Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-06-01
AUDUBON SOLDIER BOYS.
They Tell of Life i'm Camp and
Trenches.

Manila, p. L., April 20, 1899.
DEAR EDITOR:
received the paper you sent me
and was very glad to get it. The mail
came just n few minutes before we were
ready to start after the insurgents and
read the Audubon news in the
trenches. We have got the insurgents
nearly all rounded up now. We have
had hard marching since we have been
here and a good deal of fighting. Our
Colonel was killed in the fight on the
25th of March. was about hundred
yards from him when he was killed.
Our company has lost more than any
company in our regiment in wounded.
Our loss is two killed and twelve
wounded.
There is some talk that the 22nd will
go to Iloilo but that talk is just among
the boys. We never know where we
are going until we get there. l think
that this is the best piece of land on
the globe. The days are hot and the
nights are cool. | like the country all
right but don't like the people that
are here. There are no Americans here
except soldiers and they soon get so
they don't seem like company. 1t is
everybody for themselves in the army.
| was over to the walled city about two
weeks ago and had long visit with
Clyde Baker and Will Wilson. Both
the boys are looking as well as 1 ever
saw them. We just came in town
again last night, we werein the trenches
about five miles from Manila for twelve
days and the 18th released us yesterday
and we came to town. We are under
orders to move again right away and /
don't know where we are going. L
never have seen city in all my life
anything like Manila. The houses are
made of bamboo and the natives are
black. There are Cinnamon, Japs,
Spaniards and all classes of people
here except Americans. All the boys
seem to like the country but they don't
like the people that are here. The
natives don't mind the Volunteers with
their Springfelds fifteen or sixteen
hundred yards away. The volunteers
have to get within about six or seven
hundred yards of the natives before
they make them run but when the
regulars start after them with the Krag
JOrgensen at sixteen hundred Yards
the natives more than run. They have
a very good gun but they couldn't hit
the side of barn. The Mauser rifle
is nearly as good as our gun.
The natives were used to the vOlun-
teer's guns and they thought they
would play the same trick on us but
we made it too hot for them. Before we
took the Insurgent capitol we fought
all they way from Manila that is about
twenty-six miles. We had to TAX
entertainments one after the other
until we got there. l guess the war is
nearly over. The natives waste goo
deal of ammunition. They shoot too
high. They got the battalion of the
22nd that l belong to cornered up but
we got away from them. If they had
shot little lower they would have
killed us all. They got quite a number
of us as it was and our CAPTAIN was
wounded in the leg in that fight. | am
learning to talk Spanish pretty well.
Onr hospitals in Manila are pretty well
filled up with sick and wounded.
| got to see the big fleet out here, we
are close to the coast where | can see
Dewey's ships most any time When
we lay in the harbOr we were within Il
few hundred yards of the flag ship,
Olympia, and when we landed we
passed within few feet of her and
Admiral Dewey came out on the bridge
and gave us three cheers when we
passed and the tars on every boat gave
us three cheers also. When we pulled
in Honolulu the boys on the Oregon
gave us warm reception. Admiral
Dewey was ont for a ride in the city a
couple of weeks ago and when he
passed the 22nd's barracks our band
was playing, Down in Dixie" and the
tune was changed to, The Star
Spangled Banner" The Admiral
listened to our band for quite a while
and then rode away. The monitor
Monterey lies up along the shore and
throws shell over into the natives
lines every once in a while that puts
them moving. They are afraid of a
boat since Dewey whipped the Spaniards.
1 have been in every fight yet the
22nd has had. Those Remington brass
balls that the natives shoot whistle a
tune never heard before. The natives
fire one at time or whenever they see
anything to shoot and we shoot volleys
The volleys from our guns put them
running in short time. You must
excuse this as | am very poor writer
| WILL III. BEEDLE,
Co. + Odd r. Inf