Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-07-22
IN THE BATTLE.
BrattlebOrO Boy
At Santiago,

The following letter has been received
from Merton Warren by his parents, MI
and Mrs. Gilman Warren. Young War
.-en is member of company OF the Vth
Massachusetts, regiment His regiment
vas stationed at Falls Church, Va, and
was taken from Fort Munroe to Cuba on
the auxiliary cruiser Harvard.
CUBA, July :, Us.
On the lines outside of Santiago
sent you one letter OFT the boat at
Siboney, let me see, that was last Friday,
I think. The fact is | have forgotten all
.he DAYS and dates, almost,
We waded ashore late in the afternoon,
At Sboney, and stacked arms in sand
heap. 1t is little village of about 200,
with a few half-staryed Cubans wandering
around. Plenty of cocoanut palms rise
out of the sand, and the hills around, COW
cred with foliage, present very pretty ap-
pearance.
Little "shacks" of thatch are standing
here and there, and hundreds of little ma
ked nggers run about.
We were all glad to get off the boat and
nearly everybody went into the water for
a good swim. We found, on landing that
big battle was being fought, near San
tiagO. Near six o'clock SIX mule teams
1egan to arrive with the wounded from
the field, and | wandered up to the hOspi-
al tents to see the sights. They began to
come in so thick that / felt it my duty to
help them, so for over an hour ! was as
ssting the poor fellows out OF the wagons
and over to the tents, some with bullets
through the legs and arms, some shot
through the body, and worse than all were
The poor fellows that had part of the face
I f1ta fl ntt-
ever. and every new arrival was greeted
with cries of GLOW is it?' and "Are We
still gaining?'
They were driving the Spaniards back
slowly but surely, and as dan kness fell over
he fields that were strewn with dead, it
was found that nearly five miles of ground
had been gained, tut with terrible losses
on both sides.
AT 1880 we were ordered to take our
haversacks, canteens and rubber blankets
with two days rations and 90 to reinforce
our troops Then followed a long march
over hills and mountains for nearly l.
miles in the darkness through the jungle,
where huge trees Intervene their branches
above us. and were held there by vines
that grew all over the lowlands.
After wading two brooks and several
marshes we were allowed a few hours
sleep, and at = O clock We arose and hurried
away to the front. Very soon we began to
hear the voleys that were being fired, and
suddenly as we rounded a hill the screech
of shell as il few over our heads warned
rs that we were getting nearer and nearer
TO the scene Of actual battle. A few min
utes later and the steady "Iip" ZIP"
.Zip.H of bullets told us that We were get
ting in the range of the Mauser guns.
I'll Of r,qi hahinH IN
turned around to find that one of the Don
ovan boys had been hit in the right hand
Dy 4 bullet.
SO you see Company c was the first to
have wounded man.
You see all the early morning we were
marching over the ground that was so hot
" contested on the day before. Dozens OF
dead men strewed the road, and the
bushes were filled with wounded who had
contrived to crawl in there out of the way
until someone would come to pick them
up.
1t was a terrible sight to us fellows who
were unaccustomed to such things, and We
all felt rather shaky when the Spanish
bullets began to whistle around our ears,
but we are bravely over it now,
Saturday afternoon two companies of
our regiment were sent out to support a
regiment of regulars, and, along about IL
o'clock in the evening, | was aw tkened tC
find bullets flying around like hail, and
shells bursting all about us.
We had hot fight in the moonlight fol
about 50 minutes and when silence fell
once more and we had counted up we
found three men of our company had been
slightly wounded. Quite a number of our
boys were killed. but hear that we gained
over half mile of intrenchments, and
killed over 800 Spaniards. Not very bad
nights work, was il?
We are on hill now and our firing line
is less than half mile from Santiago. Oul
regiment is on the left of the firing line
which runs in a horseshoe shape, for over
eight miles.
SUNDAY, AT 1890 p. NJ.
A flag of truce has been hoisted, and
since then there has been no firing on
either side to amount to anything.
| was up to the head of the line this
morning and had look at Santiago. 1t is
a very pretty place, all low buildings and
there is a great variety of color, red, yellow,
etc. Very gaudy.
Saturday night, during the fight lost
all my things except rifle and cartridges,
so am rather hard up.
We all sleep in the trenches without
anything over or under us. Rain or shine
it is just the same, and during the day we
sit in the sun and roast.
We get salt pork and bareback, and as
there are no fires allowed on the line We
have to eat our pork raw, and l tell you il
tastes good when fellow is hungry. Just
try it when you go down to the store.
Cut off a nice fat piece, about two
inches square, and eat right down and i'm
agine that you are brave soldier in Cuba
No knives and forks, you know; use your
fingers and teeth We are getting along
first rate, though, and all are well. Some
of the gang are playing cards and Others
are sleeping.