Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1898-10-27
LETTER FROM MANILA.

The following letter was written by
young man who formerly attended the
Dunsmore Business College in this city |
and whose home is near Broadway, |
Rockingham county, and who is known
by number of the citizens of Staun- |
ton. We omit SO much of the letter as
is of private nature aud publish that
relating to the naval battle
Junta Administrative del Arsenal de
Cavite, manila, p. I.,) Sept. s, 1888.
Prof. J. u. DunsmOre,
Staunton, Va.
Dear Friend Il would have answer
ed your letter sooner, but as yet our
mail here is very incomplete. The only
way by which we can send mail from
this place is on the transports as they
return LOme-which goes direct, other
wise we have to send it to Hong Kong
to be posted there. We also have to send
to Hong Kong for all OF our mail.
l hope they will soon have regular mails
between this place and Hong Kong
then we will not have to wait SO long
for our mails.
Yes, | was with Admiral Dewey in
the battle at Manila on the lst OF May;
am still with him and will remain with
him until my time expires, OF until the
war is over: My enlistment expires
July. 1899. We had hot time in hot
before breakfast. We sunk the whole
of Spain's fleet, which numbered eleven
ships and two torpedo boats; silenced
her shore batteries at Cavite and killed
and wounded about one thousand Span
ish sailors and soldiers without losing
single man in our fleet, had only seven
slightly wounded. The odds were against
us, though we did them up in great
shape and taught them a lesson which
they will never forget.
Piping all hands to fighting quarter at
| 10 O'Clock on Saturday night, the 30th
of April, Admiral Dewey prepared to
rush the defences at the entrance OF
Manila Bay. Selecting the southern
passage between CorregidOr and Fraile
Islands, undeterred by the reports of
mines and torpedoes, he ran his squad
ron through in the following order
Olympia (hagship), Baltimore, Raleigh,
Petrol, Concord, Boston, McCulloch,
Zafiro, and Naushan. Ali lights were
extinguished, but the sentinels detected
the Baltimore passing through, and ire
was opened upon her, without touching
her. The Raleigh came up and engaged
them and silenced the battery, and the
remainder of the squadron was allowed
to pass unmolested. We remained at
our guns all night expecting at any mo
ment to be attacked by the enemy's
ships; but not Spanish ship did we see
until daylight, then we saw the whole
Spanish fleet near Cavite, distance of
about eight miles.
| We steamed straight for them; they
commenced firing on us long before we
were within range, but we did not open
| fire until We were within about five
| thousand yards of them. 1t was then
about $50 a. M, and the battle CONT
nued for about two hours; then we
steamed off out of range and had break
fast and short rest. Then we steamed
| back for the second round and finished
the job which we had begun just few
hours before, and by 2 p. IN. we were in
charge of Cavite arsenal. The battle
lasted four hours. Cayite is about seven
miles from Manila and is naval sta
ton.
When i'll possession of Cavite, the
boys were eager to try their marksman-
ship on the city of Manila, as they had
ldone such good shooting at the Spanish
fleet.
All of us thought Admiral Dewey
would lombard the city on the follow
ing day, but we were sadlJ disappOint-
ed. If he had done SO the city would
have been totally destroyed by fire
caused by bursting shells from our
ships. He thought it best not to bonn
bard for the sake of the women and
children in the city. EYen if We had
taken the city we could not have held it
because we did not have men enough it
we had landed every man from the fleet
WI iab 1Vnuld ta haan OuI " a hOut1 H00
against 10, GOO or Is, 600 Spanish soldiers.
So our only alternative was to wait
until we could get reinforcementS from
the States.
The first expedition arrived here from
San Francisco on the 30th of June. the
second about 10 days later, and the third
about the latter part OF July, then al
together we had about 1900 soliiers
landed about three miles from the City
of Manila. Later on they advanced a
detachmant to within about l, 200 yards
or less OF the Spanish lines which place
they held until the 18th of August, the
day Oh which we captured the city.
The American flag Was hoisled over the
city at about $50 p. m, and you should
have heard the cheers that went up from
our fleet, and each ship fired salute of
q guns. Our fleet did not have much
to do on that day. Had to silence only
one fort in which We killed and wound.
ed about 1876 Spaniards, this being done
cur soldiers marched in to the city OIL
rather fought their way in. Oar losses
were about 30 killed and 80 wounded.
(I mean in the army So far we have
not lost a Single man i'll our fleet in
battle. Tie Spanish losses were very
heavy, the day We took the city. So
far we have not been able to find out
the mum Der that were killed and wound
ed. General Merritt has disarmed all
of the Spanish soldiers except the Off
GERS who are allO wed to wear their side
arms, They are all prisoners of war
but are allowed to 60 anywhere, they
choose in the city but not allowed to
leave the city limits. They seem per-
fectly contenttd and are not giving our
soldiers any trouble at all. But, of
course, they know it is, of no use, being
otherwise.
/ am pleased to hear of so many Rock
| ingham and Augusta boys going to the
front to defend their country. 1t shows
the kind of stuff they are made of. l
am proud that have the opportunity
of serving my country under such a
man as Admiral Dewey and l can say
that Was in one OF the greatest naval
battles that was ever fought. Both
sides had modern ships.
I am, sincerely an old student,
G. E. HOOVER,
U. S. s. Raleigh, Manila,
| DbiIinnina oil