Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-01-11
Lieutenant McNarney in the Philip.
mines


pines.
The following extracts are taken
from Lieut.. McNarney's letters to his
wife and friends. Inasmuch as several
Cameron county boys are with Lieut.
McNarney we copy parts Of his letters:
PoRAC, Nov. 6.-I am happy to say
the Thirty-sixth has no equal on the
Island and I am in less danger with
the Thirty-sixth than | wauld be in
many others, for the reason that the
insurgents are in deadly peril of Col
Bell and his Thirty-sixth, which is a
composition of fighters that cannot be
beat. | do not speak this way because
it is my regiment, for if it was poor |
would be the first one to say so. But
the people of Manila recognize the
Thirty-sixth as the best fighting regi-
ment on the island and | now know
from experience that from the Colonel
to the kitchen police, they are brave
devils and brave into recklessness.
On the first of November we left
Bacolor and marched to Santa Rita,
arriving there at six p. m. The expec-
tation was to go the next day to Porac
and of course the natives learned of
this as il was no secret and carried
the news to the insurgents. Instead
of going to Porac on the End we
marched silently out Of Santa Rita at
at p. M, on the 1st to Florida Blanca,
marching all night and as silently as
death itself There had been q force
of insurgents quartered in a church at
Florida Blanca, and we hoped to sur
round and capture them at daybreak.
Everything worked beautifully and at
= ~ ho1 ho al,
completely surrounded, but our well
laid and beautifully executed plans
failed, as the niggers, learning of our
intentions to go TO Porac, had left their
quarters at p. m. on the 1st, the same
time we started and marched to Porac
to reinforce the niggers there. AS we
missed our game there we marched to
Lobar where we laid in ambush for
about two hours waiting on them, but
as they had all pulled their freight,
we again marched to Florida Blanca,
where we had dinner on the celebrated
emergency ration (Which by the way
is not bad when you are tired and
hungry
After dinner we started for Porac
and arrived there about 4 p. M, wet
through, tired, sleepy and hungry. AS
we got in the river the niggers opened
up on us and you should have seen
those men wake up. Every man for
got all about his hunger, his sore feet,
his wet clothes; forgot they had march
ed nearly "a hours continually, and the
way they went at the niggers was
something to make any one feel proud
of his American citizenship. 1t was
one grand rush, firing as we went, and
we kept going until not live niger
I /. =. i ~,T
out of existence. think they are still
going in all directions. We drove
them out of their strong lines of in
trenchments just as easy as if they had
been jack rabbits
They had things nicely fixed up for
us in front of their intrenchments, viz:
in one place high bamboo fence, in
another bamboo rail about a foot
from the ground covered with bamboo
brush and directly in rear were sharp
ened bamboo spikes, for us to run
through us when we fell over the rail,
at another place they had three rows
of pits dug and bamboo spikes stuck in
the bottom for us to fall in on, but they
didn't work.
AS near as / can tell we killed and
captured about twenty and scattered
the others to the four winds. Some
money, horses and guns were captured,
got horse and a Bolo, which is
large knife similar to a Machett. We
have not been bothered since. You can
guess we enjoyed our supper that
night, also our sleep. Our loss was
one man killed and one wounded. The
next day party was sent out to make
reconnaissance and met a few of the
enemy who stood for a short while and
again flew (all that was able J to the
mountains beyond. Lieut., Colonel
Grover was wounded.
was detailed as officer of the day on
the 4th. which perhaps is the most
dangerous duty we have, as it is neces-
sary to visit out posts, but they were
so badly scattered that | had no trouble.
| had the good fortune however to
capture another horse. We are not at
all afraid of the insurgents, but they
have very wholesome respect for us.
Tomorrow we leave Porac and don't
know where we will wind up, but are
after Aguinaldo now and we will keep
going after him till we strike him-that
is if he don't go too fast for us. These
fellows are just like jack-rabbits and
can run about as fast. The men are
all getting to be good wing shots now.
Perhaps those absent minded beg
gars may wish they were absent bodied
as well before Dom Paul gets through
them.