It is probable that in this case, as in most cases of similar nature, the truth divides equally between the apparently opposing views.  Of General Ludlow, who is the authority for this statement, that the stone fort at El Caney was taken by infantry alone, General Lawton says:  “General Ludlow’s professional accomplishments are well known and his assignment to command a brigade in my division I consider a high compliment to myself.”  “The fighting was all done with small arms” were the words written me by an infantryman soon after the battle.  The question, whether Capron fired upon the stone fort after taking his new position, or fired on two blockhouses, entirely distinct from the fort, remains undetermined.  The author of this work inclines to the conclusion that the fire of Capron after moving to his new position was directed for a brief period, at least, upon the stone fort.

Inasmuch as we are now to trace the career of the Twenty-fifth Infantry through an unfortunate dispute, on both sides of which are officers of high rank and unimpeachable honor, it is important to note, first, to what extent the several statements, both unofficial and official, can be harmonized and made to corroborate one another.  Major Baker says:  “Those of Bates’ brigade and the Twenty-fifth Infantry, after having carried the stone fort,” which he explains was some 75 feet higher than the town, then fired down into the village.  The soldier who acted as left-guide of Company G, Twenty-fifth Infantry, says, after getting up on the hill, “we fired down into the city until near dusk.”  The experience of the soldier agrees exactly with the report of the officer.  The fact that the Twenty-fifth went up the hill cannot be questioned, and that up to their last halt, they went under fire, no one will deny.  Bonsal, in speaking of Chaffee’s brigade, which was “more immediately charged with the reduction of Caney” (Ludlow’s report), says:  “And it was nearly five o’clock when his most advanced regiment, the gallant Twelfth Infantry, deployed into the valley and charged up the steep hillside, which was lined with Spanish trenches, rising in irregular tiers and crowned with a great stone fort.”  The stone fort at this time, however, was, as he says, “a shapeless ruin.”  Where was the Twenty-fifth Infantry at this time?  Mr. Bonsal continues:  “Almost at the same moment the Twenty-fifth Colored Infantry, the leading regiment of Miles’ brigade, which had been advancing in the centre, started up the hill also.”  General Lawton says that after moving the battery to its new position, 1,000 yards from certain blockhouses in the town, Capron fired a few shots, all of which took effect, and he adds:  “This firing terminated the action, as the Spanish garrison were attempting to escape.”  Colonel Comba says there was a breach in the stonework large enough for his men to enter, and that this had been made by the artillery; General Chaffee says resistance had been greatly affected by the artillery, and Bonsal adds, the garrison resisted the last advance made by the infantry but for a moment.