Transcribed from the 1911 Harper and Brothers edition ,
NOTES OF A WAR CORRESPONDENT
by
RICHARD HARDING DAVIS
illustrated
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
NEW YORK::::::::::::::::::::::::1911
Copyright, 1897,by
HARPER & BROTHERS
* * * * *
Copyright, 1898,1900, 1910, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
Contents:
The Cuban-Spanish War
The Death of Rodriguez
The Greek-Turkish War
The Battle of Velestinos
The Spanish-American War
I. The Rough Riders at Guasimas
II. The Battle of San Juan Hill
III. The Taking of Coamo
IV. The Passing of San Juan Hill
The South African War
I. With Buller’s Column
II. The Relief of Ladysmith
III. The Night Before the Battle
The Japanese-Russian War
Battles I did not see
A War Correspondent’s Kit
THE CUBAN-SPANISH WAR: THE DEATH OF RODRIGUEZ [1]
Adolfo Rodriguez was the only son of a Cuban farmer, who lived ninemiles outside of Santa Clara, beyond the hills that surround that city tothe north.
When the revolution in Cuba broke out young Rodriguez joined theinsurgents, leaving his father and mother and two sisters at thefarm. He was taken, in December of 1896, by a force of the GuardiaCivile, the corps d’élite of the Spanish army, and defendedhimself when they tried to capture him, wounding three of them with hismachete.
He was tried by a military court for bearing arms against thegovernment, and sentenced to be shot by a fusillade some morning beforesunrise.
Previous to execution he was confined in the military prison of SantaClara with thirty other insurgents, all of whom were sentenced to be shot,one after the other, on mornings following the execution of Rodriguez.
His execution took place the morning of the 19th of January, 1897, at aplace a half-mile distant from the city, on the great plain that stretchesfrom the forts out to the hills, beyond which Rodriguez had lived fornineteen years. At the time of his death he was twenty years old.
I witnessed his execution, and what follows is an account of the way hewent to his death. The young man’s friends could not bepresent, for it was impossible for them to show themselves in that crowdand that place with wisdom or without distress, and I like to think that,although Rodriguez could not know it, there was one person present when hedied who felt keenly for him, and who was a sympathetic though unwillingspectator.
There had been a full moon the night preceding the execution, and whenthe squad of soldiers marched from town it was still shining brightlythrough the mists. It lighted a plain two miles in extent, broken byridges and gullies and covered with thick, high grass, and with bunches ofcactus and palmetto. In the hollow of the ridges the mist lay likebroad lakes of water, and on one side of the plain stood the walls of theold town. On the other rose hills covered with royal palms thatshowed white in the moonlight, like hundreds of marble columns. Aline of tiny camp-fires that the sentries had built du