The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-04-24

| Harry Swinton is in receipt of the
following from his nephew, D. X.
Brown, Hawaiian boy now with the
United States forces in Manila. Brown
was member of CO. A, y. G. H., here
and an employee of the postofiice.
JARO, March u, 1899.
Dear Uncle Harry
Having written already about our
trip on the Arizona from Honolulu to
Cavite, will now endeavor to give you
"a description of the fight at Iloilo, in
which 1 had the privilege of taking
part.
On February 18th at SIS a. m. the
u. S. S. Boston commenced the bal. ny
throwing an 8-inch shell at the insur-
gents fort across the bay. 1t was a
sight never to be forgotten The first
she'll landed squarely in the center of
the fort, blowing it to atoms; half an
hour after the first shell fell the whole
town of Iloflo was in flames.
The insurgents in the mean time had
retreated to their stronghold outside
the city. There they were strongly in
trenohed in their trenches (heing three
miles in lengthy. 1t is estimated they
had 5000 armed men there who have
been fighting the Spaniar Is for over
three years and for that reason are
not unfamiliar with warfare.
After the Boston had started the ball
we were ordered to land with our $500
infantry and try if possible to haze
them out of their strong trenches,
which we did with a whoop and yell.
They must have thought the world was
coming to an end, to see only $500 men
ing and whooping as only Americans
can.
Remember they had between $4,000
and 10000 men in their trenches, and
marching upon them in skirmish line
was something they could not under
stand. After pouring volley after vol
ley into the trenches, they concluded
the next best thing was to run for the
hills, which they did in double quick
time l can assure you, leaving their
dead behind them.
To judge by the way they were piled
upon one another in the trenches l
would say there must be somewhere in
the neighborhood of 5000 or 1000 dead.
On our side two were killed and eight
wounded. 1t was wonder We We're
not annihilated for when you consider
as we were marching towards them We
were in the open, not a shelter of any
kind, while they were we'll sheltered
in their trenches. The only thing We
could see (onee in a while) was their
heads as they stood UP to fire.
We could hear the balls by the thou
sands whisting over our heads and
sometimes very unpleasantly near our
ears One of the wounded mem was
just ahead of me; he was struck with
the excitement of course We could not
stop and while marching on we could
hear him saying, never mind me, go
ahead" showing conclusively what
stuff the boys in blue are made of. At
tier we were masters of the situation,
the same fellow was picked up, taken
to the hospital and his arm ampu-
tated.
| Since then we have taken the town
of Jaro, of about 10000 inhabitants.
We are now doing outpost duty, the
most dangerous duty "a soldier is called
upon to perform. Every night when
it is so dark that you cannot see your
hand before your face the Filipinos
make an attack on us. We return the
compliment and after some hard hight
ling we come out victorious every
time Outpost duty means, sentlne
Tor guard is put out so that he can OBJ
serve what the enemy is doing; his
orders are to stick to his post undel
all circumstances. Our outposts are 81
yards apart and extend about fvt
miles. There is always one battalion
on guard and one in reserve. We have
about fifty miles of ground to take care
of and only $500 men to do it with
: We are waiting patiently for reinforce
ment and hope they will soon come, a:
. things are getting hot around here
You hear people here say the rebel
. lion will soon end. but it seems to me
il has just commenced. These Fill
. Ipinos are a determined race We will
have to kill every Man Jack of then
. before they will give up. I may bt
: wrong, but what little I have seen O
. them, I ann under the impression i
T. u-;Il I,o q war or mora Iofora +bo o,f