The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1899-04-25
D. K. Brown Writes Of the
Fighting al Ilollo.
now the BATTLE OPENED
A Small Force Charges on a Large
One - a Description Of the
Outpost Duty.

| GLOWING from mis- nephew, -. II
, Brown, a Hawaiian boy now with tn,
a United States forces in Manila. Brown
was a member Of CO. a, n. G. H., here
nd an employe OF the postofice.
JARo, March IL, 1899.
! Dear Uncle Harry
Having written already about our
rip on the Arizona from Honolulu to
lCavite, 1 will now endeavor to give you
u description Of the fight at Iloilo, in
which | had the privilege of taking
part.
On February 18th at S:i5 a. IN. the
Y. S. S. Boston commenced the bal, by
throwing an S-inch shell at the insur-
gents fort across the bay. 1t was a
sight never to be forgotten. The first
shell landed squarely in the center of
the fort, blowing it to atoms; half an
hour after the first shell fell the whole
town 0f Iloilo was in flames.
The insurgents in the mean time had
etreated TO their stronghold outside
the city. There they were strongly in
Itrsnched in their trenches theing three
miles in length. 1t is estimated they
had $4,000 armed men there who have
been fighting the Spaniar Is for oYer
three years and for that reason are
not unfamiliar with warfare.
| After the Boston had started the ball
we were ordered to land with our $500
infantry and try II possible to haze
them out of their strong trenches,
(which we did with a whoop and yell.
IThey must have thought the world was
coming to an end, to see only $500 men
advancing onto their stronghold, yell
ing and whoop!ng as only Americans
'can.
Remember they had between $4,000
and 10000 men in their trenches, and
then to see our brave men (only 2,500)
marching upon them in skirmish line
was something they could not under
stand. After pouring volley after vol
Hey into the trenches, they concluded
the next best thing was to run for the
hills, which they did in double quick
thine I can assure you, leaving their
dead behind them.
To judge by the way they were piled
upon one another in the trenches |
would say there must be somewhere in
the neiShborhood OF 5000 or 1000 dead.
On our side two were killed and eight
wounded. 1t was wonder We were
OF annihilated for when you consider
as we were marching towards them We
We're in the open, not a shelter of any
ind, while they were well sheltered
in their trenches. The only thing we
could see (once in a while) was their
heads as they stood up to fire.
| We could hear the balls by the thou
sands whistiing over our heads and
| ometimes very unpleasantly near our
ars. One of the wounded men was
jdst ahead of me; he was struck with
a bullet in the arm, md dropped. In
the excitement Of course We could not
stop and while marching on we could
hear him saying, never mind me, go
ahead showing conclusively what
stun the boys in blue are made of. AZ
ter we were masters OF the situation,
the same fellow was picked up, taken
to the hospital and his arm ampu-
tated.
Since then we have taken the town
of Jaro, of about 10000 inhabitants.
We are now doing outpost duty, the
most dangerous duty soldier is called
upon to perform. Every night when
II Is so dark that you cannot see your
hand before your face the Filipinos
make an attack on us. We return the
compliment and after some hard fight
time, Outpost duty means, a sentinel
o. guard is put out so that he can OBJ
serve what the enemy Is doing; his
orders are 10 stick TO his post under
all circumstances. Our outposts are so
yards apart and extend about five
miles. There is always one battalion
on guard and one in reserve. We have
about fifty miles OF ground to take care
of and only $500 men to do II with
We are waiting patiently for reinforce
ment and hope they will soon come, as
things are getting hot around here
You hear people here say the rehsl-
Hon will soon end, but It seems to me,
It has just commenced. These Fill
pnos are determined race, We will
have 10 kin every Man Jack OF them
before they will give up, | may be
wrong, but what little ! have seen OF
them, ] am under the impression II
vii! be a year or more before the end
will be Ir sight
Well, Uao'e, ] must say, this being
In an sneag. ment Is no fun, more ga