AMERICANS IN THE CUBAN ARMY.
Colonel Frederick Funston, who returned to New York in January, 1898, told an interesting story of brave Yankee boys serving under General Gomez and General Garcia in Eastern Cuba, and also gave an account of the sad death of W. Dana Osgood, the famous football player, formerly of the University of Pennsylvania.
Colonel Funston was with Gomez's army when they attacked Guimaro.
They had with them a twelve-pound Hotchkiss rifle and four
American artillerymen, Osgood of Pennsylvania, Latrobe and Janney
of Baltimore, and Devine of Texas.
They attacked Guimaro in the morning, at ranges of from 400 to 600 yards, the infantry being protected by a breastwork of earth, in which openings were left for the guns.
The Spanish garrison consisted of 200 men in eleven forts, and they maintained a hot fire all day. Gradually, however, the Hotchkiss rifle, the fire of which was directed by Osgood, made the largest and nearest fort untenable, and it was abandoned by the garrison. No sooner had the Spanish forces left it than a band of the insurgents took possession, and from this point of vantage the fighting was continued with renewed vigor. As soon as darkness came on one of the Cuban guns was moved forward and stationed in this fort, and on the following day a storm of shot and shell was directed at the other forts.
Naturally the rifles of the garrison were trained most of the time upon the man sighting the Hotchkiss in the captured fort, and there, leaning over his gun in the early morning, the intrepid Osgood was shot through the head. He was carried off by his comrades under fire, and died four hours later. The death of this gallant young soldier was universally lamented, and the Cubans honor his memory as one of the first Americans to give his life while fighting for their cause.
With Gomez, with Garcia, and with Maceo, in every insurgent camp, there were brave men, American born, who fought for the flag of Free Cuba, side by side with the native soldier, and who gave their lives in the war against Spanish tyranny and misrule.
CHAPTER XXII.
FILIBUSTERS FROM FLORIDA.
First Expeditions—Expense to the United States—President Pierce's
Action—The Uprising in 1868-The Patrol of the Coasts—An Expedition on
the "Three Friends"—Arms and Ammunition for the Insurgents—Desperate
Chances—A Successful Landing.