Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1898-08-15
GEORGE M. BROWN
Writes another letter to his sis
ter Mrs. Bent.

A Graphic description of his trip to
Porto Rico on the st. Louis-His reg
iment the body guard of Gen. Brooke
Scenes and Incidents of the trip
afraid they wont get to do any Fight
ing.
Dear Sister: We set sail Thursday,
July 18th, about noon and our trip has
been comparatively pleasant consider
ing everything, although the sea has
been pretty rough at times. A person
like myself who had never travelled on
the water before would naturally have
felt rather nervous had it not been for
our trusty vessel, the st. Louis, which
is considered one OF the safest and fast
est vessels afioat and she rides the
waves admirably. A few weeks ago
when chased by the Spanish fleet it is
said she made 81 knots an hour. This
is the vessel that cut the large cable
near Santiago not long ago right under
the Spanish guns and she also helped
carry the prisoners to the United States
after the destruction of Cervera's fleet.
She is an immense vessel being about
600 feet in length and carries about 1000
passengers, besides her cargo of freight.
There are number of large vessels in
our expedition but we have left them
far behind. The passengers on our ship
consist of Gent Brooke and staff, the
commander of the expedition, and the
3rd Illinois Regiment as his escort.
/ received your letter after coming on
board and it was surely welcome one.
The day before we started we worked
all day and all that night to get our
steamer loaded with provisions and am
munition and the men would have will
lingly worked all the next day If neces
sary to get started. On account of so
many troops being transported every
foot OF room has to be utilized on all the
vessel, and we are little more crowded
than was expected but the fellows were
nevertheless comparatively contented
and kept in a jolly mood during the
most of the trip.
The floor is marked off in sections Of
21ax6 feet and each section is numbered
and as the soldier always carries his bed
with him all we have to do when we
want to GO to bed is to spread our blank
ct and stretch out on our allotted space.
The sea breeze makes person sleepy
and | assure you | put in good share
OF my time in that way. We could al
ways get lovely breeze on the upper
deck and | would take my blanket up
two or three times day and let the ship
rock me to sleep.
A great many got pretty sick but
strange to say / felt fine during the en-
tire trip though one night on the waves
/ guess / will never forget. About
8 O'Clock the waves began to run high
and continued till after midnight. Just
as we were getting settled down for
good sleep large wave dashed through
the window. Every one jumped to their
feet in an instant, the sleepy ones rub
bling their eyes and the rest of the fell
lows roaring with laughter at them. The
fun bad commenced. One fellow open
ed the entertainment then by singing
some dutch songs and think it was
long after midnight before we all got to
sleep again. But l assure you we kept
our windows closed after that while the
sea was rough.
| have often seen pretty sights but
nothing yet to compare with moonlight
on the waves. One wave coming right
after another splashing and dashing
with the moon light gllittering on them
makes scene that | can hardly de-
scribe and a person has to see it to real
iZe its beauty.
1t is now 2 p. NJ, and we have just
passed United States vessel bound
westward. When first sighted our yes
sci signalled for quite while before
getting answer. In the meantime ex-
IRENE excitement prevailed and the
men were all below while the crew pre-
pared the immense guns on the st.
Louis for action. However upon near
ing her it could be seen she flew the
stars and stripes and she passed on
within mile of us.
| will mail this letter as soon as we
land and hope you will receive it all
right. Don't feel disappointed though
at not receiving letter just when you
expect it as it is nothing unusual for a
letter to be delayed day or two in
long trip like this, over 1000 miles. Ad-
dress me Co. l., 3rd I'll. Vol. Init. mill
tary post, No. /, Porto Rico.
Some of the fellows seem afraid we
won't get to do much fighting on ac-
count of being the body guard of the
general but if we don't get to face as
many bullets as some other regiments
we regard that an honor in itself. We
are in sight of land SO must prepare to
to leave the boat. Good bye to all.
GEO. M. Brown.