the fire from the village on our left was so severe that
neither our officers nor Spanish could pass over the
intervening ground. After about twenty minutes some of the
Twelfth Infantry arrived in rear of the fort, completely
sheltered from the fire from the village, and received the
white flag; but Privates J.H. Jones, of Company D, and T.C.
Butler, H. Company, Twenty-fifth Infantry, entered the fort
at the same time and took possession of the Spanish flag.
They were ordered to give it up by an officer of the Twelfth
United States Infantry, but before doing so they each tore a
piece from it, which they now have. So much for the facts.

I attribute the success attained by our line largely to the
bravery and skill of the company officers who conducted the
line to the fort. These officers are: First Lieutenants V.A.
Caldwell and J.A. Moss, and Second Lieutenant J.E. Hunt. It
is my opinion that the two companies first deployed could
not have reached the fort alone, and that it was the two
companies I ordered to their support that gave them the
power to reach it. I further believe that had we failed to
move beyond the Fourth Infantry the fort would not have been
taken that night.

The Twenty-fifth Infantry lost one officer killed[18] and
three wounded, and seven men killed and twenty-eight
wounded.

Second Lieutenant H.W. French, adjutant of Captain Scott's
battalion, arrived at the fort near the same time as the
other officers.

I request that this report be forwarded to corps
headquarters.

Very respectfully,

A.S. DAGGETT,
Lieutenant-Colonel, Twenty-fifth Infantry, Commanding.

General Chaffee's statement is not to be questioned for a moment.
There is not the least doubt that the troops, as organizations arrived
at the fort in the order he describes. General Lawton says: "General
Chaffee's brigade was especially charged with the duty of assaulting
the stone fort, and successfully executed that duty, after which a
portion of the Twenty-fifth, and a portion of Bates' brigade, assisted
in the work, all of which is commendable." He says also, that the
"Twenty-fifth Infantry did excellent service, as reported, though
not better than the others engaged.' This seems to confirm
Lieutenant-Colonel Daggett's report, for he says he is sure the
regiment did exce