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took Lieutenant Ball and about a dozen men from Company E, leaving the regiment in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Little for the time being. Moving rapidly over to the left of the regiment, our little detachment found a narrow road leading into the capital, and we went up it on the jump, now and then halting for a few seconds to peer around corners. The road soon became a street, and here we were joined by the ubiquitous Mr. Creelman, quite out of breath from his exertions in overtaking s, he having "smelled a rat" when he saw leave. We were fired upon by about a zen men behind a street barricade of es, gave them a couple of volleys and rushed them. A minute later we were e plaza or public square, and exed shots with a few men who were g through the streets starting fires. ildings occupied by Aguinaldo as nce and as offices and the Hall ess were burning. We gave such a few men could, and I sent 1 to General MacArthur that the ›urs. In a few moments troops e regiments of the brigade, as brigade commander himself,

Some time before we entered the square the First South Dakota had occupied the village of Barasoain, which is practically a continuation of Malolos, though it has, or at least then had, a separate municipal government. This circumstance caused some of our compatriots from the far north to feel irritated by the none too modest boast of a few of the men of the Twentieth Kansas to the effect that the Kansans had been the first men actually in the capital.

After all of us were comfortably seated about our own firesides in the United States the newspaper war waged over this question was only less bloody than the sanguinary long-range contest carried on by the Kansans with the men of the Tenth Pennsylvania over the Marilao affair. This is one of the weaknesses of troops having local or State pride to cater to. Circumstances had simply enabled men from these two regiments to be the first to enter Malolos and the neighboring town. As a matter of fact, the victory belonged to the whole division and the troops co-operating with it. Malolos was defended, not at Malolos itself, but at Caloocan, Tuliajan River, Malinta, Polo, Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, and Guiguinto.

h of General Funston's Philippine papers, "From Malolos to San Fernando,"
will appear in the September Number.]

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The necessity of repairing the railroad bridge and the much damaged track so that trains bringing up supplies from Manila could cross, as well as the construction of a bridge for our wheeled transportation, made it necessary for the whole division to remain on the north bank of the Marilao all the next day, and it was not until the morning of the 29th that we resumed the march. The day's rest and quiet had been a Godsend to all, as the weather was becoming uncomfortably hot in the middle of the day, and in spite of the short marches the men were beginning to show signs of fatigue, this condition being partly due to the watchfulness imposed at night. But the regiment, in common with the whole division, formed line of battle, having the First and Second Battalions on the firing line and the Third in reserve, five hundred yards in rear, and we trudged across the open fields, still having our right on the railroad. On our left was the First Montana, and across the railroad, to the right, the Tenth Pennsylvania. The Third Artilery was in reserve. As the long irregular line of blue approached the river near Bocaue we could see trenches on the opposite bank. Soon came the crackle of the Mausers and the usual whining and zipping of bullets. We quickened our pace, and when we were within eight hundred yards the two battalions on the firing line opened up. We made the attack at a fast walk, each man stopping only long enough to take aim, and reloading as he advanced. In some respects this method of attack is to be preferred to the advance by rushes, as the shooting is much more accurate. The enemy's fire was rather heavy, but after we opened very wild. Major Metcalf and six enlisted men were wounded. Metcalf, as has been told, had been shot through one ear in the trenches at Caloocan, and now went to the other extreme by getting a bullet through a foot, an exceedingly painful and annoying wound. For several hours he tried to stay with the regiment, but finally gave it up and sorrowfully allowed himself to be hauled back to Manila. He recovered in time to join us at San Fernando.

The Filipinos had learned by bitter experience that it was not always best to remain too long in their trenches, especially if the ground to the rear was open, so that they could be shot down in getting away,

and now as the regiment began to yell and rush forward, they vacated. A few of us seized the railroad bridge, which they had not much injured, and several regiments crossed on it, deploying again on the other bank preparatory to continuing the advance. The loss of the enemy had been light, and we found only a few dead in their trenches and near them.

While we were forming on the north bank of this stream we could see at Bigaa station, about two miles up the track, a number of railroad trains, and could see that the enemy's troops were entraining. Our fieldguns opened and created much confusion among them. As they fell back from Bigaa they burned the town, and we could see the dense clouds of smoke rolling skyward as we took up the march. Passing through Bigaa at about half past eleven, we met with no resistance on our part of the line, though we heard some firing by other organizations. We began fondly to hope that we might camp that night in Malolos, but it was not to be. At a little after four o'clock we approached the Guiguinto River, and found the trenches on the opposite bank deserted. The railroad bridge was burning, but the fire had made but very little progress, and was put out by the men of Company B of the Twentieth Kansas, the men carrying water from the river in vessels that they found in near-by houses. The stream was deep, and the banks high and steep, so that our seizure of this bridge was a most fortunate circumstance.

Across the river for about twelve hundred yards stretched a perfectly level field from which the rice had been harvested. Beyond that was what appeared to be dense woods. There was not a sign of life anywhere, but scouts were sent out up the railroad track a few hundred yards. The large force of the enemy, concealed in elaborate trenches in the margin of the woods, held their fire until they could make it count better than by giving themselves away in order to stir up a few scouts. No one had any doubt that the coast was absolutely clear, and the crossing began immediately. The ties had not been removed from the bridge, so that this was not a matter of difficulty. The Tenth Pennsylvania and the Twentieth Kansas began crossing at the same time, the former using the righthand side of the structure and the latter the

left-hand. Two field-pieces and the Colt automatic were brought across the bridge by hand and prepared to open to the front in case the necessity should arise. For the time being all horses had to be left on the south bank.

I was standing at the north end of the bridge, talking to General MacArthur and watching my regiment cross, when we were startled by a most terrific fire opened on us. The bullets came from the north, and it was correctly surmised that the enemy's trenches were in the edge of the woods on the opposite side of the field. It was by far the best shooting that I have ever seen the Filipinos do. They were beyond the effective range of our Springfields, and knew it. They had the exact range and were using their sights, and had a good rest for their rifles over the parapet of their trench. The bullets were whipping up little dust spots all about, and actually filling the air with their various sorts of noises. Major P. B. Strong, adjutant-general of the division, standing within three feet of General MacArthur, was wounded, and dozens of bullets struck the bridge.

The two regiments crossed with great rapidity, each company, as it cleared the bridge, deploying and rushing up to the firing line. The Tenth Pennsylvania deployed to the right of the railroad and the Twentieth Kansas to the left. It was enough to warm the cockles of a soldier's heart to see the perfect coolness of these now veteran fighters under that rain of bullets to which they could make no adequate reply. Each company of the Twentieth Kansas, as it cleared the bridge, formed line at one pace interval, moved on a run by the left flank, faced to the front at a point that would make its right coincide with the left of the company that had preceded it, and then fairly flew over the ground until it came up on the firing line, when it went down flat to the earth and the men began to work their rifles with great vigor. The most of our firing was by platoon volleys, and crash succeeded crash with intervals of only a few seconds. The two field-pieces and the Colt automatic were in action, and were adding to the uproar. We soon began to advance by rushes, in order to come to close quarters. I was up on the firing line, and having occasion to look to the rear in order to see if all of the regiVOL. L.-17

ment had cleared the bridge, was astonished at the number of writhing forms in the little part of the field that we had crossed, and at the number of men being assisted to the shelter of the few straw stacks. The cry "Hospital Corps" was coming from all sides.

Chief Trumpeter Barshfield and I were stooping down behind the prone men of Company G, and my attention was attracted to the difficulty one of the men, Private Birlew, was having in extracting a shell that had jammed in his piece. I was so close I could have touched him, and do not suppose I watched him more than three seconds, when I saw one whole side of his head torn open, and his face dropped down into the rice stubble, his hands clutched convulsively, and life's battle with him was over. The Filipinos had no mind to allow us to come to close quarters when they had no friendly stream to stop our rush, and when they saw that we were going to close with them, vacated their trenches, and the firing ceased as abruptly as it had begun. I went at once toward the bridge to report to the division commander, and on my way passed one of the little straw stacks, and noticed behind it half a dozen wounded men being treated by the surgeons of the regiment who by the way got under fire as much as any of us. The fight had not lasted more than fifteen minutes, but the Twentieth Kansas had Privates Birlew, Dix, and Wilson killed, and Captain W. J. Watson and eighteen enlisted men wounded. Captain Watson, one of the best officers in the regiment, carries to this day, just back of his heart, the bullet received at Guiguinto. It was the last of his active service with the Twentieth Kansas, but he came back to the Philippines a year later in the Fortieth United States Volunteers, and lost a leg in an engagement in Mindanao. Having had his system sufficiently ventilated by bullets, Watson is now engaged in the peaceful pursuit of presiding over the post office at his home town of Pittsburg, Kansas.

The troops that had fought at Guiguinto bivouacked in line of battle. The next forenoon was spent in the necessary but prosaic work of distributing rations and ammunition, and it was after two o'clock in the afternoon when we resumed the march, the Twentieth Kansas having the

same relative position as on the preceding day. We were more than interested in the long and well-made trench, twelve hundred yards north of the bridge that had sheltered our assailants of the night before. If there had been any dead or wounded in them they had been removed. It is very unlikely, however, that the Filipinos had had more than a few men hit, as they had fought at long range behind excellent cover, while we had been in the open. We advanced slowly and cautiously, passing line after line of formidable trenches that must have cost an enormous amount of labor on the part of the noncombatants who had been rounded up by thousands by the insurgent leaders and compelled to work on them. During the afternoon no resistance was encountered, and at night we encamped within three miles of the insurgent capital. We would have had time to go in, but it was supposed that resistance of a serious nature would be offered, and it was not desired to bring on a fight when there was not sufficient daylight left to finish it in style.

From a strategic stand-point, Malolos was a place of no importance, but it was taken for granted that the enemy would desperately resist our occupation of his capital because of the moral effect that such a disaster would have, not only discouraging their own people, but giving the impression in foreign lands that the insurgent cause was lost, for it must not be forgotten that to the last the deluded Filipinos gave themselves "Dutch courage" by believing every ridiculous rumor of foreign intervention in their behalf. All reports agreed that the great fight of the campaign was at hand, and it looked ominous, for on our front were line after line of trenches and some formidable earthen redoubts. Scouts reported that up to this evening they were strongly held.

The next morning we were up bright and early in anticipation of an eventful day, for, fighting or no fighting, the occupation of an enemy's capital is a historical event of importance. When daylight came not a trace of life was apparent in the trenches on the front of our brigade, but the Filipinos might be playing one of their sharp tricks, trying to lure us into an incautious advance. Beginning at exactly seven o'clock there was an artillery preparation of half an hour, in which the eight or ten field-pieces with us, under the direction of Major Young, vig

orously shelled the trenches and redoubts at a distance of about a mile, but without causing any stir in their vicinity. Immediately upon the cessation of the cannonade the infantry advance began, the whole Second Division being deployed on a front of over two miles. As for two days past, the Twentieth Kansas formed the right of Otis's brigade, which was on the left of the railway.

The various regiments of the division had been so reduced by sickness, heat prostrations, and battle casualties that they did not aggregate the formidable total that a week before had forced the passage of the Tuliajan. Wheaton's brigade, which had been coming up in rear of the division, guarding the line of communication was now deployed immediately behind us as a support. So that as the two lines moved forward we numbered about six thousand men. As the advance was to be made successively from the right of the division to the left, Hale's brigade got the first start, and we heard some lively firing on its front and saw that it was carrying one or two lines of trenches. Immediately in advance of the Twentieth Kansas was a redoubt covering probably an acre of ground, with flanking trenches. We were within a thousand yards of it, when I had the regiment lie down, and sent a few scouts to examine the work. It was ticklish work, but manfully done. It would be better to sacrifice half a dozen men than five or six times that number. We watched the scouts anxiously as they darted forward and threw themselves on the ground between dashes. Finally they made the last rush and went over the parapet of the redoubt. It was with great relief that we heard no firing, and soon they were back on the parapet signalling that the coast was clear. We then went forward rapidly, and soon passed the work and were halted some distance beyond it by the division commander, who was close up to the firing line. There was still a little firing in the direction of Hale's brigade, and a number of high bullets fired at his right reached us, one man of the regiment being wounded.

We were now less than a mile from the nipa houses in the suburbs of Malolos. I was on the railroad track with the division commander, when he asked me if I would like to take a few men and feel my way into the town. I said I would be glad to, and

took Lieutenant Ball and about a dozen men from Company E, leaving the regiment in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Little for the time being. Moving rapidly over to the left of the regiment, our little detachment found a narrow road leading into the capital, and we went up it on the jump, now and then halting for a few seconds to peer around corners. The road soon became a street, and here we were joined by the ubiquitous Mr. Creelman, quite out of breath from his exertions in overtaking us, he having "smelled a rat" when he saw us leave. We were fired upon by about a dozen men behind a street barricade of stones, gave them a couple of volleys and then rushed them. A minute later we were in the plaza or public square, and exchanged shots with a few men who were running through the streets starting fires. The buildings occupied by Aguinaldo as a residence and as offices and the Hall of Congress were burning. We gave such cheers as a few men could, and I sent back word to General MacArthur that the town was ours. In a few moments troops from all the regiments of the brigade, as well as the brigade commander himself, joined us.

Some time before we entered the square the First South Dakota had occupied the village of Barasoain, which is practically a continuation of Malolos, though it has, or at least then had, a separate municipal government. This circumstance caused some of our compatriots from the far north to feel irritated by the none too modest boast of a few of the men of the Twentieth Kansas to the effect that the Kansans had been the first men actually in the capital.

After all of us were comfortably seated about our own firesides in the United States the newspaper war waged over this question was only less bloody than the sanguinary long-range contest carried on by the Kansans with the men of the Tenth Pennsylvania over the Marilao affair. This is one of the weaknesses of troops having local or State pride to cater to. Circumstances had simply enabled men from these two regiments to be the first to enter Malolos and the neighboring town. As a matter of fact, the victory belonged to the whole division and the troops co-operating with it. Malolos was defended, not at Malolos itself, but at Caloocan, Tuliajan River, Malinta, Polo, Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, and Guiguinto.

[The fourth of General Funston's Philippine papers, "From Malolos to San Fernando," will appear in the September Number.]

REPAYMENT

By John Kendrick Bangs

THAT part of me that from the earth hath come
Let earth take back again when comes the hour
That marks of my achievement the full sum,
And sets the limit to my feeble power.

I grudge no bit of it,-the loan of clay

That from her breast I've ta'en I shall return,

And have no slight reluctance to repay,
Nor ever think the debt incurred to spurn.

But that which of the spirit is in me

Let no earth-creditor of me demand:

To earth give earth's, to Immortality

The gifts divine from the Immortal Hand.

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