Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-14
lCAPTURE Of kATBaLCGAN
FEATURE OF THE, VAR IN THE
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.
Private ke"ti"s of Company IA. 4ad
Regiment of '"'"a '%*r-' Graphic
nIly Describes the Hattie.

Private !"f ! Heating of Company X,
AID REFINE. t of Voillatet-s. now at the
front in tie Philippines. recently addressed
to friend in this city description of the
capture of Katbalogan in which he par
ticipated. The Letter was dated at Kat
balogan. Island of Sanfar, and is as fol-
lows:
after the remaining battalions of the
41th had been landed, and with the I'd Bat
talon of the AID We set sail for the city
of katbalogan. accompanied by supply
ships transports and three United States
gunboats-the Nashville. Helena and Mari
velles. the latter small converted gun
boat. Some CT the battalons previously
landed met with no opposition and some
were obliged to do some lively fighting be
fore taking the town. TO be candid. l dld
not think we would have to do any fight
ing. as we understood from the Manila
press that the Islands of Samar and Leyte
were friendly and anxiously awaited us.
One OF our company cheerfuily informed
us that banquet, brass band and pyro-
technlc display at night awaited our com
ing. OF course, he had read it in the news
papers, and that settled it. The majority
of the boys ceased rubbing up their rifles
and calmly awaited the time when travel
rations, consisting of canned meat ana
bareback, would be superseded by native
daintes served by beautiful Filipino maid
ems. More attention was paid to shaving
and fixing up than to keeping our rifle
and bayonet in AL order.
we dropped anchor about @1 yards from
shore at $50 am, January -. The men
were assembled on the deck of the trans
port Venus, under arms. 100 rounds of am
munition per man. Major Alien. accompa-
MED by his adjutant and detachment OF
.bluejackets, started for the shore on the
launch of the Nashville He was given
three cheers to which he responded by
raising his helmet. After an absence OF
about thirty minutes the launch was seen
leaving the shore, and at about the same
moment flames and smoke commenced TO
issue from the larger buildings. White
flags were seen fluttering from most of the
houses. (Of course, you understand this is
a token of truce) However, notwithstand-
ing ali these emblems of submission, red
flag of large dimensions tioated from the
top of one of the buildings. From what
could be learned of other regiments serv-
ing on the Island of Luzon red was the
predominatinS color in the nsurgent f2R
therefore inferred that the commah-
dante refused to surrender the town The
red flag proved to be the English ensign
floating over the residence of a British sub
ject. We We're not long kept in suspense.
! do not know what the other boys thought
or what they felt, but l was excited that
l commenced humming to myself There IL
be hot time in the old town tonight !
commenced humming. but the nearer the
launch approached the louder l increased
the volume Of this historic air. The an
swer our major received was that they
would burn the town before they would
surrender.
Our battalion is the third and l will
venture to say that no battalion landed on
either the Island of LuZon or any other
island of the Philippine group under
heavier artillery fire or under more pic
turesque circumstances than did ours. l
have witnessed all manner Of scenic pro-
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. The Heart of
Maryland and other war plays-but it
would require a larger stage than those of
our Washington play houses to reproduce
the scene enacted IN the bay city. and
mountains surrounding the city of Katba-
logan. Our informant was correct in re-
gard to the pyrotechnic display, and we
did not have to wait until night before
witnessing il, either. The brass band was
not even lacking. so far as Instruments
We're concerned. as after the fight a tuba
was found securely entrenched in the river,
an alto horn was picked up on the brow of
a hill and bass drum was found i'm
mersed In the mud not over $50 yards from
the town.
Representative Battalion.
Our battalion consists of Companies 1
and K, recruited in the east. and Compa-
MES l. and NJ, recruited in the west. There
fore, we have representative American
battalion. Companies / and L were the
first embarked in the small boats and pro-
cceded to the shore in tow of the Nash
viles launch. Soon after leaving the side
of the transport the cannon of batteries
placed on the hills commenced hurting
skrapnel seward. In the meantime the
members of Company NJ and my company.
X, acted Ike crazy men, so impatient were
they to get ashore and participate in the
fray. 1t did not take long for the gun
beats to get the range of the Insurgents
guns; then the fire hot and heavy for
some time. The small boats, after land
ing the first two companies, soon returned
for the remainder of the battalion. The en-
sign in charge of transporting the troops
from the Venus to the shore remarked
that no two companies ever before landed
in his charge took less time to embark than
Companies. NJ and X. AS for myself, fair
~ fell into the boat / lost my balance in
clamoring over the side. ] secured good
position in the bow of q Whaleboat and
mentally resolved to be the first ashore.
However, | had a can of beef and guam
tity of bareback in my havcrsack. and as
the tide was out were obliged to land
some distance from shore ard wade through
tho water up to waists and above, 10
the promised scene of hcstilties. Therefore
1t is obvious that l had quite a load In
my haversack. owing to the rations becom-
ing wa,er-snaked, rot to mention a canteen
full of water, 100 rounds of ammunition and
krag-Jorgenson which 1 held above my
head.
Corporal Linforth Of my company had
the honor of being the first to land. Not
even giving US time to recover our breath
we were formed company front and pro-
ceeded at double time along the beach in
column tours. By this time the confagra-
ton had gained much Roadway Walls were
tumbling in. rafters falling, and the fire
and smoke was sitting. We were ordered
to pursue the enemy to the hills noun
tains which rise almost perpendicularly to
a height of 200 and $50 feet In the rear of
the town. ] do not believe there is a city
on the face of either continent which Of
fers such natural defenscs as Katbalogan.
Immediately in the rear Of the city is n
swamp, which is almost impossible at high
tide. The first two companies to land de-
ployed to the right, from where the trans
ports were anchored. Our company was
ordered to. and did. attack the center
Company NJ was ordered to attack the CEN
ter in support of Company K. For some
reason the left was not attacked at all,
perhaps because the artillery fire did not
originate from that source. However, the
enemy was completely routed, forty-three
Katbalogans being killed and twenty-eight
taken prisoners.
1.-The saddest part to relate is that one
American named Logan. member Of Com
pany L. was killed and one private Duffy
Of Company ID wounded in the leg. There
were many minor wounds. which were not