The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-07


 Captain John B. .HcDonald writes an interesting letter to his uncle. Major R. A. Bacon. at Sylacuaga, telling of his attack on the Filipinos when he was wounded and what a hard fight he had to get out alive after his wound. The letter is reproduced in full. and will be | eagerly read by Captain McDonald's s | friends in Alabama.
 Vigsn, Ilocos. Sur, LuSon. P. l., May IS t1901.
 Major R. A. Bacon, SylAcuga, Ala: | My Dear Uncle-I don't know where you are. so I write you icare of Dr. J.
 E. Pearson. thinking he may know
 your address and will forward this. | sent a copy of Gen. Bells report to
 mamma and Kate, and I send you an extract from a Manila paper, which
 states that Major General Wheaton's surrender of General Tinio was the
 result of Captain .McDonald's severe fight against the forces of Tinio, in
 which the latter's force was badly scat | tered"
 | I found that General Tinio was near my camp. with 65 Filipino riflemen ard fifty bolo men (the latter carrying bolos or swords, and use them only | when the opposing force is out of am- | munition or wounded) Bolo men are | merely camp workers. cooks ard car- riers. at other times. The Fllipinos generally treat their prisoners very well I-whenever they take any.
 This was early in the morning of | April 27th. I immediately sent back, and ordered twenty men to be sent me | from camp. Seventeen arrived, which included a native scout. Our dccDr
 and Juan Rubio. president of B&doc,
 and myself, made a force of twenty men. with which I started to attack
 General Tinio and his .1o Filipinos. l When near Tinio's camp, wh:th was | well entrenched, after passing ever a very steep mountain. on a bad trail, I | saw that> the native guide was acting l suspiciously, and as I believed, under
 Tinio's order. was leading me to the
 south and east of the insursent camp.
 which was well protected. as I found
 afterwards. by trenches. I concluded l that l would attack on the west and
 north sides. as we could u en ger good
 shots at the Filipinos, when We ran | them out of camp to :ne soutnWard. | did not want to drive them Cast or
 north. as they would run into my camp
 which had been left poorly suaf6ed. l l divided my little force into two
 squads. and sent Sergeant Creamy and
 seven men. with orders 70 so up a trail
 on a "hog back" to take station on a
 high knoll directly forth of and not
 over 100 yards from the trencaes in the Filipino camp, where he could cover | Tinio's camp, which I pointed out to
 him. A few minutes after we lad | started I went a short distance On the trail; and then made the native guide, at the point of my pistol, leave that | trail. as 1t circled round to the south | and east of the Filipino ,.amp, ard take l us to the left, so we could go direct to the enemy's camp through the canyon. l The guide swore all the :ime that there | was no trail that way.
 | l made him cut through the brush, a few yards directly to the north, and go down into the canyon, where I found
 a fairly good trail. As soon as we. got
 half way up the canyon firing ever our heads commenced. This was the insurg-
 ent's fire upon Creamy and his squad. who could have screened themselves
 behind the hog back" and gone on up to the knoll, where I had ordered
 and expected them to go. Had they
 done so. they could have killed a great
 many ''insurrectos," and possibly Gen.
 Tinio himself, who was in actual com-
 mand of the enemy. Greamys squad,
 however. immediately turned, and ran
 like the devil'' to the horses, taking
 nearly every one of the horses, and went gallopipg to Badoc, sixteen miles | away.
 1 There they reported that I had sur
 rendered to Tinio's entire army, and | that all of us were killed; and that
 they wanted endorsements to run out | and save hose of my men whom had
 left in camp that morning.
 In the meantime I pusNHd my force
 toward as rapidly as possible. thinking
 that the other squad was In the posi- | tion l had ordered them to. The sur
 geon hal broken down, and I had to
 leave him with two men to care for him at the first pool of water Tn the
 canyon. then went up opposite to the insurgents camp, the exact location of
 which I did not know, thinking 1t was
 about seventy-five yards further up the l canyon. As l came to the eastern end I of the canyon, where 1t widen ed out, l the Filipinos fired a volley from their trenches. which were we'll concealed. and only about twenty-five yards away. | The first crack from a Mauser rifle
 sent bullet through my right chest,
 between the second and third ribs, and
 through my right lung; and the bullet | is in me somewhere yet.
 Seeing some fine boulders about ten
 steps ahead and closer in under the
 enemys trenches, I yelled for my
 men to run for them and take cover. | took cover behind a boulder several
 steps ahead of any of my men. so that I could see better what the enemy
 were doing. Several of my men were
 hit by pieces of bullets. which had bat
 tered against the surrounding boulders.
 Two pieces hit me-one on my left | hand and one behind my right ear The
 men fired several rounds, and so did I,
 but it hurt me so much I had to quit
 then ordered my men to old their
 fire until they could see the enemy
 plainly. and let the insurgents waste Il their, own ammunition.
 I I listened anxiously for Sergeant
 Greamy's squad to fire. but not hear ing 1t, and the enemy sending in con- | tinuous fire. together v~;&sa my being