The Minneapolis journal., 1904-11-19
LINHZ Z INCIDENTS ~
18TH REG'TS RECORD
The AeaD Regiment at Fort lSneZZing Has Done Some
. Hard Fighting and Is assigned to This Post
Repaya for Good Woyk.

n9tsa
tabished at Fort Smelling, and for the
first time in some years, its men are
able to retire at night to comfortable
beds, instead Of rolling themselves in
blankets in a Filipino forest; and are
being aroused by the attack of some
wan ndering band, Of rebelhous natives
The Twenty eighth comes to Fort
Smelling as a reward for it's good work
It is renowned for the bravery of it's
men, and the efficiency Of it's officers.
will now rest at Smelling on well earned
laurels. In the battlefield, it has time
and again been commended, and has
never met defeat, tho frequently pitted
against overwhelming odds. In the re-
view Of troops few weeks ago, at San
it's military precision, and excellence in
proved itself to- be 6 frst IN war. first
in peace,' and now hopes to become
first in the hearts Of twin city residents,
who have always taken SO much pridesin
Fort Smelling and its garrisons;;
eighth regiment dates back only to 1901,
but it's inception really goes back to
the war of 1872. The Twenty eighth,
Twenty third and Fourteenth were
merged in 1866 into one regiment, and
merged with the Fourteenth. Then in
i 1901 came the act Of congress once more
organizing the old Twenty-eighth, and
| the regiment came into new life at Van
| couver barracks. It's first commander
being, the famous Colonel Mott Hooten.
can officer to journey across Siberia,
| the trip being made twenty years ago.
i He was retired in 1902 after taking the
regiment to the Philippines.
I : Conquering a Tagal Chief.
The Twenty-eighth gained most fame
against the Filipinos in insurrection IN
Tagal. It took leading part in the
numerous conflicts, which finally wound
up the rebellious career of General NAL
var, who was considered by many the
greatest guerrilla chief Of modern days.
Half Jap, half Tagalan, with q wonder
was looked upon by the natives as little
less than supernatural. He was Aguin-
aldo's successor, and was the last chief
on the island of Luzon to surrender. So
in conquering 'Malvar, the Twenty
enough to go quite around. s,,ss5ysss
The regiment left the Vancouver
barracks for the Philippine islands in
december of 1901. Their first cam
paigning was in the Batangas country.
This campaign consisted entirely Of
guerrilla fighting, small ~deachments en-
opportunity. The Batangas campaign
being successfully ended, the regiment
entered the Moro district: It was at
this juncture that Colonel Sweet, the
lpresent regimental commander, sue
ceeded Colonel Hooten.
The regiment was then assigned to
work at road building. It was decided
tnst a only by 64d9g ID tie ebaGna tdRs rSHd
trict could troops be speedily enough
handled to cope with the rebels. So it
was determined, to build a.. road; to
Lake Lanao, around which the Moro in
surgents centered. a7Sa: aFf 5sts 5,ss%
Fought for Chance to Work.
The work was begun under very ad.
verse circumstances. The natives were
all hostile and none of them could be
persuaded to aid in the work. Half
the regiment was compelled to stand on
guard, while the other half handled the
picks and shovels The soldiers took
alternate turns at the work of standing
guard, and that of road building. The
road started at seacoast town, Iigan
and extended over mountain range to
3 Ju6 lake. LII lSUG Wn6n Gn0 regiment
first began to work, the natives had to
be frequently pursued and thrashed
for marauding and ambushing small de-
tachments of soldiers, but after being
= shown that the American soldiers meant
business, the Moros began to volunteer
to help. eE...:
/ Major R. J. Bullard was in direct
5, charge at this time of the road work
and he thus became the first American
officer to get the "datos" to undertake
any steady employment He promised
them good pay, and good market fo1
their fruit and foods, and always kept
faith. The Filipinos soon found that
he was a man who absolutely kept his
word, and in four months time his
honesty was rewarded by having 2,OOC
natives employed on the road. Thus he
inaugurated new era in dealing with
Abolishing Slavery.
It was Colonel Sweet, who is now In
I command at Smelling, who first per.
/ suaded the Moros to give up their
slaves, accomplishing bloodless eman
cipation of~those in bondage which
should make him famous in the history
of the Philippines. At that time pat.
riarchial system Of bondage was in ex.
istence.
It took the regiment just eighteen
months. to build the road, and at the
! same time make friendly most of the
natives in the vicinity. The Twenty