The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-09
SAVANNAHIAN IN PHILIPPINES.
MIR. Joseph :. Lovenstetp's Descrir-
tiOn of Things in Uncle Sans
Eastern islands

MI Susenh - LpNehstetn = hesCE1E-
tion of Things in Uncle Sans
Eastern Islands.
The following well-written letter from
Mr.. Joseph S. Lovenstein of this city,
son of Mr.. Joe Lovenstein. and a grand.
son of Mr.. NJ. ]. Solomons, to his par
ents, will be read with interest:
L. s. Military Hospital. Department OF
Southern Luzon, Bacoor. P l., Nov. 81,
1900.
&.
We left Manila on Friday morning and
came here on a small boat: We had to get
in small native canoes to land, as the
water is very shoal and no boats can
make landing here. We had to take oft
our shoes, and walk about 100 yards in
the water before we reached high ground
There is no such d thing as wharves
in this country. as the water is very shall
low, and will not allow a steam tug to
get more than within a half mile to the
shore. This place is IA miles by water to
Manila, and sixteen by dirt road. but very
little travel is done by the road, on ac-
count of the insurgents, who do a great
deal of bush whacklng.
Right across the bay, a distance of four
miles is the famous town of Cavite this
is the town that guards the city of Ma
Mia, and where Dewey did all his fight
ing, and it is the navy yard; from here
we can see the wrecks of the ships that
were sunk on that famous May morning.
and also the warships of the United
States riding peacefully at anchor. 1t is
certainly a grand sight, and / hope to be
able to get some pictures of the view.
also bnm ba rdn6 hV
Dewey, and the effects are still to be seen.
This hospital is an old church and con-
vent, which is hundreds of years old, the
lower parts of same is built out of brick
and stone, and the upper out of solid ma
hogany and camphor wood, this church is
right near the river, and one end of 1t
was torn all to pieces by Dewey. This
is what we call a brigade field hos
pital as we take the sick from different
regiments, which are stationed within a
radius of thirty miles. I enclose. on a
separate sheet, the different towns near
here, where we take patients from. We
have three wards here, and each ward has
forty beds; at present they ire all filled.
/ am in charge of Ward 2, and ] have
four men under me, who are kept busy
all che time. l am on duty from a. m.
to D. m. so you see, they keep us busy.
l have to give all the medicines, take
temperature twice a day and look after
their diet, in fact 1 am responsible for
the condition and care of my ward. We
have 81 patients in the ward at present,
and 80 of them are totally helpless, and
have to be moved by us, so you can see
a job of this kind is no cinch.
We have several poor fellows, who Will
hardly live to see the United States again,
as they are nothing but skeletons.
1t would make your heart sick to see
some of the poor fellows we have here,
and the way they have to suffer, almost
begging to die"
This is a native village of about 1000
people; they all live in houses built out
of bamboo, with roofs made out of straw
and mud. and they wear very few clothes.
This old church which we are quartered
in is the only large building in the town.
If you could only see me with my imple-
ments of war on, as we have all been is
sued Krag-Jorgensen rifles and Colts six
fire reviewers, and 100 rounds of ammuni-
ton for EACH which we keep at the head
of our hunks and wear when out on the
firing line. / would give almost any
thing if you could see the soldiers here,
as no doubt you have never seen Uncle
Sans boys on a campaign.
A regiment passed through here a few
hours ago, on their way to Salong They
go 10 reinforce the BdiIlSOIl There, dS &
fight is expected to take pace there in a
few days, and that means more work for
us. This regiment had already come
fourteen miles, and has twenty more TO
go before night, so you can imagine what
a soldier has TO do in this country.
The papers in the United States say the
fighting over here is over, but if they
could only come out here and see the
condition of things, they would very soon
change their opinions. OF course there is
no large battles taking place, but the ma
tives are certainly doing a large amount
of guerrilla warfare, and it will take the
United States a great many years to end
the war, if it ever end al all, and l think
it very doubtful If it will ever Stop.
We get everything that we want but
good eating, and that is of the poorest
kind We have a boat from Mania every
day that brings us drinking water, milk
and ice. We have to get all the water
we use from them, as the water out here
is not fit to drink.
OF course it is very lonely out here, as
we have nowhere TO go a. night and
nothing TO do except lay around until bed
time.
We have four doctors to this hospital,
two majors and two lieutenants They
take it in turns of visiting the wards
they make two rounds a day, one at a.
m. and again at p. m.