Mr. Bonsal is a writer and author, accustomed to view actions in the broader light of popular judgment, entirely free from professional bias, and having no class-feeling or obligations to serve.  His pen is not official; his statements are not from the military standpoint; not influenced in any way by considerations of personal weal or woe with respect to others or himself.  He says that one troop of the Rough Riders, Troop L, commanded by Captain Capron, was leading the advance of the regiment, and was in solid formation and within twenty-five yards of its scouting line when it received the enemy’s fire.  This troop was so far in the advance that it took the other troops of the regiment more than a half hour to get up to it.  The writer speaks of the advance of that troop as having been made “in the fool-hardy formation of a solid column along a narrow trail, which brought them, in the way I have described, within point-blank range of the Spanish rifles, and within the unobstructed sweep of their machine guns.”  He sums up as follows:  “And if it is to be ambushed when you receive the enemy’s fire perhaps a quarter of an hour before it was expected, and when the troop was in a formation, and the only one in which, in view of the nature of the ground it was possible to advance quickly, then most certainly L Troop of the Rough Riders was ambushed by the Spaniards on the morning of June 24th.”

Mr. Bonsal also brings into clear view the part taken in this battle by Lawton’s Infantry.  He shows by means of a simple map the trail by which Miles’ brigade, in which was the Twenty-fifth Infantry, moved in order to flank the Spanish position, while Chaffee’s brigade was hurrying forward on the Royal Road to reinforce the line in front.  A letter from a soldier of the Twenty-fifth written soon after these events fully confirms Mr. Bonsal in what he says concerning the movement of Miles’ brigade.  The soldier says:  “On the morning of the 24th the Rough Riders, Tenth and First Cavalry were to make an attack on a little place where the Spanish were fortified.  The Second Brigade was to come on the right flank of these troops and a little in rear of the fortifications; but by some misunderstanding, the former troops, led by the Rough Riders, made an attack before we got our position, and the result was a great many lives lost in the First Cavalry and Rough Riders—­only one in Tenth Cavalry, but many wounded.  They captured the fortification.”  This letter by a humble soldier, written with no thought of its importance, shows how gallantly Lawton had sprung to the rescue of Wheeler’s division.  According to Bonsal, who says he obtained his information from Spanish officers who were present in this fight, it was the information of the approach of this brigade and of Chaffee’s up the main road that caused the Spaniards to withdraw rapidly from the position.  The whole force was in imminent danger of being captured.  Another soldier of the Twenty-fifth wrote:  “The report came that the Twenty-fifth Infantry was to cut off the Spanish retreat from a stronghold, toward Santiago.”  These glimpses from soldiers’ letters illustrate how clearly they comprehended the work upon which they were sent, and show also how hearty and cordial was the support which the infantry at that time was hurrying forward to the advancing cavalry.