The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1899-02-24
Our Troops In Cuba.

Through the kindness of A. G. Crane,
we are able to give our readers portions
of a letter written by VIM. p. Blanchard
of Co. A. 9th Ohio Vol. Infantry, a for
mer Owosso boy;
CIENFUEGos, CUBA, Feb. 8. 80.
We have been in Cuba some time. We
had fine trip over here, our boat, the
Minnewaska. was one of the fine trans
ports that the United States has, she is
1876 feet long and has five decks besides
her hold To give you some idea of
her size, will tell you about some of
the things she brought over, besides
1900 soldiers and Gen Boles and his
headquarters; $4,000 feet of lumber, for
us; 80 days rations, all of our tents, 80
car loads of fire wood, 300 mules and
horses, all of our wagons and medical
supplies, and everything that we
need while here.
We embarked at Charleston, S. c., in
the evening and left at I O'Clock the
next morning, the Goth of December,
and arrived here the Sd of January
So as you see we passed New Years eve
and the day on the Atlantic. The ship
rang the new year in by blowing her
whistle and firing her cannon. 1t was
an experience which l will remember
for long time, l assure you.
About 10 o'clock on the morning of
the I'd we sighted the shore of Cuba.
We passed Guantanamo Bay, where
Gen. Shafter landed with his army; we
saw the dock which he built. At IL
o'clock we passed MORO Castle, at the
entrance to Santiago harbor, and also
the wrecked Reina Mercedes, and the
smokestack of the Merrimac, which
was all that could be seen of her, both
sunk right in the mouth of the harbor.
which is very narrow. We also passed
the Oquendo and Vizcaya, an hour or
so later and the Cristobal Colon about
35 miles farther down the coast; we ran
very near the shore, so we had fine
view of it all. / tell you it was worth
good deal to see that Spanish fleet, or
rather all that was left of it.
We reached the entrance to Cienfue-
gos about noon, Jan. Sd, and cast
anchor about o'clock. This is beau
tiful city of DO, 900 inhabitants, and the
people, who have been all over the
islands, say that it is the best city on the
island, and also the richest for it's size.
Some of the largest plantations of the
island are near here. When we landed
there were 10000 Spanish soldiers at
this place, but they seemed quite
friendly to us, they are all very small,
none of them as large as l am. When
we marched out to our camp they fol-
lowed us and our band just like lot of
kids at circus. They ali look very
sickly and i'll clad, and think they will
be glad when they reach home. they
will all be gone by the 10th of this
month. This is the only place that has
had any Spanish soldiers for some
time.
Now word about our camp. 1t is
situated about three and one-half miles
from the city and lies along the Santa
Clara.and Cenfuegos railroad, and also
the main trocha which is a great
piece of work. The trocha is a line of
block houses about 200 yards apart con-
nected by barb wire fence, composed
of four fences of barb wire, and nearly
as high as your head. These four
fences are joined together by other barb
wire making such tangle that it would
be almost impossible to get through it.
We are quartered in large hospital tents,
and all have been furnished with cots,
so we are quite comfortably situated.
We are also camped in grove of palm
trees. Everything looks pretty here,
the grass is green and flowers in bloom,
and it is as hot as it is at home in mid
summer, but do not like the country,
there are too many insects here to suit
mo-oCOi plouo, CoutipcucS anu WOISL VI
all, little sand flee which bothers us
nearly to death. Another thing is the
vultures, they are as tame as English
sparrows are there, and it is nothing to
see them light in the street among the
teams, and here at camp they light on
top of the tents.
The railroads here cannot compare
with our American roaos. They have
a first, second, and third class. The
first class is nowhere near as good as
the poorest smoking car in our country,
and the third class is like freight
trains caboose, and they do not run
very fast either; their freight cars are
all very small, too.
Everything is very high here, except
cigars and cigarettes, which are very
cheap. The people here take advantage
of us and over-charge on everything.
A Thousand Tongues
Could not express the rapture of Annie
X. Springer, of 1125 Howard st., Phlla-