FROM YAUCO TO LAS MARIAS
A Recent Campaign in Puerto Rico by the Independent Regular Brigade
under the command of BRIG. GENERAL SCHWAN
by
KARL STEPHEN HERRMAN
[Illustration: Theodore Schwan, Brigadier-General U.S. Volunteers.]
TO ROBERT SMITH COBB
MY BROTHER LORD IN CERTAIN ISLES OF FRIENDSHIP AND OWNER OF PRECIOUS CARGO
IN MY SHIP OF DREAMS
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I
The Independent Regular Brigade
Place of meeting--Forces comprised by the command--Why we were not like the
Volunteers--Characteristics of the professional soldier--Sketches of the
more important officers--What we were ordered to do.
CHAPTER II
The First Day's March
Disposition of our column--The road to Sabana Grande--The infantrymen's
burden--Wayside hospitality--Hard tack and repartee--Into camp and under
blankets--Arrival of Macomb's troop--A smoke-talk.
CHAPTER III
The People of Puerto Rico
Their attitude toward the invading Americans--The proclamation of General
Miles--Justice and the private soldier--Depravity of the native masses--Men
and women of the better class--Local attributes of life--A hint to the
weary.
CHAPTER IV
The Second Day Begins
We march to San German--Removal of the sick from the ambulances--An
approaching Spanish force--Our scouts and their leader--Concerning Señor
Fijardo--Visible effects of imminent battle--Something about the town of
San German.
CHAPTER V
The Engagement at Hormigueros
Topography of the battlefield--Macomb's cavalry fired into by Spanish
skirmishers--Our advance-guard comes into contact with the foe--General
Schwan reaches the firing line--The main body arrives and joins in
the fray--Subsequent manoeuvres of our column--The Spanish retreat--A
computation of losses.
CHAPTER VI
The Second Day Ends
A personal résumé of the fight--Lack of melodramatic accompaniments--A lost
chance of glory--Another neglected opportunity--A glimpse of the flag--Once
more into camp.
CHAPTER VII
The Occupation of Mayaguez
We enter the city in triumph--An enthusiastic reception--A pretty girl
and the star-spangled banner--Other memorable incidents--Our rags and
tatters--A description of Mayaguez--We pitch our tents in a swamp--The
First Kentucky Volunteers.
CHAPTER VIII
The Engagement at Las Marias
Difficulties encountered in locating the retreating enemy--Final
determination upon pursuit--Lieutenant-Colonel Burke sets forth--Discovery
of Spanish troops near Las Marias--A one-sided encounter--Unwelcome
notification of truce--The rest of the brigade comes up--Feeding the
prisoners--Our disappointment.
CHAPTER IX
The Territory Won
General Schwan returns to Mayaguez--Business and pleasure--A custom
we abolished--Extent of the district captured by our brigade
--Aguadilla--Facilities for transportation--Labor and the
laborer--The cost of living--Rents and real estate--Skilled workmen--A word
about investments.
CHAPTER X
The End of the Campaign
Arrival of the mail-steamer--The soldier-boy and his letters--The greater
part of the brigade is quartered in Mayaguez--Agriculture in Puerto
Rico--Material result of our campaign--A farewell order--General Schwan
departs for the United States.
A Brief Sketch of the Life of Brigadier-General Schwan
APPENDIX
THE ILLUSTRATIONS
Theodore Schwan, Brigadier-General U.S. Volunteers
Statue of Columbus, Mayaguez
American Cavalry entering Mayaguez on the 11th of August
The Public Fountain in Aguadilla, a Favorite Rendezvous
for Runaway Lovers
Plaza Principal, Mayaguez. Town Hall in Background
Spanish Prisoners who were brought from Las Marias to Mayaguez
Plaza Principal, Mayaguez. A Public Celebration of the New Flag's Advent,
under the Auspices of the Local School-teachers and their Pupils
The Plaza of San German on Market-day
Lower Quarter of Mayaguez
A Mid-section of the Calle Mendez-Vigo, Mayaguez
Positions occupied by Spanish Soldiers in the Skirmish at Hormigueros
Railroad from Mayaguez to Aguadilla
The Theatre, Mayaguez
Custom-house at Mayaguez occupied by General Schwan as Brigade
Headquarters
Road from Mayaguez to Añasco
Lower End of the Calle de Mendez-Vigo, Mayaguez
Guenar Bridge, Mayaguez
Upper End of the Calle Mendez-Vigo, Mayaguez
The Town of Sabana Grande
Witch River, near Cabo Rojo
American Camp at Mayaguez
Plaza Mercado, Mayaguez
Mouth of the Mayaguez River
A Bit of Yauco
Wooden Dock at Mayaguez. In the Offing can be seen the German Man-of-war
"Geier"
"Eleventh of August" Street
The Officers of the Alphonso XIII Regiment of Cazadores, taken a few days
before the Fight with the American Troops at Hormigueros
The Military Hospital, Mayaguez
Part of the Village of Maricao
Infantry Barracks, Mayaguez
The Rosario River, near Hormigueros
A Street in San German
Tobacco Plantation (cutting leaves), Mayaguez
The Plaza Principal in Mayaguez looking toward the Church
A Ruined Church along our Line of March
A Puerto Rican Laundry
Watering the Artillery Horses at Yauco
A Native Bull-team
On the Road to Lares
The Best Outfit in our Wagon Train
"Promenade of the Fleas" in Yauco
When only One Man gets a Letter
The "Weary Travellers' Spring," near Añasco
A Crude Sugar Mill near Las Marias
A very Popular Spot
Two Knights and a Pawn
INTRODUCTION
I have ventured to set down in this place the following bald and brief
items of our recent history, not because I doubt an already existing common
knowledge of their substance, but simply because they serve to illuminate
and give finish to the succeeding narrative.
Major-General Miles sailed from Guantanamo, Cuba, on the 21st of July,
1898; and landed at Guanica, Puerto Rico, on the 25th of the same month.
The troops sailing with him numbered 3,554 officers and men, mainly
composed of volunteers from Massachusetts, Illinois, and the District
of Columbia, with a complement of regulars in five batteries of light
artillery, thirty-four privates from the battalion of engineers, and
detachments of recruits, signal, and hospital corps.
On August 1st he was re-enforced by General Schwan's brigade of the Fourth
Army Corps and part of General Wilson's division of the First Corps,
raising his numerical strength to 9,641 officers and men. The Spanish
forces in Puerto Rico at that time numbered some 18,000, about evenly
divided between regulars and volunteers, and scattered advantageously over
3,700 square miles of territory. By the end of August the American strength
had nearly doubled.
In the brief campaign that followed, a large part of the island was
captured by the United States forces, and the positions of all the Spanish
garrisons, except that at San Juan, were made untenable. There were
altogether six engagements,--at Guanica Road, Guayamo (2), Coamo,
Hormigueros, Aibonito, and Las Marias,--with a total loss to the Spaniards
of about 450 killed and wounded, while the American casualties of the same
nature amounted to 43.
General Miles, in his scheme of operations, intended that three columns
of our troops--each composed of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and their
adjuncts--should march through the eastern, western, and central parts of
the island, respectively, diverging at Ponce and coalescing before San
Juan. The entire success of this plan was prevented only by the arrival of
the order to suspend hostilities, on the 13th of August.
The column marching east--known as the First Division, First Army
Corps--was commanded by Major-General James H. Wilson, and took part in
three engagements. The column sent through the interior--known as the
Provisional Division--was commanded by Brigadier-General Guy V. Henry, and
met no opposition of moment.
The third column, called the Independent Regular Brigade, and directed
to proceed through the western section of the island, was commanded by
Brigadier-General Theodore Schwan, and had two engagements with the
Alphonso XIII Regiment of Cazadores.
It is the story of General Schwan's campaign that I am about to relate.
CHAPTER I
The Independent Regular Brigade
_Place of meeting_--_Forces comprised by the command_--_Why we were
not like the Volunteers_--_Characteristics of the professional
soldier_--_Sketches of the more important officers_--_What we were ordered
to do_.
Yauco, the place selected by General Miles as a rendezvous for the troops
of the Independent Regular Brigade, is a town of about 15,000 inhabitants,
and some six miles distant from Guanica. It is connected both by rail and
wagon-road with Ponce, the largest city on the island, and is noted for its
Spanish proclivities, fine climate, excellent running water, and setting of
mountains--luxuriantly green throughout the year.
Here were assembled on the evening of Aug. 8, 1898, all the forces assigned
to General Schwan, with the exception of Troop "A," Fifth Cavalry, which
did not appear until some thirty hours later. The command was composed of
the Eleventh Infantry, Light Battery "D" of the Fifth Artillery, Light
Battery "C" of the Third Artillery, and the troop of cavalry already
mentioned,--all regulars, and as resolute and picturesque a set of men as
ever wore the uniform of war.
* * * * *
Because we had no Volunteers with us, we were not granted even one little
word-spattering newspaper scribe, and so relinquished at the outset any
fugitive hopes of glory that otherwise might have been entertained. We were
out for business,--hard marching, hard living, hard fighting,--and the
opening vista was fringed with gore. We were none of us the darlings of any
particular State, nor the precious offspring of a peripatetic statesman
with a practised pull. We were at no time decimated by disease through
ignorant or insubordinate disregard of the primary principles of hygiene.
We didn't write long wailing letters home because we were obliged to sleep
on the damp ground, and had neither hot rolls, chocolate, nor marmalade for
breakfast. We were ragged, hungry, tough, and faithful. In other words, we
were regular army men, and, most distinctly, _not_ Volunteers.
[Illustration: Statue of Columbus, Mayaguez.]
There is a personality peculiar to the professional soldier, even though
he be but a half-fledged recruit, that defies analysis and baffles
description. He is of course built from the same clay as his brother of the
Volunteers; but the latter is a tin god, and the former is a devil. Yet the
difference does not spring from anything more fundamental than environment,
and therein lies the solace of the other fellow. Putting aside all odious
comparisons and limiting myself to a view of the regular army man as I know
him, I can simply say that in the eight months during which I underwent
in his company hard knocks and privations without number I could not have
found a more truly satisfactory comrade and friend. He doesn't, on the
average, know much about books; nor did he ever hear of the Etruscan
Inscriptions or the Pyramidal Policy of the Ancient Egyptians. He takes a
grim delight in smashing the English language into microscopic atoms at a
single blow. He is more fond of women, horses, and prize-fighting than is
good for him. He will steal when he is hungry, lie to save his skin, curse
most terribly on trifling provocation, and spend, to his last sou markee,
his hard-won wage on adulterated drink.
"He's a devil an' a ostrich
an' a orphan-child in one."
But he will stand his ground in action while there is ground to stand on;
he will throw his life away at a moment's notice for the flag, or a chosen
comrade, or a worthless girl; he will march and starve and thirst world
without end if he has a leader who holds his confidence; and he is, on the
whole, a rather fine specimen of the true American--being usually Irish or
German.
[Illustration: American Cavalry entering Mayaguez on the 11th of
August.]
Our brigade commander, General Theodore Schwan--silent, upright,
tall, and spare--was regarded with affection and respect by every one who
came into personal contact with him, officer and man alike. He was shrewd,
clever, and distinguished, but never too busy or elevated to listen to the
humblest soldier from the ranks, and from first to last a gentleman. Of his
staff it is the highest praise to say that they were in every way worthy of
their chief. Bluff Captain Davison, gruff Captain Hutcheson, studious Major
Root, saturnine Major Egan, wounded Lieutenant Byron, patient Lieutenant
Poore, dashing Captain Elkins, and courteous Lieutenant Summerlin, I salute
you all in the most military manner of the soldier dismounted! You were my
friends in need, you lent me money, you gave me fatherly counsel and passes
of freedom to the shimmering tropic dawn--and I shall not forget.
At the head of the Eleventh Infantry was Colonel I.D. DeRussy, who, with
his ministerial drawl and dry wit, was a sharp contrast to his blunt,
impetuous, and fiery second in command, Lieutenant-Colonel Burke. But, so
far as I am aware, perpetual harmony reigned between them; and both were
beloved by their men. The battalion of artillery was commanded by Captain
Frank Thorp of Light Battery "D," my own outfit. He was best known in the
ranks as "Side-wheeler," from a peculiarity of gait, and, though well on
in years, was at all times gallant, courageous, and capable. A stiff
disciplinarian, he kept his guardhouse well filled from week to week; but
he was as quick to reward as punish, when warranted by circumstances. It
is worthy of note that although he took each day enough medicine to lay an
ordinary man on his back, or in an early grave, yet he was well and fit
from start to finish.
Captain Macomb of the Fifth Cavalry is not an easy man to describe in cold
ink. Handsome, stalwart, and grave; black-haired, black-eyed, a scarf of
yellow knotted at his throat,--he was Custer without the vanity or Lancelot
devoid a Guinevere.
[Illustration: The Public Fountain in Aguadilla, a Favorite Rendezvous for
Runaway Lovers.]
When he clattered through the many quaint little towns abutting on our line
of march, he was followed by a billow of sighs from behind the half-closed
lattices, though I dare say he knew nothing about it; for indeed he was
no heart-breaker, but a true soldier. I recommend him to either Rudyard
Kipling or Richard Harding Davis.
Said General Miles, in a letter of instruction to General Schwan under date
of August 6, 1898:--
"You will drive out or capture all Spanish troops in the western portion
of Puerto Rico. You will take all necessary precautions and exercise great
care against being surprised or ambushed by the enemy, and will make the
movement as rapidly as possible, at the same time exercising your best
judgment in the care of your command, to accomplish the object of your
expedition."
And this programme we were now ready to carry out.