four hours too late for the fighting.

On page 92 Mr. Bonsal says that Captain Capron's troop was ambushed,
and that it received the enemy's fire a quarter of an hour before it
was expected. This is simply not so. Before the column stopped we had
passed a dead Cuban, killed in the preceding day's skirmish, and
General Wood had notified me on information he had received from
Capron that we might come into contact with the Spaniards at any
moment, and, as I have already said, Captain Capron discovered the
Spanish outpost, and we halted and partially deployed the column
before the firing began. We were at the time exactly where we had
expected to come across the Spaniards. Mr. Bonsal, after speaking of L
Troop, adds: "The remaining troops of the regiment had travelled more
leisurely, and more than half an hour elapsed before they came up to
Capron's support." As a matter of fact, all the troops travelled at
exactly the same rate of speed, although there were stragglers from
each, and when Capron halted and sent back word that he had come upon
the Spanish outpost, the entire regiment closed up, halted, and most
of the men sat down. We then, some minutes after the first word had
been received, and before any firing had begun, received instructions
to deploy. I had my right wing partially deployed before the first
shots between the outposts took place. Within less than three minutes
I had G Troop, with Llewellen, Greenway, and Leahy, and one platoon of
K Troop under Kane, on the firing-line, and it was not until after we
reached the firing-line that the heavy volley-firing from the
Spaniards began.

On page 94 Mr. Bonsal says: "A vexatious delay occurred before the two
independent columns could communicate and advance with concerted action.
. . . When the two columns were brought into communication it was
immediately decided to make a general attack upon the Spanish
position. . . . With this purpose in view, the following disposition of
the troops was made before the advance of the brigade all along the
line was ordered." There was no communication between the two columns
prior to the general attack, nor was any order issued for the advance
of the brigade all along the line. The attacks were made wholly
independently, and the first communication between the columns was
when the right wing of the Rough Riders in the course of their advance
by their firing dislodged the Spaniards from the hill across the
ravine to the right,