Evening star., 1898-08-25
THE SANTIAGO CAMPAIGN
Member of First District Regiment writes
of His Experiences.
Men Living in Grns~ shack and
Cooking for ThcmseIves--Thc
Mountain Fever.

The following extracts are taken from
series of letters received by the parents Of
| Sergt. John PresneIl of the District regi-
| Hent written in camp near Santiago. The
| first is dated Tuesday. July &c:
Ali the excitement is now over for us
We have left the trenches at Santiago and
| are encamped about ten miles from Sihoney
| and about TWO miles In westerly direction
| from Santiago. Most of us have hard
| time Our tents were left at Siboney the
morning of our landing. and although 9TH
| ers have theirs we have to take what is left
| or do without L have no underclothes or
| changes in apparel OF any kind. / had TO
| swipc a blanket TO keep from being sick
! from exposure. Many of us sleep on the
| ground with our clothes and a wooden
| blanket to cover US. AS IL rains about
| o'clock every day and nearly every night
| you can understand what times We often
| have.
Our mess has steadily improved until
! now We have nearly everything We need.
/ Today we had one large onion, six potatoes, =
| a loaf of bakers bread. baked in Santiago,
| a pound and a half OF fresh beef a pint OF
| dried beans, onehalf pound of rice, three
| ounces OF coffee per meal, thirteen hard
| tack and sugar and salt enough At other
| times we have canned roast beef, salt pork
| (western faO, canned tomatoes, etc. Soap
is now issued every day. We boil our beans
| and make soup. We make a hash of onions, :
| potatoes, canned meat and hardtack. l have
| learned to appreciate a cup Of good bean
| soup.
| "One day / went out to forage and by a
| little skirmishing managed TO get some lima
| beans, pair of squashes. half dozen red
] peppers, nine yams and some small sweet
/ potatoes. These, with our issue of salt
| meat, onions potatoes and tomatoes made
| irst-rate meal The only trouble was
| salt. We had to season everything with
| salt scraped from the cloth around the meat
at the commiSsary.
| Filled with Cooking Cans.
"Our grass shack is full of cooking cans
Of all sizes and shapes. We carry our fry
| ing pans and cups with us at all times, but
when We pitch camp there is always a rush
| for tin cans to cook in. Broilers are made
Of wire, Every bit of grease is saved and
salted to keep It from spelling. Four days
| ago We were issued fresh beef, and l was
| the only one who had grease to fry il with
! 1t happened that l had saved the skins off
| the bacon. intending to fry them brown to
| eat. The grease was divided among seven
| or eight men. Hereafter every bit of
| grease goes into bottle
| "Firewood is scarce and matches at a
premium. Everything gets wet about twice
every twenty-four hours. We make covers
| for our cans out of larger cans to keep our
| coffee, sugar and salt from being washed
away by the rain. Everything / possessed
was thrown away the night we went out on
/ writing with piece of pencil about two
| inches long. We grease our pockets to
make them waterproof.
We often go in bathing. Everything is
| kept as clean possible. We drink little
water outside OF that in our coffee. At one
time We had lines to put in our coffee and :
water: Mangoes are plentiful and have
passed us over many a hard place in our I!
| mess. They resemble large plum in some
respects and are said to keep away fever.
| The unripe ones are excellent, when sweet
I mad "a
1T thunders all night sometimes There
| are scorpions and tarantulas in large num-
| bers all around. Hardly night passes but
| We get up and kill two or three of each
| Snakes are not so numerous to cause
anxiety. Fever is our most dreaded enemy
over a thousand are more or less afflicted
| with IT. 1t is kind of malaria. / have
| not had single sick day SO far. / owe it
| all to running around at home in all kinds
| of weather. Even at sea feel well nearly
all the time.
I'VE have no tobacco at all-alI the tobac-
| co you sent was stolen on the boat
Our clothes are full of patches of all
| sizes and colors. l hope new ones Will be
| furnished soon. The men sit around talk
| ing of nearly everything, chiefly about our
| chances Of getting home soon. | am not
| homesick as yet, although I do miss many
| things L was accustomed TO at home.
Down With Fever.
Saturday night. July 31.-Since writing
the above I have been down with the
not get a moments sleep Nearly all the
men have had a taste Of it. When a man
has it he is unable TO walk and has to be
carried by two others. Since the breaking
out of the fever we have been given our
| large tents. 1 have taken 140 grains Of
euinine in ten-grain doses.
''One of our mess secured two new steel
frying pans and now we are eating To beat
the band You can have no idea how we ,
al Ipreciate our new quarters Most of our
company cooking outfit is here, too / feel
row as though l could walk around the
world.
I'VE are on a hill facing east and see
some very fine sunrise views every morn ,
ing, and at night the moon comes up from
behind a range of sparsely wooded hills .
Between our hill and this range is a low /!
valley, covered with high grass, a few trees
and some cocoanut palms. A dense fog
rises from this low place every morning
about sunrise and curls up over the hills
like the smoke from a huge fire. Here and
there among the fields and trees one sees a
Ted-tiled hacienda or Cuban home. a great
many of them are now IN ruins having
teen occupied by the Spaniards as block
houses. On every hand may be seen sugar
mills, mansions, gardens and fields Of
grain, burned or destroyed.
August 2-We are in our element now
as all have shelter; there is plenty of food
and sickness is decreasing.
Camp Duties.
August 81 have put in a good days
work today. At sunrise / went down td
the creek, took bath. came back andc
prepared breakfast for two; then washedCO I
the dishes and cleaned up(D house. ]
brought a supply of wood and water for .
the day and then sat down in my tent to
rest / polished all my needles, which had
become rusty from the frequent rains. /
caught a tarantula and pinned It up TO
dry; will either bring or send Ii home. -"
Il am in excellent health, but thin and
brown from change of climate. After to-
day. will have few more hours to our
selves, as our company cooking apparatus
has been brought up, and We will do no
mere cooking for awhile at least