To do so would be to reflect, however slightly,
upon the professional skill of the commander of the left column.
General Shafter thus says officially in a manly way: "There was no
ambush." Beyond this his duty does not call him to go, and he halts
his expressions exactly at this line, maintaining in his attitude all
the attributes of the true soldier, placing himself beyond criticism
by thus securing from attack the character of his subordinate.
Mr. Bonsal is a writer and author, accustomed to view actions in the
broader light of popular judgment, entirely free from professional
bias, and having no class-feeling or obligations to serve. His pen is
not official; his statements are not from the military standpoint; not
influenced in any way by considerations of personal weal or woe with
respect to others or himself. He says that one troop of the Rough
Riders, Troop L, commanded by Captain Capron, was leading the advance
of the regiment, and was in solid formation and within twenty-five
yards of its scouting line when it received the enemy's fire. This
troop was so far in the advance that it took the other troops of the
regiment more than a half hour to get up to it. The writer speaks of
the advance of that troop as having been made "in the fool-hardy
formation of a solid column along a narrow trail, which brought them,
in the way I have described, within point-blank range of the Spanish
rifles, and within the unobstructed sweep of their machine guns.
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