Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-07
49,
THE ADVANCE on MALQLOs.
As Seen From the Rear of the Battle
field.
From Golfers Weekly.


From Golfers Weekly. '' ~
To one who sees the rear Of a battlefield
for the first time in his life. il is very &C.
pressing. At Caloocan the surgeons had
plenty to dc. A gloomy-looking sentry said
that he had heard that there had been over
two hundred surgical cases at that one
dressing station. What are our losses?'
was asked a white-faced soldier with a
shattered arm. AT least sixty killed and
go wounded" said he, gritting his teeth;
land they're bringing in wounded niggers,
too. They ought to be thrown in the river.
He had no intention of exaggerating, but il
Is always SO; the wounded man, going down
in hail of bullets, seeing one or two com
rades fall in his vicinity, is invariably
struck by the sense of terrible losses.
long line of freight cars came up from the
city, their doors wide open, and their floors
covered with d deep litter OF green nay
One wondered thong htlessly what the hay
for, and then saw lines of men carry
ing blood-staineG stretChers from all sides.
The wounded. having passed through the
hands Of the surgeons at the first dressing
station, were carried to the cars, lifted IN
and placed on the hay The stretchers
were slipped from under them and carried
to the front again. The cars were small,
and, as a rule, only ten wounded were
placed in each.
The engine and two cars are going down
to the firing line, said litter bearer; 1T
a leetle risky, but interesting. The cars
ratified mile down the track and stopped.
On the right the surgeons were very busy.
On the left it was pleaSanter. for drawny
soldiers were lifting out Of the cars and
stacking up thousands of round cases
marked Cal 80 Cal As, Smokeless,
Cal 40, Dupont" Then came boxes of
crackers cases of corned beef, intrenchinE
tools, tents, telephones, kegs, railroad
spikes, pontoon boards and an endless as
sortment of things one would never think
of until he wanted them, and wanted them
very badly. The Utah Battery, fifty yards
ahead, was firing steadily as the stroke
of a steam pump down the track at heavy
intrenchments beyond the railroad bridge,
and from them and others to the right and
left, in the rice fields came the continuous
rattle of Mausers; overhead was often
heard the whistle Of their inquiring mes
sengers.
How Is 1t going? was asked a tall young
fellow, with bare arms and cigar, near
the battery. First rate, said he; were
not supposed to push things until the I'd
Brigade gets around further One Won
dered what pushing things meant, If
they were not doing it then. The 1st Brl-
gaze are already across the river and well
on. The general has just sent in bat
talon Of the 23d to fill a little gap between
us and the 3D. Artillery, and that's stirring
the niggers up little" Full Of misery in
the rear, the anxious question was asked:
Have we lost many men?' No, nothing
like as many as was expected. The I'd
Oregon was cut up some, and the Sd Artil-
lery lost number of men. They say the
commands on the extreme right have had
hard time of II, but will swing on to the
new line tonight all the same"
1t was a long walk of five miles back to
the custom house, but it was preferred TO
waiting indefinite time for the loading
up with wounded. The firing had died down
all along, but now and then spurted up
again. There was twitter of birds set
ting for the night in the fieldsthat strange
ly resembled Whsthng bullets, but before
long birds and bullets were alike left far
behind. Away to the south the boom of
hoe hsA.lr f,sT.y tty,,a
Sunday, the 26th. was the second day of
the advance, and the train, with supplies
stopped at Caloocan shortly before IL in the
morning. 1t was better to walk the guard
said, as its time Of going on was uncertain
The Utah Battery was still in position but
silent; and construction train loaded with
ties, nails and squared timber was down
close to the Tuliahan bridge. In rear of it
were the inevitable freight cars with their
green litter crushed down by a number of
wounded-they were all FilipinoS. A walk
of pontoon planks had been laid over the
steel beams of the bridge at the other end
OF which was heavy embankment of earth
thrown up over the track, the rails Of
which had been torn up for some distance
On the left, below the embanknent, was a
very heavy earthWOrk, the walls OF which
were seven or eight feet high and over ten
feet thick. In the rear was deep trench
1t was said to be trap the expectation be-
ing that the troops, storming over the
breastworks, would fall into il and be de-
stroyed. However, the back door being
open, the boys preferred that way. Over a
part Of this trench rails from the bridge
had been laid, while ties placed in the pit
below were burning fiercey. This was
said by a lame soldier to be a gridiron for
the 22d Regiment, though more probably
the intention was 10 distort the rails and
render them useless.