r their arms had been issued
to them so soon before sailing that they had only drilled with them
without using cartridges. To this handicap was also added the nature of
the ground and the fact that our men could not see their opponents.
Their own men fell or rolled over on every side, shot down by an
invisible enemy, with no one upon whom they could retaliate, with no sign
that the attack might not go on indefinitely. Yet they never once took a
step backward, but advanced grimly, cleaning a bush or thicket of its
occupants before charging it, and securing its cover for themselves, and
answering each volley with one that sounded like an echo of the first.
The men were panting for breath; the sweat ran so readily into their eyes
that they could not see the sights of their guns; their limbs unused to
such exertion after seven days of cramped idleness on the troop-ship,
trembled with weakness and the sun blinded and dazzled them; but time
after time they rose and staggered forward through the high grass, or
beat their way with their carbines against the tangle of vines and
creepers. A mile and a half of territory was gained foot by foot in this
fashion, the three Spanish positions carried in that distance being
marked by the thousands of Mauser cartridges that lay shining and
glittering in the grass and behind the barricades of bushes. But this
distance had not been gained without many losses, for every one in the
regiment was engaged. Even those who, on account of the heat, had
dropped out along the trail, as soon as the sound of the fight reached
them, came limping to the front--and plunged into the firing-line. It
was the only place they could go--there was no other line. With the
exception of Church's dressing station and its wounded there were no
reserves.

Among the first to be wounded was the correspondent, Edward Marshall, of
the New York _Journal_, who was on the firing-line to the left. He was
shot through the body near the spine, and when I saw him he was suffering
the most terrible agonies, and passing through a succession of
convulsions. He nevertheless, in his brief moments of comparative peace,
bore himself with the utmost calm, and was so much a soldier to duty that
he continued writing his account of the fight until the fight itself was
ended. His courage was the admiration of all the troopers, and he was
highly commended by Colonel Wood in the official account of the
engagement.

[Picture: Wou