Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1898-08-03
With the Twelfth Regiment.

With Ihe lWelIth ,Ne&1ment
The following is an extract from a
letter recently written to Fred w.
Segerstrom by his former employe,
Lawrence Baum. Mr.. Segerstrom has
kindly permitted us to publish it, as
it may prove interesting to our read
ers.
CAMP THOMAS, GA, July Is, 1898,
Mr.. Fred w. Segerstrom,
Willmar, Mimi.
DEAR S1R:-I suppose you think ]
am never going to write to you and
keep my promise, but meant to long
ago.
| This is the rainy season and il
rains nearly every day. AS it is clay
soil, all the rain has to run off, and
rivers several feet deep form at every
rain and the next day they will be
dry.
We expect to leave here in less than
week for Porto Rico, as we are to
reach there by the 18th of August.
This life would just suit me if we
could only get into action, but this
laying around is not what it is
cracked up to be. We drill about six
hours and it is about 12O to 40 in the
sun. A person never has dry dud
on. Haye not seen girl for month,
as they never come near camp. There
are more Litchfeld boys here than
there is in Company G, 18th Regiment,
but we do not receive thing from our
home town. However, we can take
care of ourselves and we claim we are
from St. Paul whenever anyone ques-
tions us.
The Minnesota regiments are held
very highly here and our regiment
(12th took first place in the corps re-
view before Gen. Brooks the other
day. We marched 10 miles for the
review. There were $1,000 men in it
and I tell you it was immense. The
Minnesota troops took very prom
inent part in the battle here in the
civil war and they met the South Car
DINA troops here. Now we are in
the same brigade with them, COM
manded by the same officers that met
the gallant End Minnesota so long
ago, and they tell us they never knew
what running was till they met the
Minnesota troops and they never
stopped. Our boys drove them about
ten miles. The Minnesota End Regi-
ment monument is the finest in the
park and it does US boys good to go
over to Snodgrass hill and sit down
on good old Minnesota rock again.
Brig. Gen. Rosser, an ex-Confederate
officer, said he would rather lead and
could do more with the two Minnesota
regiments (12th and 14th) than any
brigade q Reg. J in the park. He met
our lst at Gettysburg.
We have a bakery here that makes
100000 loaves Of bread a day and
may be you think they don't hustle
some. Meat, potatoes and clothes
come in by train loads. I had a fine
drive yesterday, as the quartermaster
gave us a pound of nails to build a
floor with. Had ride in one of the
government horseless wagons yester-
day. They have thousand of the
wagons here and several thousand
mules. Some New York boys went
over and paid visit to a farmers
peach orchard yesterday and one got
shot in the jaw, one in the stomach
and two in the legs, so some of US
have been under fire already.
We go from here to Newport News
and embark there for Porto Rico.
Every one of us Is crazy to get start
ed. It started to rain and the ditch
along the side of our tent is a fair
sized stream already. We have had
beans and pork so long that cannot
look a pig square in the face any
more. 1t has rained so much that we
will not drill any more to-day. It
has been rs days since. pay day and
all the boys have gone broke, but
they lived high for a while, you can
bet
You can answer this to Co. L, 18th
MINES ota VOL, and if I am gone it
will be forwarded to me. Best re-
CARDS to Victor and all my friends.
Vo,1r friop1