The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1900-11-09
An INTERESTING LETTER FROM A
WELL KNOWN TOWNSNAN,
Former Captain of the Schooner "Fred
S" to Our Popular Merchant
Mr.. Louis P. De Jean

BALAYAN, Philippine Islands,
June %, 1900.
Mr.. Louis P. De Jean.
Dear Sir:-After two years absence
from Scranton, and being DESTROYS of
learning something of the progress OF
the famous port of Pascagoula, and of
the welfare Of we'll remembered
friends, l write to you in the conf
dence that | shall receive an interest
ing reply.
/ have been in Uncle Sans" ser.
vice since leaving you, for the entire
time excepting one month up to this
date). My intention was to return to
Scranton when l received my dis
charge from the 5th Immunes, but
knowing the season to be dull, l re.
manned east and finally as a result oil
soldier fever, l decided to make up FOR
lack OF active service in Cuba, by re.
enliSting in the now famous 18th in
fantry. The insurrectiOn is now prac-
tically over, as far as organized resist
ance is concerned, and the 28th is
credited with having broken the back
bone Of the insurgeDt movement 10
Luzon.
On January It'll OF this year OuI
Colonel who is a regular officer, being
impatient at the failure of several at.
tempts or the part OF the 4th regulars
to dislOdge a threatening force o.
"GoO-goos' numbering about 1900 OF
1000, kept the wires leading to head
quarters at Manila red hot for permits
sion to take the 18th out against the
natives.
On Sunday morning at reveille thu
news came that a company Of the 4th
while accommodating on the fringe OF
the enemy's country, had been sur
priscd 10 an ambush and suffered thu
loss Of one first lieutenant and thre,
men, besides a number wounded. I'm
mediatcly following came the orde
from our Colonel to prepare to ad
vance.
AS our column came up the roat
Our three b~attalions being separated
in different places along the disputed
territory you should have heard tn,
rcsounding cheers OF our "bOys" as tn,
order ''get ready" was read to us b,
our Captain.
Even the sick disobeying the sur
gems orders were in line bchint
stacked guns in short order, and
half hour later When the LIST Battalion
and band Of ours passed we fell in lin
behind Company ''G,"and were on on
way to BLOODY WAR. We halted a
linus to await a conference of officer
to decide on our plan Of attack. 4
heavy rain began to fall and the bant
thinking our spirits might become
dampened struck up Hot Tine" bu,
the boys let loose a "Hurrah" of such
magnitude as to drown the music.
At this juncture, our Major raised
his hand to insure silence and gave
out the following instructions:
"Shoot whenever you see a niger
keep the line straight, and don't wal
for orders"
The command assembled and moved
out OF linus in IA column Of tours tt
the line Of advance, where we were
screened from the enemy by long rows
OF bamboo fences and native huts. A
short halt was made to give the noun.
tain batteries a chance to advance
along the right and left TANKS, and
then the signal Forward" being given
the entire line Of skirmishers went at
those huts and fences with butts OF
rifles like "A lot of escaped lunatics,
leaving behind a pile of disjointed
lumber.
Crossing a small ditch we came M
To within 500 yards Of the insurrec.
tionists' trenches. Our attack as I'm.
expected as it was violent, and white
clad figures fed in every direction.
Remembering u orders our sights
went up TO the range and we let 90.
The battle lasted four hours. We sus.
tanned a loss Of five killed and eight
wounded and the natives were driven
for miles to the mountains 10
demoralized groups. The 18th fol.
lowed up next day and buried l79
ms lrgents and carried So wounded
to the hospital at linus.
Thus, we accomplished in four or
five hours what the regulars had been
trying for months to do. And after
six months active service this is my
trst opportunity Of writing to you. l
will lose no time ~ getting back
into Gods country" after l arrive In
the States, to shake hands with you
all when l can tell You more than l
am able to write.
\
Best OF wishes to yourself and the
yours. VICTOR GILMAN,
Ex-Capt. Sch. Fired s."