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of the first line of rebel trenches, General Wheaton and his staff now took up their posi. tion at the centre of this line and advanced along the railway to a point situated on the northern aspect of the woods, called Whea ton's hole, the latter being a natural gully just to the east of the railroad, well protected and concealed from all surrounding parts. From the contiguous portion of the railroad a splendid view of the country beyond could be obtained. Geneal Wheaton lost no time in putting to good use this new stretch of captured railroad, and it was not long before two six pounders were brought on the scene, together with a trainload of ammunition, food supplies, telegraphic wires, distilled water, etc.
The Engineers were soon busily at work setting up telegraphic communication between here and Caloocan Church. The latter was the head quarters of yesterday. Wheaton's hole was to be the head-quarters of to-day.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
[April 18, 1809
at the edge of the river, the third and smallest pletely hid his small goatee beard and even the (F. 5), consisting of a large pile of earthworks point of his chin. I mention this little incident au thrown up on the railway itself, on our (i.e. the within a short time from now this officer was shot the southern) side of the river. Upon the top Having got all the troops soross, and being of this latter the rebels had erected some reinforced by those men who had crossed the dummy men which, to the naked eye, looked river yesterday evening, we proceeded in a north, very real. They were evidently living in westerly direction very slowly and cautiously. the hope that the Americans would shell not knowing the instant we might receive the central fort and destroy the railway volley from the bush. The ground was very un bridge. General Wheaton spent the remainder dulating, studded with bush and intersected by of Saturday afternoon shelling the two forts areeks, and the Colonel had the greatest diffi- F. 4 and F. 6, leaving F. 5 severely alone, and onlty in keeping his line straight and unbroken. also Malinta church and village, situated on the The monotonous boom of the 6-pounders at top of a hill beyond the forts, about 2 miles Wheaton's hole now censed; we were evidently distant. No compunction was felt in shelling the nearing the forts and had been seen by church, it being already in ruins. The answer- Wheaton's party at the base. As we were ing rebel fire came chiefly from the forts on crossing the last creek, and a filthy black either side of the railway and from the sur-muddy thing it was too, the soldier in front of the church, the signficance of which fact will be rounding woods. Scarcely a shot was fired from
seen later.
Darkness now coming on, all firing ceased, and we prepared to settle down for the night. The plan of campaign for the morrow was as follows: The forts F. 4, F. 5, and F. 6 were to be taken in a similar manner to that adopted in capturing F. 2, that is, by a faak movement. the front would be kept up by shelling them an appearance of attempting to take them from from Wheaton's hole. Moreover, it was hoped that the effect of shelling the forts would be to make the rebels stick to them and prevent them flying up the hill to the church and village,
instant my foot impinged against something soft. Putting my hand down into the water, I hauled up what proved to be the body of a dend Filipino. Two bullets had pierced his brain, for I counted four bullet holes in his skull-a shrap- nel shell had probably exploded near him. He could only have been dead a few minutes for decomposition sets in so rapidly in this hat putrefactive gasses generated. Twenty yards weather, owing to the enormous quantities of flower down was a bamboo raft that had been used for conveying ammunition, etc.. up to their various forts and blookhouses. Probably he had been shot whilst on the raft, and one of the soldiers could feel his rifle in the mad beneath, but wa had no time then to get it up. I made an in- ward resolution, however, to return another day and capture it.
me stumbled and fell into the water. The next
In the meantime the western and eastern parts of the line were steadily advancing through the woods. The former met with but little op- position and took up their station on the west of Wheaton's hole, lining up along the southern banks of the Binoanga river. The latter, however, met with some severe fighting around a fort situated to the north of the woods. This fort they ultimately, captured with but few casualties and without any loss of life on their side, though one rebel was killed and one mortally wounded. It was at this spot that an
Having already a considerable number of men incident occurred which I think worthy of
on the opposite bank of the Talihao-o river on the recording, in that it speaks well for the straight-east of the line, and knowing the nature of the forwardness of the insurgents. In the middle of river at this spot, General Wheaton decided to the fight a Filipino fell between the two foes make the flank movement on this side, the and was observed writhing in agony in the country to the west of the three forts, being low-ground covered with bamboo and brushwood, We now came upon an elevated piece of centre of the field. Tying a piece of bandage to lying, open, and exposed, was not at all adapted beyond which we knew were the three a stick and waving it in the air, Dr. Shields for such a movement.
forts. A halt was ordered and scouts sent ahead; and his assistant went up to the wounded man
The first sight that greeted our eyes at dawn the latter, however, quickly returned to say that carried him back to a place of shelter, where and his wounds were attended to, not a shot being from the town of Malabon, from all the prin
was an enormous column of smoke rising up the forts were apparently empty, and on get. ting to the top of the hill we found this fired by the rebels until the white bandage was lowered. The wounded man had been shot oipal buildings of which huge tongues of fame to be only too true; not a Filipino was to bo through the liver and gall bladder, and large
were leaping, their size being much exaggerated seen, dead or alive. The rebels had anticipated quantities of bile and blood were escaping. But by their inverted reflection in the water separat this flank movement and vamoosed in the night. little could be done for him beyond the reliefing the town from the mainland. What a sight Moreover, to give the forts a semblance of life,
for Sunday morning!
they had, just before dawn, lit fires in theu. of pain, and he rapidly succumbed to his.
We had to confess to having been thoroughly injuries.
taken in, struck all of a heap like," as one of the soldiers said. However, another stretch of the train was already on the move, bringing down with it General Wheaton and his stuff, whom we had left at Wheaton's hole whilst making the detour. The lower or western end of the line was now fording the river below the here, but the rebels had blown up the greater railway bridge. There used to be a bridge
part of it. Scouts were now sent along the railway line as far as the bridge (B) over the railway leading to Malinta village; but the enemy. It was therefore concluded that they returned, having seen nothing of
the church and village had been vacat xi,
We had just finished our breakfast when an amusing incident occurred. I was talking at the Cornhill University, and we were watching the weird manner in which the leaves of the sensitive plant opened and closed themselves, when there was a yell accompanied by the crack of a rifle and the whistle of a bullet. At the same instant one of the soldiers came running down the decline at the rate of knots, as the Americans
the time to Professor Shermann, President of
Having captured the first fort, marked F. 1 on the map, this section of the line again advanced till they were suddenly arrested by a heavy fire from a fort marked F. 2, about 200 yards away and on the opposite bank of a river, the Talihao-o Tausa river. The Americans, after brief stand, were compelled to retreat and Book cover, from which a somewhat realtered fire was directed at the fort; however, it soon became manifest that the fort was impregnableY. from the front, so it was decided to simulately farther retreat, then make a detour, ford the river half a mile higher up, and come up final a on the rear flank of the fort and endeavour to take it from that position. In this the Americans had everything in their favour; for to the north
of the fort was some thick cover situated on an elevated piece of ground.
On asking him the cause of this unseemly exhibition of energy, he held up his left hand, the left-ring finger of which had been pieroed by a bullet, leaving a circular opening through the first phalanx as neat and complete as though bored by an augur. After being dressed he wanted to go on fighting, and was very annoyed because I would not allow him to. "Taint so much the durned port-hole through me finger," all the fun." he said,
as gets me on the raw, it's the losin' of
-
fo
railroad was in the hands of the Américans, and
and an order was given to advance to-
wards the latter.
This was accordingly done, the river forded at a spot marked (2) on the map, the men being drawn up on the northern side of the hillock (8), from the top of which the rebels could plainly be seen lying in their trenches and expectantly awaiting an attack from the front, quite innocent of their circum- vention. At the first volley from the Americans, they rose as one man and, taking | smokeless powder, it was very hard at the dis- fore some fourteen were badly wounded, and“
+
in at a glance the utter hopelessness of the situation, fied, some along the banks of the river, others jumping into the river and swimming down it, but eight of their number remaining dead in the field. Having captured the fort and it now being 5 pm: it was decided to camp here for the night. The position of the American line from now till dawn next day is shown by the dotted line to the south of the Binoanga river, orossing Wheaton's hole and extending along the northern bank of the Talibao-o Tausa river as far as the fort just captured (F. 2), around which both banks of the river were in the hands of the Americans. At Wheaton's hole the Artillery were at work shelling some very powerful forts on the northern banks of the Talibao-o
mo-o river. These forts marked F. 4, and F. 6, were about mile distant; the largest (F. 6) was to the left of the railway, another (F. 4) was on the right of the railway
The two six-pounders had already commenced shelling the forts, from behind which columns of smoke might be seen issuing, thought by the Americans to be fires used for culinary pur- poses. The return fire came from the various woods around, and, as the rebels were using
tance we then were to ascertain with anything like exactness their position. One thing only was certain, and it rather puzzled us-the rebels behind the forts and in the church were not firing back, the explanation generally accepted being that owing to the shelling of yesterday the church was deserted, and that the shrapnel now being poured into the forts was making it too hot for the insurgents to expose themselves in order to fire back.
We were now upon high- lying ground at K. Malinta village was also upon a raised piece of ground half a mile dis- tant; separating us was an open valley. We had advanced some 70 yards and were well into the open, about 200 men being fully exposed, when suddenly and without the least warning a tremendous volley was fired at us from the church and village. Col. Egbert immediately doubled his men back to the cover, but not be- three killed. Col. Egbert was shot through the back, there being just time to get him upon a stretcher and convey him to a place of shelter before he succumbed. It was very sad to see this gallant officer. Only a few minutes before he had offered me a drink of water from his water-bottle, and now here he was writhing in pain. He had a reputation for always being where the bullets were most plentiful, and was never known to ask a soldier to go into any p
• place of danger he himself would not go into. What made it more pathetic was that his wife and children were at that time living in Manila. Major Shields and his orderly both had their horses shot from under them. Two men were shot through the head, one through the chest. For the next fifteen minutes the firing was ex- cessive, and it makes one tremble to think what slaughter there would have been had the In surgents been good shots; but the majority of
Col. Egbert, with the 22nd and 3rd, now started from Wheaton's hole in an easterly direction. I accompanied these regiments. We marched Indian-file fashion until the Talihao-o Tansa river was reached. We forded the river opposite fort 2; it is not deep at this spot, barely five feet. Major Shields led the way, he having crossed it at this spot before. Col. Egbert followed; I was just behind the latters and remember seeing the water rising till it com
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