The Chilhowee echo. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1899-19??, 1899-12-02
A SOLDIERS MID.OCEAN LETTER.

Mrs. Fl. M. Aiken has received the
following letter from her son, Lieuten-
ant Will Aiken, of the Thirty U.
S. V. 1t was mailed at Honolulu while
en- route to the PHILIPPINES, where the
regiment landed several days ago, after
having encountered severe typhoon.
On BOARD TRANSPORT "C1TY OF PEKIN,"
Friday, Nov. 3rd, 1899.
DEAR MAMA: We are now about 300
miles out from Honolulu and expect to
arrive there sometime tomorrow even
ing. So far we have had delightful
trip and I have enjoyed it greatly.
Although most of the officers and men
have been sick, have not been sick at
all, and have not missed meal. By
this time, however, almost all on board
have gotten their sea legs and are now
feeling quite comfortable. The wealth
er has been all that we could wish for,
but the ship rolls great deal on ac-
count of the way she is loaded. She
has 400 tons of railroad iron down in her
keel and no freight at all between
decks, which makes her recover very
quickly in big swell. The captain
says if she were loaded with freight on
the decks occupied by the troops we
would scarcely notice the roll. This
ship was built in 1874, and was consid-
cred at that time one of the largest
afoat. She is 430 feet long and 45 feet
beam. Gen. U. S. Grant landed in San
Francisco on her in his trip around the
world. Young Alfred Vanderbilt was
passenger on her last trip to San
Francisco. She is very staunch, sea-
worthy vessel. Our fore and state
rooms are very comfortable. We are
charged one dollar and half per day
for our room and meals.
Capt. Hughes and his son, both of the
Thirteenth U. S. Infantry land orig
inally of Columbia, Tennessee), and my
self have charge of 125 recruits, most
of them for the regular army. Capt.
Hughes is brother of Arch. Hughes.
His son has recently been appointed a
second lieutenant from civil life. I like
them very much. They were both
quite sick for the first three days, and
I had to look after the men.
Bob and Alvin Barton are also with
us. They are both well and getting
along nicely. The men have very COM
Portable quarters. The transports of
today are much more desirable than
those upon which we made the trips to
and from Porto Rico. Col. Petit,
with eight companies and band of the
Thirty-frst Regiment, is aboard. Capt.
Gillenwaters, of Rogersville, and Lieut..
Henry Gibbins are with this part of the
regiment. They are both we'll. The
band gives a concert every day, which
adds materially to the pleasure of our
trip.
am detailed as officer of aauau guard
to or. This is 2 foGtsl
for me, as I will come off duty about
the time we reach Honolulu, and will
then be at liberty to go ashore. We
expect to remain there two days, and
understand it is the Colonel's intention
to take the men off and give them a
march about the city for exercise.
Just before leaving San Francisco I
weighed and tipped the scales at 100
more than | have weighed for some
time. My association with the officers
of the Thirty-frst has been very pleas
ant, and | consider myself fortunate in
being assigned to this vessel, We left
San Francisco at O'Clock in the even
ing. The view going down the bay
was surprisingly beautiful. We have
seen but two ships since that time.
There are several civilians on board,
on their way to Manila to build cold
storage plant for the United States gov
eminent. A grandson of Brigham
Young formerly Major of Utah
troops) is also on board with his wife,
two daughters and son. He has been
appointed one of the Supreme Justices
of the Philippines and is on his way to
his post of duty.
Colonel Wallace, of our regiment, is
in the hospital at the Preside, suffer-
ing from gun-shot wound in the lungs
MoTTE @ on