The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-21
ENOUGH OF MANILA.
So Writes Sergeant Fred G. Robin
son, of COMPANY C.

son, of Company G..
Another excellent story of the land battle
at Manila has been received. 1t is from
Sergeant Fred c. Robinson, Of Company c.,
to o. B. White, Of this city. He writes:
We arrived at our position at am, and,
crawling into the trenches with the mud up
to our knees, commenced to strengthen them
at once. Maj Fredericks gave the command
lie down" and down we went in the mud,
and stayed there. At $50 Dewey opened the
ball with terrific cannonading. Our ar
tillery then opened up, and you talk about a
Fourth of July celebration; you should have
heard this. 1t lasted for one hour and thirty
five minutes, and then everything was as
quiet as death; but there was more to follow
We We're to make our debut as warriors. We
had been praised everywhere as nice SOL
diers, and now we were to be wiven a chaCc
to show ourselves as real so diers. 1t came
and l hope l have seen my finish as cal
soldier.
Maj. Fredericks ordered us forward, the As
tor battery leading with two guns which we
helped to drag. Then the Thirteenth Mn
nesota, Eighteenth and Twenty-third regu-
lars. By this time the sun had come out
and the heat was awful We received the
command double time, and down the road
we went to beat hell in column of fours-ovsr
the last Of our own entertainments into the
first of the Spanish, which were desc d.
We kept right on going until we reached a
block house, which fired. 1t was
menced to explode some of us thought
we were up against it. but not yet We pro-
ceeded a little farther and we were opened
upon in earnest. Patterson of Company 1,
was killed here We halted and the captain
ordered US into the bushes, where we laid
about two minutes. when we were again
ordered forward at double time.
We charged up the road under a terrific
fire. Company leading; then H, 3 and c,
the Third battalion, K L and NJ, behind
guarding a bridge. We kept on for half a
without more being hit is more than I can
explain. We were halted in front of the
old church. and Gen. Macarthur ordered
Company @ and Part Of H and E on the
firing line. There being room for no more.
the rest of us were ordered back of the
church. Gen. Macarthur walked up and down
the line, with a cane in his hand and he had
a pair of cuffs on. He is the nerviest man
l ever saw Company was then ordered to
dismantle the church and barric2de the street
half way across Every man responded and
we made short work of it. Setzloff was shot in
the hand. We then sew Capt. Seeblch carried
to the rear, shot in the lungs. Lieut.. Bunker
stepped from behind the church and was shot
in the wrist. knocking his gun out of his
hand. He picked it up and walked inside the
church
Pretty soon Capt Bjornstad walked into the
church with two bullet holes.
We were then ordered to the rear into a
swamp where we called the roll and found
four Company G men missing, We stayed
sembled the regiment, the Spaniards having
retreated with their wounded. The whole
brigade marched into the city, our loss al
wounded; the Spaniards 11S killed, ESQ
wounded. We acted well and were compli-
mented by Gen. Macarthur. Capt. Robinson
handled our company the same as though We
were drilling at the armory, having the boys
perfectly under control through 1t all. Col.
Reeve was very cool and right in 1t all the
time. In fact every one tried to do their
duty, and guess they did.
Well I am glad it is all over and have
had all the fight taken out OF me. l never
expected to get out alive and am now living
over time. That night we slept on our arms
and the next day were sent out to hold
back the natives. For sixty-eight hours all
we had to eat was what was originally one
canteen Of coffee and twenty pieces of hard
| tack. We stayed in the barracks for about a
! week and then put the police force in the
| north end of the city. Capt. Robinson Is in
| command and have very comfortable
| quarters. We are all feeling pretty well, but
| want to go home. 1t is a shame to keep
! white men In this God-forsaken country after
| 1t Is all over.
| This is a rotten town, dirty and full of dirty
| people. You could not hire me to live here.
! Minnesota is good enough for me and If
| get back I'll stay there.
All soldiers in the street after 10 p. m
| are arrested and everything closes at that
! hour; If they don't close we go in and pull
| en- and take them to court in the morn
| ing. We get paid tomorrow and expect the
| police force will have hot time. The colonel
| bought US straw hats from the regimental
| fund. Well hoping to see you about Dec
| l. bid you good night.
Fred c. Robinson