Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1899-08-10
Letter From the Philippines.
MANILA, p. l.,
90 ZOO

L
Won an idea how things are here. | am
well and ENJOYING a good rest. larrived
i'm town last Saturday from the south
line | gave you the news OF part Oh the
battle of February 9th to 10Th. III try
and let you know what have been doing
since then On February 10Th Lieut.
BOYD, of Troop |, 4th U. 5. Cavalry, with
40 men. was sent to scout the country
south of Pasig to find out all he could
about the insurgents and to cut their
telegraph line. We started at daylight.
There were to have been some infantry
TO follow us up. We were all mounted
and the country was rough, so the loot
troops couldn't keep up We Travelled
along nicely until about 10 o'clock We
saw all the time that the natives were
surprised to see us The native soldiers
soon came out and received us with
nice voley from their MauSers and Rem
inrtons. We didn't go out 10 scrap, so
we turned back and crossed small
stream and dismOunted and gave them
little scrap We had three horses
wounded and two men. After that we
didn't do much until March 18th, when
General Wheaton made an advance on
Pasir. Three troops of mounted cavalry
were with him-the Goth |. ). Infantry,
Washington volunteers, Oregon volun-
teers. North Dakota and one light bat
terv. The cavalry was the advance
ruard We found the native outposts
i'm n short while. We ran them in and
we had light skirmish until close to
Pasig. Then we were checked. Troop
+ had one man killed and seven wound
-, g, nj nj tool
scrap then and fought all day and near
ly all the next day. They moved the
natives out. Now the country was clear
for six miles. The Washington volun-
teers were left in Pasig.
We returned TO quarters in Manila
and remained there until March 24th,
when we Joined General Macarthur dl-
vision on the north line. We arrived at
the Chinese cemetery at dark on the
2lth. We were assigned TO Brigadier-
General II. G. OtiS's brigade On the
morning of the 18th the grand march on
Malolos was begun. Macarthur had four
brigadeS. General Wheaton on the left
at Caloocan to the bay. On his right
was Otis. and next General Hall, and
on the extreme right was General Hale.
Our lines had been there since February
10th Just in front were the lnSurgent
lines. They were strongly intrenched,
The town Of MalibOn was the headquar-
tiers of Aguinaldo's army. Well, Just at
good daylight General Hale opened up
on the right and forced back the natives;
next Hall and then Otis. The object
was to drive our right ahead. The fight
ing was hard until about noon, when
General Wheaton opened up at Caloocan.
Our three troops were mounted, ana the
country was buShy, so we were ordered
back with the transportation. About
o'clock we were ordered TO the front IN
"A stiff trot. We were ordered 10 flank
some entertainments. We got around
i'm about an hour and struck good warm
scrap for about twenty minutes, and III
that time we had two killed and eleven
wounded. all of them in Troop +, except
one i'm Troop X and one in Troop |.
Troop had been cut up at PaSlg on
the 18th. and now again 1t looked hard
for them. Anyway, we moved the ma
tiveS from the trenches and caught them
running across an open field like oand
of sheep. We found six dead ones and
over thirty wounded that the cavalry
cot. but on our left the natives were
slaughtered. The Montana regiment
cot at them and killed over hundred,
and saw wounded natives laying every
where. That ended the fight for the
day. We camped all night and moved
in the morning. Our men advanced.
the natives would check us awhile, and
so that was the way until Mololos was
reached The natives burned every
town. Great old churches and fine
building all went up in smoke. They
never made much of stand at MOlolOS.
They moved everything out the day be-
fore we got there.
Well after we got Mololos we didn't
90 any farther than a few miles around
and put out strong OutpOSts. The natives
sent in peace commissioners TO try and
get peace, but that proved to be one OF
their bluffs. They wanted us to stop
our advance for awhile SO they could
fortjfy themselves. We laid around
there for twenty-five days Would go
out scouting most every day. Then the
natives started to try and get between
us and Manila and tear up the railroad,
so nv troop was attached to a new bri-
gade in command of Col. Summers, of
the Second Oregon. The outpost con-
I
teenth Minnesota, and two guns of the
Utah Light Battery. General Lawton
was to leave Manila with big force to
come in along the mountains, and we
were to cut across TO meet him. We
left Bokai at daylight April 23d. We
didn't have a full troop, as several of
our men had been detailed for other
duty and some were sick. Two OF our
men on the day before volunteered to
ioin Major Bells scouts, and they both
got killed the next day. We marched
along with our troop in the advance
guard. We ran across several inSur-
gent scouts and took them. We stopped
at noon to let the infantry catch up.
The town we were making for wasn't
over three miles away at noon, 50 we
thought we could easily make ii that
day But we were getting in the hills.
After dinner | was on the point of the
advance guard. | was riding along look
ing at the country when one fellow from
behind said Look there they are
had ridden about thirty yards past.
They were in bushy place about two
hundred yards Off They didn't want to
bother the advance. They wanted TO
get few pot shots into the main column.
We diSmounted and fired into them. Our
support came up and as usual the natives
moved. But Just back we ran across
large party. Our whole command be-
came engaged, and they kept us busy
until dark. So we didn't get in their
| town that night. Our dead and wound
ed had to be sent about ten miles to the
railroad.
We worked all night, and went after
the natives again at daylight. During
! the night they moved everything out of
town across the river. They left a
couple companies back to entertain us
when we struck the town, but we soon
took it. We stayed here until two days
! after. when General Lawton came up
with his troops, We were on beauti-
full river, clear and fine. The country
was thickly settled, but the people had
all gone to the mountains. Now |
wouldn't say how many women and
I l 4 IL 1. i 80,