Did  you  know,  for  example,  tliat  four  good  Ameri-
can lives  were  lost  and  several  United  States  Marines
were  wounded  in  Nicaragua  in  191 2?    The  revolu-

251


252  WITH  THE  HELP  OF  GOD

tionary  situation  in  that  country  had  become  acute
and  American  hfe  and  property  were  unsafe.  So
they  sent  the  Marines.  They  fought  and  they  paci-
fied the  country.  Major  Butler  took  a  battaUon
over  to  Corinto,  Nicaragua,  from  Panama,  and
Colonel  Pendleton  was  sent  down  with  a  regiment
from  the  States  to  join  him.  For  the  rather  stirring
events  of  that  campaign,  I  am  indebted  to  the  follow-
ing account  which  appeared  in  the  New  York  Sun:

"Early  in  August  of  191 2  a  battalion  of  Marines,  con-
sisting of  ten  officers  and  338  men,  under  Colonel  Joseph
H.  Pendleton,  U.S.M.C.,  was  ordered  from  Panama  to
Nicaragua,  then  in  the  throes  of  a  revolution  that  menaced
the  lives  of  American  citizens  and  other  peaceful  foreign-
ers in  that  country.  That  expeditionary  force  of  Marines
had  to  struggle  against  all  the  handicaps  of  a  tropical
climate,  dense  forests,  and  a  foe  that  offered  a  good  deal
of  stubborn  resistance.
"They  participated  in  the  bombardment  of  Managua,
a  night  ambuscade  in  Masaya,  the  surrender  of  General
Mena  and  his  rebel  army  at  Granada,  the  surrender  of
the  rebel  gunboats  Victoria  and  Ninety-three,  the  assault
and  capture  of  Coyotepe,  the  defence  of  Paso  Caballos
Bridge,  besides  doing  garrison  and  other  duty  at  Corinto,
Chinandega,  and  elsewhere.  The  most  noteworthy  event
of  the  campaign  was  the  assault  and  capture  of  Coyotepe,
which  resulted  in  the  crushing  of  the  revolution  and  the
restoration  of  peace  to  Nicaragua.
