The Utah Batteries: A History Part 2

During the few months preceding the outbreak the Filipinos had become less friendly to their late allies. "La Independencia," the official organ of the insurgents, frequently came out with loud denunciations against the Americans and called the sullen natives to action against the hated usurpers. It was not an uncommon occurrence to see the walls of public buildings patched over with "proclamos," signed by Aguinaldo, almost openly declaring war against the Americans and a.s.serting the rights of the Tagalans to their independence.

The fourteen blockhouses which had been the Spanish line of defense had been allowed to fall into the hands of the Filipinos, who converted them into a strong offensive and defensive work. When by chance an American strayed beyond these fortifications, the att.i.tude of the native sentries was often violent and abusive. Eventually no soldiers were permitted to go outside of the territory bounded by our outposts, and the Malay line of muskets tightened around the city like the arm of a colossal dragon.

Repeatedly there were war alarms, and for several days the men not on duty were kept in barracks. At times the Tagalans at the pumping station shut off the water supply merely as an insolent challenge and an indication of what they were able to do. On certain parts of the line the Filipinos were seen building new intrenchments and reinforcing the old ones.

For several weeks natives had been concentrating around the Santa Mesa, and Lieutenant Webb was sent out to the Nebraska camp with the left platoon of Battery A to strengthen the Nebraska position. The Santa Mesa road was looked upon by the mult.i.tude of Aguinaldo as the natural gateway to Manila. It was at the San Juan Del Monte bridge that they had sought in vain to pound their way into the Spanish lines on many a desperate battle night. One of the Utah guns occupied the very gun pit which had been used by the Castilians as a defense from which their cannon barked back defiance to the onrus.h.i.+ng fanatical hordes.

Often there were wrangles between Colonel Stotsenberg and the Tagalan officers regarding the line of outposts which the native forces should occupy. Several times the Colonel averted hostilities by a judicious yielding to minor points. Ultimately at the San Juan bridge a stalwart American sentry and a diminutive Tagalan paced in parallel lines. The Filipinos seemed anxious to aggravate the Americans into an act of hostility, and rigorous orders were issued to prevent such an occurrence. Night after night the native warriors cl.u.s.tered about one end of the bridge and uttered curses at the silent Nebraskan outpost.

Before the outbreak actually took place several times our sentries were forced back by a howling mob of drunken Malays.

One native officer was particularly violent. Not a night pa.s.sed but that he gathered a crowd of inebriated Tagalans and tramped down to the bridge for the purpose of scoffing and hurling vile epithets at the taciturn American posted there. They were encouraged by the lenient and apparently submissive att.i.tude of the Americans whom they had begun to look upon as arrant cowards, who could be wheedled and whipped about as they chose.

On the night when the signal shot sang out in the darkness and the battle came, the same haughty officer was coming down towards the American line to repeat his abusive conduct, when the sharp voice of the sentry rang out as a warning to halt. He persistently advanced and at the same time launched some vehement Tagalan curses at the outpost. The next instant he lay dead with a bullet through his heart; the report startled the still night air and an insurrection was born.

All that night the thunders of the united American forces in action were wafted to the Cuartel. The natives were so close that some of the bullets pattered against the walls of the building and some even struck the Hotel De Oriente, nearer town. When the commissary wagons probed their way out to the belligerent front they were fired upon from the houses lining the streets. Every nipa hut in which a private family lived became an a.r.s.enal.

The trouble had been antic.i.p.ated and every officer knew what portion he was expected to defend. Ten minutes after the news arrived in the Cuartel, the heavy guns of Utah rumbled over the streets to different parts of the field.

Those under Major Grant rushed out into the night and were instantly under a vigorous fire near the woods of Caloocan. Captain Wedgewood disappeared in the blackness and took up the appointed position on the Balic Balic road near Sampaloe cemetery. The guns under Lieutenant Seaman dashed out of the barracks and a few moments later their deep ba.s.s was added to the Satanic roar. On McLeod's hill surrounded by the Nebraskans two guns under Lieutenant Webb menaced the plain below.

At Santa Mesa the fight began. Three minutes after the opening flash the Nebraskan camp was deserted. As the outposts slowly returned the regiment swept onward to the fray, and soon the angry rattle of the "Long Toms" answered back the viperous "ping" of the Mauser.

The sound of the first shot had hardly ceased echoing upon the hill when the Tagalans, jubilant, confident, flew for the bridge; their onrush was met with a volley from the Nebraskans. Then from Caloocan and Sampaloe the din of mult.i.tudinous musketry fired in unison, waved over the hill; then the awful thunder of the guns of the fleet pulverized the enemy's bulwarks at Malate swelled over the plain. Occasionally a lull came in the fight and then as if gathering strength by inaction the tumult broke forth with increased fury. In the darkness it was impossible for the Utah guns to accomplish anything, as the location of the infantry could not be exactly distinguished. So all night the men tugged and toiled to get the pieces in position, that they might take part in the encounter at dawn. The fifth section gun held a commanding position on the right and the sixth section was stationed directly in front of McLeod's house, from which point it could sweep the enemy's line from Blockhouse No. 7 on the north to the Catholic convent on the south.

Just as the first streaks of dawn dappled the east, the two big guns belched over the plain and the fight began. During the night the relative positions of the opposing forces had not been changed. The maddened Filipinos made a renewed attempt to cross the bridge and penetrate the Nebraska line, that they might gain their coveted goal--the city of their dreams. The aim of the two guns was concentrated upon this point. Twice the Tagalans with frenzied courage charged up the bridge, only to be torn to pieces by the shrieking sh.e.l.ls and the deadly bullets. With desperate energy they hauled an artillery piece into position on the bridge, but this was demolished by a single sh.e.l.l from one of our guns.

The position of the artillery became perilous; the insurgents centered a galling fire upon the big guns, with the hope of ridding themselves of this new terror. The leaden missiles rained from three points, Blockhouse No. 7, the bridge and the convent. Every time one of the cannon roared over the hill, she raised a vicious hail of bullets from the enemy. Three minutes after the conflict began Corporal John G. Young received a fatal wound in the lungs. Almost immediately after Private Wilhelm I. Goodman fell dead with a bullet through his brain.

Instantly men rushed in to fill their places, but the position of the gun had become so dangerous that Lieutenant Webb ordered it removed to a more sheltered point, at the north of the house. In the face of a heavy fire the men lifted the piece out of the pit and rolled it to the station designated. This ended the casualty list of the artillery for that day. Both guns now sh.e.l.led the enemy at Blockhouse No. 7 and the San Juan Del Monte Church, until the two guns under Lieutenant Gibbs came up. The skilled aim of the two gunners and the superb courage of Lieutenant Webb and Sergeants Fisher and Robinson were greatly commended.

Shortly before 11 o'clock two Nordenfelt guns under Lieutenant Gibbs arrived at the hill and under the orders of Colonel Smith of the Tennesseeans advanced up the Santa Mesa road. The Tagalans were still in strong force in the woods to the right of the road, and, as the two guns moved forward, they received a pelting fire from this locality.

The guns dashed up the road and swung into action on the bridge. The forces then began an advance up the road, running twenty and thirty yards at a time, supported by the infantry from Tennessee. After a half hour of sharp fighting the Tagalans fled before the cannister and shrapnel of the big guns and the bullets of the Tennesseeans, and thus the hills as far as the Deposito were won. Meanwhile, a battalion of Tennesseeans had deployed out to the left and taken the Deposito, and the two guns were moved to this point.

The Tennesseans left the Nebraskans in charge of the Deposito and disappeared off to the right. Late that night Lieutenant Webb and the fatigued warriors of Santa Mesa joined Lieutenant Gibbs at the Deposito, where they bivouacked with the prospect on the morrow of an advance upon the pumping station, four miles beyond.

The movement upon the pumping station was not easily accomplished; there were several sharp skirmishes on the way. Though the power of the insurgents seemed to have been broken on the previous day, there were some in whom the spirit of resistance was not entirely extinguished and they contested the march of the Americans with vigor. When the move was made on the morning of the 6th the artillery was under the personal command of Major Young. A straggling line of infantry deployed on either side of the road and with the artillery in the rear the forward movement began. Scarcely half a mile from the Deposito the moving column encountered a small body of Tagalans, who opened fire. Once more the angry guns pealed forth in menacing thunder and the terror-stricken natives retreated for the kind shelter of the bamboo thickets beyond.

Two similar skirmishes happened farther up the road. About a mile and a half from the Deposito the mutilated body of Dr. Harry A. Young was found lying by the side of a ventilator. Some distance back the body of his horse had been discovered. Major Young was the first to locate this gory evidence, which mutely told the tragic story of the end of Dr.

Young. All the clothing had been rent from the body, a bullet hole was in his forehead, and a bolo wound from the elbow of the left arm to the waist told the tragic story of how he died. The supposition is that the Doctor was surprised on his way to the Deposito, where he had an appointment with Major Young, and took the wrong road, which led him to a grim death in the Tagalan territory. A few minutes later, while the body was being conveyed to Manila, the Major calmly commanded his men in a rush with the enemy, in which eighty of them were killed. This exhibition of splendid courage was ever after an inspiration to the Utahn when he felt like being disheartened.

Gradually the uncoiled infantry line pushed back the recalcitrant natives, and late in the morning the heights above the beautiful Mariquina valley were reached. Here the artillery was placed in position, and, with the Mariquina Church steeple as a target, the town was bombarded. Now and then a shuddering shrapnel was sent shrieking after fugitive bands of Tagalans, who made all haste for the protecting shelter of the mountain on the opposite side of the valley.

From that place they were content to look with dismay upon the death-dealing monsters which frowned from the hill above the bulwarks.

When the first platoon of Battery A, under Captain Wedgewood, sped out into the gloom on the night of the 4th it took up a position in the Balic Balic road near the Cemetario de Sampaloe. All night long the two guns were under a straggling fire from the Filipinos, who at this place held Blockhouse No. 5, about 300 yards to our front, and a diminutive stone church which was located off to the right of our position. The section two gun was placed inside the Cemetario, but that of section one remained outside, where it was exposed to the enemy's fire.

At 3 a.m. from two points the Malays centered a vicious fusilade upon the artillery, which remained inactive owing to the obscurity of the Tagalan line of defense. No. 1 gun was moved back about 100 yards to a more sheltered station by the cemetery. Just as the first streaks of dawn appeared in the east the two guns blazed toward the blockhouse and the small church, in which were a large number of natives.

Simultaneously the Colorado infantry swung into position and with a withering fire slowly advanced upon the enemy. Several well-directed sh.e.l.ls sent the Filipinos flying from the blockhouse and a few more accurately trained shots annihilated the little church. As the Tagalans moved from their cover they fell many deep before the blasting volleys of the invincible Coloradoans.

As the natives fled from the church, the artillery turned its attention to Blockhouse No. 4, 1700 yards distant, and while the South Dakotans made a wonderful charge they demolished this wooden bulwark. Next the big guns were ordered to shatter Blockhouse No. 6, but before they could be brought into play against this point the insurgents had disappeared into the woods with the swift-moving Colorado infantrymen hard on their track. On the 6th the platoon was moved to a position left of Blockhouse No. 7. On this part of the line it remained until March 23rd, when it was ordered to Caloocan to take part in the fierce engagement at that point when the whole line charged the enemy's works on March 25th.

The damage inflicted on the natives of Sampaloe was very considerable.

Over a hundred bodies were buried there and in many a battered form could be seen that ripping course of a shrapnel. General Hale personally praised the work of Sergeants Emil Johnson and W.E. Knea.s.s, who were in immediate charge of the two rifles.

The guns of Battery B took a position on the left of the line to the south of Caloocan on the night of the war alarm. Second Lieutenant Seaman went out on the Caloocan road with one 3.2 gun. Major Grant left the Cuartel with three 3.2-inch guns, and after leaving one at Bilibid Prison took the remaining two up the rugged Bulum Bugan road as far as Lazaro Hospital. Emplacements were made under a spattering fire from the enemy at this point, facing the Chinese Hospital and the Binondo Cemetery, in both of which places the Tagalans were strongly lodged.

Only an occasional shot blazed towards the enemy during the night, but from a commanding position the artillery fire began at dawn with destructive and terrifying results. Besides driving the st.u.r.dily-intrenched Tagalans back, the Utah attack entirely covered the simultaneous advance of the Tenth Pennsylvania and South Dakota infantry.

The advance of the slowly-moving regiment was irresistable and the natives fell back from their position after a stubborn fight. All that day the Malay resisted the American advance with fanatical frenzy. The artillery moved forward at the same moment, but many times was delayed by burning huts. After an advance of about 400 yards they again joined the infantry line, but they had arrived at a conspicuous and dangerous position on the road, where for thirty minutes they fought desperately in the open under a heavy fire from the Filipino intrenchments. It was here that Major Bell of General McArthur's staff rode up and requested Major Grant to move up beyond the Chinese Hospital, where the Tagalans in a fierce engagement were inflicting heavy damage on the infantry.

Almost at the same moment Colonel Wallace sent word that a company of the Tenth Pennsylvanians had been cut off to the left, and Lieutenant Critchlow was sent with one gun up the Leco road to its a.s.sistance. The remaining guns tore the woods in front of the advancing infantry and cleared the way for the Pennsylvanians and South Dakotans, so that the right wing advanced at this point almost without a casualty. Still towards Caloocan the artillery advanced with the musketeers, and beyond the Cemetery Church the big guns sh.e.l.led the woods to the left of La Loma in front of the advancing Third United States Artillery (infantry) and Twentieth Kansas. Just when the Tagalans were fleeing, bleak with terror, from the artillery sh.e.l.ls; when Colonel Funston, like a young Jove, was pounding his way irresistibly up from the left, and when everything looked auspicious for an easy dash into Caloocan, word came from General MacArthur that the firing should cease. The spires of Caloocan were then almost in view, and there is an opinion that had General MacArthur not feared that the line would grow too thin by a further advance Funston would have taken Caloocan that night, with many railway cars and many supplies, and with the saving of many lives which went out on the next advance when the Filipinos had had time to bulwark themselves behind their wonderful intrenchments.

On the same day the guns were moved to a position close to La Loma Church. Later two Nordenfelt guns arrived, one of Battery A, and were stationed first at Blockhouse No. 3 and afterwards east of La Loma Church and in front of the left battalion of the South Dakota infantry.

These were commanded by Lieutenant Critchlow.

Meanwhile Lieutenant Seaman withstood a destructive fire on the Caloocan road. Early in the fight he was reinforced at the suggestion of the division commander by the addition of another gun. Major Young took personal command of the Nordenfelt which arrived there late that night.

Frequently in the encounter the natives rushed up to within 150 yards of our position, from which they went reeling back before the awful thunder of the big guns. At times the powder-begrimed Utahns were in advance of the main line, carrying death into the very teeth of the foe. So fierce was the conflict that Major Young had the gun manipulated in short reliefs, and this shortened the casualty list of our organization.

Corporal Wardlaw and Private Peter Anderson sustained wounds while serving their pieces in this manner. The natives trained two big guns on our position and fired fifteen ineffective shots from them. Next day the two guns supported the Kansas troops in their advance upon the Filipino intrenchments and Blockhouse No. 1. As the swift-moving column charged the enemy's line the two rifles tore great gaps into this wooden structure and plowed furrows into the wonderfully-constructed earthworks. When the insurgents had fled before the deadly volleys of the Kansans one gun was stationed at the blockhouse and the other at the Binondo Cemetery. Here they remained until February 10th, when they took part in the demonstration against Caloocan.

The next three days Major Grant's three guns did nothing except to fire occasionally at some enthusiastic Filipino sharpshooters. On the 11th a general advance was made by the Montana and the Kansas infantry and the Third United States Artillery. The artillery force consisted of two guns under Lieutenant Seaman on the hill to the left, two guns under Lieutenant Fleming of the Sixth United States Artillery on the railroad, Lieutenant Critchlow with two Nordenfelts at Blockhouse No. 2, and Grant with three 3.2-inch B. and L. rifles at La Loma Church. The prearranged signal for the attack was to be a bombardment by the navy accompanied by a similar action by Major Young's artillery force. The big guns pounded sh.e.l.l against the native defenses, and sent shrapnel singing into the woods surrounding the town, and under the somewhat ineffectual, but loudly-thundering labors of the fleet the infantry column hurried forward, and the Tagalans gradually swayed back. As the enemy retreated the aim of the guns was directed higher and several of these iron messengers went cras.h.i.+ng into the town. Some remarkably good work was performed by our gunners on this day. It is said that a small body of Filipinos could be seen reinforcing the intrenchments at the gate of the Caloocan Cemetery. A Utah gunner saw this, and turned his piece on the gate and shortly after a sh.e.l.l shuddered through the air on its 2600-yard journey. When the smoke cleared away, gate, Filipinos and war weapons strewed the ground for many yards.

Major Bell with a flanking column of Montanas deployed through a ravine on the right. Suddenly a long, rope-like column of natives whipped out of the fringe of the woods and quickly coiled around the company. Major Young saw the predicament in which the Americans were placed, and soon the murderous sh.e.l.ls fell in the midst of the column, which broke into fragments and disappeared the way it had come. The next day Major Bell was lavish in his praise of the batteries, and several British officers who were watching the progress of the fight complimented the gunners on their expert and effective gunnery.

During the attack on Caloocan Lieutenant Seaman followed with the infantry as far as the flames from the burning houses would permit and pulled the gun through Caloocan to a position on the Kansas line. On the 11th guns were moved to a position on a hillside near the residence of Mr. Higgins near Caloocan at a place where he commanded the causeway between Caloocan and Malabon. At this point the two guns were joined by a platoon of the Sixth Artillery and a 3.6 mortar under Corporal Boshard of Battery B.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LIEUT. GIBBS' SECTION AT FT. MACARTHUR.]

At this time Utah soldiers on different parts of the line manned thirty-two pieces of artillery, including 3.2-inch B.L. rifles, Hotchkiss revolving cannon, Hotchkiss mountain guns, Maxim Nordenfelts captured from the Spanish, Mortars, Colt's rapid-fire (Browning's) gun, a navy field piece, navy six-pounder and Gatling guns of various calibers.

After Caloocan was taken possession of by the troops scarcely any fighting was indulged in until March 25th, when an advance was made.

Except for occasional incursions into the enemy's territory for the purpose of driving back hara.s.sing sharpshooters there was a practical cessation of hostilities at the waterworks. At this time the line over which our guns were stationed extended from Malabon to Mariquina. At Caloocan a severe engagement occurred on the 23rd of February. A large force of insurgents came rus.h.i.+ng down from the hill towards our outposts and finally established themselves within 150 yards of the American lines. It was during this period that some of them were able to penetrate the American position and steal their way into Manila to take part in the burning of the Tondo district. This band was under the leaders.h.i.+p of a bold and gallant chief named Zandico. While Tondo was disappearing in flames and sharp hand-to-hand skirmishes were taking place between these Filipino desperadoes and the American police a furious altercation was going on between the darkly-outlined bulwarks of the two armies. During this attack sixty men of the Kansas and Montana regiments alone were killed and wounded.

The work of the sharpshooters showed the watchful alertness of the enemy. Whenever one of these riflemen espied a piece of American anatomy there was a report and a still messenger of death went skimming through the air. Frequently one of the large guns had to be employed to repress the zeal of one of these ubiquitous Malays. While repairing a breach in the gun pit Lieutenant Seaman received a wound in the leg, Corporal Southers was shot in the hip and Private Hill sustained a serious wound in the back.

About this time existed as remarkable a truce as was ever patched up between belligerent forces. Some Filipino statesmen came down from Malabon to see Aguinaldo, and as they carried a flag of truce firing from our side ceased. The natives signified their desire to talk and Colonel Funston and Major Young went half way to meet them. The Tagalans then made known their proposition, which was that there should be no firing between the two forces at that point for a period of ten days. Colonel Funston a.s.sented. This was directly in front of the Kansas line. The insurgents rigidly adhered to their promise, and while the Springfields and Mausers were angrily barking in the vicinity of the railroad track no messenger of war sped across the s.p.a.ce in front of the Kansans.

The four guns under Lieutenant Gibbs and Webb lifted to a commanding position on the hill above the waterworks, menaced the valley below.

Frequently they boomed from the mountains as a warning to the curious natives down on the wide plain of the San Mateo. The encounters which took place between the Americans and the Tagals at this place are ill.u.s.trative of the peculiar mode of warfare carried on by the natives.

Not a few times our forces made invasions in the enemy's country at Mariquina under the protection of the guns and drove his army into the foothills on the opposite side of the valley, only to find him back in his old position before nightfall with his camp fires piercing the gloom of the valley as darkness settled in.

These successive defeats seemed to have no power in dampening the ardor of the ducky warriors of the plains. They continued to make invasions on the American territory, and frequently waylaid belated American troops.

Up to March 25th the infantry force was not sufficiently large to hold the country which had been taken. Four times the town of Mariquina was captured in this style. Finally, by some peculiar decision of fate, a battalion of Coloradoans descended into the valley and after dislodging the enemy set fire to the hideous nipa huts. Thereafter fewer skirmishes occurred in this locality. The white and s.h.i.+ning church steeple arose above the blackened ruins as a ghostly monument of the work of war.

About four days after the occupancy of the waterworks by the American troops Colonel Stotsenberg with a small body of the infantry scoured the Mariquina plain, but though he met with some heated skirmishes and drove the enemy back, there was no visible results from his excursion.

The artillery was first used in an advance on February 17th, when the two Nordenfelt guns were taken down the Mariquina road by Lieutenant Gibbs. None of the Utah men were hurt on this occasion, although the natives fought stubbornly at short range and several men and officers of the Nebraska regiment were wounded. Meanwhile General Montenegro, known as one of the fiercest Filipino chiefs, had congregated his forces in the woods southwest of the pumping station towards Pasig Lake and Cainta. A plan was formed for surrounding the insurgents and the Nebraska and Was.h.i.+ngton infantry and the two Maxim Nordenfelts took part in the engagement. The artillery worked with the Nebraskans and sh.e.l.led the woods. Then there was a simultaneous advance from two sides by the regiments. The Was.h.i.+ngtons did their work well and the sh.e.l.ls from the guns were effective, but for once the Nebraskans failed in their usual dash and came up too late to cut off the retreat of the enemy and prevent his escape.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GUN AT PUMPING STATION FIRING ON MARIQUINA.]

Again on the 24th the two Nordenfelts under Lieutenant Webb moved down the Mariquina road, and did excellent work in aiding the Nebraskans to drive the natives back towards San Mateo. The B. and L. rifles from the hill fired into bodies of natives to the left of Mariquina Church on this occasion, and the death roster of the insurgents for that day was very great. A revolving Hotchkiss under Corporal Hesburg, located close to the Deposito, also inflicted severe damage on the natives. Still the enemy at this point was alert and aggressive. The next day Major Mulford went scouting with a small force to the right of Mariquina. Soon after he reached the valley he was completely surrounded by the insurgents.

Then the big guns on the hill sent bursting sh.e.l.ls fast into the Filipino ranks and soon they retired stubbornly into the woods. Several of Major Mulford's men were killed or wounded, and he stated afterwards that the Utah guns had saved himself and party. This skirmish proved that the natives were gathering there in a larger and more formidable force, and this circ.u.mstances led to the burning of Mariquina. All night the flames from the bamboo huts and old Spanish mansions illumined the valley, and when the troops descended the next morning they found that all the south and the greater part of the north end of the city were entirely destroyed.