The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-05-12
SOLDIERS PRAY FOR RELIEF
First Nebraska Volunteers
Ask To Be Retired From
the Firing Line.
rBv Gable to The Associated Press !

TBy Gable to The Associated Press.1
MANILA, May 8, 1899. via Hong Kong
May 12-The First Regiment Nebraska
Volunteer Infantry is taking the unusual
step of respectfully petitioning the Divi-
sion Commander, Major General Mac
Arthur, to temporarily relieve them from
duty at the front. The regiment IS padly
exhausted by the campaign in which II
has taken an active part, and not many
more than three hundred men OF the Or
ganization are at present tit for duty. Oh
Sunday last 160 men of this regiment re-
sponded to sick call.
The men. in view of the facts, nave
prepared a respectful memorial to Cen
eral Macarthur asking that their regiment
he withdrawn for short time from the
fighting line in order that they may re-
o,1nerate The memorial states that the
men are willing to fight, but are IN no
condition to do so owing TO the STRAIN stIai.
of long marching, continual nsiltlis aa1. 60
outpost duty in which they nave peSi
engaged 1t is added that many Oh tie
men have been unable to nave li.sl. their
clothing washed for months past, navlnS
heen compelled during all that time 70
sleep in their uniforms to be IN readi-
ness for fighting. The memorial adds
that since February the regiment mas
lost 225 men in killed ana WouRae1u', nta1l, anu
fifty-nine since the Battle OF Malolos.
The officers of the regiment propose 70
present similar memorial on beha1 OF
the men. The splendid record OIL tne
First Nebraska in the entire canpalsi II
by the men are such that no 1mputa!lon
OF insubordination can be brought against
them officers of the regiment SAID 70 the
correspondent OF the 4ht Assoelate1b tbat feSe tbe
men had been worked beyond beyond m
durance and should be given a rest,
some of the regular regiments Whlcn drS
now guarding the city beng sent 10 the
front.
Five Volunteer Regiments and the Otah
Battery of Artillery are at san ferfan@oo. @
They muster in all about $500 men, Many
of the soldiers are in hoSpital sullerihs
from heat or other causes. The wounded
are all suffering acutely and showed ene
effects of exposure to the sun when they
arrived. Three days rest has alreauy
since the army entered Malolos the sol
diers have had little water to drink exeep.
that which was brought on railway trains
from Manila, and tna5 e was va san od PEER pRernando
are doing much towards making the men
Fresh troops are beginning to go to
the front. Two battalions of the sew
enteenth Infantry (Regulars). that NAG
been holding the lines about the Clty OF
Manila, will join Major General McAr-
fhllr's Division at San Fernando tomor-
row and one battalion of the same regl-
ment viii reinforce Major General Law law
tons Division near Bacolor Ihese troops oops
will be replaced here by the Twenty-f1rst
infantry Regiment, which arrived from
the United States on board the transport
Hancock on yesterday.
Gantain Rattery. of the Utah Battery,
whose success in managing the army
g,nboats Laguna and Cavadonga has
Won for him the sobriquet of The Dew
ev of the Army" has been put IN COM
mand Of the recently purchased Spanish
l gunboats whose arms the insurgents cap
fured. These vessels are now being pre-
pared for operations on the rivers ana AZ.
slong the coast The ret1tting and arm
ing Of the gunboats is being pushed with
all diligence.