The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-28
BUTTE News.
A STORY OF THE FIGHT
Told by a Butte Man Who Was
in the Battle.
THE WOUNDED IMPROVING
Montana Troops Have Won a Rspu-
tation for Bravery Under Fire.
The Insurgents Are Poor
Marksmen.

Among 4 number of letters received
in Butte yesterday from Manila was
one by Miss Margaret Knowlton from
her brother, Lieut.. w. B. Knowlton,
under date of Feb. II, who writes as
follows:
There are no recruits in the Sth army
corps So one of the Manila officers
said the other morning. We have all
heard bullets whistle except a few
who We're in the hospital, SO 1 suppose
we can call ourselves veterans. The
insurgents started the trouble by at
lacking our outposts along the entire
line about p. m. Saturday. the 4th.
Eight companies of our regiment We're
ordered out that night and took part
in the Sunday fight. The others have
been ordered out since, so that they
have all been under fire.
About 10 p. m. Saturday Col. Kes-
ser went with two companies to re-
lnforce the outposts, consisting of two
companies, which had fallen back on
cemetery, and I went with him. A
graveyard Is not a very pleasant place
to spend a night, but this one had a.
nice thick stone wall around it. so 1t
was not as bad as you would imagine.
The insurgents kept up a fire on US
most Of the night, stopping at short
intervals to smoke a cigarette, / guess.
The lire was returned from our lines,
but If we didn't do any more damage
than they did there was a lot of am
mun1t1on wasted. Only one casualty
was reported that night-an NJ com
pany man fell in a well about Is feet
deep, but was hauled out without in
jury 1t is almost needless to say that
no one slept any that night nor did
we have any breakfast the next morn
ing. About 10 a. m. Sunday. after the
Utah battery had shelled the brush
pretty thoroughly, a general advance
was ordered. The Sd artillery, acting
as infantry, was on our left and the
10Th Pennsylvania on our right. The
left OF our regiment had to advance
through the thickest kind of brush
along road lined with huts. The in
surgent sharpshooters were in the
houses, and if they had not been such
awfully bad shots they might have
hurt some one. Our boys burned the
houses as they advanced, and soon had
them on the run. They made a stand
in Chinese cemetery which is on a
ridge, and commanded our whole front
With the help of the artillery they We're
soon driven from that position. and did
not stop running until they got to CAL
ocean. We had six men wounded. One
of them Corporal Mersick, company I,
died in the hospital. We advanced two
miles or more that day and it took
US about six hours. Some of the COM
panies got supper that night, the first
meal since the night before, others did
not get anything until the next morn
ing. None of us had blankets, and the
nights are too cool to sleep without
them. so we did not get much rest Sun
day night
Monday we established a new line
and by Tuesday night the men had
their blankets, shelter tents and kitchen
outfit on the line and We're very COM
fortably fixed. We held this position
until Friday. The Filpinos fired on
us every night from the brush and
wounded two men. The fire was re-
turned from our lines and of course, we
think that we slaughtered whole COM
panies of them, but are not sure
Our position was changed so that
we were between the Goth Kansas and
Sd artillery. On Friday, the 10th, these
three regiments advanced and charged
the village of Caloocan. We started
about o'clock and at dark we had
chased them across a clearing and into
the brush a mile beyond the town.
They occupied the brick buildings at
the railroad station and a graveyard
with a stone wall around it, besides
having quite force behind entrench-
ments. Most of them are armed with
Mausers and use smokeless powder, so
it was pretty hard to locate Them
After the boys got onto them, it did
not take long to drive them back We
came out Of the brush into a rice field
about 900 yards from their rifle pits and
they made it very interesting for about
Is minutes. That is when most of the