I never
saw another officer under the influence of liquor when in the field.
At the time that we visited the Insurgent trenches, not all of our
own killed and wounded had been removed, yet every wounded Insurgent
whom we found had a United States army canteen of water at his side,
obviously left by some kindly American soldier. Not a few of the
injured had been furnished hardtack as well. All were ultimately
taken to Manila and there given the best of care by army surgeons.
Sometime later a most extraordinary account of this fight, written by a
soldier, was published in the _Springfield Republican_. It was charged
that our men had murdered prisoners in cold blood, and had committed
all manner of barbarities, the writer saying among other things:--
"We first bombarded a town called Malabon and then entered it and
killed every man, woman and child in the place."
The facts were briefly as follows: There was an Insurgent regiment in
and near a mangrove swamp to the right of this town. When it became
obstreperous it was shelled for a short time until it quieted down
again. None of the shells entered the town. Indeed, most of them
struck in the water. Our troops did not enter Malabon that day,
but passed to the northward, leaving behind a small guard to keep
the Insurgents from coming out of Malabon in their rear.
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