The Boys of '98 Part 16

"I went to where the five men were lying, and saw that all were not dead.

John Meek could speak and move one hand slightly. I put my face down close to his.

"'Can I do anything for you, John?' I asked, and he replied, 'No, Jack, I am dying; good-bye,' and he asked me to grasp his hand. 'Go help the rest,' he whispered, gazing with fixed eyes toward where Captain Bernadou was still firing the forward gun. The next minute he was dead.

"Ensign Bagley was lying on the deck nearly torn to pieces, and the bodies of the other three were on top of him. The coloured cook was a little apart from the others, mangled, and in a cramped position. We supposed he was dead, and covered him up the same as the others. Nearly half an hour after that we heard him calling, and saw that he was making a slight movement under the clothes. I went up to him, and he said:

"'Oh, boys, for G.o.d's sake move me. I am lying over the boiler and burning up.'

"The deck was very hot, and his flesh had been almost roasted. He complained that his neck was cramped, but did not seem to feel his terrible wound. We moved him into an easier position, and gave him some water.

"'Thank you, sir,' he said, and in five seconds he was dead."

Ensign Bagley had been fearfully wounded by a shot, which practically tore through his body. He sank over the rail, and was grasped by one of the enlisted men, named Reagan, who lifted him up and placed him on the deck.

[Ill.u.s.tration: U. S. S. AMPHITRITE.]

The young officer, realising that the wound was fatal, and that he had only a short time to live, allowed no murmur of complaint or cry of pain to escape him, but opened his eyes, stared at the sailor, and simply said:

"Thank you, Reagan."

These were the last words he spoke.

_May 12._ The forts of San Juan, the capital of Porto Rico, were bombarded by a portion of Rear-Admiral Sampson's fleet on Thursday morning, May 12th. The vessels taking part in the action were the battle-ships _New York_, _Iowa_, _Indiana_, the cruisers _Detroit_ and _Montgomery_, and the monitors _Terror_ and _Amphitrite_.

The engagement began at 5.15 and ended at 8.15 A. M., resulting in a loss to the Americans of one killed and seven wounded, and the death of one from prostration by heat. The Spanish loss, as reported by cable to Madrid, was five killed and forty-three wounded.

Admiral Sampson's orders were to refrain from making any land attack so long as the batteries on sh.o.r.e did not attempt to molest his ships; but in case the Spaniards fired on his vessels, to destroy the offending fortifications.

These orders were not issued until the Spanish fire at different Cuban ports became so irritating to the American bluejackets that discipline was, in a measure, threatened; but as soon as the men learned that they were no longer to remain pa.s.sive targets for the Spaniards, but were to return any shots against them, all grumbling against inaction ceased.

It was not Admiral Sampson's original intention to attack San Juan. He was looking for bigger game than the poorly defended Porto Rican capital. His orders from the Navy Department were to find and capture or destroy the Spanish squadron that was en route from the Cape Verde Islands, and it was this business that took him into the neighbourhood of San Juan, he being desirous of learning if the Spanish squadron were there.

The fleet arrived off San Juan before daybreak on Thursday. The tug _Wampatuck_ was ordered to take soundings in the channel, and at once proceeded to do so. She was fully half a mile ahead of the fleet when she entered the channel, and those aboard of her kept the lead going at a lively rate.

It is supposed that Admiral Sampson had no intention at that time of entering the harbour itself, his object, when he found that the Spanish squadron was not at San Juan, being to learn for future use exactly how much water there was in the channel, and if any attempt had been made to block the way.

At all events, while the _Wampatuck_ was engaged in this work she was seen by the sentries at the Morro, and a few minutes later was fired on.

Then, and not until then, did Admiral Sampson determine to teach the Spaniards a lesson regarding the danger of firing on the American flag.

"Quarters!" rang out aboard the war-ships almost before the report of the Morro gun had died away, the flag-ship having signalled for action.

The _Iowa_ opened the bombardment with her big 12-inch gun, the missile striking Morro Castle squarely, and knocking a great hole in the masonry.

Then the _Indiana_ sent a 13-inch projectile from the forward turret, and one after the other, with but little loss of time, the remaining vessels of the fleet aided in the work of destruction.

The French war-ship _Admiral Rigault de Genoailly_ was at anchor in the harbour, and a sh.e.l.l exploded within a few hundred feet of where she lay, but worked no injury.

The French officers thus reported the action:

"The American gunners were generally accurate in their firing, while the marksmanship of the Spaniards was inferior. Some of the American sh.e.l.ls, however, pa.s.sed over the fortifications into the city, where they did terrible damage, crashing straight through rows of buildings before exploding, and there killing many citizens.

"The fortifications were irreparably injured. Repeatedly ma.s.ses of masonry were blown skyward by the sh.e.l.ls from the American guns. Fragments from one sh.e.l.l struck the commandante's residence, which was situated near the fortifications, damaging it terrifically."

Morro Castle was speedily silenced, and then the guns of the fleet were turned on the land-batteries and the fortifications near the government buildings.

The inhabitants fled in terror from the city; the volunteers, panic-stricken, ran frantically in every direction, discharging their weapons at random, until they were a menace to all within possible range.

The crashing of the falling buildings, the roar of the heavy guns, the shrieks of the terrified and groans of the wounded, formed a horrible accompaniment to the work of destruction.

Three times the line of American ships pa.s.sed from the entrance of the harbour to the extreme eastward battery, sending shot and sh.e.l.l into the crumbling forts. Clouds of dust showed where the missiles struck, but the smoke hung over everything. The sh.e.l.ls screeching overhead and dropping around were the only signs that the Spaniards still stuck to their guns.

At 7.45 A. M. Admiral Sampson signalled, "Cease firing."

"Retire" was sounded on the _Iowa_, and she headed from the sh.o.r.e.

The _Terror_ was the last ship in the line, and, failing to see the signal, banged away alone for about half an hour, the concert of sh.o.r.e guns roaring at her and the water flying high around her from the exploding sh.e.l.ls. But she possessed a charmed life, and reluctantly retired at 8.15.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BOMBARDMENT OF SAN JUAN, PORTO RICO.]

_May 13._ In the Spanish Cortes, Senor Molinas, deputy for Porto Rico, protested against the bombardment of San Juan without notice, as an infringement of international usage.

To this General Correa, Minister of War, replied that the conduct of the Americans was "vandalism," and that the government "will bring their outrageous action under the notice of the powers." He echoed Senor Molinas's eulogy of the bravery of the Spanish troops and marines, and promised that the government would send its thanks.

An authority on international law thus comments upon the bombardment, in the columns of the New York _Sun_:

"There is nothing in the laws of war which requires notice of bombardment to be given to a fortified place, during the progress of war. When the Germans threatened to bombard Port au Prince, a few months ago, they gave a notice of a few hours, but in that case no state of war existed. Again, when Spain bombarded Valparaiso, in 1865, an hour's interval was allowed between the blank charge that gave the notice, and the actual bombardment.

But that interval was intended to allow Chili an opportunity to do the specific thing demanded, namely, to salute the Spanish flag, in atonement for a grievance. Besides, Valparaiso was wholly unfortified, and the guns were directed, not at military works, but at public buildings.

"The case of San Juan was far different. Hostilities had been going on in Gulf waters for weeks, while, as Doctor Snow, the well-known authority on international law, says, 'In case of war, the very fact of a place being fortified is evidence that at any time it is liable to attack, and the non-combatants residing within its limits must be prepared for a contingency of this kind.' This is true, also, of the investment of fortified places by armies, where 'if the a.s.sault is made, no notice is given, as surprise is essential to success.' In the same spirit Halleck says that 'every besieged place is for a time a military garrison; its inhabitants are converted into soldiers by the necessities of self-defence.'

"Turning to the official report of Admiral Sampson, we find him saying that, as soon as it was light enough, he began 'an attack upon the batteries defending the city. This attack lasted about three hours, and resulted in much damage to the batteries, and incidentally to a portion of the city adjacent to the batteries.' It is, therefore, clear that this latter damage was simply the result of the proximity of the defensive works to some of the dwellings. The same thing would occur in bombarding Havana. Can any one imagine that the Spaniards, if they suddenly appeared in New York Bay, would be obliged to give notice before opening fire on Fort Hamilton and Fort Wadsworth, for the reason that adjacent settlements would suffer from the fire? The advantage of suddenness in the attack upon a place, not only fortified, but forewarned by current events, cannot be renounced. Civilians dwelling near defensive works know what they risk in war.

"In the Franco-German war of 1870 there were repeated instances, according to the authority already quoted, of deliberately firing on inhabited towns instead of on their fortifications, and 'there were cases, like that of Peronne, where the town was partially destroyed while the ramparts were nearly intact.' The ground taken was that which a military writer, General Le Blois, had advocated five years before, namely, that the pressure for surrender exercised by the people becomes greater on subjecting them to the loss of life and property. 'The governor is made responsible for all the disasters that occur; the people rise against him, and his own troops seek to compel him to an immediate capitulation.' At San Juan there was no attempt of this sort, the fire being concentrated upon the batteries, with the single view of destroying them. The likelihood that adjacent buildings and streets would suffer did not require previous notice of the bombardment, and, in fact, when the Germans opened fire on Paris without notification, and a protest was made on behalf of neutrals, Bismarck simply replied that no such notification was required by the laws of war."

CHAPTER VII.

FROM ALL QUARTERS.

_May 11._ A state of siege proclaimed throughout Spain. In a dozen cities or more continued rioting and sacking of warehouses. The seacoast between Cadiz and Malaga no longer lighted. The second division of the Spanish navy, consisting of the battle-ship _Pelayo_, the armoured cruiser _Carlos V._, the protected cruiser _Alphonso XIII._, the converted cruisers _Rapido_ and _Patria_, and several torpedo-boats, remain in Cadiz Harbour.

_May 12._ The story of an attempt to land American troops in Cuba is thus told by one of the officers of the steamer _Gussie_, which vessel left Tampa on the tenth.

"In an effort to land Companies E and G of the first U. S. Infantry on the sh.o.r.e of Pinar del Rio this afternoon, with five hundred rifles, sixty thousand rounds of ammunition, and some food supplies for the insurgents, the first land fight of the war took place. Each side may claim a victory, for if the Spaniards frustrated the effort to connect with the insurgents, the Americans got decidedly the better of the battle, killing twelve or more of the enemy, and on their own part suffering not a wound.