The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1898-08-27
HIS LAST LETTER
WRITTEN HOME
clatSop'S 0nly Son in the Manila
Fight Heard Prom,
GREETING BEFORE BATTLE
Lost His LIE a Few Days later. aud 10
Edward C. rOsss clatssp cOasty
fiads hero.
GREETING BEFORE BATTLE

The following. and probably the last
I letter written by clatsop's only son whC
: was In the nght at Manila. which result.
ed In the surrender OF THAI city. and who
0 died from his wounds, viii be read with
: interest. His father Andrew Young, and
his uncle. BENJAMIN YOUNG. are well
, known citizens OF this community:
/ cAvITE. Manila bay. July y, lSsS-
Editor Astcrtan; Knowing that you
would be Interested In hearing about the
; boys OF the Oregon volunteers. now here
. At Manila will spend few minutes in
= the very pleasant task OF writing a short
: description Of army life and its attend
! an, comforts and discomtorts.
As for the first they are nit" for the
latter, they are not so bad that they
could not be worse.
We get enough 10 eat Of hard tack. oa-
con, horse meat and burnt coffee. and we
set enough work 10 keep US busy most OF
the time.
While not drilling. most Of the fellows
are writing letters horne, or elsewhere.
as every one expects 10 leave TO take the
town OF Manila AZ any time. Another
reason so much writing Is being done Is
because no one is allowed to leave our
regimenta camp Tor fear OF spreading
the measles throughout the rest Of the
camps
Fifteen cases Of measles were reported
yesterday among the oregonians and as
a consequence. our corner OF the encamp-
ment Is under quarantine no one being
allowed 70 cross the lines. either coming
or going.
The climate here does not compare with
the climate Of Oregon. From O'Clock a.
m. to I p. m, 1t is about g IN the shade
and after usht It begins 10 rain ana
! thunder. which does not compare with |
oregon's rain and thunder.
The sun is so hot here thar between
ten and fttten boys faint every day. ana
the hospital is full OF boys all the time.
Dewey has done j slick piece Of work
here. sinking eleven OF the Spanish ves-
sells. The Rena chris,ania Is the name OF
the Spanish flag ship. which is one Of the
ships that had only one shot put through
her, but that struck her in the stern ana
went clean through her. She was the
largest ship OF the feet
was on board OF her the other day and
saw between five and seven dead Span
iards laying around on the deck and one /:
had his feet sticking out og one Of her {
Port holes,
Dewey Captured two large coaling ves-
sells and one large ship loaded with live
cattle, bound for Manila, but Dewey !
didn't DO 4 thing bU; swing on to It. so Z
We are getting fresh meat at the present I
time. d
There are all kinds OF animals here. es- '
pecially the monkeys. which are plentiful d
and there are also snakes OF all kinds. 5
The insurgents and Spaniards are hght-
ing here all the time. one company OF b
insurgents came 20 Cavite the other day D
and they were all covered with blood a
from head 10 foot and they said that
they had the hardest fight yet and the n
Spaniards lost 10 men and the insurgents o
. men. e
The insurgents have been capturing the a
the spaniards every day-between . ana (
100. so We have between 3,c00 and 4,00J '
Spaniards in prison here at Cavite $
There are nov some 500 troops in the l
bay. but they are not all here in Cayite. a
The Californians Oregonlans and United !
States regulars are all that are here.
The others are scattered at various places
around the city OF Manila. h
They have the prisoners at work here Il
between 10 o'clock a. m. and o'clock p. c
m. when 1t IS so not that We can't stand I
the heat so they are a great help 10 US, :
but nevertheless We have all that We can i
do. We drill i've hours a day, bet"ecn n
the hours OF O'Clock In the morning Il
to 7:30 and In the afternoon from h
o clock to 7:30.
We are staying N a large sto-e building 3
which was built in l702 and there is not 3
a stick Of wood found on the building y
The floor is composed simply Of square q
stones and the sides also. but the roof is '
composed Of iron and tile. '
We have no beds Of any kind, but just C
pitch our blankets on the stone floor at a
9 o'clock and stay their till o'clock in U
the morning. c
There are some Of the prettiest sea n
shells formed along the sea shore that r
the world has ever known. i
The city Of Manila. / cannot say much 4
about We can see the city plain from 0
here and one Of the largest cities in the /
world, which will be shattered to pieces
in a few days.
The second expedition arrived the l7th 7
OF July with a large number Of troops and .
they we're not so dirty looking as We I,
were We lost ore man and they lost n
six men. :
| wish to write few lines Of our trip. a
can say that we had a pleasant trip. g
After boarding the Australia, May 23rd al I,
Frisco. In a few minutes we found our n
selves out in the sparkling waters Of the (,
mighty ocean, where the boys commenced d.
10 think Of the home and sweetheatrs n
which they left behind. 81
In few days run We arrived at Homo n
lulu with great cheers There were boats n
Of all kinds which came out TO meet US d
with the American flag waving high and o
cheering for the boys in blue. After we n
landed we were invited out 10 the queens y
palace, where we had all kinds Of eat O.
1bles and fruits, After leaving Honolulu ri
the next day We found the ocean not 50 a
rough as It was and We enjoyed the trip m
a little better. II
After a few days out from Honolulu we G,
lost one Of our brave boys, whom we left e,
behind in the mighty waters Of the old o.
Pacific.
A few days alter this happened we
struck the Ladrone Islands, where the +,
Charleston bOmbarded the fort and two ci
of the Australia went ashore +,
md captured sixty Spanish soldiers and n
)ne small pig, which Travelled with US as fl
Jur mascot. n,
/ am sorry to say that / am the only m
Of Clatsop county al n
hough there may be some boys coming Y,
behind. ! will close this letter, hoping "
hat there won't be a Spaniard on the fl.
ield when we oct thrnngh with them |