Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-04-13

GENTS DRIVEN BACK REPEAT
EDDY WITH GREAT LOSS.
AMERICAN LOSS COMPARE
lively SMALL-AWAITING RE-
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. BOYS
RETURN.
"Tot" Mullen, a brave young Wash
ington, Pa, soldier, who is a private in
a Pennsylvania company now station
ed in the Philippines writes very in
teresting description Of the first en-
gagements with the Filipinos outside
Of Manila. The account OF the mill
tary movements is given in letter to
a cousin in this city, and reads as fol-
lows:
II promised I would give you a full
account of our fight with the insur-
gents. Well, on the night Of February
4th, they made an attack on our linea.
The firing commenced about 1915 p.
m. Our regiment was in quarters, bur
we were expecting trouble and were
all dressed and ready to move when
the orders came. We heard the firing
when it opened UP, out on the lines,
and fell in without waiting for orders,
each man having, extra ammunition
and canteen full of water. Soon Col.
Hawkins came up and took command
of the regiment while we were stand
ing in the road waiting for orders to
move, the firing heard became heavy
all along the line where our outposts
were. and they were supposed to hold
their ground.
"They held good position and we
were not much afraid but what they
could hold their own, Well, we start
ed at last for the front, but when we
got about half way out the firing
ceased, and we were able to reach our
outpost. We deployed as skirmishera
across a rice field, which our regiment
was supposed to hold. and advanced
slowly for about forty yards. Then
came the order to lay to and every
eighth man to move forward twenty
yards as an advance and then lay down
to wait for the insurgents to make a
move.
THE Dakota regiment was ON our
right and Montana on our left, with
two guns of the Utah artillery. We
lay for perhaps two hours before the
insurgents made a move. All the
while the regiments to our right and
left. all around the city, were engaged
and the firing was very heavy. The
insurgents in front of US were blowing
their whistles and We could hear them
giving commands, but had orders not
to fire till We saw something to fire at.
At last they charged on us, making a
great noise, tearing down fences and
Yelling Viva Filipino but we held
our fire till they were about sixty yards
from our advance line and then the
oder came to fire.
1T was pretty hot for a while, but
the insurgents shoot high and they did
not do much damage. 1t was dark as
pitch and nothing could be seen but
the flashes of their rifles, but we drove
them back. They could not stand up
before the yolleys from the old Spring
nelds. That was their last advance
that night, though they kept UP con,
tlnual firing all night, but about day.
hight they opened up about one hun
dred yards infront of us, but we soon
drove them back to their blockhouse.
which was a Chinese hospital, four
hundred yards off from our line. It
was regular fort, as all buildings like
tnat are here surrounded by a high
stone wall and would be hard to take
without the use of the Utah battery.
which was throwing some shells into
IT every now and then. From day-
light till noon we lay behind rice
sheaves shooting now and then at a
sharpshooter that would show himself.
About noon the Dakotas advanced
and took block house on the hill to
our right, and soon the order came for
us to charge the one in front of us
We advanced slowly to within prob
ably sixty yards of the wall, when the
insurgents started to fire. We drop
ped to the ground and poured in few
volleys, and then the order came to
charge, and with yell that must have
scared the Filipinos pretty near to
death. We charged up to the walls, fir
ing as we ran. The insurgents must
not have been accustomed to that kind
Of fighting. for after firing a few shots
they went out the back way, leaving a
few dead behind, but carrying their
wounded.
After we had searched the place and
burned all the snacks or houses