The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-05-12
JUST A REGULAR.
SPICY LETTER TO A MANILA
NEWSPAPER.
Thinks the Volunteers Do 100
Much Newspaper
Work.

(From the Manila (P. ID F'reedom.)
Ed. Freedom: In a bunch of papers
that | have been reading tonight is
COPY of yours of March 14th; in which
annears very nice tribute to the
..Regulars,' from Edward S. Peterson,
N. D. Y. Being regular and not a
hero l appreciate the kindness shown
by Mr.. Peterson in saying word Tor
us. and thought a few words from me
might not come amiss, even if it was
on the subject of horn blowing
through the press. I am almost an
..old soldier if long service makes
one such, and my chevrons have, L
think, been honestly earned. L nave
seen considerable fighting even for
regular, and so feel that l know some
thing about it. We have nearly ALL
both regulars and volunteers, had some
good fighting around Manila the past
six weeks, and l am free to confess
that so far as the fighting is concerned,
from all l can learn, the volunteers
have acquitted themselves just as
bravely and valiantly as the regulars
but it is rather amusing to me, at
least, to read the reports OF some CT
the volunteer regiments OF the en-
counters they have experienced, ana
possibly what / may say will nave d
good effect on them. A bugle can be
blown too hard and a story can be
made too strong, and in either case the
effect is rather laughable. l wanted
to see how long it would take US to
clean up this job, and to have kept
track from day to day of the number
of F1fipinos killed, as given by the cor
respondents of the different regiments.
At the close of business on Saturday
last, the total number reported killed
was. 50, 764 Nearly all these were
brought to their graves by the volun-
teer regiments. We were informed ao
the beginning that the Filipino forces
did. not exceed $1,000 to 10000, and L
am certain some are left outside of
our lines, so either a mistake has been
made in these reports, or else there
were more in the beginning than we
supposed. / have seen a number OF
accounts where a bloody encounter"
was hadilasting several hours, in which
our ''murderous fire moved them down
like ripened grain" the enemy finally
fleeing for their lives, but taking their
dead and wounded with them, our
losses being one or two wounded, and
in some cases no casualties at all; and
yet some people say war is hell"
Who can believe that it is, after read
ing such a report of a battle as that?
Then again, the valor and bravery of
an officer or a command is testified to
in some such way as this: Captain
B CALAMITY held his brave men in
readiness ali day. Thrilling isn't it?
We regulars came here to fight Cor to
do garrison duty if it was necessary
and sort of figure that a soldier is
doing his duty when he is doing any
thing his superiors say is necessary.
1t may not be quite so thrilling to walk
post on the sunny side of the street as
it is to chase over rice ridges and
through bamboo jungles with a lot Of
fellows in front of you handling their
ammunition in a reckless and careless
manner. but it is certainly safer. and
while | never yet missed a fight when
it came my way, I have never kicked
for it when l only had guard duty to
perform. l have noticed that some of
our regulars have become inoculated
with this volunteer newspaper writ
ing virus" but hope the disease will
soon run its course. The Dakota Regi-
ment over in General MacArthur's di-
vision is the only volunteer regiment
that L haven't seen any glowing write
up of, still I've heard several times
that they had done considerable good
fighting and did it well, and l know
that it is generally considered a good
regiment. Perhaps, though, they feel
that they haven't the ability 10 COM
pete with the other boys on newspaper
work, and do not want to tackle
proposition that they cannot hold their
own on. / have no kick at all on the
way the newspapers and people gener-
ally speak of us who are in the regu-
lar service. They seem to take it for
granted that We can be depended upon,
in fact that we. are always all right
As a matter Of fact, most of US were
volunteers for war if we did go into the
regular branch and had it not been for
the war l would have been out of the
service myself before this. A, large pro-
portion of US are green men, more so
than most of the volunteers, but we are
all actuated by the same love for the
old flag that they are, and we are just
as ready to shed our blood, if necessary
for it, as they.
In fact more so, if the report is true
that many of the volunteer regiments
have within the past two weeks eX-
pressed desire to be sent home, not
withstanding soldiers will be needed by
Uncle Sam here for several months yet,