Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-07-28
Hoods Pills easy in eifect 20 cents
IN THE AMERICAN TRENCHES
south Carolina Lieutenant Tells OF
tho Uardships the Army
Has Endured.


letter received by Mr.. l.. w. Jordan
from his son, Lieut.. l.. w. Jordan,
Jr, of tho First u. S. infantry, Law
toms division, now in front of Santi-
ago, which gives some of tho hard
ships and experiences Of our soldiers
About Five Miles from Santiago
de Cuba, June 29.-I will give you a
short account of what we have been
doing from day to day and write n
kind of diary until get chance to
mail this. l sent note on the Goth.
Did not have time to write more be-
fore the chance to send it to the ship
would have passed.
The fleet came off this part of
Cuba on the morning Of the Goth,
and the Sequranca ran ahead to the
point off Santiago, where Sampson
came aboard, then IS miles west to
Aguadorcs, where they conferred
with Garcia, Rabi and Castillo. They
collected off Baiquiri, and about 8
o'cloc!; on the ed the warships be-
gan the bombardmcnt of that place.
After about half an hour Cuban
flag was brought down and the
bambardment ceased. Most Of the
houses had been burned during the
night and $50 Spaniards had left for
Santiago. Had the Cubans done as
expected, all would have been cap
tured. The landing was made from
small boats and was quite dangerous.
A coral reef skirts the coast and
there is almost no beach. Some ran
the boats on the beach and wadcd
ashore. Others Q among thcm)
landed ut a kind of pier, where
tho break crs tossed the boat
fifteen feet high and against
tho pier. | expected to be up
set any minute; some boats were.
Had so men in my boat and all got
out safely. Two were Grounded
during the landing, which is almost
a miracle considering the way the
landing was conducted. AS soon as
the First landed we were sent rs an
advance guard. We marched about
six or seven miles through iunglcS
and over mountains by a narrow
trail had to go single file, rs in
fact almost all the marching has to
be done. | had been so seasicl and
eaten so little that was quite weak,
but stood thc trip about as well or
better than most. Oh, ! was glad
to get ashore, although land did rock
and sway under me for three days.
Wo campcd about one and a half
miles back from Baiquiri. was 50
tired could not sleep much and the
mosquitoes were awful.
| will not attempt to describe the
country and vegetation. 1t is very
mountainous with dense tropical
growth. There has been SO arplcnty
of good water, the streams are clear
mauntain creeks and as good as any
one could wish. The junglcs are so
thick that you cannot see 10 feet
through them, and almost impoSSi-
bio to get through on account Of the
thorn bushes and "Spanish bayoncts,"
which look like the century plant,
and cover the country.
Up at $3.50 on tic 23d and off at
day through the same kind of coun-
try, only on the "royal road" which
is hardly worth the name Of trail.
We got into cocoanut grove at 10
a. m., and borrowing machctc from
Cuban, | cut into green one,
which just filled my quart cup full Of
Juice. | drank it all ut once. The
juice is wholesome and refreshing
and the ripe nut does not hurt.
have eaten a good many. The man
grove is eaten by the soldiers, too,
but | let them alone, as it is rather
dangerous. There are lots Of iiilirs,
not ripe yet, but the green are as
wholesome as the ripe. | squeeze
two or three into my cantccn and it
makes tho water quite acid. Did
not stay long at thc cocoanut grove,
but went on to Sibnncy, whore the
Twcnty-sccond and Eighth infantry
and Second Massachusetts had pre-
cedcd and drove tho Spaniards out,
capturing " large quantity Of wine
and rum, which, needless to say,
soon disappeared also captured two
railroad engines. Here we waited
on the railroad track two
hours in the broiliny hot sun,
then marched back half mile
and went into camp at 4 p. m. on
the edge of a cocoanut grove. |
was officer of the day and when ]
got up at night to inspect tho scnti-
pels [ was so scasick | could hardly