Evening star., 1899-07-29
HE ENDORSES OTIS
Gen. King Says the Manila Campaign
Has Been Well Conducted.
COMPARATIVELY LITTLE SICKNESS
But Our Army Has Found 1t a
Hard Row to Hoe.
IGHTING HEAT AND RAIN
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
1t must be remembered that our little
command at Manila last winter was very
busily occupied-that every officer and man
had his assigned station and duties and lit
tie or no opportunity of seeing anything or
anybody not Immediately connected there
with. We were confronted with a problem,
and the insurgent Filipino of the Tagal
tribe was it's most important factor. He
kept US on the qui vive day and night, even
before the inexcusable attack in force be-
gan Saturday evening, the 4th of February.
My opportunities were somewhat limited.
Instead of being sent to the Philippines, as
1 had hoped, with one Of the earliest expe-
ditions, 1 was 'side-tracked," so to speak.
at Honolulu, and assigned to the command
of the new military district of Hawaii. so
that not until December did ! get bri-
gade in the defenses Of Manila, and by
that time any man with half an eye could
see that Aguinaldos army meant busi-
ness"
Earthworks, entertainments and redoubts
were being thrown up over against us and
krupp guns trained on the block houses
occupied by my brigade. The situation de-
manded the utmost vigilance, even if our
orders from corps headquarters had not
frequently enjoined it. l never once at
tended a theater or opera a Manila, and
only once, until just before my departure
last May, saw the streets of that city after
dark, and that was the night of the great
fire in the Tondo district. The Pasig river
was the dividing line between the territor-
les held by the first and second divisions
respectively. and though there came scores
of old friends and comrades to MacArthur's
front as well as to ours there was, except
within our own lines, no way to see them.
The Little Brown Men.
1t was a compact little command, though,
that met the first onset of the Fiipinos in
February last. Except the 10th Pennsyl-
vania and the 1st Tennessee the 14th In
fantry and artillery and a squadron of the
4th Cavalry of the regular army, the Sth
Corps was made up of regiments of volun-
teerS from the far western states. of men
iEured to hardship. schooled from boyhood
in camp and field life, and, most of them,
acclmated by six months sojourn about
Manila-six months of drill and discipline
that made them the peers of any troops the
world ever saw-hardy, vigorous and enthu-
siastic The monotony of the life had made
most of them rather eager to go home
the autumn wore on. the Spanish war was
ended, and active service seemed improb
able but by the 1st of December the little
brown men," with whom they had been on
such jolly terms, began a course Of aggra-
walton, provocation and open insult, that
eliminated in the general attack along the
whole line before the dawn of the 9th of
February. Then you couldn't have bought
soldier to leave.
only once-anQ tnat only just De1Ore my
departure in May-as / say, l able to
look over the country through which Mac
Arthur fought his way to the capture of
the insurgent capital at Malolos and the
pursuit of Aguinaldo and Luna to the walls
of San Fernando Without pontoon train
he crossed one broad river after another.
Without adequate artillery he drove the
enemy from line after line of the most
elaborate field works ever seen, while the
parallel column of Lawton, twenty miles
farther to the east, forced a way through
thickets of bamboo and dense jungles,
swarming with dusky rif1emen. My front
after our pitched battle with Ricarti's bri-
gade at Santa Ana and the pursuit up the
river was that of the line of the Pasig east
and southeast of Manila and away up to
the beautiful Laguna de Bay, over open
rolling country, through dozens of popu-
lous towns and villages and interminable
ricefields, and 1t is all this country and that
In front of Ovenshine's brigade from Pasay
to Paranaque with which 1 was familiar
1 can see 1T all now, and SO many and
many a time-night and day-dd l ride the
trails and fields from San Pedro Macati to
Pasig ferry. and the farther heights over
looking Pateros and Taguig, that it seems
as though 1 could follow them blindfold.
That is, l could if they looked as they
did from February to May, but they don't
The day the advance guard of my brigade
pounceG on the big town of Pasig and the
head men of that island metropolis and