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»-rf-;fraarfiv*■|*y:» ”i« -H B»’ i - #!r,.-L'v:- -.; -V -v :;:••/V..^;■'- •:?••■** ■'•::' •'•■ t-'-:-- r.v.5S-mrj.'.»-i •• .wecoula have done.~- ■■ /- *■•*•■ '•,7,, i- .)*•!V.~ *.-1-•■ -» • lt;-■'i* ■ ~V■«_As I awoke I heard the thunder ofNew* from Porto Rico, Our New Ter*ritory.approaching hoot beats and the sounds■• •'-•'•• ■ ’, \. ■■■'. :-•. ,*. .Yj• ; ' .'. V;of manjrehots fired in arid around theccamp by unknown persons, but after I/ •' ' e , \ . W «*-’ ' • * . ’ * • . •had proceeded about fifty feet I discovered that our horses had stampeded.«We have ninety-three horses andA Private Latter Which is Full of Interest- mulea and something had frightened Stuck in the Mud-A Beautiful Climate— them and they had torn the two-inch Abundance of Fruit—A Stamped* That ropg (to which they were all tied) looseMade Them Run.from its fastenings and swept down in♦a body on our camp, and, for some unaccountable reason swerved to the left h just in time to miss us. It seems al- I George | most a miracle that many lives were fThe following letter is from Blacketter, of the 27th Indiana Battery, | not trampled out. Capt. J. B. Curtiss, which went frotcdIt was all done so quickly that the Indianapolis, and which is to be soon guards hardly knew what was happen* mustered out of service. It was jug and although it was a very serious t written to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. occurrence many ludicrous things hap t Henry Blacketter, of the Brushcreek pened.Some ran as far as a quarter of a mile i before stopping, others hurt themselves janeighborhood:Arroto, Porto Rico, Aug. 10, 1898.Dear Father and Mother:—I will getting out of their blankets, others now endeavor to give an account of our shed tears and begged to be saved, andcdoings since I last wrote you, but first 11 still others were unafcle to Btand up I §will say that I have received no mail since leaving Chickamauga Park.through sheer fright.In two hours we had the horses backfOn Tuesday afternoon, the 2nd inst., on a new picket rope and were again twe sighted land (the northern coast of wrapped in our blankets.IPorto Rico) but when we came near This is a beautiful island. The coast tenough to get a good view of it, it was and banks of the streams are fringed ctoo dark to see it.As I was arising early Wednesdaywith the cocoanut palm.and the banana, mango, lemon and lime fruit grow iniorning to see where we were, I felt abundance. Much sugar cane is also to 11the ship run aground and when I be seen on the level coast jlain.creached the deck I saw that we were! The hills and mountains are green tostuck hard and fast about a quarter of the very tops, and the latter have verya mile from the ehore.sharply defined ridges and peaks and We remained there, unable to get ofl the higher parts are frequently enyel-| 1 of our own accord, or with the aid of oped in clouds.other U. S. vessels, for over twelve! The climate is all that one could ask, |lhours, when high tide enabled us to | as there ie a fresh breeze blowing allhback into deeper water.As it was, it was a small matter but athe time.We have not suffered with the heat (lt;storm would have made it very unpleas- since we left the BtateB but it may be | jantIt was now all steamed into the little harbor of Guai-thedifferent when we get away from ost dark and we I coast.Showers occur frequently, but mostlyanca and lay over night awaiting or-1 during the night. There is an abund-ders.,ance of freBh water, but it is warm in orning, Thursday 4th, our | both wells and springs.The natives are different shades ofNext iorders carried us further along thesr uthern coast to Port Ponce, where j black and brown, but very few have we Again awaited further instructions. | features like the negro.Here the natives came alongside in boats selling mangoes, lime fruit, cigars and cigarettes.Some of the men are handsome and any of the women quite pretty.Many of the younger children of bothThe lime resembles a lemon very sexes play about the door yards and closely, and the mango is something streets entirely naked.like the pawpaw of Indiana except that it has a different taste.We left this port in the afternoon | Spanish style, and proceeded further along the coastThe natives speak the Spanish language and the houses are built in theLizards are very plentiful and I haveto Arroyo where we arrived about g$en five or six different kinds on the4dark, anchored, and commenced un- game tree.loading early Friday morning.We immadiately established our camp and raised our flag on Porto Rican soil, in a field lying between the town and the mountains.Some of them have yellow pouches, which they expand and contract at will, underneath their throats, others have frills along their backs and tails, andthe chamelon, which has the power of The infantry which arrived here in | changing color isvery plentiful. Thereare many arieties, no doubt, which I aking a landing | haye yet tQsee.I haven’t the time.to write more, butadvance of us, have taken several of the coast towns, thus place for our horses, guns, hay, pro vis-ions, etc., which require considerable wffl have much to W1 you when T come time to land as there is no pier and 1 ^omeit is all done by means of boats.It was the intention that we go into action as soon as we could make ready, after our arrival at Arroyo, as there were Spanish troops in a town near here,iwhich the infantry could not dialoda, but they vacated shortly after our ar rival.There has been some fighting near us, and Friday night there was quite a little firing along the picket line back of our camp at the base of the moun*tains.There are about six batteries and fiveWill, Harry, and myself, are well.Your soldier boy,George.PRIVATE RANKINS »Doing Soma Visiting as Proxy for the BoysBrings Relics.Private Rankins, of Company G, 159th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, has juBtlately come from his regiment at Thor-••regiments of infantry on the island at loughfare Gap, Va., and is spending apresent as near as we can judge from what we hear. Newspapers are very scarce here and we know very little of what is going on anywhere.few days in the vicinity of Newborn.The home of Private Rankins is in Illinois, but as he is off on a sick fur lough, he cannot get beyond the boun-T/l AM.. l.n An A* nif!f A
Newspaper Details
Columbus Daily Herald
Columbus, Indiana, US
Fri, Aug 26, 1898
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 20 Jul 2019
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