The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-06
An Interesting Letter From a
Butte Young Man.
MONTANA'S BRAVE BOYS
They March Right Ahead When the
Time Comes and Drive the Black
Devils Before Thsm-Descrip-
ton of Experiences.

| ohS VI the soldiers OF the Montana
regiment. The letter. which bears date
of May 9, was written at San Fernando
and says: 1--WE have been SO busy
CHASING niggers as to make 1t impos-
slble to do any writing. We have been
on the move since the gath of April,
and now we are in camp at this place.
The rebels left here, as they have been
doing all along the road from Malabon.
| just few hours before we arrived OH
the scene, but we will catch them some
time and then they shall pay for all
the hardships we have endured in the
! past IS or 20 days. After two days
of fighting, after we left Malolos, we
arrived at Apelit. We broke camp al
| Malolos at 5 O'Clock on the morning
| of April "a and only went 1900 yards
| and bivouacked. Early the next morn
| ing, at daybreak, we were again on
| the move toward Calumpit, one of the
| strong places of the island. 1t was
| strongly fortified and the Spaniards
| were never able to take the place. but
| the American soldier knows no such
word as fail, and in this instance he
was as successful as usual. General
MacArthur's division, consisting of
! General Wheaton's and General Hale's
brigades, moved at s o'clock on the
| morning of the gath. We marched
along the railroad track in columns
of tours for about two miles and then
two battalions Of the Goth Kansas de-
ployed, with battalion of each regi-
ment as reserve, or rather supports
In this formation we marched for
about one mile further, when the rebels
opened fire on the advancing column
at short range. The forward movement
was supported by artillery on both
TANKS and we had a six FOUNDER and
two Calling guns on an armored car
in front. Hale's brigade was on the
right and the Kansas on the left. This
was the relative position at $50 when
the artillery opened fire. 1t was grand
and awful beyond the power of words
to express. The whirring shrek of the
shrapnell and roar of bursting shells
and solid shot filled the air with noises
dreadful in their intensity, and while
these sounds filled us with hope and
enthusiasm, they struck terror to the
hearts of our black foes. While the
cannonading was at it's height Hale's
brigade crossed the Calumpit river on
the right of the enemy's trenches, and
two companies of the Kansans crossed
the river below their works, and be-
fore the black devils knew what was
UP they were driven from their in
trenchments by the Kansas troops and
on to Hale's advancing column. Many
Of the rebels were killed, but by far
the most Of them escaped by crossing
the Bagbag river. The Kansas troops
crossed the Calumpit and bivouacked,
while the Montanaus and part ofsHale's
bivouacked where they WERE One
man from X company, Anaconda, was
drowned here. He was a good swim
mer, but was careless. On the morn
ing of the 26th we crossed the river to
the island. The rivers Bagbag and
connected
branches and thus form an island, and
this island was intrenched on four
sides, thus making a surprise impossi-N
Bile. The only way to get the enemy
out of the earthworks was to advance
in front, a thing that was impossible,
as the river ran on all sides of the ISL
and, or to effect crossing and drive
them from the rear, thing that
would have been equally impossible if
the trenches were held by brave men.
The were constructed to fight from
front or rear and covered with rail-
road iron on top. You may form some
idea of the difficulty experienced by
that portion of the Sth army corps on
the north line. Some European Off
GERS of note who were with the army
here said that 1000 American soldiers
properly provisioned could hold these
trenches against $4,000 men. This opin-
ion from such men will serve to show
the difficulties the men from Montana
and the men from Kansas have been
going up against from the start, and
when it is further known that it only
took us about three hours to drive
these black devils out of such a strong
hold you may realize in part the way
the volunteer fights. The old Grand
Army men may rest assured that the
dear old flag Is safe and in worthy
hands, and from the islands of the
eastern sea we, the men of the next
Grand Army, send greeting and say
the men of the North, sons of veter-
ans, are fighting shoulder to shoulder
with the men of the South, also sons
of veterans, under the folds OF the |
grandest flag on earth.
After crossing the river the Kan
sas and Montana regiments deployed
two battalions from each regiment on
the firing line and one from each as |
supports. We marched across corn |
fields that were in tassel and silk, and |
some bore fine roasting ears. While |
some of the corn was as high as our |
hips, some was knee high and some |
was only coming through the ground.
as well as possibility of growing crops |
on this island. The enemy from their
lookout discovered our advance long
before we could see them, and the
Mausers soon made us aware that we
were nearing our foe. They will shoot |
IfOll l,ZUu 10 IUuU ydTuS. out as we
have % Krag-Jorgensens in every
now, our dusky has none the
best of it on that score. but we being
in support could not fire, and had to
march along with the bullets whist
ling through our ranks and overhead
and hitting the ground in front of us,
which made 1t decidedly unpleasant.
We took up a position about 1900
yards from the enemy's lines and all
day, until o'clock in the evening, we
We're compelled to keep under cover
At o'clock in the evening we were
ordered to take up a position about a
mile on the right of where we were at
This time, and / took a detail of four
men and went to the river for supper
Tor the company. We bivouacked on
me banks of the river about 300 yards
rom the enemy's intrenchments to
await the coming day. About IL O'Clock,
when We were soundly sleeping the
'ebels fired shrapnel over the house
oehlnd which we were sleeping, fol-
owing 1T up with a few yollayS From,