Philippines -- History; United States. Army -- Military life
Just about the time this man was wounded a man in the next company on
the right suddenly threw down his bayonet, jumped to his feet, paused
for a second or two, looking in the direction of the Spanish trenches,
then threw both hands to his breast, saying, "I'm hit." He turned about
and walked into the dense thickets of cactus and Spanish bayonet, and
was never seen nor heard of again. He undoubtedly crawled far back into
the heavy tropical growth and died, where the vultures claimed him.
One of the coolest men who ever received a wound was an infantryman
at San Fernando, in the Island of Luzon, on the 16th of June. The
insurgents made a determined effort to retake the town early
on the morning of that day. They opened up simultaneously from
every quarter, and the kind and variety of missiles used would be
beyond the wildest expectations of that sweet-throated midnight
serenader, the Thomas-cat. Out of an old smooth-bore cannon they
threw railroad spikes, horseshoes, old clocks, lemon-squeezers,
and cobble-stones. From their Remingtons they shot large cubical and
irregular-shaped lead slugs. One of these struck this cool man high
in the right groin, deeply imbedding itself. The pain must have been
excruciating, for the man was terribly lacerated. He hobbled to his
company commander, saluted, and asked permission to fall out and lie
down, as he had been hit. He was lying near a road where his comrades
passed to and fro during the entire fight, but no one heard a word
or a groan out of him unless he was spoken to.
During the same fight, in another company of the same regiment, a
battalion sergeant-major was ordered to take two squads and proceed
to a point about 400 yards down the Angeles Road, where there was
a small trench, and defend it. When about half-way down, one of
his men, a green "rookie," received a severe wound in the leg. The
Sergeant endeavored to start him to the rear, with a man to assist
him along, but he protested. Nothing but to continue to the front
with his squad would do. He loaded and fired with the other men till
the fight was over. This man was recommended for a medal of honor by
his captain.--_From Leslie's Weekly, of December 9, 1899_.
THE FLIGHT OF "FATHER TIME."
A Case of Mistaken Identity.
Captain C. was what soldiers call a "fussy" officer. He was constantly
prying into matters that concerned him but little, and wasted his
energies in performing duties usually within the province of a
corporal. In fact, he would march a "set of fours" to dinner. In a
fight, however, his soul enlarged, and he was ever to be found at the
front directing his men, and doing much to atone for sins committed
during less exciting moments. Always in the van, his long, gray
whiskers gently flowing in the breezes, his sword drawn and pointing
toward the enemy, suggested to the men the pictures they had seen in
almanacs of "Father Time"; and when speaking of him among themselves,
he had no other name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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