The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-04-03

Sun, Roy Trask, a member of Troop II,
Fourth United States Cavalry, telling
OF the severe fighting that followed
the attempt of the Filipinos to capture
Manila on the 4th of February:
Manila, Feb. 5, 1899.
Dear Mother: Well, as the excite
ment is ended for the present, l will
take advantage of a few spare moments
10 relate the battle, or as much OF 1t as
l possibly can. 1 suppose you have
read 1T all in the newspapers. The wires
TO Washington were hot for while,
anyway. The Filipinos made better
stand and We're harder to. resist than
the Spaniards were. For a time 1t
looked as if they were getting the best
of it, they were so close to the city.
They had a body of armed men all
through the city, and sharpshooters
stationed in the Cathedral and perchsd
in the tops Of the trees, all looking out
about the same time. They did not do
very much damage, as they are poor
marksmen. 1t was out of their line
of business, when they were acting as
sharpshooters.
There was one fellow in a tree about
300 yards from squad of us He
anyone being hurt and at the same
time we could not locate him. as he had
a Mauser rifle and sfno4leless powder
They were stationed in every available
tree that gave protection to them.
l tell you the lead was flying for
time. All you could hear was the
whistling of bullets, and they fought
from the intrenchments They would
never raise their heads above the top
of the ground.
The manner in which they shoot is to
raise their gun to the surface of the
ground and fire, never taking aim. The
way SO many of our men met death was
by charging on them in the trenches.
They had double trenches and they
We're all occupied with a strong force.
They would retreat from the first
trench and had reinforcements in the
rear intrenchment They played havoc
with two companies Of the Fourteenth
Infantry. The Lieutenant and sixty
men charged across a rice. field. Every
one was killed-not one returned. Too
much bravery. Our men had too much
courage. The charge was a grand
sight, but it was dreadful work. The
water. and mud were two feet deep
across the rice fields, and it was terribly
fatiguing on account of the heat
1t was twenty hours Of hard fighting.
They never ceased firing until about 4
m, and they were ON the run. Their
losses were SO many they retreated for
better position They were chased
back about ten miles, ard then we
stopped to await developments, as they
might be decoying US on. They were
$1,000 strong, all armed. There is no
Use talking-if it wasn't for Dewey we
would have had a hard time of it His
big guns did wonderful work, and they
kept up a steady fire on the insurgents
until they got out of range, and then
the land forces went after them redhot
so they are clean out of sight in our
section.
Over to the left they are doing some
heavy firing this afternoon. Dewey has
his old guns agoing, and when they
bark there is something doing 1 think
he is bombarding some place or Malo-
las. They are pretty we'll fatiguad
there, and they went to dislodge them
with the big guns, so we can have ac-
ton with the slnall-bore guns. Our
forces are burning everything in sight
destroying all their shacks and burning
everything they have, so we can get
at them. The way they were fighting.
they would shoot from a building and
when you go up to them they would
throw away their gun and plead igno-
rance. So we remedied that by firing
them all
You can't imagine what a battle is
like. The noise of the guns was some
thing terrific, and the shooting was
kept up so steady The roaring Of the
guns and the bursting of shells was
terrible. Cannonading is going on to
the left of U.s. They are firing on the
skir1nish lines, and we are liable to be
ordered out again before morning pro-
viding they force the fighting. Their
manner Of fighting is to attack at
night and lay off in the daytime There
was not a man injured out of our
troop. Every one of US fired all the
way from fifty to 200 shots, so we had
to have more ammunition brought out
to US on the firing line But the
losses are too bad in some of the other
companies There were about $50
men killed and wounded
On our side about 100 cases were
fatal. 1t is a sad sight to see our
boys laying on the battlefield dead 1t
was reported that General King was
"
cannot imagine the losses on the side
of the enemy You can see them
scattered over the rice fields and in the
trenches. They were two and three
feet high. 1 should Judge about 10000
were killed and wounded in yesterdays
battle. The fields are strewn with
dead insurgents and locks as if a
cyclone had rampaged over the coun-
try and left ii in ruins
The enemy have ceased firing at pres
ent. They are probably leading us on.
We have stopped sending out spies to
note the positions they occupy, and
they are being reinforced from the
mountains by the Negreties. They are
coming in by tribes and using bows
and arrows, a spear and mud-gun
made out of bamboo, which is a very
ineffective gun.
Poor ignorant fools! If they ever
charge with such weapons 1t will be
sure death. They are perfectly wild
never saw white men, and have no fear.
1t is a regular massacre, but still we
must defend ourselves and keep them
out Of the city It was their intention
to force us out of Manila, for they is
sued a proclamation giving us 50 many
days to leave the city. We paid no at
tention to it, and consequently they at
tackled US. They thought to gain a
victory. All wore a sacred cloth