Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1899-08-18
NOTES.
Musician Pettee Writes Of the North
Dakota Troops at Manila and
Morong.

Two letters from Musician w. J.
Pettee of Company A, one under date
of May 2S, and the other June Is, give
a comprehensive account Of the doings
of the North Dakotans in their last
days at Manila, as follows:
In Quarters at Malate. Manila, r. L.,
May 2S. 1S99-It is now over five
weeks since we left Manila as a part
OF General I4awton's expedition. We
returned by rail from Calumpit. twelve
miles from MalOlOs. night before last.
We had a long, hard trip, but II
march was Il continual series Of vic
tories, and the natives are now COM
pletely routed and driven from what
they thought their impregnable strong
holds. The country we traversed
is a complete network Of earthworks
and various Notifications, but the
niggers We're surprised by having the
American column come from the east
ward instead Of the westward side of
their towns. have forgotten the
anne of all the towns we passed
through, but will get Il map and
write up the trip in Il comprehensive
manner. l kept Il good diary the
first twenty days we were out. and
when we stopped for a few days rest
at Balinag l wrote a long letter to
go with it. Didn't get Il chance to
mail it, however, and later l lost it.
Our trip was pretty hard on Il good
many of the boys, the heat being in
tense, but we got back here with
nearly as many men as went with us.
All along the road we found an album
dance of fine fruit and it was cheap
too. All you had to do was to take
it.
Our travel rations as furnished by
the government are meager fare but
we got a good many chickens and
found lots of sweet potatoes and
sugar, all of which helped out very
much.
Personally l stood the trip very well
did not ride a foot of the way en-
cepting one day when l had a lame
ankle. and although am not as heavy
as when we left quarters am feeling
we'll.
The boys are all in good spirits now,
expecting to so home soon. The Sec
Ond Oregon regiment are slated to go
aboard their transport Thursday and
it is expected we will smell salt water
by July 4th il not sooner. You people
at home, however. probably know
more about this than we do as all
orders which govern us will be for
warded from Washington and made
public in the United States.
We have not received our pay for
March and April Yet but pay rolls
are being signed today. This pay
was Cue May LIST. but we could not
be paid out in the field fifty miles
from here. hence the delay. We have
been issued Kahki suits today and
are beginning to settle down to Il little
garrison duty previous to going home.
We had guard mount this morning.
the first time since February 4th, and
are having regular garrison calls but
no drills. :
OF course while we were out no
bread or fresh meat was procurable
so when we got back to Manila you
Il imagine how good the first bread
and meat tasted. Today we had
mutton for dinner and some good
gravy. enjoyed that immensely.
Our daily life While out in the field
was about the same all the time
though some nights we slept in good
houses and sometimes under the stars
or clouds. We didn't carry any blan-
kets, just a ponchO and half a shelter
tent. We seldom marched between
8 and 3 O'Clock on account of the heat,
but we had two or three night
marches that were pretty hard. My
feet got sore about two weeks ago
and l suffered terribly for Il few
days. We couldn't carry any extra
underclothes. so we had to wear some
of them pretty long before we got a
chance to wash them. We found
plenty of good water most of the time
but we had to have time enough to
dry things so they could be put on
again. For grub we had hard tack.
canned corn beef and coffee. the latter
being the soldiers main standby and
best friend. 1t is needless to say our
food became very monotonous. When
we were lucky enough to get a chicken
we would stew it and make lots OF