he need of troops at his right;
and to meet this need the brigade commander "sent forward 40 Cubans,
who advanced on the stone fort with our lines." The fire from this
fort continued severe during the whole of the advance, and until the
last halt made by the Twenty-fifth. At the first fence met by the
Twenty-fifth Lieutenant McCorkle was killed; and, to use the words of
a soldier, "as the regiment swept toward the Spanish stronghold" to
reach the slope of a little mound for cover, many more fell. Behind
this little mound, after resting about five minutes, they began their
last fire upon the enemy. This must have been as late as 3 o'clock,
and perhaps considerably later, and the fire from the stone fort was
vigorous up until their last halt, as their casualties prove. The
battery had begun to fire on the fort again at 12.30 and continued
from the same position until 2.10, the range being as has been already
stated, 2,400 yards. Hence the artillery firing at long range had
ceased, and it is generally conceded that this long range firing had
been ineffective. Captain Capron says he moved his battery at 2.10
p.m. to 1,000 yards from Caney and opened fire on two blockhouses. He
does not say at what hour he opened fire on these two blockhouses, or
how long he continued to fire, or what was the effect of his fire upon
the two block houses. Lieutenant-Colonel Bisbee, who was acting as
support of Capron's battery, says of himself that he "moved with the
battery at 3.30 p.m. by the Dubroix (Ducureaux) road." General Lawton
says the battery was moved to a new position about 2.30, "about 1,000
yards from certain blockhouses in the town, where a few shots, all
taking effect, were fired." From these reports it would appear that
after moving to the second station the battery fired upon two
blockhouses in the town, and not upon the stone fort. General Ludlow,
speaking of the battle, says: "In the present case, the artillery fire
was too distant to reduce the blockhouses or destroy the
entrenchments, so that the attack was practically by infantry alone."
On the other hand, General Chaffee says: "The resistance at this
point," meaning the stone fort at the time of assault, "had been
greatly affected by the fire of Capron's battery." Colonel Comba, of
the Twelfth Infantry, says: "The artillery made the breach through
which our men entered the stone work." Bonsal says that Captain
Capron, "under the concentrated fire of his four guns at a p