Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1898-09-30
TIE IDAHO COUNTY FREE PRESS.
FROM THE PHILIPPINES.
Lieutenant Hartman Desert.
bes the Battle Of Manila and
Other Interesting Events.
Manila, Philippine Islands,
Aug. 26, 1898.
CRANCEVILLE IDAHO.
FRIDAY, : SEPTEMBER 80, Iss

Manila, Philippine Islands,
Aug. 26, 1898.
Hon. A. F. Parker,
Grangeville, Idaho.
NY dear Mr.. Parker Before
leaving Grangeville l promised to
write to you frequently, but l
have been unable to do so until
now. 1 have been SO busy that l
have had to neglect a good many
of my friends. Now / will give
you a short description of how we
got here. After IN extremely
pleasant voyage we arrived here
on July 81, with every man well.
You ought to have heard the
cheering and yelling as we steam
ed through the line of war ships
stationed around Cavite. Of
course the first thing we did was
to look for the remains of the
Spanish fleet. W. could see part
Of it, Chat is the part that was
not under water). There were
masts and smoke stacks galore,
but not a hull, except one, above
water. There are nine of them
partly to be seen; one, torpedo
boat, is almost entirely out of the
water. Say, those fellows must
have been in a devil of a hurry to
get away from Dewey. The loss
of life among the Spaniards must
have been fearful. l have spoken
to several of the sailors who took
part in the battle and they all say
that hundreds of the enemy went
down with their vessels. Dozens
of them were eaten by sharks, and
for several days bodies and parts
of bodies could be g floating
around the bay. There must bt
hundreds of them down yet. W.
were anchored about two hundred
yards from one of the wrecks, ant
whenever a breeze came from tina
direction, the stencil would b.
awful. Well, we layed there un
til the morning of August G
About one-half hour before goin,
on the lighter, l was ordered t
take command of Company &C.
Capt. j. w. Murphy being sick
From the lighter we were takel
in small boats and landed. Man,
of the men had to wade ashore AM
all of us were soaking wet by til
time we got there. From tn
place of landing to camp Dewey !
about two miles, and by the tim
we got there we were tired an
footsore. We did not get anythin
to eat until long after dark, an
then only canned horse and hard
tack. The men had to pitch thei
little shelter tents in a peanu
field with the water standin
everywhere in puddles. Wet an
tired as we were we slept yer
well. The next few days we &c
a taste OF camp life. Almo,
every night while we were in cam
we could hear artillery an
musketry fire in our front, an
every morning some regimen
would march by, coming in frol
the trenches, and then we woul
ask and be told how many ha
got killed and wounded the prev
Gus night. The Spaniards hardl
ever do any business in the da,
time, they almost always wait III
til night. On August 8, the secon
battalion, to which we belong
and which is commanded by Ma
McConville, was ordered to take i
first turn in the trenches. Rigl
here let me tell you that Majt
McConville is all right. He is II
best liked field officer that ! kno,
Well, we got to the trenches al
took our place, and oh, such
place. Where Company &c" W;
stationed the water was up
our knees and in some places l
to u waist. We had to sta
there "a hours. I believe TIL,
were the longest "a hours any