The Dickinson press., 1898-07-23
o'clock, so good bye. Yours forthe anexa-
ton of the Hawaiian Islands p. d. q.
Lieut.. Josh Osborn,
M,n;I,
S. S. Valencia, Iuly &, 'o8.

,. , valencia, jury 5, 90.
Dear MI. Ayers:
AS you requested me. l will drop you a
few lines to let you know how we are en-
joying our trip.
We left San Francisco June %. We
went on board the S. S. Valencia on the
evening of the 27th; early the next morn
ing people began to assemble to see the
soldiers depart for Philippines. At
length we weighed anchor at Ago p. m.
and steamed out of the bay, amid the
cheers and shouts of the soldiers and
citizens. Whistles were blowing from
every boat in the harbor, which added
to the general confusion. We soon pass
ed the Golden Gate, discharged the pilot,
when we were about five miles out, and
steered for the open sea.
We struck a strong westerly breeze,
and a rather rough sea, which caused the
boat t o roll considerably. As most of
the soldiers had never been on the ocean
before, they were soon suffering the first
pangs of sea-sickness. Officers and men
alike. Capt. Aud was not sick. Sergt.
Freeman, Corp'l Skeen and a few of the
men escaped. l had a good dose of it,
and for a while didn't care which way
the boat went. But l would have given
anything to have felt some solid ground
under my feet and escaped from this ev-
~erlasting swinging, rolling motion. 1
never felt so sick in my life.
Our steamer is a small vessel, 285 feet
from bow to stern and 40 feet wide. Her
passenger capacity is 900, SO the GOO men
on board are quite crowded. On account
of her she rolls a great deal,
but is a good seaworthy craft. She car
ried three loads of Klondikers t6Alaska
this spring before she was pressed into
the U. S. service.
Yesterday was the 4th, so of course we
had a celebration. Here is the program:
Music by the bugle corps.
To the color.
Salute of 10 guns by Co. B.
Reading of Declaration of lndepend-
ence by Major Frame.
Song, America.
Grafton, Lieut.. Hildreth of Co. b.
Song, Columbia.
Address by Corp'l Manley of Co. H.
Bear Dance, by Priv. Cairn Cross and
Lieut.. Foley.
Music by bugle corps.
Three cheers for Old Glory and Dox-
ology.
Col. M. c. Trueman, master of ceremo-
MES.
The speeches were suitable to the oc-
%casion, and l can assure you the cheers
for Old Glory were heartily given.
July 9th. The climate is becoming
warmer, we have awnings spread over
the deck. We have been eight days out
and seen nothing except a sail sighted
on the horizon yesterday afternoon. All
are well on board, but very dissatisfied
with the food, there seems to be some
thing wrong in that department. A kick
has been registered at headquarters, SC
we hope for an improvement soon.
We arrived at Honolulu early this
morning, Thursday July 2, expecting to
stay for a day or two; but we have just
received orders that we leave at once fol
Manila, SO l will have to cut my letter
of. All l can say is, we received a splen'
did reception here, although it was
about one o'clock when we arrived
Honolulu is a very lovely place, from
what little we have seer Of it. The Ha
waiian band came out and serenaded u!
before we reached the dock.
We are all we'll. Will write again at
ter we reach the Philippines.
In haste,
FULTON BURNETT