The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-03-31
HARD LIFE
WITHIN THE
FIRING LINE
Graphic Story of the Cam
paign as Told by a Cali
fornia Boys Letter.
EAT AS THEY SHOOT
Food Secured Under Great Difficult
ties and Devoured at Intervals.
Tale Of Two Heroes.

w. T. Moran, of the First California
Volunteers, who was a student at the
night I+igh School, has written an IN
teresting letter to this city under GATE
Of Manila, February 20, in when ne
says:
For ten days during the fight in which
CaIoocan was taken our regiment was
working under stress OF gFea6 e, Stlloe
gency There was very hard ngntIH6'
with little time for sleep. Lack OF sIeeR,
in fact, caused the greatest suHerlns tlls
some of our officers hit on the pan +t o.
having the shelter tents Just back Oh thS
trenches. And now when there is d can
to arms our boys just roll out Oh their
tents and into the trenches and are reaoy
The Insurgents have made some very
fierce attacks at this point, many times
coming within forty or fifty yards OF the
trenches. They have never been able to
stand the fire quite long enough to reach
us, though. 1t was during one OF these
Yates of Company f of the First Ca!ltor-
MA lost their lives. They got beyond the
firing line, and Nelson was hit and
wounded. Packer could have got PACK
all right but he would not leave his
chum When we band boys went out
after their bodies we found the ground
strewn with piles of empty shells and
beaten down in a way that showed they
had made desperate fight to the very
The boys have to resort to all sorts Of
expedients to get anything to eat here
during the heavy fighting. About week
ago the firing line OF one of the regiments
had a lot of beefsteak sent out to them
in large paper bags. A soldier would
pick out steak and get a firm grip on 1t
with his teeth He would then pass the
bag to the next man and go on fighting.
When a soldier had a few minutes rest
he would put it in on the steak. on
moments notice he would start in rushing
the insurgents again with the meat in his
mouth.
one regiment, the Pennsylvania, drove
the insurgents two miles after they got
the steaks. 1t was one of the few charges
in which the boys did not rush forward
with cheers and yells. The reason they
did not do so was because they could not
afford to lose any food, and when they
stopped some of the men were still chew
ing the remnants of very dirty beef
steak.
Our trouble is due to not having
enough men. We dare not go very far
from Manila now, as the insurgents are
likely to attack it at any time We are
all hoping for reinforcemepts, as there
are so many insurgents that our troops
are almost worn out watching them.
Our task is made particularly difficult
since we cannot tell who are friends and
who foes. Often we have passed an Odd
man whom we thought harmless. Later.
when our troops would rout out some
SharpShOOter who was annoying US in the
rear we would discover him to be the
same apparently harmless old man who,
absolutely regardless of the consequences
TO himself should he be discovered, had
placed himself in some shack or other
good position and started in TO pick OF
any American he could see.
Our boys discovered a man about 50
years of age tied in a tree two days ago.
He had but one leg, so his companions
must have boosted him up and then
made him fast He had not succeeded
in hurting any of us, but that he had
done his best was atteSted by the num-
Der of empty shells under the tree The
troops, instead of taking him down, rid
died his body with bullets
On Sunday week (the 9Th inst) about
100 insurgents got into an old church and
our First Regiment could not dislodge
them Heavy guns were brought up, but
still the Filipinos would not come out.
They stayed in the building even while
the church was burning down over their
They are all there yet-an good Fill
We find it necessary to destoy the
churches as we go along. They have been
used as forts by the FiliDinos all over
the country and enable the brown sol
diers to put up a good, stiff defense, as
the walls are from ten to fifteen feet
thick and they have loopholes through
which rifles can be thrust and fired, max
ing it absolutely necessary to employ ar
tilerY in taking them.
The artillery. boys are all right. If 1t
were not for the Third Artillery and the
Utah battery we would often have suf-
fered severely where they have made
victory easy. In fact, we owe most of
our success to them.