The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-04-23
in the early part Of February.

in the early part of February.
The letter was received from Mr.. Sui
Ivan by his brother last evening.
It was at once turned in to the city
editor of The Spy, who, by a strange
coincidence. was a comrade of Private
Sullivan in the Fifth corps during the
Cuban campaign.
In the hurly-burly of those exciting
and early July days before Santiago
they lost sight of one another and
'Sully," as he was called, was believed
by his comrades to be dead until the
news came last evening of his transfer
to the Third U. S. artillery in Manila.
Here is the substance of Private Sui
livan's letter:
Manila, March 5th, 1899
Dear Michael and Joe: We COM
menced fighting here again on the night
of the 4th of February and we are
fighting still My regiment is getting
a little rest now, as we were fighting
from the 4th till the oath of February.
God only knows when it will end, for
we have got to follow them through
swamps and mountains. They attacked
our outposts on the night of the 4th,
and we went to their relief from our
barracks through a shower of bullets,
as the Filipinos are armed with the
Mauser rifle, such as the Spaniards used
against us.
We acted on the defensive all night
the 4th, and on the morning of the 5th
we lined up for battle They had
trenches and blockhouses; in fact, every
house was a fort for them. We started
out at -, and when the battle opened
it was a terror. They had thousands;
they were three to one. But we steadily
advanced, firing as we went. with
of
theirs also. We drove them back TO a
big stone blockhouse, where they Of
fered a terrible resistance. We got with
in 800 yards of 1t, and then Gen. OTIS
gave the order to charge.
With a cheer and yell that would
shake the tomb of Washington, we
drove them flying from their block
house. Their dead and wounded num-
bered thousands.
They then went back to a town called
Calloocan, and we built trenches at
their blockhouse, with the intention of
resting few days. But, alas, we got
no sleep, for they kept attacking US
every hour, day and night. especially
their sharpshooters from the trees, as
this country is heavily wooded. They
made life so uneasy for US that Gen.
Otis concluded to drive them from the
town of Caloocan. and accordingly on
the morning of the 10th of February,
we lined up and the ships, Dewey
ships, opened the ball at o'clock in
the afternoon: also the artillery, and
we advanced by rushes, keeping up a
terrible fire as we went, but receiving
stiff fire from the enemy.
Well. after six hours of heavy firing
we drove them from their position and
chased them one mile and a half be-
yond Night came and we rested for
time. That night they never fred a
shot at us. l think by the way we had
them going when we quit, that they
didn't stop till morning Our lighting
was on the left Of tie city and. there
were other troops on the right aud front
of the city. We drove them back about
four miles all around the city We
only have about 10000 men here. while
the Filipinos have at least $1,000.
Now we have trenches built % miles
long which completely surround the
city from Cavite to CalloOcan We are
simply acting on the defensive now, as
we are waiting for more troops from