THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 364 ments, sending the Massachusetts men back some hundreds of yards to the rear, where he kept them in reserve.

and the)- would instantly relapse into their strained intense attitudes, whilst Ifelt sick at heart at the thought of my incompetence. Some ofthe slightly woundedweretending those who were badly hit, and nothing could have surpassed the unskilled tenderness of thesemen. Iwas astonished, too, at their thoughtful consideration. 'Keep well down, sir,' several said asIstopped to speak to them;'themMausers is flying pretty low,and there's plentyof us here already.' Theheatin thelittle road wasintense, there wasno shade nor a breathof air,and the woundedlayswelteringin thesun till thehead reeled with therank smellof sweatand saturated flannel. Right amongst the woundedlay curled up aCuban, apparently asleep. Upon approachinghim,however, it wasonly tooapparent that he had been dead for several days, and on the tree overhead two sleek and gorged vultures looked down furtively at his ever-increasing companions. The stench was overpowering, and a sudden lull in the battle brought into sickeningprominence the angry buzzing of the disturbed flies, and the creaking of the land crabs which wattedin thebushes."

Chaffee'sbrigade on theright had the heaviest share of the fighting. His three fine regiments workedforward to a long grassy ridge that lies about three hundredyardsin front of the northeast side of ElCaney. A sunken road behind the ridge affords some cover ;but at the close quarters the crest where the firing line was placed was swept by a deadly rain of Mauser bullets. Colonel Haskell, of the.17th Infantry, had triedto leadhis men forward through a gap in the middle of the ridge to line a hedgeand bank nearer the town, but the attempt had to be abandoned. The colonel fell hit at once by three bullets— onein thebreast, onein theknee, and onein the heel. The men lay downalong a swell of the ground to open fire. The colonel had fallen some yards in front down the slope; five men went out to bring him in. They "succeeded, but three of them were shot down. Lieutenant Dickinson, who bad assisted in rescuing his wounded colonel, though already wounded himself, received three other wounds while being helped back to the rear. The wounded layin a long linein the sunken road. There were few doctors with the army; there werenoneof them up at thefront with Chaffee's brigade. There was no help for the seriouslywounded for hours. The dressing station established further to the rear near the artillery position gavehelp to the moreslightly wounded who were able to walk back so far;but there were nostretcherparties tobring in the seriously injured. Itwasa pieceof scandalousmismanagement. It lqokedas if the Washington government seriously believed that its army, like its navy,could win battles with only half a dozen casualties. Here is the description of the scene in the road where these neglected woundedlay, as given by Captain Lee, who accompanied Chaffee's attack:— This is a glimpse of the less pleasant aspects of the battlefield, and the impression not of a newspaper correspondent on the look out for sensation,but of a trained professional soldier of our own arnay.

At one o'clock there were loud cheers all along the line of the attack. No success had beenwon,butalucky shot fromCapron's battery had cut in two the flagstaff of the fort,bringing down the red and gold flag of Spain. The Spaniards hu'sted it again on the broken flagstaff. Away tar to the right and a little north of El Caney was a small blockhouse. The Cubans had been directedtocapture it,but they had contented themselves with firing at it from a range ofnearly amile,neverattemptingtoget any closer. The blockhouse replied with an occasionalrifle shot, but generally tookno notice of the fusillade. This was kept up so briskly that at last theCubans sent amessage toGeneral Chaffee that they were running short of cartridges. Could he send them any ? The reply was a sharp rebuke for the useless waste of ammunition. The general said he only had about enough for his own men who were fighting;he hadnone for fireworks.

" On reaching the spot,Ifound overahundred killedand wounded laid out in as many yards of road, and so close were they that one couldonly pass by stepping over them. There was a strangesilence amongthese men,not a whimper or a groan, but each lay quietly nursing his wound with closed eyes and set teeth, only flinching whenthe erratic sleetofbulletsclipped the leaves off the hedge close above their heads. Many looked up quietly at my strange uniform asIpassed, and askedquickly and quietly,'Are you a doctor, sir ?' Icould but shake my head, Chaffee had some narrow escapes. A bullet had ripped through one of his shoulder-straps, another had cut a buttonoff his jacket. While sharply telling anyone else he saw standing up