LUKBAN
In the report of Capt. Dey, he wrote that the fire was kept up all day long, but the garrison met and returned the fire.“ Several insurgents were killed or wounded, the garrison remaining intact. All during the night the firing was kept up, but not quite so heavy as during the day,” he said.
The firing resumed early Monday morning and“ as each hour went by became more general,” said Dey. At 8:00, the rebels started using a cannon planted on the hill to the right of the barracks, using cut nails and spikes for projectiles. To neutralize this, Sergeant George, who commanded the garrison, ordered all the fire from the barracks to be concentrated on this cannon. After two volleys, the cannon stopped. But heavy rifle firing was kept up all day and until about 12 p. m., when it lessened up until daylight the next day.
On Tuesday morning, the firing resumed – from the front and across the river, from the cannon which had been transferred to a new position during the night. Again a few well-directed shots from the besieged garrison temporarily silenced it. Up to that time, only one of the Americans was wounded. It was accordingly the rebels who suffered more losses, some from their position in trees, others from trying to charge the barracks.
About this time a large number of insurgents had managed to make their way into the church adjoining the barracks. They caused a lot of trouble and so had to be silenced. Sgt. George called for ten men to charge the church and drive them out. The men immediately responded, and under a heavy fire from all sides they succeeded in getting in, and, finding nearly 100 insurgents there, immediately poured several volleys into them, killing a great number.
By this time all the firing was concentrated on the church, and Sergeant George, finding that to remain longer would be fatal to his little band, retreated back to the barracks. Not a man was lost here, said Dey in his report.“ The firing became so heavy and the terrible strain on the men so great from their long and continuous fighting that it required them to put forth their greatest efforts to meet this heavy fire,” he wrote.
Later the insurgents managed to regain the church, and from the windows made several unsuccessful efforts to set fire to the barracks. Finally they managed to throw some hemp saturated with oil against the building, and succeeded in setting fire to it – which proved too hot for the American troops. There and then, they decided to make a dash for the river and attempt to get across, hoping to entrench themselves on the opposite shore. 4
They destroyed everything which would be of value to the insurgents, divided the ammunition between them, cut a hole in the floor and dropped through one at a time to the basement below. When
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