29th, when came the first
scent of trouble--of war. From the actions of the officers at early
morning it was plain to be seen that something was going to happen. Two
guns of Battery A were taken over to the trenches which had been built
by the insurgents near the Capuchin Monastery. During the day the
sharpshooters of the Twenty-third United States Infantry and the Spanish
had been doing some desultory firing with little result on either side,
save that the men kept their heads closer to the breastworks, while a
battalion of the Colorado Infantry, under Colonel McCoy, advanced beyond
the old trenches to a point near the monastery, where they threw up a
new line of earthworks. The two guns of Battery A moved to this point
the following morning and took possession of the emplacements already
constructed. On the following morning two guns under Lieutenant Grow of
Battery B were brought over from Camp Dewey and placed in position on
the left. Men from both lines were engaged in erecting gun pits all
along the front. The guns were located about 1000 yards from Fort San
Antonio de Abad, which formed the extreme right of the Spanish line. The
enemy's left and center was protected by a line of intrenchments.
Outpost duty was being performed by a company of the Eighteenth United
States Infantry. The firing, which had been kept up with more or less
vigor, came from the right of the Utah position, which was entirely
unprotected owing to a failure on the part of the insurgents to maintain
their lines between Calle Real and the Pasig road.

During the night of July 30th-31st the excitement began. Heavy small arm
firing was indulged in by the enemy and from his lines came shells at
irregular intervals, none of which did any damage. At this time
Lieutenant Naylor was in the trenches with the two guns of Battery A. At
8 o'clock next morning Lieutenant Gibbs relieved him of the command with
two-gun detachments of fresh men. All day everything was quiet. The
enemy was planning a night attack, as he had no desire to mix with the
American forces in a fair open fight in the broad light of day, but
rather trusted to darkness to accomplish his designs. Everything was
quiet until 11:30 that evening, when the Mausers began singing
venomously from the Spanish lines. Then came the boom of his artillery
and the men in the trenches knew that the time for action had come. The
Tenth Pennsylvania troops replied with their Springfields and the whiz
of