ad taken position on a hill near the Pozo farm-house, opened fire
on the heights of San Juan about eight o'clock. A few moments later the
Spaniards, who evidently had the range of the Pozo hill perfectly from
the beginning, returned the fire with shrapnel, killing two men and
wounding a number of others at the first shot, striking the house at the
third, and driving from the hill in disorder some of the soldiers of the
cavalry division who had been stationed there, as well as a few war
correspondents and non-combatants who had gathered to witness the
bombardment. For three quarters of an hour, or an hour, there was an
artillery duel between Grimes's battery on the Pozo hill and a Spanish
battery situated somewhere on the heights to the westward. In this
interchange of shots the enemy had all the advantage, for the reason
that the smoke from Grimes's black powder revealed the position of his
guns, while the smokeless powder of the Spaniards gave no clue to the
location of theirs.

About nine o'clock the order was given to advance; and the divisions of
Generals Kent and Wheeler began to move down the narrow, jungle-skirted
trail, toward the open country which was supposed to lie beyond the
crossing of the second stream, under the heights of San Juan. General
Kent's orders were to move ahead to a green knoll on the western side of
the San Juan River (the second stream), and there deploy to the left in
what was believed to be the margin of the dense forest which covered the
bottom of the valley. At the same time the cavalry division, which,
owing to the illness of General Wheeler, was temporarily under command
of General Sumner, was directed to advance along the same trail, cross
the San Juan River, deploy to the right in the margin of the woods, and
there await further orders. The attempt of two divisions to march
simultaneously down a forest trail which in places was not more than
twelve feet wide resulted, naturally, in crowding, disorder, and delay;
and when the head of the column, after crossing the first stream, came
within the zone of the enemy's fire, the confusion was greatly
increased. The Spaniards, as General Chaffee predicted, had taken the
bearing and range of the road, between the first stream and the western
edge of the forest, and before the cavalry division reached the ford of
the San Juan, on the other side of which it was to deploy and await
orders, it was receiving a heavy fire, not only from the batteri