The Ellensburg dawn. [volume] (Ellensburg, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1899-04-21

De TccclNcu ITOul NHdS. hHDuo-
kinks brother, who was killed
March 14th.
Santa Anna, March 5, 80
Nv Dear Folks Il have just came in
from the trenches, have washed myself
and partially cleaned up and will now
proceed 10 remove any anxiety You have
regarding my welfare. am getting
along famou-ly, feel fine and thus far
fortune has favored Inc | have not
stopped any Mauser bullets, but have
been very busy. We are now expe-
riencing some Of the roughing OF soldier
life. "E" Co. has been in the trenches
ever since the l4rh oil Feb. | have not
been out quite as long myself, as | had
to stay in quarters on guard for several
days, but | had to dig my trench and it
wasn't any fun either. My trench is
aboue by and had to dig through a
solid foot OF nard pan. tell you had
some beautiful blisters before | got
through. worked four days on it, and
just as We got things fixed up comfort.
able got orders to join another squad
and SO all my work was for nothing, but
then it didn't hurt me any, in fact think
it did me good. | believe would be a
better man PHYSICAL y had | done more
hard work, manual labor, when | was
youngster. Our trenches extend in a
zig.zag line in Northeasterly direction
from Cavite 10 away beyond the Pasig,
covering space OF about seven miles.
| Our company is on the left wing third Co
from the river and occupies a very i'm.
portant position. We are subject to an
incessant fine during the entire twenty
four hours. We are just on the outskirts
OF San Pedro. SO we have been tearing
down the native shaks to fix up our
trenches. We use the sides and roofs to
cover our trenches with, SO we have very
comfortable little houses, minus the
sides. We are not doing any aggressive
work at present, simply laying in our
| trenches for reinforcements to arrive.
1t gets quite monotonous, nothing to do
all day but dodge bullets, eat, lay fin our
trenches and listen to the music of sing
ing Mausers and bursting shells! l
would have written while in trenches
but had no paper, and everything gets
so dirty in the trenches that could not
keep any paper in presentable shape,
Is I taoE - mt NTH Co 7 ~
permission to come in to-day just on
purpose to do little writing. received
your last letter written the 10th OF
January, just before wrote you last.
1t is needless to say that | was glad to
get it. You know that l receive mail
almost every steamer now, got four
letters last mail. cannot answer each
letter separately this time nor tell you
half what l would like to tell. haven't
the time. / only have little while this
morning to write in, must 90 on guard
tonight and tomorrow, and then 60
back to the trenches. Luckily 50 far we
have had no rain. | hope everything
will be settled before the rainy season
begins, because if it isn't we will be
apt to see some pretty rough service yet
Lee Osborne was very seriously injured
last Wednesday afternoon. He was
sitting on the edge Of his embankment
when he was shot, the bullet struck
him in the back, passed through just
missing the heart. He will have hard
struggle, but believe and hope that he
will recover. He was wounded in our
first engagement, Feb. 9TH so if he re-
covers he will be battle SCARED veteran
in truth. Co. "E" has had two other
men wounded since l wrote last. Horn
shot through left ear and Waddington
shot in face. Waddington's wound was
ugly, but neither will prove fatal. On
the 18th of Feb. "E" Co. supported by
"H" went down into the woods and
drove the insurgents out. AS the coun-
try is filled with caves and ambushes, it
was very nervy piece Of work, and won
the admiration OF all. Our boys do not
know what fear is! They answer the
command to charge as they would the
call to mess. 1t was in this charge that |
our two boys we're injured, lad from
Oregon was killed, about 40 natives were
killed and 80 guns taken. The natives
have about one gun to every five men,
Sc lust as soon as one of them drops