The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-10-25
MANILA'S
'-.. CAPTURE.
Sergeant Major Pogue Of
This City Tells of
the Fight.

lnntfy ana In lotterS fecelvcu Dy MS slster
Miss Allle Pogue. Of No. 1l5 Rodney street
he gives the keynote OF the army ant
navy's success His letters breathe of thai
patriotism and determination which made
the men the admiration of the world G.
C. Pogue is the nalro of the Whining
tonian and from his letters 1t Is evident
that he IL n boy of more than ordinary edu
cation. and that he is u careful observer.
In u letter dated Manila. August II, he
says:
My Dear Old Sis:-I wrote you quite a
long letter before the Battle of Manila.
and suppose you will read about it in the
papers even before you receive this. But
it won't be like hearing about 1t from one
who was in it; and before l go further l
want to say 1t and mean it, too, that am
very, very thankful to q higher power that
l am alive and in splendid health at this
writing and sincerely trust the war is
over for al time and that we will not have
to remain on this island the full Two yaars,
now all the excitement is over. l am get.
ting holncsick. We stormed and captured
Manila after stiff. bloody fight, Satur-
day, August 10, 1898. Our loss was about
II killed and 10 wounded; the Spanish loss
was fearful Thoy denied it Of course, but
we could see fer ourselves. saw at least,
800 dead in their entronchments and about
600 or 100 wounded God forbid shall
ever be compelled to go through another
such eight hours Its enough to make old
men of us all and make these Is, 10 and 20
year old boys men in one day, have seen
W ar, blood and death to my hearts con-
tent. Brass bands, street parades and tin
soldiers are all right, but this past month
has taken all the romance out OF every
thing for me- and the quicker the Govern
meDt sends us home tho BIZ ttor, for now the
boys are dying with dysentcry. Last Fri
day, August 18th, we wore lined up and or
ders read to us that tomorrow, 'Satur-
day" we would attack the enemy and told
what regiments would be in the leading
firing line and what position we would
have and as told you IN my other letter
said the Colorado Infantry woull have
the dirty work to do and we did, too. but
bless you, dear heart, we sure dono it
brown. don't know how much sleep thu
other boys done, ;but G &. Pogue did not
sleep moro than three hours that night l
cleaned up my gun, bayonet, filled my
haver. ack, and canteen, put your address
on piece of paper and marked it sister,
SO if sI was killed some comrade would
write you line and tell you about 1t, but
It's still in my pocketbook and can wiite
to you myself Hope 1t never will DO used
by any one In that way. Saturday morn
ing at Ia. IN, we were woke up had
breakfast, flied my cantoen with coffee,
mt "a can Of tough botf in my baversack.
and six hard tack, then put 200 pounds of
cartridges in there, beside the 80 which
was in my bet rolloI.up my rubber blank
et and tied it across my shoulders and
was ready when the word came 10 fall in.
Roll was called and sthc men answered. to
their names in quiet tone OF voice. We
counted four and tho regiment was lined
up and the band played the "star
sn,ngled Banner" and then our chaplain
,a;sod his hands and said the benediction
IN 1Goo nrnve Colorado men who stood with
hats off and bowed heads the rain pouring
down in sheets. then wo all Joined in re.
pea.ing tho Lords Prayer, and forming
into column we marched out Of camp,
and went to our own entertainments, {;
mile, away, We occupied the left, the
18th L. 5. Regulars, the centre; the Min
pe,ota on the riuht. the Nebraska was our
pennsylyanIa tho centre support,
Dakota was fine rlrht. then three moro
roo;msnts wore in r,ssrye about Il mile in
no ro,r Neurlv nine thousand men ready
Int the lending three regiments were the
,nez who would get tho hard work. We
were all arranged by 9 o'clock and the sun
came cut clear and hot. We lay there
watching the splendid feet moving up to-
ward the city, closer and Closer not shot
was fred, The silence was terrible, for we
knew the very Ratos of he'll would soon DO
wide omen, Our own batteries were load
al and aimed. ,he mon stood to their guns
|iko stot,.s ,hip broad-shouldered fellows,
,,ked to tho waist. knew lots of them
in III, Ourov and Stutfl,s mines, They
,,id uGive than Ii, old X COMPANY. we
will shoot over your heads and scatter the
A., s,,ni,rds Exac,lv at 925 the flag.
aim 0Ivmp;a oneoca fin, buil with her
AMIR r., ;.cb riN,s IT almost lifted MS off
,,n fa,. Tn.p tho Charleston, Balti-
,,aro p,,,,rh p,,rs, r,llns and several
a,h,,e ali ,"orod nm with big and Ittle
rrps THAR docks md fighting tops fairly
,,,zsd TIM Monitcr and Monterey with
ber IA inch runs never said word, but
looked Ike hi, bull dog, SO low down In
the water rs sbo sne.ked up close TO the
S,unisb batterv of big 10 inch krupp guns.
\ hero all along tho Spanish liue of en-
,ro,ch,ro,.s their capuops opcpcd ND
with shell Shrnnrel Calling guns and
God knows wbot else Then our batteries
hogan 70 boom, 10 field pieces all opened
,t once. You can never imagine what $50
pieces of artillery can kick up The Span
sh Infantry began to fire thousands of
Mauser rifles, and three thousand Of IN
,le Sans rifles all spoko at once, and we
henra Col. Mccoy say Co. J, Co. X, Co. q,
and Co. d over tho trenches, and in that