Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-01
FROM THE FIRING LINE
Interesting Letter From ArLansa,
Soldier in the Philippines,
From the ST. Louis Globe Democrat.

From the st. Louis Globe Democrat
The sd United States volunteeys which
was organized at Fort Leavenworth. and
started for the Philippines in September.
Is now IN active campaign service some
thihg the boys of the regiment all longed
ior- A letter has just been received under
GATE OF November s, from Edward F. Feist.
soidler OF Company +, which tells of the
sd landing on November l. and going into
1attie hve days afterward. The young SOL
der states he is greatly taken with the
Fhllppne Islands and would nor have
missed the trip for farm.
friVate Felst is in the company COM
rhanded by Captain Rumbold formerly of
ST Louis, and. Judging from the tone of his
letter to friend, he is having a lively
I'M .iihe. inns same Company E is attached
10 Ihe "a Battalion of the sd Volunteers.
commanded by Major Spence in General
Grants brigade. that has been mentioned
almost daily in the Philippine dispatches
Tor the last week. The letter of Private
Fest Is interesting and reads as follows.
i GU must excuse this writing as I am
writing on blanket on the ground and
nave no pen. l must say l am glad |
dldn take your advice for L wouldn't have
missed the trip for farm We arrived
mere November ]. and were at once sent to
the north firing line. sixty-seven miles from
Manila, and We have been soldering ever
November ).
We were aroused from our peaceful
s!umbers at ) o'clock Sunday morning and
aaybreak found us five miles north of here
for the 18th regulars, who left Caloocan
the night before. We had not been in the
trehches twenty minutes when the 18th.
who were a mile to the east and north If
US, jumped up several hundred rebels in a
corn patch, and then the fun began We
expected them to come toward us but in.
stead they went little out of our way,
but we didn't fire on them. They retreated
toward Magdalan, a town of about - 600
| inhabitants, where they had strong in
trenchments. We Were then ordered back
TO angeles, when we took charge of wag-
on train of provisions, consisting of about
SeVenty-five carts, drawn by caribous
which. by the way, are very slow, but more
reilabie than the mules of this country
we left here again at Il o'clock for
Mogatan, it was the intention OF our
troops to take that town that day before
we stopped. and when the boys in blue
start to do anything you could not stop
fourteen miles from here. and with the 18th
In front of us as advance guard and three
companies of our regiment made one of the
hardest marches right through the enemy's
country that has ever been made either nv
regulars or volunteers.
We had to wade through six streams up
to our armpitS in some places.
I'VE passed through five towns, where
we even found hot food on the tables from
which the natives had fled hurriedly We
encountered no more opposition until we
18th. in advance, deployed as skirmishers,
and just as we, the regiment rounded a
bend toward the town the rebels, who were
intrenched behind three-foot ditch in
rice heid,poured calling fire into the regi-
meht, and one poor boy dropped dead while
some sixteen others were wounded Our
boys dropped few volleys into them and
then waited for a battery of artillery
which was following. AS soon as it opened
up you could the rebels going every
way, and talk about running, 1t is awful
hard for bullet to catch them. Before
they got through running there We're sixty
eight dead and 1913 captured and wounded
two of them being part of Aguinaldo's
bodyguard.
close enough behind to see the fight and
hear the bullets come uncomfortaby close
We wanted to go in, but our major wouldn't
let us leave the train unprotected. We en-
tered the town about O'clock and our
pack trains got stuck in the river about a
mile from town, and we had all kinds of
trouble. We had no blankets along and we
found quarters in some houses the natives
had vacated and we proceeded to do some
tall old sleeping until o'clock. when our
three companies started back again to An
geles, arriving there about O'Clock pm
Then my company was at once ordered out
on outpost duty. except myself and five
others left on provost duty. We will gar
rison this place for several days. when we
upon Aggie's capital. Tarlac. which is their
strongest place, and 1t will pretty near
break up the insurrection when it falls.
We are clearing them at every place like a
lot of rubbish.
Il am delighted with this life and want
to say to you IL the United States ever
thought OF giving up these islands she
ought to be whipped for even thinking So
They are undoubtedly going to be a very
rich lot Of islands when they become more
civilized and the industries open up
don't notice the heat bit more than did
In Kansas"