The garrison had made no
attempt to escape. We must now go around to the east and north of
Caney. Here the Third Brigade, consisting of the Seventh, Twelfth and
Seventeenth Infantry, was posted, and early in the morning joined in
the attack, the brigade getting under fire before eight o'clock.
Colonel Carpenter, of the Seventh Regiment, says that one company of
his regiment, by General Chaffee's direction, was detached and sent
forward to reduce a blockhouse, well up on the hill, which commanded
the approach of his regiment to the field of action. After several
ineffectual attempts by the company, the Captain (Van Orsdale) was
directed to abandon the undertaking and rejoin the regiment, which
then took up a position on the crest of a hill running nearly parallel
with the Spanish lines. From this position the men crawled forward
about fifty yards and opened a deliberate fire upon the enemy, keeping
it up for about an hour, but as the losses of the regiment at this
time were considerable and the fire seemed to be without material
effect, the command was withdrawn to its position on the hill where
it found protection in a sunken road. In this condition this regiment
lay when Capron's battery made its lull at 11.30. The fearful fire
this regiment met can be estimated by the losses it sustained, which
during the day were as follows: Killed, 1 officer and 33 enlisted men;
wounded, 4 officers and 95 enlisted men; missing, 3 enlisted men.
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