at General Shafter says officially in one particular, but
in no such way as to discredit the General, or to weaken Bonsal. It is
not a case of bringing two universal, antagonistic propositions face
to face, but a case where two men of different training look upon an
action from different standpoints and through different field-glasses.
General Shafter says of the collision of the Rough Riders with the
Spanish force: "There was no ambush as reported." As a military man,
he says there was no more concealment on the part of the Spanish force
than what an attacking party should expect, no more than what is usual
in modern warfare, hence he does not regard it as an ambush, and does
not officially take notice of any surprise or unexpected encounter on
the part of his force. To do so would be to reflect, however slightly,
upon the professional skill of the commander of the left column.
General Shafter thus says officially in a manly way: "There was no
ambush." Beyond this his duty does not call him to go, and he halts
his expressions exactly at this line, maintaining in his attitude all
the attributes of the true soldier, placing himself beyond criticism
by thus securing from attack the character of his subordinate.

Mr. Bonsal is a writer and author, accustomed to view actions in the
broader light of popular judgment, entirely free from professional
bias, and having no class-feeling or obligations to serve. His pen is
not official; his statements are not from the military standpoint; not
influenced in any way by considerations of personal weal or woe with
respect to others or himself. He says that one troop of the Rough
Riders, Troop L, commanded by Captain Capron, was leading the advance
of the regiment, and was in solid formation and within twenty-five
yards of its scouting line when it received the enemy's fire. This
troop was so far in the advance that it took the other troops of the
regiment more than a half hour to get up to it. The writer speaks of
the advance of that troop as having been made "in the fool-hardy
formation of a solid column along a narrow trail, which brought them,
in the way I have described, within point-blank range of the Spanish
rifles, and within the unobstructed sweep of their machine guns." He
sums up as follows: "And if it is to be ambushed when you receive the
enemy's fire perhaps a quarter of an hour before it was expected, and
when the troop was in a formation, and the only one in which, in vi