our company arrived at manila on the night of march 24, 1899. the next night our regiment was ordered out to re-enforce the volunteers in capturing malabon. this town was full of filipinos, who were fighting the volunteer forces then trying to capture the town. our forces marched to the north of the town and camped. every soldier had to cook his own provisions, if he ate any that were cooked. the march from manila to our camp was twelve miles. every man carried one hundred rounds of cartridges, knapsack and his provisions. the site of our camp was on the bank of the malabon river, which was reached at sunset. we had to cross the river before camping and the only chance was to wade or swim. some could wade, but those who were short had to swim. we wanted to cross without getting our blankets and provisions wet, but some were more unfortunate and lost them. i tied my blanket and provisions to the bayonet fixed on my rifle and crossed with them dry, but my person suffered by the water and mud. night had come on by the time the regiment reached the camping side of the river and guards had to be put on duty at once. our blankets were piled up for no further service while we were out on this [pg 46]expedition; the men, wet and muddy, had to pass the night the best they could. there were supposed to be from 3,000 to 4,000 filipinos near by and our night camp was a hazardous one. everything must be done with the utmost caution.
the men, wet and muddy, fought mosquitoes all night and had no rest. the filipinos could be heard all night busily tearing up the railroad track and destroying a bridge a few hundred yards from us. they dug pits in the ground and built fires in them, over which the track rails were placed till hot enough to easily bend. bending the rails, they thought, prevented the americans from using them again in shipping supplies over the road. the site of our camp was a low, mucky place on the river bank, where mosquitoes literally filled the air.
that was the hardest night on me of all the nights of two years' service in the philippine islands. i was so sleepy and tired next morning that i could scarcely hold up my head, and my condition seemed to be no worse than that of every other soldier in the regiment. mosquitoes had bitten me through my trousers and brought blood. frequently i have been sleeping after a hard day's service when the mosquitoes would bite my face and the blood run out and dry up in hard drops. when i could not get water to wash off these places i would scratch them off. in some cases these bites were poisonous. i have seen soldiers with large sores, caused by scratching mosquito bites. i was cautious about poisoning during my service in the philippines.
the morning of the 26th, about four o'clock,[pg 47] i saw from my post, where i had been all night, a big fire in the direction of malabon. the filipinos had fired the town and left it. it was our purpose to capture the place and take some forts on the river, but the tricky filipinos preferred burning their town to surrendering it to the hated americans.
our forces took up the advance on the enemy, who stubbornly resisted us from ten o'clock in the morning until four in the evening, when they retired to malinto and took another stand behind a stone wall and held this position until driven from it by a charge. we had to advance up a long slope of open ground for one and a half miles. firing was kept up rapidly all the way. the enemy was driven out and the town taken. about thirty men were killed and wounded on the american side. the enemy's loss was not known, but must have been very heavy.
one poor fellow who was among the wounded in this battle i remember very distinctly. he was first sergeant of company g, twenty-second regiment. he was shot through the head. the doctor dressing the wounds as he came to the wounded saw this sergeant and said there was no use to do anything for him, that he would die in a few minutes. the wounded man replied that he would live longer than the doctor would and wanted his wounds dressed. he lay there and talked to his comrades, who were around him, and cursed the doctor for neglecting him. he remained in this condition an hour or two and died.
after a short rest in malinto we marched about[pg 48] one mile south and back to malinto again. that night we marched to a point near a station on the manita and dagupan railroad and camped. we were then about eight miles from manila, and opposite malabon, which is off the railroad and on the beach near the mouth of the malabon river. our camp was located more than two miles from where we had left our blankets that morning on going into battle. a detail of ten men, including myself, was made out to go after the blankets. they were obtained and we returned to camp with them about ten o'clock that night. we had to cook our rations for supper after our return, but being rather a frugal meal of easy preparation but little time was required to prepare it; frying some bacon in mess kits composed all the cooking; hard tack and canned tomatoes composed the remainder of the meal. the ground with the starry heavens overhead and one blanket was both house and bed. the next day we marched into manila, arriving about twelve o'clock. we remained there doing guard duty till the 30th day of march.
in the evening of the 29th orders were read out to provide three days' rations, fill our canteens and each man to be furnished with one hundred and fifty cartridges. we all expected a battle and were anxious for it, but did not know where we were most likely to get it. every one was busy and anxious to be marching, especially the officers, who usually could hardly wait for the time to come after receiving orders to march.
we were to have supper on this occasion at five o'clock, but all we had were some scraps and crumbs from the camp kitchen.
[pg 49]
our orders were to march to maricana, which was held by the enemy. we marched twelve miles before camping. it rained before we started out from manila and cleared up, but left the roads very muddy and made marching very hard. the twelve miles were made by ten o'clock. that night the wet ground served as couch and one blanket as all the covering. we had to recline, if we lay down at all, with gun and belt at our side, ready at a moment's notice to meet the enemy's attack should they swoop down upon us in camp. after a halt of six hours we set about at four o'clock preparing breakfast, every man cooking his own rations in camp kit and making coffee in a quart cup.
men were gathered around their little fires of wet wood on the damp ground trying to burn wet wood and cook over the little fire it made. some of the hungry men had just succeeded in getting their fires to burn and commenced to cook when orders were given to prepare for the march to maricana, which we were expected to capture that day and to take the filipinos prisoners or drive them into the neighboring mountains. it is needless to say that those men who failed to get their breakfast were ready to fight. they had an opportunity before many hours passed.
from the camp it was five miles to maricana. the march began at four-thirty, while it was still dark, and we could move unseen by any of the enemy who chanced to be lurking in our vicinity. we marched through the woods and without speaking above a whisper marched close to the enemy before we were discovered. their sentinels[pg 50] in the church towers were the first to discover our approach and give the alarm by ringing the bells.
maricana is located on the bank of a river and we advanced within one hundred and fifty yards of the opposite bank before we were discovered. we advanced at double time and reached the river bank, when we lay down and opened fire just as the early daylight was appearing. our skirmish line covered the whole town, in which the enemy were stationed as a reserve force to their advanced lines along the river. this advance, or outer line of the enemy, were fortified behind a stone wall. our line was at the disadvantage of being in the open ground. the lines thus formed were hotly engaged for some time when the command was given to cross the river and charge the enemy's lines. the river bank in front of me was about ten feet high, but this offered no obstacle to me when bullets were falling thick and fast near by. at the command to cross i jumped and somehow got down the bank and into the water. looking back i saw no one else coming. the bullets were coming around me so fast i had no time to form any plans and i pushed on into the water until it was almost over my head. i remained in this condition until i saw my command crossing about one hundred yards below me. i could not get out on the bank to go down and decided i would wade down to the crossing place and join our forces there. i was almost exhausted when i reached the shore. the enemy, seeing our intentions to attack their line, remained behind the stone wall and fired at us[pg 51] until we were nearly across. then they could stay there no longer and fled from their strong position. we crossed and entered the town, capturing five armed men. the enemy beat a hasty retreat, rather a pell-mell flight across the open country towards the mountains, at whose bay they had entrenchments and a large reserve force. the fight lasted from daylight till about two o'clock in the evening. the battle of maricana was as hard as any fought in the philippine islands. about three thousand american soldiers were engaged. several were killed and a great many of the filipinos.
when an american was wounded his wound was dressed and some soldier's blue shirt hung up near him to designate the place where a wounded american was. in this way no one would be left on the field after the battle when the dead and wounded were picked up.
the filipinos were not so well cared for. i saw a great many soldiers run out of their way in order to step on a dead or wounded filipino. they would shout with joy at their punishment of the poor filipino.
i was near three americans who were shot that day; two of them were killed. the one who recovered was a member of my company. a ball passed through his body, entering the back and passing out on the right side. it didn't seem possible for him to live, but in one month he was again at his post of duty. a lieutenant of the fourth infantry had his horse killed under him. jumping off he took out his field glasses and got on his knees and began looking for sharpshooters.[pg 52] in less than a minute he was shot through the heart and fell dead without speaking. i thought every second i would get a bullet, for they were flying so thick and close that i did not see how i could escape them. before the battle was over i wished i might be shot, for i never was so nearly dead in all my life. my condition did not appear to be any worse than that of every other american soldier.
we were run almost to exhaustion and were awfully hot. i drank water that day from ditches and holes when the water looked green and tasted very badly. i knew the water was filthy and even dangerous to drink, but i was not going to die for water when there was plenty of it near by. during the heat of the battle i was lying down near an old soldier. we were both trying to get cover. we were fighting hard with no protection but the ridges in a large rice field which we were fighting over. our firing line was in a line of skirmishers. a bullet hit the ground in front and between the old soldier and where i lay. it knocked dirt in our faces. the old soldier looked at me and appeared to be very much frightened. i only laughed at his funny looks. before i got away from that position i felt a hard shock on my chest. i thought that i was shot at last and put my hand up to examine the wound. finding myself all right i looked at the ridge and saw what it all meant. a bullet was buried in the ridge. i dug it out with my bayonet and kept it, and i have it yet as a souvenir of that day's battle. i have several more bullets[pg 53] which struck near me at different times and places. all of these i treasure, for i do not expect to get any more bullets just as i did these.
the american loss at maricana was twenty-four killed and nineteen wounded.
