Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-08-08
WANT ACTIVE SERVICE.
SOLDIERS AT CAMP THOMAS ARE
GETTING DISCOURAGED.
They Fear Poace Will Be Declared Be-
fore They Are Sent to the Front-Poli-
tics the Cause of Unjust Discrimina-
tions Against Pennsy1vania Troops.


fore They Are Sent to the Front-Poli-
tics the Cause of Unjust Discrimina-
tions Against Pennsylvania Troops.
Chickamauga Park, Georgia,
Camp Thomas, August 4, 1898.
EDITOR TRIBUNE.-I have been told
by several of the readers who have writ
ten to me hero that my last letter to the
TRIBUNE proved interesting reading and
all hoped for another. l shall now try
and make this letter as interesting as
the first, and il should fail to do so you
will please remember that it comes from
q soldier who is in the volunteer army
and has no prospects of going to the
front at the present time, for this new
order from the war department calling
on regiments to go from states which
have no representation in active service
Is not to our liking. We of the First
Penn'a think we are entitled to go and
every man in our camp today believes
we have been Disseminated against.
When we come to think of the way we
have been toyed and played with since
leaving Philadelphia on April 2S, and
jollied along by the officials, it is enough
to make our patriotism cool, but | am
glad to say it has not yet reached that
stage. Every time there has been an
order issued from Washington for more
troops we were lead to believe that the
First would surely 20, but when we saw
regiment after regiment go it was dis
couraging to officers and men of this
command, and now we all think that il
Spain accepts the terms of peace we will
never leave here.
VERY FEW ON THE sIoK LIST.
Today we are the best equipped, best
disciplined and best drilled of any reg-
ment at Camp Thomas and we arc also
the healthest regiment in the whole
army, having only one-half of one per
cont of our men sick, showing that
speaks highly OF 1t. Col. Good and DR..
Harland
l was sick for nearly three weeks and
am at the present time in the hospital,
but | am improving rapidly and hope to
soon be back with my company again.
Being ponned up here in tho hospital is
no cinch.
The Ninth Penn'a is having hard
row to hoe. Over 200 of its men are on
the sick list and every day from one to
five are sent from the regimental hosp-
tai to the division hospital. There has
been quite few deaths among the
Ninth's men.
In tho First Penn'a there has been
only one death since we left Philadel-
phia, whereas other regiments have lost
from five to twenty-five from typhoid
fever, and when other regiments depart
from here they leave behind large mum
bers Of sick men. 1t makes our boys
feel mutnious to think that sickly regi-
ments are thought more OF than our own
healthy selves.
This regiment has the best score of
any so far at the rifle range. We have
made an average of 81 out OF y possible
so and at the match last Saturday the
First took first prize hands down.
SHOULD BE IN CUBA.
You must not think that l am elbow
ing up" the First, for l am not. l only
wish to make it plain to you the way
! they discriminate against us. We should
be by right in Cuba or Porto Rico today.
| do not claim we would do better than
those who went, but we would do as
we'll Pennsylvania politics is the cause
OF the discrimination.
From all over Camp Thomas come Off
GERS and men to see us drill and also to
view our evening parade and guard
mount. To use their own words we are
the best drilled of any regiment here
and they consider it a treat to watch
our exercises. The evening parade is
the closing of our days work and every
man dresses up and looks nice, while
the colonel and staff inspects and gives
!