previously, had made a
boat expedition from there to Casiguran, a town that we
would necessarily have something to do with. Of course,
I took along my efficient aide, Lieutenant Mitchell.
Segovia and Segismundo would be very necessary, and in
fact proved invaluable. But it would be necessary to have
some Tagalos, as Lacuna's force, from which this detach
ment was supposed to come, was made up entirely of men
of that race. The selection of these men was a very de
licate matter, as they would have it in their power to ruin
us by disclosing our real character. As will be seen, they
were absolutely faithful. But I would never again take

396 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
such a risk, as I believe that we could have succeeded
without them. None of them was informed as to what
we were going to do, they merely being told that I wanted
them to accompany me on an expedition. One of the men
was Hilario Tal Placido, who was to be the supposed chief
of the expedition, he being personally known to Aguinaldo.
He had been badly wounded in a fight with the Twentieth
Kansas at Caloocan in 1899, had been captured with his
chief, General Panteleon Garcia, in the town of Jaen,
by Captain Smith, in May, 1900, and had been released
after taking the oath of allegiance. He had on several oc
casions shown that he was friendly to the Americans by
giving me information of value. The other two Tagalos
were young men, Dionisio Bato and Gregorio Cadhit,
both former insurgent officers. The former had been
captured and the latter had surrendered, both having
voluntarily taken the oath of allegiance. All of us went
to Manila ready to sail.
General Wheaton had selected as the main part of
the expedition Company D of the First Battalion of
Macabebe Scouts. This organization contained about
one hundred men and had seen much service in the
field. The two officers on duty with it were Captain
R. T. Hazzard, of the Eleventh United States Volunteer
Cavalry, and his brother Lieutenant O. P. M. Hazzard,
of the same regiment, the latter now an officer of the
regular army. A weeding out of the Macabebe company
so that we would have in it only men who could speak
Tagalo, and so pass themselves off as belonging to that
race, and the leaving behind a few who it was thought

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 397
might not be able to make the long march anticipated,
brought the number actually embarked down to eighty-
one. Of course, it was absolutely essential for them to
discard everything in the way of their equipment as
American soldiers, or any attempt to pass themselves off
as insurgent troops would have been worse than futile.
So before sailing we obtained a sufficent supply of the
clothing of the country, the most of it being second-hand
material, as it would not do for the men to look neat.
Even if it had been thought advisable to do so, it was con
sidered unnecessary to clothe the Macabebes in insurgent
uniforms, as the time when the great body of insurgent
troops wore uniforms had long gone by. There was also
obtained from the Manila arsenal a sufficient number of
Mauser and Remington rifles with the necessary quantity
of cartridges, all of this being material that had been cap
tured in the field. An insurgent company armed ex
clusively with Krags would indeed have been a most un
usual sight. Admiral Remey had designated the gun
boat Vicksburg, Commander E. B. Barry commanding, to
carry the expedition, the object of which even he did not
know. The clothing and arms that would enable the
Macabebes to pass off as insurgent troops were quietly
placed on board at night. The greatest secrecy had been
maintained, as, outside of Generals MacArthur and Whea
ton, two or three officers of the district staff left behind at
San Isidro, the officers who were to go on the expedi
tion, Segovia and Segismundo, not a single man had been
informed. I felt that it was incumbent on me to tell all
to Mrs. Funston, who had accompanied me from San

398 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
Isidro, and all through the long three weeks that we were
absent from Manila the poor woman had to keep her
council. During this time she was the guest of our old
friends, Captain and Mrs. George P. Ahern.
At last everything was ready. No precaution had been
omitted, and nothing was forgotten. On many occasions
while in Manila I had been in consultation with Generals
MacArthur and Wheaton, and when I made my last call
on the former, just before sailing, he said: "Funston,
this is a desperate undertaking. I fear that I shall never
see you again." At the same interview he told me that
some days before he had received from the War Depart
ment by cable an order to return me to the United States
for muster-out of the service, but had cabled for and re
ceived permission to retain me for a short time for some
special duty. Of course, as a volunteer officer, I was sub
ject to muster-out any at time, but this, coming at the time
that it did, filled my heart with bitterness, and nothing but
a feeling of the loyalty that I owed to my division and de
partment commanders made me willing to go on with the
apparently thankless and all but hopeless task.
On the night of March 6 the Vicksburg slipped out of
Manila Bay, and steered south in order to pass through the
straits of San Bernardino.
There was no longer any occasion for secrecy and Com
mander Barry and the other officers of the vessel soon
knew the object of the expedition that they were trans
porting. The next morning, having Segovia to assist me
in order that everything would be well understood, I sent
for Tal Placido, Bato, and Cadhit, the three ex-insurgent

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 399
officers with us, and told them that we were going after
their old chieftain, and that they would be expected to
play their part, as they had all of them without compul
sion taken the oath of allegiance to the United States. If
they were faithful they would be well rewarded, if not,
there would be but one penalty and that would be inflicted,
if it was the last thing done. They seemed thunderstruck
but soon regained their composure, promised to do their
part, and did it. They even showed no little interest and
enthusiasm as we outlined to them the complicated plan
which it was hoped might bring success. As they were to
have important parts to play, it was necessary to con
fide in them fully and give them complete instructions as
to what they were to do. Next came the Macabebes. No
one who ever served with them would doubt their loyalty,
even to the last extremity, but many of them were men
of not a great deal of intelligence, and so they had to be
instructed very carefully and thoroughly. This work was
done mostly by Captain Hazzard, Lieutenant Hazzard,
and Segovia. The little "Macs," as we called them,
were quite enthusiastic over the whole proposition. Their
first sergeant was Pedro Bustos, a little shrivelled old
fellow who had spent his life since boyhood in the native
regiments of the Spanish army, and had been decorated
for gallantry in the wars with the Moros of Mindanao. He
had not an atom of fear in his whole system, and when I
asked him if they would stand by us until the end, he re
plied: "I cannot speak for the others, but I am a soldier
of the United States." It was not necessary to make any
further inquiries from him. Day after day the instruc-

400 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
tion of the Tagalos and the Macabebes went on, and they
were often tested to see how well they knew their parts.
According to the elaborate yarn that they had been in
structed in, they constituted one of the companies of
Lacuna's force operating against the Americans in the
province of Nueva Ecija. Some time in February they
had started on the march to the northward. In the course
of this they had crossed the mountains between Panta
bangan and Baler, and on this part of their journey had
encountered a party of ten American soldiers making maps
of the country. They had succeeded in surprising these
men, and after a brief fight had killed two and wounded
three, all of whom they had left on the ground. The re
maining five had surrendered, and they had brought them
along as prisoners, as they could not detach men to take
them back. They were drilled over and over again in the
story of this fight and march until all of them seemed to
know it by heart. The Macabebes were further in
structed that they must at once begin to communicate with
each other in the Tagalo dialect, and not use their own
under any circumstances until the job was finished.
This would, of course, be absolutely necessary after we
had landed and got into touch with people who were still
insurgents, as they would know mighty well that there
were no Macabebes on their side of the war. In the
meantime every vestige of their equipment as American
soldiers was taken from them and stored on the vessel, and
they were rigged out in the lot of nondescript clothing
obtained in Manila, and armed with the job lot of Mausers
and Remingtons from the Manila arsenal. There were,

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 401
however, ten Krag carbines, supposed to have been cap
tured from the unfortunate mapmakers. In their new rig
the Macabebes did not know whether to feel sheepish or
to take a humorous view of the situation. When he saw
them Hilario Tal Placido's fat sides shook with laughter,
and he assured me that they would pass as real insurgents.
One of the things that Segismundo had impressed on
me was that if any steamer approached the east coast of
Luzon, even as far south of Palanan as a hundred miles,
Aguinaldo would soon be informed of the fact by runners,
and would be on the lookout. For this reason it was de
termined to call at some port on the east coast of Luzon
and obtain several large bancas, native sailing boats. We
were to be loaded into these some thirty miles at sea and
then cast adrift, the Vicksburg immediately getting out of
the way, so that her smoke could not be seen from shore.
We were to run in to the coast at night, land through the
surf as best we could, and then begin the march north
ward. Even if the bancas should be seen they would not
cause alarm. Accordingly, in a couple of days the Vicks
burg called at the town of Antimonan, on the east coast of
the province of Tayabas, and I sent Lieutenant Mitchell
ashore with the necessary funds, but no bancas were to be
had except a few that were too small for our purpose. So
we sailed for the island of Polillo, and there were more
successful, obtaining three that among them were large
enough to hold all of us, each of them having two masts
with the necessary sails. These boats were taken in tow
of the Vicksburg, and on the 12th of March, six days
after leaving Manila, we headed to the north-west, bound

402 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
for the mouth of Casiguran Bay. Two Macabebes were
placed on each boat to steer them and to clear the towing
lines in case they should become fouled. They had pro
visions and water for two days. The wind had been rising
and soon began to blow a gale. The sea ran very high;
the first of the two bancas was swamped, and went down,
the two men on it crawling along the rope to the second.
By four in the afternoon the sea had increased to such
an extent that it was necessary to lower the ship's boats
and rescue the six men, who were hanging on to the two '
remaining bancas. The Vicksburg was rolling and pitch
ing fearfully, and it looked to the most of us like a hope
less job. But the gallant men of the navy went at it in
fine style, and in two hours of gruelling and dangerous
work had accomplished their task. Shortly after the res
cue the last of the bancas went down, and the tow-ropes
were cut. So that was one part of the game that did not
work. It was now necessary for us to change our plans
to the extent of landing in the ship's boats at night, trust
ing that before daylight the vessel would be far enough
away from shore to prevent her being seen.
The time had now come when it was necessary to
write the two bogus letters from Lacuna to Aguinaldo,
these to be on the sheets of paper that bore at their head
the stamp of the former and his imitated signature at the
foot. I made out a rough draft of what I wanted said,
but left the actual composition and writing to Segovia, as
his knowledge of Spanish was much more comprehensive
than my own. One of them was dated February 24, 1901,
at Buloc, a locality in the mountains of eastern Nueva

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 403
Ecija, and acknowledged receipt of Aguinaldo's two let
ters of January 13 and 14, and at the same time thanked
him for his confirmation of his, Lacuna's, appointment as
brigadier-general, made some time previously by Alejan-
drino. There was also some news as to how the cam
paign was progressing, and some "airy persiflage" about
the things the writer was doing to the hated invader. The
second letter, dated February 28, stated that the writer had
received orders from Baldomero Aguinaldo, who had just
assumed command of the "Centre of Luzon," to send one
of his best companies to report to the Dictator. It should
be noticed that the first of these letters referred to the
two communications received from Aguinaldo, giving their
dates as well as making reference to their contents. The
second was in the line of what Aguinaldo would expect
as the natural result of his letter to his cousin, Baldomero
Aguinaldo. This latter letter said that the force was in
command of Hilario Tal Placido, whom the Honorable
Dictator doubtless recollected as one of his former officers.
He had been some time previously compelled to take the
oath of allegiance to the Americans, but on orders from
Lacuna had returned to active service. (This was put in
for fear that Aguinaldo might have heard that Tal Pla
cido had taken the oath.) According to the same letter,
the second in command was the gallant Spaniard, Lazaro
Segovia, who had shown himself so much addicted to our
cause. (Segovia chuckled as he wrote this.) The other
two were Dionisio Bato and Gregorio Cadhit. And then
there was some mere rubbish, just to fill in space down
to the bogus signature. These letters were held until

4o4 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
the opportunity should come to send them in advance
of us. Fortunately for us, the weather was thick and squally,
and at one o'clock on the morning of the 14th, the Vicks
burg having very carefully approached the coast, with all
her lights screened, we were landed in the ship's boats.
We were inside the entrance to Casiguran Bay, and so
fairly well protected, with the consequence that we had no
surf work. The darkness was intense, however, and it
was raining, so that we did not feel particularly comfort
able or cheerful. It would have been impossible to carry
out the plan of deception if we had landed with a supply
of the food ordinarily used by American soldiers, so that
we brought ashore one day's ration of rice. All of us
Americans were dressed as private soldiers of our army,
that is, in campaign hats, blue shirts, khaki breeches, and
leggings. As I looked our crowd over the next morning
I thought that we were a pretty scrubby-looking lot of pri
vates. There is a lot in clothes, after all. In going ashore
one of the Macabebes accidentally cut himself so badly
with his bolo that we had to send him back to the ship,
and another got " cold feet," and hid himself in the ham
mock nettings. It is a safe guess that life was a burden to
him after his exultant comrades returned to their native
village. So it happened that eighty-nine of us, counting
Filipinos and white men, landed on that dreary coast. I
do not recall that we had any particular emotions or sensa
tions, as we were too busy trying to make ourselves com
fortable. All realized the hazardous nature of the under
taking, and without any agreement having been entered

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 405
into on the subject, it was thoroughly understood that we
would never be taken alive. Loyalty to our Macabebe
comrades, who could not expect quarter, marked but one
course for any men who made even a pretence at being
soldiers. The several hours until dawn were passed in simply
sitting about and trying to keep out of the rain as much
as we could. With the first daylight we made a short
march in order to find fresh water. Here, with no little
difficulty, fires were built, and some rice was boiled in
vessels that we had brought along for the purpose. At
seven o'clock we began the march. For a while it was
not half bad, despite the fact that we had not had a wink
of sleep during the night. Our progress was slow owing
to the nature of the beach, for it should be understood that
we were following the west side of Casiguran Bay, and
there were no trails through the woods. We had landed
at about the same point that a force coming across-country
from Nueva Ecija would have struck the beach, and this
was a part of the game.
Everything was now in our favor, as we felt positive
that our landing had not been discovered. I very much
doubt whether a straight line drawn from the point of our
landing to the town of Casiguran would show the distance
to be greater than ten miles; but we could pay no atten
tion to straight lines, as some of them would lead through
water up to our necks or over considerable ridges. In
other words, we had to follow the sinuosities of the coast.
We waded about a dozen streams, none of them over hip
deep, but the greatest nuisance was the fact that during

406 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
the greater part of the march it was high tide, which, ow
ing to the fact that the mangrove bushes came down to
the water's edge in dense masses, compelled us to wade
pretty well out in the bay. Our salt-water wading during
the day aggregated certainly five miles, and naturally
added greatly to our fatigue and discomfort. About noon
we discovered a small banca, capable of holding half a
dozen men, in the mouth of a small creek. It was very
desirable to send word of our coming to Casiguran, not
only that the inhabitants of the village might not be
alarmed by the approach of an armed force, but that sup
plies might be collected for us. It must be remembered
that this was a town that recognized no authority except
that of the insurgent government, and no Americans had
ever been in it except the few who had been with Captain
Newton on his coast expedition from Baler in a futile
attempt to rescue a Spanish friar, held prisoner by the
insurgent officials. As soon as we discovered the banca
we concocted another letter. This was addressed to the
presidente of Casiguran, and was written by Segovia.
This communication stated that the writer was in com
mand of a body of insurgent troops belonging to the com
mand of Lacuna and on their way north to report to the
"Dictator." It was requested that the recipient would
immediately send a guide to meet the column, and have all
arrangements made for the housing and provisioning of
the force. After the letter had been got up I invited my
corpulent friend Hilario to sign it. This he did without
batting an eyelash. I doubt if he ever read it. We sent
this missive by Segismundo, he being accompanied by

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 407
Gregorio Cadhit and two armed Macabebes. The last-
named men had their instructions as to what they were
to do in case of treachery. But Segismundo and Cadhit
seemed to enter into the spirit of the thing, and took a lot
of satisfaction out of fooling their former compatriots.
The four men sailed straight across the head of the bay,
delivered the letter to the vice-presidente, the presidente
being absent, and then became the guests of the village.
Really, there were some ridiculous features about the
whole business. In the meantime the little column had
resumed its march. At four o'clock the guide sent out by
the vice-presidente of Casiguran met us, and we knew that
so far all was well, or he would not be "among those
present." We had to make a considerable detour around
the head of the bay, and then entered a forest along a
fairly good trail. Naturally, there was much excitement
in the little town of Casiguran, and crowds of people came
to meet us. Of course, they thought that they were greet
ing some of their own victorious soldiers bringing in pris
oners that they had captured. The village band was
pressed into service, and we entered the town in great
style. We had had a hard time in impressing on the
Macabebes the fact that as soon as we came in contact with
insurgents they must treat us as real prisoners. This was
a terribly hard thing for these men to do, as from their
long service in the Spanish army, as well as the few years
they had spent in our service, they regarded a commis
sioned officer as a being almost sacred. By considerable
cussing on the part of the officers of the company as well
as by Segovia it was finally drilled into them that they

408 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
were to obey orders regardless of their personal feelings.
Among those who met us as we entered the town was the
badly fooled vice-presidente. He was a man of good ap
pearance and address, and seemed somewhat solicitous
regarding the welfare and comfort of the supposed Ameri
can prisoners. I am glad to be able to state that the gen
eral attitude of the people of the town toward us was not
hostile. Of course, we were a great show, being the first
Americans they had ever seen, for all of them had fled
when Newton's boat expedition reached the town during
the previous year. They crowded around us, and there
were some black looks, and some remarks not of a com
plimentary nature, but in general there was nothing in
their conduct to criticise. Finally, we entered the plaza,
the local band exuding some lively, if not very inspiring,
music. The whole situation was so ludicrous that it was
with difficulty we could keep from laughing, despite the
peril of our position. The vice-presidente had directed
that a number of buildings be vacated in order that the
recently arrived patriots and their prisoners might be
properly sheltered. I had impressed it on Segovia that it
would be necessary for him and me to be so situated that we
could communicate without difficulty, and he accordingly
informed the vice-presidente that, as he was personally
responsible for the safe-keeping of the prisoners, he wished
to be near them. This was arranged without difficulty.
We were confined in a room in the municipal building,
our guards being our own Macabebes, while Segovia,
Segismundo, and the Tagalo officers were accommodated
in a room across the hallway. In the meantime, Segovia

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 409
and Tal Placido had been talking with the vice-presidente.
This official informed them that the march to Palanan
would have to be made under great difficulties unless we
could wait several days until he could collect a sufficient
quantity of cracked corn to furnish us with food for the
journey. We now learned to our surprise that rice is not
raised to any extent in the vicinity of Palanan, but that
the people subsisted almost entirely on cracked corn, fresh
fish, and sweet-potatoes. For reasons that will occur to
any person of reasonable intelligence, the last two named
were out of the question for a long journey. The vice-
presidente thought that in four or five days he might be
able to collect enough corn to see us through the nearly
a hundred miles of uninhabited wilderness that still lay
between us and our goal. But it had already been ar
ranged with Commander Barry of the Vicksburg that he
was to reach Palanan Bay on the 25th and, if he did not
find us awaiting him on the beach, land a force and march
to the town to ascertain if possible what had become of us.
We Americans were lying on the hard floor, talking
in low tones as to the possible outcome of the adventure
that we were now hopelessly committed to, when Segovia
sneaked in, lay down by my side, and, speaking Span
ish in whispers, made me acquainted with the situation.
There was one comforting thing, and that was that our
disguise was evidently perfect, as nobody seemed to sus
pect our real character. As to the question of food, we
discussed the matter among ourselves, and it was unani
mously agreed to push on after a stay of two days, trust
ing that our luck would not desert us.

4io PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
In the meantime the Macabebes were being entertained
by the people of the town. It can scarcely be imagined
what uneasiness we felt lest one of them should have his
tongue loosened by some of the bino that was being passed
around, and ruin everything. But they simply filled up
the yokels of Casiguran with wonderful yarns of their
service under Lacuna in far-away Nueva Ecija, with the
story of their great march across the mountains, the capt
ure of the American soldiers now in their hands, and,
in fact, most anything that would make the people proud
to associate with them. The next day, the 15th, was
spent in our prison, resting as well as the hard boards that
we were lying on would permit. One most disquieting
piece of news, fortunately false, that we received here was
to the effect that the well-known insurgent general, Tinio,
had joined Aguinaldo with four hundred well-armed men.
The story did not seem at all improbable, and we did not
know that there was nothing to it until we were within
eight miles of our goal. The Macabebes, who also heard
the story from their Casiguran friends, who thought they
were telling them something pleasant, were badly wor
ried, as it looked as if we would be outnumbered five to
one ; but we succeeded in convincing them that by means
of a surprise we could win. Everybody in Casiguran
and the surrounding country came to see us, among them
being some of the Ilongotes, the most treacherous and
cruel of all the head-hunting savages of Luzon. The
Macabebes, supposed to be rigidly guarding us, laid it
on pretty thick in telling how they had captured us. Once
I saw a sergeant, whose eye I had caught, start to laugh,

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 411
but he got a look and a shake of the head that brought
him to his senses. It would be essential, in order that
Aguinaldo and those with him might not be alarmed at
the approach to Palanan of an armed body, to send word
to him in advance. So Segovia and I concocted another
letter, supposed to come from Tal Placido, stating that the
writer, in accordance with orders from his chief, Lacuna,
was on his way to join him with a company of troops under
the command of Captain Lazaro Segovia ; in crossing the
mountains he had surprised a small detachment of Amer
ican soldiers, had killed two, wounded three, and was
bringing five prisoners, as he could not detach men to send
them back. As the ,main body of the two bogus letters
from Lacuna were in the handwriting of Segovia, we had
Tal Placido copy as well as sign this missive. In the
meantime, the vice-presidente obtained two of his towns
men and an Uongote to carry this letter and the two sup
posed ones from Lacuna. They started on the morning
of the 1 6th and beat us to Palanan by two days. The
second day of our captivity passed without especial inci
dent. The guileless vice-presidente had all of this time
been working like a beaver to hustle enough cracked corn
to at least start us on our journey, and succeeded in ob
taining about four hundred pounds, which might be con
sidered a rather short four days' ration for our force.
There was also a small quantity of dried carabao meat
and half a dozen live chickens. Of course, these last
would have to be eaten very soon. Early on the morning
of the 17th, a gloomy and rainy day, we started on the
last and longest leg of our fateful journey. We were told

412 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
that the march was usually made in a week, and that but
one white man, a Spanish friar, a generation before, had
accomplished it. In order to carry our food supplies and
cooking-pots, twelve men of the town were obtained, with
an Ilongote to act as guide. The vice-presidente and a
number of the principal men of the town accompanied us
for a couple of miles, finally saying adios and buen viaje
to all, including the "prisoners." I wonder what this
simple and really good-hearted fellow thought when he
found how he had been tricked. Of the numerous ones
that we made fools of, he was the only one that I ever
had the slightest qualms about. I hope he is gifted with
a sense of humor. The first half-day lay along a muddy
trail through the woods to the sea-beach. Here the ras
cally Ilongote deserted us, but one of the Casiguran men
said he felt confident he could act as guide. The presence
of these men made it necessary for us to keep up the de
ception on the march and in camp, as the slightest word
might send one of them scurrying ahead to Palanan, and
the poor Macabebes were under the necessity of continu
ing to converse in the Tagalo dialect.
From here our course generally followed the beach,
though we were occasionally compelled to make detours
over mountains because of cliffs coming down to the sea.
The most of the beach was soft and deep sand, though
we had two days over bowlders of every size from a water
melon to a freight car. I do not believe it necessary to go
too much into the details of that horrible march, as it is
not pleasant reading. The rain never ceased pouring,
and from the morning we left Casiguran we were drenched

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 413
to the skin for a week. We waded more than sixty streams,
some of them mere brooks, but others so deep and swift
that we had to put our hands on each other's shoulders
and go in up to our armpits. The food, soaked through
and through, became a soggy and fermenting mass. The
usual programme was to start at daybreak and march
until ten o'clock, then stop for breakfast, resuming the
march about one o'clock, and keep it up until darkness,
when we would have the second and last meal of the day,
exactly a duplicate of the first. From the start we went
on half rations, and in a few days were ravenous with
hunger. Of sleep we could get very little, as our bed was
the bare ground, and we were exposed without shelter to
the never-ending torrents of rain. Of course, the build
ing and maintaining of fires for cooking was a matter
that taxed to the utmost the ingenuity of our Macabebes,
used as they are to taking care of themselves under all
sorts of conditions. To eke out our food supply, a few
small fish were caught in their hands by the Macabebes,
and they scraped limpets from the rocks and gathered
snails. All of these things, however, could not help out
much with the now one hundred and one of us including
the Casiguran men. The snails, limpets, and small fish
were stewed up with the corn, and made a revolting
mess. One funny thing happened, and gave us all a
much-needed laugh. It was a pitch-dark night and the
Macabebes had just set before us on this occasion a stew-
pot containing this delectable mixture. Mitchell, who was
ravenously hungry, drew a fish about three inches long,
and had downed it before he realized it had not been

4i4 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
dressed. Then and there his gorge rose and he became
violently "sea-sick." We laughed at him so much that his
temper rose perceptibly. On the night of the fifth day
out of Casiguran we lay down supperless. Segovia had
developed a terrible abscess in one of his feet, but the
plucky Spaniard never faltered. (When we finally got on
board the Vicksburg, the surgeon opened up his foot and
gave him relief.) All day of the 22d we stumbled along
in a half-dazed condition, marching the entire day without
food. Our men were scattered for a mile along the beach,
some of them so weak that they reeled as they walked.
It was plain that the end was at hand, but we were ap
proaching our destination. It seemed impossible that the
madcap enterprise could succeed, and I began to have
regrets that I had led all these men to such a finish, for it
must be remembered that we still expected to have to fight
Tinio with his four hundred men, and it did not now seem
that there was any fight left in the outfit. Every mile
during this afternoon we expected the crackle of rifle fire
from some cliff.
About five o'clock we saw a man ahead of us along
the beach, evidently watching us. The crisis was at
hand, and Segovia went to meet him, while we made
some attempt to close up the column. We breathlessly
watched Segovia and the man while they were talking,
and saw the latter hand the former a letter. Segovia
came limping back down the column, and as he passed us
Americans said in Spanish, "It is all right. We have
them." What a load it lifted off our minds! We were
now within ten miles of our quarry. The letter, which

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 415
Segovia opened and read at once and then passed to me,
was from Simon Villa, Aguinaldo's chief of staff, and was
addressed to "Lieutenant-Colonel Hilario Tal Placido."
Although it showed that our ruse was working and that
our real identity was not even suspected, there was in it
one thing that disturbed us greatly, this being an order
that the five prisoners would not be brought into Palanan,
as they might find out that the "Dictator" was there, but
would be left under a guard of ten men at the place known
as Dinundungan. Just think of living in a place with
such a name as that! We had in some way to circum
vent this plan, and succeeded, though it brought us nearer
to disaster than any other thing connected with the ex
pedition. We marched two miles farther up the beach
and reached Dinundungan, which was not a town but
merely the name of a locality, it being the point where a
trail from Palanan, eight miles distant, reaches the beach.
Here we found an old Tagalo in charge of a few Negritos
just completing a couple of small grass-roofed open sheds,
one of which was for the prisoners and the other for their
guard. It was already dark, and again we lay down sup
perless to bed, if one could call the water-soaked ground by
such a name. In whispers we discussed the situation, and
before going to sleep had worked out our little scheme.
But we had to have food, or the march of eight miles would
be out of the question, so Hilario wrote a note to Villa
reporting his arrival at Dinundungan, and stated that in
the morning he would resume the march to Palanan, but
that food was necessary, as his men were so weak from
hunger that they could go no farther. The orders direct-

416 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
ing that the prisoners be left where he then was had been
received, and would be complied with. This letter was
sent to Palanan by one of the Negritos, and by daylight a
sufficient quantity of cracked corn to give us all a fairly
satisfactory meal had arrived. This incident was the
basis of the charge afterward made and harped upon by
certain people in the United States, that being in a starv
ing condition we had begged Aguinaldo for food, and
then violated his hospitality by using the strength thus
given us to capture him. We had simply fooled him into
supplying us, as he thought he was rationing his own
troops. Had we, disclosing our identity, asked for quar
ter, and that food be furnished us, and had then turned on
him, the case would have been entirely different. I would
be very much interested in seeing the results of a surgical
operation performed on the skull of a man who cannot
readily see the radical difference between the two propo
sitions. I do not think that even "sweetbreads" would
be found. At last, morning came on the great day, nine days
after we had landed from the Vicksburg, and we set to
work to pull the wool over the eyes of the old Tagalo
who had constructed the sheds, and who knew that the
prisoners were to be left with him. It was taken for
granted that if we boldly disobeyed the instructions he
would light out to Palanan with the news. An attempt to
seize him was considered too risky, as some of the Ne
gritos might get away and give the alarm. So we again
had recourse to the pen, which certainly is sometimes
mightier than the sword. We picked out one of the most

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 417
intelligent of the Macabebe corporals as the man who
was to be left in charge of us with a guard of nine men, and
gave him his instructions. A letter to him from Segovia
was then prepared informing him that a messenger from
Palanan had been met on the trail with a letter from the
chief of staff revoking previous instructions relative to the
prisoners, and directing that he immediately follow with
them. At eight o'clock the main column left on the trail
to Palanan, leaving us with our guard. Iii about an hour
two of the Macabebes came running down the trail and
very ostentatiously handed to the corporal a note, which he
showed the old Tagalo, who was able to read it, it being
in his dialect. The old fellow merely remarked that he
did not see why they had put him to so much trouble if
they did not intend to use the shelters. This disposed of
him, and with our guard we set out along the trail, the two
Macabebes who had brought the bogus letter accompany
ing us.
Fortunately, we now had with us only our own peo
ple, and were relieved from the trying necessity of watch
ing every action for fear it would arouse suspicion in the
minds of the Casiguran men, who were with the main
body. The trail led in a north-westerly direction and
was very muddy, as the sunlight seldom reached the
ground in those dense and gloomy woods. Despite our
breakfast, we were very weak, and were six hours in cov
ering the eight miles. Of the Americans, Mitchell and I
were in the worst shape, the Hazzards and Newton stand
ing it better. I had to lie down flat on the ground every
few hundred yards to get a rest of a moment or two. We

418 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
crossed and recrossed many times by wading a small
branch of the Palanan River. About half-way to the
town we were disturbed by meeting a Macabebe sergeant
and one of the privates coming back along the trail as
rapidly as they could. The two men were out of breath,
and simply motioned frantically to us to get off the trail
and hide in the woods. This we did, and they joined us.
The sergeant quickly explained that some real insurgent
soldiers were on the way to Dinundungan to take charge
of us, in order that all the men of our party might be
able to come to Palanan. Soon we heard the men come
splashing along laughing and talking. They passed within
thirty feet of us, as we lay close to the ground, almost
fearing to breathe. If they had met us in the trail or dis
covered us in our hiding-place it would have all been off
then and there, as they would have insisted on taking
charge of us and conducting us back to Dinundungan. A
fight would have been the result; the firing would have
been heard in Palanan, and the least that could happen
was that the quarry would escape. For we now knew,
having been so informed by the old Tagalo at Dinundun
gan, that the story of Tinio having reached Palanan with
four hundred men was a myth, the only troops there
being about fifty men of Aguinaldo's escort. Anyhow,
this was the closest call the expedition had, and it owed
its salvation to the quick-witted Segovia. The main body
that he was with had met the detachment in the trail,
and upon inquiry had learned from the non-commissioned
officer in charge his instructions. Detaining the man in
conversation for a moment, he managed to step aside and

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 419
whisper to one of the sergeants to hurry back down the
trail and warn us.
We resumed our march, having had a fine scare. It
was not desirable to catch up with the main body, as we
correctly presumed that some officers might come out from
Palanan to meet it, and see that the orders regarding the
prisoners were not being carried out, so that we kept
some distance behind it until we realized that we were
approaching the town, and then hurried on as much as
possible. The main interest now centres in the adventures of the
main column, the one by which the actual capture was
made. About a mile outside the town it was met by a
couple of insurgent officers, who escorted them the re
mainder of the distance. About three o'clock they ap
proached the Palanan River, here about a hundred yards
wide and quite deep, and saw the town on the other side.
The only way to cross this stream was by means of a rather
good-sized banca. Hilario and Segovia crossed with the
first load, leaving instructions for the men to follow as
rapidly as they could, form on the oposite bank, and then
march up to Aguinaldo's house, where they would find
him. The boat was to be sent back to await our arrival.
Segovia and Hilario now had a most trying half-hour.
They called on Aguinaldo at his head-quarters, and found
him surrounded by seven insurgent officers, all of them
armed with revolvers. Outside, the fifty men of the es
cort, neatly uniformed and armed with Mausers, were
drawn up to do the honors for the reinforcements that
had made such a wonderful march to join them. Segovia

420 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
and Hilario entertained those present with stories of the
march from Lacuna's head-quarters, and were warmly
congratulated on having made it successfully. Segovia
took his position where he could look out of one of the
open windows and see when the time had arrived. Fi
nally, the Macabebes under Dionisio Bato and Gregorio
Cadhit marched up, Segovia stepped to the head of the
stairway outside the house, for they were in the second
story, and signalled to Gregorio, who called out, "Now is
the time, Macabebes. Give it to them." The poor little
"Macs" were in such a nervous state from their excite
ment over the strange drama that they were playing a part
in that they were pretty badly rattled. They had loaded
their pieces and were standing at " order arms," as were the
men of the escort facing them on the other side of the little
square. They fired a ragged volley, killing two men of
the escort and severely wounding the leader of Aguinaldo's
band, who happened to be passing between the lines when
fire was opened. Aguinaldo, hearing the firing, and think
ing that the men of his escort had broken loose to celebrate
the arrival of the reinforcements, stepped to the window,
and called out, " Stop that foolishness. Don't waste your
ammunition." Before he could turn around Hilario had
grasped him about the waist and thrown him under a
table, where he literally sat on him, and Hilario was a fat
man. I had given the most positive orders to the effect
that under no circumstances should Aguinaldo be killed,
and that no lives should be taken unless it was absolutely
necessary. But as Segovia dashed back into the room
several of the officers started to draw their revolvers, and

Before he could turn around Hilario had grasped him about the waist, and said, " You are a prisoner of the Americans "

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 421
he opened fire on them, hitting Villa three times, who was
tugging to get a Mauser automatic pistol out of its holster,
and also wounding Major Alhambra. Villa surrendered,
as did Santiago Barcelona, treasurer of the so-called re
public. Alhambra and the other officers leaped from one
of the windows into the river, the house standing on the
bank, and escaped by swimming. As Hilario grasped
Aguinaldo, he had said, "You are a prisoner of the Amer
icans," so that the fallen "Dictator," as he now called him
self, had some sort of a vague idea of what had happened
to him. In the meantime we Americans with our supposed
guard had reached the river, jumped into the banca wait
ing for us, and had paddled across in frantic haste. Run
ning up the bank toward the house, we were met by Se
govia, who came running out, his face aglow with exulta
tion and his clothing spattered with the blood of the men
he had wounded. He called out in Spanish, "It is all
right. We have him." We hastened into the house, and
I introduced myself to Aguinaldo, telling him that we were
officers of the American army, that the men with us were
our troops, and not his, and that he was a prisoner of war.
He was given assurance that he need fear no bad treat
ment. He said in a dazed sort of way, " Is this not some
joke ?" I assured him that it was not, though, as a mat
ter of fact, it was a pretty bad one on him. While natu
rally agitated, his bearing was dignified, and in this mo
ment of his fall there was nothing of the craven. He is a
man of many excellent qualities, far and away the best
Filipino I ever was brought in contact with. It was well

422 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
known that he was a man of humane instincts, and had
done all he could to prevent the horrible atrocities com
mitted by some of the guerilla bands that now made up
his forces; but under the circumstances his control over
them was limited. The wounded Villa was more inclined
to stand aloof, but we dressed his wounds, thereby mollify
ing him somewhat. Barcelona was as mild as could be.
There was some difficulty in getting under control the
wildly excited Macabebes. A lot of them insisted in
throwing their arms about us.
Aguinaldo's escort in their flight had dropped eighteen
rifles and about a thousand rounds of ammunition, and
these we now gathered up. It was regrettable that two of
these men had been killed, but there was no help for it.
The escort had to be surprised and quickly scattered. If
we had sent our cards to them, told them who we were,
and invited them to retire, as some lady-like persons in
the United States afterward insisted that we should have
done, it would merely have exposed our own men to a
volley from them, and it scarcely could have been less
fatal than the one that they received from us. The lives
of these two men were of small moment counted against
those that would have been lost had the insurrection con
tinued. Few men have died to better purpose.
We supposed prisoners now took command. Agui
naldo, Villa, and Barcelona were confined in a room in the
house and made as comfortable as possible. We posted
guards all about the building and searched it thoroughly,
finding great quantities of the correspondence of the in
surgent government, showing that Aguinaldo had all of

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 423
the time been in touch with his subordinates, even with
those in the far-away Visayan Islands. We recaptured the
two bogus letters from Lacuna and the one from Hilario at
Casiguran. We had now no further suffering from lack of
food, as we found cracked corn, rice, sweet-potatoes, and
chickens. The inhabitants of the town had fled to the
last man, woman, and child, so that we merely helped
ourselves. There was no destruction of property and we
left the town in as good shape as we found it. Lieutenant
Mitchell had a small camera, carried on the march for
him by one of the Macabebes, and took some interesting
photographs. Aguinaldo, whose gameness and general
bearing won our hearts, wrote and handed to me a brief
note congratulating me on the outcome of the perilous
expedition. In fact, the pleasantest relations were soon
established between captors and captured.
We had made careful estimates of the distance marched
each day, estimating at the rate of a mile and a half per
hour, certainly conservative enough, and found that since
landing from the Vicksburg we had covered one hundred
and ten miles : twenty from the point of disembarkation to
Casiguran; eighty-two from there to Dinundungan, and
eight from the latter place to Palanan. It could not be
less and might be ten or more miles farther.
The Vicksburg was not to be in Palanan Bay to take
us on board until the 25th, so that we were compelled to
wait over one day, but owing to our condition, this was
a godsend. We spent the day in resting, sleeping, and
eating. One of us American officers remained in the room
with the prisoners all the time, day and night, this being

424 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
at their request because of a wholesome fear of their he
reditary enemies, the Macabebes. Early on the morning
of the 25th we set out for the beach at Palanan Bay to
meet the Vicksburg, the direction being north-east. The
distance was two miles less than that over the trail to
Dinundungan, being only six miles. But there was such
a multiplicity of trails leading in all directions that we lost
much time, as we had no guide, and none of the prisoners
knew the way. Many of the Macabebes suffered severely
from their bruised feet, and Segovia had a hard time of it.
But all things end some time, and at noon we again saw
the Pacific, and far out on it a wisp of smoke, the Vicks
burg coming in. We had brought from Palanan a bed
sheet to be used in signalling, and when the vessel was
two miles out Captain Newton wigwagged the message,
"We have him. Send boats for all." Soon came the
reply, "Well done." Finally she anchored and we could
see the boats being lowered.
It will be remembered that in the firing at Palanan the
leader of Aguinaldo's band had been badly wounded. It
was considered only right to take him to Manila for treat
ment, and he had been brought down the Palanan River
in a canoe by two of the Macabebes, they being furnished
with a pass by Villa in order to protect them in case they
should fall in with insurgents. They arrived about this
time, the place where we had reached the beach being
not far from the mouth of the river. The surf was very
ugly, but the boats came bucking through it, Commander
Barry being in the first one. One of them was upset and
we had great difficulty in getting into them, and were all

CAPTURE OF EMILIO AGUINALDO 425
drenched, but that was nothing. The greatest difficulty
was with the wounded man.
As we rowed alongside the crew cheered time and
again. We were soon on board and en route for Manila,
sailing around the north end of the island. The prisoners
were treated with the greatest courtesy, being entertained
in the officers' messes, and sitting about on deck whenever
they desired. On the morning of the 28th we entered
Manila Bay with all our lights screened, as it was desired
to keep the return of the expedition secret. At six o'clock
I left the Vicksburg in her steam-launch, being accom
panied by Lieutenant Glennon, executive officer of the
vessel, Lieutenant Mitchell, and the three prisoners. We
steamed into the mouth of the Pasig River and up through
the city to the Malacanan Palace, the home of the division
commander, where we all went ashore. General Mac-
Arthur was just rising, and came out in a wrapper to meet
me. He shook hands, looked at me in a quizzical way,
but did not ask a question. I said, "Well, I have brought
you Don Emilio." The general could scarcely believe it,
and asked, "Where is he?" I replied, "Right in this
house." As soon as he could dress the general came out
and greeted cordially all of the three. We all sat down to
breakfast, but Aguinaldo was not very talkative, being
apparently somewhat overcome. But the general put him
at his ease finally, and told him that he would immedi
ately send for his family, whom he had not seen for a long
time. The general got off his official despatch, and then
the news was made public. To say that the city was wild
with excitement mildly expresses the condition. It was

426 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
now the opinion that the war that had wasted the country
for so long a time was at its end. In the meantime I had
hurried to tell the news of my return to the poor woman
who for three long weeks had waited in an agony of sus
pense. A few days later General MacArthur sent for
me, and as I entered his office said, with a very serious
look on his face, "Well, Funston, they do not seem to
have thought much in Washington of your performance.
I am afraid you have got into trouble." At the same
time he handed me a cablegram announcing my appoint
ment as a brigadier-general in the regular army. The
other officers, all of whom had splendidly done their parts,
were also given commissions in the regular army, while
Segovia, Segismundo, the three Tagalos, and the Maca
bebes were given appropriate rewards in various sums of
money.

VIII
CLOSING DAYS
After his capture and delivery to the division com
mander, Aguinaldo was held as a prisoner, but under such
conditions that he suffered no hardship or humiliation,
there being assigned to him as a residence a very respecta
ble house only a few doors from the Malacaiian Palace,
the home of General MacArthur and his personal staff.
Here he was allowed to see any of his friends who might
call, and to confer with them in private, and besides had
the company of his family. A guard of a few men was
maintained over the building, more to protect him from
possible assassination than because of a fear that he
would attempt to escape. I called on him a few times,
and he expressed the keenest appreciation of the treatment
accorded him, he evidently having expected something
entirely different. While his ideas on the subject of the
ability of his countrymen to maintain a stable and respon
sible government seemed rather vague and inchoate, his
dignity of manner and his attractive personality made a
most favorable impression on all who came in contact
with him. Finally, entirely of his own volition, and not
under pressure of any kind, he issued a manly and well-
written proclamation advising his subordinates to give up
the struggle that had wrought such harm to the country,
and to accept the sovereignty of the United States.
427

428 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
While a few surrenders of importance had already
been made, the end of the war was by no means in sight,
though the unceasing military operations against the
guerilla bands all over the archipelago had had the effect
of greatly reducing the number of those in arms against
us. But now they came tumbling in, and within six
weeks only two leaders still remained in the field: Luc-
ban, in Samar, and Malvar, in Batangas ; but the former
was soon captured, while the latter was polished off by
General Bell, and in time came in out of the rain.
Within a week after returning from the Palanan ex
pedition I had returned to San Isidro, and deemed the
time more than propitious to open up negotiations with
Lacuna. Accordingly, there was written him a some
what lengthy letter, in which was set forth a statement of
conditions as they then existed, the surrenders of several
prominent insurgent leaders being cited, and a copy of
Aguinaldo's proclamation being enclosed. Lacuna sent
in reply a letter which, while rather non-committal, indi
cated that he was willing to consider any reasonable prop
osition. Several more communications passed back and
forth, with the result that an agreement was made to
the effect that all hostilities in the Fourth District should
at once cease. Lacuna was to be allowed to concen
trate at Papaya, the little barrio of Peiiaranda that we
knew so well, all of the members of his widely scattered
bands that he could get together, I giving a guarantee
that in the meantime our troops would be confined to their
garrisons and that we would attempt no operations. The
faith that Lacuna had in the promises of the Americans

CLOSING DAYS 429
was shown by the fact that during this period of the con
centration of his troops he did not even maintain out
posts. At last a personal interview in order to discuss the
terms of surrender was arranged, and one day about the
middle of May, accompanied by several members of the
district staff, my two aides, and a dozen men of the Scouts,
I rode out through Gapan and Peiiaranda to Papaya.
The curiosity of all of us to see and talk with the man who
had made things so warm for us during the past year made
us quite impatient to cover the ten miles. Without even a
white flag, and without having out a man as point, we
rode quietly into the insurgent camp, information as to
when we might be expected having been sent in advance.
We dismounted, the men of the Scouts holding our horses
and their own, and were met by an officer whose face
was strangely familiar to me, though it was impossible to
place him. We were conducted to a rather large, grass-
roofed shed, the guard of some twenty men coming to
"present arms" in very good style, and at last were face
to face with Lacuna. He shook hands with all of us,
introduced us to a number of officers who were with him,
and then had some coffee and cake brought in. Naturally,
for a time nothing was said about the object of our visit.
We found him to be an apparently full-blood Malay, very
dark, of medium stature, and possessed of the quiet dig
nity of his race. He was a man of about middle-age,
and had enough knowledge of Spanish to be able to speak
the language fairly correctly, so that we understood each
other without difficulty. On this occasion he was in the

430 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
uniform of his rank, but it was evident to all of us that
these articles of clothing had but recently been prepared
for the occasion.
While these mild and harmless social pleasantries were
going on I from time to time caught the eye of the good-
looking and well-dressed officer who had first met us.
Finally, I strolled over to him, and said in Spanish, "I
have seen you before. Where was it ? " and he said, with
the greatest calmness, "Why, I am Timoteo Dhalan, adju
tant of this force, and at the same time I am the Ameri
can spy Doroteo del Rosario, and I am the man that you
captured at Gapan more than a year ago, and who pre
sented to you a letter from the provost-marshal of one
of the American garrisons, this resulting in my release."
And then it all came back in an instant, and I realized
that the supposed American secret-service man that I
had released under peremptory orders was this same in
dividual. But it was not very long before we got down to busi
ness. I explained very carefully to Lacuna that all of his
officers and men would be allowed to surrender provided
they turned in all arms and ammunition in their posses
sion and took the oath of allegiance to the United States,
and that all crimes against their own countrymen would
be overlooked. It might be best to explain that in
doing this I was carrying out the orders of higher author
ity, which was also the case when it came to the question
as to what steps would be taken against any persons
whom subsequent developments might show to have been
implicated in the murder of American prisoners of war,

CLOSING DAYS 431
it being made plain that they could expect no immunity.
While this discussion was going on I noticed that my
smooth little friend was taking considerable interest in it,
and suspected that his solicitude was due to the fear that
some crime that he had committed might be found out.
Lacuna himself yielded the point, having nothing to fear;
and then came up the question of Fagan, the negro de
serter from our army, who was serving as an officer with
the force concentrated at this point. It was made clear
that this man could not be received as a prisoner of war,
and that if he surrendered it would have to be with the
understanding that he would be tried by court-martial,
in which event his execution would be a practical cer
tainty. Lacuna recognized the fact that any other so
lution was out of the question, and it was finally agreed
that with the exception of Fagan all of his men were to
march to San Isidro, deliver up their arms, and take the
oath of allegiance to the United States, after which all
would be released, but that any who should later prove
to have been guilty of killing American prisoners would
have to stand trial. The terms were then reduced to
writing and signed by both of us.
A few days later, on the 19th of May, Lacuna and his
force marched through Peiiaranda and Gapan to San
Isidro, where they formed line on the public square. All
the Americans, including the few ladies, were present,
while the streets were packed with natives. It was a
brief ceremony, and in a few moments three hundred and
seventy-nine serviceable rifles and several thousand rounds
of ammunition were stacked on the ground. With the

432 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
exception of seventy-five rifles that Lacuna had not yet
had time to get in, but which were delivered within the
next two weeks, these were all that remained of the fifteen
hundred with which the insurgents of Nueva Ecija had be
gun the guerilla war less than a year and a half before. A
few moments later we went over to district head-quarters,
where I administered the oath to Lacuna, the others tak
ing the obligation later in the day. Really, there was
something pathetic about it all, for as soldiers we could
not but have some appreciation of the game men who had
stood out against us so long, and who had suffered such
heavy losses at our hands. Lacuna had been the last of
the insurgent leaders within the limits of the Department
of Northern Luzon to give up the struggle, and General
Wheaton, the department commander, sent the following
despatch :
"The Chief of Staff, Division of the Philippines:
"Lacuna having surrendered with all his officers and
men to-day, I report that all insurrectionary leaders in
this department have been captured or have surrendered.
This is the termination of the state of war in this depart
ment so far as armed resistance to the authority of the
United States is concerned."
It seems to be the usual thing for the cessation of mil
itary operations to be followed by an era of good feeling,
so far as concerns the men who have been fighting each
other, and conditions in Nueva Ecija were no exception
to the rule. Americans and Filipinos met at many social
functions, and the attitude of the whole population was

CLOSING DAYS 433
exceedingly friendly.. Pablo Tecson, Sandico, and other
former chiefs came to see me, and we spent many hours
in pleasant reminiscence. It is a great pity that the feel
ing of those days could not last. It is hard to place the
blame with certainty. The fault was not with the army,
and certainly not with the honest and highly efficient civil
government that soon replaced military rule. But there
arose soon a particularly noisy, pestiferous, and illogical
band of native agitators, mighty few of whom had pos
sessed the courage to face us on the field of battle, and
these were aided and abetted by a number of contempti
ble persons among our own countrymen.
The departure for the United States of* General F. D.
Grant, commanding the Fifth District, and of Colonel
J. M. Thompson, commanding the Sixth District, resulted
in the consolidation of those two commands with my own,
San Fernando, Pampanga, being designated as head
quarters. I was assigned to the command of the new
district, and prepared for final departure from San Isi
dro. Including native auxiliaries, the new command con
tained more than fifteen thousand troops; but the war
was over. On the journey from San Isidro I was accom
panied by Padilla, Lacuna, Alipio Gonzalez, presidente
of San Isidro, and a number of prominent residents, and
the journey of two days was made without incident. I
could not but feel pleased at the compliment of having
so distinguished an escort, but a sarcastic officer of my
staff said that it was because they were glad to be rid
of me. However, I would rather take the other view
of it.

434 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
The work at San Fernando was largely of a routine
nature, being connected with supply and discipline. Our
"hiking" days were over, but there were still a few scores
to settle. After the surrender of Lacuna, Fagan had for
a time disappeared, but now he began to be heard from,
he having in some way obtained two or three rifles and,
with a couple of unreconstructed natives, taken to the
bosque, whence he had made a few forays for the purpose
of committing robberies. I made a trip to Manila to
discuss the matter with General Wheaton, and came back
with the authority to offer a reward of six hundred dol
lars for Fagan, dead or alive. Whatever he had been be
fore, he was now a bandit, pure and simple, and entitled
to just the same treatment as a mad dog; which is what
he got. A proclamation, written in Spanish and Taga-
log, offering a reward of six hundred dollars for the head
of David Fagan, American negro, deserter from the
United States army, was posted in every town in Nueva
Ecija, and at Bongabong was read by one Anastacio Bar
tolome, a Tagalog who for years had made his living as
a deer hunter. Having heard rumors of the recent move
ments of Fagan and his companions, and not being averse
to earning an honest penny, Anastacio took to the woods
with one companion, and two days later found Fagan,
two Filipino men and three women in camp on the beach
of the Pacific coast of the province at the place known on
the maps as Dingalan Cove. The party was just sitting
down to a dinner of camotes and fish, and invited the visi
tors from Bongabong to join them. The opportunity for
Anastacio to carry out his plan not being favorable at the

CLOSING DAYS 435
time, he accepted. He knew Fagan by sight, having him
self been an insurgent soldier, and so was sure he had the
right man. The meal being half finished, he gave his
companion a look; the two sprang to their feet, and in a
few strokes beheaded the three men, sparing the three
screaming women. Fagan's head, the only one of im
portance, was brought to Bongabong and delivered to
Lieutenant R. C. Corliss, Thirty-fourth Infantry, com
manding the company of Ilocano Scouts constituting the
garrison of that town. With the head were brought in
three Remington rifles, two revolvers, Fagan's two com
missions, one as first lieutenant and the other as captain,
signed by both Alejandrino and Lacuna, and Lieutenant
Alstaetter's West Point class ring, taken from him by
Fagan at the time of his capture, a year before. Only
a short time later Lacuna told me that we got the right
man, though there was never any doubt on the subject, as
all of the colored soldiers who had been captured had been
in one way or another accounted for. Anastacio received
his money in less than two weeks, and it was more than
he could have saved in many years of following his useful
but not very lucrative occupation; and Fagan was at
least one American traitor who got what was coming
to him. Let us hope that after his return to his home
Anastacio did not bet all of his winnings on the wrong
bird. We had not been in San Fernando very long when
there began to be noised about rumors of the presence of
a white bandit operating in the country thereabouts. This
was more than interesting, being without precedent in

436 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
our times in the Philippines, and the matter was looked
into. Finally, the suspected man was arrested, and proved
to be George A. Raymond, a recently discharged soldier
of the Forty-first Infantry. The evidence against the
accused was worked out by Captain George H. Cam
eron, of the Fourth Cavalry, and his unwinding of the
whole thing was a piece of detective work that in itself
would make a chapter. Raymond, having already been
discharged from the army, was not subject to trial by
court-martial, and so was sent before a military commis
sion, which is the same thing, only worse. This particular
body was presided over by Captain A. C. Macomb, Fifth
Cavalry, and it did its work in mighty few hours, fewer, in
fact, than the number of weeks that the same case would
have dragged along in one of our ridiculous trials by jury
at home. Military commissions, though governed by the
rules of evidence that prevail in civil courts, and while at
all times guarding the rights of the accused, pay no at
tention to technicalities, and brush to one side everything
that it may be sought to bring in to obscure the main issue,
which, after all, is whether the accused is guilty or not.
If I should ever do anything very naughty, I should very
much dislike going before one of them, but if innocent
of the charge, would ask nothing better. Once the sen
tence of a military commission has been approved by the
superior military authority on the ground, there is no
appeal except to the President of the United States; and
he is liable to be on the other side of the world. Ray
mond was convicted of murder, robbery, and another
crime that cannot be mentioned here; and on the 27th

CLOSING DAYS 437
day of September ten thousand Filipinos packed the public
square at Angeles to see a white man die on the scaffold.
A kindly old native priest did the decent thing, and stood
at the side of the wretched man until it was over, though
Raymond had never had anything to do with his church
or any other. Raymond, despicable criminal though he
was, had the good taste not to lower the prestige of his
race in the way he met death, and, defiant to the last, went
to his doom with sullen courage. If they had ever had
any doubts as to whether the stern and implacable justice
administered by our military commissions knew either
race or color, the natives should have been convinced by
this incident. But there were other examples; for just a
week before, Harry Cline, an American employee of the
Quartermaster's Department, had been hanged at Fort
San Antonio, Abad, Manila, for the brutal and senseless
murder of a native boy; and it was during the period that
a civilian scout, a white American, who at San Fernando
needlessly shot a native prisoner in his charge, was sen
tenced to imprisonment for twenty years.
Among the prisoners confined in the guard-house at
San Fernando was one Manuel Gonzalez, an insurgent
lieutenant, awaiting trial on the charge of breaking a pa
role, he having returned to the field after being once capt
ured and released. The surrenders of the numerous in
surgent bands, with the return to their homes of the men
constituting them, and their consequent release from the
control of their superiors, now began to have the effect
of assisting us in unravelling some of the mysteries of the
past two years. On the 30th day of October, 1900, a

438 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
detachment of ten men of the Thirty-fifth Infantry, act
ing as escort for Jose Buencamino, the newly elected pres
idente of San Miguel de Mayumo, while he was on his
way to that town to assume his duties, was ambushed near
the Maasim River and Buencamino and five of the sol
diers captured, never again being heard of alive. Several
circumstances now brought to light pointed to the guilt of
Gonzalez, the prisoner at San Fernando, in making way
with the six missing men. I had him brought over to my
head-quarters, and Segovia and I took him in hand. No
violence was used nor threatened, nor were promises held
out, but hours of a grilling cross-examination, catching
him in innumerable lies, finally broke the man down, and
he told everything. He had personally superintended the
execution of the six men, but had acted under written
orders from the then local guerilla chief, Timoteo Dhalan.
And now it was clear why this man, when he surrendered
with Lacuna, being at that time his adjutant, had shown
such solicitude as to what proceedings might be taken
against insurgents implicated in the killing of prisoners of
war. Gonzalez gave the names of the sergeant and five
other men who under his personal direction had done the
bloody work, and told all the ghastly details. Buencamino
had been separated from the American prisoners, and was
killed with a dagger, while the five soldiers, Privates Hick
man, Smith, Jarvis, Dane, and Wilson, of the Thirty-fifth
Infantry, with their arms tied behind their backs, were
conducted into the high grass bordering the Candaba
swamp, where the helpless men were stabbed to death,
their bodies being left unburied. Segovia, Lieutenant

CLOSING DAYS 439
Mitchell, and I mounted our horses and in two days
reached Baliuag, where we were joined by Lieutenant
Robert I. Rees, of the Third Infantry. The sergeant and
five privates implicated in the confession of Gonzalez
were quickly captured, and being examined separately,
and confronted with our knowledge of the facts, confessed
everything. It was important now to find the letter that
would be essential in order to convict Dhalan, as the un
supported word of Gonzalez would not be sufficient, the
other men captured having no knowledge of the orders
under which Gonzalez had acted. Gonzalez had told
us that the document was probably in the house of his
mother in a small village near Baliuag, but he did not
know just where, as nearly a year had passed since he had
seen it. The house was found with some difficulty, but
Gonzalez's mother either did not know where the docu
ment was or would not tell, though she was assured that
it could in no way injure her son, he already having con
fessed. The building, a nipa structure of a few rooms, was
searched so thoroughly that the fatal letter was found con
cealed in one of the hollow bamboo door-posts. It was
directed to Lieutenant Manuel Gonzalez, and was signed
by Timoteo Dhalan, the date being November 1, 1900, and
gave the most explicit orders as to the execution of Buen
camino and the five Americans. A long search in the
cogon grass along the edge of the great swamp in the
hope of finding the skeletons of the murdered men was
futile, though months afterward they were all found by
Lieutenant Rees, and given burial. Dhalan was quickly
arrested and brought to San Fernando. The "smooth-

440 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
ness" that marked him on the occasions of our two pre
vious meetings did not forsake him now; nor did that
plausibility that had enabled him so completely to pull
the wool over the eyes of one of our officers that he had
been employed as a spy under the name of Doroteo del
Rosario at the same time that he was an insurgent offi
cer in active service. Major George H. Paddock, Fifth
Cavalry, was president, and my aide, Mitchell, judge-
advocate of the military commission that met at San Fer
nando in our head-quarters building to try the cases. I
was called as a witness as to previous meetings with
Dhalan and the finding of the letter to Gonzalez. The
latter, Sergeant de la Cruz, and the five privates who had
done the actual killing went on the stand in succession
and told the sickening story, hiding nothing. Lacuna
was introduced as an unwilling witness for the prosecu
tion for the purpose of identifying the handwriting of the
letter as being that of his old adjutant. When the ques
tion was put to him, he being asked if he recognized the
penmanship of the letter as that of Dhalan, he hesitated,
looked helplessly around the room, and finally in a barely
audible voice answered, "I do." It was an intensely dra
matic and very painful moment, and all of us felt keenly
sorry for the old guerilla chief, placed in the position of
having to take his choice between committing perjury or
assisting in weaving the web about a former staff officer.
But we were not altogether dependent on the testimony
of Lacuna, for a number of undisputed specimens of the
handwriting of Dhalan were available for comparison.
On the 8th of November, Timoteo Dhalan, alias Doroteo

CLOSING DAYS 441
del Rosario, and Manuel Gonzalez met death on the
gallows at Baliuag, the former before that day having
made a complete and full confession. If one could con
sider Dhalan apart from the shocking crime for which he
was responsible, it would be easy to regret his fate, for he
was a rather likable man of attractive personality. Ser
geant de la Cruz was sentenced to death, but this was
commuted to imprisonment for life, while the five privates
were allowed to go without trial.
Brutal as was the crime for which these men were pun
ished, it was a mere misdemeanor compared with the one
for which the insurgent commandante, Francisco Braganza,
was hanged at Nueva Caceres just a week later, this being
the chopping to death with bolos of one hundred and three
Spanish soldiers, prisoners of war, in order to prevent
their rescue by the American troops. Had the military
authorities relentlessly punished all the crimes that were
now brought to light, there would have been a gallows set
up in nearly every town in the Philippine Islands; but
considerations of policy and possibly the fear of a not very
discriminating public sentiment at home stopped the work,
and after the hanging of some three hundred Filipinos and
half a dozen Americans the military commissions ceased
their functions, and left unavenged the deaths of thousands
of helpless Filipinos who in those terrible years had suf
fered martyrdom at the hands of their own people. After
all, it is better that this course was taken, for had we been
strictly logical, and held every man to an accounting for
his deeds, there would have resulted one of the most pain
ful chapters in modern history.

442 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
But it is pleasant to turn from such a distressing theme.
We officers on duty at district head-quarters at San Fer
nando had our home and office in the same building, the
finest residence in the town, and life was quite agreeable,
especially as we were now often able to go to Manila,
and to entertain friends from there, the trip to the capital
requiring a railroad journey of only a few hours. Lieu
tenant Day, having been appointed treasurer of Nueva
Ecija province, had been mustered out of the service, and
had remained in San Isidro, so that I had taken as the
second aide, to which I was entitled, Lieutenant Thomas
E. Merrill, Second Artillery. It was during these days
that Mitchell conceived the idea that his social standing
would be improved if he had his own private vehicle, and
so, having in some way saved up eighty dollars, he pur
chased a carromato, and at the same time the necessary
harness. After he had done this it suddenly occurred to
him that he had no horse to place between the shafts, and
without a horse the new purchase was liable to be of but
little use. Captain Smith was the owner of a very fine
native pony of unusual size, and of light roan color, the
name "Willie Grow" having in some way been attached
to him. I knew Willie quite well, and in fact had ridden
him on several expeditions. When Mitchell confessed his
plight to the effect that he was the possessor of a carro
mato and harness, but had no horse, Captain Smith said,
"Why, why not use Willie?" The brigade adjutant
then retired for his siesta, but from the window of my
room I watched the proceedings. The fact that Willie
was a saddle-horse, and never in his life had been deco-

CLOSING DAYS 443
rated with a harness, added interest to the obsequies.
Willie stood still while he was being hitched up, but looked
insulted and peevish. Mitchell got in, and somewhat im
patiently said to the driver, "Why don't you make him
go ? Touch him up." Willie went, straight through a
high board fence, distributing Mitchell, the native driver,
the harness, and the fragments of the carromato impar
tially over the landscape, and calmly went to cropping
grass. In September I had to take a hurried journey to Manila
for the purpose of undergoing a most serious surgical oper
ation, and spent the next three months in the First Re
serve Hospital. Mrs. Funston had returned to the United
States in May, so that I could not have the benefit of
visits from her during this trying time; but General
Chaffee, who on July 1 had relieved General MacArthur
in supreme command, General Wheaton, and many other
friends among the officers called frequently to cheer me
up and help to pass away the dreary weeks. Finally the
long siege was over, and I was ordered home, not to return
to Manila for more than nine years. While coming out on
my third trip in February, 191 1, it brought back vividly
the long-ago days when I was a filibuster, to see lying in
the harbor of Honolulu the same old Dauntless on which
I had made the trip to the coast of Cuba nearly fifteen
years before. And these closing lines are written in my
quarters in Manila, in the very house which was once the
home of Don Valeriano Weyler, not unknown to fame
as a somewhat energetic suppressor of insurrections, and
the commander-in-chief of the Spanish forces in Cuba

444 PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCES
during a part of the War of Independence. All of
which brings up musings as to the queer things that
are sometimes brought about by the turns of the wheel
of fortune.

the end

INDEX
Abernethy, Major, 245. Bates, Scout, 352, 353.
Admire, Lieutenant E. L., 316; 337- Bat6, Dionisio, 396; 398; 403; 420.
339! 3Si; 359. 36°- Batson, Major, 364; 366; 371.
Aguinaldo, Baldomero, 384; 390, 391; Bautista, 312.
403. Bayamo, 99; 102; 104, 105.
Aguinaldo, Emilio, 192; 225; 263; 309, Bay of Banes, 117; 125.
310; 312-314; 346; 348; 356; 379; Bell, Major-General J. F., 189, 190;
383-391; 393; 401-427. 204; 248; 268; 299, 300; 428.
Ahem, Captain and Mrs. George P., Benson, Major H. C, 36*9.
398. Betancourt, Sergeant Cecilio, 132.
Albright, Captain W. S., 290. Bigaa, 256; 267.
Alejandrino, General Jose-, 275; 348; Binondo District, 173; 177; 214.
356; 384*> 391; 435- Birlew, Private, 258, 259.
Alexander, First Sergeant, 380. Bishop, Captain William H., 177; 183,
Alford, Lieutenant Alfred C, 198. 184; 287, 308.
Alhambra, Major, 421. Blaine, Jr., Captain James G., 168.
Aliaga, 338; 342. Blankart, Miss Eda, 171, 172.
Alstaetter, Lieutenant F. W., 375, 376; Blockhouse No. One, 186.
435. Bocaue, 255; 264; 267; 297.
Anderson, Major-General T. M., 174. Boltwood, Captain Edmund, 177; 199;
Anibal, Private, 235. 272.
Apalit, 287; 289. Bongabong, 322; 434.
Auracana, 96. Braganza, Francisco, 441.
Bridges, Lieutenant C. H., 270.
Bacolor, 298; 300-302. Brown, Major W. C, 313; 377; 381-
Bag-Bag River, 269, 270; 274; 294, 383.
295. Buchan, Captain, 172; 184.
Baldwin, Major John A., 315. Buencamino, Jose-, 438, 439.
Baler, 137; 320; 322; 324; 387; 395; Bueno, Captain "Barney," 139. ,
400; 406. Bulacan province, 318.
Baliuag, 441. Buloc, 402.
Ball, Lieutenant Colin H., 235; 262; Bustos, Pedro, 399.
273, 274; 276.
Barasoain, 263. Cabanatuan, 316; 322; 342; 346.
Barcelona, Santiago, 421, 422. Cabell, Captain H. C, 293.
Barry, Commander E. B., 397, 398; Cabrera, General Rafael, 10; 15; 17,
409; 424. 18; 37.
Barry, Major-General Thomas H., 295. Cabu, 347.
Barshfield, Trumpeter, 185; 233; 248; Cadhit, Gregorio, 396; 398; 403; 407;
258; 272, 273. 420.
Bartolome, Anastacio, 434. Cagayan, 385; 392.
445

440

INDEX

Caldwell, Orderly, 252.
Calle Lemeri, 178.
Caloocan, 174; 177; 180; 189, 190;
199; 204; 214; 216; 228; 237; 264;
295; 3*8.
Caloocan church, 206; 208.
Calumpit, 190; 274; 288; 295.
Camaguey, 9; 18; 28; 35; 66; 98; 140.
Cameron, Captain F. H., 364; 367.
Cameron, Captain George H., 377;
43°-
CaminoReal, 36; 39; 60.
Camp Merritt, 158; 160; 161; 165.
Candaba swamp, 376; 438.
Capote, General, 26.
Cardenas, Captain, 127, 128.
Carranglan, 316.
Carroll, Private, 254.
Cascorra, 7; 9; 24; 27; 36; 37; 41;
44; 5°; 58* 59! 61; 69; 82; 96;
112; 137; 146; 233.
Casiguran, 395; 405-407; 410; 412;
423-
Casiguran Bay, 402; 404.
Castellanos, General, 36; 58; 59; 84;
94-
Cauto River, 62; 117; 144.
Cavite province, 215; 391.
Cayo Hueso, 101.
Cebreco, Augustin, 65; 80; 112-116.
Chaffee, General, 443.
Chamberlain, Dr., 382.
Chapleau, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph
Napoleon, 124-126.
Charleston, S. C, 10; n.
Charleston, The, 187, 216.
Christy, Captain, 193, 194; 204.
Cisneros, Salvador, 140.
Clarke, Captain Adna G., 179; 234,
235-
Claro, Captain, 358.
Cline, Harry, 437.
Cochran, Captain, 392.
Collazo, General Enrique, 112; 120.
Commodore, The, n; 15.
Concepcion block-house, 124; 126; 133.
Concord, The, 187.
Corliss, Lieutenant R. C, 435.

Corregidor Island, 172.
Cox, Captain William, 62; 79; 85; 102;
109.
Craig, Private, 235.
Creelman, James, 233; 263.
Cuartel de la Caballeria, 118; 120-122;
127; 132.
Cuartel de la Infanteria, 118; 120, 121;
128; 133; 138.
Cuba, 4; 145; 150; J56, 157; 443-
Cuban Junta, 4; 8; 38.
Dane, Private, 438.
Danforth, Dr. Harry, 62; 86.
Dauntless, The, 13-23; 25, 26; 29-34;
443-
Davis, Ensign, 237; 249.
Day, Lieutenant Richard C, 366; 377;
379! 442.
De Ford, Adjutant William H., 152.
De la Cruz, Sergeant, 440, 441.
Del Pilar, Pio, 337.
Del Rosario, Daroteo, 320; 430; 440.
Departamento del Oriente, 7; 116; 146.
Desmayo, 9.
Devine, James, 62; 75, 76; 120.
Dhalan, Timoteo, 430; 438-441.
Dietrick, Lieutenant L. L., 359, 360.
Dillon, Captain, 294, 295.
Dinundungan, 415; 418; 423.
Dix, Private, 259.
Dodge, Sergeant-Major Frederick R.,
171.
Draper, Paul, 363, 364.
Drysdale, Corporal, 248.
Egbert, Colonel, 241.
El Caney, 116.
El Castillo, 102; 106; 108; 112, 113.
Elliott, Captain David S., 219.
El Platano, 94.
Ely, Lieutenant Hanson E., 351.
Enslow, First-Sergeant, 273.
Estrampes, Captain Jose", 77; 88.
Ethelston, Commander A. P., 212; 213.
Ethridge, Private, 353.
Fagan, David, 376; 380; 431; 434, 435.
Fairchild, Private, 240.

INDEX

447

Ferguson, Corporal Arthur M., 190;
273; 277. 278.
Flanders, Captain, 275; 277.
Fleming, Lieutenant Adrian, 188; 206;
279.
Fortin Gonfu, 67; 84; 86.
Fortin Isabella, 67; 72; 77; 80; 88.
Fort Leavenworth, 84; 154; 156.
Fort William McKinley, 337.
Fritot, Mr., 12.
Frost, Colonel A. S., 250.
Funston, Frederick, visits the Cuban
Junta, 4, 5; gun practice, 5-8; to
Cuba on the Dauntless, 13-36; joins
the Cuban army, 30; in the siege of
Cascorra, 43-61; commissioned a
captain, 67; the fall of Guaimaro,
68-97; promoted to major, 96; at
tack on Jiguani, 99-116; made lieu
tenant-colonel after Victoria de las
Tunas, 140; meets comrades of the
revolution, 145, 146; returns to the
United States, 149; made colonel of
the Twentieth Kansas, 151; the
Twentieth Kansas in San Francisco,
160-171; marriage, 171, 172; off to
Manila, 172; before Caloocan and
its trenches, 188-224; Malolos, 225
et seq. ; crossing of the Tuliajan, 232-
236; at the Marilao River, 246-250;
attack at the Guiguinto, 256-259;
taking of Malolos, 263, 264; seizes
the bridge at the Bag-Bag, 270-274;
crossing the Rio Grande, 274-289;
wounded at Santo Tomas, 292; made
brigadier-general of volunteers, 295,
296; placed in command of the First
Brigade, 297; reconnoissance toward
Bacolor, 300-305; returns to San
Francisco with old regiment, 311;
given command of the Third Bri
gade, 313; attack on Gapan, 319,
320; march to garrison Baler, 320-
323; captures records of the Malolos
government, 345, 346; attack on Tec
son, 357-359; engagements with La
cuna, 360-368; expedition in search
of and capture of Aguinaldo, 384-

426; appointed brigadier-general in
the regular army, 426; treats with
Lacuna, 428-430; surrender of La
cuna, 432; illness at Manila, 443;
ordered home, 443; return to Manila,
443-
Funston, Mrs. Frederick, 172; 177; 193,
194; 312; 379! 397, 398; 443-
Galicia, The, 25.
Gantzhorn, Private, 378.
Gapan, 317; 319; 331; 364, 365; 429,
43°-
Garcia, Colonel Carlos, 64; 83; 129-131 ;
145-
Garcia, General Calixto, 61-64; 67; 84;
87; 91; 96; 121; 125; 140.
Garcia, General Panteleon, 318; 337;
348; 356; 396.
Gayler, Mr., 370.
Gibson, Captain George E., 372.
Gillmore, Lieutenant, 323.
Glennon, Lieutenant, 425.
Godfrey, Captain George J., 351; 353.
Gomez, Maximo, 26, 27, 29; 37; 41;
46; 49! 52; 56; 62; 64; 66; 67; 81; 87;
91; 94! 96J J42; 144-
Gonzalez, Alipio, 433.
Gonzalez, Juan, 65; 132.
Gonzalez, Manuel, 437-441.
Grant, General F. D., 318; 337; 357,
358; 433-
Guaimaro, 8, 9; 36; 38; 48; 59; 66; 68;
69; 74; 93! 96.
Guardia, Lieutenant-Colonel Angel,
i38. *39-
Guiguinto River, 256; 259; 264; 267.
Haight, Lieutenant C. S., 377.
Hale, General, 241.
Hall, Brigadier-General Robert H., 223.
Hamilton, Captain Clad, 170.
Hampton Roads, 16.
Hardy, Captain Edward J., 171; 248.
Harris, Major H. S. T., 313; 359; 362;
379-
Hatfield, Private, 254.
Haussermann, Lieutenant, 172.

448

INDEX

Havana, 10; 64; 142-145.
Hawkins, Colonel Hamilton S., 156.
Hazzard, Captain R. T., 396; 399; 417.
Hazzard, Lieutenant O. M. P., 396;
399! 4i7-
Hernandez, Lieutenant-Colonel
Charles, 112; 114-116.
Hickman, Private, 438.
Hitt, Lieutenant Parker, 387.
Holguin, 118.
Honolulu, 169; 172; 443.
Hopkins, Lieutenant, 248; 283.
Huffman, Captain Charles S., 152.
Hull, Corporal, 316, 317.
Hull, Lieutenant Walter P., 170.
Huntington, Charles, 9; 11; 37; 43; 83;
85; 87, 88; 96.
Huntsman, Private, 248.
Indiana, The, 171-173; 312.
Jaen, 348; 396.
Janney, Lieutenant Stuart S., 62; 71,
72; 75, 76; 85; 102; 123; 130;
132; 137-
Jarvis, Private, 438.
Jernigan, Lieutenant, 348.
Jiguani, 8; 59; 80; 97; 99; 101; 116;
129; 146.
Jones, Walter M., 27; 43; 48; 49; 50;
85; 103; II1-, I2°; 122, 123.
Jorge Juan, The, 25; 117.
Joyce, Arthur Royal, 27; 43; 52; 103;
111; 120.
Kansas, 11; 149, 150; 154-156; 162; 172.
Keeny, Private, 254.
Keller, Major, 342, 343.
Kennon, Colonel L. W. V., 319; 322.
Kerfoot, Captain B. H., 282.
Kessler, Colonel, 298.
Kimmel, Lieutenant E. S., 293.
King, General Charles, 158, 159; 166-
169.
Kobbe", Major W. A., 174; 199; 244.
Koehler, Captain L. M, 315; 324;
326; 33I"333; 338; 349; 366; 368;
369-

Krause, Lieutenant A. H., 179; 290.
Krayenbuhl, Captain, 241.
Kreps, Captain J. F., 366; 380.
Lacuna, Urbano, 318-320; 333, 334;
337; 348; 357; 359, 36°; 362; 364-
368; 375, 376; 378, 379; 383, 384;
387; 39°, 391; 394, 395; 402, 403;
410, 411; 428, 429, 430, 431, 432,
433! 435*, 440.
La Loma church, 188; 193; 199; 222;
229.
La Machuca, 36; 59; 73; 146.
Lambton, Captain the Honorable Hed
worth, 212.
Las Minas, 60.
Las Nuevas Grandes, 18, 19.
Las Tunas, 48; 80; 97; 141.
Latrobe, Jr., Lieutenant Osmun, 62;
71; 85; 103; 109; 120.
Laurada, The, 117.
Lawton, General, 318.
La Yaya, 37; 39; 41; 96.
Leedy, John W., Governor, 150; 154.
Lico road, 183; 186; 188.
Linares, General, 104; 115.
Liscum, Colonel Emerson H., 311.
Little, Lieutenant-Colonel Edward C,
151; 177; 184; 227; 262; 306.
Llanera, General, 217.
Lockett, Captain James, 301; 305.
Lopez, Narcisso, 66.
Lucban, 428.
Luna, Antonio, 225; 242; 267; 291;
346.
Luzon, 185; 305; 314, 315; 320; 336;
384; 393-
Lyles, Lieutenant D. C, 359.
Maasim River, 438.
MacArthur, Major-General Arthur,
173, J74; 193; 199; 205, 206; 231;
240; 251; 253; 257; 263; 270,271;
277; 279; 287-289; 294-G96; 300;
3°9; 312; 320; 336; 393; 397,398;
425, 426; 443.
Macomb, Captain A. C, 436.
McKinley, President, 173.

INDEX

449

McKiiinon, Chaplain, 209.
McTaggart, Lieutenant W. A., 291,
292.
Maine, The, 149.
Malabon, 205, 206; 210; 214; 221;
242.
Malacafian Palace, 425; 427.
Malimba River, 381-383.
Malinta, 203; 215, 216; 218; 224; 239;
241, 242; 264.
Mallory, Major J. S., 219.
Malolos, 208; 216; 223; 243; 256;
260; 262; 264, 265; 346.
Malolos government records, 345.
Malvar, 428.
Manicling, 364, 365.
Manila, 158; 165; 171, 172; 174, 175;
210; 254; 267; 288; 294,295; 297;
309-312; 320; 323; 336; 393; 396;
425; 434; 442, 443-
Manila Bay, 173, 174; 398; 425.
Manila-Dagupan Railway, 174; 206;
3*3-
Manzanillo, 104.
Marilao River, 246; 254; 264; town,
251; 267.
Mariquina Valley, 243.
Marti,  , 120.
Martin, Captain Charles I., 185.
Mascardo, 305; 391.
Matanzas, 142.
Maternillos, 19.
Menocal, Colonel Mario, 64; 71, 72;
73; 87; 89, 90; 121; 129, 130, 131;
136; 138.
Menocal, Major Pablo, 99.
Merriam, General H. C, 166.
Merrill, Lieutenant Thomas E., 442.
Merritt, General Wesley, 158, 159; 166.
Metcalf, Colonel, 305..
Metcalf, Major Wilder S., 151; 162;
177; 191; 195; 202; 213; 234; 245;
255-
Meycauayan, 242; 264.
Miles, General, 157, 158.
Miller, General Marcus P., 166.
Mindanao, 259; 399.
Miranda, Lieutenant Luis R., 74.

Mitchell, Lieutenant B. J., 292; 312;
314; 3l6> 3*7; 321; 324; 33°; 3395
35i; 359; 302; 377; 379! 381; 392;
395; 4°i; 414; 423; 425; 439! 442,
443-
Mitchell, Lieutenant E. B., 365.
Monadnock, The, 216.
Morrison, Jr., Lieutenant John, 377;
379! 3Sl-
Morro Castle, 15.
Mount Arayot, 348.
Munro, Captain J. N., 364; 371.
Murphy, James E., 326-331.
Murphy, Lieutenant John C., 201; 301;
3°3-
Newport, The, 172, 173.
Newton, Captain Harry W., 395; 406;
417; 424.
Novaliches road, 236; ford, 239.
Nueva Caceres, 441.
Nueva Ecija, 192; 217, 218; 313; 315;
3J9; 323; 348; 357; 375; 387; 4°o;
403; 432; 434-
Nuevitas, 26; 58; 60.
Nunez, General Emilio, 10; 18.
O'Brien, Captain John, 14, 15; 18; 25.
O'Brien, First-Sergeant, 362-364.
Oriente, 98, 99.
Orwig, Captain, 203; 248; 283; 286,
287.
Osgood, Brigadier-General, 79.
Osgood, Major Winchester Dana, 8;
62; 67; 69, 70; 75; 77-80.
Otis, General Elwell S., 158, 159; 166;
173, 174; 219; 295; 312; 336.
Otis, General Harrison Gray, 173; 183;
206; 265.
Paddock, Major George H., 440.
Pagluchi, Mr., 9; 11, 12; 15.
Palanan, 387; 389; 392, 393; 401; 411;
415-417; 423-
Palanan Bay, 409.
Palanan River, 419.
Palma, President, 4, 5; 10.
Pampanga Province, 313; 348.

45°

INDEX

Pangasinan, 312.
Pantabangan, 321, 322; 346; 384; 387;
400.
Papaya, 359, 360; 428, 429.
Parker, Second-Lieutenant R. S., 299.
Pasig River, 174; 425.
Pease, Dr., 377.
Pedilla, Colonel Pablo, 318; 337; 348;
433-
Penaranda, 324; 338; 359; 364, 365;
372; 380; 428, 429.
Pennie, James, 27; 43; 50; 52; 69-73;
85; 87; 103; 120.
Perry, Captain Alexander, 313.
Philippines, 51; 149; 152; 157; 169; 193;
224; 251; 259; 266; 313; 323; 385.
Pinar del Rio, 142.
Plummer, Private, 235.
Poey,  , 120.
Polillo, 401.
Polo, 264.
Pomroy, Captain Frederic H., 313.
Portuondo,  , 120; 126.
Potter, Arthur, 9; 37; 43; 61.
Powerful, The, 212.
Pratt, Charles, 183.
Principe Province, 320.
Puerto Principe, 18; 36; 39; 58; 84; 94,
95-
Purviance, Lieutenant Samuel A., 349;
360; 364.
Quingua, 268, 269; 271; 274.
Rabi, 65; 118.
Rafter, Major Jojm A., 151.
Raymond, George A., 436, 437.
Rees, Lieutenant, 439.
Remey, Admiral, 393; 397.
Rio Chico, 270; 272; 274.
Rio Francis, 283, 284; 286, 287.
Rio Grande, 190; 274; 280; 283-286;
288; 295; 338; 342.
Rio Penaranda, 360.
Roberts, Captain C. D., 348.
Robinson, Private, 378.
Roloff expedition, 120.
Roque, Roman, 394, 395.

Rosa, General Avelino, 49, 50; 52, 53.
Russell, Captain Edgar, 216.
Russell, Lieutenant P. P., 293.
Ryan, Private, 299.
Sabani Valley, 321.
Sama, 117.
San Antonio, 363.
Sandico, Teodoro, 357; 384; 433.
San Fernando, 255; 297; 304; 306; 309,
3xo; 314; 433! 435; 442.
San Francisco, 154; 157; 160, 161; 168;
171; 3", 312-
San Isidro, 313; 315; 317, 318; 321-325;
331; 334, 335; 346; 35i; 353! 357!
363; 365; 375; 384; 394, 395; 428; 431;
433-
San Jose", 316; 319; 342.
San Miguel, 305; 320; 348; 357; 375.
San Miguel de Mayumo, 438.
Santa Clara, 96; 142.
Santa Cruz, 317.
Santa Mesa, 174.
Santa Rita, 300.
Santiago, 65; 157; 224.
Santo Tomas, 171; 291; 297.
Satilla, 13.
Scherrer, Cook, 254.
Schliemann, Chaplain John G., 152;
172.
Schwarz, Sergeant, 380.
Scott, Captain Howard A., 292; 306.
Seaman, Lieutenant, 206.
Sedano, Lieutenant Francisco, 120;
J33-
Segismundo, Cecilio, 386-389; 391, 392;
3955 397; 4°i; 4°6; 408; 426.
Segovia, Lazaro, 217; 389; 395, 397;
402, 403; 406-409; 411; 414-420; 426;
438-
Shafter, General, 157.
Sheldon, Lieutenant, 381.
Sheldon, Lieutenant Raymond, 377.
Sheldon, Sergeant Jay, 198.
Shunk, Major W. A., 322, 323.
Sibanicu, 36.
Sickles, General Daniel E., 3.
Sideco, Senor, 355.

INDEX

45i

Smith, Captain E. V., 298; 301; 304;
3°9; 3*3, 3*45 348; 384-
Smith, Captain Henry D., 152.
Smith, Lieutenant-Colonel Jacob H.,
3"-
Smith, Private, 438.
Smith, Quartermaster L. C, 152.
Smith, William, 27.
Sorensen, Private, 299, 300.
Spain, 149; 393.
Steele, John M., 169.
Stone, Lieutenant David L., 372.
Stony Point, 349-351; 353! 37*-
Stotsenburg, Colonel, 254; 268.
Strong, Major P. B., 257.
Subig Bay, 215.
Sullivan, Private, 299.
Tagunton, 375; 379; 381; 383.
Tal Placidio, Hilario, 192; 348; 396;
398; 401; 403, 406; 409; 4n; 415;
419-421.
Tampa, 156, 157.
Tarafa, Major Miguel, 30; 37.
Tarlac, 346.
Tartar, The, 312.
Taylor, Lieutenant J. D., 384; 386; 388.
Tecson, Pablo, 268; 318, 319; 348;
357, 358; 3°4, 37i; 384; 433-
Tecson, Simon, 318; 384; 391.
Telegraph Fort, 121; 123; 127, 128;
133; ^36; 13s, 139-
Ten Years' War, 10; 63; 65.
Thompson, Colonel J. M., 433.
Tinio, Colonel Casimerio, 348.
Tinio, General, 410; 414.
Tondo District, 173; 214.
Topeka, 150; 154, 155; 197.
Trembly, W. B., 279-282; 289.
Tuliajan River, 203; 205; 223; 232;
236; 239; 246; 261; 264.
Tyler, O. E., 282.
Vega, General Javier, 38-40; 54.
Ventus, Lieutenant-Colonel Manuel,
376.

Vicksburg, The, 397, 398; 401, 402;
4°4! 423, 424-
Victoria de las Tunas, 8; 117; 146.
Villa, Simon, 415; 421, 422; 424.
Visayan Islands, 423.
Vitale, Captain, 300.
Wagner, Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur L.,
156.
Wahl, Private, 254.
Walinski,  , 9; 37.
Walker, Charles B., 170.
Wallace, Lieutenant-Colonel R. B.,
298.
Ward, Private, 382.
Warner, Adjutant Cassius E., 171; 233;
272, 273; 292-294; 297; 301; 304.
Washington, 149; 295.
Washington, First-Sergeant, 365.
Watson, Captain William J., 234; 259.
Webster, Lieutenant F. D., 293.
Welsford,  , 9; 37.
Weyler, Don Valeriano, 443.
Wheaton, General Loyd, 223; 237; 243;
265, 266; 271, 272; 274; 276; 279;
287-291; 293; 296, 297; 336; 393;
396, 397, 39s; 432; 434; 443-
Wheeler, Jr., Major Joseph, 323; 338;
359! 36h 362; 366; 371, 372.
Whisner, Lieutenant, 283.
White, Edward, 279; 281, 282; 289.
White, Sergeant Frank, 370, 371.
Whitman, Major Frank H, 151; 172;
177; 199; 227; 234; 299.
Wilcox, Private, 290.
Willey, Private, 248.
Wilson, Private, 259, 438.
Wolfe, Lieutenant O. R., 324; 328; 330,
331-
Young, Major Richard H., 182; 188;
206; 239; 261; 276; 279; 342.
Zayas, Mr., 4, 5, 6.

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