The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1898-08-24
LETTER TO WILL W. WILEY.


MIDDLETowN, Pa, Aug. 10.
FRIEND Wiley
To-day, Friday, | am at leisure and
will endeavor to give you few points
in connection with our trip since July
10th.
Happy were we, the 10th Pa. Vols,
all the way through Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Tennessee and into Georgia. In Geor-
gia we played the old, familiar song
"Marching Through Georgia" till about
1000 o'clock in the forenoon when we
struck camp
The first duty assigned us was for all
to go to work erecting tents and not
one of us knew how to proceed to put
them up but we got them up finally,
after tearing down several times.
After that task we got our hard tack
and coffee for dinner. Then next in
order was to clean camp. After that
we all fell asleep till 800 o'clock, then
hard tack and coffee again composed
the bill of fare. The bill Of fare after a
few days became undesirable, We all
made kick on the grub and after that
Jared much better. All have praise
for Commissary Sergeant Warwick, OF
Falls Creek. He secures all he possibly
can for us.
When we got our rifles we had to
drill in citizen clothes and we got
''rubed" to certain extent from few
"Willies" There are willie boys"
here with their hair in braids, and they
are all homesick, and tired working for
Uncle Sam. In the estimation OF the
Reynoldsville boys he is good fellow
to labor for.
Any old time we seven get tired and
hOmesick you will find 1t out.
These "Willies" all take cry when
they get letter from home and their
sweethearts. They would make brave
soldiers.
We were located at Chicamauga for
eleven days, then we got orders to go
to the front, but it was to the front Of
the James river. We shouted and
cheered for half hour Then we land
ed at Newport News.
We were all in good spirits but we
| got our tents in about four inches of
sand and dirty place it was. Then
drilling began in earnest and Col. Rick
ards told us that in three days we
would sail for Porto Rico. Cheers then
rent the air. When the mentioned
time was up we tore down our tents and
prepared for heavy marching orders.
And all the closer we got to front was
a little closer to the James river. 1t
was a much cleaner place. In the har-
Dor lay the Minneapolis and several
other transport boats and we thought
they were for us, but word came that
Spain had decided that peace was her
best motive. And we all ran to
our dog tents and crawled in like mice
and didn't come out till roll call. All
were heart broken for we knew that we
would get no farther. Then came the
news that we were going back to Penn
sylvania and then not o cheer was
| SOuildCQ do bhO OOlo haNC DCch tICdltu
so nicely in Virginia that they didn't
care 10 leave the people.
We finally landed in Middletown and
find this a nice, clean, healthy camping
place.
1t is rumored here that we either &c
home or to Porto Rico inside of ten OF
fifteen days, but you can hear anything
here. Now let Germany make kick
and she will fare the same as Spain.
Our bill OF fare for dinner Tor each
man consists of one-half loaf OF bread
one piece OF boiled beef, one dish o.
soup beans, one dish of baked beans anG
one boiled potato. And still some O
those bird cages will kick on that
Walter Williams weighs $40 pounds IL
heavy marching order. Herb. Burni
cries daily about being away from hom,
so far and the rest OF the boys are KEEP
, busy keeping out OF paddy" McMa
hons way, so as to do no work, as he 4
Orderly Sergeant. Herb. Burns is th'
disorderly Sergeant. We have tn,
best officers In the business. Our Cap
tain and Lieutenants are very good b
the boys. We have no complaints Il
offer, as we are all enjoying ourselve
immensely. Your friend,
JAY w. EVANS.