Lieutenant Moss, who commanded Company H on the firing line on that
day, has published an account in which he says: "The town was
protected on the north by three blockhouses and the church; on the
west by three blockhouses (and partially by the church); on the east
by the stone fort, one blockhouse, the church, and three rifle pits;
on the south and southeast by the stone fort, three blockhouses, one
loop-holed house, the church and eight rifle pits. However, the Second
Brigade was sent forward against the southeast of the town, thus being
exposed to fire from fourteen sources, nearly all of which were in
different planes, forming so many tiers of fire. The cover on the
south and southeast of the town was no better than, if as good, as
that on the other sides."
The cavalry regiments were no less conspicuous in their gallantry at
San Juan than was the Twenty-fifth Infantry at El Caney. The
brilliancy of that remarkable regiment, the Rough Riders, commanded on
July 1st by Colonel Roosevelt, was so dazzling that it drew attention
away from the ordinary regulars, yet the five regiments of regular
cavalry did their duty as thoroughly on that day as did the regiment
of volunteers.[22] In this body of cavalry troops, where courage was
elevated to a degree infringing upon the romantic, the two black
regiments took their places, and were fit to be associated in valor
with that highly representative regiment.
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