d be well to give some account of the reasoning which l

iters that the artillery arm of the service would find much greater difficulty in operating at short ranges, and that assaults upon fortified positions would be much more difficult in the future. But only Gen. Williston, of the United States Artillery, had ever taken the advanced ground that in a machine gun arm would be found a valuable auxili

g Battery under Artil

the part of the Artillery, but as an inherent defect in any arm of the service which depends upon draft to reach an effective position. It was not believed that animals could live at a shorter range in anything like open country. The problem of supporting an infantry charge by some sort of fire immediately became the great tactical problem of

of special study by him for several years, and had led to the conclusion that some form of machine gun must be adopted to take the place of artillery from 1500 yards down. This in turn led to the study of machine guns. The different forms in use in the different armies of the world had been consid

he Colt's automatic rapid-fire gun has been reduced to 40 pounds, with a tripod of equal weight, but here again the same difficulty presents itself. The soldier is capable of carrying only a limited amount o

and carried on a pack-mule, and, above, all, capable of being moved by hand; required also some device for getting the requisite amount of ammunition up to the firing-line. A carriage and ammunition cart was invented fulfilling

a firing-line of infantry on the offensive, over almost any kind of ground, into the

es of the terrain to a position so near the enemy that, under cover of its fire, an infant

o reduce the reserve, thereby increasing the strength of the fighting-line, and yet his flanks will be better protected than formerly, while he will still have a more powerful reserve. If the fightin

y of its fire will shake the enemy and so demoralize him that, in all pro

Firing-Line July 1st. (Taken u

with the power of rapidly withdrawing. If the enemy can by any means be enticed within its range, he will

nd the result of his own unaided researches on the subject. It will be seen in the

epartment. That carriage has not, as yet, been built, nor has the War Department in any way

the detachment alone accounts for their success. They got the guns up on the firing-line, not because of any superiority of the carriage over that in use by the artillery, for there was none; not because of aid rendered by other arms of the

em were men of exceptionally good character and sober habits. The drivers were Privs. Shiffer, Correll, Merryman, and Chase. The description formerly given of Shiffer applies, with slight modifications, to all the four. The first sergeant, Weigle, a native of Gettysburg, a soldier of eight years' experience in the Regular Army, a man of fine natural ability and good educational attainments, was worthy to command any company in the United States Army. Thoroughly well instructed in the mechanism of G

" Two years before this Doyle had quit drinking, and the only drawback to this most excellent noncommissioned officer had been removed. He was a thorough disciplinarian; one of the kind that takes no back talk; one who is prone to using the butt end of a musket as a persuader, if necessary; and Doyle was thoroughly devoted to the detachment commander. Corp. Smith was another of the same stamp. Corp. Smith loved poker. In fa

ion: Fort

Corp. Rose was like unto him. They were eager for nothing so much as a chance to get into action, and equally determined to stay there. The privates of the detachment were like unto the noncommissioned officers. They had volunteered for this duty from a love of adventure, a desire to win recognition, or from their personal attachment to the commanding officer; and there was not a man who

rganization as it went into battle o

etachment, Fi

hn H. Parker, first li

Alois Weischaar, sergea

ergeant, William Eyder

No

er, Charles C. Steige

Inf

Voelker, Co. A,

Elkins, Co. D

Schmandt, Co. G

Needles, Co. E,

Click, Co. E,

Jones, Co. D,

Shiffer, Co. E

No

illiam Ryder, Co.

Geo. N. Rose, Co.

Seaman, Co. B

Kastner, Co. A,

Pyne, Co. H,

Schulze, Co. A,

Barts, Co. E,

Correll, Co. C

No

wton A. Green, Co.

Matthew Doyle, Co

Anderson, Co. C

Sine, Co. E,

Lauer, Co. C,

Dellett, Co. D,

Cory, Co. A,

Greenberg, Co.

Merryman, Co.

No

ohn N. Weigle, Co

obert S. Smith, Co

McGoin, Co. D

Misiak, Co. E

Power, Co. A,

McDonald, Co. B

Prazak, Co. E

e Chase, Co. H

Hoft, Co. D,

rivate Bremer, Co

e Murray, Co. F, 13t

ant of Co. L., 9th Infantry, and of the Gatling Gun De

with the Army. He joined the detachment on the 25th of June, and his valuable advice was always at the disposal not merely of the commander, but of any member of the detachment who wished to consult him. He had spent seventeen years in the Cuban climate and was thoroughly familiar with all the conditions under which we were laboring. He contributed not a little, by his presence, his example, and his precept, to

irst engagement occurred on the first of July, until that morning. The mules were daily harnessed up and drilled in maneuvering th

orders to bring Corp. Rose or his body. He brought Co

on potatoes, onions, and vegetables generally; these luxuries were not to be well known again until it returned to the United States; but it did have hardtack, bacon, canned roast beef, sugar, and coffee, having drawn all the rations it could carry before leaving Baiquiri, and was the only organization which had as much as twenty-four hours' rations. Gen. Hawkins and his whole brigade were living from hand to mouth, one meal

bottom knocked out. These rains caused the rifles and carbines of the army to rust, and some quickwitted captain bethought himself to beg oil from the Gatling Gun Detachment. He got it. Anoth

from Santiago, "

neral, Cavalry D

es in this command are badly in need of oil, and that in some companies there

ding-place) and reported to me four (4) barrels of lard oil and three (

ssued, it will save the ri

respec

H. P

. G. Detachme

Endors

ers Cavalr

east of Sant

29,

d to the adjutant-gen

. Wh

ral U. S. V

Endor

rters 5t

29,

end a man back tomorrow to

nd of Gen

McCle

A.

Endors

ers Cavalr

29,

tention invited to the

H. D

nant-Co

Endor

30,

rmaster, Al

rrels of oil. He will show you an order from Gen. Shafter, and the matter is urg

H. P

. Gatling

geant Greene's Gun

placed in charge of brigade quartermasters at different points, with orders to distribute out one quart t

and a half and not at that time occupied by the enemy, with the proposition that a detail of a half-dozen men from the detachment should make a rush and capture this plateau, and hold it until the guns could be brought up. The general could not authorize the proposed undertaking, as it would have endangered the safety of his army, perhaps by leading to a premature engagement. By the time a sufficient reconnaissance had bee