Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1899-06-07
Breezy Letter by a Member Of
Company l.
Alvin M. Hill Gives a Detailed De,
scription Of the Trials and Hard
ships Of the Volunteers
Rustling for Grub"
p /

My Dear Father and Mother-We
are still lying here on the firing line,
having made no advance beyond Ma
lolos, doing nothing harderthan out
post duty, which fact you can hardly
appreciate, not being familiar with
the class Of work. IL IL very hard,
trying and dangerous work, being
continually under fire, but one has at
least more time on their hands than
can be had when advancing every
day. This precious leisure | will i'm
prove by writing you a longer letter
than my last one was, in which will
endeavor to explain recent occur
rences more clearly.
We are expecting a move any mo-
ment, as it has been considerably
longer in coming than we expected it
would be. We left the trenches at
Caloocan on the morning Of March
% and Immediately ran into a red
hot battle, as the insurgent trenches
were only about 1000 yards in our
front. We advanced by PUSHES across
a wide, open space that had been
laid out for a rice field but never cul-
tivated, with no protection what
ever for the whole distance, under a
terrific fire from the enemy's trenches.
Some of the boys were hit, one of
them, Ed Weaver of Lewistown. was
a few PAGES behind me and a little to
one side when he was hit II the hand,
which fortunately was not serious
and only served to render his arm
useless for a short time and keep him
out OF harms way for a few days. L
examined his wound when he told
me he was hit. but as soon as ! saw
it vas of no consequence and that he
was only temporarily disabled | told
him to lay low and | hurried to catch
up with the line. We didn't advance
more than three or four hundred
yards after that when the niggers,
unable to stand the pressure any
longer, quit the trenches and retreat
ed like a flock Of blackbirds. We only
had time to throw a few volleys into
them when the line swung In from
both ends and pinched us out, we be-
ing in the middle of the line. We only
had a short glimpse OF the black dew
lis when they got out of their trenches,
but we left a whole lot behind us
when we passed owe the ground. |
counted aboutforty dead and wound
ed in the small open spacein the BAN
boo thicket through which | passed,
and | guess the result was the same
all along the line. We were thrown
in the reserve for a short time, but
about 8 O'Clock we came out upon
some open country that allowed us
to spread out more, and the Third
battalion struck off to join the Penn
sylvania regiment, which was on our
right. We continued on this line OF
march for about three-quarters Of a
mile without being fired upon, when
we emerged from the belt OF timber
into an open space about 1900 yards
I'm width. l was ont away ahead OF
the company scouting, at Preston's
command, to insure them against
running into an ambush, every com.
pany sending out scouts for the same
purpose, and in this n we adj
vanced cross the open toward the
next belt OF timber. We were all adj
vancing very cautiously because all
indications led us to believe that the
niggers were waiting for us, and the
prospect of running into the enemy's
lines single-handed was far from
pleasing, because n scout would be
I. SO close when he discovered them
that there would be no chance in the
world to get away. The spice OF
really enjoyable, tho, so l kept right
on going into 1t. / was about 100
yards from the woods in front when
/ discovered a lot OF niggers off to
our left in the timber, and about 400
yards away, SO | hurried back and
reported the fact, and then started
back to explore the woods in front
again. l had gotten about 80 yards
ahead Of the company when Il muir
derous cross-fire came from the mig
gers / had seen on the left. can't
for the life Of me see how it happened
that we were not slaughtered, for the
whole battalion was in the clear,
open field. The bullets struck all
: around us, among us and everywhere
but In us. God was with us surely,
for we got three volleys before we
succeeded in reaching shelter, with
out any one being hit.
The Pennsylyanians ran into n