Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1898-10-27
CAMPAIGN IN THE PHILIPPINES
Letter OF Young Minnesota Soldier
TO His Mother.

we have been landed. gone into camn
been in the trenches. been in a battIa
and taken Manila. We stayed on the
boat about eight days; and then they
took each regiment on a smaller boat
as near shore as they could ana
landed us in small boats. he ars,
thing we saw besides the natives was
an old Spanish cathedral. it must
have been hundreds of years Old
There are graves of Spanish monks
who died in 1912 We camp in a pea-
nut field. We stayed there lust stv
days, and during that time we went
on outpost duty for a hours. We re-
lieyed the Colorado boys. was ON
guard from 10 TO 1880 sThe Spanish
didn't happen to make an attack that
night, but they had nearly every other
night before that We were only
about 300 yards from the Spanish lines
The insurgents would walk on the ton
OF our breastworks and the Spaniards
would never shoot at them, but if any
OF our boys showed himself. Won
would hear the bullets whistle
suppose they had it 10 times worse in
the trenches than we did, but we had
a taste of it all right The next day
We We're relieved by the 23d regulars
and we went back to camp. We had
a hours rest, and then the whole
outfit was ordered out. We relieved
the North Dakota boys in the trenches.
We had only been in them about
half an hour when the battle began
We were a little to the left of the
Astor battery, and we could hear the
shells whizz past as we lay in the
trenches. The battle sounded lust
like a big Fourth of July in Minneap-
oils. We could hear Dewey's guns in
the harbor and the 23d regulars fir
ing volleys into the Spaniards. When
the regulars gained the first Spanish
breastworks and drove them back. Won
ought to hear them yell and the
band play. Soon after that we were
ordered to the front, and we piled out
OF those breastworks and out past the
battery in hurry, and lay down in
a swamp. Before we got into that
swamp we had to wade up to our
waists in mud and water We Law
down in the swamp and maybe the
bullets didn't whistle over our heads.
have often heard how bullets
whistle, but l never knew how they
sounded until now We lay there I'M
der fire about Is minutes, and then
we were ordered out to throw up
breastworks, which we did, and then
began our march to Manila. BY this
time we had the Spanish on the run.
and they kept it up until they were
clear inside the walls of Manila. and
then they laid down their arms and
surrendered.
We left our camp about in the
morning, and got into Manila about
4 p. m. When we marched into the
town you ought to hear the insurgents
yell, They followed right along be-
mind u.s. and tried to get into the city
ahead of us and pillage the city; but
we FOOLED them. As soon as we got
into the city they put us all on guard
there were six men on every street.
corner, and outside the town there
were more. We wouldn't let the in
surgents in, and we drove all the
armed ones out. You bet they we're
mad! We were relieved about II
O'Clock. and | went to sleep in the
rain. About o'clock it began to
rain | got up and went into an old
Spanish house and slept the rest OF
the night. We were on guard the next
day, and the next night we went into
barracks that the Spaniards had left
They are fine buildings, but they are
terribly dirty. But we went right to
work cleaning them up, and they will
be fine in a couple of days more The
apantards that used to sleep where
do left me a whole lot of Spanish am
lot Of seashells, and two
wooden dogs.
haven't told you anything about
the city yet. | could write about 500
pages about it. Maybe we can write
a story about it when | get home
The part that we are in is called New
Manila, but it looks a thousand years
old. There is an old cathedral that
iOOho me, anu IL mas q Dell IN IL Jldl
is hundreds OF years old. There are
lots Of fine grounds here, too, but no
large buildings. Old Manila has a
stone wall about 80 feet high all
around it, and the streets look like
the streets you see in books of old
streets Instead of stores
there will be little hooks in the
walls. You don't need much money
here. You only spend two or three
cents at a time; and you can get two
dollars of Mexican money for one of
ours, and Mexican is the standard
here. ! am going to buy something
to take home-don't know what yet;
going to look around and find out. |
am going 10 get a genuine Spanish
dagger. OF course in the European
parts of the town there are lots OF
stores and you can buy anything you
want
! think, now that We are in bar
racks the most OF our troubles are
over. I forgot to tell you that We
have been issued duck suits, and ]
- AN, Ia Of