The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-01
now THE BOYS TOOK MANILA.
s,or,- of the American Victory As
Told By n Corporal.


corn, J. F. Kehoe of Company F.
,r-.on,v-tbird Infantry, now at Manila
pbnipp.ne Islands, writes an extremely in
,arestre letter to a friend in this city
,rba Is-ier is dated Aug. 49, and took five
-aals TO reach It's destination. 1t is writ
ten On pages torn from book found in
,ba spanish trenches al Manila. in part
the corporal says:
eve were given a splendid reception at
11or,irlu. Our next stop was at the Des-
~ leland, over 1000 miles from Honolulu.
We t1,n look souSwesterly course and
.tC,,--d at the Island of Guam, the most
o1i,bsru of the Ladrone Islands From
~ we steered straigh for Manila AS
- rounled the northern end of Luzon
Lind we met the cruiser Boston, who
-la,-,sI us in, and the cheering and well
- we got from our sailor boys was
.I+,-art indeed. We had several deaths
an our fleet while at sea, but as a whole
a. health of the command was good. On
arrival there We found our fleet close into
cute. while over in front of Manila
nrooer the foreign fleet lay, consisting of
Esrm8n British, French and Japanese
vessels Ii seemed 10 me from what l
co,ld earn that the Germans were hostile
t5vard= U.s. but Dewey held the winning
Elrd and making them keep their place
"C4vite was garrisoned by five compa-
mics Fourteenth Infantry Regulars. and
H. oregon Volunteers. We were several
5svs on The vessels before being landed
al CavIte and were at that point a long
time before being taken across the main
land taking up our position south south
last behind Manila. On Friday night
Aug. g. l received my baptism of fire. We
marched into our intrenchments on that
L.
MES of The Twenty third, five companies
Of the Fourteenth and two companies
Utah Battery, about 500 yards from
the Spanish works with the Nebraska vol
unteers as the support one-haIf mile N
our rear.
"Our company CD had the most ad-
vanced position. We worked hard all day
trying to connect two lines of breast
works together to cover our entire front
but the earth was so soft and mushy il
caved in almost as fast as it was put up
and We had no sacks. Things had been
quiet on both sides for several DAYS, no
firing only by Spanish sharpshooters post
ed in trees, and we We're CONCENTRATING
ourselves on having a quiet night when
the bail opened by a single shot away over
on our extreme right, followed by Others
and then the fun commenced. Vollev fir
ing firing at will, rapid fire and magazine
fire, ntermiXed with the screaming hiss
of bursting shells and heavy thunder OF
cannon, until I imagined 1 was in the
midst of hell. A night attack is some
thing awful, an unseen enemy pouring a
perfect rain of fire upon your works. un-
Ill iI was almost sure death to raise one's
head over the top IF" Company had the
weakest spot in our line, our works being
not Completed and we seemed to be singled
out as the objective point of their at
tack, nut, as We have since learned they
we're roughly handled that night and re
tired back behind their lines with a loss
Of over $50 killed and 300 wounded NV
company lost one killed and one wounded
the Fourteenth lost two men. I was made
corporal the next day. The next day we
moved out in fighting trim and by the
close whispering of officers, we knew that
the hour of charging had come. We took
up our position at Gen. McArthur's head
quarters and threw up Notifications fur
ther 10 the right of those we had occu-
pied. Saturday opened with pouring
ram The insurgents on our right fired a
reVeiIle gun at sunrise, and the Spaniards,
taking il for a challenge, opened a hot
IRE along our line, doing no
damage, as their Workmanship
Is simply horrible, they mostly
shooting TOO high. This lasted for an hour
and then they quit, disgusted I suppose,
for we did not return their fire About s
officers together and gave us our instruc-
TONS telling us the plan of attack, etc,
exc. felt nervous for a few moments,
but that wore off and I think 1 was about
as COOL as the next one, that is, If a man
can be cool under such circumstances.
"A little after O'Clock, Admiral Dewey
opened upon the enemy's works with the
hasshIp Olympia, Baltimore Raleigh and
me little Petref. 1t was simply grand to
listen to the roar of those big guns and
the storm of shot and shell played the dew
us tattoo among the dagos. The ships
ceased firing and the order was given to
charge, and then I felt what war was.
out from their concealment came F,
H, G, d, of the Twenty-third, the great
and only Aston Battery on our right, the
Fourteenth Infantry and the Pennsylvan-
la Volunteers on our 9eft other troops in
our rear. Away we go, climb over our
own suns TO get over the breastWorks and
INTO the road. In five minutes we had
jumped the first Spanish works, and
grandly hoisted "Old Glory" on the Span
ish block house. the Spaniards falling back
on the city, block a a time, and making
a stand whenever they could. But our
troops were not to be staid and forcing
them back, step by step, we arrived with
III hait mile of the inner walled city and
citadel Then they sent up the white flag
and surrendered. The cheers that rent the
AR as one after another the American
flags went up on the principal buildings of
the city made my heart glad-and 1 was
proud that 1 was an American.
we had a hard time that day driving
the Spaniards in from their works and at
the same time protecting lives and prop
erty from these miserable insurgents. We
do not allow them in The city now with
arms, and L think we will have trouble
with them yet. do not think they are to
be trusted. They viii scheme around All
day to beat you out of a cent and won't
work. We are now guarding and patrolling
the town"