| Show TELLS OF SPANISH WARFARE the fal following lowing letter hae been received ived by judge and mrs dusenberry of provo from their son harvey H one of the battery B boys at manila the letter was waa written july and accompanying it was a very oom complete and easily comprehended map ot of mavila manila harbor showing situations of hawla and cavite and the position on of deweys deleys fleet the foreign fleet and the sunken spanish fleet etc there being a mail steamer leaving here tomorrow I 1 will write a few lines to let you know I 1 am well the war is still raging between the insurgents and the spaniards with a loss of very few on either side as aa they are in suich such positions that it is hard for them to get at or see one another the spaniards spaniard S are behind heavy walls and in the old spanish block houses and the country is 19 very brushy and covered with bamboo leaving only small openings to shoot through the insurgents lie behind their trenches and earth they have thrown up and shoot any way and it is just chance shooting more top to worry the spaniards than anything else the insurgents are very brave soldiers and nothing would give them more pleasure than to get the spaniards out in the open country where those with knives could use them they have a great desire to cut their heads off but the spaniards will find they will have to fight when the americans start firing and turn the heavy and light artillery loose on their blockhouses block houses and walls and give the infantry a chance to rush in on them today the astor light artillery arrived and are pitching their camp by the side of us we may have trouble with the insurgents sur gents before we get through with this if the united states holds the islands they seem to think that the americans americana are just going to fight the spaniards and then leave and give them control of the islands and in talking to any of them they seem to want you to know that they are going to run the islands after this and make their own laws and government they appear to think that their leader aguinaldo is a god of some kind IL 1 dont think they could run their own government as they dont seem to be industrious enough they seem to desire only a horse a dog a bamboo hut and a basket of fruit that they do not nc t have to work for such as bananas ba nan cocoanut coco anut and other tropical fruits and a basket of fish whereas it if they were industrious they would cultivate the thousands of acres olt of fine land and ana raise cattle and other products which can easily be raised as aa the soil is a sandy loom and very tich rich if the united stet states gov government rement keeps these islands there are good chances here for a man with ith a little energy and money as these people are as lazy as an american indian and the women do most of the work you can see them passing ail the time the women carrying everything and the men walking beside them with nothing you cannot even see any men selling f fruit along the street the women do it all the men do carry the beds woven from bamboo they are selling gelling us boys 1 I have been to supper since writing and have been out bathing in the ocean as we do every evening it s fine bathing and hundreds 0 the boys go night and morning day before yesterday a crowd of the boys were down to the insurgents trenches and were right in by them the bullets were coming all around us and we picked up bullets that dropped within ten and fifteen feet of us and lodged in the surrounding trees one of the insurgents was shot in the hip the ball passing nearly through he dropped and snyder and some of them cut it out and we have it now we bandaged the wound as well as we could and got out of there as it was raining lead too fast and we felt safer away from there they are nervy boys and stand it well the fight tonight is not very bad but before morning it is liable to get worse the road is f ull full of natives going that way with their guns and knives the worst complaint we boys have is the water it has to be boiled and Is very dirty we have buckets and cups out all the time catching rain water it s very good and refreshing of course our food is the regular army campaign food consisting mostly of hard tack and bacon and sometimes we get beans for desert but we did not come out on a pleasure trip I 1 wonder how you all are tonight and hope every one is well and happy I 1 would have liked to hear from home last night when the mail came in but was disappointed in not getting any letters when we reach manila if we ever do of course it will be much betters better and there will be more to interest us here we see nothing but natives and we cannot converse with thern them very well our full evening dress consists of a towel and I 1 believe if we stay star here two years we will be natives ourselves when we return and will not know how to act to get into a house once more I 1 hope all the children are well and spent a nice fourth and twenty fourth tell grover that none of the ittle boys over here wear any clothes and all of his age smoke 1 grover is about 6 years of age even the little children and the girls and women chew and smoke they chew a pink root wrapped in a creft leaf and all their teeth arel decayed if your teeth axe are filled with gold they flock around you like sheep and ank you are some great personage well it is nearly 9 and we mua be in bed adf that time and all lights out and nd no noise we have to be zip up and out tor for roll call at have breakfast at 6 clean up our tent at have arm exercise until 6 go out tor for a bath until 7 come back and drill until then we sleep four hours during the heat of the day well I 1 hope 1 I may pass through the fight and come out well and have the pleasure of writing you and telling you all about our victory until ithen goodbye good bye and may god blessard bless bles sand and protect you all until we meet again with love to all 1 I remain your loving eon |
