hing
rain, for it was so dark that any movement was impossible.
Our rest was broken, without accomplishing anything that I
know or heard of.
However, the rain and storm were providential, for I will
always believe if the movement had been started we should
have met with disaster. The ground was broken, deep ravines
and underbrush with wire fences running through it. I have
never learned who was "the father" of this order, and
possibly never will. He must be ashamed of it.
The afternoon of the 12th the regiment advanced several
hundred yards to the front and dug more intrenchments. They
were still on this work the afternoon of the 14th when it
was announced that the Spanish army had agreed to surrender.
This came none too soon, for our men were coming down with
malarial fever. A few days later nearly half the regiment
were on the sick list, and the balance could not have done
much.
The regiment was moved the same afternoon to higher ground
in rear of the trenches. Strong guards were kept to look out
for our prisoners and to prevent "our allies," the Cubans,
from going into the city.
On the morning of the 17th the formal surrender of the city
and Spanish army took place. We were some distance away and
did not see anything of the ceremony.
On July 25th the regiment was moved about a mile further
back in the hills and made camp, our tents, etc., having
been brought up from the transport. Medicines appeared very
scarce, resulting in much suffering. The food supplied was
totally unfit for our new surroundings, and I believe not a
little of the sickness can be traced to this. Our last camp
was as good as any to be found in that vicinity.
The regiment remained in camp until August 13th, when it
embarked on the transport "Camanche" for Montauk Point,
arriving on the 18th, and landed on the 23d.
B.H.R. LOUGHBOROUGH,
Captain, 25th Infantry.
FOOTNOTES:
[18] First Lieutenant McCorkle killed; Captain Edwards and First
Lieutenants Kinnison and Murdock wounded.
CHAPTER VII.
SAN JUAN.
Cavalry Division: The Ninth and Tenth Regiments.
When Lawton's division swung off to the right to engage the enemy at
El Caney, with the results described in the preceeding chapter, the
divisions of Wheeler and Kent were ordered to
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