Marcotte had returned
to El Poso to investigate the movements of our artillery. These were
then, and have remained, one of those inscrutable and mysterious
phenomena of a battle; incomprehensible to the ordinary layman, and
capable of being understood only by "scientific" soldiers. The charge
upon the San Juan ridge was practically unsupported by artillery. No
American shells had struck the San Juan block-house; none had struck
or burst in its vicinity; not even a moral effect by our artillery had
assisted in the assault. So Marcotte had gone to investigate the
artillery arm. He returned at sundown, and brought the information
that our baggage was safe at El Poso; that Private Pyne, still alive
and unhurt, had been doing good work against the enemy's
sharpshooters; and, better than all this, had brought back with him a
canteen of water from the San Juan River and a pocket full of
hardtack. He poured out his hardtack, and it was equally distributed
among the members of the detachment, each man's share amounting to two
pieces. Each man was also given a sup of water from the canteen, and
this constituted their only supper on that night, as they had been
compelled to throw away everything to keep up with the guns.
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