The National tribune., 1899-04-06
DRYING THE FIhIpIHos
The Early Fighting rs Seen by Slinnesot
Boy,

Boy.
No troops have borne a more honorable
part in the recent fighting in and around
Manila than have the Minnesota regiments.
A vivid description of the early fighting is
given in letter received from Ralph Hasen-
winkle, Co. C, 18th Mimi, who enlisted
from st. Paul, Minn.
MANILA, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, FEB. II.
Well, cannot complain Of dullness now.
Things are happening now in rapid s;:c,es-
sion. Last Saturday night, Feb. i, The
bugle sounded the call to arms at 9: 20 =. m
We quickly fell in, but were not mitch ca
cited, because We have had so many false
alarms. We were dismissed in about lo
minutes. was on patrol at 10 O'Clock, and
went, ont rs usual, with another cop. We
were about three blocks from the outpOsts,
and near the railway track, when few shots
rang cut and then crashing volley. We
ran out On the track, which runs through our
lines, 10 see if we could see anything but it
was ptch-dark and we could not see thing
The firing was then general, and we started
out down the track for quarters, dispensing
the natives as We went, who were collecting
| III crowds
We expected we would be ordered to the
support of the outposts, but we were put on
| guard on a bridge to keep the gogos from
riotng. / was on the bridge, and we had to
stay pretty close, for the bullets were flying
near, as we were only half mile from the
firing-line. One ball put out the electric
| light over our heads We stayed on the
| bridge all night, listening to the alnost-con-
tinuous firing. The Kansas regiment went
out to the lines shortly after the first fire,
| and the Montana regiment shortly after
them. There was heavy firing all around
| the city, and in an hour or two all the regi-
| mentS were engaged, except one or two left in
| the city, like our regiment. The next morL-
ing the firing commenced very heavy all
around, and the Americans made vigorous
attack.
Gen. King drove the insurgents back
where Camp Dewey was, and Dewey
shelled them, piling them up in heaps. The
Nebraskans charged the waterworks and took
them, losing six men killed and number
wounded. The Kansas regiment and Sd
Art. charged in a long skirmish-line for
mile and a half, chasing the holikans
ahead of them, and then took up good
position for the night. The 14th Regulars
made desperate charge on the strongest of
| the insurgent trenches near Fort Malate,
gaining the trenches but losing number of
men, IL killed in one company.
The heavy fighting now changed to the
vicinity of Caloocan on Monday. That day
got tired of staying in town and doing
| guard duty, so went over the back fence
and out to the lines, which were then about
a mile this side of Caloocan, where the in
surrectos were concentrating after their de-
feat. j got there abOnt II q. M, and stayed
/ until three, when started back.
The next day l went out again. There
were about 30 Minnesota boys who got out
the same as did. We did some firing that
| afternoon, and / went back, trying to get
there for retreat and roll-call. There was
! no retreat, SO / again went out, arriving
there at dusk, just in time to come in on the
end of a brilliant charge, made by four OF
five Kansas companies, straight through the
woods for about mile having the gogos on
the dead run.
Then they retired, burning all the houses
as they went, to cover their retreat They
had Lieutenant killed and six or seven
wounded. The charge was made to keep
| the gOgOs from making a desperate fight at
night, which was expected. / decided to
stay all night. There were in the company
where l was about Is Minnesota boys, and
we did picket duty that night for the COM
pany. We were fired on about II o'clock
1--WE, the picket and returned the fire to
awaken the lines, then retired hallway
back, where we lay the rest of the night,
being fired on once in awhile, but not return
and did not want to be located. almost
froze to death, or rather shivered, there. We
were not allowed tn move, for obvious
reasons, and lay in tile middle of the road
from ii 80 until daylight, $50.
An order came along the line the next morn
ing for all Minnesota men found on the firing
line TO be sent to Gen. Macarthur; so Espy and
Buck Stevenson, who came out that morning,
and myself went down the line to Captain
of Kansas company, who Buck knew.
Here we stayed all day, but no advance was
made. As they expected a heavy attack by
the natives that night, whose concentration
IN front of the Kansas company had pre-
vented the advance that day, we decided to
stay another night.
That night the outposts came in on the
jump at IL o'clock, and reported that the
enemy were advancing. A volley was fired,
and the insurgents opened up; then We had
it hot for about Is minutes, when the gOgOs
thought it best to retire. We were not dis
turbed the rest of the night. The next day,
as there were no signs of an advance, we
came back to quarters, and cannot get out
now.
The next day, Feb. 10, at about o'clock,
a grand charge was made by all that part of
the line, about three regiments. The line is
thin one, extending all around the city, in
trenches. 1t Is l6 miles, or rather was IL
miles, long. They charged the insurgents
trenches. The insurgents stuck to the
trenches well, but could not stand the heavy
fire, ana finally broke and ran. They chased
them through CaloOcan and on for about
half mile, where that end Of the line now
is. They expect to attack Malabon to-
morrow. They lost three killed and num-
ber wounded. Three Minnesota men were
seriously wounded. Fetch and Harty, of Co.
d, and Rafferty,, of Co. III. So far Mime
sofa has had five wounded and one killed.
The man killed was of Co. l.
So far the losses of the Americans are not
less than 60 killed and 300 wounded.
The second day, Sunday, we had couple
of street riots in Tondo. A couple of the
boys went to the beach to see the gunboats
firing, and were chased by a hundred natives
with knives. The guard was turned out
and went after the natives. The guards
commenced shooting, and when they quit
there were six dead and as many more
wounded among the natives. They were
left to their friends to be taken care Of.
While searching natives for knives and so
forth, we discovered number with papers
of enlistment in the insurgent army, and i'll
q regiment called "Regimento de Tondo."
We GOT % of these and a number with conn |