The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1898-10-08

the Part Taken by the Volunteers
From North DakOtn - Showed
Themselves to De Steady Soldiers
and Good Fighters-All Anxious
Fargo, N. D.-The only letter re.
ceived7 on the last nail from Manila
with anything about the part the North
Dakota volunteers took in the battle
at Manila, Aug. Ii, came to Mrs. E. q.
Gearey. Her husband was first lieu
tenant Of Company B OF Fargo, but
WAS made adjutant of the regiment af-
ter the troops left Fargo. He writes:
In the Trenches Before Manila, Aug.
12.-Early this morning we had a good
breakfast of nice coffee and crackers,
and started up Canine Real for the
front. 1t is hard to judge distances
here, as the country is thickly wooded
and there IN so many turns and SO
many new and strange things to see,
II loses track of distances easily.
After wading through slop and slush
Until everyone was wet with perspira-
| ton and red in the face, we took a
| short rest and then on again until we
| found ourselves where the lines were
in close proximity to the Spanish
works. 1t is swampy all around this
! section, and TIE breastworks. are in
sWampS for the most part, being
strongest on the roads. Where dirt is
dug up to make embellishments the hole
at one fills with water and becomes
soft mud and slime. The natives have
no sanitary ideas, and offal and dead
animals and decaying fruit and yegeta-
ton make an offensive smell. If you
wish to i.sve an idea of what the men
are in, you might go out in the pig pen
at the farm in very wet weather and
throw up a bank across it about three
feet and a half high and lay down on
the side Of it with your head sticking
above and your legs to the knees in
the water. We have not been disturbed
yet. 1t is now 2:3O p. H., but it is at
night the business is done here. We
expect a general forward movement in
a few days. 1t would do you good to
see the heightened Aston battery drag
their guns through the slime.
Aug. 13.-Made a tour of the 40.
vanced posts and found the boys all
well. Just Is I started to return firing
began from heavy guns on the left
and forward (this is 6:15 a. n.y. and
was quickly followed by Il fusilade of
light artillery and musketry fire. 1
just happened to think that l had not
had any breakfast, and started back to
headquarters, where Company B was,
to get a cup of coffee. The firing had
almost ceased at Z a. M. and we were
ordered back 10 Pasar in reserve with
the Tw%enty-third regulars-about 300
yards, back Of the trenches behind an
old stone church. At 9:3O some heavy
guns out on the bay began to boom ir-
regularly, and it seemed like Dewey
was trying to get range and locate
four heavy Krlpp guns supposed to be
in the Spanish fort. The conclusion is
like thunder, though we are about two
miles away, and this stone wall. that
l am leaning against trembles like a
leaf. The Spaniards seem now to be
replying and it is getting warm. 1
must put this in my knapsack, on
WAAACAl L I'LL WAAtAASs anu &C. ACoNy I
move. Something is likely to drop
soon.
Aug. 13, . p. m.-We have had a
pretty good brush. Col. Treumann is
nearly overcome with the heat. Two
or three men have succumbed to the
sun; two men wounded. The dead
and wounded are coming back on
STRETCHES, and it is impossible to say
how many Americans have been lost.
as we know nothing of the center or
left: The firing has ceased; We have
driven the enemy in, and are now ad,
vanced about a mile and a half and
are occupying the Spanish line. 1t is
cool and rainy, and the heat is not SO
intense now. The Thirteenth Mime
sofa and Astor battery have done good
work.
Aug. 13, $50 p. m.-We are now in
Manila. 1t is cool, and III boys are
lying by their arms on the plaza. Some
are on duty. We have a job now to
keep the insurgents out. Our men ell
circle the city and are guarding every
approach. So far as l an able to learn
North Dakota has one, wounded and
none killed. The Spanish works were,
first, q barbed-wire fence, then a moat,
after that a breastwork eight feet high,
and on top Of that a head-log and
barbed-wire fence. Our "boys in
brown" are a tired but Jolly lot to-
night.
Saturday Morning, Aug. Awe are
Quartered in a hospital, which is quite
neat and clean. The Filipinos, who
have been crying, "Filiponos amigo
Americano!" are not nov SO friendly.
Their idea has been to loot and de-
stroy. all the Spanish, and we do rot
allow them to enter the city unless
they come unarmed; so that makes a
difference. We were in reserve yester-
day, and while we were under quite
heavy fire, we had not very much loss.
The boats in the bay started the right
flank Of the enemy, and the line fell
back from the right all along. They
ought to have held their Notifications
against 100000 men, but they did not
make much resistance. Some Of II
men are actually disappointed. The
people seem to have expected a loot
ing, as they have barred their doors
and removed their goods from ware
houses and stores. Everything is quiet
to-day, but it is hard to get anything
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