The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-24
In FIGHT AT MANILA
F. L. CHADWICK, A MINNESOTA
BOY, LIEUTENANT ON THE
RALEIGH
NOW HOME ON 60 DAYS LEAVE


Owatonna Boy Tells How the Span
iards Were OutcIassed In That
EventfuI Morning Battle That
Ended the Spanish Possession of
American Vessels.
Lieut.. F. L. Chadwick, of the cruiser
Raleigh, passed through the city yester-
day in company with his father, M B.
Chadwick, on his way to his home in
Owatonna.
Lieut.. Chadwick is the first officer who
was engaged in the battle of Manila to
visit St. Paul. as the Raleigh was the
first ship sent home, and was put out
of commission June 10.
Mr.. Chadwick is Minnesota boy, and
graduate of the Annapolis Naval school,
anc while he does not claim the distinc-
ton of being on the bridge with Dewey,
he was the boat that fired the first
shot into the Spanish fleet. Lieut.. Chad
wick is on a sixty days leave of absence,
and will report at Newport News some
time in July for special detail in the tor
pedo school.
I'VE had most delightful cruise home
from Hong Kong, via Bombay, Alexan-
dria, Malta, Algiers and Gibraltar and the
ships crew were all in the best of health
and spirits when we arrived. After at
tending various functions in New York.
we attended the unwilling of the Grant
monument at Philadelphia, and later the
celebration Of the Confederate veterans
reunion at Charlestown.
1.-The battle of Manila" continued Mr..
Chadwick, was a fair test of the relative
powers of the two navies. The secret
OF the victory was that our men could
| shoot and they did shoot. The Spanish
fleet seemed to have bad luck They hit
us time and time again. but never sue
! ceeded in doing much damage. The RAJ
leigh was hit twice. Once one of her
boats was carried away and shot struck
ten-pound gun, wrecking the carriage
AMI shattering the gun. Other than that
we sustained but little damage. think,
too, there must have been some defect in
the ammunition used by the Spanish
boats.
"The Spaniards were surprised mas
much as they did not expect Admiral
Dewey to come into the harbor, al
| though they were planning to give him q
hot reception from their position within.
The night before the battle was one of
lsuspense for all on board. Shortly
| after midnight the firing from the Span
ish boats commenced. The Raleigh fol-
| lowed directly behind Admiral -Dewey's
| flagship at about four knots. an hour
When daylight came the battle opened in
earnest. Shortly after the cannonading
began and kept up for two hours. Dew
|: ey's fleet of six vessels against twelve of
the Spanish and the shore batteries along
| the land sailed into the harbor and pour
ed a deadly fire into the Spanish fleet
| The Spanish fired US first and Cox
swain Skou, of the Raleigh, was the first
to respond. He let fly one of the Raj
| eiph'S f6n-inch and tho other TO
all responded. The Spaniards were we'll
| prepared for our attack, as their agents
at Hong Kong wired that the American
fleet was coming, and they had an oppor.
| tunity to observe our signals during the
| afternoon of the day before. One of
| the Spanish boats was moored, but the
others were all under way when the bat
| tie opened at $780,
Our fleet went from one side of the
| harbor to the other five times during the
first engagement and we had them pref
ty well going. At 7:30 the battle ceased
/ for the time and all on board took a lit
1 tie breakfast. At $50, however, we made
another attack, this time the Baltimore
! leading with Admiral Dewey's flagship,
/ the Olympia, following.
i Admiral Dewey then took every pre-
/ caution to hold the position, which had
been so CALAMITY won. Instead of she'll
| ing the city of Manila and taking it,
Dewey, held the position within the har-
Dor until the transports arrived the lat
| ter part of June with ten regiments of
| infantry The wisdom of this move can
be readily appreciated. If the city had
| been shelled thousands would have been
killed, and it is doubtful If we would have
| been able to have held the city, if we
had succeeded in taking 1t, as there were
| 1900 Spanish soldiers garrisoned there, to
| say nothing of the treacherous natives,
who would, doubtless, have looted and
/ burned the city as soon as the Smelling
licommenced. Dewey maintained the
blockade until Aug. 13, when the city
was successfully taken and held with
the assistance of the infantry reinforce
ments.e
J. ''The day-after the battle the Raleigh
was sent up to Subig bay on patrol duty
and cruised around Manila bay and vicin-
ity at the direction of the admiral. On
| July we were sent up to Subig bay
again and this time to take garrison of
600 Spanish. We shelled around the
| points of the island for several hours
| and when one of our f1ve-inch shells went
| tearing through the Spanish barracks a
| flag of truce was hoisted and the troops
| taken prisoners. They directed an inef-
fective fire against the Raleigh for over
4 an hour and again the superior marks
/ manship of the Yankee marine was clear
/ ly demonstrated.
| THE Raleigh came back to Manila
and took part in the bombardment of
Aug 10, when the city was taken. AS a
matter of fact hostilities had ceased be-
fore we took Manila. Admiral Dewey cut
| the cable and we had but little commune
cation with the outside world for some
time
After the capture of Manila the Ra-
leigh took cruise around the island Of
Luzon. to show the stars and stripes.
The natives in many cases cheered the
flag.
about Dec. 10, we left Manila for the
United States. On the way over in the
Mediterranean sea we met the Spanish
fleet of Admiral Camara, that was during
the progress of hostilities detailed to re-
inforce the Spaniards at Manila, but did
not get through the Sucz canal. Instead
of measuring our ten-inch guns with her
both boats saluted the flag of the other
and the war was truly over.
1.-THE salutes fired were blank cartridges,
but If the fleet had arrived at Manila in
time the story would have been another
/ one.
There is nothing remarkable about the
battle of Manila except that our fleet
clearly outclassed the vessels Of the
enemy. The boats fought at distance of
! from two-thirds of g. mile to two and a
4 half miles. Out shots most of them told.
Il md II was NOT lone. until we began tn dis