nce to join it, and they complied
with the same alacrity and enthusiasm that they had
displayed in entering this bloody field. The Gatlings
redoubled their fierce grinding of bullets on the Spanish,
despite which there still came a savage fire from the
blockhouse and trenches. Here the gallant Captain Wetherell,
Sixth Infantry, fell, shot through the forehead, at the head
of his company, and I received a Mauser bullet through the
left lung, which disabled me. But the blood of the troops
was now up, and no loss of officers or men could stop them.
They charged up the incline until, coming to a steep ridge
near the top, they were brought to a stand by the hail of
bullets from the Gatlings against the summit. As soon as
this could be stopped by a signal, the mingled troops of the
Sixth, Sixteenth, Thirteenth and Twenty-fourth swept up and
over the hill and it was won."

From testimony gathered on the evening of the fight it was concluded
that there were more men of the Twenty-fourth Infantry on the ridge in
this first occupation than of any other regiment, but all of the
regiments of the division had done admirably and the brave blacks of
the Twenty-fourth won on that day a standing in arms with the bravest
of the brave.

The Spaniards although driven from their first line, by no means gave
up the fight; but retreating to a line of intrenchments about eight
hundred yards in the rear they opened upon the new-comers a fire
almost as hot as before, and the troops found it difficult to hold
what they had gained. The supporting regiments were coming up and
strengthening the line, the men meanwhile entrenching themselves under
fire as rapidly as possible. The Thirteenth Infantry was immediately
ordered off to the right to assist the cavalry division, especially
the Rough Riders, who were said to be in danger of having their flank
turned. Here it remained under fire all night.

The advance and charge of the Twenty-fourth made up only a part of the
advance and charge of the Third Brigade; and this in turn was part of
the attack and assault made by the whole infantry division; a movement
also participated in at the same hour by the cavalry division; so that
regarded as a whole, it was a mighty blow delivered on the enemy's
right and centre by two-thirds of the American Army, and its effect
was stunning, although its full weight had not been realized by th