t direction.

"After the battle at El Caney was well opened, and the sound of the
small-arms fire caused us to believe that Lawton was driving the enemy
before him, I directed Grimes's battery to open fire from the heights of
El Pozo on the San Juan blockhouse, situated in the enemy's entrenchments,
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 blockhouse.
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 General 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 on 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 both sides 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. General Kent, with this end in
view, forced the head of his column alongside 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
Lieutenant-Colonel 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 utilise
the road to the left. General Wheeler, the permanent commander of the
cavalry division, who had been ill, came forward d