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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of the Gatling Gun Detachment, Fifth Army Corps, at Santiago, by John H. Parker
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: History of the Gatling Gun Detachment, Fifth Army Corps, at Santiago
+
+Author: John H. Parker
+
+Release Date: February 7, 2003 [eBook #6888]
+[Most recently updated: October 9, 2020]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: Paul Hollander, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GATLINGS AT SANTIAGO ***
+
+
+
+
+History of the Gatling Gun Detachment, Fifth Army Corps, at Santiago
+With a Few Unvarnished Truths Concerning that Expedition.
+
+
+by John H. Parker
+
+1st Lieut. 13th Inf.
+
+(Late) Commanding Gatling Gun Detachment, Fifth Army Corps, at
+Santiago.
+
+
+Lieut. John H. Parker, 13th US Infantry, Late Commanding Gatling Guns
+at Santiago.
+
+DEDICATION.
+
+To the Enlisted Members of the Detachment, Who, by Their Devotion,
+Courage and Endurance, Made Its Success Possible, this Volume is
+Dedicated as a Token of Esteem by the Author.
+
+
+Contents
+
+ PREFACE
+ CHAPTER I. L’envoi.
+ CHAPTER II. Inception Of The Scheme. CHAPTER III. The Ordnance Dépôt.
+ CHAPTER IV. The Voyage And Disembarkation.
+ CHAPTER V. The March.
+ CHAPTER VI. The Battery In Camp Wheeler.
+ CHAPTER VII. The Battle.
+ CHAPTER VIII. Tactical Analysis Of The Battles At Santiago.
+ CHAPTER IX. The Volunteers.
+ CHAPTER X. The Sufferings Of The Fifth Army Corps.
+ CHAPTER XI. The Cause.
+ CHAPTER XII. Home Again.
+ Appendix I.
+ Appendix II.
+ Appendix III.
+ Index.
+
+
+The photographic illustrations in this work are due to the courage and
+kindness of Mr. John N. Weigle, of Gettysburg, Pa. This young man was
+first sergeant of the Gatling Gun Detachment, and took with him a large
+supply of material. It was his delight to photograph everything that
+occurred, and his pleasure to furnish a set of photographs for the use
+of the author. Mr. Weigle was recommended for a commission in the
+Regular Army of the United States, for his extreme gallantry in action,
+and is a magnificent type of the American youth. The thanks of the
+author are tendered to him for the photographic illustrations so
+generously supplied.
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+ Lieut. John H. Parker, 13th US Infantry, Late Commanding Gatling Guns
+ at Santiago.
+ Map—Santiago and Surrounding Area.
+ Skirmish Drill at Tampa.
+ Skirmish Drill at Tampa.
+ Field Bakery.
+ Awaiting Turn to Embark.
+ Baiquiri.
+ The “Hornet.”
+ Waiting.
+ Wrecked Locomotives and Machine Shops at Baiquiri.
+ The Landing.
+ Pack Train.
+ Calvary Picket Line.
+ San Juan Hill.
+ Cuban Soldiers as They Were.
+ Wagon Train.
+ Gatling Battery under Artillery Fire at El Poso.
+ Gatling Gun on Firing-Line July 1st. (Taken under fire by Sergeant
+ Weigle).
+ Fort Roosevelt.
+ Sergeant Greene’s Gun at Fort Roosevelt.
+ Skirmish Line in Battle.
+ Fort Roosevelt.
+ A Fighting Cuban, and Where He Fought.
+ Map—Siege Lines at Santiago.
+ Gatling Camp and Bomb-Proofs at Fort Roosevelt.
+ Tree Between Lines Showing Bullet Holes. This Tree Grew on Low Ground.
+ Spanish Block-House.
+ Spanish Fort of Three-Inch Guns.
+ Tentage in Cuba.
+ After the Rain.
+ Native Industry.
+ Charge on San Juan Hill.
+ Gatlings at Baiquiri Just Before Starting For the Front.
+ Cuban Cart used by Gatling Gun Detachment, Priv. J. Shiffer Driving.
+ Tiffany at his Gun in the Trench.
+ Relics of the Battle. 1. Range Table of 16-cm. Gun in Spanish Fort,
+ Silenced by Gatlings July 1, ’98. 2. Rear Sight of same Gun. 3. Fuse
+ picked up by J. Shiffer July 1. 4. Remington Cartridge used by the
+ Spanish Volunteers, the so-called “Explosive” Brass-covered Bullet. 5.
+ Piece of Coral dug up in the Trenches. 6. Spanish Spurs.
+ Cieba Tree, under Which General Toral Surrendered.
+ Undergrowth in Cuba.
+ Cuban Residence.
+ “Reina Mercedes” Sunk by the “Iowa” near Mouth of Harbor of Santiago.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+On the morning of July 1st, the dismounted cavalry, including my
+regiment, stormed Kettle Hill, driving the Spaniards from their
+trenches. After taking the crest, I made the men under me turn and
+begin volley-firing at the San Juan Blockhouse and intrenchments
+against which Hawkins’ and Kent’s Infantry were advancing. While thus
+firing, there suddenly smote on our ears a peculiar drumming sound. One
+or two of the men cried out, “The Spanish machine guns!” but, after
+listening a moment, I leaped to my feet and called, “It’s the Gatlings,
+men! It’s our Gatlings!” Immediately the troopers began to cheer
+lustily, for the sound was most inspiring. Whenever the drumming
+stopped, it was only to open again a little nearer the front. Our
+artillery, using black powder, had not been able to stand within range
+of the Spanish rifles, but it was perfectly evident that the Gatlings
+were troubled by no such consideration, for they were advancing all the
+while.
+
+Soon the infantry took San Juan Hill, and, after one false start, we in
+turn rushed the next line of block-houses and intrenchments, and then
+swung to the left and took the chain of hills immediately fronting
+Santiago. Here I found myself on the extreme front, in command of the
+fragments of all six regiments of the cavalry division. I received
+orders to halt where I was, but to hold the hill at all hazards. The
+Spaniards were heavily reinforced and they opened a tremendous fire
+upon us from their batteries and trenches. We laid down just behind the
+gentle crest of the hill, firing as we got the chance, but, for the
+most part, taking the fire without responding. As the afternoon wore
+on, however, the Spaniards became bolder, and made an attack upon the
+position. They did not push it home, but they did advance, their firing
+being redoubled. We at once ran forward to the crest and opened on
+them, and, as we did so, the unmistakable drumming of the Gatlings
+opened abreast of us, to our right, and the men cheered again. As soon
+as the attack was definitely repulsed, I strolled over to find out
+about the Gatlings, and there I found Lieut. Parker with two of his
+guns right on our left, abreast of our men, who at that time were
+closer to the Spaniards than any others.
+
+From thence on, Parker’s Gatlings were our inseparable companions
+throughout the siege. They were right up at the front. When we dug our
+trenches, he took off the wheels of his guns and put them in the
+trenches. His men and ours slept in the same bomb-proofs and shared
+with one another whenever either side got a supply of beans or coffee
+and sugar. At no hour of the day or night was Parker anywhere but where
+we wished him to be, in the event of an attack. If a troop of my
+regiment was sent off to guard some road or some break in the lines, we
+were almost certain to get Parker to send a Gatling along, and, whether
+the change was made by day or by night, the Gatling went. Sometimes we
+took the initiative and started to quell the fire of the Spanish
+trenches; sometimes they opened upon us; but, at whatever hour of the
+twenty-four the fighting began, the drumming of the Gatlings was soon
+heard through the cracking of our own carbines.
+
+I have had too little experience to make my judgment final; but
+certainly, if I were to command either a regiment or a brigade, whether
+of cavalry or infantry, I would try to get a Gatling battery—under a
+good man—with me. I feel sure that the greatest possible assistance
+would be rendered, under almost all circumstances, by such a Gatling
+battery, if well handled; for I believe that it could be pushed fairly
+to the front of the firing-line. At any rate, this is the way that
+Lieut. Parker used his battery when he went into action at San Juan,
+and when he kept it in the trenches beside the Rough Riders before
+Santiago.
+
+_Theodore Roosevelt._
+
+Map—Santiago and Surrounding Area.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. L’ENVOI.
+
+
+The history of the Gatling Gun Detachment, Fifth Army Corps, is to a
+certain extent the history of the Santiago campaign. The detachment was
+organized on the spur of the moment, to utilize material which would
+otherwise have been useless, and was with the Fifth Corps in all the
+campaign. It participated in all the fighting of that campaign, except
+the fight at La Guasimas, and was disbanded upon the return of the
+Fifth Corps to Montauk. Whatever hardships were endured by the Fifth
+Corps were shared by this detachment; whatever dangers were faced by
+the Fifth Corps were faced by it also; where the hottest fighting
+occurred this detachment went in and stayed; and at the surrender it
+was paraded, to use the words of General Shafter, “Upon that portion of
+the line which it occupied so promptly and defended so well.”
+
+But this memoir is not intended as a history of that campaign nor of
+the Fifth Corps. The author has not the data available to cover so
+large a field, nor the ability to do justice to the courage, fortitude,
+and endurance so heroically displayed by that gallant army. That story
+will be written by abler pens, and will be the wonder of the world when
+it is told.
+
+This story is that of an experiment. It is told to lay before the
+general public, as well as the military critic, the work of a little
+detachment of thirty-seven men, armed with an untried weapon, organized
+in the short space of four days preceding July 1, 1898, and which
+without proper equipment, adequate instruction, or previous training,
+in the face of discouragements and sneers, and in spite of obstacles
+enough to make the mere retrospect sickening, still achieved for itself
+a warm place in the hearts of all true soldiers, and covered itself
+with glory upon the hardest fought battle-field of the Hispano-American
+War.
+
+This story is to commemorate the gallantry of the enlisted men who
+helped to make history and revolutionize tactics at Santiago. It will
+tell of the heroism of the plain American Regular, who, without hope of
+preferment or possibility of reward, boldly undertook to confute the
+erroneous theories of military compilers, who, without originality or
+reason, have unblushingly cribbed the labored efforts of foreign
+officers, and foisted these compilations of second-hand opinions upon
+the American Army as military text-books of authority and weight. These
+literary soldiers declared, following the lead of their foreign guides,
+that “The value of machine guns on the battle-field is doubtful,” and
+that “Their offensive value is probably very small.” They also agreed,
+with most touching unanimity, that “A direct assault upon a fortified
+position, occupied by good, unshaken infantry, armed with the modern
+rifle and plentifully supplied with ammunition is sure to fail, unless
+made by overwhelming numbers and prepared by strong and accurate fire
+by artillery.”
+
+These servile imitators of foreign pen soldiers were destined to see
+all their pet theories exploded by the grim old mountain puma from
+California and his brave Fifth Corps. They were to learn, so far as
+they are capable of learning, that the American Regular makes tactics
+as he needs them; that the rules of war established by pen soldiers do
+not form the basis of actual operations in the field; that theories
+must go to the wall before the stern logic of irrefutable facts; and
+that deductions based on the drill-made automatons of European armies
+are not applicable to an army composed of American Volunteer Regulars,
+led by our trained officers.
+
+We shall see that an army destitute of cavalry, and hence without
+“eyes”; not supported by artillery; in the most difficult country over
+which soldiers ever operated, and without maps or reconnaissance—in
+twenty days shut up and captured an army of twice its own effective
+strength, in a strongly fortified city, with better served and more
+numerous artillery.
+
+We shall find that when the “sledge” was not at hand, American
+ingenuity was able to use the “mallet” instead, making light machine
+guns perform all the function of artillery, and dispensing altogether,
+so far as any practical results were concerned, with that expensive and
+much overrated arm; that the Regular private is capable of meeting all
+demands upon his intelligence, and that the American non. com. is the
+superior of foreign officers.
+
+It is also hoped to place before the intelligent American public some
+correct ideas of the new arm which was tried thoroughly at Santiago for
+the first time in the history of the world. The machine gun is the
+latest practical product of American inventive genius applied to war.
+The first form of this weapon tried, the mitrailleuse, was not very
+successful. It failed, not on account of faults of construction, or
+imperfect mechanism, but because its proper tactical employment had not
+been thought out by the French army. Since that time machine guns have
+been greatly improved, but no one has succeeded in making their great
+value appreciated by military authorities. The failures of the French
+brought the gun into disfavor, and created a prejudice against its
+employment.
+
+The Artillery of the world, which poses in every country as an _élite_
+body of scientific fighters, and is often found on the battle-field to
+be an aggregation of abstruse theorists, were jealous and contemptuous.
+They said, “See how easily the artillery knocked out machine guns at
+Gravelotte.” The Cavalry of the world, famous everywhere for an
+_esprit-du-corps_ which looks haughtily down on all other arms of the
+service, were too deeply absorbed in the merits of saber vs. revolver,
+and in the proper length of their spectacular plumes, to give a second
+thought to this new, untried, and therefore worthless weapon. The
+world’s Infantry, resting upon the assumption that it is the backbone
+of all armies, and the only real, reliable fighting body under all
+conditions, left the consideration of these vague dreams of mechanical
+destructiveness to lunatics, cranks, and philanthropists.
+
+In our own country the Ordnance Department, which is the trial court
+before which all military inventions must appear, scouted the idea of
+usefulness of machine guns even after war was declared, and adhered to
+the view that machine guns, in the very nature of things, could never
+be useful except in the defense of fortified positions; that they never
+could be brought up on the battlefield, nor used if they were brought
+up. This view was that of a prominent young officer of that department
+who wrote a report on the subject, and it seemed to express the views
+of the department.
+
+This view must have been that of our War Department, for it did not
+even acknowledge the receipt of drawings and specifications for a
+machine gun carriage, offered freely to the Government as a gift by the
+inventor six months before the war, together with the first correct
+tactical outline of the proper use of machine guns ever filed in any
+War Office in the world. This invention was designed to facilitate the
+use of the machine gun by making its advance with the skirmish line
+possible on the offensive, and was recommended by the whole staff of
+the Infantry and Cavalry School as a meritorious device, worthy of
+trial. The discussion filed with the invention pointed out, for the
+first time, the correct tactical employment of the weapon, and staked
+the military reputation and ability of the author and inventor on the
+correctness of his views.
+
+From these facts it may be gathered that there was required a certain
+degree of originality and energy to get together and organize a machine
+gun battery for the Santiago campaign.
+
+The project was conceived and executed. The service rendered by this
+battery has forever set at rest the question of the proper tactical use
+of the machine gun arm, both on the offensive and defensive. These
+things are now beyond the realm of theory. They are a demonstrated
+problem. The solution is universally acknowledged to be correct.
+
+This is the history of that detachment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. INCEPTION.
+
+
+From the 26th of April until the 6th of June, Tampa and Port Tampa were
+the military centers of greatest interest in the United States. Troops
+were rushed into these places on special trains and camped on available
+sites, pending the organization of a proposed expedition to—somewhere.
+Supplies of every description came pouring in on long trains of express
+and freight cars; mounted officers and orderlies ploughed their rushing
+way through great heaps and dunes of ever-shifting sand, leaving behind
+them stifling clouds of scintillating particles, which filtered through
+every conceivable crevice and made the effort to breathe a suffocating
+nightmare. Over all the tumultuous scene a torrid sun beat down from a
+cloudless sky, while its scorching rays, reflected from the fierce sand
+under foot, produced a heat so intolerable that even the tropical
+vegetation looked withered and dying. In this climate officers and men,
+gathered mostly from Northern posts, were to “acclimate” themselves for
+a tropical campaign—somewhere.
+
+
+Skirmish Drill at Tampa.
+
+They never encountered as deadly a heat, nor a more pernicious climate,
+in Cuba nor in Porto Rico, than that of southern Florida. Its first
+effect upon men just emerging from a bracing Northern winter was akin
+to prostration. Then began to follow a decided tendency to languor;
+after this one was liable to sudden attacks of bowel troubles. The
+deadly malaria began to insidiously prepare the way for a hospital cot;
+the patient lost flesh, relish of food became a reminiscence, and an
+hour’s exertion in the sun was enough to put a man on his back for the
+rest of the day. Exposure to the direct action of the sun’s rays was
+frequently followed by nausea, a slight chill, and then a high fever.
+The doctors subsequently called this “thermal fever,” which is
+suspected to be a high-sounding name calculated to cover up a very
+dense ignorance of the nature of the disease, because no one ever
+obtained any relief from it from them. Recurrence of the exposure
+brought recurrence of the fever, and, if persisted in, finally produced
+a severe illness.
+
+One reason for this was that the troops continued to wear the winter
+clothing they had worn on their arrival. The promised “khaki” did not
+materialize. Some regiments drew the brown canvas fatigue uniform, but
+the only use made of it was to put the white blanket-roll through the
+legs of the trousers, thereby adding to the weight of the roll, without
+perceptible benefit to the soldier.
+
+Such a climate, under such surroundings, was not conducive to original
+thought, prolonged exertion, or sustained study. Everybody felt “mean”
+and was eager for a change. Nobody wanted to listen to any new schemes.
+The highest ambition seemed to be to get out of it to somewhere with
+just as little delay and exertion as possible. It was at this juncture
+that the plan of organizing a Gatling gun battery was conceived, and
+the attempt to obtain authority began.
+
+The Gatling gun is one of the two machine guns adopted in the land
+service of the United States. Not to enter into a technical
+description, but merely to convey a general idea of its working and
+uses, it may be described as follows:
+
+The gun is a cluster of rifle barrels, without stocks, arranged around
+a rod, and parallel to it. Each barrel has its own lock or bolt, and
+the whole cluster can be made to revolve by turning a crank. The bolts
+are all covered in a brass case at the breech, and the machine is
+loaded by means of a vertical groove in which cartridges are placed,
+twenty at a time, and from which they fall into the receivers one at a
+time. As the cluster of barrels revolves each one is fired at the
+lowest point, and reloaded as it completes the revolution. The gun is
+mounted on a wye-shaped trunnion; the lower end of the wye passes down
+into a socket in the axle. The gun is pointed by a lever just as one
+points a garden hose or sprinkler, with the advantage that the gun can
+be clamped at any instant, and will then continue to sprinkle its drops
+of death over the same row of plants until the clamps are released. The
+axle is hollow and will hold about a thousand cartridges. It is
+horizontal, and on its ends are heavy Archibald wheels. There is also a
+heavy hollow trail, in which tools and additional ammunition can be
+stored. The limber resembles that used by the Artillery, and is capable
+of carrying about 9600 rounds of cartridges. The whole gun, thus
+mounted, can be drawn by two mules, and worked to good advantage by
+from six to eight men. It is built of various calibers, and can fire
+from 300 to 900 shots per minute. The guns used by the Gatling Gun
+Detachment, Fifth Army Corps, were built by the Colt’s Arms Co., were
+the latest improved model, long ten-barrel gun, and fired the
+Krag-Jorgenson ammunition used by the Regular Army.
+
+The attempt to obtain authority to organize a machine gun battery met
+with many discouragements and repeated failures. No one seemed to have
+thought anything about the subject, and Tampa was not a good place nor
+climate in which to indulge in that form of exercise, apparently.
+Perhaps the climate was one reason why so little thinking was done, and
+everything went “at sixes and sevens.”
+
+
+Skirmish Drill at Tampa.
+
+The officer who had conceived the scheme was a young man, too. He was
+only a second lieutenant (“Second lieutenants are fit for nothing
+except to take reveille”), and had never, so far as his military
+superiors knew, heard the whistle of a hostile bullet. He had made no
+brilliant record at the Academy, had never distinguished himself in the
+service, and was not anybody’s “pet.” He was, apparently, a safe man to
+ignore or snub if occasion or bad temper made it desirable to ignore or
+snub somebody, and, above all, had no political friends who would be
+offended thereby.
+
+“Politics” cut quite a figure in Tampa in some respects. An officer who
+was known to be a personal friend of Senator Somebody, or protege of
+this or that great man, was regarded with considerable awe and
+reverence by the common herd. It was ludicrous to see the weight
+attached to the crumbs of wisdom that fell from the friends of the
+friends of somebody. They shone only by a reflected light, it is true;
+but nobody there at Tampa had a lamp of his own, except the few who had
+won renown in the Civil War, and reflected light was better than none
+at all. A very young and green second lieutenant who was able to boast
+that he had declined to be a major in a certain State was at once an
+oracle to other lieutenants—and to some who were not lieutenants. The
+policy which governed these appointments was not so well understood at
+that date in the campaign as it is now.
+
+When the court of a reigning favorite was established at the Tampa Bay
+Hotel as a brigadier, and people began to get themselves a little
+settled into the idea that they knew who was in command, they were
+suddenly disillusioned by the appointment of another and senior
+brigadier to the command. They settled down to get acquainted with the
+new authority, and were just beginning to find out who was who, when
+the telegraph flashed the news that the deposed potentate had been made
+a major-general, and, of course, was now in command. The thing was
+becoming interesting. Bets began to be made as to which would come in
+ahead under the wire. The other also became a major-general. Then came
+a period of uncertainty, because the question of rank hinged upon some
+obscure and musty record of forgotten service some thirty-four years
+before. From these facts will be apparent the difficulty under which a
+subordinate labored in trying to create anything.
+
+It is hardly worth while in any case of that sort to waste time with
+subordinates. The projector of an enterprise had better go straight to
+the one who has the necessary authority to order what is wanted; if
+access to him can be had, and he can be brought to recognize the merits
+of the plan—that settles it; if not—that also settles it. In either
+case the matter becomes a settled thing, and one knows what to depend
+upon.
+
+But who was the man to see there at Tampa? Nobody knew.
+
+The first officer approached was the one in direct line of superiority,
+Col. A. T. Smith, 13th Infantry. The idea was to ascertain his views
+and try to obtain from him a favorable endorsement upon a written plan
+to be submitted through military channels to the commanding general at
+Tampa. Perhaps it was the deadly climate; for the reply to a request
+for a few minutes’ audience on the subject of machine guns was very
+gruff and curt: “I don’t want to hear anything about it. I don’t
+believe in it, and I don’t feel like hearing it. If you want to see me
+about this subject, come to me in office hours.” That settled it. Any
+effort to get a written plan through would have to carry the weight of
+official disapproval from the start, and even a “shavey” knows that
+disapproval at the start is enough to kill a paper in the official
+routine.
+
+The next officers approached were Major William Auman and Capt. H.
+Cavanaugh, of the 13th Infantry, who were asked for advice. These two
+officers, both of whom rendered very distinguished services on the
+battle-field, listened with interest and were convinced. Their advice
+was: “Get your plan in tangible shape, typewritten, showing just what
+you propose; then go straight to the commanding general himself. If he
+listens to you, he will be the responsible party, and will have waived
+the informality; if he will not receive you, no harm is done.”
+
+This advice was followed and the following plan prepared:
+
+_Scheme for Organization of Division Galling Gun Detachment._
+
+“_Material:_
+
+“Three guns with limbers and caissons; 28 horses and 16 saddles; 6 sets
+double harness, wheel, and 6 lead; 1 escort wagon, team and driver; and
+100,000 rounds, .30 cal.
+
+“_Personnel:_
+
+“One first lieutenant, 3 sergeants, 3 corporals, 1 clerk, 1 cook, and
+35 enlisted men selected for their intelligence, activity, and daring;
+volunteers, if possible to be obtained, as the service will be
+hazardous.
+
+“_Equipment:_
+
+“Officer: Revolver, saber, or machete, and field-glass.
+
+“Enlisted men: Revolver and knife.
+
+“Fifty rounds to be carried on person for revolver, and 50 in ordnance
+train.
+
+“_Camp Equipage:_
+
+“Four conical wall-tents, 2 ‘A’ wall-tents, and the ordinary cooking
+outfit for a company of 41 men.
+
+“_Organization:_
+
+“In the discretion of the detachment commander, subject to approval of
+division commander; probably as follows, subject to modifications by
+experience:
+
+“Three detachments under a sergeant. A detachment to be composed of 1
+gunner and 7 men. The gunner should be a corporal.
+
+“_Administration:_
+
+“The Division Gatling Gun Detachment to be subject only to the orders
+of the division commander, or higher authority. Its members are carried
+on ‘d. s.’ in their respective organizations. Its commander exercises
+over it the same authority as a company commander, and keeps the same
+records. Returns, reports, and other business are transacted as in
+company, except that the detachment commander reports directly to and
+receives orders directly from Division Headquarters. The detachment is
+not subject to ordinary guard or fatigue. When used as part of a guard,
+whole detachments go with their pieces.
+
+“_Instruction:_
+
+“The organization is purely experimental; hence the greatest possible
+latitude must be allowed the detachment commander, and he should be
+held accountable for the results. He should not be subjected to the
+orders or interference of any subordinates, however able, who have made
+no special study of the tactical use or instruction for machine guns,
+and who may not have faith in the experiment. It will be useless to
+expect efficiency of the proposed organization unless this liberty be
+accorded its organizer. The field is a new one, not yet well discussed
+by even the text-writers. Organization and instruction must be largely
+experimental, subject to change as the result of experience; but no
+change from the plans of the organizer should be made except for good
+and sufficient reasons.
+
+“_Tactical Employment:_
+
+“This organization is expected to develop:
+
+“(_a_) The fire-action of good infantry.
+
+“(_b_) The mobility of cavalry.
+
+“Its qualities, therefore, must be rapidity and accuracy, both of fire
+and movement.
+
+“Its employment on the defensive is obvious. On the offensive it is
+expected to be useful with advance guards, rear guards, outposts,
+raids, and in battle. The last use, novel as it is, will be most
+important of all. The flanks of the division can be secured by this
+organization, relieving reserves of this duty; it will give a
+stiffening to the line of support, and at every opportune occasion will
+be pushed into action on the firing line. The _moral effect_ of its
+presence will be very great; it will be able to render valuable
+assistance by its fire (over the charging line) in many cases. Last,
+but very important, the occupation of a captured line by this
+organization at once will supply a powerful, concentrated, and
+controlled fire, either to repulse a counter-charge or to fire on a
+discomfited, retiring enemy. Being a horsed organization, it can arrive
+at the critical point at the vital moment when, the defender’s first
+line having been thrust out, our line being disorganized, a
+counter-charge by the enemy would be most effective, or controlled fire
+by our own troops on him would be most useful.
+
+“It is urged that this last use of machine guns is one of the most
+important functions, and one which has been overlooked by writers and
+tacticians.
+
+“There is one vital limitation upon the proposed organization; viz., it
+must not be pitted against artillery.
+
+“It is urgently suggested that this organization can be perfected here
+and now without difficulty, while it will be very difficult to perfect
+after the forward movement has begun. Horses and harness can be easily
+procured at Tampa; there will be no difficulty if some energetic
+officer be authorized to proceed with the work, and directed to attend
+to the details.
+
+“Believing earnestly in the utility of the proposed organization, which
+will convert useless impedimenta into a fourth arm, and realizing the
+dangerous nature of the proposed service, I respectfully offer my
+services to carry these plans into effect.
+
+“_John H. Parker_, “2d Lieut. 13th Infty.”
+
+With this plan well digested and with many a plausible argument in its
+favor all thought out, Col. Arthur McArthur, assistant adjutant-general
+to Gen. Wade, who was at that moment in command, was approached.
+
+
+Field Bakery.
+
+Col. McArthur was a very busy man. He was also a very business-like
+man, and one of handsome appearance, easy access, and pleasant address.
+He sandwiched in a fifteen-minute interview between two pressing
+engagements, and manifested both interest and approval. But nothing
+could be done at that time. “Come again a week from to-day,” said he,
+“and I will try to obtain you a hearing before one who can do what you
+wish by a single word. I believe in your scheme and will help you if I
+can.” The week rolled by and a change of commanding generals occurred.
+Gen. Wade was ordered away, taking McArthur with him, and no progress
+had been made. It was discouraging.
+
+The next step in the plan was by lucky accident. Lieutenant (now
+Lieut.-Col.) John T. Thompson, Ordnance Department, who was in charge
+of the Ordnance Depot at Tampa, accidentally met the would-be
+machine-gun man, and was promptly buttonholed over a dish of ice cream.
+Thompson was himself a young man and a student. His department placed
+an insuperable obstacle in the way of himself carrying out a plan which
+he, also, had conceived, and he was keen to see the idea, which he
+fully believed in, demonstrated on the battle-field. He had, moreover,
+as ordnance officer, just received an invoice of fifteen Gatling guns,
+complete, of the latest model, and he had access to the commanding
+general by virtue of being a member of his staff. By reason of the
+terrible rush of overwork, he needed an assistant, and it seemed
+practicable to try to kill two birds with one stone. But all he said
+was, “I believe in the idea; I have long advocated it. It may be
+possible for me to get you your opportunity, and it may not. If so, you
+will hear from the matter.”
+
+The attempt to get the thing going had been apparently abandoned, when,
+utterly without notice, the regimental commander received orders per
+letter, from Headquarters Fifth Army Corps, which resulted in the
+following orders:
+
+“Headquarters 13th Infantry, in the Field, “Tampa, Fla., May 27, 1898.
+
+“_Special Orders No. 22:_
+
+“Pursuant to instructions contained in letter from Headquarters 5th
+Army Corps, May 26, 1898,
+
+2d Lieut. John H. Parker, 13th Infantry. Sergeant Alois Weischaar,
+Company A, Sergeant William Eyder, Company G, Private Lewis Kastner,
+Company A. Private Joe Seman, Company B, Private Abram Greenberg,
+Company C. Private Joseph Hoft, Company D, Private O’Connor L. Jones,
+Company D, Private Louis Misiak, Company E, Private George C. Murray,
+Company F, Private John Bremer, Company G, Private Fred H. Chase,
+Company H, Private Martin Pyne, Company H,
+
+will report to Lieut. J. T. Thompson, ordnance officer, for duty in
+connection with the Gatling Gun Battery.
+
+“These men will be fully equipped, with the exception of rifle,
+bayonet, scabbard, and blanket-bag, and will be rationed to include May
+31, 1898.
+
+“By order of Colonel Smith.
+
+“_M. McFarland_, “1st Lieut. 13th Infty., Adjutant.”
+
+These men were selected by their company commanders. It is not known
+whether the selections were made with a view to special fitness or not.
+They had no notice that the detail was to be anything but a transient
+character; in fact, one company commander actually detailed the cook of
+his private mess, and was intensely disgusted when he found that the
+detail was to be permanent or semi-permanent. The men were sent fully
+armed and equipped; carrying rifles, knapsacks, etc., and marched down
+to the Ordnance Depot for instructions. These instructions were to
+return to camp, turn in their rifles, bayonets, cartridges, belts, and
+knapsacks, and return early the following morning equipped with
+blanket-roll complete, haversack, and canteen. Each man, after full
+explanation of the hazardous duty, was given a chance to withdraw, but
+all volunteered to stay.
+
+The instructions were obeyed, and the Gatling Gun Detachment was born—a
+pigmy.
+
+
+Awaiting Turn to Embark.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE ORDNANCE DÉPÔT.
+
+
+The Ordnance Dépôt at Tampa was located on Lafayette Street, at the end
+of the bridge over the river, next to the Tampa Bay Hotel. The river
+washed the sides of the building, which was occupied by the Tampa
+Athletic Club, and had formerly been used as a club-house. There were
+two stories and a basement. The basement was nearly on a level with the
+river, the main floor on a level with the bridge, and there was also a
+spacious upper floor. The main floor was used for storage of light
+articles of ordnance; the basement for heavy articles and ammunition.
+Hundreds of thousands of rounds of rifle and revolver ball cartridges,
+thousands of rounds of Hotchkiss fixed ammunition, and many hundreds of
+pounds of powder charges for field artillery and mortars were here
+stored. Miscellaneous assortments were daily coming in, generally
+without any mark on the box by which to learn what were the contents.
+The name of the arsenal, if from an arsenal, was usually stamped on the
+seal; generally there was no mark whatever to designate the origin or
+contents of the many boxes which came from ordinary posts. The invoices
+came from a week to ten days behind or in advance of the arrival of the
+boxes, and there was not the slightest clue to be gained from them.
+Consequently those who had to check up invoices and prepare for issues
+were at their wits’ end to keep things straight. A requisition for so
+many articles would come in, duly approved; unless the boxes containing
+these articles happened to have been unpacked, it was uncertain whether
+they were on hand or not. No wholesale merchant of any sense would ship
+out boxes of goods without some indication of their contents; but that
+was exactly what was done from all over the country to the Ordnance
+Dépôt at Tampa.
+
+The upper floor consisted of one large room. A rope railing was placed
+around it to preserve clear space around the desks. There were several
+of these for the ordnance officer and the various clerks. A chief
+clerk, an assistant clerk, a stenographer, and two ordnance sergeants
+looked after the red tape. An overseer with four subordinates and a
+gang of negro stevedores attended to loading and unloading boxes,
+storing them, counting out articles for issue or receipt, and such
+other duties as they were called on to perform. There was an old
+janitor named McGee, a veteran of the Civil War, whose business it was
+to look after the sweeping and keep the floors clean.
+
+Four guns in their original boxes were issued to the detachment on the
+27th of May. They were new, and apparently had never been assembled. On
+assembling them it was found that the parts had been constructed with
+such “scientific” accuracy that the use of a mallet was necessary. The
+binder-box on the pointing lever was so tight that in attempting to
+depress the muzzle of the gun it was possible to lift the trail off the
+ground before the binder-box would slide on the lever. The axis-pin had
+to be driven in and out with an axe, using a block of wood, of course,
+to prevent battering. A truly pretty state of affairs for a gun the
+value of which depends on the ease with which it can be pointed in any
+direction.
+
+Inquiry after the war at the factory where the guns are made disclosed
+the fact that these parts are rigidly tested by a gauge by the
+Government inspectors, and that looseness is regarded as a fatal
+defect. Even play of half a hundredth of an inch is enough to insure
+the rejection of a piece. The very first thing done by the Gatling Gun
+Detachment, upon assembling these guns, was to obtain a set of
+armorers’ tools and to file away these parts by hand until the aim of
+the piece could be changed by the touch of a feather. The detachment
+was ordered to rely upon the friction clutches for steadiness of aim,
+when necessary, and not upon the tight fit of the parts. It was ordered
+that there must be no doubt whatever of easy, perfectly free
+manipulation at any and all times, even if the pointing lever should
+become rusted. This precaution proved on July 1st to have been of great
+value.
+
+
+Baiquiri.
+
+The instruction of the detachment began immediately, and consisted, at
+first, of unpacking, mounting, dismounting, and repacking the guns. The
+four guns were mounted and a drill held each time in the loading and
+firing of the piece. This system of instruction was continued until the
+detachment was ordered on board ship on the 6th of June. During this
+instruction members of the detachment were designated by name to fall
+out, and the remainder of the detachment required to execute all the
+maneuvers of the piece as before. In fact, this instruction was carried
+to such a point that one man alone was required to load, aim, and fire
+the gun at designated objects without any assistance.
+
+The detachment at once assumed the position of an independent command.
+It reported directly to Maj.-Gen. W. R. Shafter, commanding the 5th
+Corps, in everything so far as its duties with Gatling guns were
+concerned, was regarded as an independent command, kept its own records
+in the same manner as a company, obtained cooking utensils from the
+quartermaster and ran its own mess, and furnished its own guard. This
+status, that of a separate command, continued until the detachment was
+finally disbanded at Montauk.
+
+On the 27th of May the detachment commander was summoned to Gen.
+Wheeler’s headquarters and there requested to explain to the general in
+person his plans for organizing a Gatling gun detachment. Gen. Wheeler
+had just assumed command of all the Cavalry belonging to the 5th Army
+Corps. His headquarters, instead of being in a suite of rooms in the
+palatial Tampa Bay Hotel, where all the other general officers had
+their headquarters, were located about half a mile from the hotel in a
+treeless pasture. The cavalry guidon floating from a lance-head was the
+only indication of headquarters, and the half-dozen “A” tents in an
+irregular line gave no sign that one of the most distinguished generals
+in the world had here his headquarters in the field.
+
+The general was easily accessible. The first thing that impressed one
+of him was his extraordinary quickness. His eye seemed to take in
+everything within sight of him at a single glance, and to read one’s
+thoughts before the tongue could give expression to them. He grasped
+ideas when they were only half uttered and immediately drew deductions
+from mere statements of simple facts, the result of years of careful
+study. These deductions, which Gen. Wheeler drew instantly, were in
+every case correct, and showed a keener and more correct appreciation
+of the proper tactical employment of machine guns than was shown by any
+other officer of the 5th Corps. The result of the interview with the
+general was that a scheme for the organization of a tactical unit to be
+composed of three Gatling guns and to be employed with the cavalry
+division, was drawn up on the spot, under Gen. Wheeler’s personal
+direction, and was submitted by him to Gen. Shafter, with the request
+that authority be granted for the organization of this command for the
+purpose indicated.
+
+In the application Gen. Wheeler stated that he believed that such a
+battery of machine guns, if properly handled, could go anywhere that
+cavalry could go, could take the place of infantry supports, could dash
+up and hold any ground or advantageous position that a body of cavalry
+might seize, could be thrown out to one flank of the enemy and assist
+in his demoralization in preparation for the cavalry charge, and would
+be of particular service in case the enemy attempted to form infantry
+squares, which were at that time supposed to be the main part of the
+Spanish tactics of battle. This application was disapproved.
+
+On the 30th of May, Gen. Lee sent for the detachment commander for an
+interview on the subject of Gatling guns. Gen. Lee was at this time
+quartered at the Tampa Bay Hotel, and was engaged in the organization
+of the 7th Army Corps. It was supposed that the 7th Corps was designed
+for the Havana campaign, and it was believed that the attack upon
+Havana would begin at a very early date. The result of the interview
+with Gen. Lee was that he directed a scheme for the organization of a
+tactical unit to be composed of 9 guns, 3 batteries of 3 guns each, to
+be prepared for service with the 7th Army Corps.
+
+It was desired that this organization be a volunteer organization, and
+the application was therefore made for authority from the President,
+under that law of Congress authorizing the employment of special
+troops. Col. Guild, well and favorably known from his connection with
+the Massachusetts National Guard, was prepared to furnish a volunteer
+organization already in existence, well drilled and already officered,
+composed of the flower of the youth of Massachusetts, very largely of
+college graduates, who had already been communicated with on the
+subject, and who were even at that time expecting momentarily a
+telegram calling them to this duty. Nothing resulted from this effort.
+
+Meantime the drill instruction of the little detachment continued. Its
+members had acquired a considerable degree of proficiency in the
+mechanical handling of their guns, and were beginning to appreciate the
+destructive possibilities of their weapon. They were enjoying a degree
+of liberty which they had not found in their regimental camp, because
+when not on duty they were free to come and go at will, when and where
+they pleased. The hours for instruction were designated in the morning
+and in the cool of the afternoon, leaving the middle of the day and the
+evening for the men’s own recreation. The result of this system of
+treatment was that _esprit-du-corps_ began to be developed in the
+detachment. They began to feel that they were a special organization,
+expected to do special work, and that they were receiving very special
+treatment. They began to be proud of being members of the Gatling Gun
+Detachment, to take greater interest in the work, and when on the first
+of June they received their monthly pay not a single member of the
+detachment committed any excesses in consequence of this unusual degree
+of freedom. No one was intoxicated. No one was absent without
+permission.
+
+The detachment had not been at the Ordnance Depot very long before an
+opportunity occurred for some of its members to exhibit those qualities
+which made the success of the battery so conspicuous on the
+battle-field afterward. The detachment commander had been detailed by
+verbal orders on the first of June in charge of the issues of ordnance
+property to the Santiago expedition. This was in addition to his duties
+with the Gatling guns. The work would commence about 6 o’clock in the
+morning, and from that time until dark there was a continual stream of
+wagons carrying away stores such as rifles, haversacks, meat ration
+cans, tin cups, and all the articles needed by troops in the field
+during a campaign. The ammunition which was issued to the troops at
+this time was drawn at the same place.
+
+When wagons arrived to receive issues, stevedores were directed to
+count out the different articles under the direction of an overseer,
+and these piles of articles were verified by the officer in charge of
+the issues. The stevedores then loaded them on the wagons which were to
+haul them to the different camps. Receipts in duplicate were always
+taken and invoices in duplicate were always given, in the name, of
+course, of Lieut. John T. Thompson, who was responsible for the stores.
+
+On the 4th of June issues were being made of rifle-ball cartridges.
+These cartridges came packed in boxes of 1000 rounds each, and each box
+weighed 78 pounds. A great quantity of it was stored in the basement,
+where there was also a considerable quantity of fixed Hotchkiss
+ammunition, as well as several thousand rounds of powder charges in
+boxes. The Hotchkiss ammunition, which comes with projectile and powder
+both set in a brass case, is bad ammunition to pack; for, no matter how
+carefully it is handled, there is almost always some leakage of powder
+from the cartridge case, thus causing a certain amount of loose powder
+to sift into the box in which it is packed.
+
+About half past 11 o’clock on this morning a negro stevedore
+accidentally dropped a box of rifle ammunition near a pile of Hotchkiss
+fixed, and the next instant the laborers saw smoke ascending toward the
+ceiling of the basement. They yelled “Fire! fire!” at the top of their
+voices, and everybody in the basement at once made a rush for the two
+doors. It was a panic. The danger was imminent. The smoke curled up to
+the ceiling and then curled down again, and the excited, panic-stricken
+faces of the negroes as they rushed through the door made an awful
+picture of human terror. People on the outside of the building began to
+shout “Fire!”
+
+At this juncture McGee, the old janitor, who had just reached the door,
+cried out, “Lieutenant, there is a box in here on fire!” speaking to
+Lieut. Parker, who was verifying issues just outside the door. The
+lieutenant replied, “Let’s throw it into the river,” and dashed toward
+the box through the door, pushing the excited negroes to each side in
+order to assist McGee, who had instantly started for the box. When
+Lieut. Parker reached the box, he found that McGee had already taken it
+up, and was staggering under its weight. He placed one arm around
+McGee’s shoulder and with the other assisted him to support the box,
+from which the smoke was still ascending, and the two rushed for the
+door, throwing the whole momentum of their weight and speed against the
+crowd of frightened negroes, who were falling over each other in their
+panic-stricken efforts to escape. Priv. Greenberg, of the 13th
+Infantry, a member of the Gatling Gun Detachment, who was the sentinel
+on post at the time, saw the two men coming with the box, and with
+great presence of mind added his own weight with a rapid rush to the
+shock they had produced, thus enabling them to break their way through
+the dense throng at the door. It was only the work of an instant to
+then throw the box in the river, where it sank in the water and for a
+moment the blue smoke continued to bubble up from the box, which lay
+clearly visible on the bed of the river, the water being only about two
+feet deep at this point, which was, however, enough to entirely cover
+the box and thus extinguish the fire. At the outcry of “Fire!” Lieut.
+H. L. Kinnison, of the 25th Infantry, who was waiting outside of the
+basement with a wagon, started in at the other door, and Serg.
+Weischaar, acting first sergeant of the Gatling Gun Detachment, started
+for water. Just as the two men emerged from the door carrying the box,
+Lieut. Kinnison reached the spot where the fire had originated, and
+Serg. Weischaar appeared with two buckets of water. He and Lieut.
+Kinnison at once flooded the floor, seized a woolen cloth which
+happened to be near, and wetted down the boxes of Hotchkiss ammunition
+as a measure of precaution.
+
+
+The “Hornet.”
+
+McGee, the hero of this episode, is an old veteran of the Civil War,
+having served three years in the Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during
+the war, and five years in the Regular Army after the war. He has never
+drawn a pension nor applied for one, although he suffers considerably
+from disease and wounds contracted and received during the war, and
+certainly should be rewarded by a grateful government for his
+conspicuous heroism. The explosion of this magazine would have brought
+the whole expedition to a standstill, besides inflicting tremendous
+destruction of property and frightful loss of life.
+
+The same day the Artillery of the army began to draw its material for
+the campaign, and for a period of thirty-nine hours there was no rest
+for anybody connected with the issue of ordnance stores. It was at this
+time that the lack of intelligent marking and packing of the boxes was
+keenly felt. The greatest difficulty was experienced in selecting, from
+the mass of stores in the depot, the stores that were required by the
+Artillery. It was especially difficult during the work by night, when
+the only light that could possibly be allowed was a single lantern, on
+account of the danger of fire.
+
+At the close of this thirty-nine hours of arduous duty, the officer in
+command of the Gatling Gun Detachment learned that orders had been
+issued for the embarkation of the 5th Army Corps at Port Tampa, and
+that no reference had been made to the Gatling Gun Detachment in these
+orders. He at once sought Lieut. Thompson, who could offer no light on
+the omission, but said, “I have orders to send at once to the
+_Cherokee_ 521,000 rounds of rifle-ball cartridges and all the revolver
+ammunition on hand. This is the reserve ammunition of the 5th Army
+Corps. I will send you in charge of this ammunition and you will see it
+to its destination. You may take an escort or not, as you please. The
+ammunition is to go on the 4 o’clock train and you must make all the
+arrangements in regard to it. Get box-cars, haul the ammunition over
+there and put it in the cars, see that it goes on that train, and as
+soon as it arrives at Port Tampa, see that it is properly put on board
+the _Cherokee_.”
+
+In order to fully understand the situation of the Gatling Gun
+Detachment at this juncture, the following correspondence on the
+subject is necessary:
+
+“Office of Ordnance Officer, “Lafayette Street, West of Bridge, “Tampa,
+Fla., June 3, 1898.
+
+“_The Assistant Adjutant-General, 5th Army Corps, Tampa, Florida:_
+
+“Sir,—Replying to your letter of June 1,1898, in reference to Gatling
+Gun Detachment, I have the honor to submit the following report:
+
+Guns, men, and equipment required for a 4-gun detachment:
+
+Guns. Serg. Corp. Priv. Total required:      4     5     4    28 On
+hand:             4     2     0    10 Required:                  3    
+4    18
+
+The gun crews thus organized will give most effective service for the
+detachment.
+
+Ammunition: Each limber carries 9,840 rounds cal. .30. Four limbers,
+27,360; necessary reserve, 32,640; total, 60,000.
+
+Tentage: Two conical wall-tents for enlisted men; one ‘A’ wall-tent for
+officer.
+
+Camp equipage, in addition to that on hand in Gatling Gun Detachment:
+one buzzacot, small; four mess-pans, one dish-pan, one coffee-mill.
+
+Blanket-roll complete; revolver with 50 rounds per man; waist-belts and
+entrenching-knives.
+
+“It is recommended that Priv. Butz, ‘G’ Co., 13th Infantry, Corp.
+Robert S. Smith, ‘C’ Co., 13th Infantry, and Serg. Weigle, 9th
+Infantry, be members of the detachment; and that detachment be taken
+from 9th Infantry, which has some well-instructed men.
+
+“It is further recommended that the detachment be fully horsed as soon
+as practicable, and that the whole be placed under the command of
+Lieut. John H. Parker, 13th Infantry, as acting captain.
+
+“I recommend that I be authorized to issue the 4 Gatling guns and parts
+to him.
+
+“The details should carry the rations prescribed in General Orders 5th,
+May 31, 1898, 5th Army Corps. Very respectfully,
+
+(Signed) “_Jno. T. Thompson_, “1st Lieut., Ord. Dept, U. S. A.”
+
+This letter, prepared by Lieut. Parker and signed by Lieut. Thompson,
+was endorsed as follows:
+
+_First Endorsement._
+
+“Headquarters 5th Army Corps, “Tampa, Fla., June 5, 1898.
+
+“Respectfully returned to Lieut. J. T. Thompson, Ordnance Officer.
+
+“If Lieut. Parker, in charge of the detachment as at present
+constituted, can make the arrangements suggested within, he may take
+action; but, in view of the limited time remaining, it is thought the
+detachment already organized will answer.
+
+“By command of Maj.-Gen. Shafter.
+
+“_E. J. McClernand_, “Assistant Adjutant-General.”
+
+_Second Endorsement._
+
+“Office of the Ordnance Officer, “Lafayette Street Bridge, “Tampa,
+Fla., June 5, 1898.
+
+“Respectfully referred to Lieut. John H. Parker for his information.
+
+“_Jno. T. Thompson_, “1st Lieut., Ordnance Dept, U. S. A.”
+
+
+Waiting.
+
+It will be seen from the first endorsement that a certain amount of
+discretion was left to the detachment commander. He was authorized to
+take action if he could make the arrangements suggested within. Lieut.
+Thompson had authorized an escort for the reserve ammunition, if it was
+considered necessary. The detachment commander resolved to take action
+by using his whole detachment as an escort, putting it on board the
+_Cherokee_, with the reserve ammunition, and accompanying it to its
+destination—in Cuba, trusting to the future to enable him to complete
+the detachment according to the first endorsement.
+
+It was now 11 o’clock in the forenoon. Between that time and 4 o’clock
+it was necessary to obtain two freight cars, have them placed upon the
+siding at a convenient point, have more than twenty wagon-loads of
+ammunition, camp equipage, etc., placed in these cars, have the four
+guns with their limbers placed on board, and, more difficult than all
+the rest, go through the necessary red tape at the quartermaster’s
+office in order to get the two cars moved to Port Tampa. It was all
+accomplished.
+
+The general freight agent was bluffed into believing that unless the
+two cars were instantly set where they were wanted his whole railroad
+would be tied up. The quartermaster was hypnotized and dropped
+formality, putting all the clerks to work upon papers and making out
+the necessary bill of lading, invoices, etc., in time to catch the 4
+o’clock train. He also issued the necessary transportation for the
+officer and men of the detachment from Tampa to Port Tampa, accepting
+the first endorsement above as sufficient orders for that purpose.
+
+One member of the detachment, Priv. Murray, had been very ill with what
+we afterward learned to call the Cuban fever, and, while apparently
+convalescent, was entirely too weak to accompany the detachment. He was
+a splendid fellow, and the tears rolled down his emaciated face when he
+was told he must remain behind. He was furnished with a descriptive
+list and a letter was written to the chief surgeon of the Division
+Hospital, requesting him to send an ambulance immediately for the sick
+man. One member of the detachment carried this letter to Tampa Heights,
+and so sharp was the work of getting away that this man had to board a
+moving train as it was pulling out to keep from getting left; but Priv.
+Murray was taken to the hospital and cared for, and Priv. Bremer did
+not get left.
+
+The detachment reached Port Tampa about sundown, and Maj. Cushing, who
+had charge of the loading of the transports, at once authorized the
+cars to be set alongside the _Cherokee_. The ammunition, guns, camp
+equipage, men, and all were promptly put aboard. The training in
+packing and unpacking the guns was the only thing which enabled the
+work to be done in the limited time allotted. Not so much as a
+ten-penny nail belonging to the detachment was left behind.
+
+During the night the troops that were to occupy the _Cherokee_ came on
+board, and it was found the next morning that five or six tons of
+regimental baggage had been piled on top of the guns, making it
+practically impossible to disembark, even if such a movement should be
+ordered.
+
+
+Wrecked Locomotives and Machine Shops at Baiquiri.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THE VOYAGE AND DISEMBARKATION.
+
+
+It seemed that the work had been accomplished none too soon, for on the
+morning of June 7th orders came to the _Cherokee_ to leave the slip and
+proceed down the bay. There were on board at this time, beside the
+little Gatling Gun Detachment, the 17th Infantry, under command of Col.
+Haskell, and a battalion of the 12th Infantry, under command of Col.
+Comba, who was the senior officer on board. The ship was frightfully
+crowded. The berth deck and lower deck had been arranged for the
+accommodation of the men by nailing rows of two 2x4 scantlings just far
+enough apart to leave room for a man to lie down, and fastening three
+tiers of bunks to these scantlings. The men were packed in these bunks
+like sardines in a box. The ventilation was conspicuous by its absence,
+the heat below deck was frightful and the misery entailed by such
+accommodations was beyond description. But the men were very cheerful,
+and, being allowed the privilege of the upper deck, very little in the
+way of complaint was heard. Everybody was anxious to be off. The hope
+most frequently expressed was for a quick passage and a sharp, swift
+campaign. It was easily foreseen by the officers on board the ship that
+a long sojourn on shipboard under such conditions would have a very bad
+effect on the men.
+
+The ship dropped down the bay to the quarantine station, starting about
+noon, and there lay to, waiting, as was supposed, for the remainder of
+the fleet. Suddenly, about 8 p. m., one of the torpedo cruisers came
+tearing down the bay under full steam, and we heard the message sounded
+through the megaphone: “Return to port. Three Spanish cruisers within
+three hours’ sail of the offing.” It was a thrilling moment. Officers
+and men were lounging, taking, as they supposed, their last view of the
+American shores, without a suspicion of present danger, when they were
+rapidly brought to a realizing sense that “war is hell,” by a notice
+that the enemy was upon them. Whether they were in danger or not, the
+danger was deadly real and imminent to them at the time.
+
+The _Cherokee_ had been anchored pretty well inside. She immediately
+got up steam and went out to warn other vessels farther out in the
+offing, and then made safely for the harbor. Officers and men behaved
+with perfect coolness. It was hopeless to attempt to escape by
+concealment, so Col. Comba ordered out the band of the 17th Infantry
+and the good ship fled up the bay, in momentary expectation of a
+smashing shot from the enemy, to the strains of “There’ll be a hot
+time.” What little excitement there was displayed itself in a feverish
+searching of the bay with field-glasses for signs of the enemy. The
+older officers, upon whom the responsibility was resting, sat upon the
+quarter-deck, smoking their pipes and discussing the situation. The
+captains quietly moved about, assigning stations to their companies, in
+case of attack, with the view of trying the effect of the modern rifle
+upon the armored sides of a Spanish man-of-war, and two of the younger
+officers took advantage of the catchy air which the band was playing to
+dance a two-step on the quarter-deck. So the evening wore away. The
+moon went down. The myriad little stars came out, twinkling in the deep
+blue sky, and at last both officers and men, tired of looking for an
+enemy who was never to appear, turned in for such sleep as they could
+get, leaving a small guard on deck to keep a lookout. When they awoke
+next morning, the ship was in the deepest part of the nearest slip,
+moored fast by her guy-ropes to the dock. Thus ended the first
+engagement with the enemy.
+
+From the 8th until the 13th, the _Cherokee_ lay at anchor in the slip.
+She was relieved on the 10th of about 200 men, thus slightly lightening
+her overcrowded condition. In the meantime, this overcrowded condition
+of the ship had led to some discussion as to who could best be moved on
+board some other ship, with some prospect that the Gatling Gun
+Detachment might be disturbed. The situation was not at all
+satisfactory. With four guns, no mules, no harness, no authority, and
+only twelve men, the Gatling Gun Detachment did not appear to be in a
+very fair way toward inflicting much damage upon the enemy. So on the
+11th of June the detachment commander visited Gen. Shafter at his
+headquarters, determined to bring the matter to an issue, definitely,
+one way or the other. This was the first time he had met the general,
+and, under the circumstances, the manner of his reception appeared to
+be doubtful.
+
+Gen. Shafter is a big man. This is not noticed at first glance. He is
+above the average height, but his corpulent figure does not indicate
+that he is full five feet nine inches in height, because his girth is
+of like proportion. His hands are big; his arm is big; his head is big.
+The occiput is especially full, and the width of head just over the
+ears is noticeable. There is plenty of room for the organs of
+combativeness. One would think he is probably a lover of children;
+during this interview he patted the head of an inquisitive dog, which
+evidently belonged somewhere on board the flag-ship, and which strayed
+into the room. His eyes are big, very full and very keen. As you enter
+he says curtly, “Take a seat.” He waits, looking down, for you to state
+your business, then suddenly fixes you with a piercing glance, and goes
+to the heart of the subject by one incisive sentence, which leaves no
+more to be said. This description is a general type of several
+interviews with him. On this occasion the general inquired concerning
+the facts, looking keenly, searchingly, and meditatively at the
+detachment commander. The machine gun man was “on trial.” Then the
+general broke the silence by one short question, “What do you want?”
+and the reply was in kind, “Twenty men, general, with the privilege of
+selecting them.” The general suggested the advisability of taking a
+complete organization; to which was replied, “That at this late hour in
+the expedition it is imperative to have selected men in order to
+perform the required duty; that men taken at random, as would be the
+case in a complete organization such as a company, would not be likely
+to have the required characteristics.” The general tersely remarked,
+“You may have them. Make out your list, name any man in the corps that
+you want, and hand the list to me. I will send the men to you.” The
+trial was over, and the Machine Gun Detachment was a settled fact.
+
+Accordingly on the following day Special Orders No. 16 were issued, as
+follows:
+
+_Extract._
+
+“Headquarters 5th Army Corps, “On Board S. S. _Segurança_, “Tampa Bay,
+Fla., June 11, 1898.
+
+“_Special Orders, No._ 16:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+“4. The following named enlisted men are detailed for duty with the
+Gatling Gun Detachment, 5th Army Corps, and will report at once to 2d
+Lieut. John H. Parker, 13th Infantry, commanding the detachment for
+duty:
+
+“9th Infantry: Sergeant Weigle.
+
+“12th Infantry: Privates Voelker, Company A; Anderson, Lauer, and
+Timberly, Company C; Prazak, Company E.
+
+“13th Infantry: Sergeant Green, Company H; Corporals Stiegerwald,
+Company A; Doyle, Smith, and Rose, Company C; Privates Corey and Power,
+Company A; Barts, Company E; and Schmadt, Company G.
+
+“17th Infantry: Privates Merryman and Schulze, Company A; McDonald,
+Company B; Elkins, Dellett, and McGoin, Company D; Click, Needle,
+Shiffer, and Sine, Company E.
+
+“Each of the soldiers will report equipped as follows: Blanket-roll
+complete, haversack and contents, canteen, waist-belt of leather,
+hunting-knife, and revolver, and they will be rationed with ten days’
+travel rations. Descriptive lists of these men will be sent to the
+commanding officer of the detachment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+“By command of Maj.-Gen. Shafter.
+
+“Official. _J. D. Miley, E. J. McClernand_, “Aide. Asst. Adj.-Gen.”
+
+“Headquarters 5th Army Corps, “On Board S. S. _Segurança_, “Tampa Bay,
+June 11, 1898.
+
+“_Special Orders, No._ 16:
+
+_Extract._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+“5. 2d Lieut. John H. Parker, 13th Infantry, commanding the Gatling Gun
+Detachment, 5th Army Corps, is authorized to make the usual
+requisitions for supplies.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+“By command of Maj.-Gen. Shafter.
+
+“Official. _J. D. Miley, E. J. McClernand_, “Aide. Asst. Adj.-Gen.”
+
+The organization was thus perfected by a single stroke of the general’s
+pen on the 11th of June, theoretically; practically it was the 14th of
+June before the details from the 12th and 17th Infantry reported, and
+when they did, instead of being equipped as directed, they carried
+rifles with 100 rounds of ammunition.
+
+
+The Landing.
+
+Serg. Weigle, of the 9th Infantry, who reported at the same time,
+carried a revolver. On the 14th a wigwag message was received from the
+13th Infantry, inquiring whether the detail was desired to report at
+once or not, to which the reply was sent that it was desired to report
+at the earliest possible moment. It did not report.
+
+The detachment was at once organized as well as possible for the trip
+on board the transport, and the guns brought up from the hold of the
+ship and mounted in such a way that they would be ready for instant
+use. It was not known but that the detachment might have to participate
+in a naval engagement, and the value of machine guns in the navy has
+long been demonstrated. At any rate, it was determined to be ready to
+give a warm reception to any torpedo vessel which might attempt to
+attack the _Cherokee_. One object of getting the guns up was to give
+instruction to the new men who reported on the 14th. Sergt. Weigle was
+well instructed in the use of Gatling guns, but none of the other
+members of the detachment had ever received any instruction, and had
+been selected rather on the ground of their superior intelligence and
+courage than on any special knowledge of machine guns. They were given
+a drill each day in loading and firing the piece, during the time they
+remained on board the transport, when the weather permitted.
+
+The condition of the troops on board the transport was miserable. The
+following extract from a letter written at that time will convey some
+idea of the crowded, ill-ventilated condition of the vessel:
+
+“We have now been on board the transport a week, and are getting into a
+frame of mind suitable for desperate work. If you can imagine 1000 men
+crowded into space needed for 500, and then kept there without room to
+stand or move or sit for seven days, under a tropical sun, in foul
+holds utterly without ventilation (just imagine it!), endured without a
+single murmur or complaint, not stoically, but patiently and
+intelligently, while every officer on board is kicking as hard and as
+often as possible for the relief of his men, then you will have some
+idea of the situation. The men are very patient, but they know someone
+has blundered. Talk about the heroism of the Light Brigade! It is
+nothing to the heroism that goes cheerfully and uncomplainingly into
+the Black Hole of Calcutta (there is nothing else that will compare
+with these transports), all because it is duty. When will the people
+appreciate the heroism of the Regular Army?”
+
+This was the actual condition of affairs on board the _Cherokee_ up to
+the time of leaving port on the 14th of June, and it was modified only
+by the hoisting of wind-sails, after we got under way. These were not
+very efficient and there were only two of them, so very little relief
+was given to the overcrowded berth-deck. Most of the men spent their
+time on the upper deck, and one whole company was quartered there. At
+night, after 8 o’clock, Col. Comba authorized the men to sleep on deck,
+and there was always a rush, when the ship’s bell struck the hour, for
+good places on the quarter-deck. The only thing that made the voyage
+endurable was the good weather which prevailed. This prevented
+seasickness, to a certain extent.
+
+The squadron reached Santiago de Cuba, and after tacking about for
+several days, either for the purpose of deceiving the enemy, or of
+waiting a decision as to the landing-place, finally approached
+Baiquiri, which had been selected for the landing. The troops on the
+_Cherokee_ began to land on the 23d of June, the battalion of the 12th
+Infantry going first. This was followed by the 17th Infantry, and upon
+its departure the captain of the _Cherokee_ put to sea. The reason for
+this maneuver is not known. The orders issued by Gen. Shafter in regard
+to the landing were that the Gatling Gun Detachment should accompany
+Gen. Lawton’s Division. This movement of the _Cherokee_ completely
+blocked the landing of the Gatling guns. The ship’s captain was finally
+induced to put back into the bay and speak to the _Segurança_, and Gen.
+Shafter directed that the detachment should be taken off the next
+morning.
+
+An effort was made, therefore, to obtain the use of a lighter which was
+not at that time in use, but the Commissary Department refused to yield
+the boat, and it remained until 11 o’clock the next morning tied up to
+the wharf with half a load of commissaries on board before it became
+available, and then was seized by the Quartermaster’s Department. An
+effort was then made to obtain the use of three pontoons, belonging to
+the Engineer Department, which had been drawn up to the shore and were
+of no use to anybody. The young engineer officer in charge of these
+boats, a premature graduate of the class of ’98, was “afraid the boats
+might get smashed in the surf,” and could not consent without seeing
+Col. Derby. Col. Derby could not be found.
+
+
+Pack Train.
+
+A wigwag came from Gen. Shafter, asking whether the Gatling guns had
+been landed. The reply, “No; may I use pontoons?” was answered at once,
+“Use pontoons, and get off immediately.” On returning to shore with a
+party to work the pontoons, the party was stopped in the act of
+launching the first boat by Gen. Sumner, and ordered to proceed to the
+_Cherokee_, take her out into the offing, and order another to take her
+place to unload. Protesting against this action, and informing Gen.
+Sumner of the urgent orders for the Gatling guns to disembark at once,
+that officer inquired the opinion of the prematurely graduated engineer
+as to the practicability of using the pontoons, and this experienced
+young man again expressed the fear that the boats might be injured in
+the surf. To the detachment commander’s indignant exclamation, “What
+the h— were these boats made for, if they are not to be used and
+smashed?” Gen. Sumner responded by a peremptory order to warp the
+_Cherokee_ out from the pier and send the other vessels in. The order
+was obeyed, and all the circumstances reported to Gen. Shafter the same
+evening, with the expression of the opinion that if the general wanted
+the Gatling guns landed, he would have to attend to it personally,
+because the Gatling gun commander did not have sufficient rank to
+accomplish it in the face of all these obstacles. Early on the morning
+of June 25th, therefore, Gen. Shafter sent peremptory orders to the
+lighter to lay alongside the _Cherokee_, take the Gatling guns and
+detachment on board, and land them on the dock. The transfer began at 8
+o’clock in the morning, Gen. Shafter coming out in person in his steam
+launch to see that his order was executed. By 11 o’clock the guns,
+carriages, 30,000 rounds of ammunition, four sets of double harness,
+and the detachment were on board the lighter. This had been
+accomplished a mile outside in the offing, with the vessel rolling and
+pitching in the trough of the sea and on the crest of the gigantic
+rollers in so violent a manner that it was almost impossible for men to
+stand on their feet, much less handle such heavy material as guns and
+ammunition. The lighter was warped to the pier at 11 o’clock, and the
+general tied his steam launch alongside to see that it was not
+disturbed until the debarkation was completed. At 1 o’clock everything
+was ashore, and, in compliance with the general’s instructions, the
+best mules in the corral were taken, and as they were led away from the
+corral-gate, a fat, sleek, black streaked, long-eared specimen, which
+had been selected for a saddle-mule, set up a cheerful “Aw! hee haw!
+haw!” which produced a burst of laughter and cheering from the members
+of the detachment and the soldiers in the vicinity. It was a cheerful
+omen. These Missouri mules were capable of pulling anything loose at
+both ends, and four experienced drivers had been selected from the
+detachment who were capable of riding anything that walked on four
+feet, or driving anything from an Arab courser to a pair of Shetland
+ponies.
+
+Priv. J. Shiffer had been selected as corral boss of the detachment.
+The most picturesque figure, the most boyish member, and as brave a
+soldier as ever shouldered a musket; broad of shoulder, stout of limb,
+full of joke, as cheerful as a ray of sunlight, this man was the
+incarnation of courage and devotion. He loved a mule. He was proud of
+the job. With the instinct of a true teamster, he had snapped up the
+best pair of mules in the whole corral and was out before the
+detachment commander had selected a single mule. This team was as black
+as Shiffer’s shoes and as strong as a pair of elephants. They were
+worked harder than any other team in the 5th Army Corps, and when they
+were turned in to the quartermaster in August, they were as fat, as
+sleek, as strong, and as hardy as on the day they were taken from the
+corral in Baiquiri. The other three teamsters were like unto the first.
+They were all handy men. They were as capable of fighting or aiming a
+gun as of driving a team. Any one of the four could take a team of
+mules up a mountain-side or down a vertical precipice in perfect
+safety. They could do the impossible with a team of mules, and they had
+to do it before the detachment reached the firing-line. The success of
+the battery was to depend to a very large degree upon the coolness,
+good judgment, and perfect bravery of these four teamsters.
+
+
+Calvary Picket Line.
+
+It should be noted that the use of mules was an experiment. The
+“scientific” branch of service has always held that the proper animal
+to draw a field-piece is the horse. They expatiate with great delight
+upon the almost human intelligence and sagacity of that noble animal;
+upon his courage “when he snuffeth the battle afar,” and upon the
+undaunted spirit with which he rushes upon the enemy, and assists his
+master to work the destruction of his foes. The Artillery claims that
+mules are entirely too stubborn, too cowardly, and too hard to manage
+for the purpose of their arm of the service. It was also an experiment
+to use two mules per gun. The Engineer Department had reported that the
+road to the front was impassable for wheeled vehicles, and even the
+general had apparently thought that four mules per gun would be
+necessary. The necessity of economizing mules, and the opinion of the
+detachment commander that two mules per gun would be sufficient, had
+led to the issue of that number. Those who despise the army mule for
+the purposes of field artillery know very little of the capacity of
+this equine product of Missouri when properly handled. It was
+demonstrated that two mules can pull a Gatling gun with 10,000 rounds
+of ammunition, loaded down with rations and forage, where eight horses
+are required to draw a field-piece; and that mules are equally as easy
+to manage under fire as horses.
+
+The landing was completed and the detachment organized at 3 p. m.,
+having rations, forage, and ammunition complete. There was no tentage,
+except the shelter-halves which some of the men had brought with them.
+Capt. Henry Marcotte, retired, the correspondent of the _Army and Navy
+Journal_, requested permission to accompany the detachment, which was
+granted, and soon all were _en route_ for the front, entrusted with the
+task of opening the way for wheeled transportation and of demonstrating
+the practicability of the road for army wagons and field artillery.
+
+For the first mile the road was excellent. It lay through one of the
+most fertile parts of the most fertile island in the world. A little
+stream trickling along the side of the road furnished plenty of water
+for both men and animals. At the end of the mile the detachment found a
+steep hill to descend. The Ordnance Department, which designed and
+built the carriage for the Gatling guns, had never foreseen the
+necessity for a brake, and it was therefore necessary to cut down
+bushes from the roadside and fasten the rear wheels by placing a stout
+pole between the spokes and over the trail of the piece. This locked
+the wheels, and the guns were thus enabled to slide down the steep hill
+without danger of a runaway. From this point the road became a narrow
+defile. The rank jungle closed in upon the trail, the long barbed
+leaves of the Spanish bayonet hung across and lacerated the legs of the
+mules until the blood trickled down to the hoofs; the boughs of the
+trees hung down over it so that even the men on foot had to stoop to
+pass under them, and the tortuous path winding in and out amid the
+dense tropical undergrowth made it impossible to see in places more
+than twenty-five or thirty yards ahead at a time.
+
+The advance guard, consisting of all the members of one gun crew, had
+been organized at once upon starting, and this guard moved along the
+road about two hundred and fifty yards in advance of the detachment,
+scouting every path vigilantly to the right and left, and keeping a
+constant, careful lookout to the front. Their orders were, in case of
+encountering the enemy, to scatter in the underbrush, open fire with
+magazines, so as to produce the impression upon the enemy that there
+was a large force, and then slowly fall back upon the battery. The plan
+was, upon the first alarm, to bring the two leading guns into battery
+upon the road, with the fourth gun ready to be opened to either flank,
+while the gun crew of the third gun, which formed the advance guard,
+were to act as infantry support to the battery. It was hoped that the
+enemy would follow the advance guard as it retreated, and it was
+believed that the Gatling gun battery could take care of two or three
+regiments of Spaniards without help if necessary.
+
+This form for the march had been adopted as the result of mature
+reflection. The general had offered a cavalry escort of two troops, and
+Gen. Sumner had rather urged the use of an escort, but it was desired
+to demonstrate that a battery of machine guns, properly manned and
+equipped, is capable of independent action, and does not need the
+assistance of either arm of the service. In fact, the Gatling gun men
+would have been rather pleased than not to have had a brush with the
+enemy without the assistance of either infantry or cavalry. But it was
+not to be.
+
+The march was continued until darkness fell over the landscape, and the
+battery arrived at a beautiful camping-place about one mile east of
+Siboney, where a break in the water-pipe near the railroad track gave
+an ample supply of excellent water, and a ruined plantation, now
+overgrown with luxuriant sugar-cane, provided ample forage for the
+mules. The two troops of cavalry, which had been offered and refused as
+an escort, had reached this camping-place some time before, so that the
+wearied members of the detachment found pleasant camp-fires already
+throwing their weird lights and shadows over the drooping branches of
+the royal palm.
+
+Here, in the midst of the jungle, they pitched their first camp in
+Cuba. The condition of the mules was duly looked to, their shoulders
+washed down with strong salty water, their feet carefully examined, and
+the animals then tethered to graze their fill on the succulent
+sugar-cane, after having had a bountiful supply of oats. Meantime the
+camp cooks had a kettle full of coffee simmering, and canned roast beef
+warming over the fire, and after a hearty meal the tired men stretched
+themselves upon the ground, with no canopy except the stars and only
+one sentinel over the camp, and slept more soundly than they had on
+board the tossing _Cherokee_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE MARCH.
+
+
+At early dawn the battery arose, and, after a quick breakfast, resumed
+the march. Some half-mile farther on they passed a battery of light
+artillery which had preceded them on the road by some nine hours, and
+which had camped at this point awaiting forage. At Siboney the
+detachment stopped to look after the detail from the 13th Infantry,
+which had not yet reported. The detachment commander sought out the
+regimental adjutant, who referred him to the regimental commander, Col.
+Worth. This colonel was at first reluctant to allow the men to go, but,
+on being informed of the necessity for them, and after inquiring about
+the orders on the subject, he directed the detail to report
+immediately. All the members of this detail reported at once, except
+Corp. Rose, who had been left by his company commander on board ship.
+
+The road from Siboney to the front was not known. There was no one in
+camp who even knew its general direction. Application was therefore
+made to Gen. Castillo, who was in command of a body of Cubans at
+Siboney, for a guide. After a great deal of gesticulation, much excited
+talk between the general and members of his staff, and numerous
+messengers had been dispatched hither and thither upon this important
+and very difficult business, a Cuban officer was sent with instructions
+to furnish a guide who could conduct the detachment to Gen. Wheeler’s
+headquarters at the front. In the course of some twenty minutes, a
+dirty slouchy, swarthy, lousy-looking vagabond was pointed out as the
+desired guide, and was said to know every by-path and trail between
+Siboney and Santiago. He was told to go with the detachment to Gen.
+Wheeler’s headquarters and then return, and the detachment commander
+started for his command followed by his sable guide. Passing through a
+group of these brave Cuban heroes, he lost sight of his redoubtable
+guide for an instant, and has never since found that gentleman.
+
+It would be just as well to add a description of the patriotic Cuban as
+he was found by the Gatling Gun Detachment during their campaign in
+behalf of Cuban independence, in the name of humanity; and this
+description, it is thought, tallies with the experience of all officers
+in the expedition.
+
+The valiant Cuban! He strikes you first by his color. It ranges from
+chocolate yellow through all the shades to deepest black with kinky
+hair; but you never by any chance see a white Cuban, except the fat,
+sleek, well-groomed, superbly mounted ones in “khaki,” who loaf around
+headquarters with high-ranking shoulder-straps. These are all imported
+from the United States. They comprise the few wealthy ones of Spanish
+descent, who are renegade to their own nativity, and are appealing to
+the good people of the United States to establish them in their status
+of master of peons without any overlord who can exact his tithes for
+the privilege.
+
+
+San Juan Hill.
+
+The next thing you notice is the furtive look of the thief. No one has
+ever yet had a chance to look one of these chocolate-colored Cubans
+straight in the eye. They sneak along. Their gait has in it something
+of that of the Apache, the same soft moccasined tread, noiseless and
+always stealthy. Your impressions as to their honesty can be instantly
+confirmed. Leave anything loose, from a heavy winter overcoat, which no
+one could possibly use in Cuba, to—oh well, anything—and any Cuban in
+sight will take great pleasure in dispelling any false impressions that
+honesty is a native virtue.
+
+Next you notice that he is dirty. His wife does sometimes make a faint
+attempt at personal cleanliness; this is evident, because in one bright
+instance a white dress was seen on a native woman, that had been washed
+sometime in her history. But as to his lordship, the proud male citizen
+of Cuba libre, you would utterly and bitterly insult him by the
+intimation that a man of his dignity ought ever to bathe, put on clean
+clothes, or even wash his hands. He is not merely dirty, he is filthy.
+He is infested with things that crawl and creep, often visibly, over
+his half-naked body, and he is so accustomed to it that he does not
+even scratch.
+
+Next you observe the intense pride of this Cuban libre. It is
+manifested the very first time you suggest anything like manual
+labor—he is incapable of any other—even for such purposes as camp
+sanitation, carrying rations, or for any other purpose. His manly chest
+swells with pride and he exclaims in accents of wounded dignity, “Yo
+soy soldado!” Still his pride does not by any chance get him knowingly
+under fire. At El Poso some of him did get under fire from artillery,
+accidentally, and it took a strong provost guard to keep him there. If
+he ever got under fire again there was no officer on the firing-line
+who knew it.
+
+He is a treacherous, lying cowardly, thieving, worthless, half-breed
+mongrel; born of a mongrel spawn of Europe, crossed upon the fetiches
+of darkest Africa and aboriginal America. He is no more capable of
+self-government than the Hottentots that roam the wilds of Africa or
+the Bushmen of Australia. He can not be trusted like the Indian, will
+not work like a negro, and will not fight like a Spaniard; but he will
+lie like a Castilian with polished suavity, and he will stab you in the
+dark or in the back with all the dexterity of a renegade graduate of
+Carlisle.
+
+Providence has reserved a fairer future for this noble country than to
+be possessed by this horde of tatterdemalions. Under the impetus of
+American energy and capital, governed by a firm military hand with even
+justice, it will blossom as the rose; and, in the course of three or
+four generations, even the Cuban may be brought to appreciate the
+virtues of cleanliness, temperance, industry, and honesty.
+
+Our good roads ended at Siboney, and from there on to Gen. Wheeler’s
+headquarters was some of the worst road ever traveled. Part of it lay
+through deep valleys, where the sun was visible scarcely more than an
+hour at noontime, and the wet, fetid soil was tramped into a muck of
+malarial slime under foot of the mules and men. The jungle became
+ranker, the Spanish bayonets longer and their barbs sharper in these
+low bottom jangles. The larger undergrowth closed in more sharply on
+the trail, and its boughs overhung so much in some places that it
+became necessary to cut them away with axes in order to pass.
+
+These guns were the first wheeled vehicles that had ever disturbed the
+solitude of this portion of Cuba. The chocolate-colored natives of Cuba
+sneak; the white native of Cuba, when he travels at all, goes on
+horseback. He very seldom travels in Cuba at all, because he is not
+often there. Consequently the roads in Cuba, as a rule, are merely
+small paths sufficient for the native to walk along, and they carry the
+machete in order to open a path if necessary. These low places in the
+valleys were full of miasmatic odors, yellow fever, agues, and all the
+ills that usually pertain to the West Indian climate.
+
+At other places the road ran along the tops of the foot-hills from one
+to two hundred feet higher than the bottom of these valleys. Here the
+country was much more open. The path was usually wide enough for the
+guns to move with comparative ease. Sometimes one wagon could pass
+another easily. These parts of the road were usually more or less
+strewn with boulders. The road was rarely level and frequently the
+upland parts were washed out. Sometimes it was only the boulder-clad
+bottom of a ravine; again the water would have washed out the gully on
+one side so deep as to threaten overturning the guns. The portions of
+the road between the valleys and the top of these foot-hills were the
+worst places the detachment had to pass. These ascents and descents
+were nearly always steep. While not at all difficult for the man upon
+horseback or for the man on foot, they were frequently almost too steep
+for draft, and they were always washed out. In places it was necessary
+to stop and fill up these washouts by shoveling earth and stone into
+the places before the detachment could pass.
+
+
+Cuban Soldiers as They Were.
+
+On one of these occasions, while heaving rock to fill up a bad washout,
+Priv. Jones was stung by a scorpion. Jones did not know what had bitten
+him, and described it as a little black thing about as long as his
+finger. Fortunately there was a small supply of whisky with the
+detachment, and this remedy was applied to Jones internally. Some
+soldier in the detachment suggested that a quid of tobacco externally
+would be beneficial, so this also was done. It was not a dressing
+favorable to an aseptic condition of the wound, perhaps, nor was there
+anything in the quid of tobacco calculated to withdraw the poison or
+neutralize its effects, so the doctors may characterize this as a very
+foolish proceeding; but country people skilled in simples and herb
+remedies might tell some of these ultra scientific surgeons that the
+application of a quid of tobacco or of a leaf of tobacco to the sting
+of a wasp or the bite of a spider, or even the sting of a scorpion, is
+nearly always attended by beneficial results. In fact, when Jones was
+stung there was a surgeon, a medical officer, who turned up even before
+Jones was treated with the whisky cure, and, upon receiving Jones’
+explanation that he had been heaving rock and had been bitten on the
+end of the finger by a little black thing, and after hearing the
+remarks of the men that it was very probably a scorpion sting, this
+medical officer very sagely diagnosed the accident to that effect, but
+was unable to prescribe any remedy because he had not brought along his
+emergency case. This medical officer, with his two attendant hospital
+satellites, had left both litter and emergency case upon the transport.
+
+The ordinary line officer or soldier who is somewhat accustomed to
+carrying weights and does not require a hospital drill to teach him to
+carry a wounded comrade a few yards, looks with a certain degree of
+envy upon the possession of a hospital litter with its convenient
+straps for weight-carrying, and would consider this a very convenient
+means for carrying a pack. This litter is designed to enable two men,
+hospital attendants or band men, to pick up a wounded soldier weighing
+some 160 or 180 pounds and carry him from fifty yards to a mile if
+necessary, to a dressing-station or hospital shack. The medical
+field-case No. 1 weighs about sixty pounds filled, and field-case No. 2
+weighs about forty pounds. These two cases contain all the medicines
+necessary to run a division hospital; the case of emergency instruments
+does not weigh above ten or twelve pounds, and would not be a burden
+for a child to carry. It is therefore difficult for the small-minded
+officer of the line to see why the Medical Department was unable to
+have these medicines up at the front. They had the same means of
+locomotion provided for the other soldiers, by Nature, and they had,
+moreover, no particular necessity for all rushing to the extreme front.
+On the contrary, they had from the 23d of June, when the landing began,
+at Baiquiri, until the 1st of July, to accomplish a distance of less
+than twenty miles; and it would seem reasonable that they might have
+had their medicine-cases up where they were needed by that time.
+
+These gentlemen pose as the most learned, expert, scientific, highly
+trained body of medical men in the world. They are undoubtedly as well
+trained, as highly educated, and as thoroughly proficient as the
+medical officers of any army in the world. A summons of an ordinary
+practitioner would bring with him his saddle-bags of medicines; no
+physician in the city would pretend to answer even an ambulance call
+without having a few simple remedies—in other words, an emergency case;
+but it was an exception, and a very rare exception at that, to find a
+medical officer who took the trouble to carry anything upon his
+aristocratic back on that march to the front.
+
+A conversation overheard between two medical officers on board a
+transport just before landing may serve to partially explain the state
+of affairs. Said surgeon No. 1 to surgeon No. 2, “We are going to land
+this morning; are you going to carry your field-case?” To which surgeon
+No. 2 indignantly replied, “No, I’m not a pack-mule!” Surgeon No. 1
+again inquired, “Are you going to make your hospital men carry it?” To
+which surgeon No. 2 replied, “No; my men are not beasts of burden.”
+Both of these medical officers went ashore; one of them had his field
+case carried; the other did not. Both of them were up at the
+firing-line, both did good service in rendering first aid. Both of them
+worked heroically, both seemed deeply touched by the suffering they
+were compelled to witness, and both contracted the climatic fever. But
+in the absence of medicines the role of the surgeon can be taken by the
+private soldier who has been instructed in first aid to the injured;
+for in the absence of medical cases and surgical instruments the
+first-aid packet is the only available source of relief, and these
+first-aid packets were carried by the private soldier, not by the
+Medical Department.
+
+
+Wagon Train.
+
+A little less “theory,” a little less “science,” a little less tendency
+to dwell on the “officer” part of the business, with a little more
+devotion to the duty of relieving suffering humanity—in short, a little
+less insistence upon “rank,” would have vastly improved the medical
+service of the United States Army in the field at this time.
+
+These remarks do not apply to the heroes like Ebert, Thorpe, Brewer,
+Kennedy, Warren, and a few others, who fearlessly exposed their lives
+upon the very firing-line. These men are the very “salt of the earth.”
+The escape of even a “frazzle” of the 5th Corps was due to their
+superhuman energy and exertions. They did much to redeem the good name
+of their corps and to alleviate suffering.
+
+But Priv. Jones recovered from the sting of the scorpion. In fact,
+soldiers were heard to exclaim that they would be glad to find a
+scorpion when they saw the character of the remedy applied in Jones’
+case.
+
+The detachment left Siboney about 10 o’clock in the morning and tramped
+steadily along the road up hill and down until 12; then, upon finding a
+convenient place, it halted for dinner. The mules were unharnessed,
+coffee prepared, and, just as the detachment was about to begin this
+noonday meal, two of the peripatetic newspaper fraternity joined, _en
+route_ to the rear. The ubiquitous correspondent had for the first time
+discovered the Gatling Gun Detachment, and they thought it was
+Artillery.
+
+One of these gentlemen was a long, slim, frayed-out specimen of
+humanity, with a wearied and expressive droop of the shoulders; the
+other was a short, stout, florid, rotund individual, and his “too, too
+solid flesh” was in the very visible act of melting. The newspaper
+gentlemen were invited to participate in the noonday meal, and, with
+some gentle urging, consented. It was only after the meal was over that
+it was learned that this was the first square meal these men had had in
+over forty-eight hours. They had been with Gen. Wheeler at La Guasimas,
+had rejoined Wheeler after reporting that fight, in hopes of making
+another “scoop,” and were now on their way to Siboney, hoping to buy
+some provisions. Poor devils! They had worked for a “scoop” at La
+Guasimas; they had gone up on the firing-line and had sent back
+authentic accounts of that little skirmish; but they did not make the
+“scoop.” The “scoop” was made by newspaper men who had remained on
+board the transports, and who took the excited account of a member of
+the command who had come back delirious with excitement, crazed with
+fear, trembling as though he had a congestive chill—who, in fact, had
+come back faster than he had gone to the front, and in his excited
+condition had told the story of an ambuscade; that Wheeler, Wood, and
+Roosevelt were all dead; that the enemy was as thick as the barbs on
+the Spanish bayonet; and that he, only he, had escaped to tell the
+tale. This was the account of the battle that got back to the
+newspapers in the form of a “scoop,” and it was nothing more nor less
+than the excited imagination of the only coward who at that time or
+ever afterwards was a member of the famous Rough Riders. He was
+consequently returned to civil life prematurely.
+
+The newspaper correspondent in Cuba was of a distinguished type. You
+recognized him immediately. He was utterly fearless; he delighted in
+getting up on the firing-line—that is, a few of him did. Among these
+few might be mentioned Marshall, and Davis, and Remington, and
+Marcotte, and King, and some half-dozen others; but there was another
+type of newspaper correspondent in Cuba, who hung around from two miles
+and a half to three miles in rear of the firing-line, and never by any
+possibility got closer to the enemy than that. The members of this
+guild of the newspaper fraternity were necessarily nearer the cable
+office than their more daring comrades; in fact, there were a few who
+were known to have been eight or nine miles nearer to the cable office
+during battles, and those correspondents were the ones who made the
+great “scoop” in the New York papers, by which a regiment that laid
+down and skulked in the woods, or ran wildly to the rear, was made to
+do all the fighting on the first day of July. This latter class of
+journalists were a menace to the army, a disgrace to their profession,
+and a blot upon humanity. Even the Cubans were ashamed of them.
+
+The detachment resumed the march at half past 1, and encountered some
+very difficult road, difficult because it needed repairs. The most
+difficult places were the ascents and descents of the hills, and in
+nearly every case fifteen or twenty minutes’ careful investigation was
+able to discover a means of getting around the worst places in the
+road. When it was not practicable to go around, J. Shiffer and his
+three fellow-teamsters would take a twist of their hands in the manes
+of their long-eared chargers, and apparently lift them down, or up, as
+the case might be, always landing on their feet and always safely. It
+was merely a question of good driving and will to go through. The worst
+places were repaired by the detachment before these reckless attempts
+at precipice-scaling were made. At one place there was a detachment of
+the 24th Infantry engaged in an alleged effort to repair the road. They
+did not seem to work with much vim. Chaplain Springer, having in the
+morning exhorted them to repentance and a better life and to doing good
+works unto their brethren, the enemy, was engaged at this point in the
+afternoon, it being Sunday, in a practical demonstration of what he
+considered good works. In other words, the chaplain, whose religious
+enthusiasm no one doubts, was engaged in heaving rocks with his own
+hands to show these colored soldiers how they ought to make good road,
+and he was doing “good works.”
+
+It is but a just tribute to Chaplains Springer and Swift, of the
+Regulars, to say that they were conspicuous in the hour of danger at
+the point of greatest peril. In the fearless discharge of their holy
+office, they faced all the dangers of battle; nor did they neglect the
+care of the body while ministering to the spiritual needs of the
+soldiers. Springer, for example, collected wood and made coffee for all
+on the firing-line, within 400 yards of the block-house at El Caney;
+and Swift was equally conspicuous in relieving suffering, binding up
+wounds, and caring for the sick. There were probably others equally as
+daring; but the author knows of the deeds of these men, and desires to
+pay a tribute of respect to them. Chaplains of this stamp are always
+listened to with respectful attention when they express their views of
+the true course of life to obtain a blessed hereafter. They were in
+very sharp contrast to the long-visaged clerical gentlemen who were so
+much in evidence at Tampa, and who never got within 500 miles of
+danger.
+
+The detachment safely passed all the bad places and obstacles in the
+road, arriving at Gen. Wheeler’s headquarters about half past 4
+o’clock, and reported. It was assigned a position between the advance
+outposts and directed to dispose of its guns in such a manner as to
+sweep the hills on which these outposts were placed. High hills to the
+right at a distance of about 2000 yards were supposed to be infested by
+the enemy, and a blockhouse which stood out against the sky-line was
+thought to contain a Spanish detachment. A high hill to the left at a
+distance of about 1000 yards had not yet been explored, and it was
+thought probable that some of the enemy was concealed on this hill
+also. The detachment commander was directed to report, after posting
+his battery, in which duty he was assisted by Col. Dorst, to Gen.
+Chaffee, who had charge of the outposts. The General inquired what the
+battery consisted of, and upon being informed that “It consists of four
+Gatling guns, posted so as to command the neighboring hills,” remarked
+in a very contemptuous manner, “You can’t command anything.” Gen.
+Chaffee subsequently had reason to revise his opinion, if not to regret
+the expression of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE BATTERY IN CAMP WHEELER.
+
+
+At this point in the history of the detachment, it would be well to
+give some account of the reasoning which led to its formation and the
+personnel of the detachment.
+
+Since the days of ’65 the armies of the civilized world have adopted a
+rifle whose effective range is more than twice as great as that used in
+the Civil War. Very able discussions have been made upon the
+theoretical changes of the battle-field thus brought about, but no
+proper conclusion had been reached. It was acknowledged by all
+text-book writers that the artillery arm of the service would find much
+greater difficulty in operating at short ranges, and that assaults upon
+fortified positions would be much more difficult in the future. But
+only Gen. Williston, of the United States Artillery, had ever taken the
+advanced ground that in a machine gun arm would be found a valuable
+auxiliary as a result of these changed conditions. This theory of Gen.
+Williston’s was published in the _Journal of the Military Service
+Institute_ in the spring of ’86, but never went, so far as Gen.
+Williston was concerned, beyond a mere theory; nor had the detachment
+commander ever heard of Gen. Williston’s article until after the battle
+of Santiago.
+
+
+Gatling Battery under Artillery Fire at El Poso.
+
+A study of the science of tactics—not merely drill regulations, but
+tactics in the broader sense of maneuvering bodies of troops upon the
+battle-field—had led Lieut. Parker to the conclusion that the artillery
+arm of the service had been moved back upon the battle-field to ranges
+not less than 1500 yards. This not because of lack of courage on the
+part of the Artillery, but as an inherent defect in any arm of the
+service which depends upon draft to reach an effective position. It was
+not believed that animals could live at a shorter range in anything
+like open country. The problem of supporting an infantry charge by some
+sort of fire immediately became the great tactical problem of the
+battle-field. Admitting that the assault of a fortified position has
+become much more difficult than formerly, the necessity of artillery
+support, or its equivalent in some kind of fire, became correspondingly
+more important, while under the conditions it became doubly more
+difficult to bring up this support in the form of artillery fire.
+
+The solution of this problem, then, was the principal difficulty of the
+modern battle-field; and yet, strange to say, the curtailed usefulness
+of artillery does not seem to have suggested itself to anybody else in
+the service previous to the first day of July. This problem had been
+made the subject of special study by him for several years, and had led
+to the conclusion that some form of machine gun must be adopted to take
+the place of artillery from 1500 yards down. This in turn led to the
+study of machine guns. The different forms in use in the different
+armies of the world had been considered, and it was found that there
+was none in any service properly mounted for the particular use
+desired. All of them required the service of animals as pack-mules, or
+for draft, while the very conditions of the problem required a gun to
+be so mounted that the use of animals could be dispensed with.
+
+The Maxim gun has been reduced in weight to about 60 pounds, and is
+furnished with a tripod weighing about the same; but this is too heavy,
+and the supply of ammunition at once becomes a critical question. The
+Colt’s automatic rapid-fire gun has been reduced to 40 pounds, with a
+tripod of equal weight, but here again the same difficulty presents
+itself. The soldier is capable of carrying only a limited amount of
+weight; and with his already too heavy pack, his three days’ rations,
+together with the heat, fatigue and excitement of battle, it did not
+appear possible for any tripod-mounted gun to be effectively used.
+
+The problem therefore resolved itself into the question of carriages: A
+carriage capable of carrying any form of machine gun using
+small-caliber ammunition, capable of being moved anywhere by draft,
+capable of being dismantled and carried on a pack-mule, and, above,
+all, capable of being moved by hand; required also some device for
+getting the requisite amount of ammunition up to the firing-line. A
+carriage and ammunition cart was invented fulfilling all these
+conditions and the invention was presented to the adjutant-general of
+the army for consideration, accompanied by a discussion of the proper
+tactical use of the gun so mounted. This discussion, in part, was as
+follows:
+
+“It is claimed for this carriage that a machine gun mounted on it can
+be carried with a firing-line of infantry on the offensive, over almost
+any kind of ground, into the decisive zone of rifle fire and to the
+lodgment in the enemy’s line, if one is made.
+
+“On broken ground the piece can be moved forward by draft under cover
+of sheltering features of the terrain to a position so near the enemy
+that, under cover of its fire, an infantry line can effect a lodgment,
+after which the piece can be rushed forward by a sudden dash.
+
+“The machine gun, mounted on this carriage, is especially adapted for
+service with the reserve of a battalion on the offensive, acting either
+alone or in regiment. Its use will enable the commander to reduce the
+reserve, thereby increasing the strength of the fighting-line, and yet
+his flanks will be better protected than formerly, while he will still
+have a more powerful reserve. If the fighting-line be driven back, the
+machine guns will establish a point of resistance on which the line can
+rally, and from which it can not be driven, unless the machine guns be
+annihilated by artillery fire.
+
+“In case of counter-charge by the enemy, the superior weight and
+intensity of its fire will shake the enemy and so demoralize him that,
+in all probability, a return counter-charge will result in his complete
+discomfiture.
+
+
+Gatling Gun on Firing-Line July 1st. (Taken under fire by Sergeant
+Weigle.)
+
+“Retiring troops as rear guards have in this weapon _par excellence_
+the weapon for a swift and sharp return with the power of rapidly
+withdrawing. If the enemy can by any means be enticed within its range,
+he will certainly suffer great losses. If he cannot be brought in
+range, his distance will be rather respectful.”
+
+This discussion as presented was entirely and absolutely original with
+the author and the result of his own unaided researches on the subject.
+It will be seen in the account of the battle how accurately the
+conditions there laid down were fulfilled.
+
+But the carriage in use by the Gatling Gun Detachment was not the one
+proposed to the War Department. That carriage has not, as yet, been
+built, nor has the War Department in any way recognized the invention
+or even acknowledged the receipt of the communication and drawings.
+
+The problem, therefore, confronting the Gatling Gun Detachment was to
+demonstrate the above uses of the machine gun, taking the obsolete
+artillery carriage drawn by mules, and endeavor to get the guns into
+action by draft. The _personnel_ of the detachment alone accounts for
+their success. They got the guns up on the firing-line, not because of
+any superiority of the carriage over that in use by the artillery, for
+there was none; not because of aid rendered by other arms of the
+service, for they actually went into battle as far as 100 yards in
+advance of the infantry skirmishers; but because the Gatling Gun
+Detachment was there for the purpose of getting into the fight and was
+determined to give the guns a trial.
+
+In the first place, all the members of the Gatling Gun Detachment were
+members of the Regular Army. All but three of them were natives of the
+United States, and those three were American citizens. Every man in the
+detachment had been selected by the detachment commander, or had
+voluntarily undertaken to perform this duty, realizing and believing
+that it was an extremely hazardous duty. Every member of the detachment
+possessed a common-school education, and some of them were well
+educated. All of them were men of exceptionally good character and
+sober habits. The drivers were Privs. Shiffer, Correll, Merryman, and
+Chase. The description formerly given of Shiffer applies, with slight
+modifications, to all the four. The first sergeant, Weigle, a native of
+Gettysburg, a soldier of eight years’ experience in the Regular Army, a
+man of fine natural ability and good educational attainments, was
+worthy to command any company in the United States Army. Thoroughly
+well instructed in the mechanism of Gatling guns, of exceptionally
+cheerful and buoyant disposition, he was an ideal first sergeant for
+any organization. Steigerwald, acting chief of gun No. 1, was of German
+birth, well educated. He had chosen the military profession for the
+love of it; he was a man of wonderfully fine physique, a “dead sure”
+shot, and one who hardly understood the meaning of the word “fatigue.”
+He was ambitious, he was an ardent believer in the Gatling gun, and he
+was determined to win a commission on the battle-field.
+
+Corporal Doyle was a magnificent type of the old-time Regular—one of
+the kind that composed the army before Proctorism tried to convert it
+into a Sunday-school. In former days Doyle had been a drinking man; but
+the common opinion as expressed by his company officers even in those
+days was, “I would rather have Doyle, drunk, than any other
+non-commissioned officer, sober; because Doyle never gets too drunk to
+attend to duty.” Two years before this Doyle had quit drinking, and the
+only drawback to this most excellent noncommissioned officer had been
+removed. He was a thorough disciplinarian; one of the kind that takes
+no back talk; one who is prone to using the butt end of a musket as a
+persuader, if necessary; and Doyle was thoroughly devoted to the
+detachment commander. Corp. Smith was another of the same stamp. Corp.
+Smith loved poker. In fact, his _sobriquet_ was “Poker Smith.” He was
+one of the kind of poker-players who would “see” a $5 bet on a pair of
+deuces, raise it to $25, and generally rake in the “pot.” It was Corp.
+Smith who thought in this Gatling gun deal he was holding a pair of
+deuces, because he didn’t take much stock in Gatling guns, but he was a
+firm believer in his commanding officer and was prepared to “bluff” the
+Dons to the limit of the game.
+
+
+Fort Roosevelt.
+
+Sergeants Ryder and Weischaar were splendid types of the American
+Regular non-commissioned officer, alert, respectful, attentive to duty,
+resolute, unflinching, determined, magnificent soldiers. Serg. Green
+was a young man, only twenty-three, the idolized son of his parents, in
+the army because he loved it; enthusiastic over his gun, and fully
+determined to “pot” every Spaniard in sight. Corp. Rose was like unto
+him. They were eager for nothing so much as a chance to get into
+action, and equally determined to stay there. The privates of the
+detachment were like unto the noncommissioned officers. They had
+volunteered for this duty from a love of adventure, a desire to win
+recognition, or from their personal attachment to the commanding
+officer; and there was not a man who was not willing to follow him into
+the “mouth of hell” if necessary. The gunners were expert shots with
+the rifle. Numbers 1 and 2, who turned the crank and fed the gun,
+respectively, were selected for their dexterity and coolness; the
+drivers, for their skill in handling mules; and each of the other
+members of the detachment was placed on that duty which he seemed best
+fitted to perform.
+
+The roll of the detachment and its organization as it went into battle
+on the first day of July are subjoined:
+
+_Gatling Gun Detachment, Fifth Army Corps._
+
+Commanding Officer, John H. Parker, first lieutenant, 13th Infantry.
+Acting First Sergeant, Alois Weischaar, sergeant, Co. A, 13th Infantry.
+Acting Quartermaster Sergeant, William Eyder, Co. G, 13th Infantry.
+
+Gun No. 1: Acting Chief and Gunner, Charles C. Steigerwald, corporal,
+Co. A, 13th Infantry. No. 1, Private Voelker, Co. A, 12th Infantry. No.
+2, Private Elkins, Co. D, 17th Infantry. No. 3, Private Schmandt, Co.
+G, 13th Infantry. No. 4, Private Needles, Co. E, 17th Infantry. No. 5,
+Private Click, Co. E, 17th Infantry. No. 6, Private Jones, Co. D, 13th
+Infantry. Driver, Private Shiffer, Co. E, 17th Infantry.
+
+Gun No. 2: Chief, Sergeant William Ryder, Co. G, 13th Infantry. Gunner,
+Corporal Geo. N. Rose, Co. C, 13th Infantry. No. 1, Private Seaman, Co.
+B, 13th Infantry. No. 2, Private Kastner, Co. A, 13th Infantry. No. 3,
+Private Pyne, Co. H, 13th Infantry. No. 4, Private Schulze, Co. A, 17th
+Infantry. No. 5, Private Barts, Co. E, 13th Infantry. Driver, Private
+Correll, Co. C, 12th Infantry.
+
+Gun No. 3: Chief, Sergeant Newton A. Green, Co. H, 13th Infantry.
+Gunner, Corporal Matthew Doyle, Co. C, 13th Infantry. No. 1, Private
+Anderson, Co. C, 12th Infantry. No. 2, Private Sine, Co. E, 17th
+Infantry. No. 3, Private Lauer, Co. C, 12th Infantry. No. 4, Private
+Dellett, Co. D, 17th Infantry. No. 5, Private Cory, Co. A, 13th
+Infantry. No. 6, Private Greenberg, Co. G, 13th Infantry. Driver,
+Private Merryman, Co. A, 17th Infantry.
+
+Gun No. 4: Chief, Sergeant John N. Weigle, Co. L, 9th Infantry. Gunner,
+Corporal Robert S. Smith, Co. C, 13th Infantry. No. 1, Private McGoin,
+Co. D, 17th Infantry. No. 2, Private Misiak, Co. E, 13th Infantry. No.
+3, Private Power, Co. A, 13th Infantry. No. 4, Private McDonald, Co. B,
+17th Infantry. No. 5, Private Prazak, Co. E, 12th Infantry. Driver,
+Private Chase, Co. H, 13th Infantry. Cook, Private Hoft, Co. D, 13th
+Infantry. Assistant cook, Private Bremer, Co. G, 13th Infantry. Absent,
+sick, Private Murray, Co. F, 13th Infantry, at Tampa.
+
+Sergeant Weigle was subsequently appointed first sergeant of Co. L.,
+9th Infantry, and of the Gatling Gun Detachment, vice Weischaar,
+relieved at his own request.
+
+Another element which contributed much to the success of the detachment
+was the presence with it of Captain Marcotte. This excellent officer
+had served with great distinction in the Civil War, having been
+promoted from a private in the ranks through all of the grades up to a
+captaincy, for meritorious conduct in battle, and having failed of
+higher grades only because he was too badly shot to pieces to continue
+with the Army. He joined the detachment on the 25th of June, and his
+valuable advice was always at the disposal not merely of the commander,
+but of any member of the detachment who wished to consult him. He had
+spent seventeen years in the Cuban climate and was thoroughly familiar
+with all the conditions under which we were laboring. He contributed
+not a little, by his presence, his example, and his precept, to the
+final success of the organization. When the battery went under fire,
+Marcotte was with it. It was the first time most of the members had
+passed through this ordeal, but who could run, or even feel nervous,
+with this gray-haired man skipping about from point to point and taking
+notes of the engagement as coolly as though he were sitting in the
+shade of a tree sipping lime-juice cocktails, a mile from danger.
+
+Such was the _personnel_ of the detachment. It lay in Camp Wheeler,
+which was only about a mile and a half from El Poso, where the first
+engagement occurred on the first of July, until that morning. The mules
+were daily harnessed up and drilled in maneuvering the pieces, and the
+members of the detachment experimentally posted in different positions
+in order to get the most effective service.
+
+On the 27th, Serg. Green was sent back to Siboney with orders to bring
+Corp. Rose or his body. He brought Corp. Rose, and the corporal was
+very glad to be brought.
+
+The mules were fed with oats and on the juicy sugar-cane. It is worthy
+of mention that no other organization at the front had oats. A feed or
+two of oats was given to Gen. Wheeler and Col. Dorst for their horses;
+it was the first time their horses had tasted oats since leaving the
+transports, and was probably the last time until after the surrender.
+Furthermore, the Gatling Gun Detachment had “grub.” Of course, it was
+“short” on potatoes, onions, and vegetables generally; these luxuries
+were not to be well known again until it returned to the United States;
+but it did have hardtack, bacon, canned roast beef, sugar, and coffee,
+having drawn all the rations it could carry before leaving Baiquiri,
+and was the only organization which had as much as twenty-four hours’
+rations. Gen. Hawkins and his whole brigade were living from hand to
+mouth, one meal at a time. The same was true of Gen. Wheeler and the
+whole cavalry division, and they were depending for that one meal upon
+the pack-mule train. On the 30th of June a complete set of muster- and
+pay-rolls, was prepared for the detachment, and it was duly mustered in
+the usual form and manner. It was the only organization at the front of
+which a formal muster was made, and was the only one there which had
+muster- and pay-rolls.
+
+It rained on the 29th and 30th of June. Not such rains as the people of
+the United States are familiar with, but Cuban rains. It was like
+standing under a barrel full of water and having the bottom knocked
+out. These rains caused the rifles and carbines of the army to rust,
+and some quickwitted captain bethought himself to beg oil from the
+Gatling Gun Detachment. He got it. Another, and another, and still
+another begged for oil; then regiments began to beg for oil; and
+finally application was made for oil for a whole brigade. This led to
+the following correspondence:
+
+“Camp Six Miles from Santiago, “29th June, 1898.
+
+“_The Adjutant-General, Cavalry Division, Present:_
+
+“Sir,—I have the honor to inform you that I have learned that some of
+the rifles in this command are badly in need of oil, and that in some
+companies there is no oil to use on them. These facts I learned through
+requests to me for oil.
+
+“I therefore report to you that my men found at Altares (the second
+landing-place) and reported to me four (4) barrels of lard oil and
+three (3) barrels of cylinder oil, in an old oil-house near the machine
+shops.
+
+“If this be procured and issued, it will save the rifles and carbines
+from rust.
+
+“Very respectfully, “_John H. Parker_, “Lt. Comdg. G. G. Detachment,
+5th Corps.”
+
+_First Endorsement._
+
+“Headquarters Cavalry Division, “Camp 6 miles east of Santiago de Cuba,
+“June 29, 1898.
+
+“Respectfully referred to the adjutant-general, 6th Army Corps.
+
+“_Jos. Wheeler_, “Major-General U. S. Vols., Comdg.”
+
+_Second Endorsement._
+
+“Headquarters 5th Corps, “June 29, 1898.
+
+“Return. Lt. Parker will send a man back tomorrow to obtain the
+necessary oil.
+
+“By command of Gen. Shafter.
+
+“_E. J. McClernand_, “A. A. G.”
+
+_Third Endorsement._
+
+“Headquarters Cavalry Division, “June 29, 1898.
+
+“Return Lt. Parker. Attention invited to the foregoing endorsement.
+
+“_J. H. Dorst_, “Lieutenant-Colonel.”
+
+_Fourth Endorsement._
+
+“June 30, 1898.
+
+“_The Quartermaster, Altares, Cuba:_
+
+“Please furnish to Sergeant Green of my detachment transportation for
+two (2) barrels of oil. He will show you an order from Gen. Shafter,
+and the matter is urgent. The soldiers must have this oil at once, as
+their rifles are rusting badly.
+
+“_John H. Parker_, “Lt. Comdg. Gatling Gun Detach.”
+
+
+Sergeant Greene’s Gun at Fort Roosevelt.
+
+The quartermaster furnished the transportation and two barrels of oil
+were duly forwarded to the front and placed in charge of brigade
+quartermasters at different points, with orders to distribute out one
+quart to each company. This oil, perhaps, had some bearing upon the
+condition of the rifles in the fight following.
+
+On the 27th of June, Captain Marcotte and the detachment commander made
+a reconnaissance of a high hill to the left of Camp Wheeler, and,
+having gained the top, reconnoitered the city of Santiago and its
+surrounding defenses with a powerful glass, and as a result reported to
+Gen. Wheeler that the key of Santiago was the Morro mesa, a promontory
+or tableland overlooking the city on the east side at a distance of
+about a mile and a half and not at that time occupied by the enemy,
+with the proposition that a detail of a half-dozen men from the
+detachment should make a rush and capture this plateau, and hold it
+until the guns could be brought up. The general could not authorize the
+proposed undertaking, as it would have endangered the safety of his
+army, perhaps by leading to a premature engagement. By the time a
+sufficient reconnaissance had been made and convinced everybody of the
+value of this plan, the mesa had been strongly occupied by the enemy.
+It is still believed that the occupation of this height was practicable
+on the 27th of June, and thought, if it had been authorized, the
+Gatlings could have occupied and held this position against all the
+Spaniards in the city of Santiago. A glance at the map will show the
+extreme tactical importance of this position.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE BATTLE.
+
+
+On the 30th day of June, General Shafter pitched his camp about half a
+mile in advance of Camp Wheeler in a valley, and about five o’clock in
+the afternoon communicated the plan of battle to the division
+commanders and to the commander of the Gatling Gun Detachment.
+
+Reconnaissance had developed the fact that the enemy occupied the
+village of El Caney, and that their first line of works surrounded the
+city of Santiago at a distance of about a mile, crowning a semicircular
+ridge. Between the position occupied by the general’s camp and this
+ridge, a distance of about two and one-half miles, flowed the Aguadores
+and San Juan rivers, and about one mile from the San Juan River, on the
+east side, was a ruined plantation and mission house, called El Poso.
+Midway between El Caney and the Spanish position was a large handsome
+mansion, called the Du Cuorot house, standing in the midst of a large
+plantation and owned by a Frenchman, which both sides had agreed to
+respect as neutral property. The general plan of the battle as given to
+these officers on the 30th of June was for one division of the army
+(Lawton’s), assisted by one battery of artillery (Capron’s), to make an
+attack at daybreak upon the village of El Caney, and drive the enemy
+out of it. Another division (Kent’s) was to make an attack upon the
+semicircular ridge of hills south of El Caney as soon as Lawton was
+well committed to the fight, both for the purpose of preventing
+reinforcements from going to El Caney and to develop the enemy’s
+strength. It was expected that Lawton would capture El Caney about
+eight or nine o’clock in the morning, and pursue the retreating enemy,
+by the way of the Du Cuorot house, toward Santiago. This movement would
+cause Lawton to execute, roughly, a left wheel, and it was intended
+that in executing this maneuver Kent’s right should join, or nearly
+join, Lawton’s left, after which the whole line was to move forward
+according to the developments of the fight. Kent’s attack was to be
+supported by Grimes’ Battery from El Poso. The Gatling Gun Detachment
+was to move at daylight on the morning of July 1st, take position at El
+Poso sheltered by the hill, in support of Grimes’ Battery, and there
+await orders.
+
+
+Skirmish Line in Battle.
+
+This outline of the battle, as laid down by Gen. Shafter on the 30th
+day of June, was eventually carried out to the letter; its successful
+operation shut up a superior force in the city of Santiago, and
+compelled the surrender of the city.
+
+Perhaps no better comment can be made upon the generalship of the corps
+commander, no higher compliment be paid, than the mere statement that
+he was able, fifteen hours before a shot was fired in the battle, to
+prescribe the movements of the different organizations of his command,
+and to outline the plan of battle as it was finally carried out, with a
+degree of precision which can be fully appreciated only by those to
+whom the plan was communicated in advance. In spite of slight changes,
+made necessary by local failures and unforeseen circumstances; in spite
+of the very poor cooperation of the artillery arm; in spite of the
+absence of cavalry, which made good reconnaissance practically
+impossible; in spite of the fact that he was operating against a
+superior force in strong intrenchments—the plan of battle thus laid
+down was finally carried out with perfect success in every detail.
+
+The Gatling Gun Detachment was assembled at six o’clock, and so much of
+the plan of battle was explained to them as it was proper to give out,
+with orders that breakfast was to be prepared by four o’clock and the
+detachment be ready to move at 4:30. The plans were heard with careful
+attention by the men, and the wisdom of giving to them some idea of the
+work they were expected to do was fully vindicated on the following
+day, when they were compelled to lie nearly three hours under a
+dropping fire, waiting for “Lawton to become well engaged,” after which
+the detachment moved forward, without a man missing, with the utmost
+steadiness and coolness, to the attack.
+
+There was no nervousness displayed by the men. They knew their work was
+cut out for them, and each man was eager to play his part in the great
+drama of the morrow. There was no excited talk indulged in. None of the
+buzz of preparation nor the hum of anticipation which to the civilian
+mind should precede a desperate battle, but three or four members of
+the detachment took out their soldiers’ hand-books and wrote in them
+their last will and testament, requesting their commander to witness
+the same and act as executor. The courage evinced by these men was not
+of that brutal order which ignores danger, but of the moral quality
+which, fully realizing that somebody must get hurt, quietly resolves to
+face whatever may happen in the performance of the full measure of
+duty.
+
+At four o’clock the guard aroused the members of the detachment
+quietly, and each man found a good hearty breakfast waiting for him,
+consisting of hardtack, coffee, condensed milk, sugar, bacon, canned
+roast beef, and some canned fruit, which had been obtained somehow and
+was opened upon this occasion. It was the last square meal they were to
+have for several days. At half past four the camp equipage had all been
+packed upon the guns in such a manner as not to interfere with their
+instantly getting into action, and the battery started for the front.
+
+The road to El Poso was very good and the mules trotted merrily along,
+preceded and followed by infantry also bound for the front. The Cubans,
+too, were in evidence; an irregular, struggling mob of undisciplined
+barbarians, vociferous, clamorous, noisy, turbulent, excited. Presently
+the Cubans and infantry in front of the battery halted and it passed
+beyond them, immediately throwing out the crew of the third gun in
+front as an advance guard. It reached El Poso at six o’clock, at which
+time there were no other soldiers there. The battery took position as
+directed, under cover in rear of the hill and to the right front of the
+El Poso house. The camp equipage and blanket-rolls, were removed and
+piled neatly upon the ground, and Priv. Hoft was detailed to guard
+them, as well as one of the spare mules. About half past seven o’clock
+Grimes’ Battery arrived, and Col. McClernand, the assistant
+adjutant-general of the corps. The battery of artillery halted upon the
+hill near the Gatlings, while its commander, the adjutant-general, the
+_Army and Navy Journal_ correspondent, and the Gatling gun man climbed
+to the top of the hill to reconnoiter the enemy. They were accompanied
+by several _attachés_ and a battalion of newspaper correspondents.
+
+
+Fort Roosevelt.
+
+To the southwest, at a distance of about 3,000 yards, the city of
+Santiago lay slumbering in the morning sun. The chain of hills which
+surrounded the city, lying between it and our position, was crowned
+with rank tropical verdure, and gave no indications of military
+fortifications. There was no sign of life, a gentle land breeze swayed
+the tops of the royal palms, and the little birds flitted from bough to
+bough caroling their morning songs as though no such events were
+impending as the bombardment of a city and the death of 400 gallant
+soldiers. The gentle ripple of the creek, lapping over its pebbly bed
+at the foot of the hill, was distinctly audible.
+
+The artillery officers produced their range-finders and made a
+scientific guess at the distance from the hill to a red brick building
+in the northern edge of Santiago. This guess was 2600 yards. They
+signalled to the lead piece of Grimes’ Light Battery to ascend the
+hill. It was delayed for a moment while picks and shovels were plied
+upon the top of the hill to make slight emplacements for the guns, and
+at last, at ten minutes before eight o’clock, the first piece started
+the difficult ascent. The drivers stood up in their stirrups and lashed
+their horses and shouted; the horses plunged and reared and jumped. The
+piece stuck half way up the hill. The leaders were turned slightly to
+the right to give new direction and another attempt was made—ten yards
+gained. The leaders were swung to the left, men and officers standing
+near by added their shouts and blows from sticks. A tall artillery
+officer, whose red stripes were conspicuous, jumped up and down and
+swore; the team gave a few more jumps, then they wheeled the gun by a
+left about, with its muzzle pointing toward the city. It was quickly
+unlimbered and run to its place.
+
+The second piece started up the hill. The drivers of this piece sat
+quietly in their saddles, and, with a cluck, started up the hill at a
+walk. The tall artillery officer shouted, and a driver muttered under
+his breath, “Damned fool!” Regardless of the orders to rush their
+horses, the drivers of this piece continued to walk up the hill. At the
+steepest part of the hill, they rose slightly in their stirrups, as one
+man, and applied the spur to the lead horses, and, at the same time, a
+lash of the quirt to the off horses of the team. The horses sprang
+forward, and in an instant the second piece was in battery. The third
+and fourth pieces were taken up in the same manner as the second.
+
+The pieces were loaded; a party of newspaper correspondents produced
+their lead pencils and pads, and began to take notes; the little birds
+continued to sing. The Gatling Gun man, the Army and Navy Journal man,
+and the assistant adjutant-general stepped to the windward a few yards
+to be clear of the smoke. The range was given by the battery
+commander—2600 yards; the objective was named, a small, almost
+indistinguishable redoubt, below the hospital about 300 yards. The
+cannoneers braced themselves, No. 3 stretched the lanyard taut on his
+piece, and Grimes remarked, in a conversational tone, “Let her go.”
+
+The report of the field-piece burst with startling suddenness upon the
+quiet summer morning, and a dense cloud of grayish-colored smoke
+spurted from the muzzle of the gun. Everybody involuntarily jumped, the
+sound was so startling, although expected. The piece recoiled eight or
+ten feet, and the gunners jumped to the wheels and ran it forward again
+into battery. Field-glasses were glued upon the vicinity of the brick
+hospital. There was a puff of white smoke and an exclamation, “A trifle
+too long!” The second piece was aimed and fired. There was no response.
+The third, and fourth, and fifth, with like results. It was like firing
+a salute on the Fourth of July. There was no indication of any danger
+whatever; laugh and jest were beginning to go round.
+
+Suddenly a dull boom was heard from somewhere, the exact direction
+could not be located. The next thing was a shrill whistle overhead, and
+then a most startling report. The first Spanish shell exploded about
+twenty feet above the surface of the ground, and about twenty yards in
+rear of the crest of the hill. It exploded in the midst of our brave
+Cuban contingents, killed one and wounded several. The valiant sons of
+Cuba libre took to their heels, and most of the newspaper
+correspondents did likewise. The members of Grimes’ Battery, who were
+not needed at the guns, were sent back to the caissons, and another
+round of shrapnel was sent in reply. Again a hurtling sound rent the
+air; again there was the fierce crack of a Spanish shell in our
+immediate vicinity, and, on looking around to see where this shell
+struck, it was observed that it had burst over the Gatling battery.
+Luckily, it had gone six or eight feet beyond the battery before
+exploding. A fragment of the shell had struck Priv. Bremer upon the
+hand, producing quite a severe contusion. The Missouri mules stamped
+the ground impatiently; one of them uttered the characteristic
+exclamation of his race, “Aw! hee! aw! hee! aw!” and the members of the
+detachment burst into a merry peal of hearty laughter. It was evident
+that this detachment was not going to run, and it was equally evident
+that the Missouri mules would stand fire.
+
+
+A Fighting Cuban, and Where He Fought.
+
+
+
+Map—Siege Lines at Santiago.
+
+A third shell whistled over the hill. This one burst fairly over
+Grimes’ third piece, killed the cannoneer, and wounded several men.
+
+The members of the detachment were now directed to lie down under their
+guns and limbers, except the drivers, who declined to do so, and still
+stood at the heads of their mules. Priv. Hoft, disdaining to take
+cover, shouldered his rifle and walked up and down, sentry fashion,
+over the pile of camp equipage.
+
+Serg. Weigle, who had brought along a small portable camera, with a
+large supply of film-rolls, requested permission to photograph the next
+shot fired by Grimes’ Battery. It was granted. He climbed to the top of
+the hill, stepped off to the left of the battery, and calmly focused
+his camera. Grimes fired another salute, and Weigle secured a good
+picture. A Spanish shell came whistling over the hill; Weigle, judging
+where it would burst from previous observations, focused his camera,
+and secured a picture of the burst. He then rejoined his detachment,
+and photographed it as it stood. He seemed chiefly worried for fear he
+would not get a picture of everything that happened.
+
+The artillery duel continued for some twenty minutes. The infantry
+began to pass on, to the front. Grimes no longer needed the support of
+the Gatling guns, because he now had an infantry support in front of
+him, and was firing over their heads. Col. McClernand sent orders to
+the detachment to move to the rear, out of range. The order was obeyed.
+
+Private Hoft, with the instinct of a true soldier, continued to tramp
+back and forth guarding the pile of camp equipage. The battery moved to
+the rear at a gentle trot, and, as it turned down the hill into the
+first ford by the El Poso house, a Spanish shell whistled over the head
+of Private Shiffer, who was leading the way, and burst just beyond his
+off mule. Shiffer didn’t duck and nobody was hurt. Providence was
+taking care of this experiment. Corporal Doyle and two other members of
+the detachment got lost, and wandered off among the crowd of Cubans,
+but soon found the battery and rejoined. Orders were given that as soon
+as the battery was out of range, it should halt and face to the front,
+at the side of the road.
+
+The battery halted about half a mile to the rear, and the 13th Infantry
+passed it here, on their way to the front. The comments bestowed were
+not calculated to soothe the ruffled feelings of people who had been
+ordered to retreat. “I told you so.” “Why don’t you go to the front?”
+“Going to begin firing here?” “Is this the place where you shoot?” “Is
+this all there is of it?” “I knew they would not get into the fight.”
+“Watch them hang around the rear.” “Going to start in raising bananas
+back here, John Henry?” “What do you think of machine guns now?” and
+similar remarks, of a witty but exasperating nature, greeted the
+detachment, from both officers and men, as the regiment passed on its
+way to the front. The only thing that could be done was to endure it,
+in the hope of getting a chance to make a retort later in the day.
+
+About nine o’clock, the artillery firing ceased, and the Gatling Gun
+Battery returned to El Poso. Grimes’ guns were still up on the hill,
+but there were no cannoneers; they had ceased to fire, and had left
+their guns. Two or three dead men were lying on the side of the hill;
+wounded men were limping around with bandages. Cubans were again
+passing to the front. These fellows were trying to reach El Caney. They
+never got into the fight. They did reach the vicinity of El Caney, and
+the Spanish fired one volley at them. The Cubans set up a great howl,
+accompanied by vociferous gesticulations—and then “skedaddled.”
+
+During all this time the sound of firing had been heard toward El
+Caney. It had been opened up there about half an hour before Grimes
+first spoke at El Poso. The fire in this direction sounded like ranging
+fire, a shot every two or three minutes, and it was supposed that
+Capron was trying to locate the enemy. The sharp crack of musketry was
+heard on our front, it swelled and became continuous. It was evident
+that quite a fight was going on at El Caney, which was to our right
+about one mile and to our front perhaps half a mile. Kent’s Division
+kept pushing forward on the El Poso road. Col. McClernand was asked for
+instructions for the Gatling Gun Detachment. He replied, “Find the 71st
+New York, and go in with them, if you can. If this is not practicable,
+find the best place you can, and make the best use of your guns that
+you can.” These were the only instructions received by the Gatling Gun
+Detachment until one o’clock.
+
+
+Gatling Camp and Bomb-Proofs at Fort Roosevelt.
+
+The Gatling Gun Detachment moved forward about half a mile. They found
+the 71st New York lying down by the side of the road, partially
+blocking it. Troops passing them toward the front were compelled to
+break into columns of twos, because the road was crowded by the 71st.
+The colonel and his adjutant were sought and found, and informed of the
+detachment’s instructions. Information was requested as to when and
+where the 71st was going into the fight. It appeared that they had a
+vague idea that they were going in on the left center of the left wing.
+Lawton’s Division at El Caney will be considered the right wing; Kent’s
+Division and Wheeler’s Division the left wing of the army at San Juan.
+The 71st did not seem to know when it was going to move toward the
+front, nor just where it was going; and there was no apparent effort
+being made to get further down the road to the front. Wheeler’s
+Division was also pressing forward on the road, dismounted cavalrymen,
+with no arms in their hands except their carbines without bayonets.
+With these same carbines these men were, a little later, to storm the
+intrenchments, manned by picked and veteran soldiers, who knew how to
+die at their posts.
+
+With Wheeler’s Division were the Rough Riders, the most unique
+aggregation of fighting men ever gathered together in any army. There
+were cowboys, bankers, brokers, merchants, city clubmen, and society
+dudes; commanded by a doctor, second in command a literary politician;
+but every man determined to get into the fight. About three-quarters of
+a mile in advance was the first ford, the ford of the Aguadores River;
+beyond this a quarter of a mile was another ford, the ford of the San
+Juan. The road forked about two hundred yards east of the Aguadores
+ford, turning sharply to the left. Down the road from El Poso crept the
+military balloon, it halted near this fork—“Balloon Fork.” Two officers
+were in its basket, six or eight hundred feet above the surface of the
+ground, observing the movements of the troops and the disposition of
+the enemy.
+
+The sharp crackle of the musketry began in front, and still the Gatling
+Gun Detachment lay beside the road with the 71st, waiting, swearing,
+broiling, stewing in their own perspiration, mad with thirst, and
+crazed with the fever of the battle. The colonel of the 71st was again
+approached, to ascertain whether he was now going to the front, but
+still there were no signs of any indication to move forward. So the
+long-eared steed was mounted and the ford of the Aguadores
+reconnoitered. The bullets were zipping through the rank tropical
+jungle. Two or three men were hit. Those who moved forward were going
+single file, crouching low, at a dog trot. There was no evidence of
+hesitation or fear here. Some of the “Brunettes” passed, their blue
+shirts unbuttoned, corded veins protruding as they slightly raised
+their heads to look forward, great drops of perspiration rolling down
+their sleek, shiny, black skins. There was a level spot, slightly open,
+beyond the ford of the Aguadores, which offered a place for going into
+battery; from this place the enemy’s works on San Juan were visible, a
+faint streak along the crest of the hill illumined from time to time by
+the flash of Mausers.
+
+On return to the battery, there were no signs of being able to enter
+the action with the gallant 71st, and, acting under the second clause
+of the instructions, the Gatling battery was moved forward at a gallop.
+Major Sharpe, a mounted member of Gen. Shafter’s staff, helped to open
+a way through this regiment to enable the guns to pass. The reception
+of the battery by these valiant men was very different from that so
+recently given by the 13th Regulars. “Give ’em hell, boys!” “Let ’er
+go, Gallagher!” “Goin’ to let the woodpeckers go off?”—and cheer after
+cheer went up as the battery passed through. Vain efforts were made to
+check this vociferous clamor, which was plainly audible to the enemy,
+less than 1500 yards away. The bullets of the enemy began to drop
+lower. The cheering had furnished them the clew they needed. They had
+located our position, and the 71st atoned for this thoughtlessness by
+the loss of nearly eighty men, as it lay cowering in the underbrush
+near Balloon Fork.
+
+Just before reaching the Aguadores ford, the battery was met by Col.
+Derby, who had been observing the disposition of the troops, from the
+balloon, and had afterward ridden to the front on horseback. The
+colonel was riding along, to push the infantry forward in position from
+the rear, as coolly as if on the parade-ground. A blade of grass had
+gotten twisted around a button of his uniform and hung down like a
+buttonhole bouquet over his breast. There was a genial smile on his
+handsome face as he inquired, “Where are you going?” and, on being
+informed of the orders of the detachment and of the intention to put
+the battery into action, he replied, “The infantry are not deployed
+enough to take advantage of your fire. I would advise that you wait a
+short time. I will send you word when the time comes.” The advice was
+acted upon, the guns were turned out by the side of the road, and the
+men directed to lie down.
+
+
+Tree Between Lines Showing Bullet Holes. This Tree Grew on Low Ground.
+
+During the gallop to the front they had been compelled to run to keep
+up, there not being sufficient accommodation for them to all go mounted
+on the guns. They were panting heavily, and they obeyed the order and
+crept under the guns, taking advantage of such little shade as was
+offered. Troops continued to pass to the front. The crackle of musketry
+gradually extended to the right and to the left, showing that the
+deployment was being completed. More men were hit, but no complaints or
+groans were heard. A ball struck a limber-chest; a man lying on his
+face in the road, during a momentary pause of one of the companies, was
+perforated from head to foot: he never moved—just continued to lie
+there; the flies began to buzz around the spot and settle on the
+clotted blood, that poured out from the fractured skull, in the dust of
+the road. Down at the ford, some twenty-five or thirty yards in
+advance, men were being hit continually.
+
+Shots came down from the trees around. The sharpshooters of the Spanish
+forces, who had been up in the trees during the artillery duel, and
+beyond whom our advance had swept, fully believing that they would be
+murdered if captured, expecting no quarter, were recklessly shooting at
+everything in sight. They made a special target of every man who wore
+any indication of rank. Some of our heaviest losses during the day,
+especially among commissioned officers, were caused by these
+sharpshooters. They shot indiscriminately at wounded, at hospital
+nurses, at medical officers wearing the red cross, and at fighting men
+going to the front.
+
+The firing became too warm, and the Gatling battery was moved back
+about fifty yards, again halted, and faced to the front. It was now
+nearly one o’clock. The members of the detachment had picked up their
+haversacks on leaving El Poso, and now began to nibble pieces of
+hardtack. A bullet broke a piece of hardtack which a man was lifting to
+his mouth; without even stopping in the act of lifting it to his mouth,
+he ate the piece, with a jest.
+
+Suddenly the clatter of hoofs was heard from the front. Lieut. Miley
+dashed up and said, “Gen. Shafter directs that you give one piece to
+me, and take the other three beyond the ford, where the dynamite gun
+is, find some position, and go into action.” Sergeant Weigle’s gun was
+placed at Miley’s disposal, and the other pieces dashed forward at a
+dead run, led by the musical mule who uttered his characteristic
+exclamation as he dashed through the ford of the Aguadores.
+
+The place formerly selected for going into action had been again twice
+reconnoitered during the wait, and a better place had been found about
+thirty yards beyond the ford of the San Juan River. The dynamite gun
+had stuck in the ford of the Aguadores; a shell had got jammed in it.
+The Gatlings were compelled to go around it. They dashed through the
+intervening space, across the San Juan ford, and up on the opening
+beyond. The position for the battery, partially hidden from the view of
+the enemy by a small clump of underbrush, was indicated. The right
+piece, Serg. Green’s, was compelled to go into action in the middle of
+the road, and in plain sight of the enemy. While the pieces were being
+unlimbered, which was only the work of an instant, an inquiry was made
+of Captain Boughton, of the 3d Cavalry, whose troop had just reached
+this point, as to the position of our troops and of the enemy, with the
+further remark that the battery had been under fire since eight
+o’clock, and had not seen a Spaniard. “I can show you plenty of
+Spaniards,” replied Boughton, and, raising his hand, pointed toward the
+San Juan blockhouse and the ridge in its vicinity, sweeping his hand
+toward the right. It was enough. Before his hand had fallen to his
+side, the pieces were musically singing.
+
+Corp. Steigerwald turned and asked, “What is the range, sir?” To which
+was instantly replied, “Block-house, 600 yards; the ridge to the right,
+800 yards,” and Steigerwald’s piece was grinding 500 shots a minute
+within a quarter of a second, playing upon the San Juan block-house.
+Serg. Green took 800 yards, and began to send his compliments to the
+ridge beyond the block-house. In an instant Priv. Sine, at Green’s gun,
+who was feeding, fell backward dead. At the same instant Priv. Kastner
+fell out. Sine was shot through the heart, Kastner through the head and
+neck. At this time Ryder’s gun began to talk. It spoke very voluble and
+eloquent orations, which, although not delivered in the Spanish
+language, were well understood by our friends, the enemy, upon the
+hill.
+
+
+Spanish Block-House.
+
+Serg. Green, at the right gun, had run back for ammunition, and Corp.
+Doyle, when Sine fell, seized the pointing lever, and was coolly
+turning the crank while he sighted the gun at the same time. He was for
+the moment the only member of the detachment left at the piece, but was
+given assistance, and a moment later Green arrived and began to feed
+the gun.
+
+Steigerwald was short-handed. Some of his men had been sun-struck
+during the run, and he, too, was compelled to work his gun with only
+one assistant. Then some of those who had been unable to keep up
+arrived at the battery and began to render assistance. Priv. Van
+Vaningham, who had gotten lost from his own command, began to pass
+ammunition. Priv. Merryman, who was holding his team back in the river,
+was impressed by a doctor to help carry wounded men, and Priv. Burkley,
+another man lost from his command, stepped into Merryman’s place. Priv.
+Chase left his team, seeing the piece short-handed, and began to pass
+ammunition. The mules merely wagged their ears backward and forward and
+stamped on account of the flies.
+
+All these changes were accomplished, and the pieces had not even ceased
+fire. Doyle had fed about 100 rounds, alone. Capt. Landis, of the 1st
+Cavalry, arrived just at this time, and volunteered to assist in
+observing the effect of the fire. He stood fearlessly out in the middle
+of the road, just to the right of Green’s piece, in the very best
+position for observation, but, at the same time, a most conspicuous
+target for the enemy, and observed the effect of the Gatling fire, as
+though he were at target practice, reporting the same, continually, to
+the battery commander.
+
+For the first two minutes the enemy seemed dazed, then suddenly a
+perfect hell of leaden hail swept through the foliage. The only thing
+that saved the battery from absolute destruction was that the enemy’s
+shots were a little high. As it was, many of them struck the ground
+between the guns, and several hit the pieces. Three members of the
+detachment were slightly hurt. One mule was shot through the ear. He
+sang the usual song of the mule, shook his head, and was suddenly hit
+again on the fore leg. He plunged a little, but Priv. Shiffer patted
+him on the head and he became quiet. A bullet passed by Shiffer’s head,
+so close that he felt the wind fan his whiskers, and buried itself in
+the saddle on the same mule. This sudden concentration of the enemy’s
+fire lasted about two minutes.
+
+About the same time the detachment heard a wild cheer start on the left
+and gradually sweep around to the left and right, until in every
+direction, sounding high above the din of battle and the crackling of
+the Mausers, even above the rattle of the Gatling guns, was heard the
+yell of recognition from our own troops. There was, for an instant, a
+furious fusillade on our right and left, and in a few moments the whole
+line of our troops had risen and were moving forward to the San Juan
+ridge. While moving forward, they necessarily almost ceased to fire,
+but the fire of the Gatlings continued, deadly and accurate. A troop of
+the 10th Cavalry, from our right and rear, came up, part of the
+squadron commanded by Col. Baldwin. Some of this troop did not
+understand the Gatling gun drama, and were in the act of firing a
+volley into our backs, when Lieut. Smith, who was to so heroically lose
+his life within ten minutes afterward, sprang out in front of the
+excited troopers, and, with tears in his eyes, implored them not to
+fire, that these were “our own Gatlings.” They did not fire in our
+direction, but they did give a most thrilling and welcome cheer, as the
+squadron swept forward by our right. Col. Baldwin ran up, and shouted
+that he would place two troops in support of the battery as long as
+they were needed. It was the first time the battery had ever had a
+support of any kind.
+
+After a couple of minutes, the enemy’s fire perceptibly slackened. It
+was evident they were seeking cover from our fire in the bottom of
+their ditches, and our fire at this time was being made chiefly from
+the Gatling battery. This cessation of fire on the part of the enemy
+lasted about two minutes, and then the Gatling gunners observed the
+Spaniards climbing from their trenches. Until that time the Gatling
+battery had been worked with dogged persistency and grim silence, but
+from that moment every member of the battery yelled at the top of his
+voice until the command “Cease firing” was given. Groups of the enemy,
+as they climbed from their trenches, were caught by the fire of the
+guns, and were seen to melt away like a lump of salt in a glass of
+water. Bodies the size of a company would practically disappear an
+instant after a gun had been turned upon them.
+
+This flight of the enemy from their trenches had been caused by the
+fact that the charging line had cut through the barb-wire fences at the
+foot of the hill, and had started up the slope. The Spaniards were
+unable to stay with their heads above the trenches to fire at the
+charging-line, because of the missiles of death poured in by the
+machine guns; and to remain there awaiting the charge was certain
+death. They did not have the nerve to wait for the cold steel. They
+were demoralized because they had been compelled to seek the bottom of
+their trenches. American troops would have awaited the charge, knowing
+that the machine gun fire must cease before contact could occur, but
+the Spaniards forgot this in their excitement, and made the fatal
+mistake of running.
+
+The Gatlings had the range to perfection. Capt. Boughton, who was one
+of the first officers upon the hill, stated, on the 1st of September at
+Montauk, that he visited a portion of the Spanish trenches immediately
+upon arriving at the crest, and that the trenches which he inspected
+were literally filled with writhing, squirming, tangled masses of dead
+and wounded Spaniards, and that the edge of the trenches was covered
+with wounded and dead Spaniards, who had been shot in the act of
+climbing out. This execution was done mainly by the machine guns,
+because the infantry and cavalry were not firing much when it was done;
+they were running up the hill to the charge.
+
+Colonel Egbert, who commanded the 6th Infantry, states, in his official
+report, that when his regiment reached the sharp incline near the top
+of the hill they were brought to a standstill because the Gatling
+bullets were striking along the crest. The officers of the 13th
+Infantry state the same thing. It was Lieut. Ferguson, of the 13th, who
+when the troops had climbed as high as possible under the leaden canopy
+which the Gatlings made to cover their charge, waved his white
+handkerchief as a signal to cease firing. At the same moment Landis
+exclaimed, “Better stop; our men are climbing the hill now.” A shrill
+whistle gave the signal “Cease firing,” and the Gatling Gun Battery, to
+a man, rose to their feet and gazed with absorbing interest as the
+long, thin, blue line swept forward and crowned the crest of the hill.
+An instant later an American flag floated proudly from the San Juan
+block-house; then the roar of musketry and the volley of rifles
+indicated that the fleeing enemy was receiving warm messengers as he
+ran down the hill toward his second line of intrenchments.
+
+The next immediate duty confronting the detachment was to take stock of
+losses and to occupy the captured position in case of necessity.
+
+Private Sine had been killed and Private Kastner was supposed to be
+mortally wounded. Private Elkins fell exhausted just as the Stars and
+Stripes were run up on the block-house. He had been knocked down by the
+pole of a limber, which struck him over the kidneys, but had continued
+to feed his gun until the very last. He was utterly exhausted. Sergeant
+Green had been wounded slightly in the foot, but not enough to disable
+him. Private Bremer had been hit early in the morning by the fragment
+of a shell on the hand. One or two other members had been merely
+touched, grazed by balls. Private Greenberg had been overcome by the
+heat. Merryman, one of the teamsters, as stated before, had been seized
+to carry wounded. Private Lauer was missing and Dellett sunstruck.
+Private Hoft had joined the battery on hearing it go into action, and
+it was necessary to send someone back as guard over the camp equipage.
+A volunteer was called for, and it was with the utmost difficulty that
+a member of the detachment, Private Pyne, was induced to take this
+duty. He shot four Spanish sharpshooters, who were shooting at our
+wounded and our medical officers, out of trees near El Poso, during the
+remainder of the day. Private Chase had sprained his back so badly as
+to be unable to ride a mule; and two places were vacant for drivers. It
+was necessary to instantly supply this deficiency. Private Burkley,
+16th Infantry, who had assisted in passing ammunition during the
+firing, volunteered to drive one of the teams, and Private Correll the
+other. Private Raymond, 6th Cavalry, and Private Van Vaningham, of the
+same regiment, also joined the detachment at this point, being
+separated from their own commands.
+
+The pieces were limbered up as soon as these dispositions could be
+made, except Sergeant Ryder’s gun, which had bent the pintle-pin and
+consequently could not be limbered quickly. The other two pieces and
+the limber belonging to Ryder’s gun were moved forward on a run to the
+captured position on the San Juan ridge, gun crews riding or following
+as best they could. Both pieces went into action on the right of the
+road. A limber was then sent back for Ryder’s gun, and it was brought
+up, Priv. Shiffer performing this duty under a perfect hail of dropping
+fire. In advancing from the position at the ford to the captured
+position it was necessary to cut three barb-wire fences. The members of
+the detachment behaved with the utmost coolness, all working together
+to remove these obstructions, and not a man sought shelter, although a
+dropping fire was striking around the detachment, from some source.
+Where this fire came from it was impossible to tell; but it did not
+come from the enemy.
+
+
+Spanish Fort of Three-Inch Guns.
+
+The two pieces which first reached the top of the hill were halted
+under shelter of the crest, while the ground above was reconnoitered.
+It was instantly observed that the enemy was coming back for a
+counter-charge. Accordingly the pieces were immediately run to the top
+of the hill, the drivers, Shiffer and Correll, riding boldly up and
+executing a left-about on the skirmish line, where the skirmishers were
+lying down. The pieces were unlimbered and instantly put into action at
+point-blank range, the skirmishers giving way to the right and left to
+make way for the guns. The enemy was less than 300 yards away, and
+apparently bent on recovering the position.
+
+The fire immediately became very hot. A skirmisher, who had thought to
+gain a little cover by lying down beside the wheel of the right gun
+(Green’s), was shot through the arm. “I knowed it,” he growled; “I
+might have knowed that if I got near that durned gun, I’d get potted.”
+He rolled down behind the crest; a soldier produced an emergency
+packet, staunched the blood, and the wounded soldier, finding no bones
+broken, returned to the firing-line and resumed his work. The enemy, at
+this part of the line, began to waver and again broke toward his second
+line of intrenchments.
+
+Just at this moment, Lieut. Traub came up and shouted, “Gen. Wood
+orders you to send one or two of your guns over to help Roosevelt.” The
+order to move the guns was disregarded, but Traub pointed out the
+enemy, which was menacing Col. Roosevelt’s position, and insisted.
+About 600 yards to the right, oblique from the position of the guns and
+perhaps 200 yards, or less, in front of the salient occupied by Col.
+Roosevelt and the 3d Cavalry (afterward called Fort Roosevelt), there
+was a group of about 400 of the enemy, apparently endeavoring to charge
+the position. There was no time to notify the second piece. Serg.
+Green’s gun was instantly turned upon this group, at point-blank
+elevation. The group melted away. Capt. Marcotte states that, after the
+surrender, some Spanish officers, whom he met, and who were members of
+this group, described this to him, stating that the enemy seen at this
+point was a body of about 600 escaping from El Caney; that they were
+struck at this point by machine gun fire so effectively that only forty
+of them ever got back to Santiago; the rest were killed.
+
+Serg. Green’s gun, already heated to a red heat by the continuous
+firing of the day, had been worked to its extreme limit of rapidity
+while firing at this body of the enemy, and on ceasing to fire, several
+cartridges exploded in the gun before they could be withdrawn. A ball
+lodged in one barrel from one of these explosions, and this piece was
+drawn down out of action just as the piece which had been left at the
+ford returned. Subsequently the disabled piece was sent back to the
+ford, with the idea that that would be a safer place to overhaul it
+than immediately in rear of the firing-line. The piece remained at the
+ford until the night of the 3d of July, when it was brought up to the
+battery, then at Fort Roosevelt, and on the 4th was finally overhauled
+and put into action. This led to the impression, on the part of some of
+the command, that one of the Gatlings had been blown up, which was not
+true. The gun was not injured, except that one barrel could not be used
+during the remainder of the fighting, but the gun was used on the
+morning of the 4th, and during the whole of the engagement on the 10th
+and 11th, as well as on outpost duty, using nine barrels instead of
+ten.
+
+Following this repulse of the enemy, which occurred about 4:30 p. m.,
+there was a lull in the firing. Advantage was taken of this to visit
+Col. Roosevelt’s position and inspect the line of battle. Upon reaching
+the salient, Col. Roosevelt was seen walking up and down behind his
+line, encouraging his men, while a group of them was held, just in the
+rear of the crest, in charge of Maj. Jenkins, to support the
+firing-line if necessary. On the right of the Rough Riders, the 3d
+Cavalry were in the fight, and Capt. Boughton was again encountered.
+
+The firing suddenly began again, and it was remarkable to observe the
+coolness with which these two officers sauntered up and down the line,
+utterly regardless of the bullets, which were cutting the grass in
+every direction. There were no soft places on this part of the hill.
+The enemy’s sharpshooters, up in high trees, were able to see every
+point of the crest, and were dropping their shots accurately behind it
+at all points.
+
+
+Tentage in Cuba.
+
+Just at this moment, Serg. Weigle came up with his gun. Serg. Weigle
+had had a hard time. His gun had been taken, under direction of Lieut.
+Miley, to a point near the San Juan farm-house, and pulled to the top
+of the hill. Weigle, whose only idea of a battle, at this time, was a
+chance to shoot, had been, to his intense disgust, restrained from
+opening fire. Then the piece had been taken down from the hill and
+around to the left of the line, where Lieut. Miley’s duty as aide had
+carried him, to observe the progress of the battle, and Weigle had been
+again denied the privilege of “potting” a Spaniard. He was the most
+disgusted man in the American Army; he was furious; he was white-hot;
+he was so mad that the tears rolled down his cheeks, as he reported
+with a soldierly salute, “Sir, Serg. Weigle reports, with his gun.
+Lieut. Miley did not allow me to open fire. I would like to have
+orders.”
+
+In spite of the critical condition of the engagement, it was extremely
+ludicrous; but the reopening of the fire at this moment presented an
+opportunity to accommodate the sergeant to his heart’s content. He was
+directed to run his piece up on the firing-line, report to the officer
+in charge thereof, and go into action as soon as he pleased. Within
+thirty seconds he was getting his coveted opportunity. He fired until
+his gun became accidentally jammed, pulled it down behind the crest of
+the hill and removed the defective cartridge, returned it and repeated
+this operation, actually bringing the gun down three times, and
+returning it into action, doing very effective work, and all the time
+displaying the utmost coolness and good judgment. A sharpshooter began
+to make a target of Weigle’s gun, and “potted” a couple of men
+belonging to the cavalry near it. This made Weigle so mad that he
+turned the gun, for a moment, upon the tree in which the sharp-shooter
+was concealed. That sharpshooter never shot again. Finally, Weigle’s
+gun got so hot, and he himself so cool, that he concluded the piece was
+too warm for further firing. So he ran it down behind the hill, and ran
+his detachment back on the hill with rifles, and, during the remainder
+of the evening, the members of this crew practiced with “long Toms”
+upon the Spanish soldiers.
+
+On returning to the other two pieces near the road, they were moved to
+another position, on the other side of the road. This precaution was
+judicious in order to conceal the pieces, or change their position,
+because the enemy had pretty thoroughly located them in the previous
+brush, and it was rather dangerous to remain at that place. It was now
+nearly sundown. Scarcely had the pieces opened at this new position,
+when a battery of the enemy’s artillery, located near the hospital,
+began to fire at them. There was a heavy gun, which made a deep
+rumbling sound, and this sound was supplemented by the sharp crack of a
+field-piece. A shell came whistling overhead and exploded within thirty
+yards of the battery, just beyond it. Another one came, and this time
+the enemy’s artillery was located. Quick as a flash, the two Gatlings
+were turned upon the enemy’s guns at the 2000-yard range. Another shell
+came whistling along and exploded about ten feet overhead and twenty
+feet in rear of the battery. It tore up the grass in rear of the
+battery. After this engagement was over, Priv. Shiffer picked up the
+still hot fuse of this last shell. It was a large brass combination
+fuse, and set at eight seconds, which justified the estimated range.
+This third shell was the last one the enemy was able to fire from these
+pieces. The powerful field-glasses which were used in locating the
+battery revealed the fact that as soon as the Gatling guns were turned
+on it, the Spanish gunners ran away from their pieces. The big gun
+turned out to be a 16-centimeter converted bronze piece, mounted on a
+pintle in barbette, rifled and using smokeless powder. It was also
+found that they were firing four 3-inch field-pieces of a similar
+character in this battery, as well as two mountain guns.
+
+It is claimed that this is the first time in the history of land
+fighting that a battery of heavy guns was ever put out of action by
+machine-gun fire. This battery of the Spanish was never afterward able
+to get into action. Their pieces, which had been loaded for the fourth
+shot, were found on the 18th of July, still loaded, and a Spanish
+officer gave the information that they had lost more than forty men
+trying to work that battery, since the 1st of July. This is accounted
+for by the fact that this Spanish battery was made the subject of
+critical observation by the Gatling Gun Detachment from this time on.
+
+
+After the Rain.
+
+During this last engagement it had been necessary to obtain more men to
+assist in carrying ammunition, and Capt. Ayers, of the 10th Cavalry,
+had furnished a detail, consisting of Serg. Graham and Privates Smith
+and Taylor, Troop E, 10th Cavalry. These colored soldiers proved to be
+excellent. They remained with the battery until the end of the fighting
+on the 17th, and were in every respect the peers of any soldier in the
+detachment. Serg. Graham was recommended for a medal of honor. Privates
+Smith and Taylor did as good service, were as willing, as obedient, as
+prompt, and as energetic in the discharge of their duties as any
+commanding officer could wish to have. It is a great pleasure to be
+able to give this testimony to the merits of our colored troopers, and
+to say, in addition, that no soldiers ever fought better than the
+“Brunettes” of the 9th and 10th Cavalry, who fought from the 3d of July
+until the 12th, near or with the Gatlings.
+
+After the firing at the ford had ceased, Capt. Marcotte had returned to
+El Poso to investigate the movements of our artillery. These were then,
+and have remained, one of those inscrutable and mysterious phenomena of
+a battle; incomprehensible to the ordinary layman, and capable of being
+understood only by “scientific” soldiers. The charge upon the San Juan
+ridge was practically unsupported by artillery. No American shells had
+struck the San Juan block-house; none had struck or burst in its
+vicinity; not even a moral effect by our artillery had assisted in the
+assault. So Marcotte had gone to investigate the artillery arm. He
+returned at sundown, and brought the information that our baggage was
+safe at El Poso; that Private Pyne, still alive and unhurt, had been
+doing good work against the enemy’s sharpshooters; and, better than all
+this, had brought back with him a canteen of water from the San Juan
+River and a pocket full of hardtack. He poured out his hardtack, and it
+was equally distributed among the members of the detachment, each man’s
+share amounting to two pieces. Each man was also given a sup of water
+from the canteen, and this constituted their only supper on that night,
+as they had been compelled to throw away everything to keep up with the
+guns. Having disposed of that, exhausted Nature could do no more; they
+lay down in the mud where they stood, and slept so soundly that even
+the firing which occurred that night did not arouse them from their
+slumbers. They were not disturbed until Best’s Battery began to occupy
+this hill about four o’clock in the morning. They were then aroused and
+the Gatling guns were drawn down, and the whole battery moved to the
+salient occupied by the Rough Riders, because their position was at
+that time closest to the enemy, and, as was determined by the previous
+day’s reconnaissance, offered a chance to enfilade several of the
+enemy’s trenches with machine gun fire.
+
+To dispose of the subject of artillery, it may be said that Best’s
+Battery and some other artillery occupied the ground vacated by the
+Gatlings on the morning of July 2d, fired four shots, and then withdrew
+with more haste than dignity. They remarked, “This is the hottest fire
+to which artillery has been subjected in modern times,” and lit out to
+find a cooler place. They found it—so far in rear that their fire was
+almost equally dangerous to friends and foes on account of the close
+proximity of the two firing-lines. The obvious conclusion is that
+machine guns can live at close ranges, where artillery can not stay.
+There is no better light artillery in the world than that which had to
+withdraw from San Juan block-house and its vicinity, on the morning of
+July 2d.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. TACTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE BATTLES AT SANTIAGO.
+
+
+The situation of affairs on the night of the 1st of July was rather
+critical. The plan which the general had laid down had been delayed in
+execution at El Caney, while the impetuousity of the troops had
+precipitated an unexpected rapidity of movement at San Juan. Capron’s
+Battery had opened at El Caney about half past seven o’clock, with
+badly aimed and ill-directed fire, which did very little damage to the
+enemy. The troops engaged in this part of the battle were pushed
+forward until, by about eleven o’clock, they had become pretty
+thoroughly deployed around the vicinity of Las Guamas Creek. They had
+also extended slightly to the right and to the left toward the Du
+Cuorot house. The Spanish forts obstinately held out, and the handful
+of Spanish soldiers in El Caney and vicinity stubbornly resisted the
+attack made by our troops.
+
+About nine o’clock, Hamilton’s right piece, No. 3 of Capron’s Battery,
+succeeded in planting a shell directly in the old stone fort, which
+knocked a hole in the masonry; but, just at this juncture, the battery
+was ordered to cease firing at the blockhouse, and to shell the enemy’s
+trenches. The enemy forthwith utilized the hole made in the wall by the
+shell as a loop-hole, and continued to fire through it until the fort
+was taken by the infantry assault at about half-past four o’clock. No
+worse commentary than this could possibly be made upon the tactical
+handling of this battery of artillery, because, having obtained
+perfectly the range of the enemy’s stronghold, it was simply asinine
+not to knock that block-house to pieces immediately.
+
+So Lawton’s Division had remained in front of El Caney, held by about
+1000 Spaniards, while the shadows crept from the west to the north,
+from the north to the northeast, and from the northeast toward the
+east. It was coming toward night before the artillery was finally
+turned loose. One corner and the roof of this block-house were knocked
+off, but even then the artillery was so poorly handled that the enemy
+had to be dislodged from this block-house by hand-to-hand fighting, A
+single Hotchkiss gun, properly handled, should have converted it into
+ruins in thirty minutes.
+
+While these events were transpiring, Kent and Wheeler, constituting the
+left wing of the army, had moved forward on the El Poso road, parallel
+to the Aguadores River, as far as the San Juan had captured the San
+Juan farm-house, and had gradually deployed to the right and to the
+left along the San Juan River. About one o’clock their line had swept
+forward and had captured the first ridge between the San Juan and the
+city of Santiago, the “San Juan ridge,” driving the enemy on this
+portion of the field into their last trenches. But the right flank of
+this wing was entirely unsupported, and the road by the way of Fort
+Canosa to San Juan, passing by the portion of the line subsequently
+occupied by the dynamite gun, marked the extreme position of the right
+of this wing of the army. The enemy was already well toward its right,
+and had the excellent El Caney road to move upon. He was thoroughly
+familiar with the country, while the troops composing this wing were
+exhausted by the charge. This wing had no reserve that the firing-line
+knew of, and, as a matter of fact, had none except two battalions of
+the 71st New York, which had not got into battle, and which were
+scattered along the road from the San Juan River to Siboney.
+
+The position occupied by the left wing of the army was a strong natural
+position, but had no protection for the right flank. In this, Lawton’s
+Division did not execute the part of the battle assigned to it. Thus
+the officers on the San Juan ridge, who knew anything about the plan of
+the battle, were constantly directing their gaze, at every lull in the
+fighting, toward El Caney, and to the right of Gen. Wood’s position,
+but there were no indications of the approach of Gen. Lawton.
+
+Returning now to the right wing: the San Juan block-house and the ridge
+in its vicinity having been captured, a glance at the map will show
+that the retreat of the Spanish forces at El Caney was in imminent
+danger of being cut off. This capture occurred at 1:23-1/2 p. m. The
+Spanish commander at El Caney had been killed about noon, his men had
+suffered heavily, and the new commanding officer discovered that his
+retreat by the El Caney road was threatened. The only other line of
+retreat was by way of the San Miguel and Cuabitas roads. The Spanish
+forces at El Caney were also running low in their ammunition, and it
+was therefore decided to withdraw. Portions of the Spanish troops did
+withdraw, some by way of the El Caney road toward Santiago; the
+remainder, some 350 or 400, were crushed in the final charge upon El
+Caney, between 4 and 4:30 o’clock.
+
+Gen. Lawton’s Division then proceeded down the El Caney road to Santa
+Cruz, passing by way of the masonry bridge. This was about dusk. The
+division marched in columns of fours, with the artillery in front in
+column of sections, and without even an advance guard thrown out. The
+artillery had passed the masonry bridge and had nearly reached the
+Santa Cruz farm-house, when the order was given to halt. The division
+halted in the road and began to cook supper. Fires were kindled, and
+coffee put on to boil. Suddenly, a few shots came scattering over the
+ridge and dropped in among the troops. A messenger was sent back to
+Gen. Shafter to inform him that further advance in this direction was
+not practicable, as the enemy had been encountered in force. The
+position this division was destined, in the beginning, to occupy was
+within less than 300 yards of where it halted. There was no large body
+of Spanish troops in that portion of the field. The whole valley
+between that ridge and Santiago had been swept by machine gun fire
+during the afternoon. It is possible that there might hare been a few
+Spanish pickets on the ridge, but this is not believed to be probable.
+There was some firing about this time from the Spanish trenches near
+Fort Canosa, at the 13th Infantry upon the hill where the dynamite gun
+was subsequently placed. A glance at the map will show that these
+shots, having passed over the hill, would drop in the vicinity of the
+masonry bridge and the Santa Cruz farm-house. This was the firing that
+alarmed Lawton’s Division and caused the report mentioned to be sent
+back to General Shafter.
+
+
+Native Industry.
+
+This statement of the conditions has been necessary in order to
+understand why the counter-march was made by Lawton’s Division. The
+position at El Caney had ceased to be of any importance as soon as the
+San Juan block-house and ridge were taken; any Spanish troops remaining
+at El Caney were necessarily victims. But it was vitally important to
+hold the position gained by the left wing. The appearance of a heavy
+force of the enemy in front of the masonry bridge could signify only
+one thing, and that was that the left wing, with its right flank in the
+air, was liable to be doubled up at any moment by a heavy force of the
+enemy striking it upon that flank. Further, that Gen. Lawton, with this
+column advancing on the El Caney road as before explained, was liable
+to be struck at the head of his column and similarly doubled up. The
+enemy would thus interpose between the two wings of the army, cutting
+Lawton off, and probably defeating the army in detail, unless something
+be done immediately.
+
+Of course, it is known now that this operation of the enemy was never
+probable for an instant; but that was the status of affairs at midnight
+on July 1st, as then reported to the commanding general.
+
+Lawton was, therefore, ordered to withdraw, by way of the El Caney
+road, back to Gen. Shafter’s headquarters in rear of El Poso, from
+which position his division was rushed forward on the El Poso road to
+San Juan on the 2d of July. His men were marched almost all night,
+almost all day the next day, and were well-nigh utterly exhausted when
+they reached a position in rear of the right flank of the left wing. It
+was supposed, up to this time, at headquarters, that the information on
+which this marching was ordered was correct.
+
+During the time that Lawton had been countermarching from Santa Cruz,
+back by way of El Poso, there had been, as before stated, no reserve
+for the left wing. The independent division of Gen. Bates had been
+ordered to the front as rapidly as possible. Part of it had reached the
+vicinity of El Poso, and from there one or two of the regiments had
+participated in the fight, late on July 1st; but nobody on the firing
+line knew anything about Bates’ independent division at this time, and
+it was too much exhausted to be useful as a reserve. The morning of the
+2d it was used to extend the lines. It is therefore evident, now that
+the history of the battle is understood, that the Gatling guns were the
+only effective reserve which the left wing of the army had during the
+night of July 1st and all day on the 2d.
+
+Acting on this belief, the Gatling Gun Battery was placed in reserve,
+in the rear of Fort Roosevelt, on the morning of July 2d, and was held
+there in reserve all day on July the 2d and 3d. The pieces were placed
+within twenty yards of the firing-line, just below the crest of the
+hill. The feed-guides were filled, and the gun crews lay down beside
+their pieces. The battery was ready to either support the firing-line
+against a charge, or protect its flank against a turning movement. But
+it was not considered necessary or desirable to run the pieces up on
+the firing-line in the open, and participate in the trench-firing,
+which was the only fighting done on July 2d and 3d. It was considered
+that the battery was too valuable as a reserve to sacrifice any of its
+men uselessly. Some very well-meaning officers urged that the battery
+be rushed up on the hill and put into action, but this was stubbornly
+refused, under the third clause of the instructions given on the 1st of
+July, “to make the best use of the guns possible.” Gen. Wood and Col.
+Roosevelt were consulted, and they concurred with the above views, and
+the battery remained in reserve.
+
+
+Charge on San Juan Hill.
+
+On the morning of the 2d of July a handsome young soldier, in the
+uniform of a Rough Rider, approached the battery commander, saluted,
+and said, “Col. Roosevelt directs me to report to you with my two
+guns.” Inquiry elicited the fact that the young trooper was Serg.
+William Tiffany, that he had command of two Colt’s automatic rapid-fire
+guns, with a crew consisting of Corp. Stevens and six men, and that he
+had 4,000 rounds of 7-millimeter ammunition. Four thousand was not a
+very large supply for two guns which could fire at the rate of 500
+shots each per minute. Fortunately, the Gatling Gun Detachment had
+found time, on the 1st of July, to collect about 10,000 rounds of
+Mauser ammunition in the captured trenches, and a comparison of the
+Mauser with the 7-millimeter ammunition at once disclosed the fact that
+it was precisely the same ammunition which Tiffany had brought along
+for his guns. The problem of ammunition supply for Tiffany’s guns was
+solved. He now had 14,000 rounds, and his guns became a very powerful
+reinforcement at this point.
+
+Serg. Tiffany and his men had carried these guns from Siboney to the
+firing-line upon their backs. How they got the four boxes of ammunition
+through they themselves could hardly tell. The firing was too heavy to
+mount the tripods in the trenches during the daytime, so placing the
+guns was deferred until night. For some reason it was not practicable
+to place the tripods on the night of the 2d, and they were finally
+placed on the night of the 3d; Serg. Tiffany, with two of his men,
+aiding in digging the emplacements.
+
+While digging, suddenly a burst of firing broke out, and it was
+believed by many that a serious night attack had been made. During the
+firing, Capt. Ayers, of the 10th Cavalry, and Col. Roosevelt again
+displayed those characteristics of fearless bravery which so endeared
+these two gallant officers to their men. Some of the troops in the
+trenches had begun to fire wildly. In fact, all the firing was done
+wild; there was no sense in any of it; there was no occasion for it.
+Intent listening to the enemy’s fire made it absolutely certain that
+their firing never approached nearer our lines. There may have been
+some small body seeking to explore the road, but there was no
+indication of any attack in force. At any rate, Roosevelt and Ayers
+determined to stop the firing of our line, and suddenly, above the din
+of battle, these two officers could be heard, tramping up and down the
+trench in front of their men, haranguing, commanding, ridiculing their
+men for shooting in the dark. Ayers told his men that they were no
+better than the Cubans, upon which the burly black troopers burst into
+a loud guffaw, and then stopped firing altogether. Roosevelt told his
+men that he was ashamed of them. He was ashamed to see them firing
+valuable ammunition into the darkness of the night, aiming at nothing;
+that he thought cowboys were men who shot only when they could see the
+“whites of the other fellow’s eyes.” They also stopped firing. The
+enemy’s bullets continued to whiz by for a few minutes, and they too
+ceased firing, and everybody began to laugh at everybody else. Tiffany
+had joined the two officers in their walk up and down, exposing himself
+with the utmost coolness. He and his men now succeeded in placing his
+guns in the trench, and, from that time until the end of the fight,
+they could hardly be induced to leave them long enough to eat; they
+didn’t leave them to sleep—they slept in the trench by the guns.
+
+About one o’clock on the 3d there was a lull in the firing, during
+which a flag of truce was sent with a communication to General Toral,
+notifying him that a bombardment would follow unless he surrendered.
+The firing was resumed and continued until about half past twelve on
+the 4th of July, at which time another flag of truce went up, and there
+was no more firing until the 10th of July at about three o’clock.
+Troops, however, were compelled to lie on their arms; the relief was
+constantly in the trenches, and the nervous strain was even worse than
+the actual dangers of battle.
+
+Negotiations for capitulation having failed, firing was resumed about
+three o’clock on the 10th, and continued until one o’clock on the 11th
+of July. In this firing all four of the Gatling guns were used;
+Tiffany’s guns and the dynamite gun under Serg. Borrowe participated.
+Three of the Gatling guns had been placed in the trench on the night of
+July 3d. The wheels were taken off and laid on the ground in the rear
+of the pieces; sand-bag revetments were built up in front of the guns,
+and each crew divided into two reliefs. One relief was required to be
+constantly at the gun and always ready for instant action. The fourth
+gun, the one that had been temporarily disabled, was repaired on the
+4th, thoroughly cleaned, and placed in reserve behind the crest of the
+hill. On the 4th of July, Serg. Borrowe had been directed to obey any
+instructions given him by the Gatling gun commander, and the dynamite
+gun had been placed in position to cooperate with the battery of
+machine guns. There were now, therefore, seven pieces in the battery.
+It was the most powerful and unique battery ever used in battle.
+
+
+Gatlings at Baiquiri Just Before Starting For the Front.
+
+The Sims-Dudley pneumatic dynamite gun throws a Whitehead torpedo,
+carrying a charge of four and one-half pounds of explosive gelatine;
+the effective force of this charge is equal to that of nine pounds of
+dynamite, No. 1. The charge explodes, on striking, by means of a
+percussion fuse, and steadiness of flight is secured by means of a
+vane. The propelling force is a charge of seven ounces of smokeless
+powder. The gun is pointed in the same manner as a mortar, and fired in
+the same manner as a field-piece. During the 10th and 11th considerable
+attention was devoted to the tactical cooperation of the guns composing
+this unique battery.
+
+The plan adopted was for the dynamite gun to throw a shell toward a
+designated point. Upon the explosion of this shell the Spanish soldiers
+invariably exposed themselves, and were immediately assailed by machine
+gun fire. Occasionally a dynamite shell would fall with sufficient
+accuracy to do efficient work on its own account. On the afternoon of
+the 10th a dynamite shell fell in a long trench near Fort Canosa,
+clearing out the trench. The Spanish survivors were cut down almost to
+a man by the machine gun fire, and the Spanish troops were unable to
+occupy this trench until the following morning, when the operation was
+repeated, practically destroying the usefulness of this trench during
+the whole fight. Capt. Duncan, of the 21st Infantry, states that this
+relieved his battalion of an enfilading fire, and was a valuable
+service to them. Another dynamite shell, on the afternoon of the 10th,
+fell into a Spanish battery of artillery, near the brick hospital, and
+completely destroyed the battery, which consisted of two 3-inch guns.
+In all, about a dozen dynamite shells were thrown with some degree of
+accuracy, and with good effect.
+
+The fourth Gatling gun, which had been held in reserve, was used during
+the afternoon of July 10th, and all day on the 11th, to pour a vertical
+fire upon the city of Santiago, beyond that portion that was visible to
+the American troops. Perhaps 6,000 or 7,000 shots were thus dropped
+into the heart of the city, making the streets unsafe, communication
+difficult, and striking terror to the hearts of the Spanish troops who
+were held there in reserve. Gen. Toral, in his official statement to
+his own government, specifically mentions this fire as one of his
+principal reasons for surrender.
+
+On the afternoon of the 10th and during the 11th of July a battery of
+mortars, under command of Capt. Ennis, posted about half a mile to the
+right of the machine gun battery, threw a few shells at the enemy’s
+intrenchments. There were four of these mortars in action and they were
+placed behind the ridge in a perfectly safe position. They threw,
+perhaps, twenty-five shells all told. The first eight or ten failed to
+explode for the reason that the fuses had not been punched. Finally,
+Capt. Ennis discovered that his shells were not exploding, and, on
+inquiry, found that there was no fuse-punch in the battery. He
+succeeded in finding a brad-awl, which, luckily, some member of the
+battery had in his pocket, and showed a sergeant how to punch the fuse
+with a brad-awl. After this the mortar shells exploded all right. None
+of this fire, however, was directed at the city; it was directed at the
+trenches of the enemy, and not over eight or ten of the shells fell
+with any precision. The mortar fire was effective in the sense that it
+tended to demoralize the enemy, but its material effect was very small.
+
+There was no firing of field-pieces during all this time of which any
+account is necessary. The field-pieces were even less useful during
+this time than they were on the 1st of July, if such a thing could be
+possible.
+
+On the night of the 4th of July the reserve Gatling gun was posted to
+command the Fort Canosa road, in support of a picket on that road, and
+from that time until the surrender this piece was posted there every
+night. The members, therefore, of this detachment did practically
+double duty. This was the gun in charge of Sergts. Weischaar and Ryder,
+referred to in the official report. Luckily, it was not fired, but
+there can be no doubt of the immense value it would have had if its use
+had been necessary.
+
+Summing up the use of machine guns from the 2d to the 11th of July,
+inclusive, it may be said that they demonstrated the use of the arm as
+a tactical reserve and an auxiliary to an outpost, and that, in
+combination with a dynamite gun, they demonstrated that a new arm of
+the service had been formed which can live at closer range to the
+enemy, and do far more effective work, than artillery. Nor is this all
+to be considered. It should be remembered that a field-piece throws a
+shell which breaks into 273 fragments. The machine gun throws 1000
+shots, and each of these shots is aimed with absolute precision.
+Therefore, at any effective range, the machine gun is far superior to a
+field-piece against anything except material obstacles. Of course the
+machine guns will not do to batter down stone walls, nor to destroy
+block-houses. It had already been demonstrated on the 1st of July that
+“machine guns can go forward with the charging-line to the lodgment in
+the enemy’s position,” and that “their presence on the field of battle,
+with a supply of ammunition for ten minutes, is a decisive factor in
+the engagement.”
+
+These were the principal points claimed for the machine gun in the
+discussion of the subject on the 1st of January. The use of the machine
+gun for advance and rear guards was not demonstrated at Santiago, for
+the reason that no opportunity was presented.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. THE VOLUNTEERS.
+
+
+The white flag went up at one o’clock on the 11th, and this was the end
+of the fighting at Santiago. The Rough Riders had been moved from the
+hill at Fort Roosevelt to a position west of the El Caney road, and one
+of the Gatling guns had been sent with them. This gun was brought back
+on the 17th after the surrender. Various other movements of troops
+occurred before the 17th, which had been decided upon by the generals
+as the last day of grace. Gen. Toral had been notified that one o’clock
+on the 17th was the time for either the surrender or the signal for the
+assault. The hour approached, and still the Spaniard attempted to
+delay. The orders for the assault were issued. The troops lay in the
+trenches with their fingers on the triggers. Gen. Randolph had come and
+pushed the artillery into better positions. The pieces were loaded and
+the gunners stood with their lanyards in their hands. The
+ammunition-boxes were opened. The nervous tension of the line was
+terrific. The troops on the extreme right and left, designated for the
+assault, were only waiting the word to dash forward upon the
+intrenchments of the enemy. Then suddenly from Gen. Wheeler’s
+headquarters a mounted officer was seen spurring eastward along the
+crest. He was waving his hat over his head. His horse gathered speed,
+and the foam began to fly from his flanks and nostrils, and as Capt.
+McKittrick passed he called, “No cheering, please; the city and
+province of Santiago have surrendered.”
+
+The members of the Gatling Gun Detachment walked to the top of the
+hill, and, facing toward the gallant enemy who had so valiantly
+defended the foredoomed city, silently took off their hats.
+
+All along the line the reception of the glorious news was marked by
+comments upon the gallant defense which had been made. There was no
+demonstration which could have hurt the feelings of so magnificent a
+foe. Five minutes after the surrender the American trench was lined by
+American troops on our side and Spanish troops on the other. The
+Spanish troops brought bottles of mescal, aguardiente, and wine. Our
+troops carried hardtack and canned roast beef. These recent foes began
+at once to exchange the necessaries of life and souvenirs of the siege
+of Santiago. They fraternized as all brave men do after the battle. A
+few Cubans skulked around the rear of our line, despised by both sides.
+
+The next day witnessed the formal surrender of the city. At twelve
+o’clock, the preliminary formalities having been complied with, the 9th
+Infantry and a battalion of the 13th Infantry, the two regiments which
+had been adjudged first honors in the assault, were ready as an escort
+to raise the flag in the heart of the city. All of the other regiments
+were formed upon the ground which they occupied during the siege. As
+the second-hands of our watches showed the minute of twelve, noon, a
+field-piece burst upon the stillness of the sultry day, and the band
+began the strains of “The Star-spangled Banner.” Every hat was taken
+off, and an instant later, efforts to restrain it being ineffectual,
+six miles of solid cheering encompassed the latest American city.
+
+
+Cuban Cart used by Gatling Gun Detachment, Priv. J. Shiffer Driving.
+
+Grizzled old soldiers, scarred with wounds from Indian wars, and gay
+recruits who had arrived too late to join in the fighting, gray-haired
+generals and athletic young subalterns, all forgot propriety and the
+silence usually enjoined in ranks and joined in that tremendous yell.
+From over on the right of the El Caney road we could hear the “Rah!
+rah! rah!” of Harvard and the “Rah! rah! rah!” of Yale, mingled with
+the cowboy yell of the Indian Territory. From the ranks of the Regulars
+came the old Southern yell, mingled with the Northern cheer. The most
+thrilling and dramatic moment of the Spanish-American War had passed
+into history.
+
+The troops settled themselves down to wait for developments, and while
+they waited, opportunities were presented for the first time to make
+observations of the personnel of this heterogeneous army.
+
+The American Regular is a type of his own, and no description of him is
+necessary. He was the fighting strength of the 5th Corps. Only three
+Volunteer regiments participated in the charges of July 1st-the 71st
+New York, the 2d Massachusetts, and the 1st Volunteer Cavalry.
+
+The Volunteers presented many different types: some good, some
+otherwise. There should be no sympathy with that servile truckling to
+popular sentiment which speaks of our brave Volunteers
+indiscriminately, as if they were all good and all equally well
+instructed. There were Volunteers who were the equals of the Regulars
+in fighting and in leadership. And there were some who should have been
+at home pulling on a nursing-bottle or attending a kindergarten. To
+praise them indiscriminately creates a false impression on the public,
+and works a rank injustice toward those who were really good and
+efficient in the service. It does even worse than that: it fosters the
+popular idea that all there is to do to make soldiers is to take so
+many laborers, clerks, hod-carriers, or farmers, and put on them
+uniforms, arm them with rifles, and call them “gallant Volunteers”! Out
+upon such an insane delusion!
+
+Fighting is a scientific trade. It would be no more absurd to give an
+idiot a tambourine and call him a musician—he would be an idiot all the
+same. So with the clerk, the laborer, the hod-carrier, the teacher; he
+remains the same in spite of all the polished arms, resplendent
+uniforms, and pompous titles bestowed upon him. He remains just what he
+was before, until he learns his new trade and becomes a soldier by the
+acquisition of the necessary knowledge and experience to practice his
+new calling.
+
+It is one of the duties of trained officers to tell these homely truths
+to the people who have not made a study of the matter, in order that
+they who foot the bills may understand what they pay for and why they
+do it. And it is equally the duty of the citizen who has no knowledge
+of the subject to give a fair hearing to such statements, and, if he
+finds them correct after due investigation, to translate the
+information thus imparted into such laws as will in future supply an
+army composed of soldiers who can fight, instead of a herd of ignorant
+incompetents who die like rotten sheep within half an hour’s ride by
+rail of their own homes.
+
+These remarks can be illustrated by observations in Cuba.
+
+For example, the 34th Michigan pitched its camp on the hill at Fort
+Roosevelt on the 2d of August. They were in an awful condition. A man
+had died in one company the day before, and there had not been enough
+able-bodied men in the company to bury him. A detail had to be made
+from another company to dig the grave. More than fifty per cent of the
+regiment were sick, and the remainder were far from well. At this time,
+more than two weeks after the surrender, they were still cooking
+individually. Within fifteen minutes after their arrival they were
+overrunning the Gatling gun camp, picking up the firewood which had
+been gathered by the detachment for cooking purposes. An attempt to
+stop this marauding was received with jeers. A green-looking Wolverine
+at once began to make catcalls, and was ably seconded by his comrades.
+Sentinels were then posted over the Gatling gun camp, with orders to
+keep the Michiganders out; they abused the sentinels in the same
+manner, and their officers made no effort to restrain them. It became
+necessary to make a personal matter of it, which was promptly done, and
+one Wolverine was thereafter respectful—so respectful, in fact, that he
+jumped to attention and took off his hat to even the privates of the
+detachment.
+
+The regiment took a delicate revenge. They had dug neither latrines nor
+sinks. Up to this time they used the surface of the camp-ground over
+their own camp for this purpose. They now took possession of a trench
+within twenty yards of the battery’s tents. The nuisance was
+intolerable, and was reported to their brigade headquarters. No
+attention was paid to the report. Twelve hours later it was again
+reported, with the same result. Twelve hours after this it was a third
+time reported, with the same result. In the meantime not a single
+shovelful of dirt had been thrown on the trench and an odor arose from
+it which was not exactly like the perfume of “Araby the blest.”
+
+
+Tiffany at his Gun in the Trench.
+
+Forty-five hours after the arrival of the regiment notice was served
+upon the brigade commander thereof that, unless the nuisance was abated
+immediately, a sentinel would be placed over the offending ditch and
+notice would be given to General Bates, the division commander,
+requesting the action of an inspector; notice was further served that
+if any resistance were made, four Gatling guns would be turned loose
+upon the 34th Michigan and the regiment swept off the face of the hill
+and into Santiago Bay for a much-needed bath. It was enough. Officers
+and men ran instantly for spades and proceeded to fill up the trench.
+Report was then made to Gen. Bates, the division commander, of the
+offense and action had thereon, with the information that the Gatling
+gun commander awaited to answer any complaints. An investigation was
+immediately made, with the result that such action was sustained.
+
+There were some ignorant Volunteers at Santiago, but of all the willful
+violation of all the laws of sanitation, camp hygiene, and health ever
+seen, these particular Volunteers did the most outrageous things. They
+threw their kitchen refuse out on the ground anywhere; half of the time
+they did not visit the sink at all, but used the surface of the ground
+anywhere instead; and they continued these offenses at Montauk Point.
+They raked over an abandoned camp of the Spanish prisoners on their
+arrival at Fort Roosevelt, and appropriated all the cast-off articles
+they could find, using the _débris_ for bedding. This surgeon, a
+“family doctor” from the pine woods in northern Michigan, did not seem
+to regard these matters as of any importance. His attention was called
+to them, but he took no action. In short, there was no law of health
+which these people did not utterly ignore, no excess dangerous to
+health which they did not commit. Three-fourths of them were too sick
+for duty, and the rest looked like living skeletons. They fairly
+wallowed in their own filth—and cursed the climate of Cuba on account
+of their sickness.
+
+In sharp contrast to the 34th Michigan was the 1st U. S. Volunteer
+Cavalry, the Rough Riders. This was an organization the peer of any in
+the Regular Army in morale, in fighting, and in every quality that goes
+to make up a fine body of soldiers. They were picked men; all classes
+were shown in that organization. The tennis champion was a private, the
+champion oarsman of Harvard a corporal. On the 2d of July a
+stock-broker of Wall Street who can sign his check for $3,000,000 was
+seen haggling with a cow-puncher from the Indian Territory over a piece
+of hardtack. Both were privates and both were fine soldiers. The whole
+regiment was just such a medley, but fought like Regulars, and endured
+like Spartans. They hung on like bull-dogs, and charged like demons.
+They were as strict about the camp police as Regular Army surgeons, and
+as punctilious about saluting as a K. O. on “official relations.”
+Withal, they were a clean-mouthed, clean-clad, clean-camped lot of
+gentlemen, each in his way, from the “Hello, pard!” of the cowboy to
+the frozen stare of the monocled dude from Broadway. And they
+fought—like Regulars; there is no other just comparison. Roosevelt
+said: “They are the 11th Cavalry.” He found enthusiastic endorsers of
+this remark in every Regular who saw them fight. They were the finest
+body of Volunteers who ever wore uniform, and they were stamped
+indelibly with the personality of Theodore Roosevelt. Pushing,
+aggressive, resolute, tenacious, but self-contained, cool, and
+restrained, they represented the very best type of what the Volunteer
+ought to be—but often was not.
+
+
+Relics of the Battle. 1. Range Table of 16-cm. Gun in Spanish Fort,
+Silenced by Gatlings July 1, ’98. 2. Rear Sight of same Gun. 3. Fuse
+picked up by J. Shiffer July 1. 4. Remington Cartridge used by the
+Spanish Volunteers, the so-called “Explosive” Brass-covered Bullet. 5.
+Piece of Coral dug up in the Trenches. 6. Spanish Spurs.
+
+Above them all, however, shone out three types.
+
+Theodore Roosevelt. He needs no eulogy from my pen. He has done
+everything, and in each occupation has been conspicuously successful.
+He is, however, a born soldier. His virile frame contains the vigorous
+mind, the keen intellect, the cool judgment, and the unswerving,
+never-hesitating courage of the natural soldier. He is affable and
+courteous, or stern and scathing, as circumstances demand. One instant
+genial smiles overspread his expressive countenance, whereon the
+faintest emotion writes its legend with instantaneous and responsive
+touch; the next, on occasion, a Jove-like sternness settles on his
+face, and, with a facility of expression bewildering to less gifted
+tongues, scathing invective, cutting sarcasm, or bitter irony impress
+upon an offender the gravity of a breach of discipline. Withal, he is
+modest. He appreciates his own power, but there is no undue display of
+that appreciation, no vainglorious boasting over achievements which
+read like a fairy-tale. Fittest to lead or follow, idol of every true
+soldier. Who, that knows him as those who fought beside him, does not
+wish to see him at the head of that army and that nation of which he is
+the brightest ornament in every position, civil, military, or
+political?
+
+Woodbury Kane—social leader, Fortune’s favorite, aristocratic, refined,
+cultured, wealthy, _haut ton de haut ton_, and _sabreur sans peur et
+sans reproche_—how shall I paint him to you as I learned to know him in
+those dreadful, delightful seventeen days in which we lived only from
+instant to instant, and every man unconsciously bared his soul to his
+comrades because he could not help it?
+
+A gentleman—he always looked that in the fullest sense of the word.
+Well groomed; in those days when our bed was a mud-puddle and our
+canopy the stars, when the music which lulled us to sleep was the hum
+of the Mauser bullets and the vicious popping of the Remingtons, when
+water to drink had to be brought at the peril of life for every
+mouthful, Kane turned up every morning clean-shaved and neatly groomed,
+shoes duly polished, neat khaki, fitting like a glove and brushed to
+perfection, nails polished, and hair parted as nicely as if he were
+dressed by his valet in his New York apartments. How did he do it? We
+never knew. He kept no servant; he took his regular turn in the
+ditches, in the mud, or torrid sun, or smothering rain. No night alarm
+came that did not find Kane first to spring to the trench—and yet he
+did it, somehow. The courteous phrases of politest speech fell ever
+from his ready lips, as easily as they would have done in the _boudoir_
+of any belle in the metropolis. The shrieking of a shell or tingling
+hiss of a sharpshooter’s close-aimed bullet never came so near as to
+interrupt whatever polished expression of thanks, regret, or comment he
+might be uttering. And it was the real thing, too. The gentle heart was
+there. No man was readier to bind a wound or aid a sun-struck soldier
+in the ranks; none more ready to deny himself a comfort or a luxury to
+help a more needy comrade. A braver man, a surer or more reliable
+officer, never trod in shoe-leather. A grand example to our
+pessimistic, socialistic friends and cheap demagogues of the sterling
+worth and noble, chivalric character of a “society man of wealth.” He
+is a living type of _“Bel à faire peur,”_ without the idiotic
+sentimentality of that maudlin hero, and with all his other
+characteristics.
+
+Greenway and Tiffany. The one a Harvard football-player, just out,
+plunging into the great game of war with all the zest he formerly found
+in the great college game. The other the petted son of wealthy parents,
+also a college graduate, and the idolized _fiancé_ of his childhood’s
+sweetheart. Equally ready for fight or fun, they were the finest type
+of youthful manhood to be found. Endowed by Nature with every gift,
+educated at the best of colleges, bred in the best of society, ready to
+enter upon the most desirable of careers, they threw all upon the altar
+of country’s love. They entered battle as one might go to a game or
+begin a play. All of unbounded zeal, youthful enthusiasm, restless
+energy, keen enjoyment—everything seemed to be equally acceptable to
+them, and no discomfort ever assumed any guise other than that of a
+novel and untried sensation.
+
+They are the type of our young manhood—our representative American
+youth—as Roosevelt is of its vigorous manhood. They are the salt of the
+earth, and Kane—is both salt and spice. All were comrades in arms,
+types of American manhood unspoiled by Fortune’s favors, capable of
+anything and everything. Such men mould the destiny of this great
+nation, and in their hands it is safe.
+
+But neither of these two regiments is a fair type of the Volunteers;
+they are the two extremes. For a type, take the 1st Illinois. They were
+a Chicago regiment with fifteen years’ service, and they enlisted in a
+body to a man. They reached the firing line on the 10th and
+participated in the fight with two battalions, with distinguished
+gallantry. The third battalion was detailed on the necessary but
+unpleasant duty of caring for the yellow fever hospital at Siboney.
+These city-bred Volunteers peeled off their coats, buried yellow fever
+corpses, policed the hospital and hospital grounds, and nursed the
+victims of the scourge. They did not utter a complaint nor ask for a
+“soft” detail; they did their duty as they found it. Another battalion
+was detailed immediately after the surrender to guard the Spanish
+prisoners. This most thankless duty was performed by them with fidelity
+and care. The commander of the battalion and half his officers were
+proficient in the Spanish language as a part of their preparation for
+the campaign, and they soon established cordial relations with the
+prisoners they were set to guard. It was a trying duty, but they
+performed it faithfully. Sickness visited this battalion, and sometimes
+guard duty had to be performed with only one day off, but they never
+whimpered. The other battalion was detailed after the surrender to do
+stevedore work at the commissary dépot. The slender clerks and
+soft-handed city men slung boxes of hardtack and sacks of bacon and
+barrels of coffee, and performed manual labor with all the faithfulness
+that would be expected of men accustomed to such work, and with never a
+complaint. The sanitary measures of this regiment were perfect, and
+they bore themselves like Regulars. It is now recognized that this is a
+compliment to any Volunteer organization.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE SUFFERINGS OF THE FIFTH ARMY CORPS.
+
+
+In such a campaign as that of Santiago, a certain amount of suffering
+is inevitable. In such a climate as that of southern Cuba, a certain
+amount of disease is unavoidable. In the very hot-bed of yellow fever
+and malaria, no army could hope to escape without contracting these
+diseases; and in a campaign conducted with the marvelous celerity of
+the one at Santiago, some difficulty in forwarding supplies must
+necessarily be encountered.
+
+The root of all our difficulties lay in the fact that the commanding
+general had under him supply departments whose officers reported to
+heads of bureaus not under control of the corps commander. This caused
+unnecessary delays in obtaining supplies, entailed confusion in their
+distribution, and led to suffering beyond what was necessarily the
+result of the climate and the campaign.
+
+A brief description of the method of obtaining supplies will make this
+point more clear. When a given article was wanted, whether it was soap,
+quinine, tentage, or transportation, a requisition upon the chief of
+the proper bureau at Washington had to be made, with full statement of
+the reasons for the request; this requisition had to be approved by all
+intermediate commanders and go through military channels to the chief
+of the bureau, who might or might not be convinced of the necessity for
+the article wanted. His action being endorsed thereon, the requisition
+returned through the same devious route, and possibly might be followed
+in course of time, either by invoices from some distant purchasing
+agent of the required articles, or by directions of the bureau chief to
+make further explanations. The usual length of time allowed for an
+official communication through military channels, in time of peace at
+home, from any regimental headquarters to Washington and return, is
+from ten to thirty days. Here was the first cause of suffering.
+
+If the heads of the supply departments in the field, beginning at
+Tampa, could have acted promptly upon the orders of their respective
+commanding officers, without the action of any other authority,
+unnecessary delay would have been avoided.
+
+To illustrate this point: The Gatling Gun Detachment was ordered to be
+equipped with revolvers upon reporting to the detachment commander, and
+this order was issued on the 11th of June, before sailing from Port
+Tampa. They did not so report, and it devolved upon the detachment
+commander to make requisition for the necessary equipment. This was
+done, but no revolvers arrived. The invoices for revolvers reached the
+detachment commander on the 15th of September, at Fort Leavenworth,
+Kansas, where he was then, on leave of absence, sick, ten days after
+the detachment was disbanded.
+
+This is an extreme case, but the same difficulty was experienced in
+obtaining supplies of all descriptions. It was, therefore, very
+difficult for a quartermaster, a commissary, a medical officer, or any
+other officer whose duty it was to obtain supplies, to have the same
+when emergency demanded it. The necessity for supplies could not always
+be foreseen, the quantity desired could not always be estimated for
+with precision, and it followed that sometimes there was a deficiency
+when the articles were needed.
+
+
+Cieba Tree, under Which General Toral Surrendered.
+
+Again, the transportation of the 5th Army Corps could not be made
+available at first to carry supplies up from the landing-place. The
+troops had drawn travel rations, which lasted them until they
+disembarked. The first supply problem, upon landing, was that of
+issuing rations; and, at the moment when every available boat was
+engaged in carrying troops ashore, it became necessary to put rations
+ashore also. The exigency demanded the speedy disembarkation of the
+greatest possible number of men. The fight of La Guasimas emphasized
+the necessity of getting men to the front. It was no time to delay the
+movement of troops for the purpose of waiting on wagons, tentage, or
+rations. The safety of the expedition, the fate of the whole campaign,
+depended upon energetic and rapid movement to the front. Consequently
+regiments were put forth with only such amounts of rations and tentage
+as they could carry upon their backs. It will be readily seen that this
+amount was very limited, and the only tentage possible was the shelter
+tent.
+
+There were 118 wagons in the hold of the Cherokee, but it was not
+practicable to delay the disembarkation of the corps and hazard the
+fate of the whole campaign by utilizing the only wharf and all the
+boats two or three days to land these wagons. By the time they could be
+taken off, the rains had made the roads almost impassable, and they
+could not all be used. It was therefore a daily struggle to get enough
+rations forward to feed the fighting-line from day to day. Greatly to
+the credit of those who performed the duty, it can be said that, with
+rare exceptions, all the soldiers of the 5th Army Corps had every day,
+when they could possibly cook the same, hardtack and bacon, roast beef,
+and coffee. This much was accomplished in the face of insurmountable
+obstacles by the heroic exertions of the pack-train. When the 1st of
+July arrived, and the battle began, it was ordered that all soldiers
+carry three days’ rations. The heat was intense, the fight exceedingly
+hot, and marching through the jungle extremely difficult. The
+consequence was that the soldiers threw aside all impedimenta in order
+to fight more effectively, and, of course, the rations went with the
+blankets and the overcoats. The man who held on to a canteen and
+haversack was fortunate; very many abandoned the haversack, and a
+considerable number abandoned everything except rifle and ammunition.
+That was what won the fight; but it made hungry men, and it caused men
+to sleep on the wet ground under the open sky, without blankets or
+tentage. The pack-train continued its magnificent work. During the
+fighting it had to bring ammunition. The men were supposed to have
+three days’ rations. As soon as the deficiency became known to the
+higher officials, the pack-train began to bring food. Commissary depots
+were established immediately in rear of the firing-line, and issues of
+hardtack, bacon, and coffee, which were about the only components of
+the ration that could be brought forward in sufficient quantities, were
+made without formality or red tape. It was almost impossible to get a
+sufficient quantity of even these components to the front. Sometimes
+the ration was a little short. Bacon and hardtack for seventeen
+consecutive days, after three weeks of travel ration, do not form the
+most appetizing diet in the world. The exposure consequent upon the
+fighting and lack of tentage had its inevitable result in sickness.
+
+The same difficulties which had beset the quartermaster and commissary
+departments were also encountered by the surgeons. Hospital
+accommodations were scanty, the quantity of medicines available was
+very limited, the number of wounded men disproportionately large, and,
+when sickness was added to the wounds, the small number of surgeons
+available at the front were not able to give the individual attention
+and scientific treatment which forms a part of our admirable medical
+system in time of peace. There were only three or four ambulances
+available until after the 11th of July. A considerable number of the
+surgeons were on duty at the general hospitals far in the rear; the
+number at the front was not sufficient to attend to all the duties
+which devolved upon them. This deplorable condition reacted, causing a
+greater amount of illness. To add to this difficulty, the Volunteers
+began to suffer excessively from the results of their own ignorance and
+carelessness; and when the yellow fever scourge was added to all the
+other difficulties which beset the 5th Corps, the outlook became
+gloomy.
+
+The attempt has been made in the foregoing exposition of the conditions
+at Santiago to represent fairly the difficulties under which all parts
+of the army labored. The fact remains, nevertheless, that there was an
+appalling amount of suffering due to causes which might have been
+foreseen and which were easily preventable.
+
+
+Undergrowth in Cuba.
+
+On the 18th day of July the transports entered the harbor of Santiago.
+From that day forward there was unlimited wharfage at disposal, and
+there were excellent macadamized roads leading to all parts of the
+command. The fall of Santiago had been foreseen more than a week, and
+if there was not a sufficient quantity of wagons present on board the
+ships, there had been ample time to make telegraphic requisition for
+them to Washington. Up to the surrender, the suffering from sickness
+had been exceedingly light. There was something stimulating about the
+nervous strain and excitement of the time which kept the men up to
+their work; but the inadequacy of the medical supplies on hand had been
+amply demonstrated by the 10th. and it had become fully apparent that
+the medical corps was unable to handle the number of patients on hand.
+The previous remark about the practicability of telegraphing to
+headquarters for additional force applies to this department also.
+
+The principal sufferings after the surrender were due to four causes:
+first, improper clothes; second, improper food; third, lack of shelter;
+fourth, lack of proper medical attention.
+
+In regard to clothing and these other necessaries, it should be borne
+in mind that the corps which went to Santiago was virtually the Regular
+Army. Every regiment which went to Tampa went there ready for service.
+Its equipment was just as complete on the 26th of April as it was on
+the 6th of June. There should have been no problems to solve in regard
+to them—and yet there were many.
+
+_First—Clothing._
+
+The troops wore the same clothing to Cuba they had brought from
+Sheridan, Assinniboine, and Sherman. They wore winter clothing for
+their service in the torrid zone, and those who received summer
+clothing at all received it late in August, just in time to return to
+the bracing breezes of Montauk Point, where, in their enfeebled
+condition, winter clothing would have been more suitable. It did not
+require a professor of hygiene to foresee that the winter clothing used
+in northern Michigan would not be suitable for campaigning in southern
+Cuba in July; or that summer clothing suitable for southern Cuba would
+be too light for men returning to the northern part of Long Island. Is
+it to be concluded that it was impossible to obtain summer clothing for
+18,000 men between the 26th of April and the 6th of June?
+
+_Second—Improper Food._
+
+Most of the troops were embarked upon the transports by the 10th of
+June. Their food on transport consisted of the travel ration: canned
+roast beef, canned baked beans, canned tomatoes, and hardtack, with
+coffee, were the components. They subsisted upon this food, imprisoned
+in fetid holds of foul transports, unfit for the proper transportation
+of convicts, until the 25th day of June, when they disembarked. On
+drawing rations for the field it was found that the field ration would
+be of the same components, with the addition of bacon and minus the
+baked beans and tomatoes. During the emergency, up to include the 18th
+day of July, this was the ration. Occasionally a few cans of tomatoes
+found their way to camp, but rarely. The ration was always short, such
+as it was, but this the soldiers could have endured and did endure
+without a murmur.
+
+But on the 18th of July, with unlimited wharfage at a distance of two
+miles and a half, with excellent roads, and with abundance of
+transportation (see Gen. Shafter’s Official Report), and with surrender
+foreknown for a sufficient length of time to have brought any quantity
+of vegetables from New York City, the ration continued to be bacon,
+canned beef, hardtack, and coffee. Finally, about the 25th of July,
+small amounts of soft bread began to be doled out, and an occasional
+issue of frozen fresh beef was made. It was soon demonstrated that not
+sufficient fresh beef could be made available. The vegetables which had
+been brought had nearly all spoiled on the transports. Hundreds of
+barrels of potatoes and onions were unloaded upon the docks and were so
+badly decayed as to make them useless. These vegetables had been
+drifting about the Caribbean Sea and upon the Atlantic Ocean since the
+9th and 10th of June. Occasionally it was practicable to get a quarter
+or a half ration of potatoes and half of the usual allowance of canned
+tomatoes, but that was all.
+
+It did not require a professor of hygienic dietetics to predict that
+men fed in the tropics upon a diet suited to the icy shores of
+Greenland would become ill, especially when they were clad in a manner
+suited to the climate of Labrador. Are we to conclude that it was
+impossible to get rice, beans, canned fruits, canned corn, and other
+vegetables to take the place of potatoes and onions?
+
+
+Cuban Residence.
+
+_Third—Lack of Shelter._
+
+The allowance of tentage was prescribed for each regiment. Granted that
+it was impossible to get tentage up until after the surrender; yet it
+should have been practicable to forward tentage over two and one-half
+miles of macadamized roads. Yet whole regiments remained without
+tentage until they embarked for the United States. The 13th Infantry
+did not get tentage until the 5th of August. The 20th Infantry and the
+3d Infantry obtained a portion of their tentage about the same time,
+but a large part of these regiments remained under shelter tents until
+they reembarked. The 1st Illinois and the 34th Michigan remained in
+shelter tents until the 15th of August, at which time the author
+embarked for the United States. These regiments are fair examples.
+
+The Gatling Gun Detachment was provided with shelter-halves and
+remained under them until the 10th of August. Repeated applications for
+proper tentage were made, accompanied by medical certificates that the
+issue of tentage was imperatively necessary for the health of the
+command. Endorsements thereon by the chief quartermaster of the 5th
+Corps as late as the 5th of August show that there was no available
+tentage for issue. Application was made to the regimental commander,
+13th Infantry, for a portion of regimental tentage for the detachment
+of the 13th Infantry; but, in spite of the fact that the reduced
+regiment had on hand all the canvas prescribed for the full regiment,
+none could be obtained for the detachment. The detachment commander was
+entirely without tentage from the 25th of June until the 5th of
+August—forty-five days in the rainy season in Cuba, exposed to the
+torrid sun by day, to chilling dews by night, and the drenching rains
+of the afternoon, without shelter from any inclemencies of the weather,
+and this in spite of repeated applications to proper authorities for
+the suitable allowance of tentage. Is it any wonder that men grew sick,
+and that death stalked broadcast through the camp of the 5th Corps,
+under these conditions?
+
+_Fourth—Lack of Proper Medical Attendance._
+
+The surgeons who were at the front with the firing-line worked
+heroically, but were burdened beyond their physical powers. Owing to
+the foregoing causes, great numbers of men became ill as soon as the
+strain and tension of the battle were relieved. It was not uncommon to
+find twenty or twenty-five per cent of a command on the sick-report,
+and in some cases the sick-list went as high as fifty per cent. There
+were no well men in the 5th Army Corps. Those who refused to go on the
+sick-report were, nevertheless, sick. The author has yet to find a
+single member of the expedition who did not suffer from the climatic
+fever. The surgeons themselves were not exempt, and the very limited
+supply of doctors was speedily decreased by sickness. Were there no
+doctors in the United States who were willing to come to Cuba?
+
+Up to the 25th of July the supply of medicines was very deficient.
+There was never a sufficient supply of ambulances. The accommodations
+in the hospitals were even worse than those on the firing-line. A sick
+soldier on the firing-line could always find some comrade who would cut
+green boughs or gather grass for a bed, but the one who went to the
+hospital had to lie on the ground. The supply of hospital cots was
+ridiculously inadequate, and this condition did not improve.
+
+The difficulty of obtaining adequate medical attendance may be
+illustrated by the case of Priv. Fred C. Elkins, of the 17th Infantry,
+member of the Gatling Gun Detachment. Priv. Elkins had been hurt in the
+fight on the 1st of July and had been sent to the hospital. He found
+the accommodations so wretched that he feigned improvement and returned
+to his detachment. He remained with the detachment until the 14th of
+July, improving so far as his injury was concerned, but contracted the
+climatic fever. During this time he was prescribed for twice by the
+assistant surgeon with the Rough Riders, Dr. Thorpe, previous to the
+time this regiment was moved westward on the firing-line. His condition
+became worse, and on the 12th of July Dr. Brewer, 1st lieutenant and
+assistant surgeon with the 10th Cavalry, was called upon to examine
+him. This surgeon had then under treatment over 100 cases pertaining to
+his proper command, and was himself ill, but he readily came and
+inspected the patient. He promised to send medicines for him, but in
+the rush of overwork forgot to do so, and on the 13th of July he was
+again summoned. This time he sent a hospital attendant to take the
+patient’s temperature, which was 104°. No medicines were sent. On the
+14th of July the patient became delirious. The detachment commander
+went in person to request the same surgeon to attend to the case, he
+being the only one available at that time. The hospital attendant was
+again ordered to take the temperature. At the end of an hour even this
+had been neglected. The hospital man was sick, and had been without
+sleep for fifty hours. Priv. Elkins was put upon a board and carried to
+Brewer’s tent, with his descriptive list in his pocket. The surgeon was
+told the name of the patient and the facts that he was related to a
+distinguished family and had been recommended for a commission for
+gallantry upon the field of battle. Dr. Brewer was himself suffering at
+the time, with a temperature of 103°, but he rose from his own sick-bed
+and administered remedies which relieved the patient. The following
+day, the third of his illness, Dr. Brewer was found to be suffering
+from yellow fever, and was carried back to the yellow fever hospital at
+Siboney along with Priv. Elkins. He had been sick all the time, but had
+done his best. Priv. Elkins improved sufficiently to write a letter to
+his commanding officer from the hospital at Siboney, on the 25th of
+July, which reached that officer at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on the
+12th day of September. In spite of the fact that the patient was
+furnished with descriptive list, and was specially commended to the
+care of the surgeon as a soldier marked for extreme gallantry, all
+trace of him had been lost; and although two private detectives were
+searching for him a month, no further clew had been found to his
+whereabouts or fate as late as the 1st of October. Even if his
+descriptive list had not been furnished with this man, the fact that he
+was alive and rational enough on the 25th day of July to write a letter
+concerning his approaching discharge should have made it easy for some
+record of his case to have been kept.
+
+But this one isolated case sinks into insignificance beside the
+condition in which some of the sick were left by commands returning to
+the United States. All cases of yellow fever suspects were left behind,
+and in the mad scramble to embark for the return voyage many of these
+were left without proper attention or supplies.
+
+Gen. Kent’s Division had left by the 11th of August. The following
+extract from a letter dated Santiago de Cuba, August 12, 1898, will
+convey some idea of the condition in which the sick of this division
+were left:
+
+“Yesterday Gen. Kent’s Division left for Montauk, and they left behind
+350 sick, many of them too ill to care for themselves. This humane
+country, of course, left ample care for them? There was left one
+surgeon, one steward, and one case of medicines. Many of these men are
+too ill to rise. They are ‘suspected’ of having yellow fever. They are
+suffering from Cuban malaria, and many of them from diarrhea. There was
+not left a single bed-pan for this battalion of bed-ridden, suffering
+humanity, nor any well men to nurse the sick. There was not even left
+any to cook food for them. Those left by the 9th Infantry had to bribe
+marauding, pilfering Cubans, with a part of their rations, to carry
+food to the camp of the 13th, where there were a few less ill, to get
+it cooked.
+
+“They are too sick to dig sinks; some are delirious. When the poor
+emaciated wrecks of manhood have to obey the calls of Nature, they must
+either wallow in their own filth or stagger a few paces from their wet
+beds on the slimy soil to deposit more germs of disease and death on
+the surface already reeking with ghastly, joint-racking rheums.
+
+“There were left less than fifty cots for these 350 sick men—men
+compelled by sheer weakness to lie on the ground which will soon lie on
+them, if enough strong men are left by that time to cover them
+mercifully over with the loathsome, reeking vegetable detritus which
+passes here for soil, and which is so fairly animate that you can see
+every spadeful of it writhe and wriggle as you throw it over the
+rotting hour-dead shell of what was a free American citizen and a
+Chevalier Bayard.
+
+“When the last man and wagon of the flying division disappeared over
+the hill toward health and home, a despairing wail went up from the
+doomed 350 left in this condition of indescribable horror. ‘We are
+abandoned to die!’ they cried; ‘we are deserted by our own comrades in
+the hour of danger and left to helplessly perish!’
+
+“These men are those who fought the climate, hunger, and the enemy on
+the battle-field which has shed so much undying glory on the American
+arms. They are the men who have accomplished unheard-of feats of
+endurance and performed incredible feats of valor on the same
+ground—not for Cuba, but at the call of duty. They are citizens. They
+are brave soldiers who have done their full duty because it was duty.”
+
+
+Santiago Street Scene
+
+The mail facilities were wretched. Cords of mail were stacked up at
+Siboney for weeks; and although there was more transportation on hand
+than could be used, the officer detailed to attend to the mail business
+of the corps, Lieut. Saville, of the 10th Infantry, could not succeed
+in securing a wagon to haul this mail to the front. Since the corps
+returned to the United States a dozen letters have reached the author
+which have chased him by way of Santiago and Montauk, since dates
+between the 1st and 20th of July, inclusive. The person to whom these
+letters were addressed was well known to every officer and employee in
+the corps, and if the mail addressed to one so well known could go
+astray in this manner, what could an unknown private expect? This may
+seem like a little hardship, but to men in the weakened and enfeebled
+condition of the survivors of the 5th Corps a letter from home was both
+food and medicine. Scores of men who are to-day rotting in Cuban graves
+died of nostalgia, and might have lived if they had received the
+letters from home which were sent to them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. THE CAUSE.
+
+The causes of these conditions are not far to seek. The United States
+has not had an army since 1866. There has been no such a thing as a
+brigade, a division, or a corps. There has been no opportunity to study
+and practice on a large scale, in a practical way, the problems of
+organization and supply. The Army has been administered as a unit, and
+the usual routine of business gradually became such that not a wheel
+could be turned nor a nail driven in any of the supply departments
+without express permission, previously obtained from the bureau chief
+in Washington. The same remarks apply equally to all the other staff
+departments. The administration had become a bureaucracy because the
+whole Army for thirty years had been administered as one body, without
+the subdivisions into organizations which are inevitable in war-time
+and in larger bodies.
+
+War became a reality with great suddenness. Those who have grown gray
+in the service, and whose capacity, honesty, and industry had never
+been and can not be impeached, found themselves confronted with the
+problem of handling nearly three hundred thousand men, without
+authority to change the system of supply and transportation. The
+minutest acts of officers of these departments are regulated by laws of
+Congress, enacted with a view of the small regular force in time of
+peace, and with no provisions for modifications in war. In authorizing
+the formation of large volunteer armies, Congress did not authorize any
+change in the system of administration or make any emergency provision.
+As before, every detail of supply and transportation had to be
+authorized from the central head.
+
+The administrative bureaus were handicapped to some extent by
+incompetent and ignorant members. Late in the campaign it was learned
+that the way to a “soft snap” was through the Capitol, and some came in
+that way who would certainly never have entered the Army in any other.
+
+There were alleged staff officers who had tried to enter the service
+through the regular channels and who had failed, either by lack of
+ability or bad conduct, to keep up with the pace set by classmates at
+the Academy; there were others who were known as failures in civil life
+and as the “black sheep” of eminent families; and there were some who
+must have been utterly unknown before the war, as they will be
+afterward.
+
+How these persons ever obtained places high above deserving officers of
+capacity and experience is a question which cries aloud for
+exposure—but in a good many cases they did. Indeed, it is to be
+observed that, for that matter, the next register of the Army will show
+a great many more promotions into the Volunteer service, of officers
+who never heard a hostile bullet during the war, who never left the
+United States at all, than it will of deserving officers who bore the
+heat and burden of the march and the battle.
+
+
+“Reina Mercedes” Sunk by the “Iowa” near Mouth of Harbor of Santiago.
+
+The most discouraging thing about it all to a line officer is that this
+same register will afford no means of determining who did the service
+and who did the “baby act.” Lieut. Blank will be borne thereon as major
+and subsequently colonel of the Steenth Volunteers (which never left
+the State rendezvous, probably) during the war with Spain; Lieut. Blank
+No. 2 will be carried on the same book as second lieutenant, ——
+Infantry, during the same war. The gentle reader will at once “spot”
+the man who was so highly promoted as a gallant fellow who
+distinguished himself upon the bloody field; the other will be set down
+as the man who did nothing and deserved nothing.
+
+Yet—the ones who went received no promotion, and those who staid behind
+and by their careless incompetence permitted camps amid the peaceful
+scenes of homes and plenty to become the hot-beds of fever and
+disease—these are the ones borne as field and other officers of the
+Volunteers.
+
+To illustrate some of the material with big titles sent to “assist” in
+running the staff departments, two incidents will suffice.
+
+On the 11th of June, at a certain headquarters, it was desired to send
+a message, demanding reply, to each transport. A gray-haired officer
+turned to another and said, “Whom shall we send with this? Will
+So-and-so do?” naming one of the before-mentioned civil appointments.
+“For heaven’s sake, no! He would tie up the whole business. Send an
+orderly,” was the reply. The orderly, an enlisted man of the Regulars,
+was sent. The officer thus adjudged less competent to carry a message
+than a private soldier was perhaps actuated by a high sense of duty;
+but he filled a place which should have been occupied by an experienced
+and able officer—no, he did not fill it, but he prevented such a man
+from doing so.
+
+The second incident was related by an officer on a transport bound for
+home. Say his name was—oh well, Smith.
+
+Smith went, on the 20th of July, to a certain headquarters in the field
+on business. Those who could have attended to it were absent, but there
+was one of the recent arrivals, a high-ranking aide, there, and he,
+sorry for Smith’s worn-out look of hunger, heat, and thirst, asked if
+he would have a drink. Smith, expecting at the best a canteen of San
+Juan River water, said he was a little dry.
+
+The newly-arrived clapped his hands, and, at the summons, a colored
+waiter in spotless white duck appeared. “Waitah, take this gentleman’s
+ordah,” said the host. Smith, greatly astonished, asked what could be
+had, and was yet more astonished to learn that he could be served with
+Canadian or domestic whisky, claret, champagne, or sherry. Much
+bewildered, and utterly forgetting the awful dangers of liquor in the
+tropics, he called for Canadian Club. When it came, on a napkin-covered
+tray, he looked for water, and was about to use some from a bucket full
+of ice which he at that moment espied. “Aw! hold on,” exclaimed the
+host; “we nevah use that, don’t y’ know, except to cool the
+apollinaris. Waitah, bring the gentleman a bottle of apollinaris to
+wash down his liquor.”
+
+Within half a mile were soldiers and officers lying sick in hospital on
+the ground, eating hardtack and bacon, and drinking San Juan straight,
+because hospital supplies and rations could not be got to the front!
+
+It was this same officer who explained that he approached his
+headquarters “by rushes,” upon his arrival, for fear the enemy would
+see him and consider this reinforcement a violation of the truce.
+
+These are two examples of some of the able assistants from civil life
+who were sent to help feed, clothe, and transport the 5th Corps.
+
+With such assistants, is it any wonder that, under such extraordinary
+circumstances as those encountered in Cuba, a system designed for peace
+and 25,000 men weakened in some respects when the attempt was made to
+apply it to 300,000 in time of war?
+
+The great wonder is that it did the work as well as it did. And this
+was due to the superhuman exertions of the chief officers of the supply
+departments and their experienced assistants. These men knew no rest.
+They were untiring and zealous. On their own responsibility they cut
+the red tape to the very smallest limit. Instead of the regular returns
+and requisitions, the merest form of lead-pencil memorandum was
+sufficient to obtain the necessary supplies, whenever they were
+available. This much was absolutely necessary, for these officers were
+personally responsible for every dollar’s worth of supplies and had to
+protect themselves in some degree. As it is now, many of them will find
+it years before their accounts are finally settled, unless some
+provision be made by law for their relief. This disregard of routine
+was essential; but how much to be desired is a system suited to the
+exigencies of the service, both in peace and war!
+
+There is a lesson to be learned from these experiences, and it is this:
+The commanding officer of any army organization should not be hampered
+in the matter of supplies by having to obtain the approval or
+disapproval of a junior in rank, in a distant bureau, who knows nothing
+about the circumstances. In other words, the system which causes the
+staff departments of the United States Army to regard a civilian as
+their head, and makes them virtually independent of their line
+commanders, is an utterly vicious system. If an officer is competent to
+command an organization, he should be considered competent to look
+after the details of its administration, and should be held
+responsible, not only for its serviceable condition at all times, but
+for the care of its property and for all the other details connected
+with its service.
+
+The quartermaster, or commissary, or other officer of a supply
+department should not know any authority on earth higher or other than
+the officer in command of the force he is to serve, except those in the
+line above such chief, and then only when such orders come through his
+chief.
+
+The commanding officer having ordered supplies to be procured, there
+should be no question whatever in regard to their being furnished. They
+should come at once and without fail. If they were not necessary, hold
+him responsible.
+
+This theory of administration eliminates the bureaucracy which has
+insidiously crept upon the Army, and relegates to their proper position
+the supply departments.
+
+The General Staff proper has a higher field of usefulness than the mere
+problems of supply. Its business is to care for the organization,
+mobilization, and strategic disposition of all the forces, both naval
+and military, of the United States. Its head should be the President,
+and the two divisions should be under the general commanding the Army
+and the admiral commanding the Navy. The remainder of this staff should
+be composed of a small but select personnel, and should limit its
+duties exclusively to those set forth above.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE VOYAGE HOME AND THE END OF THE GATLING GUN DETACHMENT.
+
+
+The detachment received permission on the 10th of August to use any
+standing tentage which it could find, and it was thoroughly under
+shelter an hour after this permission was received. The climate of Cuba
+was not so disagreeable when one could look at it through the door of a
+tent, but we were not destined to enjoy our tentage very long. On the
+15th, at two o’clock, orders were received to go on board the _Leona_
+at Santiago, bound for Montauk Point, and at half-past five o’clock
+men, guns, and equipment were duly stowed for the voyage home.
+
+It was much more agreeable than the one to Cuba, The transport was not
+crowded, the men had excellent hammocks, which could be rolled up
+during the day, thus leaving the whole berth deck for exercise and
+ventilation, and the _Leona_ was a much better vessel than the
+_Cherokee_.
+
+The detachment finally disembarked at Montauk Point on the 23d, passed
+through the usual detention camp, and was assigned a camping-place. It
+was disbanded per instructions from headquarters, Montauk Point, on the
+5th of September, the members of the detachment returning to their
+respective regiments, well satisfied with the work they had done and
+with each other.
+
+In concluding this memoir the author desires to pay a personal tribute
+of admiration and respect to the brave men composing the detachment,
+both individually and collectively. Some of them have figured more
+prominently in these pages than others, but there was not a man in the
+detachment who was not worthy to be called the highest term that can be
+applied to any man—a brave American soldier.
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I.
+
+
+Headquarters U. S. Troops, Santiago de Cuba, July 19, 1898.
+
+_General Orders No. 26._
+
+The successful accomplishment of the campaign against Santiago de Cuba,
+resulting in its downfall and surrender of Spanish forces, the capture
+of large military stores, together with the destruction of the entire
+Spanish fleet in the harbor, which, upon the investment of the city,
+was forced to leave, is one of which the Army can well be proud.
+
+This has been accomplished through the heroic deeds of the Army and its
+officers and men. The major-general commanding offers his sincere
+thanks for their endurance of hardships heretofore unknown in the
+American Army.
+
+The work you have accomplished may well appeal to the pride of your
+countrymen and has been rivaled upon but few occasions in the world’s
+history. Landing upon an unknown coast, you faced dangers in
+disembarking and overcame obstacles that even in looking back upon seem
+insurmountable. Seizing, with the assistance of the Navy, the towns of
+Baiquiri and Siboney, you pushed boldly forth, gallantly driving back
+the enemy’s outposts in the vicinity of La Guasimas, and completed the
+concentration of the army near Sevilla, within sight of the Spanish
+stronghold at Santiago de Cuba. The outlook from Sevilla was one that
+might have appalled the stoutest heart. Behind you ran a narrow road
+made well-nigh impassable by rains, while to the front you looked upon
+high foot-hills covered with a dense tropical growth, which could only
+be traversed by bridle-paths terminating within range of the enemy’s
+guns. Nothing daunted, you responded eagerly to the order to close upon
+the foe, and, attacking at El Caney and San Juan, drove him from work
+to work until he took refuge within his last and strongest entrenchment
+immediately surrounding the city. Despite the fierce glare of a
+Southern sun and rains that fell in torrents, you valiantly withstood
+his attempts to drive you from the position your valor had won, holding
+in your vise-like grip the army opposed to you. After seventeen days of
+battle and siege, you were rewarded by the surrender of nearly 24,000
+prisoners, 12,000 being those in your immediate front, the others
+scattered in the various towns of eastern Cuba, freeing completely the
+eastern part of the island from Spanish troops.
+
+This was not done without great sacrifices. The death of 230 gallant
+soldiers and the wounding of 1,284 others shows but too plainly the
+fierce contest in which you were engaged. The few reported missing are
+undoubtedly among the dead, as no prisoners were taken. For those who
+have fallen in battle, with you the commanding general sorrows, and
+with you will ever cherish their memory. Their devotion to duty sets a
+high example of courage and patriotism to our fellow-countrymen. All
+who have participated in the campaign, battle, and siege of Santiago de
+Cuba will recall with pride the grand deeds accomplished, and will hold
+one another dear for having shared great suffering, hardships, and
+triumphs together.
+
+All may well feel proud to inscribe on their banners the name of
+Santiago de Cuba.
+
+By command of Major-General Shafter.
+
+Official: _John B. Miley, E. J. McClernand,_ Aide. Asst. Adj.-Gen.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX II.
+
+
+_The Santiago Campaign._
+
+Report of Major-General Wm. R. Shafter, Commanding.
+
+September 13, 1898.
+
+Sir,—I have the honor to submit the following report of the campaign
+which terminated in the fall of Santiago de Cuba and the adjacent
+territory, and the establishment of the military government therein.
+
+The expedition was undertaken in compliance with telegraphic
+instructions of May 30, 1898, from Headquarters of the Army, in which
+it was stated:
+
+“Admiral Schley reports that two cruisers and two torpedo boats have
+been seen in the harbor of Santiago. Go with your force to capture
+garrison at Santiago and assist in capturing harbor and fleet.”
+
+On this date there were a large number of transports in Port Tampa Bay,
+which had been collected for the purpose of an expedition which it had
+been previously contemplated I should command, and for such other
+emergencies as might arise. Orders were immediately given for loading
+aboard those transports the necessary subsistence and quartermaster
+supplies, and for the embarkation of the authorized number of troops
+and their material. General Orders No. 5, from these headquarters,
+indicate the organizations it was at first proposed to take.
+
+The order is as follows:
+
+“Headquarters 5th Army Corps, “Tampa, Fla., May 31, 1898.
+
+“G. O. 5.
+
+“The following troops will hold themselves in readiness to move
+immediately on board transports upon notification from these
+headquarters:
+
+“1. The 5th Army Corps.
+
+“2. The Battalion of Engineers.
+
+“3. The detachment of the Signal Corps.
+
+“4. Five squadrons of cavalry, to be selected by the commanding general
+of the cavalry division, in accordance with instructions previously
+given.
+
+“5. Four batteries of light artillery, to be commanded by a major, to
+be selected by the commanding officer of the light artillery brigade.
+
+“6. Two batteries of heavy artillery, to be selected by the commanding
+officer of the siege artillery battalion, with eight (8) guns and eight
+(8) field mortars.
+
+“7. The Battalion of Engineers, the infantry and cavalry will be
+supplied with 500 rounds of ammunition per man.
+
+“8. All troops will carry, in addition to the fourteen (14) days’ field
+rations now on hand, ten (10) days’ travel rations.
+
+“9. The minimum allowance of tentage and baggage as prescribed in G. O.
+54, A. G. O., c. s., will be taken.
+
+“10. In addition to the rations specified in paragraph 8 of this order,
+the chief commissary will provide sixty (60) days’ field rations for
+the entire command.
+
+“11. All recruits and extra baggage, the latter to be stored, carefully
+piled and covered, will be left in camp in charge of a commissioned
+officer, to be selected by the regimental commander. Where there are no
+recruits available, the necessary guard only will be left.
+
+“12. Travel rations will be drawn at once by the several commands, as
+indicated in paragraph 8.
+
+“By command of Maj.-Gen. Shafter.
+
+“_E. J. McClernand,_ “A. A. G.”
+
+This order was afterwards changed to include twelve squadrons of
+cavalry, all of which were dismounted because of lack of transportation
+for the animals, and because it was believed, from the best sources of
+information obtainable, that mounted cavalry could not operate
+efficiently in the neighborhood of Santiago. This was found
+subsequently to be correct.
+
+The facilities at Tampa and Port Tampa for embarking the troops and the
+large amount of supplies required were inadequate, and with the utmost
+effort it was not possible to accomplish this work as quickly as I
+hoped and desired.
+
+On the evening of June 7th I received orders to sail without delay, but
+not with less than 10,000 men.
+
+The orders referred to caused one division, composed of Volunteer
+troops, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Snyder, and which it had been intended
+to include in my command, to be left behind. I was joined, however, by
+Brig.-Gen. Bates, who had already arrived on transports from Mobile,
+Ala., with the 3d and 20th Infantry and one squadron of the 2d Cavalry
+with their horses, the latter being the only mounted troops in my
+command.
+
+After some of them had already reached the lower bay, telegraphic
+instructions were received from the honorable Secretary of War,
+directing that the sailing of the expedition be delayed, waiting
+further orders. This delay was occasioned by the Navy reporting that a
+Spanish war vessel had been sighted in the Nicholas Channel. The ships
+in the lower bay were immediately recalled. On the next day, in
+compliance with instructions from the adjutant-general of the Army, the
+necessary steps were taken to increase the command to the full capacity
+of the transports, and the expedition sailed on June 14th with 815
+officers and 16,072 enlisted men.
+
+The passage to Santiago was generally smooth and uneventful. The health
+of the command remained remarkably good, notwithstanding the fact that
+the conveniences on many of the transports, in the nature of sleeping
+accommodations, space for exercise, closet accommodations, etc., were
+not all that could have been desired. While commenting upon this
+subject, it is appropriate to add that the opinion was general
+throughout the Army that the travel ration should include tomatoes,
+beginning with the first day, and that a small quantity of canned fruit
+would prove to be a most welcome addition while traveling at sea in the
+tropics. If the future policy of our Government requires much
+transportation for the military forces by sea, definite arrangements
+should be determined upon to provide the necessary hammock
+accommodations for sleeping. Hammocks interfere immeasurably less than
+bunks with the proper ventilation of the ships and during the day can
+be easily removed, thus greatly increasing space for exercise;
+moreover, they greatly diminish the danger of fire.
+
+While passing along the north coast of Cuba one of the two barges we
+had in tow broke away during the night, and was not recovered. This
+loss proved to be very serious, for it delayed and embarrassed the
+disembarkation of the army. On the morning of June 20th we arrived off
+Guantanamo Bay, and about noon reached the vicinity of Santiago, where
+Admiral Sampson came on board my headquarters transport. It was
+arranged between us to visit in the afternoon the Cuban general
+(Garcia) at Aserraderos, about eighteen miles to the west of the Morro.
+During the interview Gen. Garcia offered the services of his troops,
+comprising about 4,000 men in the vicinity of Aserraderos and about
+500, under Gen. Castillo, at the little town of Cujababo, a few miles
+east of Baiquiri. I accepted his offer, impressing it upon him that I
+could exercise no military control over him except, such as he would
+concede, and as long as he served under me I would furnish him rations
+and ammunition.
+
+
+DISEMBARKATION IN CUBA.
+
+Ever since the receipt of my orders I had made a study of the terrain
+surrounding Santiago, gathering information mainly from the former
+residents of the city, several of whom were on the transports with me.
+At this interview all the possible points of attack were for the last
+time carefully weighed, and then, for the information and guidance of
+Admiral Sampson and Gen. Garcia, I outlined the plan of campaign, which
+was as follows:
+
+With the assistance of the small boats of the Navy, the disembarkation
+was to commence on the morning of the 22d at Baiquiri; on the 21st 500
+insurgent troops were to be transferred from Aserraderos to Cujababo,
+increasing the force already there to 1,000 men. This force, under Gen.
+Castillo, was to attack the Spanish force at Baiquiri in the rear at
+the time of disembarkation. This movement was successfully made. To
+mislead the enemy as to the real point of our intended landing, I
+requested Gen. Garcia to send a small force (about 500 men), under Gen.
+Rabi, to attack the little town of Cabanas, situated on the coast a few
+miles to the west of the entrance to Santiago harbor, and where it was
+reported the enemy had several men intrenched, and from which a trail
+leads around the west side of the bay to Santiago.
+
+I also requested Admiral Sampson to send several of his warships, with
+a number of my transports, opposite this town, for the purpose of
+making a show of disembarking there.
+
+In addition, I asked the admiral to cause a bombardment to be made at
+Cabanas and also at the forts around the Morro and at the towns of
+Aguadores, Siboney, and Baiquiri. The troops under Gen. Garcia
+remaining at Aserraderos were to be transferred to Baiquiri or Siboney
+on the 24th. This was successfully accomplished at Siboney.
+
+These movements committed me to approaching Santiago from the east over
+a narrow road, at first in some places not better than a trail, running
+from Baiquiri through Siboney and Sevilla, and making attack from that
+quarter. This, in my judgment, was the only feasible plan, and
+subsequent information and results confirmed my judgment.
+
+On the morning of the 22d the Army commenced to disembark at Baiquiri.
+The following general order indicates the manner in which the troops
+left the transports and the amount of supplies carried immediately with
+them:
+
+“Headquarters 5th Army Corps, “On board S. S. _Segurança_, “At Sea,
+June 20, 1898.
+
+“G. O. 18.
+
+(Extract.)
+
+“1. Under instructions to be communicated to the proper commanders,
+troops will disembark in the following order:
+
+“First—The 2d Division, 5th Corps (Lawton’s). The Gatling Gun
+Detachment will accompany this division.
+
+“Second—Gen. Bates’ Brigade. This brigade will form as a reserve to the
+2d Division, 5th Corps.
+
+“Third—The dismounted cavalry division (Wheeler’s).
+
+“Fourth—The 1st Division, 5th Corps (Kent’s).
+
+“Fifth—The squadron of the 2d Cavalry (Rafferty’s).
+
+“Sixth—If the enemy in force vigorously resist the landing, the light
+artillery, or a part of it, will be disembarked by the battalion
+commander, and brought to the assistance of the troops engaged. If no
+serious opposition be offered this artillery will be unloaded after the
+mounted squadron.
+
+“2. All troops will carry on the person the blanket-roll (with
+shelter-tent and poncho), three days’ field rations (with coffee,
+ground), canteens filled, and 100 rounds of ammunition per man.
+Additional ammunition, already issued to the troops, tentage, baggage,
+and company cooking utensils will be left under charge of the
+regimental quartermaster, with one non-commissioned officer and two
+privates from each company.
+
+“3. All persons not immediately on duty with and constituting a part of
+the organizations mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs will remain
+aboard ship until the landing be accomplished, and until notified they
+can land.
+
+“4. The chief quartermaster of the expedition will control all small
+boats and will distribute them to the best advantage to disembark the
+troops in the order indicated in paragraph 1.
+
+“5. The ordnance officer—2d Lieut. Brooke, 4th Infantry—will put on
+shore at once 100 rounds of ammunition per man, and have it ready for
+distribution on the firing-line.
+
+“6. The commanding general wishes to impress officers and men with the
+crushing effect a well-directed fire will have upon the Spanish troops.
+All officers concerned will rigidly enforce fire discipline, and will
+caution their men to fire only when they can be see the enemy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+“By command of Maj.-Gen. Shafter.
+
+“_E. J. McClernand_, “A. A. G.”
+
+The small boats belonging to the Navy and the transports, together with
+a number of steam launches, furnished by the Navy, were brought
+alongside and loaded with troops as prescribed in the order just
+quoted. When Gen. Lawton’s Division was fairly loaded in the small
+boats, the latter were towed in long lines by the steam launches toward
+the shore. The sea was somewhat rough, but by the exercise of caution
+and good judgment the beach was reached and the troops disembarked
+satisfactorily. As a precaution against a possible attack upon the part
+of any Spaniards who might have been hidden in the adjacent
+block-houses and woods, the Navy opened a furious cannonade on these
+places while the troops were moving toward the shore. It was learned
+afterward that the Spanish garrison had retired in the direction of
+Siboney soon after daylight.
+
+By night about 6,000 troops were on shore. Gen. Lawton was ordered to
+push down a strong force to seize and hold Siboney.
+
+On the 23d the disembarkation was continued and about 6,000 more men
+landed. Early on this date Gen. Lawton’s advance reached Siboney, the
+Spanish garrison of about 600 men retiring as he came up, and offering
+no opposition except a few scattering shots at long range. Some of the
+Cuban troops pursued the retreating Spaniards and skirmished with them.
+During the afternoon of this date the disembarkation of Kent’s Division
+was commenced at Siboney, which enabled me to establish a base eight
+miles nearer Santiago and to continue the unloading of troops and
+supplies at both points.
+
+The disembarkation was continued throughout the night of the 23d and
+24th, and by the evening of the 24th the disembarkation of my command
+was practically completed.
+
+
+PREPARING FOR THE ADVANCE.
+
+The orders for June 24th contemplated Gen. Lawton’s Division taking a
+strong defensive position a short distance from Siboney, on the road to
+Santiago; Kent’s Division was to be held near Santiago, where he
+disembarked; Bates’ Brigade was to take position in support of Lawton,
+while Wheeler’s Division was to be somewhat to the rear on the road
+from Siboney to Baiquiri. It was intended to maintain this situation
+until the troops and transportation were disembarked and a reasonable
+quantity of necessary supplies landed. Gen. Young’s Brigade, however,
+passed beyond Lawton on the night of the 23d-24th, thus taking the
+advance, and on the morning of the latter date became engaged with a
+Spanish force intrenched in a strong position at La Guasima, a point on
+the Santiago road about three miles from Siboney. Gen. Young’s force
+consisted of one squadron of the 1st Cavalry, one of the 10th Cavalry,
+and two of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry; in all, 964
+officers and men.
+
+The enemy made an obstinate resistance, but were driven from the field
+with considerable loss. Our own loss was 1 officer and 15 men killed, 6
+officers and 46 men wounded. The reported losses of the Spaniards were
+9 killed and 27 wounded. The engagement had an inspiring effect upon
+our men and doubtless correspondingly depressed the enemy, as it was
+now plainly demonstrated to them that they had a foe to meet who would
+advance upon them under a heavy fire delivered from intrenchments. Gen.
+Wheeler, division commander, was present during the engagement and
+reports that our troops, officers and men, fought with the greatest
+gallantry. His report is attached, marked “A.” This engagement gave us
+a well-watered country farther to the front on which to encamp our
+troops.
+
+My efforts to unload transportation and subsistence stores, so that we
+might have several days’ rations on shore, were continued during the
+remainder of the month. In this work I was ably seconded by Lieut.-Col.
+Charles F. Humphrey, deputy Q. M. G., U. S. A., chief quartermaster,
+and Col. John F. Weston, A. O. G. S., chief commissary; hut,
+notwithstanding the utmost efforts, it was difficult to land supplies
+in excess of those required daily to feed the men and animals, and the
+loss of the scow, mentioned as having broken away during the voyage, as
+well as the loss at sea of lighters sent by Quartermaster’s Department
+was greatly felt. Indeed, the lack of steam launches, lighters, scows,
+and wharves can only be appreciated by those who were on the ground
+directing the disembarkation and landing of supplies. It was not until
+nearly two weeks after the army landed that it was possible to place on
+shore three days’ supplies In excess of those required for the daily
+consumption.
+
+After the engagement at La Guasima, and before the end of the month,
+the army, including Gen. Garcia’s command, which had been brought on
+transports to Siboney from Aserraderos, was mostly concentrated at
+Sevilla, with the exception of the necessary detachments at Baiquiri
+and Siboney.
+
+On June 30th I reconnoitered the country about Santiago and made my
+plan of attack. From a high hill, from which the city was in plain
+view, I could see the San Juan Hill and the country about El Caney. The
+roads were very poor, and, indeed, little better than bridle-paths
+until the San Juan River and El Caney were reached.
+
+The position of El Caney, to the northeast of Santiago, was of great
+importance to the enemy as holding the Guantanamo road, as well as
+furnishing shelter for a strong outpost that might be used to assail
+the right flank of any force operating against San Juan Hill.
+
+In view of this, I decided to begin the attack next day at El Caney
+with one division, while sending two divisions on the direct road to
+Santiago, passing by the El Pozo house, and as a diversion to direct a
+small force against Aguadores, from Siboney along the railroad by the
+sea, with a view of attracting the attention of the Spaniards in the
+latter direction and of preventing them from attacking our left flank.
+
+During the afternoon I assembled the division commanders and explained
+to them my general plan of battle. Lawton’s Division, assisted by
+Capron’s Light Battery, was ordered to move out during the afternoon
+toward El Caney, to begin the attack there early the next morning.
+After carrying El Caney, Lawton was to move by the El Caney road toward
+Santiago, and take position on the right of the line. Wheeler’s
+Division of dismounted cavalry, and Kent’s Division of infantry, were
+directed on the Santiago road, the head of the column resting near El
+Pozo, toward which heights Grimes’ Battery moved on the afternoon of
+the 30th, with orders to take position thereon early the next morning,
+and at the proper time prepare the way for the advance of Wheeler and
+Kent, on San Juan Hill. The attack at this point was to be delayed
+until Lawton’s guns were heard at El Caney and his infantry fire showed
+he had become well engaged.
+
+The remainder of the afternoon and night was devoted to cutting out and
+repairing the roads, and other necessary preparations for battle. These
+preparations were far from what I desired them to be, but we were in a
+sickly climate; our supplies had to be brought forward by a narrow
+wagon road, which the rains might at any time render impassable; fear
+was entertained that a storm might drive the vessels containing our
+stores to sea, thus separating us from our base of supplies; and,
+lastly, it was reported that Gen. Pando, with 8,000 reinforcements for
+the enemy, was _en route_ from Manzanillo, and might be expected in a
+few days. Under these conditions, I determined to give battle without
+delay.
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF EL CANEY.
+
+Early on the morning of July 1st, Lawton was in position around El
+Caney, Chaffee’s Brigade on the right, across the Guantanamo road,
+Miles’ Brigade in the center, and Ludlow’s on the left. The duty of
+cutting off the enemy’s retreat along the Santiago road was assigned to
+the latter brigade. The artillery opened on the town at 6:15 a. m. The
+battle here soon became general, and was hotly contested. The enemy’s
+position was naturally strong, and was rendered more so by
+block-houses, a stone fort, and intrenchments cut in solid rock, and
+the loop-holing of a solidly built stone church. The opposition offered
+by the enemy was greater than had been anticipated, and prevented
+Lawton from joining the right of the main line during the day, as had
+been intended. After the battle had continued for some time, Bates’
+Brigade of two regiments reached my headquarters from Siboney. I
+directed him to move near El Caney, to give assistance if necessary. He
+did so, and was put in position between Miles and Chaffee. The battle
+continued with varying intensity during most of the day and until the
+place was carried by assault about 4:30 p. m. As the Spaniards
+endeavored to retreat along the Santiago road, Ludlow’s position
+enabled him to do very effective work, and to practically cut off all
+retreat in that direction.
+
+After the battle at El Caney was well opened, and the sound of the
+small-arm fire caused us to believe that Lawton was driving the enemy
+before him, I directed Grimes’ Battery to open fire from the heights of
+El Pozo on the San Juan block-house, which could be seen situated in
+the enemy’s intrenchments extending along the crest of San Juan Hill.
+This fire was effective, and the enemy could be seen running away from
+the vicinity of the block-house. The artillery fire from El Pozo was
+soon returned by the enemy’s artillery. They evidently had the range of
+this hill, and their first shells killed and wounded several men. As
+the Spaniards used smokeless powder, it was very difficult to locate
+the position of their pieces, while, on the contrary, the smoke caused
+by our black powder plainly indicated the position of our battery.
+
+At this time the cavalry division, under Gen. Sumner, which was lying
+concealed in the general vicinity of the El Pozo house, was ordered
+forward with directions to cross the San Juan River and deploy to the
+right of the Santiago side, while Kent’s Division was to follow closely
+in its rear and deploy to the left.
+
+These troops moved forward in compliance with orders, but the road was
+so narrow as to render it impracticable to retain the column of fours
+formation at all points, while the undergrowth on either side was so
+dense as to preclude the possibility of deploying skirmishers. It
+naturally resulted that the progress made was slow, and the long-range
+rifles of the enemy’s infantry killed and wounded a number of our men
+while marching along this road, and before there was any opportunity to
+return this fire. At this time Generals Kent and Sumner were ordered to
+push forward with all possible haste and place their troops in position
+to engage the enemy. Gen. Kent, with this end in view, forced the head
+of his column alongside of the cavalry column as far as the narrow
+trail permitted, and thus hurried his arrival at the San Juan and the
+formation beyond that stream. A few hundred yards before reaching the
+San Juan the road forks, a fact that was discovered by Lieut.-Col.
+Derby of my staff, who had approached well to the front in a war
+balloon. This information he furnished to the troops, resulting in
+Sumner moving on the right-hand road, while Kent was enabled to utilize
+the road to the left.
+
+Gen. Wheeler, the permanent commander of the cavalry division, who had
+been ill, came forward during the morning, and later returned to duty
+and rendered most gallant and efficient service during the remainder of
+the day.
+
+After crossing the stream, the cavalry moved to the right with a view
+of connecting with Lawton’s left, when he could come up, and with their
+left resting near the Santiago road.
+
+In the meantime Kent’s Division, with the exception of two regiments of
+Hawkins’ Brigade, being thus uncovered, moved rapidly to the front from
+the forks previously mentioned in the road, utilizing both trails, but
+more especially the one to the left, and, crossing the creek, formed
+for attack in front of San Juan Hill. During the formation the 2d
+Brigade suffered severely. While personally superintending this
+movement, its gallant commander, Col. Wikoff, was killed. The command
+of the brigade then devolved upon Lieut.-Col. Worth, 13th Infantry, who
+was soon severely wounded, and next upon Lieut.-Col. Liscum, 24th
+Infantry, who, five minutes later, also fell under the terrible fire of
+the enemy, and the command of the brigade then devolved upon
+Lieut.-Col. Ewers, 9th Infantry.
+
+While the formation just described was taking place, Gen. Kent took
+measures to hurry forward his rear brigade. The 10th and 2d Infantry
+were ordered to follow. Wikoff’s Brigade, while the 21st was sent on
+the right-hand road to support the 1st Brigade, under Gen. Hawkins, who
+had crossed the stream and formed on the right of the division. The 2d
+and 10th Infantry, Col. E. P. Pearson commanding, moved forward in good
+order on the left of the division, passed over a green knoll, and drove
+the enemy back toward his trenches.
+
+After completing their formation under a destructive fire, and
+advancing a short distance, both divisions found in their front a wide
+bottom, in which had been placed a barbed-wire entanglement, and beyond
+which there was a high hill, along the crest of which the enemy was
+strongly posted. Nothing daunted, these gallant men pushed on to drive
+the enemy from his chosen position, both divisions losing heavily. In
+this assault Col. Hamilton, Lieuts. Smith and Shipp were killed, and
+Col. Carroll, Lieuts. Thayer and Myer, all in the cavalry, were
+wounded.
+
+Great credit is due to Brig.-Gen. H. S. Hawkins, who, placing himself
+between his regiments, urged them on by voice and bugle calls to the
+attack so brilliantly executed.
+
+In this fierce encounter words fail to do justice to the gallant
+regimental commanders and their heroic men, for, while the generals
+indicated the formations and the points of attack, it was, after all,
+the intrepid bravery of the subordinate officers and men that planted
+our colors on the crest of San Juan Hill and drove the enemy from his
+trenches and block-houses, thus gaining a position which sealed the
+fate of Santiago.
+
+_In this action on this part of the field most efficient service was
+rendered by Lieut. John H. Parker, 13th Infantry, and the Gatling Gun
+Detachment under his command. The fighting continued at intervals until
+nightfall, but our men held resolutely to the positions gained at the
+cost of so much blood and toil._
+
+I am greatly indebted to Gen. Wheeler, who, as previously stated,
+returned from the sick-list to duty during the afternoon. His
+cheerfulness and aggressiveness made itself felt on this part of the
+battle-field, and the information he furnished to me at various stages
+of the battle proved to be most useful.
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF SANTIAGO.
+
+My own health was impaired by overexertion in the sun and intense heat
+of the day before, which prevented me from participating as actively in
+the battle as I desired; but from a high hill near my headquarters I
+had a general view of the battle-field, extending from El Caney on the
+right to the left of our lines on San Juan Hill. His staff officers
+were stationed at various points on the field, rendering frequent
+reports, and through them, by the means of orderlies and the telephone,
+I was enabled to transmit my orders. During the afternoon I visited the
+position of Grimes’ Battery on the heights of El Pozo, and saw Sumner
+and Kent in firm possession of San Juan Hill, which I directed should
+be intrenched during the night. My engineer officer, Lieut.-Col. Derby,
+collected and sent forward the necessary tools, and during the night
+trenches of very considerable strength were constructed.
+
+During the afternoon, Maj. Dillenback, by my order, brought forward the
+two remaining batteries of his battalion and put them in position at El
+Pozo, to the left of Grimes. Later in the afternoon all three batteries
+were moved forward to positions near the firing-line, but the nature of
+the country and the intensity of the enemy’s small-arm fire was such
+that no substantial results were gained by our artillery in the new
+positions. The batteries were intrenched during the night. Gen.
+Duffield, with the 33d Michigan, attacked Aguadores, as ordered, but
+was unable to accomplish more than to detain the Spaniards in that
+vicinity.
+
+After the brilliant and important victory gained at El Caney, Lawton
+started his tried troops, who had been fighting all day and marching
+much of the night before, to connect with the right of the cavalry
+division. Night came on before this movement could be accomplished. In
+the darkness the enemy’s pickets were encountered, and the division
+commander, being uncertain of the ground and as to what might be in his
+front, halted his command and reported the situation to me. This
+information was received about 12:30 a. m., and I directed Gen. Lawton
+to return by my headquarters and the El Pozo house as the only certain
+way of gaining his new position.
+
+This was done, and the division took position on the right of the
+cavalry early next morning; Chaffee’s Brigade arriving first, about
+half-past seven, and the other brigades before noon.
+
+On the night of July 1st, I ordered Gen. Duffield, at Siboney, to send
+forward the 34th Michigan and the 9th Massachusetts. Both of which had
+just arrived from the United States. These regiments reached the front
+the next morning. The 34th was placed in rear of Kent, and the 9th was
+assigned to Bates, who placed it on his left.
+
+Soon after daylight on July 2d the enemy opened battle, but because of
+the intrenchments made during the night, the approach of Lawton’s
+Division, and the presence of Bates’ Brigade, which had taken position
+during the night on Kent’s left, little apprehension was felt as to our
+ability to repel the Spaniards.
+
+It is proper here to state that Gen. Bates and his brigade had
+performed most arduous and efficient service, having marched much of
+the night of June 30th-July 1st, and a good part of the latter day,
+during which he also participated in the battle of El Caney, after
+which he proceeded, by way of El Pozo, to the left of the line at San
+Juan, reaching his new position about midnight.
+
+All day on the 2d the battle raged with more or less fury, but such of
+our troops as were in position at daylight held their ground, and
+Lawton gained a strong and commanding position on the right.
+
+About 10 p. m. the enemy made a vigorous assault to break through my
+lines, but he was repulsed at all points.
+
+
+SUMMONING THE ENEMY TO SURRENDER.
+
+On the morning of the 3d the battle was renewed, but the enemy seemed
+to have expended his energy in the assault of the previous night, and
+the firing along the lines was desultory until stopped by my sending
+the following letter within the Spanish lines:
+
+“Headquarters U. S. Forces, near San Juan River, “July 3, 1898—8:30 a.
+m.
+
+“Sir,—I shall be obliged, unless you surrender, to shell Santiago de
+Cuba. Please inform the citizens of foreign countries, and all the
+women and children, that they should leave the city before 10 o’clock
+to-morrow morning.
+
+“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+
+“_William R. Shafter_, “Maj.-Gen. U. S. Vols. “The Commanding General
+of the Spanish Forces, Santiago de Cuba.”
+
+To this letter I received the following reply:
+
+“Santiago de Cuba, July 3, 1898.
+
+“His Excellency the General Commanding Forces of the United States,
+near San Juan River:
+
+“Sir,—I have the honor to reply to your communication of to-day,
+written at 8:30 a. m. and received at 1 p. m., demanding the surrender
+of this city, or, in the contrary case, announcing to me that you will
+bombard this city, and that I advise the foreigners, women and
+children, that they must leave the city before 10 o’clock to-morrow
+morning.
+
+“It is my duty to say to you that this city will not surrender, and
+that I will inform the foreign consuls and inhabitants of the contents
+of your message.
+
+“Very respectfully, _José Toral_, “Commander-in-Chief 4th Corps.”
+
+Several of the foreign consuls came into my lines and asked that the
+time given for them—the women and children—to depart from the city be
+extended until 10 o’clock on July 5th. This induced me to write a
+second letter, as follows:
+
+“Santiago de Cuba, July 3d, 1898.
+
+“Sir,—In consideration of a request of the consular officers in your
+city for further delay in carrying out my intentions to fire on the
+city, and in the interests of the poor women and children who will
+suffer very greatly by their hasty and enforced departure from the
+city, I have the honor to announce that I will delay such action,
+solely in their interests, until noon of the 5th, provided that during
+the interim your forces make no demonstration whatever upon those of my
+own.
+
+“I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,
+
+“_William R Shafter_, “Maj.-Gen. U. S. A. “The Commanding General,
+Spanish Forces.”
+
+My first message went under a flag of truce at 12:42 p.m. I was of the
+opinion that the Spaniards would surrender if given a little time, and
+I thought this result would be hastened if the men of their army could
+be made to understand they would be well treated as prisoners of war.
+Acting upon this presumption, I determined to offer to return all the
+wounded Spanish officers at El Caney who were able to bear
+transportation, and who were willing to give their paroles not to serve
+against the forces of the United States until regularly exchanged. This
+offer was made and accepted. These officers, as well as several of the
+wounded Spanish privates, twenty-seven in all, were sent to their lines
+under the escort of some of our mounted cavalry. Our troops were
+received with honors, and I have every reason to believe the return of
+the Spanish prisoners produced a good impression on their comrades.
+
+
+OPERATIONS AFTER SANTIAGO—OUR LOSSES.
+
+The cessation of firing about noon on the 3d practically terminated the
+battle of Santiago; all that occurred after this time may properly be
+treated under the head of the siege which followed. After deducting the
+detachments required at Siboney and Baiquiri to render those depots
+secure from attack, organizations held to protect our flanks, others
+acting as escorts and guards to light batteries, the members of the
+Hospital Corps, guards left in charge of blanket-rolls which the
+intense heat caused the men to cast aside before entering battle,
+orderlies, etc., it is doubtful if we had more than 12,000 men on the
+firing-line on July 1, when the battle was fiercest and when the
+important and strong positions of El Caney and San Juan were captured.
+
+A few Cubans assisted in the attack at El Caney, and fought valiantly,
+but their numbers were too small to materially change the strength, as
+indicated above. The enemy confronted us with numbers about equal to
+our own; they fought obstinately in strong and intrenched positions,
+and the results obtained clearly indicate the intrepid gallantry of the
+company officers and men, and the benefits derived from the careful
+training and instruction given in the company in the recent years in
+rifle practice and other battle exercises. Our losses in these battles
+were 22 officers and 208 men killed, and 81 officers and 1,203 men
+wounded; missing, 79. The missing, with few exceptions, reported later.
+
+The arrival of Gen. Escario on the night of July 2d, and his entrance
+into the city was not anticipated, for although it was known, as
+previously stated, that Gen. Pando had left Manzanillo with
+reinforcements for the garrison of Santiago, it was not believed his
+troops could arrive so soon. Gen. Garcia, with between 4,000 and 5,000
+Cubans, was intrusted with the duty of watching for and intercepting
+the reinforcement expected. This, however, he failed to do, and Escario
+passed into the city along on my extreme right and near the bay. Up to
+this time I had been unable to complete investment of the town with my
+own men; but to prevent any more reinforcements coming in or the enemy
+escaping. I extended my lines as rapidly as possible to the extreme
+right, and completed the investment of the place, leaving Gen. Garcia’s
+forces in the rear of my right flank to scout the country for any
+approaching Spanish reinforcements, a duty which his forces were very
+competent to perform.
+
+It had been reported that 8,000 Spanish troops had left Holquin for
+Santiago. It was also known that there was a considerable force at San
+Luis, twenty miles to the north.
+
+In the battle of Santiago the Spanish navy endeavored to shell our
+troops on the extreme right, but the latter were concealed by the
+inequalities of the ground, and the shells did little, if any, harm.
+Their naval forces also assisted in the trenches, having 1,000 on
+shore, and I am informed they sustained considerable loss; among
+others, Admiral Cervera’s chief-of-staff was killed. Being convinced
+that the city would fall, Admiral Cervera determined to put to sea,
+informing the French consul it was better to die fighting than to sink
+his ships. The news of the great naval victory which followed was
+enthusiastically received by the Army.
+
+The information of our naval victory was transmitted under flag of
+truce to the Spanish commander in Santiago on July 4th, and the
+suggestion again made that he surrender to save needless effusion of
+blood.
+
+On the same date I informed Admiral Sampson that if he would force his
+way into the harbor the city would surrender without any further
+sacrifice of life. Commodore Watson replied that Admiral Sampson was
+temporarily absent, but that in his (Watson’s) opinion the Navy should
+not enter the harbor.
+
+In the meanwhile letters passing between Gen. Toral and myself caused
+the cessation of hostilities to continue. Each army, however, continued
+to strengthen its intrenchments. I was still of the opinion the
+Spaniards would surrender without much more fighting, and on July 6th
+called Gen. Toral’s attention to the changed conditions, and at his
+request gave him time to consult his home government. This he did,
+asking that the British consul, with the employees of the cable
+company, be permitted to return from El Caney to the city. This I
+granted.
+
+The strength of the enemy’s position was such I did not wish to assault
+if it could be avoided.
+
+An examination of the enemy’s works, made after the surrender, fully
+justifies the wisdom of the course adopted. The intrenchments could
+only have been carried with very great loss of life, probably with not
+less than 6,000 killed and wounded.
+
+
+NEGOTIATIONS WITH GENERAL TORAL.
+
+On July 8th Gen. Toral offered to march out of the city with arms and
+baggage, provided he would not be molested before reaching Holquin, and
+to surrender to the American forces the territory then occupied by him.
+I replied that while I would submit his proposition to my home
+government. I did not think it would be accepted.
+
+In the meanwhile arrangements were made with Admiral Sampson that when
+the Army again engaged the enemy the Navy would assist by shelling the
+city from ships stationed off Aguadores, dropping a shell every few
+minutes.
+
+On July 10th the 1st Illinois and the 1st District of Columbia arrived
+and were placed on the line to the right of the Cavalry division. This
+enabled me to push Lawton farther to the right and to practically
+command the Cobre road.
+
+On the afternoon of the date last mentioned the truce was broken off at
+4 p.m., and I determined to open with four batteries of artillery and
+went forward in person to the trenches to give the necessary orders,
+but the enemy anticipated us by opening fire with his artillery a few
+minutes after the hour stated. His batteries were apparently silenced
+before night, while ours continued playing upon his trenches until
+dark. During this firing the Navy fired from Aguadores, most of the
+shells falling in the city. There was also some small arms firing. On
+this afternoon and the next morning, we lost Capt. Charles W. Rowell,
+2d Infantry, and one man killed, and Lieut. Lutz, 2d Infantry, and ten
+men wounded.
+
+On the morning of July 11th the bombardment by the Navy and my field
+guns was renewed, and continued until nearly noon, and on the same day
+I reported to the Adjutant General of the Army that the right of
+Ludlow’s brigade of Lawton’s division rested on the bay. Thus our hold
+upon the enemy was complete.
+
+At 2 p. m. on this date, the 11th, the surrender of the city was again
+demanded. The firing ceased, and was not again renewed. By this date
+the sickness in the Army was increasing very rapidly, as a result of
+exposure in the trenches to the intense heat of the sun and the heavy
+rains. Moreover, the dews in Cuba are almost equal to rains. The
+weakness of the troops was becoming so apparent I was anxious to bring
+the siege to an end, but in common with most of the officers of the
+Army, I did not think an assault would be justifiable, especially as
+the enemy seemed to be acting in good faith in their preliminary
+propositions to surrender.
+
+On July 11th I wrote to General Toral as follows:
+
+“With the largely increased forces which have come to me and the fact
+that I have your line of retreat securely in my hands, the time seems
+fitting that I should again demand of your excellency the surrender of
+Santiago and of your excellency’s army. I am authorized to state that
+should your excellency so desire, the Government of the United States
+will transport the entire command of your excellency to Spain.”
+
+General Toral replied that he had communicated my proposition to his
+General-in-Chief, General Blanco.
+
+July 12th I informed the Spanish commander that Major General Miles,
+Commander-in-Chief of the American Army, had just arrived in my camp,
+and requested him to grant us a personal interview on the following
+day. He replied he would be pleased to meet us. The interview took
+place on the 13th, and I informed him his surrender only could be
+considered, and that as he was without hope of escape he had no right
+to continue the fight.
+
+On the 14th another interview took place, during which General Toral
+agreed to surrender, upon the basis of his army, the 4th Army Corps,
+being returned to Spain, the capitulation embracing all of Eastern
+Cuba, east of a line passing from Aserraderos, on the south, to Sagua
+de Tanamo, on the north, via Palma, Soriano. It was agreed
+Commissioners should meet during the afternoon to definitely arrange
+the terms of surrender, and I appointed Major Generals Wheeler and
+Lawton and Lieutenant Miley to represent the United States.
+
+The Spanish Commissioners raised many points, and were especially
+desirous of retaining their arms. The discussion lasted until late at
+night and was renewed at 9:30 o’clock next morning. The terms of
+surrender finally agreed upon included about 12,000 Spanish troops in
+the city and as many more in the surrendered district.
+
+It was arranged that the formal surrender should take place between the
+lines on the morning of July 17th, each army being represented by 100
+armed men. At the time appointed, I appeared at the place agreed upon,
+with my general officers, staff, and 100 troopers of the 2d Cavalry,
+under Captain Brett. General Toral also arrived with a number of his
+officers and 100 infantry. We met midway between the representatives of
+our two Armies, and the Spanish commander formally consummated the
+surrender of the city and the 24,000 troops in Santiago and the
+surrendered district.
+
+After this ceremony I entered the city with my staff and escort, and at
+12 o’clock, noon, the American flag was raised over the Governor’s
+palace with appropriate ceremonies.
+
+The 9th Infantry immediately took possession of the city and perfect
+order was maintained. The surrender included a small gunboat and about
+200 seamen, together with five merchant ships in the harbor. One of
+these vessels, the Mexico, had been used as a war vessel, and had four
+guns mounted on it.
+
+In taking charge of the civil government, all officials who were
+willing to serve were retained in office, and the established order of
+government was preserved as far as consistent with the necessities of
+military rule.
+
+I soon found the number of officials was excessive, and I greatly
+reduced the list, and some departments were entirely abolished.
+
+A collector of customs, Mr. Donaldson, arrived soon after the
+surrender, and, due to his energy and efficiency, this department was
+soon working satisfactorily. The total receipts had, up to my
+departure, been $102,000.
+
+On August 4th I received orders to begin the embarkation of my command
+and ship them to Montauk Point Long Island, New York. The movement
+continued without interruption until August 25th, when I sailed for
+Montauk with the last troops in my command, turning over the command of
+the district to Major General Lawton.
+
+
+DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN THE CAMPAIGN.
+
+Before closing my report I wish to dwell upon the natural obstacles I
+had to encounter and which no foresight could have overcome or
+obviated. The rocky and precipitous coast afforded no sheltered landing
+places, the roads were mere bridle-paths, the effect of the tropical
+sun and rains upon the unacclimated troops was deadly, and a dread of
+strange and unknown diseases had its effect on the Army.
+
+At Baiquiri the landing of the troops and stores was made a small
+wooden wharf, which the Spaniards tried to burn, but unsuccessfully,
+and the animals were pushed into the water and guided to a sandy beach
+about 200 yards in extent. At Siboney the landing was made on the beach
+and at a small wharf erected by the engineers.
+
+I had neither the time nor the men to spare to construct permanent
+wharves.
+
+In spite of the fact that I had nearly 1,000 men continuously at work
+on the roads, they were at times impassable for wagons.
+
+The San Juan and Aguadores rivers would often suddenly rise so as to
+prevent the passage of wagons, and then the eight pack trains with the
+command had to be depended upon for the victualing of my Army, as well
+as the 20,000 refugees, who could not in the interests of humanity be
+left to starve while we had rations.
+
+Often for days nothing could be moved except on pack trains.
+
+After the great physical strain and exposure of July 1st and 2d, the
+malarial and other fevers began to rapidly advance throughout the
+command, and on July 4th the yellow fever appeared at Siboney. Though
+efforts were made to keep this fact from the Army, it soon became
+known.
+
+The supply of Quartermaster and Commissary stores during the campaign
+was abundant, and notwithstanding the difficulties in landing and
+transporting the ration, the troops on the firing line were at all
+times supplied with its coarser components, namely, of bread, meat,
+sugar, and coffee.
+
+There was no lack of transportation, for at no time up to the surrender
+could all the wagons I had be used.
+
+In reference to the sick and wounded, I have to say that they received
+every attention that was possible to give them. The medical officers,
+without exception, worked night and day to alleviate the suffering,
+which was no greater than invariably accompanies a campaign. It would
+have been better if we had had more ambulances, but as many were taken
+as was thought necessary, judging from previous campaigns.
+
+The discipline of the command was superb, and I wish to invite
+attention to the fact that not an officer was brought to trial by court
+martial, and, as far as I know, no enlisted men. This speaks volumes
+for an Army of this size and in a campaign of such duration.
+
+In conclusion, I desire to express to the members of my staff my thanks
+for their efficient performance of all the duties required of them, and
+the good judgment and bravery displayed on all occasions when demanded.
+
+I submit the following recommendations for promotion, which I earnestly
+desire to see made. It is a very little reward to give them for their
+devotion and fearless exposure of their lives in their country’s cause:
+
+E. J. McClernand, Lieutenant Colonel and Adjutant General, U. S. A., to
+be brevetted Colonel for gallantry in the face of the enemy on the 1st
+and 2d of July, and to be brevetted Brigadier General for faithful and
+meritorious service throughout the campaign.
+
+Geo. McC. Derby, Lieutenant Colonel of Engineers, U. S. V., to be
+brevetted Colonel for hazardous service on July 1st and 2d in
+reconnoitering the enemy’s lines, and to be brevetted Brigadier General
+for hazardous and meritorious service in ascending, under a hot fire,
+in a war balloon on July 1st, thus gaining valuable information.
+
+J. D. Miley, Lieutenant Colonel and Inspector General, U. S. A., to be
+brevetted Colonel for conspicuous gallantry in the battle of San Juan
+on July 1st, and to be brevetted Brigadier General for faithful and
+meritorious service throughout the campaign.
+
+R. H. Noble, Major and Adjutant General, U. S. V., to be brevetted
+Lieutenant Colonel for faithful and meritorious service throughout the
+campaign.
+
+J. J. Astor, Lieutenant Colonel and Inspector General, U. S. V., to be
+brevetted Colonel for faithful and meritorious service during the
+campaign.
+
+B. F. Pope, Lieutenant Colonel and Surgeon, U. S. V., to be brevetted
+Colonel for faithful and meritorious service during the campaign.
+
+Maj. S. W. Groesbeck, Judge Advocate, U. S. A., to be brevetted
+Lieutenant Colonel for faithful and meritorious service throughout the
+campaign.
+
+Charles F. Humphrey, Lieutenant Colonel, Quartermaster’s Department, to
+be brevetted Brigadier General for faithful and meritorious service
+throughout the campaign.
+
+John F. Weston, Colonel and Assistant Commissary General of
+Subsistence, Chief Commissary, to be brevetted Brigadier General for
+meritorious service throughout the campaign.
+
+C. G. Starr, Major and Inspector General, U. S. V., to be brevetted
+Lieutenant Colonel for faithful and meritorious service throughout the
+campaign.
+
+Leon Roudiez, Major and Quartermaster, U. S. V., to be brevetted
+Lieutenant Colonel for faithful and meritorious conduct throughout the
+campaign.
+
+H. J. Gallagher, Major and Commissary of Subsistence, U. S. V., to be
+brevetted Lieutenant Colonel for faithful and meritorious service
+throughout the campaign.
+
+Capt. Brice, Commissary of Subsistence, U. S. V., to be brevetted Major
+for faithful and meritorious service throughout the campaign.
+
+E. H. Plummer, Captain, U. S. A., A. D. C., to be brevetted Major for
+faithful and meritorious service throughout the campaign.
+
+J. C. Gilmore, Jr., Captain and Assistant Adjutant General, U. S. V.,
+to be brevetted Major for faithful and meritorious service during the
+campaign.
+
+W. H. McKittrick, Captain and Assistant Adjutant General, U. S. V., to
+be brevetted Major for faithful and meritorious service during the
+campaign.
+
+Capt. Johnson, Assistant Quartermaster, U. S. V., to be brevetted Major
+for faithful and meritorious service during the campaign.
+
+I wish to invite special attention to Dr. G. Goodfellow, of New York,
+who accompanied me throughout the campaign and performed much
+professional service as well as duties as Volunteer aid. I recommend
+him for favorable consideration of the War Department.
+
+Mr. G. F. Hawkins, of New York, also accompanied me as Volunteer aid,
+and I recommend him for favorable consideration of the War Department
+for faithful and important services rendered.
+
+My thanks are due to Admiral Sampson and Captain Goodrich, U. S. N.,
+for their efficient aid in disembarking my Army. Without their
+assistance it would have been impossible to have landed in the time I
+did.
+
+I also express my warmest thanks to division, brigade, and regimental
+commanders, without exception, for their earnest efforts in carrying
+out my wishes and for the good judgment they invariably displayed in
+handling their troops.
+
+The reports of the division commanders are attached hereto, and those
+of the brigade and regimental commanders forwarded herewith, and
+attention respectfully invited to them. Very respectfully,
+
+_Wm. R. Shafter_, Major-General, United States Volunteers, Commanding
+United States Forces in Cuba.
+
+Adjutant General of the Army, Washington, D. C.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX III.
+
+
+Bivouac, near Santiago, Cuba, July 23, 1898.
+
+_The Adjutant-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C._
+
+Sir,—In compliance with orders I have the honor to submit the following
+report of my command, the Gatling Gun Detachment, 5th Army Corps,
+covering its operations down to the present date:
+
+1. Organization.—Pursuant to instructions from Gen. Shafter I was given
+a detail of two sergeants and ten men on the 26th of May, 1898, from
+the 13th Infantry, then in camp near Tampa, Fla., and directed to
+report to 1st Lieut. John T. Thompson, O. D., ordinance officer, Tampa,
+“for duty with Gatling guns.” I was placed in charge of four guns,
+model 1895, cal. 30, and at once began the instruction of the
+detachment. On June 1st I received verbal instruction to assist Lieut.
+Thompson in his work at the ordinance depot, and performed this duty in
+addition to my duties with the guns until June 6, 1898, superintending
+issues to the expedition (5th Corps) then fitting out for Cuba.
+
+On June 6th I took my men and guns aboard the transport Cherokee, and
+on June 11th, per special orders No. 16 of that date, my detail was
+increased to thirty-seven men, all told, of whom one was left sick in
+hospital at Tampa. About twelve of these did not join me, however,
+until after debarkation at Baiquiri, Cuba. On June 25th I received
+verbal instructions from Gen. Shafter to disembark at once, select the
+necessary number of mules (two per gun), and get to the front as soon
+as possible, reporting on my arrival there to Gen. Wheeler, then in
+command of all the troops at the front. I was unable to obtain any
+tentage for myself, and had only shelter-tents for my men.
+
+I was joined on June 25th by Capt. Henry Marcotte, 17th Infantry,
+retired, regularly authorized correspondent of the Army and Navy
+Journal, who has been with me ever since, enduring all the vicissitudes
+of the season with Spartan fortitude, although equally destitute of
+cover as myself and 60 years of age. I desire to express here
+officially and fully, my sincere gratitude for the kindness which
+permitted him to accompany my command, and the great appreciation of
+the valuable advice and assistance which he has given continually. His
+large experience of war, his clear head and good judgment have always
+been at hand to aid, and his cool example to myself and my men under
+fire did much to steady us and keep us up to our work when we were
+first called on to face that ordeal.
+
+All of the detachments, who had not previously joined me, did so on
+June 26th, on which day I reached the extreme front and reported to
+Gen. Wheeler. The guns were posted in a position to sweep the
+neighboring hills toward the enemy, and I went into camp, remaining
+there until the morning of July 1st.
+
+Summing up the organization, it should be stated here that the
+detachment was organized at the first, and has ever since remained an
+independent command, receiving its orders directly from the corps
+commander. It has had its own records, returns, rolls, etc., and has
+been rationed separately all the time, and is composed of men selected
+by myself from various regiments.
+
+2. The Battery in Action.—On the morning of July 1st, I broke camp at
+4:30 a.m., and pursuant to instructions from Gen. Shafter, proceeded to
+El Poso, placing my battery, as I shall henceforth call it, in support
+behind the position taken by a battery of artillery. I took this
+position about 6 a.m., and soon after the artillery arrived, went on to
+battery and opened fire at Santiago, the range being 2,600 yards. After
+some time the enemy replied with a well-directed fire, the second shell
+bursting directly over my battery in rear of artillery. Neither my men
+nor mules showed any signs of disturbance, and we remained in our
+perilous position nearly twenty minutes, the enemy’s shells bursting
+all around us, until ordered to the rear by the chief-of-staff. The
+battery went to the rear under fire quietly until out of range, and
+remained there until the artillery fire ceased, at about 9 a.m. Private
+Hoft, Company D, 13th Infantry, a member of the detachment who had been
+detailed to guard the camp equipage at El Poso, remained at his post
+during the whole of the artillery fight, and deserves great credit
+therefor, his battery having been ordered to the rear. At 9 a.m. I
+returned to El Poso, and there received the following instructions from
+Col. McClernand, A. A. G., 5th Corps: “Find the 71st N. Y. V. and go on
+with them, if you can. If this is not practical, find the best position
+you can, and use your guns to the best advantage.” Pursuant to these
+instructions, I went forward about a half-mile and found the 71st N. Y.
+V. halting to learn what their instructions were. I could get no clear
+idea of what they were going to do, but waited about fifteen minutes in
+their rear to find out. Meantime troops continually passed us toward
+the front. Then, about 10:15, firing began in front. I rode forward
+alone along the rode, which was a narrow defile through the jungle, and
+found that about a half-mile in front was a creek, upon the crossing of
+which the enemy’s fire seemed concentrated. In front of this crossing
+seemed to be a level plain of about 400 to 800 yards, beyond which was
+a semi-circular ridge crowned with Spanish trenches from which the
+Spanish fire seemed to come. Men were being hit continually at this
+place (the ford), but it seemed to me to be a good place to work my
+battery effectively.
+
+I rode back, finding the Seventy-first still lying beside the road
+without any apparent intention of moving. I determined to leave them
+and go into action. Taking a gallop I moved the battery forward nearly
+to the ford (about 150 yards), where I met Col. Derby of Gen. Shafter’s
+staff, who informed me that the troops were not yet sufficiently
+deployed to take advantage of my fire, and advised me to wait. The
+bullets were cutting through all around, and, as we learned afterward,
+the enemy’s sharpshooters were actually in the woods near us, up in
+tall trees, picking off officers and men. It should be stated here that
+the sudden increase of the enemy’s fire at this time was caused by a
+wild cheering set up by the 71st N. Y. V., as the battery passed them
+on its way to the front. The cheering located our position for the
+enemy and drew his fire. Many a brave soldier who had gone to the front
+was put forever beyond the possibility of cheering by this outburst of
+ignorant enthusiasm.
+
+I acted on Col. Derby’s advice, and he promised to send me word when
+the moment for proper action came. This was necessary, as I knew only
+part of the plan of battle and might have jeopardized other parts of
+prematurely exposing our strength at this point. The gun crews lay down
+under their guns and steadily remained at this posts. The fire finally
+grew so hot that I moved about 100 yards back. This was about 12, noon.
+At 1 p. m., or about that time, I received a message sent by Col.
+Derby, I think, as follows: “Gen. Shafter directs that you give one of
+your guns to Lieut. Miley, take the others forward beyond the ford
+where the dynamite gun is, and go into action at the best point you can
+find.” I obeyed the order, giving Lieut. Miley Sergeant Weigle’s gun
+and crew and moving the rest forward at a gallop to the point beyond
+the ford, which I had already selected as a good place. The battery
+opened with three guns simultaneously at ranges of 600 to 800 yards at
+1:15 p. m. The enemy at first concentrated his fire upon us, but soon
+weakened and in five minutes was clambering from his trenches and
+running to the rear. We fired as rapidly as possible upon the groups
+thus presented until I saw a white handkerchief waved by some one of my
+own regiment, the 13th Infantry, and at the same moment Capt. Landis,
+1st Cavalry, who had voluntarily assisted me throughout, said: “Better
+stop; our own men are climbing up the ridge.” I ordered the fire to
+cease at 1:23 1/2 p.m., and a moment later saw our own troops occupy
+the crest of the hill. The firing had been, continued by the battery
+until our own troops were within 150 yards of the enemy’s trench, a
+fact made possible by the steep slope of the hill upon which the enemy
+had been.
+
+At the time when my battery went into action I had no support, and the
+position I took was at least 100 yards in front of any of our troops
+along this part of the line. About the time I ceased firing Lieut.-Col.
+Baldwin, 10th Cavalry, put two troops in support of my battery.
+
+I have advanced in a letter to the Adjutant General from Fort
+Leavenworth, dated January 1st, 1898, the theory that such guns as
+these can be used offensively. The conditions of this assault were
+favorable, the morale of my men superb, and the use made of the guns
+followed the theory therein set forth with the exactness of a
+mathematical demonstration. The infantry and cavalry had been pounding
+away for two hours on these positions; in eight and one-half minutes
+after the Gatlings opened the works were ours. Inspired by the friendly
+rattle of the machine guns, our own troops rose to the charge; while
+the enemy amazed by our sudden and tremendous increase of fire, first
+diverted his fire to my battery, and then, unable to withstand the hail
+of bullets, augmented by the moral effect of our battery fire and the
+charging line, broke madly from his safe trenches and was mercilessly
+cut by fire from these guns during his flight.
+
+I at once limbered up and took stock of my losses. One man was killed,
+one badly wounded, one mule hit twice, but not much injured, and
+several men were missing.
+
+Suddenly the fire was resumed at the front. I moved my three pieces
+forward again at a gallop, and went into action on the skirmish line on
+top of the captured position, with two pieces to the right and one to
+the left of the main road from El Poso to Santiago. I was compelled to
+make the skirmishers give way to the right and left in order to get
+room for my guns on the firing-line, and to impress stragglers to carry
+ammunition. Capt. Ayres, 10th Cavalry, gave me a detail of one sergeant
+and two privates, all of whom did fine service. It seemed to me that
+the enemy was trying to retake the position. About 4 to 4:14 p. m. I
+saw a body, apparently about 400, of the enemy to the right front of my
+position, apparently in front of the position occupied by Lieut.-Col.
+Roosevelt with the 1st Volunteer Cavalry. I turned a Gatling gun on
+them, using 600-yard range, and they disappeared. Soon after the firing
+sensibly slackened.
+
+In the rapid fire on this last body of the enemy I had overheated one
+piece, and it went temporarily out of action. I went over to Col.
+Roosevelt’s position, about a quarter of a mile to the right of a
+salient, and reconnoitered. While there Sergeant Weigle reported to me
+with his piece, informing me that Lieut. Miley had not put it into
+action, and asked for instructions. This was about the hour of 5 p. m.,
+and the fire became warmer at that moment. I directed Sergeant Weigle
+to run his piece up on the firing-line and to report to the officer in
+charge thereof. He did so and went into action at once. Col. Roosevelt,
+who was and remained present, informs me that the gun was very
+effectively used. I rejoined my other two guns and put both of them on
+the line at the left of the El Poso road. At sundown the enemy made a
+sharp attack, and all three of my guns were effectively used. During
+the fight a battery in the city opened on my two guns, firing 16 cm.
+shells. I at once turned my guns on it and kept up so warm a fire that
+the cannoneers left their battery and did not return. In all they had
+fired three shells at us, all of which broke just over or beyond the
+battery. I secured the fuse of one, still warm, and after the surrender
+visited the battery which had fired at us and examined the gun. It is a
+16 cm. (6.2992 inches) bronze rifle gun in barbette on a pintle. This
+is probably the first time in land fighting that such a piece was ever
+silenced by machine-gun fire. The range I used was 2,000 yards
+(estimated).
+
+The guns were used during the remainder of the fighting in the
+trenches. I took off the wheels and put the guns on the carriages in
+emplacements, erecting a sandbag parapet in front as cover during the
+night of July 4th. The disabled gun was brought up and repaired,
+subsequently participating in the fighting. The dynamite gun, under
+Sergeant Borrowe, 1st Volunteer Cavalry, cooperated with the battery
+thus formed, and the whole battery, including the two Colt automatic
+rapid-fire guns under Lieut. Tiffany, 1st United States Volunteer
+Cavalry, did good work in all the subsequent fighting. I supplied about
+eight thousand rounds of captured Mauser cartridges to Tiffany, which
+had been captured by my battery, and which he used effectively in his
+Colt’s guns. I had a strong fire directed upon a battery of seven
+pieces of the enemy’s artillery at a distance of 1,500 yards in front
+every time any attempt was made to use this battery. The result was
+that only three shots were fired from these guns after July 4th. I
+visited this battery after the surrender and found every gun in working
+order, the 16 cm. gun being actually loaded. As no organization, except
+my battery, of which I had general direction, had such orders, so far
+as I can learn, the conclusion is that this battery of machine guns
+kept out of action seven pieces of the enemy’s artillery by making it
+too warm for his gunners to stay in their batteries.
+
+I have made certain recommendations in hasty reports for gallantry,
+which I personally witnessed. They were as follows:
+
+Capt. J. R. F. Landis, 1st Cavalry, medal of honor. Volunteered to
+assist observation of fire July 1st, and rendered great service at
+imminent peril of his life made necessary in order to render such
+service.
+
+Sergeant John N. Weigle, 9th Infantry, 2d Lieutenant U. S. Army
+(regulars). For conspicuous daring, intelligence, and coolness in
+action, July 1st.
+
+Corporal Charles C. Steigenwald, 13th Infantry, 2d Lieutenant U. S.
+Army (regulars). For coolness and judgment in keeping his gun in action
+with only one man to help on July 1st.
+
+Private Fred C. Elkins, 17th Infantry, 2d Lieutenant United States
+Volunteers. For conspicuous daring and courage in action. Although
+wounded, he remained at his post until he fell from exhaustion, July
+1st.
+
+Corporal Matthew Doyle, 13th Infantry, medal of honor. Conspicuous
+gallantry and coolness in action. When, two men had been shot down by
+his side he continued to work his gun effectively alone until
+assistance arrived, July 1st.
+
+Sergt. Green, Company H, 13th Infantry, medal of honor. Conspicuous
+coolness and steadiness in handling his piece under hot fire, July 1st.
+
+Sergt. John Graham, 10th Cavalry, medal of honor. Conspicuous coolness
+and steadiness under fire, July 1st.
+
+Sergt. Weischaar, Company A, 13th Infantry, certificate of merit.
+Particularly meritorious steadiness, night of July 6th. Being put on
+outpost duty with a Gatling gun in time of truce, and having been
+alarmed by a sentinel, whose duty it was to warn him of the enemy’s
+approach, he coolly reserved his fire for personal investigation and
+prevented a violation of the truce.
+
+Sergt. Ryder, Company G, 13th Infantry, certificate of merit.
+Particularly meritorious steadiness, night of July 6th. Being on
+outpost duty with a Gatling gun in time of truce, and having been
+alarmed by a sentinel, whose duty it was to warn him of the enemy’s
+approach, he coolly held his fire for personal investigation and
+prevented a violation of the truce.
+
+In making these recommendations, I have limited myself to those which I
+personally observed. If I recommended for every deserving act, there is
+not a man in my whole detachment who has not deserved a certificate of
+merit. They were selected in the beginning from an army corps for what
+I knew of them, and they have abundantly justified my confidence in
+them. With a less efficient personnel it would have been absolutely
+impossible to organize, equip and instruct the first battery of Gatling
+guns ever used in the history of war, in the short space of time
+allotted me, and put it in efficient fighting shape. They fought their
+guns on the skirmish line and in advance of it, standing boldly up to
+do it when the skirmishers themselves lay down close for cover. My
+loss, as footed up on the night of July 1st, was 33 1-3 per cent,
+killed, wounded, and missing. The efficiency of the work of my guns was
+attested to me by numerous Spanish officers and prisoners. Their
+favorite expression was: “It was terrible when your guns opened,
+always. They went b-r-r-r-r, like a lawn mower cutting the grass over
+our trenches. We could not stick a finger up when you fired without
+getting it cut off—so!”
+
+The work of this experimental battery proves that in this weapon we
+have a new arm supplementary to infantry and cavalry, independent of
+both as one arm is of another, and more nearly capable of independent
+action than any other arm of the service. It is equally demonstrated
+that this new arm is entirely different from artillery in its
+functions, and can live where the latter is compelled to retire.
+
+It should, therefore, be organized as a separate arm. I have, at the
+request of General Wheeler, drawn up a scheme of such an organization
+and submitted it to him.
+
+Experience shows me that the carriage is too heavy. I can only renew
+the representations contained in my letter of January 1, 1898, to the
+Adjutant General, accompanying drawing, etc., of my proposed carriage
+for machine guns. I would now, based on experience, modify my theory of
+organization as then proposed, and would make several changes in the
+model of carriage then proposed without departing from the general
+principles.
+
+If any expression of such views is desired, I shall be very glad to
+submit them when called upon by the War Department to do so.
+
+Very respectfully,
+
+_John H. Parker_, 2d Lieut., 13th Infantry, Commanding Gatling Gun
+Detachment, 5th Corps.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+L’ENVOI.
+
+Record of the Detachment The New Arm of the Service
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+INCEPTION OF THE SCHEME.
+
+Conditions at Tampa Florida Climate and its Effects Description of the
+Gatling Gun Difficulties Encountered Politics at Tampa First Efforts to
+obtain Authority Original Plan of Organization Tactical Employment of
+Machine Guns A Lucky Accident The First Detail
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE ORDNANCE DEPOT.
+
+Defects in the Guns Instruction of the Detachment Status of the
+Detachment Interview with General Wheeler General Wheeler’s Views
+Interview with General Lee Issues of Ordnance Fire in the Magazine
+Embarkation
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE VOYAGE AND DISEMBARKATION.
+
+A Night Alarm on Transport Decisive Interview with General Shafter The
+Official Authority at Last Condition of Transports Disembarkation
+Private J. Shiffer—Corral Boss The Missouri Mule The First March
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE MARCH.
+
+The 13th Infantry Detail The Cuban Guide The Cuban as He Is Roads in
+Cuba Private Jones and the Scorpion The Medical Department The
+Newspaper Fraternity Chaplain Springer Arrival at the Front
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BATTERY IN CAMP WHEELER.
+
+Theory and Practice of Artillery and Machine Gun The Problem Presented
+to this Detachment Personnel of the Detachment Roster on July 1st
+Captain Marcotte Oil for an Army Futile Plans
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE BATTLE.
+
+The Plan of Battle by General Shafter Did General Shafter Capture
+Santiago? HE DID The Night Before the Battle El Poso The Final
+Instructions The 71st New York Waiting for the Decisive Moment In
+Action at Last The Killed and Wounded On the Skirmish Line
+Reconnaissance Weigle Gets His Opportunity The Gatlings Knock out a
+Heavy Battery The Brunettes The Artillery
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+TACTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE BATTLES AT SANTIAGO.
+
+El Caney San Juan Movements of Lawton’s Division The Gatlings as a
+Tactical Reserve Sergeant William Tiffany The Night Alarm The Dynamite
+Gun The Mortar Battery Summary of Tactical Deductions on use of Machine
+Guns as Demonstrated in Battle
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE VOLUNTEERS.
+
+The Surrender General Observations upon the Volunteers The 34th
+Michigan The Rough Riders The 1st Illinois
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE SUFFERINGS OF THE FIFTH ARMY CORPS.
+
+The Difficulties of the Campaign Unnecessary Sufferings; the Causes The
+Case of Private Elkins The Sick Left by Kent’s Division Some Staff—and
+Some Others The Lesson to be Derived The General Staff—Proper
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+HOME AGAIN.
+
+The Home Voyage The End of the Detachment
+
+APPENDIX I
+
+APPENDIX II
+
+APPENDIX III
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GATLINGS AT SANTIAGO ***
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