The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1900-11-24
skirmishing III China.
From New York Sun. Nov. /:

In q letter to his Iatner, fnHp H.
Reese. who lives at 317 West 10th street,
this city, William r. Reese, non-com-
missioned officer in Troop A of the Sixth
United States Cavalry, now in China, tells
interestingly of one Of the many hot en-
eaeements that characterized the fighting
about Tientsin. The letter is dated from
Tientsin, Aug. %, and is in part as fol-
lows
''Our troop left Fort Riley June 20, and
went to the Preside in California We
were in Frisco from June 26 to July l,
when we embarked aboard the transport
Grant. We left the same night and landed
July % at Kobe, Japan. We could get
no pilot here to take us through the inland
sea and narrowly escaped running on the
rocks during fog. We reached Nagasaki
at 5. As a. IN July "a and remained there
three days to coal up. Our next stop was
Che Foo, China. We stayed here just
long enough to receive orders. Then we
proceeded to Taku At that place we were
transferred from the transport to the Mo-
nocacy in lifeboats from the Brooklyn.
They took us as far as Tongko and we
camped there over night. Next morning
we took train for Tientsin, our present
camping place.
1.-The city is total wreck; the build
ings that were not entirely ruined are now
being used for hospitals and army head
quarters There are English, Japanese,
Russian, French, German and American
soldiers here, besides regiment of Sikhs
from India, known as the Bengal Lancers.
The Japs are fine. They simply idolize an
American They are better soldiers than
all the rest put together. They are fine
fighters and we get along with them Just
as if they were Americans.
''On the morning of the 9th fifty Troop
A men (myself among them) and thirty
of the India lancers were sent about eight
miles out west of the town to locate body
of several thousand Chinos, as we call the
Chinese troops, who had managed to get
between the lines and were endangering
our pack trains We found them. The
first we knew of their whereabouts was
WHtu We ItCtNCu M 'hi
faces. 1t came from blind trench about
one hundred yards ahead and we had to
retire in confusion to about three hundred
yards in the rear Here we dismounted
to fight on foot We returned their fire
for half an hour until they began to get
our range; then we made hasty retreat
back to town. One Sikh was wounded
and three horses killed in this encounter.
''On the morning Of the 10Th, about 3
O clock, our whole command, together with
about thirty Sikhs, numbering in all about
five hundred and fifty mounted men, made
general move against the enemy to try to
dslodge them from their intrenchments.
1t was nervy piece of work, as there were
at least four thousand of them. We ran
across the Chinks sooner than we expected,
their outposts being concealed in u corn
field They allowed our advance guard to
pass them and then they fred into our
main body. Our troop was the first, and
from then on throughout the fight Troop
A stood the brunt of the attack. The first
vOlley hit man at my left in the arm and
the bullets hummed around us like bees
''We then dismounted and threw out
skirmish line We led our horses by the
bride rein and started through the high
corn on the run. 1t was ticklish piece
of business. We were hustling through
that cornfeld, not knowing whether the
enemy was ten or hundred yards ahead
of us. Right near us bullets were cutting
the cornstalks on all sides. When we got
out of the cornfeld into the open we could
see their outpost fleeing to their trenches,
700 yards away. 1t was big relief to us
to be able to see where they were. From
then on it was case of run a 100 yards,
kneel, fire six or eight shots, and start off
again. We made stand near the Chinks
trenches and laid a skirmishing line there
under heavy fire, which we returned as
good as they sent.
s'For four hours it was fierce work, but
the good part was yet to come. We had
no artillery but we made it so hot for the
enemy that they had to leave their big
guns and we could see them running away
Our squadron commander then galloped
along the line, yelling Mount, men;
mount 7 We knew what was coming and
it seemed hardly a second before every man
was in his saddle. Then somebody yelled
Charge = Holy smoked We drew pistol
and went down that line like hurricane
let loose An English officer who was with
our Colonel said to him: When those
Yankees get once started all he'll couldn't
stop them. And he was right.
1.-The fellows yelled like Comanches
when they swooped down upon those
Chinks When we had emptied our
pistols we drew our sabres and what we did
was a-plenty The main body of the enemy
: got away, but we cut party of Boxers to
pieces. | can swear to killing five with
my pistol and three more with my sabre.
When | was coming back to the troop after
the recall had been sounded, | had Il Chink
by the pigtail, bringing him in prisoner.
My horse SHE'D at dead body and the
Chink broke away He picked up a spear
from the side of the dead body and made
a vicious swipe at me. That is where my
sabre practice came in. l parted his
lunge, knocked down his guard and gave
him slash in the neck that nearly lobbed
his head off. dismounted, took his spear
and cut off his pigtail. am going to
bring the pigtails home as souvenirs when
the war ends.
''There were about twenty men wounded
in all; several from our troop were hurt
seriously. One was fearfully cut with
spear. We lost about thirty horses in all,
but it was glorious charge. Our chap
lain said that it was with the help of Provs
idence that we won against such heavy
odds, but | think it was our American grit
that pulled us through.