Show PROM CAVITE cavite sept 28 1898 I 1 dont know how long it has been since I 1 received your letter but time paper and stamps have been so scarce that I 1 coul dInt answer it very well 11 s before the battery to is over in manila but I 1 have been over here on guard tor for week I 1 guess I 1 will go back today some time well I 1 cant give you much ipei gewo about cavite times are not as good here as they are in manila all a person can see is the wrecked battle and the he ruins of the fort but in manila there to is more mom business going on in achour an hour than there is in salt lake in a week but it is the soldiers that make it lively when we first went into manila it was as dead as a door nail i abat J I 1 never saw so many people in my lift life a there are there now and there afe all kinds BUgg buggies lep wagons and people get tangled up in the streets sometimes and cant move one way or the othet the salt lake jubilee cant compare with the we have here bow well I 1 spent the fourth of july on the deep blue and we hear anything about the tall fall of santiago until we reached here on the lath of july 1 I 1 hear you had a ho hot t time in salt alt lake when you got the news new from san alaa well I 1 enjoyed the trip rate yma across the water I 1 get sea ick at all and they gave us a fine reception an in honolulu there any t too oo 00 good for us but we were aix those ships like sardines and aw UM grub for the soldiers was very poor once in a ahl while ae they would woula get a jfe M biscuits lw t and some hash bash but the regu aar meal ibeal ivis was hard tack and fat pork re relayed toyed ovive liae tor for once I 1 got a job in afie t e officers dining dinin g room shooting bis alt its for my board so you see I 1 got along allwright allright all ail right and I 1 took good care that my brother got a handout hand out too we were only anly thirty two days on that good old ship and when we got our feet on land once more we felt like dancing we arrived in the bay on the of july but we land until the we land in manila at the docks but had to land on the beach between manila and cavite we unloaded our stuff from the steamship to native goats and then we got as close to the shore as we could with them so that they stick in the sand and then we waded the rest of the way carrying our goods on our backs and we kept wading back and forth till we had everything unloaded the water I 1 was up to our waists and sometimes the waves would make it higher but nobody was drowned we pitched camp about four miles south of manila Mai nila the spanish entrenchments were about a mile of manila ma alla and otheir fort the same they had most of their cannons on the wall of the fort fiort the natives entrenchments were avoult half a mile south of the spanish sh so that malde made us about two and a half miles from them we laid around that camp in mud and water for a week and then on cm the we were ordered to take I 1 four of our guns up ito the front and I 1 tell you it was no snap pulling those guns gums the mud was up to our knees ini in some gome places for it rained every day from the time we I landed tui till after we got into manila and we had to pull them by hand having no horses it would take all of the ba battery aitery to pull a gun through some places and we had i to wear suspenders riders on our shoes so that we would riot not lose ose them in the mud after pulling art ait our guns gums all day we got up to the native entrenchments about 5 the spanish see us fetch our guns up fur fkr I 1 bamboo and brush and when we got there we kept kep t our guns out of sight and told the natives nati vesto to go back then we took hook their places in the entrenchment it WM was sow awfully fullY dark that night and the spanish see what we were doing but when they opened their eyes in the morning I 1 guess they were quite surprised tor for we had a good entrenchment tren trench ment built about four feet and a half hegh till gh six feet wilde at the top and aind about twelve feet wide at the bottom bot boit tom and it was over a hundred yards closer to them than tham we were before of course there was a hat battalion tallon of infantry up there with us but it was a hard old nights work and when relief came up we were glad to go to camp for sleep and rest the next newt night we pulled our guns into shenew entrench genits but the spanish know anything about it we cut gaps through the entrenchment so that we could fire our guns and the gaps were plenty wide enough so W th that ut we could shoot in im en eny any Y direction butt but when we got through cutting the gaps we sighted each gun on the fort ae a near as aa we could and then we covered the gaps over with bamboo and then a light layer of dirt on to top p of the b bamboo 11 when the job was done and lit pot got daylight the spanish see any dlf dif ference in the entrenchment entrench for it looked just juat the same from their me aide they know we had the gaps cut out of the entrenchment or the guns guas there either they thought we had nothing up there but infantry we had our guns ready to fire on them any minute the itile first shot we fired would blow away the blind of bamboo and do its work as well I 1 the spanish were figuring on making a charge on our infantry and taking our entrenchments ments the next night the night of the slat they made the ifie charged charge but they take them we did not expect the attack f for r we wire were put up there more for guard than anything so the camp would not be n danger while they were getting ready for the bombardment and waiting tor the rest of the soldiers to get her elhat night we just had the four guns gune UP tia there and seven men to each gun two of the guns belonged to batter battery V B and two to bo bl battery B E each battery bad b fourteen men up there so that made seven men to the gun the pennsyl vania ih infantry fantry was also up there with us that night the pennsylvania and aed we together made about men i everything was very quiet all sty and about 9 we got so some me toga and laid la id them down to the sides aides of aar guns and then got some boards and pvn on top of the logs and laid dowin do win sleep we were all tired and it was waff long before we were asleep but aw tn infantry had to keep their eyes open opeal ope nl was the first time they had been u there and they could stand sta nd it we slept fine till half past eleven then theil Z port of a rifle off to the right of tm T W e us up then three more reports were hear dright from the same place I 1 gu guess J that was a for them to start i as soon as those three shots were A the whole line itne opened fire att it before dark the officers gave us 4 orders not to fire unless the spa ato left their entrenchment st they vot got af lt I 1 close that we could hear the click af f their magazines as they worked guns then we opened up on them wd shot off on arms heads legs and ev eveia thing else they went back to thel e entrenchments then and started ed boue bo ue their th e ir big I 1 guns gums on us and we had ha I 1 hot c for a while there ther plenty of noise around there J ju u M we started to fight it started starl ted to abt and I 1 never saw it rain eatn so hard in anfe and it kept it up all night ao t mud and water were up to our knees liw along the line every time the was fired it would recoil 10 or 11 and that would make the mud mi over us we were all soak to b skin before the fight I 1 thought 4 ile ever got into a battle I 1 would feel of df shaky but I 1 never book any than thing a cool in my life and I 1 never expected 4 get owl ont of yf it alive but I 1 cala carel snap I 1 felt as though my life wasef kaaa worth two cents and I 1 baft carf whether I 1 got out of it or not as conjor ion as I 1 helped to get a fe Spaniards few WS pania rd s be bedfor they got debut I 1 like lake the 8 loudl of the spanish cannon ba when they first started to hum over our heads they so sound un d mournful mourna ul the small bullets come through those gaps like IH every time we fired our gun the 5 spanish would lre are at the flash with tag rifles and I 1 knew those little jb hul ledES were whistling some kind of a tune notice what kind of a tune it at the time I 1 was too busy but I 1 t tl now it was waa home sweet home the closest call that I 1 had tt know of I 1 should say tor for a fello fellow know how close they are till he feels sees them hit was when we run rim gun up against the bank and a ball the top of the bank about six gilt in IB from my nose the mud and sand flew in my face stung well I 1 tbt taftt for a minute that I 1 was shot and my haud up to feel for blood yat but that I 1 could find was mud about everybody was running on out ammunition and things looked gloomy the infantry started to aff bayonets and we had our reva ream 1 ready we could just hear a shot h and there along our line and the t ish still pouring it in on us we wa di know what minute the spanish w i make another charge and make at the same time so you can caa im how a person would feel still I 1 I 1 alright until we ran out of but we made up our minds mind a that th J t M would stay and wal watt t for them jim jat we were thinking what to do we h a bugle in the rear sound toro march then the boys let out a yen was wa enough to shake down our ench ments the bugle we heard was me ne Call california fornia boys coming to help us nd 1 they were welcome we could have od them off had we plenty of ammu ifton lon but as it was we could not so e california boys took the places of e other boys that had no ammini on a and let in on them again shortly ctet er that some ammunition came up r us but about three the span h quit firing on us we quit too while chile we were in the hottest of our ring ng I 1 noticed five men fall on my side f the gun they were infantry men ree ee of them thein wounded and two dead hey ay laid them down on the boards that had bad been laying on the one closest 0 me was shot through the hips and very ry time we would fire our gun he uld groan something horrible the jar f the gun hurt him so I 1 feel if f as bid bad for the lead dead boys as for i I 1 thought it would be a blessing h ie was dead I 1 dont see how it was t none of us utah boys were killed lieve the utah batteries are blessed s e of our boys was shot through the and another through the arm but lose a man till a few days ago re are were two of our men guarding a iding here at cavite and they were h shot one is dead but the other will live they were shot by nass ves th hat at la Is how I 1 came to be at cavite other nother fellow and myself volunteered vo take their places but I 1 guess we ill 1 be relieved today or tomorrow ow after fter ter we got through that light abight with fight we were glad tobe relieved in e morning morn ing for we were worn out and hen em I 1 w woke oke up that ayn n I 1 could ardly adly believe that I 1 had been in that tit t and got out alive it seemed as ugh it was all a dream we had men that night on o n our side and lied led span lards and wounded e spanish had mien meen and killed een of our men and wounded thirty ter that night we laid back of that d roud mud wall for two weeks without ring ng a shot we had strict orders not atre a shot unless they came out of ir entrenchments again they dalt nt come but they kept firing on us the time and we had to lay back our feinbe land and take it we were ting for dewey and everybody else get teady ready for the bombardment I 1 eard ird a spanish span ash officer tell one of our cers that manila would have sur if we had kept firing a half ur ir longer that night but we aw that we were not up there to idward rd the city and when they quit did the same I 1 would have liked have seen the city of manila surre n r to the utah batt batteries eiles but we have name here as it is the aia boys claden el all m we saved them and wey ewey says those mormons cormons are ber et that night of july slat we took aa n turns going bloing to the front until e ator astor buttery bait tery got all of their guns p and we got the rest of ours fours up on e incoming ing of the of august we I 1 went up to the front leaving a few irdi behind at camp my brother d 1 to stay on guard both times the bar dment started at 10 and 11 clock the american flag was fated ted on the shanish fort so go you see last long dewey helped us t we of the firing it was thing to us coom compared pared with the first atle tle the americans were too mavy many r them the day of the bombard though bough they had more mo re men then than we len en we pulled into manila the cap n sent me ahead on an errand and kt t as ae I 1 got over the spanish en rench ment I 1 run onto three spaniards ing together one had nothing left his ble head but bot his chin the other two d I 1 the tops of their heads blown oft 4 X one of them had his tidbit arm off d 1 all his ribs riba blown out bout of his him right de e it was a sickening sight but I 1 dont think they kanew kaew what struck them for they must muot have been killed instantly st before dark that night we could see old glory flying on the tops of the highest buildings all over town when we first landed here the natives thought we were all right they thought when we bombarded manila we would let them in and ransack the town out cut all the spaniards throats and do as they pleased but we fooled them and now they want to fight us dewey captured a german ship the other day it was loaded with guns and ammunition for the natives so we might have some more tro trouble before we leave here but if germany dont keep her nose out of this and keemp away from dewey there is liable to be sour krout floating all over the bay GEORGE DUFFIN battery A |