Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1899-01-17
FROM CUBA.
A HOpkinsyiIIe Soldier Writes
Home from the Army.
His impressions of Cuba and the
Native People of the
Island.

Below we give publication to a
private letter written by a Hop
kinsville soldier boy now in Cuba,
to near relative. 1t will be read
with interest by all who know him.
Camp Tennessee, Sancti Spiritus,
Cuba, December y, 1851 will try
to write you a description of our
trip to the much talked of Cuba.
On the. % day of November 1898,
we broke camp at Knoxville, Tenn,
and finished piling our plumber at
the head Of the company street
about $50 Il. M; at $50 the rain
which had threatened us early in
the morning, commenced to descend,
in a few minutes changing to slcet
and theN SNOW, while we were eX-
posed to it all. At loss we started
on our march, through mud, sleet
and rain, to the depot where we
waited until p, m. before. we
boarded the train that was 10 take
us to Savannah, Ga. We waited
patiently at the depot until II p. m,
when with three shriIl sounds Of
the whistle we commenced our un-
eventtul trip to the sea coast, at
which We arrived on the morning of
Dec. LIST. We laid in the yards Of
the Florida Central Railroad until
the morning of the 2nd, when at 5
a. m we boarded the transport
Manatoba, and by we were on
our way across the sea. In a few
hours we were out Of sight of land.
We are 1900 strong with l2O
horses and about 1000 tons Of pro-
visions. besides brigade and de
vision headquarters. The boatmen
said we carried only about one
eighth of a load, so you may form an
idea how large a vessel we wereon;
she was AS feet long by % breadth.
AT the dock the morning we left
Savannah there was a boat called
the Panama, captured by the light
house tender, Mangrove, in the
early part of the war.
On the morning of the 5rd l woke
up at daylight feeling rather funny
as the ship was rocking little,
and going on deck l could see
nothing but water as lar as the
eye could reach, and then, only
then, did / feel the magnitude of
this great world, and how insight
hcant one poor little contemplate
human being was.
On the morning of the 4th day we
passed the island of San Salvador
on otw left, and on the 5th day
we ran alongside the Crooked
islands; on the 9th day we rounded |
cape 'Mdyti, q think that is the |
way to spell it) on the extreme
eastern end of Cuba. Then it was
plain sailing down the southern
coast of Cuba About noon on the |
18th day we reached the harbor of |
Santiago de Cuba. We were near
enough"to see fort Moro on the
right side of the entrance at the
base of which fort Hobson sank the
Merrimac, which is now visible
above water about two feet, al
though the papers say it can not be
seen. which is mistake. No part
of the town can be seen until inside
the entrance to the harbor.
Just one mile West of the entrance
is the Spanish man-of-war Viscaya,
lying bottom on the coast; about two
miles further down is the Uquendo
lying the same way just where she
was sunk. The papers stated that
the battle occurred on the eastern
side of the city, which is also mis-
lake as the sunken men-of-war
show otherwise.
The next day was uneventful and
m the evening Of the 9th the ship
loye to off Casildo which is just |
our miles from Trinidad, at which /
,lage the last six companies are h
stationed. i
Ran up the union jack which is i
he signal for a pilot, the sea was b
90 rough for him to come out that a