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IN SANTIAGO TRENCHESA BLACKFORD BOY IN CUBANathan Hawkins Describes Soldier Life in the Fever Stricken Region About Santiago.Nathan Hawkins, who went to Cuba as a member of the United States infantry, writes the following letter to his father, Amos Ilawkins;“Santiago, Cvha, Are. 4.Deak Fathek: When I wrotebefore 1 was sick. Since then I have had a very bad spell of thtf fever. I didn’t think it was necessary to let you know I was sick for you couldn’t do anything for me.“There is lots of fever here. Nearly all the boys are having it and some cases are fatal. We had two funerals in one day in our regiment, but the boys are getting lots better and wre haven't had a death for three or four days. It is awfully hot here and it rains every day. Where we are camped we can sec some nice scenery. There are mountains all around us ex-eeot on the southwest where Santiago■is.“Before Santiago surrendered it was a sight to see us soldiers sitting on our trenches and the Spanish on theirs. The Spanish have the grit \ but they are poor marksmen as a general thing. But they have some good sharpshooters who made bad business for us. They picked our boys off like youDg squirrels. But. there is no danger now. The mountains are rid ofthe Spanish.“We dread the Cubans worse than we did the Spanish. The damn Cubans are worse than wild Indians and we have orders to watch them. If they should catch you out they would kill you sure. They are a bad set. Some of them are all right but most of them wont do to trust.“We received word the other evening that Spain had surrendered and that we were to go back to the United States. We are all almost crazy to getoiit of here. If we stay here much longer we wont be of any account if we do get out alive, for thisVplace would ruin any man’s health.“We have to carry our wood and water over two miles, and as it is over the mountains it is a job. The water is warm when we do get it, and we wouldn’t know how to act if we got a cool drink.“it is no trick at all to go out and And bones of Spaniards where the buzzards have dug them out. Some of them never were buried. They just crawled out in the grass and vines and died. We drank water off of dead Spanish and mules for awhile, but now we have pure water, although it is warm.“I expect that the papers' claim that yellow fever is here, but it is not. And there is no yellow fever in Santiago or we would know it, I think.“We are living well to what we were when we first came here. Then everything was so badly torn up that we couldn’t get provisions. We lived on about two bites of meat and half a hardtack a day for three or four days and then we began to get a little more and more until we got filled up. Now we are doing fair, but not living very high. In fact, they don’t live very high in the army.“They don’t have much mercy for a sick man here. If he can walk he has to do his work. I have to go on guard tonight. This is what I dred. The dew is almost like a rain and very cold.“I have got no answers from the letters I wrote from Tampa, Fla. Paper is scarce here and we cant get stamps at any price. I am just as anxious to hear from home as you are to hear from me. So write as soon as you can.“Ever your son,“Nathan Hawkins/’
Newspaper Details
Hartford City Telegram
Hartford City, Indiana, US
Wed, Aug 24, 1898
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Regena S.
IA, USA 27 Aug 2019
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Hartford City Telegram
