Notes of a War Correspondent | Page 3

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NOTES OF A WAR CORRESPONDENT

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 nine miles outside of Santa Clara, beyond the hills that surround that city to the north.
When the revolution in Cuba broke out young Rodriguez joined the insurgents, leaving his father and mother and two sisters at the farm. He was taken, in December of 1896, by a force of the Guardia Civile, the corps d'elite of the Spanish army, and defended himself when they tried to capture him, wounding three of them with his machete.
He was tried by a military court for bearing arms against the government, and sentenced to be shot by a fusillade some morning before sunrise.
Previous to execution he was confined in the military prison of Santa Clara 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 a place a half-mile distant from the city, on the great plain that stretches from the forts out to the hills, beyond which Rodriguez had lived for nineteen 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 he went to his death. The young man's friends could not be present, for it was impossible for them to show themselves in that crowd and 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 he died who felt keenly for him, and who was a sympathetic though unwilling spectator.
There had been a full moon the night preceding the execution, and when the squad of soldiers marched from town it was still shining brightly through the mists. It lighted a plain two miles in extent, broken by ridges and gullies and covered with thick, high grass, and with bunches of cactus and palmetto. In the