h Infantry, was posted, and early in the morning joined in
the attack, the brigade getting under fire before eight o'clock.
Colonel Carpenter, of the Seventh Regiment, says that one company of
his regiment, by General Chaffee's direction, was detached and sent
forward to reduce a blockhouse, well up on the hill, which commanded
the approach of his regiment to the field of action. After several
ineffectual attempts by the company, the Captain (Van Orsdale) was
directed to abandon the undertaking and rejoin the regiment, which
then took up a position on the crest of a hill running nearly parallel
with the Spanish lines. From this position the men crawled forward
about fifty yards and opened a deliberate fire upon the enemy, keeping
it up for about an hour, but as the losses of the regiment at this
time were considerable and the fire seemed to be without material
effect, the command was withdrawn to its position on the hill where
it found protection in a sunken road. In this condition this regiment
lay when Capron's battery made its lull at 11.30. The fearful fire
this regiment met can be estimated by the losses it sustained, which
during the day were as follows: Killed, 1 officer and 33 enlisted men;
wounded, 4 officers and 95 enlisted men; missing, 3 enlisted men. The
Seventeenth Regiment went into action on the right of the Seventh,
doing but little firing, as their orders were not to open fire unless
they could make the fire effective. Companies C and G fired a few
volleys; the remainder of the regiment did not fire at all. Four
enlisted men were killed and two officers severely wounded, one,
Lieutenant Dickinson, dying from his wounds within a few hours.
Several enlisted men were also wounded. At 11.30 this regiment was
lying on the right of the Seventh. The Twelfth Regiment began firing
between 6 and 7 in the morning and advanced to take its position on
the left of the Seventh Infantry. This regiment early reached a
position within 350 yards of the enemy, in which it found shelter in
the sunken road, "free from the enemy's fire." The regiment remained
in this position until about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and, hence,
was there at 11.30 a.m. The losses of this regiment during the day
were, killed, 7 enlisted men; wounded, 2 officers and 31 enlisted men.
From these brief sketches the reader will now be able to grasp the
position of Lawton's entire division. Beginning on the south, from the
west, with Ludlow's brigade,