Bonsal's
description of the state of the battle at that time is pathetic.
Speaking of the artillery at El Caney--Capron's battery--he says it
was now apparent that this artillery, firing from its position of
twenty-four hundred yards, could do very little damage to the great
stone fort and earthworks north of the village. The shots were too few
and the metal used too light to be effectual. Three hours of the
morning had worn away and the advance of our men had been slowly made
and at great cost; all the approaches were commanded by Spanish
entrenchments and the fighting was very unequal. A soldier of the
Twenty-fifth says that when he came in sight of the battle at El
Caney, "the Americans were gaining no ground, and the flashes of the
Spanish mausers told us that the forces engaged were unequally
matched, the difference of position favoring the Spaniards." This view
was had about noon, or soon after. At that time "a succession of aides
and staff officers came galloping from headquarters with messages
which plainly showed that confusion, if not disaster, had befallen the
two divisions which, by the heavy firing, we had learned to our great
surprise, had become warmly engaged in the centre. The orders to
General Lawton from headquarters were at first peremptory in
character--he was to pull out of his fight and to move his division to
the support of the centre" (Bonsal).
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