cted the capture of this place with the
most consummate skill. His plan was simple enough. It was nothing more
nor less than an ordinary flank movement, such as Grant and Sherman
used so successfully during the Civil War.

General Wilson advanced against the town on the main road with
sufficient infantry, cavalry and artillery to drive out the Spanish
garrison. But when the latter attempted to retreat they found their way
blacked by the Sixteenth Pennsylvania, under Colonel Hulings, which
General Wilson had sent round to the rear of the town the night before.

The attack in front was timed so as to allow this force to get into
position.

The Battle of Coamo, if indeed, it can be so called, for it was nothing
more than a lively skirmish, has been thus described:

"Just as darkness fell, the regiment left the military road and struck
at a right angle for the hills to the northward. Porto Rican guides led
the way over paths so rough and narrow that the men could move only in
single file. It was toilsome progress. Absolute silence was enjoined; no
smoking was permitted lest the fitful flash of a match should betray the
movement to the watchful Spaniards on the hills. For hours the men
toiled on. The officers were compelled to walk and lead their horses.
Creeks and rivulets were waded; lofty hills were climbed or skirted;
yawning ravines were crossed. The men dripped with perspiration,
although the night air was chilly.

"At dawn both General Wilson and General Ernest were in the saddle, and
long before the shadows lifted from the valleys the main body of the
army was in motion to drive the enemy out of the town and into
Hulling's net. Nearer than the village and off to the right was the
blockhouse of Llamo de Coamo. The blockhouse was the first place
attacked. There was a heavy, jarring rumble over the macadam of the
military road. Anderson's battery came along at a sharp trot. At a turn
in the road where the blockhouse came into view it halted. Two minutes
later the fight opened. For a few minutes the Spanish returned the fire
with Mausers, but as shell after shell crashed through the blockhouse,
they abandoned it and fell back toward Coamo. Soon flames leaped upward
from the roof, and an hour later the fort was but a smoldering ruin.

"Meanwhile the infantry was pressing rapidly forward. General Wilson was
wondering what had become of Hulings. Not a warlike sound came from the
village, a mile and a half away. Had th