Young's Fight at Las Guasimas 85 



and the regulars would have had very hard work 

 indeed. ^Tiffany, by great exertions, had corraled a 

 couple of mules and was using them to transport the 

 Colt automatic guns in the rear of the regiment. 

 The dynamite gun was not with us, as mules for it 

 could not be obtained in time. 



Captain Capron's troop was in the lead, it being 

 chosen for the most responsible and dangerous po- 

 sition because of Capron's capacity. Four men, 

 headed by Sergeant Hamilton Fish, went first; a 

 support of twenty men followed some distance be- 

 hind; and then came Capron and the rest of his 

 troop, followed by Wood, with whom General 

 Young had sent Lieutenants Smedburg and Rivers 

 as aides. I rode close behind, at the head of the 

 other three troops of my squadron, and then came 

 Brodie at the head of his squadron. The trail was 

 so narrow that for the most part the men marched 

 in single file, and it was bordered by dense, tangled 

 jungle, through which a man could with difficulty 

 force his way; so that to put out flankejs was im- 

 possible, for they could not possibly have kept up 

 with the march of the column. Every man had his 

 canteen full. There was a Cuban guide at the head 

 of the column, but he ran away as soon as the fight- 

 ing began. There were also with us, at the head 

 of the column, two men who did not run away, who, 

 though non-combatants newspaper correspondents 



