The Colored Regulars in the United States ArmySteward, T. G. (Theophilus Gould)
History
The Colored Regulars in the United States Army
Steward, T. G. (Theophilus Gould)
African American soldiers; Spanish-American War, 1898 -- Participation, African American
The Twelfth Regiment began firing
between 6 and 7 in the morning and advanced to take its position on
the left of the Seventh Infantry. This regiment early reached a
position within 350 yards of the enemy, in which it found shelter in
the sunken road, "free from the enemy's fire." The regiment remained
in this position until about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and, hence,
was there at 11.30 a.m. The losses of this regiment during the day
were, killed, 7 enlisted men; wounded, 2 officers and 31 enlisted men.
From these brief sketches the reader will now be able to grasp the
position of Lawton's entire division. Beginning on the south, from the
west, with Ludlow's brigade, consisting of the Twenty-second, Eighth
and Second Massachusetts, the line was continued by Miles' brigade of
the Fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry; then passing over a considerable
space, we strike Chaffee's brigade, posted as has just been described.
General Bates' brigade probably arrived upon the field about noon.
This brigade consisted of the Third and Twentieth Infantry, and is
known as "Bates' Independent Brigade." The brigade is reported as
going into action about 1 o'clock and continuing in action until 4
o'clock. It took a position on the right, partially filling up the gap
between Miles and Chaffee. The first battalion of the Twentieth
Infantry went into action on the left of the Twenty-fifth Infantry's
firing line, and one company, A, took part in the latter part of the
charge by which the stone house was taken. Between 11.30, when
Capron's firing stopped, and when Miles' brigade was moved forward to
join the right of Ludlow's, and 12.20, when the battery recommenced,
the troops, including Bates' brigade, were either in the positions
described above or were moving to them. Noon had arrived and El Caney
is not taken; the garrison has not attempted to escape, but is sending
out upon its assailants a continuous and deadly fire. "Throughout the
heaviest din of our fire," says Colonel Carpenter, "could be heard the
peculiar high-keyed ring of the defiant enemy's shots."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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