their knitting. There had been scarcely a word spoken except for the occasional commands given by officers and non-commissioned officers, but when we were within eighty yards I had the "Charge" blown. Only the men near the trumpeter could hear it, but as they raised a yell and went forward on a run the others followed suit. It does not take long to cover eighty yards if you are in a hurry, and in no time we were among them. Of course, as soon as our men began to run, they ceased firing, though it was recommenced to a certain extent when we closed. As we reached the position and went over the dike all of the Filipinos who had not been killed or disabled rose to their feet and tried to get away. If we had molested them no further, and had let them go, it is probable that the fight would have ended at once, but our men were among them and a good many fought to save their lives. It did not seem to occur to them that they would be spared if they threw down their arms, but they had been used to fighting Spaniards, who had given them the same kind of quarter that they had given the insurgents of Cuba. A confused mêlée followed. It was the only time in my life that I saw the bayonet actually used.

Within twenty feet of me, a plucky little Filipino, one of the few of them who had his bayonet fixed, made a vicious jab at one of our sergeants, and a second later was run through the body. And he was not the only one to get the cold steel. During the mix-up I saw a Filipino raise his rifle and at a distance of only a few yards take a shot at one of our men. Just as the bullet struck the soldier in the thigh he saw the man who had shot him lowering his rifle. At first he seemed dazed, dropping his own weapon, but without stopping to pick it up sailed into that Filipino bare-handed, twisted his rifle out of his hands and beat his brains out with it. The enemy had a very fine silken flag with the emblem of the Katipunan embroidered on it. A number of them tried to get away with it, and it became the centre of a short and sharp struggle in which fire-arms could not be used. In fact, it resembled as much as anything some of the confused scrambles that are seen on the foot-ball field. When we finally got the flag it had been riddled by bullets and was drenched in blood. It is now

in the State House at Topeka. All of the Filipinos who could do so were getting toward the rear as rapidly as possible. Those who could cover the sixty yards to the dense underbrush were safe, as our orders did not permit us to follow them.

The whole affair had lasted less time than it takes to tell it. The companies were assembled as soon as possible, preparatory to returning to our own lines, as a counter attack which might be made on us by the Filipinos in the Caloocan trenches, distant only a few hundred yards, might have brought on the general engagement that I had orders to avoid. The Filipinos suffered severely in this combat, but we did not take the time necessary to make a complete count of their dead and disabled, though along the left of their trench where the hardest fighting had taken place, I counted thirty dead. There were not a great many wounded left on the ground, as all who were able to rise had escaped to the rear. Among the dead we were surprised to find a very large and coal-black negro. As this was many months before any of our colored troops had been brought to the islands, the man could not have been a deserter from them, but was probably some vagabond seaman who had run away from a merchantvessel in Manila Bay. The storm of bullets that we had poured into the enemy as we advanced, disconcerting and "rattling" him, as well as the fact that the Filipinos were absolutely no match for our much larger men in the hand-to-hand struggle, had saved us from heavy loss. First Lieutenant Alfred C. Alford, commanding Company B, an excellent officer, who had been one of my schoolmates at the University of Kansas, was killed just as we carried the position. Sergeant Jay Sheldon, of Company I, was so badly wounded that he died the next day, while five other enlisted men were wounded, all severely. After we had returned to our line I went over to the dressing station to see our wounded. I tried to cheer up and encourage Sergeant Sheldon, though the surgeon had told me that his condition was very grave. He was a plucky fellow, and though suffering greatly, made the remark, "Well, it was worth getting hit to have been in so fine a fight." We had left the enemy's wounded where they had fallen,knowing that their friends would come for them during the night, now close at hand.

After the affair just described practically nothing of note occurred along the front of the Twentieth Kansas until the afternoon of the 10th, though we could occasionally hear firing far to the right along the front of Hale's brigade. After consideration of the situation General MacArthur determined to rectify the line occupied by the division to the extent of advancing our brigade, the First. From left to right the three regiments of the brigade were distributed as follows: Twentieth Kansas, First Montana, and Third Artillery, the last-named organization connecting with Hale's brigade on the ridge near La Loma church. The con

templated movement really constituted a partial wheel to the right, pivoting on the right of the Third Artillery, so that that regiment had to make a very slight advance, the First Montana considerably more, while my own regiment had to push forward through the woods for more than half a mile, incidentally taking the town of Caloocan and the trenches covering it. Major Whitman had become ill a day or two previously and had returned to Manila, so that his battalion was commanded by Captain Edmund Boltwood, a gallant old veteran of the Civil War, in which he had served as an officer.

After the orders for the attack had been issued I had a heart-to-heart talk with Major Kobbe of the Third Artillery, and confided to him that I expected my regiment to lose heavily, as it would have to carry the strong trenches covering Caloocan on the south, as well as the massive church and adjacent wall. That officer agreed that I had a hard job cut out, and coincided with my view that the best way to avoid heavy loss in the advance would be to cover the Filipinos with fire as we attacked, and to make no attempt to save ammunition. The experience obtained in our attacks of the 5th and 7th had convinced me that by sweeping the ground that we were advancing over with a storm of bullets we could so demoralize the enemy that his fire would be badly directed. Appropriate orders were issued to battalion and company commanders, and we formed for the attack, being, so far, completely screened from the enemy by the woods on our front. The preliminary bombardment of the Filipino position by several vessels of the fleet and all our field artillery, took half an hour, and fairly filled the air with its roar. Owing to intervening tree growth the trenches could not be seen from the fleet, but their positions were approximately known, being marked by the church, which was in sight. The eight-inch and six-inch shells, following each other in quick succession, were continuously exploding in the woods to our front. They must have been a severe trial for the insurgents, as they had no adequate protection from them. Of course, however, the fire of the fleet had to cease before the beginning of the infantry attack, so that they had some time in which to recover their composure. At last the pandemonium of sound ceased, and we dashed forward into the woods. Although the insurgents could not yet see us, they knew from the movements of the other two regiments in the open ground that the advance had begun, and how they did fill those woods with bullets! We had all twelve companies on the firing line, our support marching in rear being a battalion of the First Idaho, brought over for the occasion from the First Division, and the whole regiment as the bugles rang out the command to commence firing became wreathed in smoke, while the noise was so great that it was out of the question to make one's self heard. The attack was made at a walk,

the men firing to the front as rapidly as they could, regardless of the fact that at first no target could be seen. Many bullets were stopped by tree trunks, but thousands more, striking about the Filipino trenches or passing close over them, so demoralized the defenders that their fire, while of great volume, was very wild. I had started to ride my horse through the fight, but finally concluded to dismount, as fences confined me largely to the road, down which was coming the heaviest fire. So I followed the attack on foot, immediately behind Company C. We passed over the scene of the severe little fight of the 7th, and saw the Filipino dead still lying where they had fallen, though their wounded had been removed. In this company was a unique character, Sergeant John C. Murphy, who died only a couple of years ago as a retired officer of the regular army. Throughout the whole advance Murphy serenely smoked a large brier-wood pipe, which he only removed from his mouth when it became necessary to address some pointed remarks to the men of his section. He saw one of his men crouch quietly down behind a low shelter as if he contemplated remaining there as the company passed on. Murphy walked back to the man, deliberately removed his pipe, as if he were afraid of biting the stem in two, and then with unhoneyed words fairly kicked him up onto the firing line, where the man made up for lost time by plying his rifle with great vigor.

The five companies on the right of the regiment had now broken into the open in full view of the church and the trenches near it. These trenches and the top of the wall near the church were alive with straw hats bobbing up and down, while from both came a severe but badly aimed fire. It was a pretty exciting moment. For half a minute one company showed some signs of disorder, the men beginning to halt and lie down, but Major Metcalf and the officers and sergeants of the company strode up and down the line and quickly got them going again. I ordered the "Charge" blown, and all who could hear it sprang forward, the men to the right or left taking the cue and advancing with them, the whole regiment breaking into yells as we closed. In no time we were over the trenches, the survivors among the defenders bolting to the rear, the wall near the church being abandoned at the

same time. Some of them were shot down as they ran, but our men were so "winded" that their shooting was not so good as it might have been. Major Metcalf saw one man bring down a fleeing Filipino by, with both hands, hurling his rifle at him, muzzle first. The bayonet passed entirely through the man's skull. The bottom of the trench was a shocking spectacle, being simply covered with dead and wounded men, the most of whom had been brought down in the brief fire fight at close range that had preceded the final rush. The town had been fired in many places by the Filipinos as they retired. The nipa houses burned like tinder, and through the smoke and flames we took up the pursuit.

There was a moment's delay after the church was reached, the field and staff officers remounted their horses that had been brought up in the rear of the line, and the irregular and waving line of a thousand yelling men pushed through the burning town in pursuit. We were soon in the open country, but the fleet-footed Filipinos had several hundred yards the start of us, and we did not bring down many of them, the excitement of the chase and the ex

haustion of the men not being conducive to good shooting. Occasionally a group would turn and fire on us for a few seconds, but the most of their efforts were bent on placing the Tuliajan River between themselves and our line. We chased them to the summit of the ridge overlooking that stream, about half a mile beyond Caloocan, and then halted, being far beyond where we had been directed to establish our new line.

The dusk was now gathering, but across the river near Malinta we could see long lines of the enemy, some of whom opened on us with a rather sharp but quite ineffective fire, the distance being about twelve hundred yards. We did not at first reply, but finally Captain Orwig of his own initiative began volley-firing with his company. I rode over to his position and pitched into him rather savagely in the hearing of his men, telling him that we could not hit anybody with our old Springfields at that distance, and that the fire of the enemy could do us no harm. Hardly had I delivered myself of this sage opinion when my horse whirled suddenly and began to sink down. Dismounting immediately, it was discovered that the animal had been shot clear

through the neck, one of the surgeons later removing the bullet from under the skin on the right-hand side. In view of my heated remarks only a moment before, this incident caused a derisive chuckle throughout the whole company. The horse, a fine little bay of the better type of Filipino pony, surefooted, and indifferent to the noise of firing, completely recovered in time, and I rode him through all of the campaign up the railroad.

After dark the regiment fell back to a point about four hundred yards north of the Caloocan church where it was to intrench and remain until the general advance, six weeks later. Considering the heavy fire that we had been under, especially while the right flank of the regiment was engaging the trenches near the church, our losses had been small, consisting of two enlisted men killed and Captain Christy and eight enlisted men wounded. This did not include several slight wounds and contusions from spent bullets. The next morning we counted sixty-four insurgent dead, mostly in the trenches near the church or in their vicinity. Their wounded who had been left on the ground we gathered up and sent in to the hospital with our own. About one hundred rifles and several thousand rounds of ammunition were captured and destroyed, as we had no way of sending them back to the city. We also found standing near the railway repair-shops the big bronze siege-gun that had fired at us during the fighting of the night of the 4th and the next day. It had not been used in the present engagement, possibly because its ammunition had been exhausted. It must by no means be inferred that all the fighting on this day had fallen to the Twentieth Kansas, as the other two regiments of the brigade were just as severely engaged, but in the open country, while a detachment under Major Bell had assisted in the operation by crawling up a ravine and attacking the enemy in the left flank.

The regiment's new line was an undesirable one for several reasons, all of them beyond the control of any body other than the insurgents. Its left was on the narrow causeway which connected Caloocan with the considerable town of Malabon, this causeway being parallel with the regiment, or rather being on an extension of its left flank. This condition subjected us con

stantly to a long-range enfilading fire which in the long run cost us numerous casualties, but which was in a measure provided against by the construction of sand-bag traverses six feet high in the shelter occupied by the battalion on the left. On the front of this same battalion the woods and bamboos came very close, and the ground was cut up by shallow ravines, the insurgents thus being enabled to construct trenches almost under our noses. The town of Malabon could not be taken except under the most disadvantageous conditions until our line had been advanced beyond the Tuliajan River, as the only method possible would have been a charge up the narrow causeway, flanked on both sides by swamps, and would have been a costly enterprise, especially as a bridge on it had been removed.

A week or so later I volunteered to try to rush the causeway by night with a small detachment in the hope that we could effect a lodgment in the town and hold on until the arrival of reinforcements. But General MacArthur did not think much of the project, and I have no doubt that his judgment was correct. At the time we had not a sufficient number of troops to hold the town even if we had succeeded in taking it. The centre of the regiment occupied an old Spanish trench which we improved, while the right, extending across the railroad, made some very satisfactory cover for itself. All day of the 11th was spent in intrenching, the work being done under an almost incessant long-range fire from Malabon. The left flank battalion was protected by a loopholed sand-bag parapet six feet high, and was provided with traverses at short intervals. Just to the front of the centre of our right the field artillery constructed a redoubt open to the rear in which were installed several field-pieces. Lieutenant Seaman, of the Utah Artillery Battalion, was wounded while supervising the work, and was succeeded by Lieutenant Fleming, Sixth Artillery, who, under the general direction of Major Young, the chief of artillery, had charge of the battery thereafter. The Twentieth Kansas had four men wounded during the day, while two men of the Thirteenth Minnesota who in order to see some fighting had run away from their own regiment, which was still on duty in the city, were also hit, which came about being what they deserved.