m. until about 4.30
p.m." The Seventeenth did not move, for Captain O'Brien, commanding,
says the regiment took a position joining "its left with the right of
the Seventh Infantry" and that the regiment "remained in this position
until the battle was over." The Twelfth Infantry remained in its
shelter within 350 yards of the stone fort until about 4 p.m. Then we
have Chaffee's brigade on the north of the fort remaining stationary
and by their own reports doing but little firing. The Seventeenth
fired "for about fifty minutes" about noon, with remarkable precision,
but "it seemingly had no effect upon reducing the Spanish fire
delivered in our (their) front." The Seventh did not fire to any
extent. The Twelfth Infantry lay in its refuge "free from the enemy's
fire" and may have kept up an irregular fire.
About this time Bates' brigade entered the field and one battalion of
the Twentieth Infantry is reported to have joined the left of the
firing line of the Twenty-fifth. General Ludlow says there was a lull
from 12 to 1 p.m., "when the action again became violent, and at 3
p.m. the Third Brigade captured the stone fort with a rush and hoisted
the American flag." From Ludlow's brigade, Captain Van Horne,
commanding the Twenty-second Infantry, after the wounding of
Lieutenant-Colonel Patterson, says that the First Battalion of his
regiment took a position about 800 yards from the town and kept up
firing until the place surrendered.
Pages:
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228