{ title: 'The Butte Miner (Butte, Mont.) 18??-1928, October 24, 1899, Page 5, Image 5', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about Chronicling America - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84024810/1899-10-24/ed-1/seq-5.png', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84024810/1899-10-24/ed-1/seq-5.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84024810/1899-10-24/ed-1/seq-5/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84024810/1899-10-24/ed-1/seq-5/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
About The Butte Miner (Butte, Mont.) 18??-1928 | View This Issue
The Butte Miner (Butte, Mont.), 24 Oct. 1899, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/sn84024810/1899-10-24/ed-1/seq-5/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
T H E BUTTE MINER. day, April 1, Major Miller made a reconnaissance with his battalion, and located the insurgents at the B a g - bag river. The entire regim ent with two pieces of a r tillery made a reconnaissance in force about a week later for the purpose of crossing the river if the re sistance was not too strong. The rebels were strong ly entrenched on the other side, and kept up a terri ble fire. One member o f the Montana regiment was killed and three wounded, and many were prostrated with the heat. It was found impossible to cross the river without unnecessary sacrifice, and the com m a n d returned to Malolos. It was at this point that W h eaton succeeded Otis of California as brigade commander. Except for one of two attacks on the outoosts at night nothing occurred of im portance from this time till the order came to take up the advance on San Fernando. This order cam e April 25, and on the 26th the advance was begun. On the 27th the whole line reached the Bagbag. The second brigade of M a c- A rthur’s division, which had been com ing up on one side of the Quinga river, met the other brigade which had been operating on the other side, at a point where the river joins the Bagbag. The insurgents were in strong force and well protected on the other side of the Bagbag. H a le’s brigade struck them on one flank, while W h e a ton’s brigade came up in front. There was a sharp fight which resulted in the insurgents be ing driven out with heavy loss. It was at this point that the inci dent is said to have occurr e d w h i c h made Funston fa mous, as it was here that he is said to have swum the river in the face of a ter rible fire. It appears, however, that there wasi no swimming the river. The in surgents had de stroyed one span of the bridge. During the night the engi neers fixed it up and the regim ent crossed the next morning with the rest of the brigade. The advance on Calumpit was taken up after this from the Bagbag river. Montana was on the right of the railroad, Kansas on the left, and H a le’s brigade • was held in reserve. Some of the artillery had been swung over the river. Calumpit was reached on April 25th. The enemy was entrenched on the other side of the Rio Grande river in great force. The insurgents had a number of pieces of antiquated artillery, which they used all that day, and occasionally during the night; but the killed and wounded am ong the Am ericans came from the infantry fire. On the follow ing m orn ing, about 10 o’clock, the Gatlings were brought up, and supported by details from each battalion, arm ed with K rag-Jorgensens, a rapid fire was opened up on the rebel trenches. K a n sas meantime had crossed the river below the bridge. Ur.der the com bined fire the insurgents soon retired, leaving m a n y dead and wounded in the trenches and along the railroad track. Many prison ers were captured. In this engagement M a jor Miller was wounded and m a n y others. A fter the insurgents had evacuated their trenches the Montana regim ent crossed the bridge on the stringers, the insurgents having removed the ties. The insurgents were de ployed along in skirmish line form a tion ana v.-n;ij kept retreating kept popping away at the Montana boys when they were crossing. H owever, nobody was hurt. When the other side was reached the advance was at once begun. The insurgents were retreating, stop ping every now and then for a few volleys at long range. Captain Jensen was wounded during the ad vance. Apolit was soon reached, and except for a few volleys fired at the railroad station, the place was captured without any trouble. Apolit was occupied that night and for a week after. On May 4 the com mand started from Apolit for San Fernando. A line o f skirmishers was kept in ad vance, while the main body marched up the railroad track. H a le’s brigade wras on the right of the road, and was to close in on the insurgents at San Tomas. There wras not much resistance at that point, as the Am ericans by this time had an armored car with them. However, several were killed and many w ound ed, the latter including Captain Dillon. It was at Tom as that Funston made his great charge and got his star. The follow ing day Lieutenant Colonel W a l lace took M a jor Cook’s battalion from San Tom a s to a town near San Fernando on the reconnaissance. A small body of insurgents was found near the San F e r nando river, but there was no engagement. The bat talion got back to cam p just in time for a hasty din ner, and the entire division wras ordered to m ove to San Fernando, H ale’s brigade having occupied it the night before after slight resistance. There were several big fights after the Am ericans occupied San Fernando, in all of which the Montana regim ent took part. The first big engagement was an attack made by the Am ericans on the lines of the in surgents. Montana was to attack on the left to make the insurgents think the general attack was to com e from that quarter. Kansas was to attack on the right flank. The move was successful; the rebels were driven out of their trenches and through Bacalor, with heavy loss. None o f the men of the Montana regiment were killed, though a few were wounded. The next engagement was when the Filipinos attacked the Am ericans. This attack began on the extreme right of the division, and was m ostly in the open. It was the first time the insurgents had left their trenches in a body to make an attack. They started by firing some ancient artillery, which had no effect; then they followed with an infantry attack. They were repulsed with heavy loss. In this engagem ent several M on tana men were wounded—one fatally, Dave Silver. A n other engagement was during a reconnaissance by Funston with Companies D and L of the First M on tana, and two com panies of the Kansas regiment. It was towards Santa Rita Funston met an unexpected resistance by a much stronger force than anticipated. The firing became so general that the rest of the regi- rrcnt was sent cut to the Bacalor road to render as sistance. The insurgents had tried to flank Funston’s com mand with infantry from Santa Rita, but the m ove was discovered in time and failed. The Am eri cans retired. Tw o men of Com pany D were wounded in this engagement. The Montana regiment was called out twice after this on alarms, but there was no gen eral engagement up to the time it was ordered back to Manila, except such as occurred on outpost duty. During all this fighting the Montana regiment was under the most perfect discipline, and the officers found it more difficult to hold the men in check and to keep them from exposing themselves than they did to get them to go forward. They were more contented on the firing line than in quarters. It was the unani mous opinion of the division and brigade com manders under whom the Montana regim ent served during the sixty-eight miles of fighting in jungles, swamps and in the open that no finer body of men ever went to the front in the service of their country. The en gagem ents m entioned did not represent all the fighting on the outpos'ts and minor engagem ents at points not marked on the map. In all M ontana was present. S e n e r a t J^arrt/ C. *7fessler. C OLONEL, now Brigadier General, H arry Clay K e s s ler, of the First Montana regiment, was 55 years old on March 18 last. He is a native of Philadelphia and when quite young went to the front in the civil war as second lieutenant in the One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania. He was mustered out at the close of the war as first lieutenant. A fter com ing to M ontana in xa75 he took an active part in the Nez Perces war, and when the M ontana regim ent w'as mustered in for the war with Spain he was made its colonel. Thus he becomes the veteran of three W’ars. It is said that from the time the M ontana regiment was mustered in until it got under fire in the Philip pines there was some little friction and some dissatis faction as to the leadership. There were many who thought the First should have had a younger com mander and one more positive in his dealings with those under him. But when his men say him on the firing line—when they realized that it was not neces sary to be a maru-net off the field in order to be the soldier on it—when they saw him brave all the dangers and suffer all the privations of the men under him — then they knew they had the right man at m e head. He never asked anyone to do anything he would not do himself, nor to go anywhere he would not go him self. This is a trait in a com m a n d ing officer which, added to bravery, commands the respect and adm ira tion of his men. Cool in action eolonel Kessler set an exam p le to his men which could not fail to have its effect. He never sought to avoid the fire o f the enemy. “ M y experience in the civil w a r,” he was wont to say, “ was that no m a tter how a man conducted himself, when his time cam e to get hit he was going to get hit. The bullet made for him was sure to find him.” So closely did he adhere to this idea that his officers and men at times felt called upon ..o ask him not to expose himself. From Manila to San Fernando, except a brief spell when sick, Colonel Kessler was continually on the firing line, directing and encouraging his men. So it is that he comes back in high favor with w h a t is left of the First Montana. To his handling of the regim ent is due in great measure the excellent record made by the First Montana. The colonel m odestly attributes everything to the men and the officers. This is as it should be in large part. But for good men, led by good officers, the record would not have been so glori ous. ytd m in istered a S p a n k ing. W h en Adm iral Dewey arrived in New Y o rk recent ly he was reported to have m et one of the leading officials o f Tennessee and he told a story about a mem ber o f the regi ment from that state in the Philippines. He said this man was in the trenches and every tim e he would show him self above ground an in surgent posted some distance aw a y w o u ld take a shot at him. A t last the Tennes see soldier got tired of this treatm ent and he strode over to the little r e b e l , caught him by the coat collar and pro ceed to lay him across his knee and adm inister a good spanking, just the same as the average mother is credited with doing. A fter adm inistering t h i s chastisement to the little Tagal, he gave him his gun and told him to go home, with the warning that if he ever caught him shooting at him again, he should feel obliged to punish him m ore severely next time. That story is all right, but it came to this country several months ahead of Adm iral Dewey and had quite a run through the press. In its original form a Montana and not a Tennessee soldier was credited with adm inistering the spanking. C O L . KESSLER AND STAFF. S t V i n S o l d i e r S t o r y . A GOOD story was told at the expense of one of G o v ernor Smith’s new staff officers when the boys w'ere leaving Helena for San Francisco. It will be re membered that several of those who were on the stalf joined the First Montana and consequently the va c a n cies had to be filled. One of the new additions to the governor’s m ilitary fam ily was a lawyer, quite well known in Montana. This attorney was given the rank of colonel. Like a good m a n y of those who get com p li mentary staff positions, he did not know the first thing about military affairs. H owever, when the staff was called out to assist in reviewing the M ontana regim e n t before its departure for California this officer was in a bad predicament. He wanted to be present at the review, but had not had time to get a uniform made. He felt he could not go unless he was in full regalia and he was in a quandary. He happened to have a friend in Helena, who had held nearly all the ranks there are in the Montana National guard and this a c quaintance had a splendid m ilitary wardrobe. H e struck his friend for the loan of a uniform and the re quest was granted. The friend said, “ Just go up to the house and help yourself.” The lawyer went to the m ilitary man’s home and was shown the wardrobe. He selected w h a t appeared to him to be the most flashy uniform in the bunch. He donned this expensive attire and was one of the m ost gaudy men at the review. He never knew the d if ference, and probably does not today, but at that re view he was decked out as a full brigadier general while his rank was only that of a colonel. It is only another case of “ W h ere ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be w’ise.” The best of this story is that it is absolutely true and the chief actor in it was Congressman Campbell. A t this writing Lieutenant Colonel W a llace is on his w a y from Manila to San Francisco. It is feared he will not arrive in time to take in the celebration
Page
All Pages
