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Stories of American Heroes - Brought to you from the "Home of Heroes" - Pueblo, Colorado
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Stories of American Heroes - Brought to you from the "Home of Heroes" - Pueblo, Colorado |
Cienfuegos
Prior to World War I, most Medal of Honor citations were brief and usually only one or two sentences, as was the case with Franz Itrich. Ten days after Admiral Dewey defeated Spain's pacific fleet in Manila, near Cienfuegos, Cuba in the Caribbean, 52 sailors and Marines from two separate ships earned Medals of Honor. Only three other times in the Medal's history has it been awarded so many times for actions in a single incident, on a single day. Prior to the May 11th, 1898 action at Cienfuegos, only 25 Marines had earned Medals of Honor. On this day alone, TWELVE would earn their Nation's highest award for valor. It was a single-day feat that would remain unmatched in Marine Corps history.
The citations for all 52 heroes are almost identical, two sentences. The first sentence gives the place, date, and the ship on which each hero served. The second sentence describes the heroism for which it was awarded. Each citation simply reads:
On board the (U.S.S. Nashville or U.S.S. Marblehead) during the cutting of the cable leading from Cienfuegos, Cuba, 11 May 1898. Facing the heavy fire of the enemy, he set an example of extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout this action.
The simple language of these citations tends to make them pale in comparison to other, contemporary acts of courage, especially in light of the common concept that many early Medals of Honor were given for rather mundane acts. The simple fact, however, that more Marines earned Medals of Honor on this day than in any other single day of military action in the Corps' history, should give one cause to take a closer look.
While Admiral Dewey was busy destroying the Spanish fleet in Manila, American naval forces in the Caribbean were busy creating a "wall" around the island of Cuba to maintain the blockade the President ordered on April 21st. Quickly moving out of Key West, the ships assigned to the blockade arrived the following morning, quickly capturing the Spanish merchant steamers Bonaventure and Pedro. While the New York, the Indiana, and the Iowa remained near Havana, other US warships began patrolling the waters elsewhere around the island. On April 24th the Spanish merchant steamers Catalina and Miguel Iover were taken, and the following day two more Spanish merchant ships were captured.
On April 26th the Spanish made their first successful breach of the American blockade when the Spanish liner Montserrat successfully entered the harbor at Cienfuegos to unload a detachment of troops and a cargo of supplies. Ten days later the Montserrat again breached the blockade, successfully departing Cienfuegos to return unmolested to Spain.
Cienfuegos was a busy port town on the southern coast of the Island of Cuba, almost directly opposite Havana. The US Naval warships U.S.S. Marblehead and U.S.S. Nashville carefully patrolled the waters on the southern coastline, hence the two vessels were operating near the site of the only breach in the American blockade. Both ships began taking a closer look at Cienfuegos.
In addition to the Spanish Troops garrisoned at Cienfuegos, the harbor entrance was protected by a large lighthouse. Cienfuegos was a well defended port. It was also a military target. On May 10th Captain B.H. McCalla of the Marblehead located the cables that connected the troops at Cienfuegos with the rest of the world. These were large undersea cables that ran from the Spanish headquarters to transmit communications to and from Havana and Spain. Realizing the value of isolating the Spanish soldiers in Cienfuegos by cutting off their communications, Captain McCalla designed a daring, and almost disastrous, plan of action.
MAY 10, 1898
As evening fell across the Caribbean, Captain McCalla began speaking to his men aboard the U.S.S. Marblehead. Nearby, on the U.S.S. Nashville, Captain Maynard was giving a similar message to his own sailors and Marines. Briefly, each of the commanders outlined the daring plot to isolate the enemy soldiers stationed at Cienfuegos. "Tomorrow morning," Capatin McCalla told his men, "parties from the Marblehead and the Nashville will enter the bay in small boats, to dredge up and cut the communications cables running out of Cienfuegos."
The operation would have to be performed close to shore, directly under the guns of the enemy soldiers garrisoned at Cienfuegos. It was not typical Naval duty. In fact, to the Captain's knowledge, such a mission had never been attempted before and may in fact, not even be successful.
Herman Kuchmeister
The men of the Marblehead listened eagerly to the Captain's plan. When McCalla finished laying it out, he asked for volunteers. Despite the danger, he was met with an eager response from several of his seamen and Marines. Twenty-one year old Marine Private Herman Kuchneister was one of those to offer his services. At first, according to later accounts by Kuchneister, Captain McCalla refused to include the young German immigrant in the group. Because of the great danger the mission posed, McCalla felt Kuchneister was too young. The Marines of the two ships would accompany the small boats to draw enemy fire away from, and to provide cover fire for, the sailors who would dredge up and cut the cables. The eager private reminded his captain that he was among the best riflemen aboard ship, "having won a sharpshooters medal for the best score in target practice." Captain McCalla took note of Kuchneister's argument and finally consented to add him to the group of volunteers.
All the men were excited. After weeks at sea with little to do, the prospect of action was well received. At the same time, few if any of the sailors and Marines in the volunteer group had ever heard a shot fired in anger or tasted the fear of confrontation with the enemy. "That night as I spread my hammock out," Private Kuchneister later said, "I thought, 'Would I be on board the following night or would I be resting at the bottom of the sea'."
Austin Durney
The crews of both ships were up before dawn the following day, the men of the cable cutting crews anxiously finishing their breakfast of coffee and hardtack, then quickly assembling their weapons and gear for the unusual mission. "Cable cutting was something new to all of us and I did not know just how to manage it," Blacksmith Austin Durney of the U.S.S. Nashville later said. "To tell the truth, I didn't have the faintest idea of the work. To be prepared for all emergencies we equipped ourselves with every possible tool that suggested itself to us, and thus we took along chisels, hammers, axes, saws, etc."
At 5:00 A.M. the parties launched from both warships. Ensign Magruder of the Nashville commanded a steam launch to drop the smaller sailing boats inside the harbor, then pulled his launch back to a position 150-200 yards off shore to give covering fire if needed. Overall command of the operation was under the leadership of Lieutenant Camberon Winslow and his second in command, Lieutenant Anderson. The Marine sharpshooters and guards were under the leadership of Sergeant Philip Gaughan of the Nashville, and each of the cable cutting boats carried a blacksmith, Durney from the Nashville and Joseph Carter from the Marblehead. It was these two men who would carry primary responsibility for finding a way to hack or cut through the communications cables.
The waters of the harbor were rough as the small boats began moving towards the shoreline. Near the lighthouse, large rocks could be seen protruding dangerously close to the area where the boats would have to work. To add to the dangerous task, the men could see mines floating in the water beneath them, mines that could be detonated by the enemy on shore from a small switch house. As the cable cutting crews moved closer to the shoreline, the big guns of the Marblehead and Nashville began pounding the enemy positions.
At first the Spanish soldiers held their fire, assuming according to Austin Durney's later reports, that the Americans were bent on landing on the beach. Then the men of the Spanish garrison noticed the sailors in the cable cutting boats dropping grappling hooks to dredge up the cables, and realized what was happening. From the heights of the cliffs overlooking the harbor, the enemy began to fire with great ferocity.
In his boat, Kuchneister and the other Marines saw a group of 9 enemy soldiers sprinting for the switch house. If they reached it, they could begin detonating the mines throughout the harbor. The Marines laid down a deadly fire, dropping all 9 enemy soldiers. Then they turned their two machineguns and their 1-pound gun on the small shack itself, leveling it.
Shells from the large guns of the Spanish fortifications began to rain over the harbor, raising geysers of water and adding tumult to the already rough seas. In Durney's boat the men struggled to lift the first cable over the bow, and the blacksmith began trying to cut through it. "As soon as I got hold of the cable," he said, "I discovered that the only practical tool was a
hack-saw." Durney's small boat was less than 15 yards from shore as he set to his task. Enemy fire rained over his head, some small arms fire striking the boat. Additional and accurate fire began striking the boat from the lighthouse. While the warships and the Marines turned their fire on it, Durney continued his work. Nearby, Seaman Robert Volz was wounded four different times.
For more than an hour the small boats with their crews of brave young sailors and Marines endured the dangerous waters, the ever present mines, the crash of large rounds, and small arms fire, to continue their task. Seaman Harry Hendrickson was shot in the liver and given up for dead. Lieutenant Winslow was wounded in the hand. John Davis took a round to his right leg, and Marine Private Patrick Regan appeared to have been fatally wounded.
In Kuchneiser's boat, small arms fire began poking holes in the thin wood sides below the waterline. As quickly as a hole sprouted, the Marines would plug it with one of their bullets, then continue to return fire. Kuchneister noted what appeared to be "the whole Santa Clara Regiment advanced in company, as on parade." The enemy force was far too great to continue, but the Marines stayed their position to render cover fire for the sailors cutting through the cables. "Large shells dropped around us, nearly lifting us out of the water. Shells from our own ship and the Spanish batteries passed over head." On the U.S.S. Nashville, sailors who had not been selected for the mission continued to man the ship's big guns to cover their comrades. Aboard the Nashville, Captain Maynard was wounded and First Lieutenant Albert C. Dillingham took command.
Finally, one of the cables was cut through. The shore end was dropped in place and one of the boats from the Marblehead towed the other end out to sea where it was dropped after another large section of cable was removed to make it harder to repair. The enemy fire continued to intensify. A flurry of small arms fire began striking Kuchneiser's boat anew. One round struck the left side of Private Kuchneiser's face, followed by a second round that shattered his jaw and teeth and cut away a section of his tongue. The second round exited behind his ear, within a sixteenth of an inch of the jugular vein. Kuchneister was among those given up for dead.
Finally, the second cable was cut. A remaining smaller cable on the shore would have to be ignored. The badly battered sailors and Marines, in small boats barely able to remain afloat, turned to return to their warships. As they fought the seas, the enemy began finding their range. Large shells dropped closer and closer to the small sailing ships. For a few minutes, it looked as if all of the volunteers would be lost.
In the distance Lieutenant Dillingham turned the Nashville towards the shore, steaming ahead and then turning again to place his warship between the enemy on the shore and the retreating smaller boats of the cable cutting crews and their Marine guards. It was a bold act, exposing his ship to intense enemy fire, but for the badly battered volunteers, it meant the difference between life and death.
The wounded were quickly taken aboard the warships for medical care. Many of the men had suffered wounds, several of them repeated wounds, and at least three were critical or fatal. Kuchneister later said, "The only thing I remembered after being brought aboard ship is that I insisted that I was able to walk to the operating table. As I lain in the Captains cabin, it came to me if I died it was for my country and a glorious cause." Kuchneister would survive after two years in Naval hospitals and 5 operations.
All 52 men, 26 from each of the Marblehead and the Nashville, were subseuently awarded Medals of Honor.
As Naval officers, Ensign Magruder and Lieutenants Winslow and Anderson were not eligible for award of the Medal of Honor. Some Naval records list the name Marine Private Patrick Regan as participating in the cable cutting party and being fatally wounded. The name of Mr. Regan does not appear in the list of 52 Medals of Honor subsequently awarded, however Herman Kuchneister's account of the actions that day indicate that that one man in his boat was killed. Amid sometimes conflicting accounts of the casualties, one fact remained...in the heroic actions at Cienfuegos on May 11, 1898 the United States suffered it first major casualties of the Spanish-American war, while young sailors and Marines performed their duties with dedication and honor in the face of incredible resistance.
Further north, on that same fateful day, other sailors and Marines would face a similar test.
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warfare
at sea prepared for the 20th century. Only lightly armored, they
could move with speed and daring, often entering waters too shallow for
larger war ships. One of the torpedo boats operating on the
northern coast of Cuba was the U.S.S. Winslow. With a crew
of 25 under the command of Lieutenant J.B. Bernadou, the Winslow was
ordered to the harbor at Cardenas and arrived about 9 A.M.
Cardenas
Harbor
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