It participated in all the fighting of that campaign,
except the fight at La Guasimas, and was disbanded upon the return of
the Fifth Corps to Montauk. Whatever hardships were endured by the
Fifth Corps were shared by this detachment; whatever dangers were
faced by the Fifth Corps were faced by it also; where the hottest
fighting occurred this detachment went in and stayed; and at the
surrender it was paraded, to use the words of General Shafter, "Upon
that portion of the line which it occupied so promptly and defended so
well."
But this memoir is not intended as a history of that campaign nor of
the Fifth Corps. The author has not the data available to cover so
large a field, nor the ability to do justice to the courage,
fortitude, and endurance so heroically displayed by that gallant army.
That story will be written by abler pens, and will be the wonder of
the world when it is told.
This story is that of an experiment. It is told to lay before the
general public, as well as the military critic, the work of a little
detachment of thirty-seven men, armed with an untried weapon,
organized in the short space of four days preceding July 1, 1898, and
which without proper equipment, adequate instruction, or previous
training, in the face of discouragements and sneers, and in spite of
obstacles enough to make the mere retrospect sickening, still achieved
for itself a warm place in the hearts of all true soldiers, and
covered itself with glory upon the hardest fought battle-field of the
Hispano-American War.
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