Salt Lake Herald | 1898-08-11 | Page 8 | Private Bridgewater

PRIVATE BRIDGEWATER A Gallant Soldier of the Twenty fourth Returns Private Bridgewater of company A Twentyfourth United States infantry returned to Fort Douglas yesterday and was much sought after by the colored col-ored folks who plied him with questions ques-tions concerning husbands and sweethearts sweet-hearts now in Santiago Private Bridgewater Bridge-water was wounded in the charge on San Juan fort and he says they had a hot time for a couple of hours He was very much averse to talking about the gallantry of the Twentyfourth i though he thought they saw about as J I hard fighting as any of them TELLS OF THE BATTLE I think the colored troops acquitted themselves splendidly he modestly ventured I am sure they vent right ahead but I tell you the bullets whistled for awhile The hill was very steep and the sun hot enough to fry bacon in when it wasnt raining I was no picnic and while nothing short of complete annihilation would have stopped us we were glad when it was all over A TERRIBLE TASK No one who has not seen the country coun-try can form any correct idea about what the men had to go through I was either rain or hot sunshine The land is rough and overgrown with brush and cactus Added to this were the wire fences put up by the Spaniards Span-iards which we had to cut as we advanced ad-vanced up the hill All the time there was a fearful rain of bullets and our I men fell thick and fast on all sides PROUD OF HIS RACE Private Bridgewater was slightly wounded in the arm butts nonearly well again He says the colored soldiers sol-diers do not suffer so much from the climatic conditions in Cuba as their white brothers On the whole he feels very proud of his race on account of I the part the Twentyfourth took in the battle I