Each advancing column was worthy to be companion to the other. General Wheeler said the fire was very hot for about an hour, and "at 8.30 sent a courier to General Lawton informing him that he was engaged with a larger force of the enemy than was anticipated, and asked that his force be sent forward on the Sevilla road as quickly as possible." ("In Cuba With Shafter," p. 83.) General Lawton, however, with the true instinct of a soldier had already sent orders to General Chaffee to move forward with the First Brigade. The Second Brigade was also in readiness to move and the men of the Twenty-fifth were expecting to go forward to take a position on the right and if possible a little to the rear of the Spanish entrenchments in order to cut off their retreat. The rapid movements of the cavalry division, however, rendered this unnecessary, and the routing of the foe gave to the Americans an open country and cleared the field for the advance on Santiago. The first battle had been fought, and the Americans had been victorious, but not without cost. Sixteen men had been killed and fifty-two wounded. In Colonel Wood's regiment eight had been killed and thirty-four wounded; in the First Cavalry, seven killed and eight wounded; in the Tenth Cavalry, one killed and ten wounded. The percentage of losses to the whole strength of the several organizations engaged was as follows: Rough Riders, over 8 per cent.; First Cavalry, over 6 per cent.; Tenth Cavalry, 5 per cent. But if we take those on the firing line as the base the rate per cent. of losses among the regulars would be doubled, while that of the volunteers would remain the same.