The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1899-04-05
3 B B STORE.
HE REDWOOD GAZETTE.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1899.
EXPERIENCES IN BATTLE.
Some of the Boys Who are Fighting
Around Manila.


This week THE GAZETTE has the
good fortune to present two I'M
usually interesting letters from sol
der boys on Luzon, the island in
the Philippines on which Manila is
situated. The first is from Private
T. w. Andrews of Co. g., 18th U.
S. Infantry, to his sister, Miss
Bessie Andrews of Morton, and the
other is from Chas. H. Wallace to
his brother w. H. Wallace at Bel
view. The former gives some
thrilling experiences in chasing the
PHILIPPINES into submission, while
the latter gives some very in
teresting accounts Of life in the
Thirteenth Minnesota regiment, of
which he is a member, and from
which his brother Lew has just
been discharged Private Andrews
writes as follows:
l am all right, with the exception
that 1 am ragged and dirty. Have
not had my clothes off since the
night of the 4th.
We were called out Saturday
night about ten o'clock, and were
held in reserve until eight Sunday
morning Then we were brought
up to the firing line. Of course it
was a new experience to stand up
and be shot at. After several well
directed volleys were fired we were
ordered to charge. 1t was about
two hundred yards and across clear
dirt ground.
The natives never thought we
would have the audacity to charge
their trenches. We were half way
across before they realized what we
were going to do. They opened up
on us and we laid down and gave
them the best we had,
I did not lay down but ran up
within IS yards of their works and
jumped into buffalo wallow. Here
I emptied magazine and chamber
three times. All the others did as
much. The next rush we went over
the trenches. They left a great
many dead but no wounded behind.
The bugle sounded Recall, and
within few minutes we were again
in our trenches with our wounded
and our guns. It was hot enough
to broil steak. This took us until
noon. About this time Dewey
opened up with his l3-inch guns
from the bay. have read great
deal about battles, commandments,
etc., but please excuse me from 60
ing up against any 13-inch guns.
The earth trembled as if shaken by
an earthquake. Several times I
was knocked off of my feet by the
explosion. This continued for an
hour and a half By this time every
house of. any size was blown to
atoms for distance of ten mil IS
around. Brig. Gen. Overshine or
dered the brigades LEFT front into
line Here the General played
another Yankee trick upon the
PHILIPPINES by charging them again
at their best naturally fortified
places, where they least expected
us. We had to ford a river and
climb up steep banks covered with
bamboo and tropical plants, and be-
fore they knew what had happened
we were within thirty or forty rods
of their works. At this junction it
was only matter of give and take.
The brush was so thick we could
not see ten feet in any direction.
The fight lasted thirty minutes and
fourteen men in my regiment were
killed.
In all battle scenes you always
see neatly dressed soldiers dying
very properly, but when fellow
gets into real mix-up everything
is different. In nine cases out OF
ten a corps on battle field is
powder burned with dirt an inch