The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1900-11-10

AASnaAtE u WI 4al1Aet4s
Captain George SseunenbeER. N let
ter TO the Caldwell Record. gives al ac-
count Of the hard trials American SoI-
dIers are now having In the Philippines.
Following Is an extract from his letter:
1.-THE life Of the Amirican soldier In
the Philippines has undergone such =
change in the last twelve months that
the boys Of last year would be COM
pletely lost under present conditions.
Last year whole regiments and even
bFigades were kept intact: they were
not far from Manila and life had a So
cial side: the enemy was easily found
and battles consisted OF long lines charg
ing across rice fields or charging into a
town with hail Of bullets flying harm
lessly over head; the percentage Of
killed and wounded was. slight and the
danger was not great. Today your bold
soldier Is stationed In some isolated viii
lage with small detachment, no passes
are issued and bis existence takes on q
Robinson cruso aspect. There are no
more battles. but one who thinks the
iusurrecto spirit Is crushed. has only to
spend month at one OF these resorts.
The enemy turks in the mountains. and
his stronchOlds are unknown TO the
Americanos. To show the difiicalty Of
getting bIief account Of one Of our
expedition.
"a detachment OF cavalry left this
garrison for the mountain headquarters
Of the insuIgent Gen. Cables. We were
led by native guide, who staked bis
life on the promise TO lead ms 70 the
stronghold where 500 insarrectos were
encamped. After climbing mountains
for half day in the pouring rain. we
dismounted and headed into the hard
wood forests where horses could not
travel. Toward evening the enemy
opened FIRE on us with scattering shots,
and We could occasionally catch
glimpse of Filipino disappearing over
log as we drove in their outposts. AS
we ran along the trail the man behind
us was hit in the shoulder and had TO be
left with guard over him.
Presently we came to an open space
and the enemy poured volley from am
! bush across creek. wounding several
of our men. The creek WAS deep and
We could not charge them, neither could
we see Filipino. We could hear
man shouting out his commands in Fog
lish, and all We could do was pour fire
in their direction. The firing lasted five
minutes and a subsequent search
showed that we had not even wounded
one of them. Leaving our wounded
here with a guard, We pushed along the
trail aud eventually come to headquar-
ters-four empty bamboo sbacks. Tie
enemy alarmed by the continual firing
had ample time to pack up everything
and had flown where the woodbIne
twineth. They were supposed to have
American prisoners here, bat not trace
could We find of them.
Eve burned the houses and started
back. picking up our wounded on i'm
provised stretchers. The work of lifting
them over fallen logs and staggering
through mudholes knee-deep delayed us
so that darkness came on Us long before
we reached camp. When we finally
found the horses some of the men were
exhausted and the wounded had 70 lie
out on the groun1 all night If pour
ing rain had come up we could have
given them but very little shelter.
Next morning, stiff and sore from their
wounds, they had to be carried down \
rocky mountain trail for three hours to
the village Filipino loss, so far as
know-one wounded