General Chaffee declares:  “The troops arriving at the fort were there in the following order:  Twelfth Infantry, which took the place; the command of General Bates some moments later; the Twenty-fifth Infantry.”

The facts therefore stand, that the Twenty-fifth Infantry was on the ground with the first troops that reached the fort and that there was a captain of that regiment who then and there claimed the capture of the place, even against the claims of a Major-General.  He was told that his proposition was absurd, and so it may have been from one standpoint; and yet there may be a ground upon which the captain’s claim was fair and just.

That the Twelfth Infantry arrived on the ground first is not disputed; but it is questioned whether the fort was belligerent at that time.  General Chaffee says the resistance had been greatly reduced by the artillery; General Lawton says the action had been finished by Capron’s shots and the garrison was trying to escape; a soldier from the Twenty-fifth says the Spaniards flew out of the fort to the town; Bonsal says, they stoutly resisted “for a moment and then fled precipitately down the ravine and up the other side, and into the town.”  If first occupancy is the only ground upon which the capture of a place can be claimed, then the title to the honor of capturing the stone fort lies, according to official report as so far presented, with the Twelfth Infantry.  But even upon this ground it will be shown that the Twenty-fifth’s action will relieve the claim of its captain from absurdity.  We are now prepared to read the official report of the commanding officer of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Daggett, who was with the regiment all through the fight, and who bore himself so well that the division commander said:  “Lieutenant-Colonel Daggett deserves special mention for skillful handling of his regiment, and would have received it before had the fact been reported by his brigade commander.”

     July 5, 1898.

     Intrenchments Twenty-fifth United States Infantry,
     Adjutant-General, Second Brigade, Second Division, Fifth
     Corps.

Sir:—­I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by the Twenty-fifth Infantry in the battle of the 1st instant.  The regiment formed firing line on the right of the Fourth Infantry, facing a Spanish fort or blockhouse about half a mile distant.  On moving forward, the battalion, composed of Companies C, D, E, G and H, and commanded by Capt.  W.S.  Scott, received the fire of the enemy, and after advancing about 400 yards was subjected to a galling fire on their left.  Finding cover, the battalion prepared for an advance up the hill to the fort.  This advance was made rapidly and conducted with great skill by company officers.

“On arriving within a short distance of the fort the white flag was waved to our companies, but a cross fire prevented the enemy from advancing