Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1899-05-19
in H JUNGLE.
Musician Pettee Tells of the Ad-
vance Of the North Dakota
Troops.

vance of the North Dakota
Troops.
Manila, P. l., March live are still
out In the jungle but expect to leave
our present trenches and advance to-
morrow. The weather has been
pretty wet the past few days and as
most of the Americans are in the field
1t is of course very unpleasant. The
offensive movement against the insur-
gents has now>c commenced and. they
are being whipped at every turn.
The sailing ship Tacoma has arrived
here with a lot Of American mules and
cavalry horses. They are magnih-
cent animals, ''big as q house," and
our artillery now moves through the
tropical jungles with six good govern
ment mules on each gun. Our artil-
iery Is the winning card here and is
DONG splendid work covering the adj
n of troops. The accuracy of u
gunners Is marvellous and when the
natives hear a shrapnel shell come
tearing through the woods they pre-
ter to retreat. 1 have seen one shell
cropped ut h very feet Of one of the
Diack rascals and when the smoke
cleared away he had Of course dis
appeared. Our Calling and rapid fire
guns are doing fine work but in snite
OF 1t all our list of killed and wounded
Is steadily increasing. If we advance
tomorrow suppose some of their lend
Is likely to come u way. We've ali
got used to the smell of owder and
the musical (0 twang Of the Mausers.
n l think the North Dakota hnvs
Will give a good account of themselves
When we advance once more on tho
enemy's trenches.
did duty last night guarding nm.
munit1on at headquarters. While m
post about midnight some Chinamen
IN a Joint down the road got noisy and
we went down to see what the trn,,hlo
was. 1t proved to be an opium smok-
ing Joint, Inhabited by about twenty
.ChlnOs." most of whom were sdeod
to the world" "e""
II we take the field you will probably
not receive another letter for uuitn a
while. d"''e
On the Firing Line, April IA cood
a q happened in the mast few
days affecting our company and reri-
ment and it puzzles me to know whe7.e
to commence in the narration or
events. We are now camped ON the
iaslg river about seven miles from
Manila. but Dill outpost is out toward
%Paranaque, about three miles. which
distance we have to walk twice a dov
or more. Yesterday 100 Krag Jor-
gensen rifles We're issued to our repi-
ment-twelve to each company. They
We're given to the corporals and lien-
enants. of which there are now four
detailed from each company. Major
White says the entire regiment will be
equipped with them in n short time.
But the principal thing l have to tell
you Is about our advance on the na-
tlVes which occurred this morning.
Yesterday afternoon it was given ont
that we would advance this morning
on some natives we had located about
a mile from our lines. So early this
morning before daylight, six companies
started out, A and d on the firing line
and G and X of our regiment actin"
as support. One company of the
First California and some Of the Ida
no regiment also participated. Our
scouts led us out till we were lust in
front of the natives trenches. Then
we halted and executed "by the right
flank and advanced toward a slight
rise which concealed the Filipinos'
position. AS we went over that rise
we were promptly greeted by u volley
from the surprised natives. We adj
vanced in skirmish formation till with
in three hundred yards of the enemy.
Then with Il true American yell we
charged their position, firing as we
ran. I'll not attempt to describe how
| felt the first few moments when the
lead commenced singing ky our heads,
but we charged them OH the run and
drove them from their position with Il
loss of three men wounded. Lieut..
Baldwin OF H shot through the right
leg below the knee, Byron of ID shot
IN the shoulder. and Morgan of D
slightly wounded over the right eve.
Our company by some miracle escaped
without Il scratch. We returned
about Z o'clock, and now there are no
rockies in u regiment. Major
White and Gen. King (our brigade
%commander) expressed themselves as
more than satisfied with the behavior
of the boys. Those of us who had
Krag rifles did fine work. When we
got e the natives trenches we found
they were just eating their breakfast.
The still warm ''chow chow was just
as they left it. The sensation ex-
perienced while under fire is something
| will try and tell about when l get
home.
Captain Moffet is in command Of the
company again and we have Il full
company. We are all anxious for this
war to end so we can go home. All
we want is a chance to ''get at 'em.'
That's the hardest part OF this cam
n9jrn THE fnrca tb0f ON. cl.;,,,;cl,