USA > Ohio > The Fourteenth Ohio national guard- the Fourth Ohio volunteer infantry > Part 9
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THE FOURTH O. V. I.
CHAPTER X.
THE FOURTH UNDER FIRE.
Arroyo-The People and Climate-First Day in Camp- Native Cigarettes-A Practice March-Orders from General Haines-Fresh Beef Issue-Accident to Colonel Coit-Major Speaks Takes Advance-Military Terms Explained-A Frenchman's Information-A Funeral "Procession"-The House "To the left"-Sergeant Rad- cliffe's Ride-Under Fire-Spanish Bullets and Spanish Marksmanship-Effect of Spanish Fire-Effect of American Fire-Line of Battle Formed-Unjust Re- ports-Spaniards Retreat-Capture of Guayama-The Flag Raising-The Spaniards Rally-Dynamite Guns in Action-First Night in Guayama.
Arroyo was found to be a village of about three hundred people who depended for their living, such as it was, upon the work afforded by the near-by plantations and by loading freighting vessels by means of the lighters which were used in transporting the regiment from the St. Paul to the shore. The village and the natives made a combination that only one man in the regiment had ever seen before. He was corporal Ed. O. Thompson, whose home was in South America, but who had graduated from Ohio Wesleyan university at Delaware just before the war. He could read, write and speak the Spanish language very fluently and he was at once made regimental in- terpreter. Another member of the regiment whose lingual accomplishments stood him and the whole regiment in good stead was Private, afterwards "Corporal" Will Markeson. The service rendered
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by these two men were especially valuable, not only to themselves and the regiment, but to the cause of the United States in Porto Rico as well.
The houses at Arroyo, and in fact all over the island, are the typical low, flat-roofed cottages of Spanish countries. Houses were occasionally built high, but in most cases of this kind there were but two stories, the lower floor being a sort of surface base- ment. This part of the family residence was de- voted to the use of the goats, chickens, ponies and other family animals. The people were of all imag- inable shades of complexion, from the mythical black to the fairest. All spoke Spanish or French, with the exception of a few natives of the island of St. Thomas, formerly an English possession. These were all negroes, but they served with some degree of satisfac- tion as interpreters.
Although the latitude is considerably nearer the equator than any point at which most of the men had ever reached, the climate was not nearly so hot as had often been experienced within the borders of the United States, and with a constant sea breeze stirring, the weather was fairly comfortable, provided one re- mained in the shade. Surrounding many of the houses were beautiful flower gardens, and the frag- rance from the plants gave the air a pleasant odor which added much to the pleasure of the day in camp.
The first day in camp was passed for the most part in sight seeing. Notwithstanding the fact that the enemy was known to be in almost firing distance, the brigade officers were very lenient as to restrictions,
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and with the exception of strong picket lines and out- posts, there were few strict camp orders given. It was the wish of the officers that the men be given an opportunity to completely rest up from their long ocean voyage and to prepare for the hazardous work before them.
The camp on Thursday night was more com- fortable than it had been the previous night, the sol- diers having had a better opportunity to arrange mat- ters. With fires and the additional rations that could be purchased from the native market, existence was much sweeter than it had been aboard the St. Paul.
One of the most popular novelties of the new surroundings was the native cigarette. They were found to be stronger and of an entirely different flavor than the American article, but strange to say, many of the users of this form of narcotic learned to prefer them to the "coffin nails" of their native land.
Early the next morning the boys were told to pack up all their personal baggage and each one was given two days' travel rations. All that was said in explanation to this was that there was to be a practice march much the same as those at Camp Thomas, but embracing more time and territory.
At regimental headquarters, however, the fol- lowing communication had been received:
Arroyo, Porto Rico, Aug. 5, 1898.
Colonel Coit, Fourth Ohio:
You will move out your command toward Guayama as soon as you are ready. Have your ad-
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vance guard well ahead and keep point well in ad- vance of support. Two of the Sims-Dudley guns will follow your regiment well closed up. They should not take more than sixty rounds to the gun. Be careful to keep a good lookout on each flank. Your flank should be double the ordinary number. Keep me posted as to progress. I will be on the road. The Third Illinois will support your movement.
P. C. HAINES, Brigadier General.
About the time the regiment left camp, a load of fresh beef arrived from one of the supply ships which lay in the harbor at Arroyo. Company F, which did not leave at the same time as did the main column of the regiment, was given charge of this issue, with the understanding that teams be secured and the supply forwarded to the regiment at its first camp.
The start for the "practice" march was not made as early in the day as had been expected on account of several unavoidable but unimportant delays. The regiment was formed, however, in due time, so that before 8 o'clock the rear of the column left the Arroyo camp. Instead of going east to take the main road, General Haines directed that the regiment follow a plantation trail which lead in a northwesterly direc- tion to a point in the road leading to Guayama, the capital of the province of Guayama. This province embraced that portion of central Porto Rico which extended along the southern coast.
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The appearance of the regiment as it started across the field was not unlike that presented at Camp Thomas except the mounts of the field and staff of- ficers. The horses belonging to the regiment and to all the officers had been sent on another transport and had not yet reached the regiment. They had landed, however, but they were at Ponce at the time now re- ferred to. There are no large horses in the island, but there is a small Spanish pony, and on these boney creatures the officers mounted, their feet extending almost to the ground.
During the night of August 4th a battery of Pennsylvania artillery had arrived and gone into camp a short distance from the Fourth Ohio, and as the latter regiment was moving along toward the main road mentioned above, the artillerymen were leading their horses across the field to a nearby stream for water. Colonel Coit started to ride his pony around one of these horses, but while he was doing so the ar- tillery horse kicked at the pony and the hoof struck the colonel on the leg. The blow was a severe one and the colonel had to be lifted down from his little steed. He ordered the regiment to proceed, however, and Major Speaks of the First Battalion assumed temporary command of the regiment. A surgeon was hastily summoned from the artillery camp to attend Colonel Coit, but 'Major Semeans, the regimental surgeon, also appeared on the scene. It was seen that the injury sustained to the colonel's leg might prove serious and he was advised to return to Arroyo, but he refused to do so, and followed the regiment, assum- ing personal command a few hours later.
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REFERENCE MARKS.
+ Cemetery.
First camp in Porto Rico.
+ Point at which extreme "point" of ad- vance guard was first fired upon.
+ Position of "C" Company when' fire opened.
Position main column when fire opened
" A " Company deployed lines.
"C" Company deployed lines.
"B" Company deployed lines.
" I" Company deployed lines.
"E" Company deployed lines.
.. Dynamite Gun's position.
I Out Posts ( Fourth Ohio.)
Out Posts (Third Illinois. )
Positions of Companies " D." "G," " K" and " L."
ROAD TOM SKIRMISH AUG. 8.
-- Sugar
Plantation
Guayama
A
I
+
C
PROUTS TAKEN
AUS.
13
I
Plantation
.
+
SPAZZA
-
*
$
plantation
Arroya
AMA
€ TO PONCE
AY
GU
CARIBBEAN
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THE FOURTH O. V. I.
As soon as the regiment reached the main road, it was halted and Major Speaks reported to General Haines, who had been waiting. The general directed that one company act as advance guard and that Major Speaks assume personal charge of this duty. Company A was at once designated to take the ad- vance and it proceeded several hundred yards in ad- vance of the main column.
A Company had not proceeded far until Major Speaks directed that with loaded pieces "flankers" and a "point" be thrown out. For the benefit of those readers who know nothing of military matters it is explained that "flankers" are detachments of troops deployed to the right and to the left of advancing columns to discover anything that might impede the progress of the advancing column, whether it be a large stream, a fortification or an enemy. The "point" is the extreme advance or "head" of the ad- vancing column. When a line of battle is formed, however, the presence and in most cases the exact lo- cation of the enemy is known and of course there is, no need of an advance or skirmish line to locate him or to determine in any way his strength.
As the line of march was followed, all natives were closely questioned either by means of signs or through interpreters as to the location of the Spanish forces. It is a fact, surprising perhaps to most read- ers, that it was really not expected that there was at that time an enemy of any consequence within any significant distance.
After an advance of perhaps a mile had been made, the flankers were strengthened in numbers and
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C Company was brought forward to serve as support of the advance. C Company advanced within about 500 yards of A Company and at about the same dis- tance in advance of the main column, at that time consisting of B Company of the First Battalion and E and I of the Second and the whole of the Third Battalion.
When this disposition of the advance had been made, the march was pushed with considerably more caution than had been hitherto observed. Finally a house was reached, over which the colors of the French nation were flying. The occupant of the house spoke English, but with a strong French ac- cent, and in his characteristic way explained to Major Speaks and Captain Wilson that the Spaniards would be found in trenches about two thousand yards fur- ther up the road. Their position, he said, could be distinguished by the presence of a cluster of trees bearing red blossoms.
There were only a few soldiers besides the officers mentioned who had any knowledge of the information gained here, but those who were not had very strong suspicions that something was going to happen when they saw the preparation for trouble going on about them. The flankers were warned to proceed cau- tiously and they were advised as to the carrying of their pieces, barrels and magazines loaded. The ex- treme advance was again strengthened and the line lengthened so that the whole of Company A was now in the skirmish line, the extreme right extending as far as the hills to the right of the road, a distance of about three-quarters of a mile.
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A short distance beyond the house where the Frenchman gave the important information as to the position of the enemy, a strange experience was gained by those in the road. It was the first time for them to witness a Porto Rican funeral procession. The corpse in this instance was a small child; the casket which contained the remains was a rude wood- en box and the bier was the shoulder of the father. Several half-dressed natives followed on behind jab- bering away in their native tongue at a rate too lively to characterize any sorrow by any means. The party had passed the regiment, and not having the slightest idea that it was a funeral procession, the attention of the officers was not attracted to it. They were going in the direction of Guayama, the town which lay at the end of the proposed march, and not thinking it advis- able for any one to go ahead to inform the enemy, if indeed one existed, as to the approach of the regiment, the party was halted. They made a series of inco- herent exclamations and doubled themselves up so hysterically in making signs that the officers in charge of the advance asked them in the wordless language to open the box. They did so and there was exposed to view a sight which none who witnessed it will ever for- get. If any had entertained doubts as to the fact that the men composed a funeral party, those doubts were removed more forcibly than eloquently when they saw the half decomposed body of the child.
Some of those officers had little ones in their own homes and they easily considered the sorrow of the broken-hearted mother who had spared this little one,
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and the funeral was permitted to proceed, with strict orders to tell no one what they had seen on the road. It was evident from the expression of their faces and the signs made by the men that they promised not to say anything, but they evidently did not redeem their promises, for when the "point" reached the Spanish outposts, it was given a reception that showed that the enemy knew just about where and when the advance. would reach the most desirable point for firing pur- poses.
Passing on toward Guayama a few rods, Captain Wilson called the attention of Major Speaks to a party of people near a house to the left of the road. It was but about two hundred yards from the main road and opposite a point about one hundred rods in advance of where the "point" had then reached. The party seemed to be composed of people dressed in white and they appeared at that distance to be women. Field glasses were trained on the spot, but nothing definite could be made out. Finally convincing himself that the party was not one of Spanish soldiers, the major directed Regimental Sergeant Major Radcliffe to ride across to the house and see what was there and to get any information he might be able to gather. It was the sergeant's birthday anniversary, and he did not consider the presentation of this order as very com- plimentary to the occasion, but he went over, think- ing as he did so of the many good times he had had back in Ohio and wondering if history in Ohio would ever repeat itself.
He rode towards the house, but the first informa- tion he received was from observation, for he rode
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through the party of "women," who in that case were goats. There were some people at the house, however, and from these he learned that there were Spanish sol- diers at Guayama. While Sergeant Radcliffe was making this reconnoiter, the point of the advance was ascending a gentle slope just west of a small stream. There was a culvert across the stream at the road and the major and those with him had just reached this point. The culvert was undergoing repairs at the time and was temporarily out of use, but a by-road led into the field at the right and out again to the road a few rods across the stream.
Just about the time Sergeant Radcliffe returned from his little trip, and about the time the point had reached the top of the slope and the officers and party had reached the point where the road parted into the field, a sharp crack was heard from the top of the hill. An instant later a shrill whirring noise was heard in the air, directly overhead; this was succeeded by another and then in rapid succession a score of other sharp reports, followed by the whirring, singing noise.
Several members of the point had advanced so far beyond the crest of the hill that they could plainly see about fifty Spanish soldiers, in position to defend the approach to the city. It did not require a long- drawn out discussion by any means to determine what the noises were and it did not require an eloquent appeal for the men to dodge behind trees, rocks and, cactus bushes. It was the report of the deadly Mauser that the boys had heard and the disturbances
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in the air were made by the leaden messengers that had called home the sons of Columbia at Santiago a few brief weeks before.
Just who was the object of the first fire, will probably never be known, but whoever he was may congratulate himself upon the fact that the Spaniard who fired it was not an expert at the use of the rifle, for not a member of the advance guard was struck at any time. The honor of firing the first shot at the enemy, however, is laid claim to by Private Charles Hughey, a member of the point who had reached the hilltop.
The members of this squad returned the fire of the Spaniards and then slowly retreated to the culvert referred to before. Every one present as a matter of course sought shelter and then a steady fire was poured into the place where the enemy was supposed to be. This was a matter which had to be guessed at, for there was not a Spanish soldier in sight, and as they used smokeless powder, there was nothing to mark their position. It was reasoned that inasmuch as the bullets were whizzing either directly over the heads of the men or striking the gravel in their immediate vicinity, and that while they were at the foot of the hill, those who were firing were surely somewhere at the top, certainly not behind the ridge. The order was, therefore, to shoot at the top of the hill, or at any object that might be used as shelter for a lurking Spaniard.
As evidence of the fact that the Spaniards were overshooting their mark, if indeed they were shooting
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at the Americans nearest to them, is evidenced by the fact mentioned before that not a single member of the extreme advance was wounded. Private John O. Cordner, however, a member of Company C, the command which was now acting as support to the advance guard, was wounded in the right knee. The ball passed directly through the limb, without strik- ing any bone, but at the time the regiment was mus- tered out of the service of the United States the wound had not entirely healed. About the same time Clarence W. Riffie, a private in A Company was struck by a Mauser, the bullet passing through the fleshy part of both legs. His wound, like that of Private Cordner, was not healed at the time he was discharged.
After the firing had been kept up for about a half hour or from a few minutes after 10 to 10:30, Major Speaks directed that the men begin to advance toward the hill, keeping under cover all the time as much as possible. The boys had occupied snug posi- tions along the side of the hill, in the culvert and at other convenient places, but now they began one at a time to get bolder and to creep along the edge of the ditch at the roadside, toward the top of the hill. Major Speaks, Captain Wilson and Lieutenant Krumm had but one order to issue and that was to "keep quiet." "They are just afraid of us, boys, as we are of them," encouraged the major, "so just be careful and pump it in to them." The boys certainly "pumped it in" and at a rate entirely too lively for the personal comfort of the Spaniards at the top of the
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hill, for they retreated toward the town as rapidly as the men of the Fourth Ohio approached them. When the top of the hill was finally reached, there were no Spaniards in view, and they had ceased firing entirely.
Here Lieutenants Modie and Grandstaff of A Company, who had remained in command of their platoons, were called in and word was taken back to Colonel Coit and General Haines, informing them of what had been done thus far. A Company had acted as advance, C as support and B as reserve. F Com- pany had followed with the dynamite guns and the entire First Battalion had thus been engaged. There were but two companies left of the Second Battalion, I and E, the remaining two, H and M, having been left aboard the St. Paul to take charge of the unload- ing. What was left of the Second Battalion was sent to the advance under Major Baker, with instructions from General Haines for Major Speaks to depend en- tirely upon his own judgment for the disposition of these five companies. The Third Battalion, under command of Major Sellers was thus left to act as the support of the firing line, the Third Illinois Regiment, in command of Colonel Bennit, acting as reserve to the whole. This was the only part played by the Illinois regiment in the capture of the city of Guayama, yet in nearly all the accounts sent at the time to the Eastern press, the Third Illinois received as much credit as did the Fourth Ohio. One correspondent stated that Guayama had been captured by "the Third Illinois, assisted by the Fourth Ohio."
-
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Major Speaks at once decided to make a strong move toward the city. He realized that with that number of troops it would be impossible to surround the city, especially when the strength of the enemy was not known and when there were no means of gaining that information. The first move was to form a firing line and B Company, under Captain White was ordered into the field to the right. As soon as this company had taken the position to be oc- cupied in the line, C Company was sent out, to extend its line from the right of the road to the left of B Company. I Company was sent over to act as sup- port of B Company and to extend its right as far as the portion of A Company, which had gone as a flank- ing detachment into the hills at the right of the road. What was left of A Company and E Company was then ordered to the left of the road and the advance was begun.
While this preparation was going on, the Spanish outposts were reinforced. From the top of the ca- thedral in Guayama, the Spaniards could see every movement made by the regiment, but as they were concealed in the bushes of cactus, palms and other thick tropical foliage, it was utterly impossible for the American soldiers to learn the position of the Span- iards except from the sound of the bullets or the re- port of their pieces.
The advance was made under extreme difficulties. There were sharp cacti, thick underbrush, swamps, barbed wire fences and defenses to surmount, and in fact everything possible to impede the advance of the
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regiment, yet the line pushed slowly on, pouring as it proceeded, a most deadly fire into the town and into the brakes where the enemy was supposed to be con- cealed. On not more than two or three occasions was the enemy seen at all, and when they were seen, their backs were toward the Fourth Ohio. In the ad- vance on the town, there was but one man wounded. He was Stewart Mercer of E Company, but the wound was but a slight one. One B Company man had the sight shot from his gun, others had holes shot through their hats and other strange things to happen them, but miraculous as it seems, there was not a man lost and only three wounded.
It was not a difficult task to dispose of the enemy, but the work of pushing through the fields was a seri- ous task and the progress was slow. The Spaniards kept up a serious fire, but they seemed to be retreating all the time. After they were driven into the town, instead of taking a firm stand, when the circumstances were even more in their favor than they had been be- fore in the field, they retreated on through to the hills beyond, leaving the town to the mercy of the invaders.
It was some time before the regiment really knew that the town was theirs. When the advance through the fields to the outskirts had been made, and when some of the suburban streets had been reached, the ad- vance was more rapid. When it was seen that the Spanish fire had again subsided, Major Speaks ordered a halt. This was at the very edge of the town and he did not feel justified in leading the men into the streets to be shot down from the housetops and win-
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dows without reconnoitering the situation, but at this juncture Colonel Coit arrived on the scene and re- sumed command of the regiment. The colonel was suffering intense pain at that time, the result of the kick by the horse, and indeed had he heeded the ad- vice of the surgeons and his friends he would not have accompanied the command at all.
The colonel determined to allow the men to take a brief rest and then to go into the town, and moving quickly through the streets, he hoped to escape serious loss and to reach the other edge of the city, thus catching the Spaniards in their own trap. But in this case, plans of conquest were useless, for the enemy had gone. Before the start was made, a window was seen to raise and a head to peep out from behind a wooden shutter. A dozen rifles were leveled at the window, but a gesture from the colonel lowered them. In another moment another window opened and another head was exposed to view. Then another shutter was pushed slowly open and finally not only heads but shoulders were seen. Finally hands began to waive and signs to be made, but no one knew whether these signs were friendly signals to approach or whether they were evil designs of the enemy to lure the regiment into the streets to be massacred. Finally a man walked out upon the roof of a house waving a white handkerchief, and other natives ap- peared on the streets. This was considered unmis- takable evidence that there was no more danger and the march into the city was begun.
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