Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-07-21
SOLDIERS LETTERS.
Being Materials for the History of a War
of Criminal Aggression.

Being Materials for the History of War
of Criminal Aggression.
Herbert Cooper Thompson, Co. c,
Second Oregon Regiment (Volunteers)
''Of course / feel pity for the dead and
wounded, but it all adds to the general
feeling of horror for the whole business
of war wonder if people would have
wanted these God-forsaken islands If
they had foreseen the cost. That
twenty million dollars that they paid
bought only Manila. Most all the men
who think in the army corps are OPP
posed, and have been from the start, to
holding these Islands. Well, | hope we
may never get another weakened
politician in the presidential char at a
critical time like this
Rev. G.. F. Dole writes
IL have a letter from father in
another state whose son is a soldier at
Manila:
"'The longer | stay here and the
more see and think of the matter, the
more fully convinced | am that the
American nation was and is making a
blunder. | do not believe the United
States is equal to the task of conquerng
this people. or even governing them
afterwards. | don't think
would miss the truth if | said more nom
combatants have been killed than actual
native soldiers. | don't believe the
people in the United States understand
the question or the condition of things
here or the inhuman warfare now being
IA l. oh nish =.
they are not in with the Iank. Even
the Spanish are shocked. OF course |
don't expect to have war without death
and destruction, but | do expect that
when an enemy gets down on his knees
and begs for his life that he won't be
shot in cold blood. But it is fact that
the order was not to take prisoner. and
have seen enough to almost make me
ashamed to call myself an American
Raymond Ellis, late corporal in the
! Seventeenth United States Infantry
makes some unusual charges in a letter
to his father. He was in the Santiago
campaign, and after returning to the
states was sent to the hospital at the
! Columbus (O.) barracks. He had hard
| ly recovered from his illness. and haC
but three months to serve of his enlist
ment, when the regiment was ordered t
Manila. Corporal Ellis asked permission
to remain, as his time was almost up
This was refused, and he arrived a
Manila Just before his time expired. o.
the date of expiration he says he asket
for discharge and transportation home
The commanding officer wanted him t
reenlist, and on his failure to do SO
refused transportation home, and he ha
to work his way on a transport whicl
has recently arrived at San Francisco.
A sergeant in the Pennsylvania Reg
ment:
SAT Deloma Church, where we cam
upon detachment strongly intrenched
we buried four hundred and thirty-on
Filpinos, while our loss in killed wa
/, only one. We buried eighteen in on
grave at that place.
Robert f. Smith, of the Secon
= Oregon
= 1--WE have only to 60 less than tw
thousand yards from our present cam
to find thousands of well.armed Filipino
ready to give us all the fight we wisl
| When the battle is on the native seems
be in his element, and the longer tn
instruction lasts the more proficiel
will he become in the use of arms, an
the steader under fire. Those wi
think Agunaldo is a gutter can re
easy or uneasy, just as 1t suits then
1 but many of US here do not believe it
S him, and think there will be son
a desperate fighting and insurrection fl
years to come, owing to the bad feelir
now existing against the American
Death, suffering, and desolation a
i looking with baleful eyes upon Il
e thousands of poor Filipinos-me
: women, and children-on this unhapI
:. island. The American volunteer is
e generous as he Is brave, and, viii
n knowing that many of his conrad
d must fall, and perhaps himself, in Il
Is struggle about to begin, there is alwa
e sympathy in his heart for the enemy
n distress. The faces of women al
|, children have.a sad and woeful expires
Il ion, and they will perhaps never lea
), the fate of fathers, husbands, a
n brothers."