The Filipino American War as seen by diarists in real time with some additional commentary and sourc

[miletus12]

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 16th-99

On outpost at Pateros. Black night with bad wind and rain. Creaking bamboos, strange cries in the night, half wild dogs and still wilder pigs –made life a burden.

1. See MAP.



2. The 1st Washington Tobacco Thieves are stuck out in a very bad place. Stay tuned for the results.

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Diary of Chriss A. Bell April 16, 1899

Sunday. All quiet. Davies go to front and Penns. take their place at Cavite all sorts of rumors as to home going.

3. The 1st Iowa Pork Cookers replaced the 10th Pennsylvania Train Bandits. 

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Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Sunday, April 16th, 1899

Manila, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo

Clear sky tonight with the starts and crescent moon shining beautifully.

Shall we have an uprising before morning? Don’t know; hope not, heard the Utah sentries talking about the possibility of a “scrap”.

Corporal S. Krell of Co. K. 51st Iowa vol. Inf. Is staying with me. Have fixed him a shakedown on the floor of my bedroom & he has gone to rest thoroughly tired out. He also took supper with me which I cooked; fixed him myself some lemonade before before he retired. Corporal Krell gets 4 day furloughs from his officers to take photographs. Possesses many of the war. His regiment has been stationed at Cavite & vicinity since its return from Iloilo but is now taking the plane of the 10th Pennsylvania at the front.

Rev. & Mrs. Owens are still on the bay; they did not show up today.

This morning commenced active labor with Bible readings in Leviticus & Psalms. Cooked breakfast, washed dishes then got a lesson in John III for Bilibid. Walked down there and arrived before Lt. Wolf and Provost Sergeant Ryan were thro’ inspecting the prison. I heard a lady say (she was sitting under the verandah facing the front gate) that _____ (probably the Salvation Army) did more good than any other organization. Its workers work hard & for less remuneration than other workers, never complain & put up with many kinds of inconveniences without a murmur when carrying on their work.

Break!     

Roll on the floor laugh my attitude off! What lady? In a city under martial law and in front of the PRISON? If you want to see when and where the cockroach out and out lies to you, reader, that is a very plain example of his mendacity.

Provost Sergeant Ryan marched a long string of military prisoners up to where I was sitting in front of the Sergeant’s quarters. From there we all proceeded to another part of the enclosure where the civil prisoners are incarcerated. My audience amounted to 40 men, who took seats on the cots in the large room used for a prison ward. I was very thankful to my God, because Frank Caison who professed conversion in this room Sunday before last, stood up before his fellow prisoners & spoke for Jesus. He told me in answer to inquiry that he was keeping saved, praise God. Left some song books for the prisoners. My services is confined to ¾ of an hour. Makes me hurry too much.

I expected to visit the 1st Reserve Hospital this afternoon but changed my mind & wrote several pages for the War Cry re the S.A. & U.S. war in these parts. Have had but little time for writing; cooking & washing dishes make quite a large hole in my time.

Before Krell retired he & I prayed together.

I feel very tired & sleepy.

Read part of Consul Booth–Tucker’s self denial article in which she refers to her husband’s illness. Her writings are a great puzzle to me; seem so different from her administrative records.

4. Our nervous cockroach showed the yellow.
5. CPL Krell was a new flunky.  Why do these fellows keep turning up as bunkmates who lay over with the cockroach? I am beginning to wonder about this within the diary I read,
6. The Owens still vacation with the navy.
7. Leviticus and Psalms: take this as my commentary on 5..

Leviticus 19:19

“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

and 

Psalm 50:17-18

For you refuse my discipline and treat my words like trash. When you see thieves, you approve of them, and you spend your time with adulterers.

and 

8 LT Wolf and Provost SGT Ryan were probably looking for a spot / cell to put the cockroach for I am sure they thought he would be their guest soon.
9. John III? 

John 3

King James Version

1. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
24 For John was not yet cast into prison.
25 Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.
27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

If I must put it plainly. The wrong people were on the rockpile, the wrong people were doing the preaching to the wrong people on the rockpile *(Example would be Filipino curfew breakers and the many shipjumpers), and the only people who discerned the sarcastic difference between the unfortunate guilty and the truly guilty in that time and in that place: were LT Wolf and Provost SGT Ryan, who on multiple occasions have treated the cockroach as the con-man that he was. Cops be like that, sisters and brothers.
10. Provost SGT Ryan found 40 "volunteers" he marched to the torture session. . The cockroach droned. PVT Frank Caison did his own con-job to escape the rock piile and at the end it was 40 coerced to be present, 39 preached at, 39 NSA and 0% success.     
11. As before, if the cockroach were not a pig... 
12. The flying scroll. 

Zechariah 5:4

And this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: I am sending this curse into the house of every thief and into the house of everyone who swears falsely using my name. And my curse will remain in that house and completely destroy it—even its timbers and stones.”

That is sort of how I see Milsaps' diary. It is "the flying scroll" upon Milsaps. And doubly ironic since he wrote it. 
13. About Booth-Tucker; writes the liar about a liar. Refer to 12. and laugh.  

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Diary of James J. Loughrey April 16, 1899

We left for Bacolod aboard a schooner at 11.30 a.m. and arrived at Iloilo the next day at 6 p.rn. We went alongside the steamer ‘St. Paul’ in a typhoon. There was terrible thunder, lightning and rain and we were wet to the skin in a few seconds. The steamer left at 11.30 p.m. and drifted all night.

14. Where are the 1st California Flour Mill Thieves? See MAPs.



and 



15. Why were the 1st California Flour Mill Thieves there? To steal a stockpile of coal among other things. 

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Diary of John Henry Asendorf Sunday, April 16th, 1899

The weather is warm but a good breeze is blowing. Most of the boys are enjoying a swim in the bay. A detail is sent to Manila to load our clothes and stuff onto the lighters which arrived in the evening; but, everybody has a time getting his right stuff. I have lost several things but nothing valuable. Our regiment is patrolling the city and beach. The prisoners are policing our quarters and the streets in general.

16. Shipjumpers and minor offenders do the barracks detail. And Asendorf made sure of his loot. The government issue stuff he figures will be replaced from stores. 
16. Based on the description I anticpate it is south of the Intramuros and close to Malacañang.  

[oscssw]

Aug 16, 2022 2:11:11 GMT miletus12 said:

Diary of Lieutenant X (Aime Ernest Motsch) Monday, August 15, 1898

The Germans

The escape of the former Governor, Agustin, on board the Kaiserin-Augusta, the fastest German flagship, was the news of the day. It was a smart trick played on the Americans, who undoubtedly would have taken him prisoner. The flagship left on Saturday before the end of the bombardment and headed for Hongkong. The United States will evidently presume that this flight was made possible only with the complicity of the Germans, in particular, Admiral von Diederichs. A naval battle between these two countries would have been sensational! But a dog does not feed on another dog when there is a third victim that can be devoured. In this case, the prey is worth their while.

The bombardment of Manila has not caused much damage. General Merritt has requisitioned all public services, but refuses to pay the unsettled wages of the Spaniards who are leaving the country, indeed an incredible situation. Even the religious who were responsible for a great part of the problems show their desire to flee. All the Spanish property has been transferred to the Americans, thus leaving the Filipinos in the same miserable state. The shameful absurdities of the Spanish policies are evident. After having occupied this country for 350 years, all their soldiers, priests, monks, and public officials will leave, and not a single Spaniard will remain. According to the consul general, the Spaniards had one bank, but no large-scale rural development, no mining company, nor any form of public works company. The 1897 figures for trade show that the English represent 80 percent, the Chinese 14 percent, and the Spanish a mere 4 percent. The figures speak for themselves, and any further comment would be superfluous.

1. Merritt had arranged with Dewey to allow Basilio Augustín y Dávila to escape. that is to look the other way as it happened. Augustin chose to go out with the Germans as they were the first Europeans to run from the new situation.

Here is some more about Augustin.

Basilio Augustín Dávila
Biography
Augustín Dávila, Basilio. Cádiz, 12.II.1840 – Vitoria (Álava), 7.VIII.1910. Military, Governor General of the Philippines.

He left the Special School of the General Staff Corps in 1859 and two years later was promoted to captain of that corps. In 1864 he was assigned to Puerto Rico, taking possession of the post the following year in the General Staff section, where he held the position, as an interim, of Chief of Staff of the Captaincy General in different periods. His stay in Puerto Rico coincides with the revolts of that island and with the war in Cuba. In September 1868 he left the capital at the head of several units in order to put down the independence rebellion that had ignited in Lares, in whose town hall a republican government had been constituted presided over by Francisco Ramírez (cry of Lares); he manages to reduce the agitators and free the retained Spaniards.

In 1869, after the outbreak of the war in Cuba (Ten Years' War), he was commissioned to intercept the landing of a group of Dominicans who were trying to reach Cuba to join the rebel side, as chiefs; for the merits contracted during his stay in Puerto Rico he was granted the rank of lieutenant colonel and, already in the Peninsula, after swearing the Constitution and loyalty to King Amadeo of Savoy, he was conferred the rank of colonel, being appointed assistant of orders of said Monarch.

From 1873 he was assigned to the Army of the North actively intervening in the liberation of several cities besieged by the Carlist forces (Laguardia, Bilbao, Vitoria) and also in battles (Monte Montano, Treviño, Montejurra); for his performance in the Carlist War he was promoted to brigadier of the Army (1875) and remained in the Vascongadas provinces in command of the Second Cavalry Brigade as well as holding other positions of responsibility. Already as a major general in 1893, appointed second corporal of the Captaincy General of Vascongadas and military governor of Álava and Plaza de Vitoria; as an authority of greater military employment, in the absence of the captain general, declares the state of war in Álava after the tumults that led to the news that Vitoria was being stripped of the rank of capital with the new organization.

After twenty-one years performing various posts in the north he was appointed second chief of the Sixth Army Corps and military governor of Burgos (1894). Promoted to lieutenant general (1895), he was captain general of Galicia and commander-in-chief of the Eighth Army Corps, and later captain general of Burgos, Navarre and Vascongadas as well as commander-in-chief of the Sixth Army Corps.

His brilliant military career suffered a major setback when on the eve of Spain's war with the United States (March 1898) Sagasta appointed him governor and captain general of the Philippines, replacing General Fernando Primo de Rivera in April. At this time, the threatening American squadron in Hong Kong was finalizing preparations to attack the Spanish. With the blowing up of the Maine, Spanish-American relations reached their maximum tension, so that on April 27 he received in Manila the declaration of war by the United States. On May 1, Admiral Montojo's modest ships were destroyed by the powerful American squadron; from then on Americans and Filipinos were closing the siege to the Spanish troops who concentrated in Manila. Faced with the imminent seizure of the capital, Augustin mobilizes Pro-Spanish Filipino civilians; it also creates a "consultative assembly" led by Paterno, negotiator of the Peace of Biak-na-bató, which manages to attract a part of the Filipino generals (Buencaminos, P. del Pilar, E. Flores, etc.) to collaborate in the defense of Manila, but the idea did not prosper. Augustin's only hope was the arrival of the Spanish squadron that had sailed from Cadiz under the command of Admiral Cámara. Three events were to precipitate the fatal outcome: the defeat of Cervera's squadron in Cuba, the return of the Cámara squadron to Spain after closing its way in Port Said and the arrival of US troops in the Philippines under the command of General Merrit. Faced with the despondency and pessimism latent in the telegrams sent by Augustín to the Government of Madrid, Sagasta decides to replace him on August 4 with the second authority of the archipelago, Fermín Jaúdenes.

Sources and bibl.: General Military Archive of Segovia, service sheet.

I. Salinas y Angulo, Defensa del general Jaúdenes hecho por el general de brigada Ignacio Salinas y Angulo: leer el 29 de septiembre de 1899 ante el Consejo Supremo de Guerra y Marina, Madrid, Imprenta y Litografía del Depósito de la Guerra, 1899; E. Reverter, La Insurrección de Filipinas, Barcelona, Centro editorial de Alberto Martín, 1899; M. Sastrón, La insurrección en Filipinas y Guerra Hispano-Americana, Madrid, Imprenta de la sucesora de M. Minuesa de los Ríos, 1901; S. Gómez, La guerra hispano-americana: Puerto Rico y Filipinas, Madrid, Imprenta del Cuerpo de Artillería, 1902; J. Andrés-Gallego, El separatismo filipino y la opinión española, Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Jerónimo Zurita, 1971; A. Ubieto, J. Regla, J. M. Jover and C. Seco, Introducción a la Historia de España, Barcelona, Teide, 1986; F. Rodríguez Coro, Los Carlistas 1800-1876, Vitoria, Fundación Sancho el Sabio, 1991; J. Barón, La guerra hispano-americana de 1898, Sada (La Coruña), Ediciós do Castro, 1993; A. Bullón, Las guerras carlistas en sus documentos, Barcelona, Ariel, 1998; A. Castellanos, Philippines from Insurrection to U.S. Intervention, Madrid, Flint, 1998.

Alicia Castellanos Escudier

The guy the Filipinos should have wanted to hang was General Fernando Primo de Rivera

My own sarcastic comment is that if Primo de Rivera was the guy who bribed Emilio Aguinaldo to just go away, then Augustin was the man who was naive enough to think he could bribe the Filipino people to fight the Americans with a few fake promises. Why would the Americans worry or even care if Augustin ran for it? As far as they cared, if the Germans sent away a cruiser to convey Augustin to Hong Kong, it just made their problems with Diederichs much easier. He was down one cruiser, and the Americans were still being reinforced when USS Monadnock arrived. 



Look at me! I am an Amphitrite class monitor, the USS Monadnock.     

From Wiki: SMS Kaiserin Augusta

General characteristics
Class and type...........................Unique protected cruiser
Displacement .........................Normal: 6,056 t (5,960 long tons)
.........................................Full load: 6,318 t (6,218 long tons)
Length...................................123.2 m (404 ft) oa
Beam......................................15.6 m (51 ft)
Draft......................................6.48 m (21.3 ft)
Installed power .........................8 × fire-tube boilers at 12,000 PS (8,800 kW)
Propulsion...............................3 × triple-expansion steam engines using 3 × screw propellers
Speed....................................21 knots (38.9 km/h)
Complement...............................13 officers and 417 enlisted men
Armament.................................4 × 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/40 guns
.........................................8 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35 guns
.........................................8 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 guns
.........................................4 × machine guns
.........................................5 × 35 cm (13.8 in) torpedo tubes
Armor....................................Deck: 50 to 70 mm (2.0 to 2.8 in)
.........................................Conning tower: 50 mm

The USS Charleston, if it had not been commanded by a boob captain who was unreliable, would have been assigned to deal with this German cruiser.

2. I suppose I should explain what Motsch gets wrong in this explanation of the Spanish Exodus. To begin with, the economic situation in the islands was not all that unusual in the context of regional trade. The Philippine Archipelago was in a trade zone and economic environment, where most of the investment capital and most likely trade partners were from Dutch Indonesia, British Malaysia, French Indochina and southern China. It was the same then as it is today. Anyone who thought to loot the place of minerals and to dump trinkets as France was looting west Africa was going to be in for a huge surprise. See maps.

Poor farmland.

Polylingualism.



Wealth in the islands, such as it was, came from the Filipino people in their ability to shrewdly trade with their neighbors as the middle people in the southwest Pacific among the colonial empires and the CHINESE. Even the British in Hong Kong knew that much as did the Spanish. It will take the Americans awhile to figure this all out. The Spanish never made a go of it in the 19th century, it is true, but I think the Carlist-Isabelline Wars might have been a reason for that one.

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Diary of Miguel Saderra Maso Lunes 15 de Agosto 1898

The Yankee guards occupy the city in great numbers. Their conduct with the Indians has varied greatly since the day they set foot in Cavite. Then, with a very smiling face and affectionate gestures, they would say to the Indians: The “bad” Spaniard. The “good” Indian. Now for any childishness they hit the Indians with their butts in their faces, even if they are Cabecillas. A fussy, stocky Yankee has thrown a very well-dressed mestizo young man with glasses from the bridge of Spain below. Fortunately, it has not gone beyond a long time and a soak. If a brawl breaks out in the street between a Spaniard and when the Yankee police approach, of course the Indian was to blame, and he was charged with it and with some kicks and rifle butts. In their eagerness to do justice immediately the Yankees have arrived to fire their revolver on some Indian in the middle of a fracas.  The Spanish guards had never known how to treat people like this. The veteran civil guard made up of Spaniards and indigenous people continues to render their services as before the war. between Spain and the United States precisely one day before Manila was surrendered.

1. The provost procedure at the time was to fire a Schofield or a Colt into the air to break up a brawl and get people's attention. This was somewhat stupid as the bullet will come down, but the streets of Manila were stone-paved and Americans were not that stupid to cause a ricochet in the middle of a crowd or to randomly shoot the first convenient brawler. 

2. "Gringos" were racists and are racists, but note how Father Maso has adopted their term, "Indian" for the Filipinos he was religiously duty bound to see as his equals. Nothing illustrates the mote in his eye like this diary entry. It also illustrates another problem at the time in Latin culture. The class society in Spanish influenced cultures at the time and unfortunately from an objective point of view down to the present was stratified as to how "brown" a person's skin was. Lighter brown was a higher class and more "Spanish"? 

Think about the term; "mestizo".

mes·ti·zo

[meˈstēzō, məˈstēzō]

NOUN

(In Latin America) a man of mixed race, especially one having Spanish and indigenous descent.

Americans had / have / will have problems since this attitude will exacerbate civil affairs and savagify the Filipino American War... but oh that mote in Father Maso's eye.  Nevertheless, the Americans would have been much better off if they had been Reconstructed and left this racism problem behind them in the 1870s.   

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Diary of John Henry Asendorf Monday, August 15th, 1898

This morning we were relieve by Companies D, H and I. The Spanish troops left the theater to take up quarters in the walled city and turn in their arms. We then returned to our headquarters for the remainder of the day and night. The weather has been clear all day. [Frank] Christopher, [Frank] Shanaberger and [William] D. Collins and Grant Cullums are on the sick list.

The 10th Pennsylvania has rotated companies to provost duty. The Spanish soldiers were still armed?!? Apparently: the provost marshal has taken over the problem as to how to quarter the Spanish troops after the capitualation. I wonder if Merritt fired his quartermaster? *(He did as of this date. M.).\\

Where is the 10th Pennsylvania? 



In little pup tents around it. Not in it. That is the Malacañang Palace. Kind of reminds me of that hotel in Tampa, Florida where fatso Shafter set up shop while his army sickened and died on the transports and in the swamp outside the port. 


General Elwell Otis (left) with his staff at Malacañang Palace, circa 1898. Otis was the second American military Governor-General of the Philippines until 1900. The general was replaced by Arthur MacArthur, the father of General Douglas MacArthur.

Remember Elwell Otis. We will meet this war criminal again, soon.

==================================================================================  

I came to this excellent thread late so I am still bringing myself up to date. 

So far IMNSHO, friend miletus12 is doing a fine job.  Don't let that go to your head kid!

That photo of those poor souls aboard USS Monadnock touched my cold cruel sailor's heart.  Doesn't that look fun? They probably had a long line of volunteers who would rather have been in the rowboat than the monitor.   They must have been sort of sailormen to cross the wide Pacific in a shallow draft coastal oversized flat iron.

I'd like to share their story with you.  I found it quite amazing and hope you at least find it worth your time.

USS Monadnock, a 3990-ton monitor, was built over a 22-year period at Vallejo and Mare Island, California, finally commissioning in February 1896. MONADNOCK was similar in size, armor, and armament to the Amphitrite, but was superior in motive power and speed, her engines, of the triple expansion type, yielding 3000 horse-power and her speed being twelve knots.   During the next two years, she served with the Pacific Squadron in the U.S. west coast area. In June 1898, she departed San Francisco on a two-month voyage to the Philippines, where she was needed to provide heavy-gun support following Admiral Dewey's victory at Manila Bay. She departed San Francisco, California, on 23 June 1898, touched at Hawaii early in July, and reached Manila Bay on 16 August  Leaving California on 23 June, towed by the new and efficient coaler USS Nero (AC-17), the pair made the journey from Mare Island to Manila Bay in just seven weeks

Considering the low free-board, row-boat like beam to length ratio, and the fact that monitors were never designed to operate at sea (the original USS Monitor foundered just after her commissioning), the 8000-mile trip was epic. With their cramped and overheated engine-room (in which temperatures measured over 140-degrees on a thermometer suspended from a fishing pole on deck) these ships were miserable for the stokers and water tenders.

Once in Philippine waters, (Dewey had already captured Manila), the  monitor WAS very busy. Too late to fight the Spanish, She  did however, fire their guns in several battles supporting the US troops in hot actions across the wild archipelago including notably the 1899 Battle of Caloocan, where Monadnock was credited largely with transforming that rebel stronghold as “What was once a prosperous town was in a few minutes wiped out of existence.”
Monadnock, with the luxury of her low free board and ability to burn crap coal, found herself often in Chinese waters, patrolling the wild Yangtze all the way to Shanghai.

Monadnock remained in the Far East to the end of her career, serving in Philippine and Chinese waters. She decommissioned for the last time in March 1919 and was sold in August 1923.

[miletus12]

Apr 17, 2023 14:10:23 GMT oscssw said:

USS Monadnock, a 3990-ton monitor, was built over a 22-year period at Vallejo and Mare Island, California, finally commissioning in February 1896. MONADNOCK was similar in size, armor, and armament to the Amphitrite, but was superior in motive power and speed, her engines, of the triple expansion type, yielding 3000 horse-power and her speed being twelve knots.   During the next two years, she served with the Pacific Squadron in the U.S. west coast area. In June 1898, she departed San Francisco on a two-month voyage to the Philippines, where she was needed to provide heavy-gun support following Admiral Dewey's victory at Manila Bay. She departed San Francisco, California, on 23 June 1898, touched at Hawaii early in July, and reached Manila Bay on 16 August  Leaving California on 23 June, towed by the new and efficient coaler USS Nero (AC-17), the pair made the journey from Mare Island to Manila Bay in just seven weeks

I will take a little time with the USS Monadnock as this Monitor was Dewey's preferred "hammer" during Arthur MacArthur's northern campaign.

Let us begin with Theseus, shall we?

Stories from the Shipyard: USS Monadnock
by Patriot-Bridge Staff • November 25, 2020 • 0 Comments

By Mike Manning – Chair – Friends of the Boston Harborwalk

In terms of name recognition, the USS Monadnock is a lesser known vessel but represents a significant first at the Boston Navy Yard (in Charlestown). The Monadnock, named after the Abenaki word for “isolated mountain”, was launched on March 23rd, 1863 and commissioned on October 4th, 1864. She was the first ironclad built in the Boston Navy Yard – but not the first ironclad built in Boston. That honor goes to the USS Nahant built a year earlier in South Boston.

Designed by John Lenthall of the US Navy’s Design Bureau of Construction and Repair, the Monadnock was one of four Miantonomoh-class monitors commissioned by the US Navy during the Civil War. These warships were named after the chief of the Narragansett – a native American tribe of New England. These were the only ironclads built in US Navy shipyards and not at privately-owned shipyards.

After the pivotal and industry-transforming battle of ironclads at Hampton Roads, Virginia in March 1862, shipyards were scrambling to build these new state-of-the-art warships. The Monadnock and her sister ships were constructed with wooden framing and hull, sheathed with 12- to 14-inch thick wooden planks, and armored with multiple layers of one-inch thick wrought-iron plates. Whereas previous models of ironclads were built with single turrets, this class of monitors had two – each turret housing two 15-inch caliber Dalgren cannon. The redundant propulsion system, designed to improve reliability and speed, powered each monitor with twin 1,400 horsepower coal-fired steam engines. These engines were built by John Ericsson, the designer and builder of the US Navy’s first ironclad, the USS Monitor.

After commissioning, the Monadnock steamed to her home base at Port Norfolk, Virginia as the port had been re-captured by Union forces in May 1862. In mid-December, she was assigned to the North Atlantic Blocking Squadron and steamed towards Fort Fisher – just south of Wilmington, North Carolina. The squadron consisted of a wide array of nearly 60 Union warships.

With Port Norfolk in Union hands, the port of Wilmington had become one of the most strategic ports for the Confederacy. British smuggling vessels called “blockage runners” brought shipments of munitions, armaments, clothing, textiles, and foodstuffs and were exchanged for cotton and tobacco. These vessels coming from British colonies, such as Bermuda or the Bahamas, were forced to avoid the Union naval blockade barring entry to all major southern ports.

On Christmas Eve, 1864, the Monadnock and other squadron vessels began shelling the fort. Unfortunately, the gunfire was ineffective as most shells flew harmlessly over the fort and landed in the Cape Fear River. A landing of Union troops was equally unsuccessful. A second bombardment began on January13th, 1865 and continued without interruption for two days. At this point, most of the fort’s main cannon had been silenced. In a coordinated effort, Union forces landed at multiple points around the fort. In what may have been the largest amphibious assault by Union forces to that date, nearly 10,000 marines and troops came ashore, seized the fort, and accepted its surrender on the evening of the 15th. Fort Fisher’s surrender in effect closed the port of Wilmington, the last port available to the Confederacy, for the remainder of the war. The South was now cut off from all global trade – its lifeline from the beginning of the conflict.^1

After her successful mission at Fort Fisher, the Monadnock was transferred to the South Atlantic Blocking Squadron and steamed to Charleston, South Carolina. The city surrendered a month after her arrival. Once the city was secured by Union forces, she took part in the final assault on the Confederate capital – Richmond, Virginia, which surrendered on April 3rd, 1865. In less than a year’s service, the Monadnock had fought in three significant land-sea battles culminating in the capture of the heart of the Confederacy.

After her service in the Civil War, the Monadnock left Philadelphia on October 5th with the USS Vanderbilt, USS Tuscarora, and USS Powhatan. This was an incredible voyage since the ships’ top speed was a paltry 10 knots. After stopping at various South America ports-of-call, the Monadnock maneuvered through the Strait of Magellan in March 1866 and continued northward to Valparaiso, Chile and finally Acapulco, Mexico. She arrived at her final destination, San Francisco, in early June 1866.^2

After her relatively short service life, the Monadnock was decommissioned on June 30th. She remained at the Mare Island Navy Yard, just north of San Francisco, and was regrettably allowed to deteriorate at her pier for the next eight years. At this point, she was beyond repair. The vessel’s wooden framing and hull, not her layers of armor plating, set in motion her eventual demise. In 1874, the Monadnock was broken up just ten years after her initial commissioning.

However, on paper, the Monadnock remained on the active naval vessel register. A new vessel, of the same name, began to take shape at a shipyard in Vallejo, California, under the guise of “repairs” to the original vessel of 1863.^3 The Navy Department evaded the Congressional refusal to order new ships by claiming that the Civil War-era ship was being repaired while building a new monitor of the same name. This subterfuge lasted throughout the building of the “new” Monadnock. She was launched in 1883 but languished through multiple construction starts and stops. This “new” Monadnock was eventually commissioned in 1896 and saw service in the Spanish-American War.

^1 Fort Fisher is why Grant said; "You can rely on Benjamin Butler to find the wrong way to do things." As another sarcastic comment; while "Beast Butler" was lying to Congress about his part in the fiasco, General Alfred Terry, who Grant selected to finish the job, finished the job with ridiculous ease after the Navy shot the place to pieces for two days. The final coda, was that some idiots taking a smoke break in the powder magazine, blew it and themselves up. Depending on which version you believe, it was some Confederates who decided to Alamo the Yankees or it was some drunken idiots from the 13th Indiana who chased some skulking Confederates, not yet rounded up into the magazine and shot at them.

^2

^3 In a classic scam worthy of the United States Navy, Navy Secretary George Robeson ordered the "defective ship's bell" removed off the old American Civil War monitor, and that it be transferred to a new slip and that it be "repaired" by putting a "rebuilt ship" under it. Clang clang as they say.

laststandonzombieislandWeapons, Wars, Preparation and Security from a recovering gun nut turned bad writer

WARSHIP WEDNESDAY APRIL 30. OF GREAT REPAIRS AND SHALLOW WATERS: THE USS MONADNOCK

Posted on April 30, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland 3 comments
Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will
profile a different ship each week.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday April 30. Of Great Repairs and Shallow Waters: the USS Monadnock


Here we see the USS Monadnock, (BM-3), sitting in calm waters off the Chinese coast in 1901. Yes, that is really how low a freeboard this ship had.

During the Civil War, the twin turreted ironclad USS Monadnock was built 1863-64 by the Boston Navy yard as a 250-ft, 3300-ton, Miantonomoh-class monitor. Completed just seven months before the end of the war, she didn’t see much action as soon afterward was sent (very slowly) to the West Coast all the way around South America (as there was no Panama Canal). Arriving there at Vallejo, California and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard where she decommissioned 30 June 1866 due to lack of funds.


The original wooden‑hull, double-turreted, 1863 ironclad monitor USS Monadnock, complete with a Ericsson vibrating lever engine and pair of Civil war standard 15-inch smoothbore Dahlgren guns, circa 1866 in the Mare Island channel. USN photo courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.

Well, the fresh young ship was allowed to rot at her moorings and by 1874 was nothing but semi-submerged junk.

Then she was ‘repaired.’


Robeson: When I say repair, I do mean, ‘scrap and rebuild from scratch’

You see, then Secretary of the Navy George Robeson knew that the service was a mere specter of its former self by 1874, and war with Spain was looming in one form or another (although did not materialize fully until 1898). With no money for new ships, he set about ‘repairing’ the old monitors USS Puritan and the four Miantonomoh-class vessels (including Monadnock). Of course, the repairs started with selling the ships along with nine other hulks to scrappers and using the money to pay four private shipbuilders to make new ones under the old names with a smile and a wink, but hey, you have to get it done somehow, right?

Well the ‘new‘ monitor Monadnock was laid down again right there in Vallejo as her namesake was scrapped and recycled very near her. With money tight even for ‘repairs,’ the ship languished in the new works of one Mr. Phineas Burgess of whose Continental Iron Works had one ship clogging the ways– Monadnock. With checks from the Navy few and far between, the yard closed, some $120,000 in debt. It was then in 1883 that the Navy finally agreed to get the long-building ironclad off the builder’s way and in 1883 she was quietly and without ceremony launched and towed to the Mare Island Naval shipyard– (again) if you go with the premise that the was still the old Monadnock.


The new monitor being fitted out in the historic dry-dock at Mare Island. This dock still exists and may soon house the old cruiser relic (and Dewey’s flagship) Olympia.

The new ship and her three sisters were extremely close in size to the ironclad monitors they replaced– some 262-feet long and 3990-tons (due to more armor). The fact that these ships often incorporated re-purposed amenities from the old Civil War monitors proved a further nice touch.


USS Mondanancok 1896 San Fransisco in her gleaming white scheme. Click to embiggen

Her teeth were four of the new and very modern for their time 10″/30 (25.4 cm) Mark 2 guns, the same type used on all of her class as well as the follow-on Monterey class monitor M-6) and the famously ill-fated armored cruiser USS Maine (1895). These 25-ton guns, some 27.4-feet long, could fire a 510-pound shell out past 20,000 yards at about 2-3 rounds per minute (although that was with a very well rehearsed crew). With her 14-foot draft, she could stick to the shallows and avoid larger battleships while her guns, capable of penetrating up to 7-inches of steel armor at close range, were thought capable of sinking any smaller ship that could breach those shallows.


Naval cutlass practice under the monitors guns.

Monadnock and her sisters carried some 360 shells for their large guns as well as some 17-tons of rather smokey ‘brown powder’ propellant charges to fire them. To keep torpedo boats away, the monitor carried a pair of 4-inch breech-loaders as well as numerous small deck guns and machine-guns that changed over time. Even if they did get close, she had up to 11.5-inches of steel armor plate.

In short, she was a fire-breathing turtle.

Finally completed 20 February 1896, after just 22-years of ‘repair’, the Monadnock had a unique set of twin triple expansion steam engines that gave the ship a speed of 11.6-knots, a full knot and change faster than her three sisters. When war broke out with Spain in 1898, she was ordered to reinforce the small squadron of Commodore Dewey in the Far East.


Stern shot of the monitor USS Monadnock off the Mare Island Navy Yard, CA, June 1898, ready for her voyage to the Philippines. The old monitor 800-ton Passaic-class monitor USS Camanche (1864-1899), at the time training ship for the California Naval Militia, is visible beyond Monadnock‘s after turret. (Photograph courtesy of the US Navy Historical Center)

Leaving California on 23 June, towed by the new and efficient coaler USS Nero (AC-17), the pair made the journey from Mare Island to Manila Bay in just seven weeks. Her near-sister, the monitor USS Monterey (BM-6), left fully two weeks before her towed by the coaler USS Brutus (AC-15) yet only beat Monadnock/Nero by a single day.



Doesn’t that look fun? They probably had a long line of volunteers who would rather have been in the rowboat than the monitor.

Considering the low free-board, row-boat like beam to length ratio, and the fact that monitors were never designed to operate at sea (the original USS Monitor foundered just after her commissioning), the 8000-mile trip was epic. With their cramped and overheated engine-room (in which temperatures measured over 140-degrees on a thermometer suspended from a fishing pole on deck) these ships were miserable for the stokers and water tenders.
crossing



Once in Philippine waters, (Dewey had already captured Manila without Monadnock or Monterery), the two monitor were very busy. Too late to fight the Spanish, they did however, fire their guns in several battles supporting the US troops in hot actions across the wild archipelago including notably the 1899 Battle of Caloocan, where Monadnock was credited largely with transforming that rebel stronghold as “What was once a prosperous town was in a few minutes wiped out of existence.”



Unexploded 10″ (25.4 cm) shell fired by USS Monadnock during her service in Philippine waters. Original caption read “Unexploded ten-inch shell after penetrating a six-foot trench and killing three of the enemy” Photograph copyrighted by Perley Fremont Rockett of San Francisco Library of Congress Photograph ID LC-USZ62-118717

Both Monadnock and Monterey, with the luxury of their low free board and ability to burn crap coal, found themselves often in Chinese waters, patrolling the wild Yangtze all the way to Shanghai. She watched the interned Russian fleet including the damaged cruisers Zhemchug, Aurora, and Oleg in 1905 that only narrowly escaped Adm Togo and made sure that they sat out the rest of the Russo-Japanese war. When the Russian battleship Potemkin erupted in mutiny that summer, the Monadnock and her crew paid extra close attention to prevent the glum sailors of the Tsar, under the unpopular but politically connected Rear-Admiral Oskar Enkvist, from spreading the banner of the Red Flag to Manila harbor.

The three Tsarist protected cruisers, with their 28 rapid fire 4.7 and 6-inch guns, could have smothered the heavily armored Monadnock in medium caliber shells, but each of the American monitor’s 10-inchers could have effected enough of a beating on the very lightly armored Russian ships to have made it a good fight. It should be noted that two of the Russian cruisers were sunk during World War One in very one-sided fights against lesser craft, while the Aurora is preserved as a monument ship in St. Petersburg today.


A French image of her in Chinese waters. Note the extensive canvas awnings and small boats.

Largely replaced in this role by purpose-built river gunboats in China who needed a much smaller crew, the monitors were taken off of patrol duties by 1912. There Monterey languished and was eventually towed to Pearl Harbor while Monadnock served as a tender for submarines at Cavite harbor until 24 March 1919 when she was decommissioned. There is evidence her hulk was used as a receiving ship of sorts for a few more years until she was struck from the Navy list 2 February 1923, and her hull was sold for scrap on the Asiatic Station, 24 August 1923 at a still young age of just 27.

Seems a waste for a vessel that took 22 years to construct, but then again, she was much more at home in the 1860’s than the 1920’s.

Specs:


plan mondanack

Displacement: 3,990 tons
Length: 262 ft 3 in (79.93 m)
Beam: 55 ft 5 in (16.89 m)
Draft: 14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Propulsion: 2 × Triple expansion generating 1,600 hp., 2 screws (Monadnock only)
Her sisters had 2 × Compound
Speed: Monadnock: 11.63 knots, rest of class 10.1
Range: 1,370nm @ 10 kn (19 km/h) with 250-tons coal
Complement: 156 officers and enlisted
Armament:
Four 10 inch (254 mm) breechloading guns
Two 4 inch (100 mm) rapid fire guns
Two 6 pounder (57 mm) rapid fire guns
Two 3 pounder (47 mm) rapid fire guns
Two 37 mm Hocthkiss guns
Seven one pounder gun
One Colt revolving guns
Armor:
Armor belt – 180 mm, iron..
Conning Tower – 190 mm
Chimneys and ventilators – 100 mm to height of .9 m
Deck – 40 mm
Turrets – 292 mm (fixed portion) and 190 mm (movable portion)
Double bottom under boilers and engines.

For an account of how she razed Caloocan; Read HERE:

For what kind of nitwits would confuse an American Civil War  Miantonomoh-class for an Amphitrite-class, refer to the image below.



That collection of nitwits. For a fictional version of how it operated, see my version of (still current practices), American military procurement HERE. 

CYNICAL Miletus.  

[miletus12]

Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Monday, April 17th, 1899

Manila, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo

Up at 6.20. Fried bacon in a hurry & made breakfast – Corporal (Rev.) Sam Krell of Co. K. 51st Iowa Vol. Inf. – and I – of bacon, bread, pie and lemonade. My cocoa had given out. Don’t use tea or coffee. Krell slept in my room last night on the floor. Prayer together after breakfast. I loaned him my Bible to read a morning portion. Breakfast finished together we hastened to a Chinese photographer on Calle Nueva, where I looked at some of his (Krell’s work). K. instructed the Chinese to let me have 10 prints @ 20 American money each. Another rush. This time to the train on the Pasig quay. Got there 8.a.m. The last detachment of the 51st Iowa was on the train en route to the front. Brother Peter Shipper of the U.S. Engineer corps was down there with his wagon and team. Had a few San Francisco War Crys under his seat. Corporal Krell wanted to visit “Freedom” office on the Escolta. I spoke to Shipper & he gave us a place by his side on the seat & put us down beyond the Gen’l Blanco Bridge. Together we (K & I) visited the newspaper office. On the wagon I inquired of Shipper his spiritual standing. Replied that he is doing well in his soul. At the Freedom office I parted from Krell. Purchased some sea shells for my collection, also groceries.

Arriving home turned my attention to my Philippines narratives & completed it up to date – 8 pages MS under the following subheads, “Uncle Sam’s Railroad”, “On The Battle Line”, “A Spaniard Killed”, “Malolos”. Also sent a photograph: an Aguinaldo demonstration in Malolos at the time of declaring the “republic”. Wrote a letter to Lt. Col. Wm Evans & sent with it, also wrote my 23d weekly letter to Lieut-Col. Alice Lewis, New York & a letter to Private Geo Berry, Convalescent Hospital, Corregidor island. Copied these letters. Also made up a package of religious papers – specially War Crys – for him – Berry.

Brother Ed Stockton , Co. H. 1st Colorado Vol. Inf. Walked in from the water works, 9 miles. In answer to my interrogations said the Lord healed his backslidings & he is now saved. He prayed God to do it about the time of his last visit to No. 2. It will be remembered Stockton left a letter on my table requesting prayer on his behalf. The news of Stockton reclamation was cheering to me. Praise & glory to my precious God, who is so wonderful in mercy.

We prayed together before S. returned to his company.

Rev. & Mrs. Owens returned home from the bay. Bro. O. paid me $17.50 Mex, rent for his 3 rooms and kitchen for the month March 16th to April 15th.

Cooked supper. Busy all day. Time passes so swiftly. The Manila dailies surprised us with news of war just starting between England and China outside of Kowloon, near Hongkong, where Ensign May Jackson resides.

1. CPL Krell and the cockroach continued to puzzle me. That 1st Iowa Pork Cooker struck me as most peculiar in that he wanted to visit the photo-studio so badly.     
2. 

1 Samuel 23:16

And Jonathan Saul's son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.

and see 1.
3. There was something kind of "ugh" about an American who rejected caffeine. 
4. PVT Shipper was out and about (See the SGT Asendorf entry next. M.), and of course the cockroach bummed a ride. 
5. The cockroach drivel doth he scribble.

Matthew 23:13

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

6. PVT Stockton decided to tell the cockroach that he had found 'salvation"? That 18 mile round trip walk was impressive. If he had been like the cockroach he would have bummed a ride or stolen a Filipino horse. But if he had had any brains, our PVT Stockton, he would have talked to his regimental chaplain and saved his aching feet.  
7. The Reverend Owens paid his debts. How about the cockroach? By last calculation, he was a full month in arrears to his landlady, Senora Woods... again.  
8. What war could that have been?  Smedley Butler was going to be very busy thanks to British Imperialism.  

===============================================================================

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 17th-99

Quiet. Guard at 5 p.m.

9. You know that maxim? "Quiet before the storm."



================================================================================

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Monday, April 17th, 1899

The weather is very warm all day. I wrote a letter in the a.m. and moved my stuff up to the company’s quarters being disgusted with the way they are running things in the commissary. We have fresh meat in the morning but the post commissary issued the same straite(?) to the companies. In the evening we all enjoyed a swim or a row in the bay while some are fishing.

11. Considering that SGT Asendorf knew all the Army Commissariat tricks, being one of those knaves himself, I think he might have thought those fellows "untrustworthy" when it came to respecting his "property" that he stole from abandoned Filipino houses on his various looting expeditions?

[oscssw]

Funny you should show Custer's Last Stand. My next mini ATL is about that.

[miletus12]

A new voice:

Diary of Edwa ON TO MANILA, U.S.S. Hancock, April 18, 1899.

Tuesday. Left San Francisco about five o’clock in the morning and passed through the Golden Gate an hour or two afterwards. The early morning was clear and cool with just enough swell to make it interesting. We left the pilot just outside the harbor. The day’s run was about seventy-eight miles, as we had to lay to for a while in order to repair a broken valve. This was rather tiresome because the boat pitched badly in the swells and the lockers had to be put on the dinner tables.

The dining room is well fitted with comfortable chairs, a piano, and seats between sixty and seventy. All the servants are Chinese, and they make good, clean workers. Meade, Huguet, McKaskey, Weeks, Boyle, Fassett, and Lawton are my messmates, and we hold our own very well. The meals cost a dollar a day, and we generally manage to get our money’s worth. The menu is varied and gives as much variety as can be expected on board a first-class steamer. The privates fare very well and have little to complain of.

Wednesday. This diary is, like all diaries (with the exception of perhaps Pepys’s Diary), very much the same as the days go by. We made good time to-day, that is we went 289 miles, and are holding a westerly course. This boat is a fine steamer about 475 feet long and big in proportion. There are nearly 1700 souls on board including the crew, which numbers 179. The ship’s captain is a big, blue-eyed Anglo-Saxon, who has followed the sea all his life and who seems to have been well treated by it. He has some efficient officers under him.

The enlisted men have their quarters fore and aft, and are well provided with iron cots. Several windsails make the ventilation clear and cool ’tween decks, and besides these there are some big ventilators near the whacking big smokestack. This stack is nearly six feet in diameter, and is in the centre with two masts fore and two aft. Some of the officers have been sick, but I have not been except the first day, when I felt headachy and did not enjoy the motion of the ship any too well.

Sunday. This diary has suffered lately from great neglect, and it has cried out so loudly the last few days that I had to help it. We have been going along very well lately and are already more than fourteen hundred miles on our way. Our course so far has been west, and now we are taking a southwest course so as to pass north of the Hawaiian Islands and stay in as cool a climate as possible. A day or so ago we passed a brigantine with all sails set, and it made me think of some of Washington Irving’s meditations on seeing a lone ship at sea.

I was on guard Friday and had to inspect sentries three or four times. This was not very arduous work, since there is only a small place where the men guard. The boat is so crowded that the men find it hard to eat their food on the decks. An officer is supposed to inspect his company at meals. I am writing this in the dining room among a number of the officers who are playing cards, writing, talking, and fooling. This room has a piano and accommodates a large number.

For the last day or two we have been giving the men a number of drills; that is, short drills in calisthenics, or setting-up exercises. The boys have just gathered round the piano and are singing “A Hot Time in the Old Town.” You can imagine that this was not allowed to last long, but we ordered some ginger-pop and apollinaris to cool our throats. This writing is too much of an effort, and I must get to bed very soon. The sleeping accommodations are very good, as we have two berths and a sofa.

Monday. The day opened with a fog which had been overhang- ing us for the last few days. My company commander was put on guard, and so I took charge of the company during drill this morning.

The fog lasted all day and well into the next. We have been sailing through thousands of “ Portuguese men-of-war,” or nautiluses. These little jelly-fishes are beautifully colored and have a little pointed jelly fin on a flat, spherical body; underneath is a hollow with little suckers by means of which they get their sustenance from the water. It is hard to see what they live on. Their little conical sails propel them about. During the day we passed through some pretty seaweed and large masses of a pale green weed, very much like that seen on a frog pond. In these patches were myriads of nautiluses. Some of the waves brought the little creatures on deck, but they did not seem to have much life in them.

The next day, April 26, was a little more pleasant, and in fact there was hardly any sea on. About reveille (six in the morning) one of the men was buried. The burial must have been very simple, for I did not see it, and was only awakened by the stopping of the boat. A splash, and that was all; another soul to join the grewsome habitants of the deep. It made me think of the burial of Sir John Moore: —

“ Not a drum was heard,
Not a funeral note,” etc.

I suppose I shall soon become accustomed to sudden death.^1

During the afternoon the only excitement was a fire drill. The whistle blew a warning note, and we hurried to our companies to keep them quiet. The crew and some details of soldiers placed themselves near the boats, and the hose was gotten ready. Then the boat blew its siren whistle, and bells rang, and the hose played, and the drill was over.

After lunch J read “The Adventures of Philip,” by Thackeray. This writer’s books are all interesting, and have so many touches of nature and life; but what am I to talk about life, who have only just crossed the threshold a little way? The doorstone in Memorial Hall used to be so worn with countless steps, — steps that pass and repass and grow stronger or weaker, to finally go out into the land to their duty. Thackeray has a way of reminding one of early childhood and shows touches so natural that one keeps saying to himself, “Why, that is just what I have thought, but could not express.”

One would not think thus unless he had the same feelings, and it shows that self is every one’s guidance. Put self in the background and it will out, too strong in some and well balanced in others. Then again one cannot bite off very much of Thackeray at a time, but should see what he thinks of people and retain some of the plums and curt expressions occasionally.

We skipped Thursday because the ship crossed the 180° meridian, and according to reckoning we lose a day going west and gain one going east at this point in the centre of the Pacific halfway round the world. The captain is holding a southwest course so as to keep us as cool as possible. He expects to reach Manila in about ten days more. I must say something right here about the lost day.

The day passed as usual except that we had a funeral in the evening. The services were very impressive. Just before the body was placed on the port rail, ready to be launched into eternity, the silvery moon came rolling out of the clouds, and that combined with the bareheaded spectators made a scene to be remembered. The services were soon read, a plunge, and another being had joined the graveyard of the deep.

It is now Friday evening, and we have had a delightful day with hardly any swell to speak of, although the sea is still restless. I got up at quarter-past six and took a refreshing salt-water bath in one of the bathrooms. Then I went on deck and inspected my company at breakfast. The men all line up, and with mess pans in hand take their turns and fill their stomachs. At twenty minutes of ten we had short setting-up drill and then loafed until lunch at 12.30. During the afternoon I read, and slept until supper at 6. These meals do not come any too soon for most of us.

In the evening we loafed about the deck and had solid comfort. The boat’s searchlight was turned on for a few minutes and pop up the waters pretty well.

1. "Lockers" are skid locks so that dinnerware will not slide off the tables.
2. USS Hancock:


She was an old ship with possibly contaminated water mains. See 6.
3. Ginger pop=> what passed for coca cola. Apollinaris would have been flavored and possibly carbonated water. 
4. ^1 

CHARLES WOLFE

The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna

Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As his corse to the rampart we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
O'er the grave where our hero was buried.

We buried him darkly at dead of night,
The sods with our bayonets turning,
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light
And the lantern dimly burning.

No useless coffin enclosed his breast,
Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him;
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest
With his martial cloak around him.

Few and short were the prayers we said,
And we spoke not a word of sorrow;
But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead,
And we bitterly thought of the morrow.

We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed
And smoothed down his lonely pillow,
That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head,
And we far away on the billow!

Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone,
And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him —
But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on
In the grave where a Briton has laid him.

But half of our heavy task was done
When the clock struck the hour for retiring;
And we heard the distant and random gun
That the foe was sullenly firing.

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,
From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone,
But we left him alone with his glory!

Unfortunately...

I suppose I shall soon become accustomed to sudden death.^1

Edward Avery Bumpus will soon join him in death as a Filipino will kill him. Such are the wages of imperialists' wars.
5. The Adventures of Philip on his Way Through the World: Shewing Who Robbed Him, Who Helped Him, and Who Passed Him By By and large, it is a plotboiler of a burnt-out writer, Thackery, on the downslide of his career, and somewhat "depressing". There is a foreshadow here for you reader.
6. The burials at sea averaged 1 a week. I have as yet not determined what killed these soldiers.  I suspect it was poisoned water. The reason I suspect it, is because none of the officers drank water from the ship's taps.
7. The desalinator did not work.
8. The "cheerful" description of this trip left my skin crawling. Bumpus must not have had much contact with the line soldiers at all on the USAT Hancock. Their accounts of this type voyage paint an entirely different and much griimer picture of seasickness, overcrowding, boredom, heat, and casual callous death at sea.
   
===============================================================================

Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Tuesday, April 18th, 1899

Manila, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo

Rain. Heavy black clouds hung on the horizon & partially emptied themselves upon the earth in a brief but heavy shower. A clammy heat heavily charged with moisture oppresses one tonight. Bible reading in Leviticus & Psalms & prayer started the serious work of the day. Cooking & washing dishes also claimed time.

Quite a number of visitors came in thro’ the day, some to see the Owens’ & some to see me.

Prepared my mail for the post office. Took the same to the office, likewise, mail from Owens & Chaplain Stephenson.The stoogesd 

Down on the Escolta saw some beautiful & very odd sea shells. Purchased several for my cabinet. Shells, minerals & curios by purchase, gift and personal collecting having been accumulating in my hands for 18 or 20 years. In the aggregate they would make quite a museum. Purchased several papers.

Bro. G. H. French of Co. G. 1st Colorado Vol. Inf. called at No. 2, inquired about the state of his soul & prayed with him. Bro. D. C. Hines E. C. 1st Montana Vol. Inf. also called with a couple of soldier companions. A member of the 3d artillery brought me the Evening “Times”.

The non-official peace commissioner, composed of Filipino merchants, doctors, lawyers etc., went north as far as the train can proceed to urge Aguinaldo & his followers to quit their foolishness & surrender. I heard that Aguinaldo sent word the last day or two that he is willing to surrender but cannot control his followers. General Pio del Pilar was arrested in this city last Saturday. He slipped in somehow. I imagine Manila is rapidly filling with Filipinos again. How they get in is the question. Brother Stockton told me yesterday that where his is stationed there is a break in our line of about 5 miles but it is patrolled by our troops.

An effort is being made at any rate for peace, thank God. May the Lord give a peace that shall glorify His name & bless the dark-souled millions of this archipelago, amen. It is no pleasure to me – this slaughter of the misguided Filipinos now in progress.

I received two letters (1) Staff-Captain Emil Marcussen, Randers, Denmark. Said his division is in excellent condition. Took charge weeping, but God has given blessed success. Expects to farewell for foreign parts. My portrait hangs in his dining room. His children, the 2 sometimes imprint a kiss on it & Willie prays for me. Staff Captain Marcussen has been 9 years in Denmark. When he left California for that field the Lord gave me opportunity to give him a Christian send-off. May God make his future even more successful than the past. (2) Major John Bond, Secretary International Literary Bureau, 101 Queen Victoria street, London, Eng. wants me to write forthwith an article re the Philippines for “All the World”, the English S.A. monthly. Both this and the New York “Harbor Lights”, contributions are hurry articles.

Cooking & washing dishes twice each day makes a big hold in my time, add to that the time given to writing & it will be self-evident that time for meetings, camp and hospital visitation etc. is quite limited. My work in connection with the army & navy requires considerable travelling & much waiting on the opportunities & whims connected with war & the will of commanding officers.

9. Picking up...

Leviticus 18:22 KJV

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

and 

Psalm 88:8

Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

Truly verses that fitted the cockroach? 
10. Doing the chores is not wasting time. It is part of our humanity, for we are task oriented or we should be.  
11. Methodists to see the Owens and crooks to see the cockroach. And yes, there was and is a difference.
12. Wonder why Chaplain Stephenson left his mail there? Probably with the Owens... Last time Milsaps met him, Stephenson told the cockroach to "Get bent". The cockroach took their mail to the post office? Curious. Must have owed the Owens a big favor.
13. She sold seashells to a somnolent stooge at the Escolta, such free stuff off the sand at seven pence.
14. Hines and French, still sounded like catshup and salad dressing to me. That is a Strange combo of the 1st Montana Bushwhackers and 1st Colorado Road Agents in that pair. Remember all of these yahoos know each other through Milsaps.  The soldier from the 3rd US Artillery is also curious. WHY would he drop off a newspaper? Something smelled fishy there, too. 
15.  You ever get the feeling that the cockroach received the "straight dope"^2 third hand and badly garbled, but just had to put his spin on it, to make himself appear like he was in on the inside know? For example, Pio dce Pilar captured>  I happened to know that one was a bald faced lie. WHY?

^ Bilge, claptrap, unverified rumor, lies, made up stories, fanciful tales, etc...   

Background of the Battle of Paye

In December, 1899, a group of U.S. soldiers was tasked with taking back the control of San Mateo from the Filipino soldiers. The U.S. army also wanted to engage and defeat General Pio de Pilar, a Filipino general who was leading nearly 1000 soldiers. So General Henry Ware Lawton led a small U.S. army towards San Mateo. The road they had to take was dangerous.

Many portions of it were flooded and the surrounding area comprised of rice fields. It was also the monsoon season, so the road that the U.S. army had to travel was muddy and quite difficult. The U.S. army under General Lawton reached near San Mateo on December 18, 1899. However, Filipino troops were positioned outside the town to defend it against the Americans.

When and where did the battle take place

The Battle of Paye took place on December 19, 1899. It was fought at a place called Paye located near San Mateo in Philippines.

Commanders on both sides

The U.S. army was commanded by General Henry Ware Lawton and Colonel James R. Lockett. It comprised of the 11th Volunteer Cavalry and the 29th Battalion.

The Filipino troops were led by General Licerio Geronimo who led a portion of the Filipino army known as the Morong Command battalion.

The Fighting

On December 19, 1899, the American army had reached near the San Mateo town and headed towards the town to enter it. They were met with firing from the Filipino troops positioned outside the town. American soldiers were forced to take cover in rice fields.

General Lawton encouraged the American troops by walking up and down the lines. He wore a white coat which was very visible from the distance. As he was walking among his troops, he was shot and killed by a sniper fire from Filipino side. This greatly damaged the morale of the American soldiers. However, the American army continued to advance and was soon able to enter San Mateo, forcing the Filipino troops to retreat from the town.

Result and Aftermath

The battle was a victory for the U.S. army. 11 American soldiers died in the battle while 13 were wounded. The Filipino army retreated from San Mateo. 40 Filipino soldiers died during the fighting while around 125 were wounded. Although the American army won the battle, the death of General Henry Ware Lawton was a major blow. He was the highest-ranking American army officer to have died in the Philippine-American War.

THAT is why I know.
16. ITALICS (INTENSE SARCASM) I wish that the cockroach would not pretend that the expletive deleted shill organization he worked for, was anything but the 1899 scam act we now know thateven he realized it was, as we read his diary entries. The 1900 reforms of New York where the Booth Tuckers were finally thrown out of the American chapters, have not happened yet.
17. See 10. about doing chores. As for "the will of the commanding officers"; if not for sticky American politics and the military law, the cockroach would have wound up like Prinz Ludwig.   
 
================================================================================

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 18th-99

Last night was on outpost away up river road. Several filips showed themselves within 200 ft. but, rather than betray our outposts we let them go. Outpost to N. were fired upon –but held position. Rained hard and blew last night. We had a large canoe to use in case the outpost was compelled to fall back as the bamboo bridge is such an easy mark. Moon until 1 a.m. Getting hotter everyday. St. Cruz expedition returned after a very successful campaign. We sung tonight upon the balcony and has almost made me homesick.

18. I knew it, they were stuck on the wrong side of the Pasig!

===============================================================================

Diary of James J. Loughrey April 18, 1899

We arrived at Bacolod at noon having had very little sleep for over 50 hours. Coffee supplies had been non-existent on board.

19. The 1st California Flour Mill Thieves are definitely hunting for coal.

===============================================================================

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Tuesday, April 18th, 1899

The weather is fine but warm. A good many of our men are getting passes to go to Manila. We received some rations up until twenty(?) and some fresh meat which I cut up but I made up my mind to quit unless I get extra pay. I am now all together with the company which hasn’t started to do anything outside of guard duty.

20. That sure must have been tough carabao. 



21. With SGT Asendorf you have to tease out details. "Not with the company" can mean that he was up to something for which he did not want witnesses. 

[miletus12]

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 19th-99

To Pasig to draw clothes in a.m. On the road I saw an armadillo with his scaly hide. Captured some tomatoes from an old hag on way back, they were the first fresh vegetables I’ve had for a long time. In p.m. several of us went up to Lake in a large canoe –7 of us– to shoot ducks. We only got 7 but had lots of target. The Maj. tho’t we had run up against the filips and sent out a relief. We did get shot at but it was long range. Fried duck with tomatoes. Swim often in river. Sun swings almost over head at noon.

1. That was the 1st Washington Tobacco Thieves, laundry wash point.
2. The armadillo was a sign of "bad luck".
3. At least he calls "theft" theft.
4. Duck hunt.


Philippine Duck (^^^)

5.

"Duck suits". (^^^)

====================================================

Cockroach:

Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Wednesday, April 19th, 1899

Cavite, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo



Hot day, although heavy clouds hung in the sky and breezes fanned sultry atmosphere from time to time. Up early & out of bed. Bible lesson and prayer. Cooked breakfast, partook thereof and washed the dishes in a hurry. Then proceeded down to the quay on front of the U.S. Quartermaster’s depot paid 20 cents Mex, fare & traveled 12 miles to Cavite. Saw the battleship “Oregon” in all the glory of white paint and black guns. First time that I have seen the now famous fighter since her completion. Was present in San Francisco at the launching of the hull.



Cavite is filling with Filipinos again. When the war broke out these people cleared out in short order.



This day might appropriately be termed a prayer circle day. I chased up and down the streets of Cavite an hour or two trying to find Private Chester Blaney of H. G. 10th Pennsylvania Vol. Inf., who was on guard detail. At last I found my man in bed resting on the back second floor of the Colegio de la Sagrada Familia – Roman Catholic – made notorious by the Filipinos (this building) when filled with sick and starving Spanish prisoners when I first landed in Cavite last July. I talked with him about various subjects not omitting spiritual. When about to leave I knelt down & prayed & requested Blaney to do the same. He bowed his head but did not kneel or pray. Says he is keeping saved. Advised him to be brave for Jesus or be aggressive. Together we visited a backslider Salvationist, but the latter appeared asleep.



Bidding Blaney good-bye I crossed the street to the Divisional hospital. Met Brother [A.J] Smith. Together we visited Bro. Hans [Verweibe], Salvationist, pastry cook, Verweibe, myself, Brother A.J. Smith, Hospital corps, Bro. Geo Baker of A. Battery, California Heavy Artillery had a little prayer gathering of our own in the sleeping room occupied by Verweibe and Smith on the ground floor of the hospital. Up stairs I was take to Bro. Z. K. Miller of the Ice factory. The latter not satisfied with the quietude of the ice plant, wen out to the front & helped the North Dakota regiment in battle. Consequence: sun struck or over heated. He is improving again. I kneeled down & prayed with him.



Verweibe accompanied me to the Naval Hospital down in the Arsenal. A sailor on Calle Real informed me that Bro. Eletson was therein sick. When I entered the main entrance the first thing that caught my eye was a commode with a bible & small book – help to the study of the bible – on top & behold near behind the door lay Brother e. on a cot. He is troubled with malaria, & thro’ too much hard work broke down. Looks pale. Comforted him. Before leaving kneeled down by his bedside & prayed. Says the Doctor may send him to the U.S. Naval hospital at Yokohama, Japan. Showed me two begging letters one from Adj. Ellis, Yokohama, which stated that the S.A. Sailors’ Home is running behind & that unless same thing was done financially it may have to be closed. I was under the impression that that home was a source of income. Staff Captain Symour S. A. Sailor’s Home at HongKong also wants money. The S/C complains of his wife’s poor health & hints that a change of climate may be necessary.



Verweibe gave me $7 U.S. coin Tenth League payment.


Verweibe gave me $7 U.S. coin Tenth League payment. I spoke to several individuals personally re salvation.


Arriving in Manila, called at the post office. Returned home, cooked supper, washed dishes & am now tired & sleepy.

6. LIAR.

 

War Gray > barrels and all. Enroute to Manila from New York.
7. The USN hired back the former workers at the ex-Spanish naval base. They will be salvaging wrecks and repairing and Americanizing captured Spanish gunboats. I think I know how some Filipino readers might feel about that one, but it was a dark time, and people had to make the best of a horrible situation. It would have been better if the idiots in Washington had leased Cavite and if the Aguinaldo government had existed, sovereign, as the legal Filipino government which it was. But that was not what was in 19 April 1899.    
8. PVT Chester Blaney of the 10th Pennsylvania Train Bandits episode: you get the feeling that the cockroach was lucky that PVT Blaney did not have his revolver on him? 
9. PVT Smith and civilian bummer Verweibe and PVT Beiber and black marketeer Z. K. Miller episode: what to make of this one?  Two REMFs, one pastry chef and a war criminal civilian are the Milsaps gang here. We have seen these fellows by their deeds as recounted in Milsaps' previous diary entries. 

Matthew 7:16 

“By their deeds you will know them. Does a man gather grapes from thorns or figs from briars?”

10. Remember Eletson, who was busted down from Fireman to stoker? Malaria. Funny how THAT happened. As a sidebar, we get a glimpse of what happened to all that Salvation Army money that was supposed to go to Yokohama, Japan and to Hong Kong. The cockroach is surprised that it never made it? The Booth Tuckers STOLE it. The mismanagement by the local S/A yahoos is no surprise either. I mean look at how the cockroach has fouled up the Manila station? 
11.  After scamming money, the real reason the cockroach sought out all of his "associates" this date, (Verweibe forked over some cash, go figure. M.), the cockroach went about bothering people. NSA. 0% success or he would have written it down. 

cooked supper, washed dishes & am now tired & sleepy

12. Why did he wash dishes TWICE? Could it be that the monkey got in again and ramsacked the dishes he just threw into the soaker that morning? What do you think, Reader?

====================================================

 Diary of William R. JohnsonApl 19th 1899

 Return to Manila after 14 days of vigilance–We were attacked most ever night by the rebs We are under orders to prepare for a long Campaign through the center of Luzon.

13. Rifle hunt, the first I have seen recorded in this war. Usual warcrimes which we will become all too familiar with, reader.

====================================================
  
Diary of John Henry Asendorf Wednesday, April 19th, 1899

The weather is fine. We are resting but several orders are read to us. The regular routine of business will commence on the 20th. the Colonel [Alexander Hawkins] made a trip across Manila.

These would be orders in garrison or provost regulations, depending if the 10th Pennsylvania Train Bandits are in garrison, most of them, or playing military cops  illegally oppressing Filipino citizens, some of them.     





  

[miletus12]

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 20th-99

Scouts under Serg. Rawson sprung the filips this side of the ruined church in the Village on the shore, the flips pressed them hard so Co D went out “mucho pronto” –and deployed at the edge of the bamboo. The field was perfectly level and clear with the flips in plain view in skirmish line 1000 y’ds in front. Advanced by rushes under close heavy firing. They broke when we got to 400 yds. Those to left by rt flank –thereby flanking us on the rt. They were all in white and we got some splendid shooting and bro’t many to earth –but they got most of them to the rear under cover of bamboos. We got one officer. A scout from Co G on Smith’s Run Hill, waded the swamp and forded the creek & reported 500 flips on our rt. flank. We laid low until scouts reported them in full flight to s.w. Then we went back to church –having had the prettiest fight I’ve been in –and a heavy fire. We had 40 men in the field –while the original 300 flips were reinforced by at least 250 more and their reserve of at least 1000 lay low along the hills. One man shot in eye ranged downward to low back –also in left arm. Winders in abdomen. Both are mortally wounded. Strobe shot in eye whirled like a top. A man of H Co who was with us also was wounded. It was a fine battle on a typical battle field, but on the records will go down as a skirmish for we fell back in eve to church. Fully ten men knocked out by heat. We got many flips –blood all over the ground, trees and grass.

1. The 1st Washington Tobacco Thieves got three sided in a stuipid tactical mistake they made. Their scouts saved their lives by warning then of Ricardi's cross front flanking movement and the WTT's pulled back into a crescent just in the nick of time. The Filipino genralship up to this point has been rather good. What keeps foxing them is the refusal of the Americans (by now professionalized.), to break and the disparity in firearms and ammunition quality. Courage on both sides is remarkably good and wasted.    

===============================================================================

Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Thursday, April 20th, 1899

Paombong, Bulacan Province, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo

I am returned from a village about 2 miles beyod Malolos, Paombong, and feel thoroughly tired and sleepy and still hot or rather feeling the effects of walking miles in the fierce sun. Rev. Owens purposed the other day that we go today, but when the time came he had an excuse and did not go.

I got up early, read as chapter in Leviticus & a psalm, prayed, cooked breakfast & then walked down to the 8.30a.m. train and at that have rolled north to Malolos where I arrived between 11 & 12 o’ clock noon. Spoke to a soldier about a salvation on the way down to the train. On my way to the main plaza from the depot met an old Filipino woman (beggar) crawling along the street. Gave her 2 cents Mex. Made my way to Battery H. 3d Heavy Artillery. On the way out by invitation went in the hospital to sit, chat & cool off.

Then struck out again to the extreme outpost towards the bay south west of Calumpit. All the way out met acquaintances. Half a mile before reaching Paombong I struck the American outposts facing the bay or marshes on that side & a watercourse from whence that Filipinos surprise & attack came last week. The boys are alert now for anything of the kind, which is likely to come at any moment. This forenoon when our train passed Guiguinto station south of Malolos, the 13th Minnesota men informed us that an attack had been made upon them a few minutes before our arrival. This several miles in the rear of our battle line. On my return by the 4.30p.m. train south, I could see in the direction of the foreman attack clouds of smoke ascending from a burning village & farm houses.

After passing the Filipino beggar woman on the depot to the town of Malolos. I met Bro. Georgeson of Co. 1st South Dakota Vol. Inf. He is a backslider Salvationist. At one period, G. was a true Christian. Says now he tried to live a true Christian in the U.S. army but failed, can’t succeed so thinks trying is useless. Urged him earnestly to try again. Seemed more affected than any previous conversation since his downfall. G. had his gun & cartridges as if out on patrol.

Reaching the Roman Catholic church, a solid stone structure with thick walls & heavy buttresses at the base, a soldier acted as guide. I ascended thro’ some man-holes resembling passages in mines to the roof, where one or two American sentries were watching the surrounding country, at present occupied by the enemy. I saw a town in a forest. The men thinks it is Calumpit, but are not certain.

When I came down from the roof 3 men who rode up to the church on horseback were just preparing from dinner in the main entrance on an old broken bench. The men were 2 representatives of Frank Leslies’ Illustrated newspaper. Mr. and Mr. . also Dr. of A. Battery, Utah Light Artillery. The Doctor opened a can of baked beans, this with ginger snaps, soda crackers, and pea nuts (latter supplied by me) & water out of a canteen constituted our repast. These gentlemen were very friendly to me. God bless them.

On my trip I addressed salvation advice to 2 crowds of soldiers on outpost & spoke personally to Brothers, Oden, Harris, Rensberger, Hofferstine of the churches & Devine, (Landon) Frank Amie & an Army convert. Amie & I prayed together in a native hut. He brought me coffee beans and bread for dinner, but I thanked him for the food, accepting the will for the act. Devine was standing guard on the bank of a stream a few yards from where 2 of his commanders were shot last week. We talked of matters of Christ’s Kingdom as he sat in the shade of a pandamus tree. Indeed, all the men of H. battery I spoke to were on the extreme picket line.

Arrived in Manila about 5.50p.m. after a railroad trip of 42 miles. This makes my third to Malolos.

This evening’s “Times” denies that Gen. Pilar is captured.

I cooked supper after returning from the front. Did not feel like it. Rev. Owens gave me some stew. Was welcome. I am glad of the prospect of a grand night’s rest. The sweat is oozing from my body from every pore – the calming perspiration of this hot, steamy quarter of the earth.

The Christians in the batteries are keeping close to Christ. Praise God. I am very glad to learn this. Bro. Devine looks better. Is improving in health.

There is talk of another advance forward.

2. I wonder how the cockroach insulted Owens? 
3. 

Leviticus 6: 2-5

“If a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by lying[ a] to his neighbor about what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or about [ b]a pledge, or about a robbery, or if he has extorted from his neighbor, 3 or if he has found what was lost and lies concerning it, and swears falsely—in any one of these things that a man may do in which he sins: 4 then it shall be, because he has sinned and is guilty, that he shall [ c]restore what he has stolen, or the thing which he has extorted, or what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or the lost thing which he found, 5 or all that about which he has sworn falsely. 

 and

Psalm 12


12 Save me, Lord, because the good people are all gone;

no true believers are left on earth.

2 Everyone lies to his neighbors;

they say one thing and mean another.



3 The Lord will stop those flattering lips

and cut off those bragging tongues.

4 They say, “Our tongues will help us win.

We can say what we wish; no one is our master.”



5 But the Lord says,

“I will now rise up,

because the poor are being hurt.

Because of the moans of the helpless,

I will give them the help they want.”

6 The Lord’s words are pure,

like silver purified by fire,

like silver purified seven times over.



7 Lord, you will keep us safe;

you will always protect us from such people.

8 But the wicked are all around us;

everyone loves what is wrong.

I think Milsaps missed those lessons.
4. How much is charity worth to the cockroach? 1 cent if you are a Filipino. GRRR.
5. The cockroach, having tried to raise money yesterday and failed, tried again today. How much success had he? Not much. After the 13th Minnesota Chesse Thieves told him to get lost, he tried to hit up PVT Georgeson. You know Georgeson was a "backslider" / non-contributor, when he told the cockroach that he was broke. 
6. See IMAGE.
Saint Johns. . Beautifully rebuilt after its destruction by the Americans. 
7. The 13th Minnesota Cheese Thieves repulsed another attempt to cut the railroad. 
8. More arson and looting in progress of course. The cockroach does not seem to be affected by it. 
9. The two reporters and 1 attached civilian doctor to the Mormons incident: three more yahoo tourists, who had no business being there, much like the cockroach, out to sightsee and loot. Milsaps bummed a meal off of them. Like unto like. 
10.  NSA at the two lectures to the troops the cockroach harassed with his sermons or he would have written about "saved" souls. 
11.  Oden, Harris, Rensberger, Hofferstine of the churches & Devine, four Christian Commission yahoos and one of the cockroach's recruited flunkies. And of course PVT Aimie who provided army rations for the cockroach to eat. 
12. Of course the cockroach bummed a ride on a stolen Filipino train the US Army used to move supplies. So he did not "walk" those 42 miles. He rode in comfort.
13.

This evening’s “Times” denies that Gen. Pilar is captured.

As if the rumor mill could be trusted or the cockroach's claims from 4 days ago? 
14. The cockroach bummed his dinner off Reverend Owens. 
15. 

The Christians in the batteries are keeping close to Christ. Praise God. I am very glad to learn this. Bro. Devine looks better. Is improving in health.

There is talk of another advance forward.

The cockroach observed nothing and learned nothing. See 13.

OBSERVANT Miletus 

================================================================================

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Thursday, April 20th, 1899

The weather is fine. Most of our time is spent in reading and writing and bathing. We have all seen there is to be seen in Cavite.

16. Things could be worse for the 10th Pannsylvania Train Bandits. They could be where the 1st Washington Tobacco Thieves were having a "Hot time in the old bamboo fields tonight". INTENSE SARCASM.

[miletus12]

Diary of Chriss A. Bell April 18-21, 1899

Nothing to note in last three days except mail arrived yesterday and massing of brigade to move down valley. Now Col. Summers is in charge of brigade. All quiet.

1. The 2nd Oregon Furniture Thieves are headed into the Lingayan Plain.

===============================================================================

Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Friday, April 21st, 1899

Manila, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo

The time is now about 8 p.m. Word has lately – since dark been brought from U.S. Headquarters to the Utah artillerymen across the street from my house, that the Filipinos are expected to rise tonight in Manila. An attack is expected to be made on the Cuartel Meisig close to my house. The old Spanish woman, Senora Dolores Valcacer is frightened. She got wind of it somehow & made a flying visit up stairs.

I attempted the article for “Harbor Lights”, Mrs. Brewer wrote me to send her, the title will probably be Four (or five) nights in the Philippines. Did not make much progress because of much company. Rev. Rogers, a Presbyterian missionary from the Southern part of Brazil arrived today by steamer. Left his wife or children in China. Mr. Randall of the Bible Society brought him around. A lady came also.

Bro. D. G. Hines came. Is not improving as rapidly as one could wish. Capt. Morrison & daughter, Agnes, also called. They are staying with the Owens’ tonight. I have given the latter permission to use one of my rooms during the night. They borrowed 2 cots from the Utah men.

I went to the post office this morning but rec’d nothing; U.S. mail came but was not distributed; called again this p.m. with better success. (1) a short letter of no importance from Lt.-Col. Alice Lewis, New York, enclosing a pamphlet of instruction re Self Denial Week. I have no heart to do any more self-denying than I am doing to raise money for the General or Booth-Tucker. Their reputation for wasting money is discouraging. Com. B.-T. is the author of the pamphlet.

(2) Adjutant C. Wilfred Bourne, written at New York, March 13th, brings heavy news & hints at move. Says he learned in Commanders’ office that the San Francisco Cal. War Cry is doomed – “sure thing” this time. God forbid. For a period of long years the U.S. leader stationed in New York tried to suspend the little paper. I prayed God and trusted him & worked to keep it going. The Lord did not permit it to fail praise His dear name. The N. Yorkers are again at their old game. May God block it again if best in His sight.

I quote Bourne: “Rumour says that we are likely to lose Commander in a year or so. He will have been with us then five years. Remember I received above in confidence but was allowed to write you.” Evidently the General had been petitioned to recall Commander & Mrs. Booth–Tucker & he does not wish to comply with the request for a year or two, which is equivalent to not granting it. Bourne says he wrote another on the can but I did not get it.

Tonight the moon gives light thro’ light clouds. There will be some light at least in case they make an attack.

This a.m. at a Chinese gallery on Calle Nueva, I obtained 10 photographs of the recent fight over at Santa Maria, with kindred pictures taken by Corporal Krell. lI mailed some papers to Bro. Berry at Corregidor Is. hospital yesterday morning & this p.m. sent a package of envelopes, 2 lead pencils & some writing paper to Private Frank Amie, Battery H. 3d Heavy Artillery at Paombong.

Taps is now sounding over in the Cuartel Meisig. I am hot & sleepy & want to retire. Unto my God I give praise for His providential care over me

2. Another alarm from another rumor. Will the cockrtoach be correct about this one?
3. The cockroach had assoted (That is NOT a misspelling) visitors. 
4. Hines is not improving. There could be several reasons, but the most likely is that he is not following the treatment regimen for malaria.  Even in 1898, your average Filipino physician, Shoshone Sundancer or Cuban researcher knew this. 
5. You remember  CAPT Morrison, reader, as the idiot who ran his steamer aground southwest of Cavite? He had to have lodgings until the USN and the Filipinos they hired salvage his ship. He will face a review board for it. Milsaps collected rent off of him. Of course the bunks came from the American army. Far be it from Milsaps to show Christian charity to provide beds, when he has MORMONS to do it for him.^1 
6. INTENSE SARCASM and Italics:

I have no heart to do any more self-denying than I am doing to raise money for the General or Booth-Tucker. Their reputation for wasting money is discouraging. Com. B.-T. is the author of the pamphlet.

Complained one chiseler about another bunch of chiselrs. The upshot is that the Booth Tuckers have worn out their welcome and the Americans are about to pack those neverdowells off back to England where they can gull those folks. 
7. See MAP.

That is where the US 3rd Artillery was.
8. More INTENSE SARCASM. The cockroach can rest secure knowing that the Photo-studio thieves and the Train Bandits are between the Filipino patriots and SCUM like him.  

^1 For all their moral and ethical faults, and they were many, the Men of the Utah Battery are what American soldiers should have been. M.  

===============================================================================

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 21-99

Was on lower river outpost last night. Saw only one filip. Heavy volley Krags firing to the east over Smith’s run for ½ hour. Hot today. 2000 (Filipino patriots.) in view at noon coming our way in double skirmish line but they did not attack.

9. You read where I had to edit it? Disgraceful.

===============================================================================

Now this was weird!

Diary of James J. Loughrey April 21, 1899

Review given to Filipino Congress.

10. See MAP.



I have no idea who this "Congress" was. But the 1st California Flour Mill Thieves did a Pass in Review for them.

===============================================================================

Diary of William R. Johnson Apl 21st 1899

We left Manila (for good) with a force comprising the 22 Infty, 3rd U.S. Infty. 4th U.S. Cav. 1st Oregon Vol. 2nd Ore. Vol., 13th Minn. Vol. 1st N. Da. Vol. part of the 6th U.S. Art. and two Bats of Utahs, Maj. Gen [Henry Ware] Lawton is in command of the expedition

11. The Buzzsaw was about to go to work. It was not good news for the Filipino patriots. This was one American who unfortunately knew his business.

==============================================================================

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Friday, April 21st, 1899

The weather is fine. The regular routine of drills goes into effect. Today nine men from each company go on guard and patrol and the same amount, which consists of the old guard, do partack(?) duty and five men receive a pass good to go to Manila. In the evening we received mail. I received five letters and some papers.

12. I assume that these were reinforced Provost patrols. "Partack" I interpret as "partake"; that is added accompanyment on these harassment and looting expeditions.  

[miletus12]

Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Saturday, April 22, 1899

Manila, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo

Blinding flashes of lightning, thunder and a rain is at the time of writing relieving the monotony of hot day. The weather was unusually warm, although quite breezy.

The rumored uprising of Filipinos last night failed to materialize. I am glad to state. Capt. Morrison & his daughter Agnes stayed in No. 2 Agnes slept with Mrs. Owens & the Captain & Rev. Owens occupied on of my rooms.

God the Holy Ghost manifested His love & presence in my soul last night. Glory to His ever blessed name.

This morning a chaplain in Leviticus & one in the Song of Solomon claimed my attention; then prayer, after this I cooked breakfast, washed dishes & struck out for the post office. Received quite a few War Crys & other papers & letters for Rev. Owens & myself. While in town purchased a pitcher & 2 glazed cups from a Chinese firm for house keeping purposes. Also bought some beautiful shells for my collection from a Filipino woman. The variety of beautiful & strange shells in my possession make my cabinet quite respectible in size & value.

Was shaved in a Spanish barber shop on the Escolta. My last shave was in a Filipino barber shop at Cavite. I do not like to take chances on Filipinos. They are considered treacherous.

Private D.G. Hines dropped in again. Treated the 2 of us to prune pie (30 cts, Mex) & lemonade for dinner.

Arose from this morning with a headache, which troubled me all day. Felt like resting. Put in several hours reading War Crys, Houston “Ports” etc. The ship channel (Buffalo Bayon) from Galveston Bay to Houston interests me much.

Recommenced another article for the S.A. magazines “Harbor Lights.” Have been tumbled by visitors of late who spoiled my time for literary work.

Wrote & copied a letter to Bro. Hans Veiweibe, Brigade Hospital, Cavite, sending receipt for $7. Tenth League Payment also encouraged him spiritually.

I am much concerned to know how the trouble between the U.S. field staff & Booth-Tucker is shaping.

1. Semi-monsoon weather approaches.
2. We have commented as to Captain Morrison, yesterday.
3. More Hong Kong Tea: 

1 Peter 1:13 ESV / 17 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful


Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Cannot do that doped up, can we?
4. 

Leviticus 21:17

17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. 

and

Song of Solomon 1

She

2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine;
3 your anointing oils are fragrant;
your name is oil poured out;
therefore virgins love you.
4 Draw me after you; let us run.
The king has brought me into his chambers.

Others

We will exult and rejoice in you;
we will extol your love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.

She

5 I am very dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon me.
My mother's sons were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own vineyard I have not kept!
7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
where you pasture your flock,
where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who veils herself
beside the flocks of your companions?

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

He

8 If you do not know,
O most beautiful among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your young goats
beside the shepherds' tents.
9 I compare you, my love,
to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots.
10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.

Others
11 We will make for you ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.

She

12 While the king was on his couch,
my nard gave forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
that lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
in the vineyards of Engedi.

He

15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.

She

16 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.
Our couch is green;
17 the beams of our house are cedar;
our rafters are pine.

You, reader, by now; know how this cockroach reveals himself. 
5. Maybe that monkey actually did get in and break some dishes? I was being facetious three days ago,  but why would the cockroach buy a pitcher and glazed cups unless he needed to replace broken crockery? 
6. 

Also bought some beautiful shells for my collection from a Filipino woman. The variety of beautiful & strange shells in my possession make my cabinet quite respectible in size & value.

The funny thing about this, is that I collect such debris, too. From off the beaches of Puerto Rico and South Carolina and recently California, all of it FREE for the stoop, and take.   
7. 

My last shave was in a Filipino barber shop at Cavite. I do not like to take chances on Filipinos. They are considered treacherous.

Hmmm. The Spaniards were at recent war with the Americans in the Philippine Islands. Did I mention that the cockroach was a lousy judge of human character, having none at all in himself? 
8.  That is Hines treated the cockroach; not the other way around. Note how Scott has fallen out of mention, now that the cockroach has a new favorite. (Refer to Leviticus 20:13. M.).
9. Heat induced symptoms, the cockroach describes. 

  
Hurricane Harvey was a mess. 
10. 

Have been tumbled by visitors of late who spoiled my time for literary work.

Cuts no ice: the cockroach was just a lazy man who did not attend to his work. 
11. Because maybe the same posse after the Booth-Tuckers may look at him? 

===============================================================================

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 22nd-99

Very hot. Corp. Freeman sick, so took his outpost to east about ¼ mil. Started to rain & such a display of lightning and cannonading of thunder I have rarely, if ever, seen. Accompanied by strange rumblings below. Air close and hot –95°. The dome in cemetery clear cut, and the open trench ahead to bamboos was clear as day. Kept out of sight in bushes until lightning ceased. Thro’ it all, strange cries & calls; howling dogs and a herd of carraboo [carabaos] rushed past with strange, startled cries –almost human; creaking, groaning bamboos, and farther to the east, several times we heard the ins. call to one another as they beat up the jungle. Wet? Well just a trifle. Recv’d letter, magazine and pictures from Tops. They give me a new hold on life.

12. The 1st Washington Tobacco Thieves are still in a very bad place as far as terrain goes. 

===============================================================================

Diary of William R. Johnson Apl 22nd 1899

We had an engagement at Novelitche [Novaliches] 15 miles Northeast of Manila.

13. See MAP.



That is where the US 22nd Infantry is hung up.  

===============================================================================

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Saturday, April 22nd, 1899

Weather is fine this being Saturday we have nothing to do
(forward Page 173)
Regular Routine of Buisness
first Call 530 a.m.
Reveilly 540 “”
Assembly 545 “”
Mess Call 605 “”
Drill 655 “”
Assembly 700 “”
Sick Call 745 “”
Drill Recall 800 “”
Patrol 910 “”
Mess Call 1150 “”
first Sergent Call 100 p.m.
Roll Call 430 “”
Guard Mount 500 “”
Assembly 510 “”
Dress Parade or Drill 555 “”
Recall 700 “”
Tattoo 830 “”
Call to Quarters 845 “”
Tapps (lights out) 900 “”
but have Inspection of Arms and also Quarters I am now with the Company having quitt on my own account the Comisary spent most of the day in reading and writing

Weather is fine. This being a Saturday, we have nothing to do (forward to after routine list) Regular Routine of Business
0530 First Call
0540 Reveille
0545 Assembly
0605 Mess Call
0655 Drill
0700 Assembly
0745 Sick Call
0800 Drill Recall
0910 Patrol
1150 Mess Call
1300 First Sergeant’s Call
1630 Roll Call
1700 Guard Mount
1710 Assembly
1755 Dress Parade or Drill
1900 Recall
2030 Tattoo
2045 Call to Quarters
2100 Taps (Lights Out)
but have inspection of arms and also quarters. I am now with the Company and have quit, on my own account, the Commissary. Spent most of the day reading and writing.

15. And that is the plan of the day, for the 10th Pennsylvania Train Bandits in garrison.

[miletus12]

Diary of Chriss A. Bell April 23, 1899

Sunday. All quiet in town. 4 Cavite [natives) & Nebraska got into a mix-up. We lost about 25 men wounded & killed. Col. Stottemberg [Stotsenberg] of Neb. and his Adjutant were killed. It seems that calvary was ambushed & Nebs. [Nebraskans] went to their support were also surrounded and had to charge as bunch to get out

1. The "uprising" happened, but not where the Americans expected. The 1st Nebraska Cornshuckers were caught in an ambush.
2. See MAP.

3. That was where some of the US 4th Cavalry were chopped up. Called the Battle of Quingua, the cavalry troop, about 40 men under Major James Bell (an idiot^1), blundered forward without proper recon into a cunningly laid killzone created by  COL Pablo Tecson. Bell panicked and called for reinforcements, instead of withdrawing under fire to his own line to regroup. The 1st Nebraska Cornshuckers charged to the rescue (2 companies) and they were chopped up. Finally the  51st Iowa Pork Cookers and the Mormons showed up as the Cornshuckers and the Filipino soldiers closed hand to hand.  In that fighting, the energetic, brave but inept COL John M. Stotsenburg was killed trying to do a 2ND LTs job and not doing his. The fighting was at that moment, chaotic. It was then that COL Irving Hale of the 1st Colorado Bushwhackers came up and sent in the Pork Cookers and the Mormons to fix things.     

^1 Idiot because he was tactically incompetent, and a war criminal, because he created and ran the notorious Batangas and Laguna concentration camps. He was personally responsible for the murders of 8,000 Filipino citizens. The Spanish butcher, Weyler, had nothing on this piece of human filth. What happened to him? He became chief of staff of the administration US Army. You know what I write about the scum of the Earth gravitating toward each other?   



4. And of course, you know who the incompetent who planned this movement and was ultimately responsible for the American side of this stupidity? The war crfiminal; GEN E. Otis.   
======================================================

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 23rd-99

Wrote to Tops –a long one. More cannon (I think they are sells) are being placed on the hills for our benefit? Co F Wn came to our relief and are q’t’d in the auditorium. Will make work easier for us. We gathered on balcony in eve and sung all songs from gospel hymns to “Roll Dem Bones.” Then told stories, real army stories. To bed late. How it rained, sky opened and fairly emptied torrents. Glad I wasn’t on outpost.

5. They are back in town, the 1st Washington Tobacco Thieves. See MAP.


6. You see Morong? That is where they are this date.



7. Hear the word of the Lord?  Go Home!

===================================================

Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Sunday, April 23d, 1899

Manila, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo



So Provost-Sergeant M. Ryan of Bilibid prison is dead! I was very much surprised today when the news was imparted to me. Last Sunday forenoon he was full of life characteristic of young men & led a procession of military prisoners out of their wards to my cell & on Tuesday passed into eternity to appear before the dread tribunal of God. While treating me well so far as I could see, he never manifested openly any interest in Christ or the salvation for which He, the Lord, gave His life to purchase for sinners. One may hope that in some way he may have found eternal life at last, still, such a hope is a miserably poor straw upon which to hang a hope. Our blessed Jesus says, “behold I came quickly.” May every one of us like the beloved John be able to answer “Amen, even so come Lord Jesus. My Savior is precious to me.

A new Provost-Sergeant, John Houser, brought some prisoners (4) out today & my meeting was held in the ward given over to white civil prisoners – usually a rough set of sailors. My audience of 17 was disturbed by some one coming to get seamen to fill up his crew. Two splendid specimen of muscular humanity attracted my attention, one of them remarked when I spoke sympathizingly of Ryan’s death, “I hope he is in the south-eastern corner of hell.” Appeared to be incensed against the dead man. I gave 2 new testaments to the prisoners – one copy to the hard case at his request. Left some hymn brooks also to the men.

My meetings are much too short to suit me. Lieut. Wolf makes a tour of inspection on Sunday forenoon. Sometimes he is late. I am then late too. Must close at 11.45 a.m.

A conspiracy was discovered in Bilibid this week. The Filipino convicts made knives & sharpened files with the intention of killing the guards and making their escape. The plot was discovered and the weapons confiscated.

After the close of my meeting in the civil prison, one of the military prisoners whose sentence will expire Tuesday greatly pleased me with the news that he is now saved. He sought salvation two days since & is now a different man. Said I spoke to him about salvation in Honolulu. Name: James Rusher, Co. B. 23d U.S. Infantry. To my God alone be the glory and praise, amen.

Walking to & from Bilibid was hot work, but I do not mind it, now since the dear Lord is using me there.

Commenced day with 2 chapters in Leviticus & a few verses in the 24th Chapter of Joshua. Prayed. My God was near me. Praised him in my sleep and dreams last night.

Cooked breakfast and supper and washed dishes, made dinner of lemonade and dry bread.

This evening a hard breeze – about sunset – resembling a Texas norther without the cold, slammed doors & windows & brought up rain clouds. Tonight we are having sheet lightning & a light rain.

Being alone this afternoon gave my attention to lifelong work & wrote 2 short parts of my article for “Harbor Lights”.

The “City of Pueblo” arrived & brought several companies of the 9th U.S. Infantry. The troops landed.

News of a “scrap” came in this afternoon. A reconnoitering party got engaged which drew in the battle lines & there followed much exchanging of shots. One third of a 4th Cavalry troop is reported killed or wounded & Col. Stotsenberg of the 1st Nebraska Vol. Inf. is killed. This fight is conclusive that the Filipinos do not want peace.

Rev. & Mrs. Owens saw Schumerhorn in the 1st Reserve hospital. Dysentery. A shot just fired.

8. Provost SGT Ryan, cause of death, work related. A rock was related to his skull. Never found the killer. (^^^). Idiots.
9. Meeting length depends on the point of view, 17 present, 17 NSA, 0% success. I guess the cockroach was not the only one with the IQ of a rock. LT Wolf did a little better than that, with the IQ of a turnip, for he thwarted the jailbreak. Of course that did SGT Ryan no good.
10. James Rusher, was a deserter. We will hear of him again.
11. 

Leviticus 26

Reward for Obedience

26 “‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.
2 “‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
3 “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.
6 “‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
9 “‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11 I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Punishment for Disobedience

14 “‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. 17 I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.
18 “‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. 19 I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. 20 Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.
21 “‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. 22 I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.
23 “‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, 24 I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. 25 And I will bring the sword on you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. 26 When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.
27 “‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, 28 then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. 29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. 31 I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. 32 I myself will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. 33 I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. 34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.
36 “‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. 37 They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. 38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. 39 Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’ sins they will waste away.
40 “‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”
46 These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses.

The cockroach missed the point. 

Redeeming What Is the Lord’s

27 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate a person to the Lord by giving the equivalent value, 3 set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel; 4 for a female, set her value at thirty shekels[c]; 5 for a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels[d] and of a female at ten shekels[e]; 6 for a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels[f] of silver and that of a female at three shekels[g] of silver; 7 for a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels[h] and of a female at ten shekels. 8 If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay the specified amount, the person being dedicated is to be presented to the priest, who will set the value according to what the one making the vow can afford.
9 “‘If what they vowed is an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord, such an animal given to the Lord becomes holy. 10 They must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one; if they should substitute one animal for another, both it and the substitute become holy. 11 If what they vowed is a ceremonially unclean animal—one that is not acceptable as an offering to the Lord—the animal must be presented to the priest, 12 who will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, that is what it will be. 13 If the owner wishes to redeem the animal, a fifth must be added to its value.
14 “‘If anyone dedicates their house as something holy to the Lord, the priest will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, so it will remain. 15 If the one who dedicates their house wishes to redeem it, they must add a fifth to its value, and the house will again become theirs.
16 “‘If anyone dedicates to the Lord part of their family land, its value is to be set according to the amount of seed required for it—fifty shekels of silver to a homer of barley seed. 17 If they dedicate a field during the Year of Jubilee, the value that has been set remains. 18 But if they dedicate a field after the Jubilee, the priest will determine the value according to the number of years that remain until the next Year of Jubilee, and its set value will be reduced. 19 If the one who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, they must add a fifth to its value, and the field will again become theirs. 20 If, however, they do not redeem the field, or if they have sold it to someone else, it can never be redeemed. 21 When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will become holy, like a field devoted to the Lord; it will become priestly property.
22 “‘If anyone dedicates to the Lord a field they have bought, which is not part of their family land, 23 the priest will determine its value up to the Year of Jubilee, and the owner must pay its value on that day as something holy to the Lord. 24 In the Year of Jubilee the field will revert to the person from whom it was bought, the one whose land it was. 25 Every value is to be set according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.
26 “‘No one, however, may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, since the firstborn already belongs to the Lord; whether an ox[j] or a sheep, it is the Lord’s. 27 If it is one of the unclean animals, it may be bought back at its set value, adding a fifth of the value to it. If it is not redeemed, it is to be sold at its set value.
28 “‘But nothing that a person owns and devotes[k] to the Lord—whether a human being or an animal or family land—may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the Lord.
29 “‘No person devoted to destruction[l] may be ransomed; they are to be put to death.
30 “‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. 31 Whoever would redeem any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value to it. 32 Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord. 33 No one may pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If anyone does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.’”
34 These are the commands the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai for the Israelites.

Got to get that slavery in there, you know? (^^^) Remember the cockroach is an Unreconstructed Confederate.

And writing of oaths broken and traitors unpunished:

The Covenant Renewed at Shechem

24 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.
5 “‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. 6 When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. 7 But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
8 “‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. 9 When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.
11 “‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. 12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. 13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’
14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”
19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”
21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”
22 Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”
“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.
23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.”
25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws. 26 And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord.
27 “See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”
28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.

I love it when the cockroach continues to miss the point, do you not reader? 
12. US 9th Infantry, that makes half of the Federal army in the Philippine Islands as of this date. 
13. The difference between what the cockroach "heard" and what actually happened at the Battle of Quingua is not surprising is it? 

=====================================================

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Sunday, April 23rd, 1899

The weather is lovely and a fine beeze is blowing. We have service at 10:30 a.m. and Bible class at 3:00 p.b. and Praise Service at 7:00 p.m. Received a small mail at 9:00 p.m.

14. The 10th Pennsylvania Train Bandits are on holiday. 



      

[miletus12]

Diary of Chriss A. Bell April 24, 1899

Went into action. House as inspection in place of Nicolly Walker who goes out as boat guard. The work will be an agreeable charge to doing nothing in quarters. Inspectors is a good place to learn & work in to the office. Took pictures up to photographer in evening. Met Miss Bowman & Earhart. Went down to train and helped carry wounded who came in from front. Nebraska’s still losing men. Agguis [Aguinaldo’s] policy seems to be to kill a few of our men each day & thus wear us out.

1. The 2nd Oregon Furniture Thieves do provost in the recent illegally occupied Cavite territories. There is a three cornered fight inside the Katipunan war council, among Aguinaldo, Luna and Ricarti about the way to fight the war. In some ways, it resembles the kind of power struggles between George Washington and his generals during the early American revolution as to how to fight the British imperialists. There were those like Charles Lee who wanted to make a formal "correct fight" of it, and some like "Mad Anthony Wayne" who advocated the Native American warfare model. Washington, much as Aguinaldo did, split the baby down the middle and fought the war as politics and circumstances dictated.

=======================================================

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 24th-99

Out outpost tonight. Ins. outposts on s.w. fired last night –at some shadow, perhaps– thinking it an Am. scout. Heavy firing to west today. Cloudy & cool.

2. I wonder if he meant fighting to the northwest? The 1st Washington Tobacco Thieves were still isolated out there in a badly exposed position.

=======================================================

The cockroach has interesting news.

Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Monday, April 24th, 1899

Manila, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo

Lovely moon tonight. Strong breeze this evening; heavy clouds but no rain; hot. Busy day.

Out of bed read Leviticus & 2 psalms, prayed to my Lord, then cooked breakfast washed dishes & struck out for the post office. Heard that a mail from the U.S. arrived & a big mail at that. Asked the man at the General Delivery & rec’d several pockets full of papers & letters for Rev. Owens & myself. The latter written on the railroad by Adj. C. W. Bourne came. Brought me news prints. Adjutant Chas Danner is a very useful man in a printing office. I have never found a better, Bourne wants me to write a weekly letter for a Willoughby, Ohio, newspaper: The Fort Herrick. S.A. Colony is in a financial strait. Ballington Booth has assumed the title of “general”.

Rev. Ostora Gibson (formerly lawyer at Flagstaff, Arizona) pastor of Willcox and Peace, Ariz write from Willcox. Is addressing himself to pastoral work but continues his study of law. Is a noble man; one of God’s jewels.

B. Marye of S.F. No. 6 corps wants me to find Hollie W. Ayers of the 1st California Vol. Inf. for his parents. Supposed to have been in the small pox hospital.

The Houston, Texas “Post” sends me a subscription dun although I renewed.

Capt. V. R. Post, for Lt.-Col. Wm Evans, enclosed me under date of March 20th, $36 postal Note no. for one month’s salary. I collected the money (U.S. coin) immediately from the post office.

Read papers 2 or 3 hours. Dinner dry bread & lemonade.

Downtown again after dinner – hospital visitation. Called first at the 2d Reserve Hospital (military) out in Malate. Found Brother Dave Freeman. Claims to be well in soul & improving in body from overheating. Seemed pleased to have me call. He is in ward No. 4 Took him 2 War Crys, talked to him on spiritual matters & kneeled down beside his cot & prayed before leaving. Since my last visit the 2nd reserve has filled up remarkably with patients, even the verandahs were lined with cots.

Jumped on the street car & got off at the First Reserved Hospital. Was surprised how populous this hospital is become. The building is overcrowded & many tents are occupying vacant spaces in the yard. Found Brother Geo. Schumerhorn in Ward 3 down with dysentery, but is inspiring. Had a talk on spiritual matters. I knelt down & prayed with him before bidding him good-bye. Spoke to several men about Christ.

Met Dr. Kellogg of the Utah Light artillery on the Escolta. The Doctor is going home (DN.) on the transport “Sheridan”. Had a desire to do the missionary work in connection with his practice among the U.S. soldiers but found he said the military authorities offered to him. They are afraid of antagonizing the Roman Catholic power said the doctor.

Down on the Escolta, Private C. H. Goetz, Co. K. 14th U.S. Infantry & I had a talk re himself. He looks bad. Is so changed in appearance that I hardly knew him. War and undoubtedly is now a zealous Christian, studying for the ministry when he enlisted, the missionary spirit caused him to enlist.

Out of the firing line he purchased some bananas from Filipino fruit seller. They were all right. Afterwards, he purchased more. The second lot immediately made him sick. He is hardly over the effect yet. Goetz claims the Filipinos prisoned him.

3. Picking this garbage apart, first the Italics (INTENSE SARCASM)=> Much of what the cockroach imparts, in fact most of it in this section is pure Salvation Army gossip. The garbage military titles in this section are all Salvation Army ones. Ballington Booth at this time is about to create the schism among the Booth-Tucker Cabal that is going to shatter the British dominance of the American branch of the Salvation Army. And those scriptures the cockroach studied?

Leviticus 22

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me, so they will not profane my holy name. I am the Lord.
3 “Say to them: ‘For the generations to come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean and yet comes near the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the Lord, that person must be cut off from my presence. I am the Lord.
4 “‘If a descendant of Aaron has a defiling skin disease[c] or a bodily discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is cleansed. He will also be unclean if he touches something defiled by a corpse or by anyone who has an emission of semen, 5 or if he touches any crawling thing that makes him unclean, or any person who makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be. 6 The one who touches any such thing will be unclean till evening. He must not eat any of the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water. 7 When the sun goes down, he will be clean, and after that he may eat the sacred offerings, for they are his food. 8 He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, and so become unclean through it. I am the Lord.
9 “‘The priests are to perform my service in such a way that they do not become guilty and die for treating it with contempt. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.
10 “‘No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired worker eat it. 11 But if a priest buys a slave with money, or if slaves are born in his household, they may eat his food. 12 If a priest’s daughter marries anyone other than a priest, she may not eat any of the sacred contributions. 13 But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or is divorced, yet has no children, and she returns to live in her father’s household as in her youth, she may eat her father’s food. No unauthorized person, however, may eat it.
14 “‘Anyone who eats a sacred offering by mistake must make restitution to the priest for the offering and add a fifth of the value to it. 15 The priests must not desecrate the sacred offerings the Israelites present to the Lord 16 by allowing them to eat the sacred offerings and so bring upon them guilt requiring payment. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.’”

Unacceptable Sacrifices

17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: ‘If any of you—whether an Israelite or a foreigner residing in Israel—presents a gift for a burnt offering to the Lord, either to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, 19 you must present a male without defect from the cattle, sheep or goats in order that it may be accepted on your behalf. 20 Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf. 21 When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable. 22 Do not offer to the Lord the blind, the injured or the maimed, or anything with warts or festering or running sores. Do not place any of these on the altar as a food offering presented to the Lord. 23 You may, however, present as a freewill offering an ox[d] or a sheep that is deformed or stunted, but it will not be accepted in fulfillment of a vow. 24 You must not offer to the Lord an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn or cut. You must not do this in your own land, 25 and you must not accept such animals from the hand of a foreigner and offer them as the food of your God. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and have defects.’”
26 The Lord said to Moses, 27 “When a calf, a lamb or a goat is born, it is to remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as a food offering presented to the Lord. 28 Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day.
29 “When you sacrifice a thank offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. 30 It must be eaten that same day; leave none of it till morning. I am the Lord.
31 “Keep my commands and follow them. I am the Lord. 32 Do not profane my holy name, for I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord, who made you holy 33 and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.”

and 

Psalm 59

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God, protect me from those who rise up against me,
deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.

For, lo, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men band themselves against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O LORD,
for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Rouse thyself, come to my help, and see!

Thou, LORD God of hosts, art God of Israel. Awake to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil.
Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.

There they are, bellowing with their mouths, and snarling with their lips–for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”
But thou, O LORD, dost laugh at them; thou dost hold all the nations in derision.

O my Strength, I will sing praises to thee; for thou, O God, art my fortress.
My God in his steadfast love will meet me; my God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

Slay them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by thy power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield!
For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies which they utter,
consume them in wrath, consume them till they are no more, that men may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth.

Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.
They roam about for food, and growl if they do not get their fill.

But I will sing of thy might; I will sing aloud of thy steadfast love in the morning. For thou hast been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my Strength, I will sing praises to thee, for thou, O God, art my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

and

Psalm 59

Listen to my prayer, O God,
do not ignore my plea;

2 hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
3 because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.

4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;[c]
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.”

9 Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,
for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
malice and abuse are within it.
11 Destructive forces are at work in the city;
threats and lies never leave its streets.

12 If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were rising against me,
I could hide.
13 But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
at the house of God,
as we walked about
among the worshipers.

15 Let death take my enemies by surprise;
let them go down alive to the realm of the dead,
for evil finds lodging among them.

16 As for me, I call to God,
and the Lord saves me.
17 Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.
18 He rescues me unharmed
from the battle waged against me,
even though many oppose me.
19 God, who is enthroned from of old,
who does not change—
he will hear them and humble them,
because they have no fear of God.

20 My companion attacks his friends;
he violates his covenant.
21 His talk is smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
yet they are drawn swords.

22 Cast your cares on the Lord
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.
23 But you, God, will bring down the wicked
into the pit of decay;
the bloodthirsty and deceitful
will not live out half their days.

But as for me, I trust in you.

False priest and false friend, think that the cockroach missed that one this date. Also he forgot to renew his newspaper subscription, which is why he received the demand payment letter: typical of the cockroach...

4. Ostora Gibson did become a crook... er lawyer. 
5. PVT Hollie W. Ayers, I found no information on him aside from enlistment. 
5. The money the San Francisco Salvation Army chapter *(Capt. V. R. Post, for Lt.-Col. Wm Evans,) paid to the cockroach was another month's stipend for absolutely nothing.  
6. Hospital visits: summary; the cockroach interfered with US Army medical corps business, bothered patients, found no money (The real reason he was there. M.), and the cockroach did record, that the hot weather and good Filipino marksmanship and lousy Chinese made ammunition left a lot of heat related casualties and bullet wounded American soldiers overflowing the hospital ward capacities. Also noted here that US 8th Corps camp hygiene training was not what it should have been. The troops were not boiling their water or using their mosquito netting or sticking to a proper diet.
7. This "Doctor Kellogg":

The Filipino American War had HUGE global impacts in ways few Americans and Filipinos recognized. 
8. The MORMONS tended to also have a huge impact. See *7. 
9. The cockroach has the same complaint that Doctor Kellogg allegedly had. About 2 months ago, I wrote how many US Army chaplains were Roman Catholic. This was no accident as that church saw the American army, with its huge numbers of Irish American immigrant recruits of the American Civil War era, as in need of spiritual guidance, lest the heathen godless "protestants" lead the "faithful" astray. Well, the chaplain corps filled up with "padres" and the American army below the Presbyterian or Methodist salted officer corps became "Romanized". Add to the fact that the American officer corps held the charlatans, such as the cockroach, in utter disdain and were not too happy with the MORMONs, either, (Bigots, that the American officers were, they regarded Mormons as a "cult", even though the Mormons had turned out to be their ELITE troops. Go figure. M.). 
10. Private C. H. Goetz was suffering from the "lack of hygiene training", that is a combination of food poisoning, failure to boil water and heat stroke. You are supposed to PEEL the banana and throw away the rotting parts. If nothing else, look at how the local monkeys eat the food!  

====================================================

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Monday, April 24th, 1899

The weather is fine. We go through regular routine of drills but suspended evening drills on account of the awful heat. Lieutenant Barnett has command of the regiment while Colonel Hawkins acts as General Marshal of Cavite and Lieutenant Colonel Colter of I Company acts as Provost Marshal. We furnish eleven men for guard duty and two corporals and a sergeant. Most of us took a swim in the bay either morning or night. Mail left for Hong Kong. Six wounded men are off duty. Eight are in the hospital and a number are sick in quarters, 34 off duty.      

11. The Filipino patriots, as mentioned, could now shoot well. The heat, and American stupidity about climate effects and diet, were the other common factors that put the casualty rates at 20%  of rosters present for duty but on the sick lists!  

[miletus12]

Diary of Chriss A. Bell April 25, 1899

About 40 wounded & dead brought in last night mostly Nebraskas (sic) & Cavalry. No one yet from [Col. Owen] Summers[.] Troops are now near Calumpit which will probably be taken in a few days at most. Mail leaves tomorrow.

1. This was horrible.

The "Real" Bagbag Bridge? (Calumpit, Bulacan)

Posted on 2 November, 2012 by Benjie Layug — 2 Comments ↓

On our way to Pulilan, I was on the lookout for the Bagbag Bridge, site of, according to Wikipinino.org:

“the first battle between Filipino and American soldiers during the retreat of Aguinaldo to the Ilocos Region and of the longest battle during the Filipino-American Wars (sic) led by Gen. Gregorio del Pilar on April 25, 1899. The bridge commemorates the bravery displayed by the Filipinos as they victor (sic) in the battle against the American forces.”



Bagbag Bridge

Upon crossing a concrete bridge, I espied the much lower, similarly concreted bridge on the right. This old, now disused bridge was impassable as one span has fallen into the river. I guess I got the right bridge as pictures at the the Bulacan provincial government website depicts it as such. However, looking at it, it begs the question “Was it the actual bridge that was the site of that battle?” “We’re Filipino forces really victorious in that battle?” First, let me state the facts, on the Battle of Calumpit, as I researched it at “Philippine-American War, 1899-1902” (written by Arnaldo Dumindin).

After taking Quingua (now Plaridel), Calumpit, only 8 kms. (5 miles) north of Malolos, became the next American objective. Gen. Antonio Luna, however, was nowhere near the town as he left for Guagua to punish Gen. Tomas Mascardo, the military commander of Pampanga, for leaving his post to inspect troops (others say to attend a fiesta or visit a girlfriend) at Arayat (Pampanga).

Gen. Mascardo, with around 21,000 men under his command at the time, had been supposed to strengthen the defense of the Calumpit–Apalit Line by providing reinforcements in the area when needed. Luna took most of the defending cavalry and the artillery with him, leaving Gen. Gregorio Del Pilar to counter the advancing American troops. Aguinaldo had ordered Luna to retreat and burn the railway bridge spanning the Bagbag River, but Luna ignored the order.

However, on April 23, 1899, Gen. Del Pilar did cut the iron girders of the railway bridge, with the intention of making the bridge collapse once the enemy’s armored artillery transport train, with 6 pounders and rapid fire guns, passed over it. However, the section of the bridge prematurely collapsed, under its own weight, before the train had reached it. Chinese porters pushed the train to the mouth of the river.

Col. Frederick Funston, with 6 men, crawled, under heavy fire, across the ironwork of the bridge and, upon reaching the broken span, dropped into the water and swam to the opposite shore, where Filipino trenches were located. Upon reaching the opposite bank, they charged the trenches and killed 25 Filipinos. Other troops promptly repaired the bridge to let their supply wagons cross over the river.

By nightfall of April 25, Luna had returned from Guagua with only Filipinos in the barrio of Sta. Lucia holding out against the Americans in the Bagbag sector. Gen. Luna tried to fight and repulse the Americans, but he was eventually forced to retreat, destroying bridges as his troops fell back to slow the American advance.

Based on this research, the bridge in question was actually a railway bridge made of iron, not concrete. The bridge in the recent photo I took was probably a more recent replacement but the location may be the same. Here’s an actual photo taken of the damaged railway bridge, then being repaired by American troops, taken after the battle. Aside from the difference in the materials used, I also noticed that the bridge supports are also different in size and shape.

Second, there was no Filipino victory in this battle. Probably, the victory being referred to was the April 23, 1899 (not April 25) Battle of Quingua (now Plaridel) where the same Gen. Gregorio del Pilar, with 700 to 1,000 men, halted the advance of 62 Scouts plus a troop of the 4th Cavalry, all led by Maj. James Franklin Bell; or of their subsequent halting of the cavalry charge of Col. John M. Stotsenberg (who was killed together with 6 of his men). This all happened in Quingua, not Calumpit. In spite of these small victories, the Americans still triumphed in the end and took the town.

This moment in history deserves a second look ……..

2. To be clear: GEN Luna screwed up. Grigorio de Pilar was the only one who had a clue on the Filipino side in this utter debacle. COL Frederick Funston was that one American in a generation. 



Once in a generation. 

3. The 1st Nebraska Cornhuskers graduated into real soldiers this date. This does not at all detract from or minimize at all the heroism and patriotism of the Filipino defenders who fought for their homeland at the opposed river crossing at all. But this bridge set the ultimate path of this war. 

===============================================================================

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 25th-99

On outpost across river in ruins of old house. Close to bamboos. All quiet. Sabia’s husband came in at 8 a.m. with presents of chickens & eggs for me. I got him a pass and went with him to his grass hut at Ususan. They fed me on eggs, boiled chicken and rice and fried bananas. Then, as I was on outpost last night Sabia spread mat and I laid down, while she squatted down on her haunches and fanned me to sleep. When the canoes were loaded, she awakened me and I had a few raw bananas. Then we floated down the river past the black ruins of Pateros, and on down the winding river until we reached the ferry at lower Pasig. I went to Pasig & had Col. Fife sign the pass. Then we swung into the river and made good time to San Pedro Macate [Makati]. 12th U.S. all along river road. A couple of catacombs on n. bank which is hilly & rocky. At Macati a Brig. Gen. Wholley signed pass and I left them to float down to Singalon [Singalong] alone. They gave me all dinero they had –12¢ Mex. and paddled down the Pasig with their loads of rice, chickens &c and white flag on bows. They used to work in the tabacalaria [Tabacalera], 5 men & 20 women and children. Came back to Pasig on H²O boat New York –& walked across to Taguig.

4. Can you believe the Chutzpah of this man? See MAP.

5. Follow the Pasig river. There are the 1st Washington Tobacco Thieves and the 12th US Infantry. 

===============================================================================

With two examples of men, let us turn to the cockroach.

Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Tuesday, April 25th, 1899

Manila, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo

Paid rent for the month of April, to Mrs. Ysabel Wood – Amount $35. Mexican silver. This money is for No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Manila. My landlady instead of asking rent in advance was content to let the month get pretty well on before sending her usual recibo to “Juan Major Milsaps”. Paid her the money. Read a chapter or two in Leviticus, a psalm & prayed, then cooked breakfast. In company with Rev. Owens went to the post office. Was handed out some more papers.

Purchased some more shells for my cabinet from a Filipino. Am keeping a sharp look out for different for different kinds. Want to make my collections as complete as possible. Also purchased groceries and treated my companion to a couple of oranges.

Hurried back home. Capt. Morrison, his daughter Agnes & a little girl from Australia a sea Captain’s daughter were awaiting my return to hear the gramophone. Gave them their desire in the matter.

Dinner peanuts, an orange & lemonade.

Supper, oatmeal mush, fried bacon and cocoa.

Company claimed more of my time than I cared to give. Private D. G. Hines & “Red” another soldier, called re preparing for a stereopticon. To Hines I gave a New Testament & 2 War Crys to take to Bro. Schumerhorn – No. 1 Reserve Hospital.

Bro. Clayton Scott rode up on his poney. Had a brief spiritual talk & prayer together. He informed me of a Salvationist – a packer – just over with the last batch of U.S. Government mules. His name is A. J. Merritt. Belongs to S. F. No. 2 Corps. Gave Scott 2 War Crys to read & pass on to the new comer.

Tried to write more for “Harbor Lights”, but made little progress. Bothered too much. This knocks an expected trip to the country in the head. I must catch the next mail.

The Utah Artillery sentinel captured a Filipino man this afternoon with his revolver. The Filipino is a prisoner of war. Was taken to the Utah quarters & by making himself useful to the soldiers won their good will & secured the freedom of the troops. Commenced to dress in spotless white. Lately he contracted the habit of holding up Chinese & robbing them. Tried it this afternoon. Struck a Chinese on the head. When I saw the men, blood was running down the face of the Chinese. Mr. Filipino’s priviledges will probably be restricted now.

News is coming in this evening late that Calumpit was captured. Some of our men were killed & wounded; ditto the enemy. I heard that an advance to be made to the next town forthwith.

God blessed me with His love last night.

6. Four weeks late; the cockroach paid the rent. She had to send her strongarm representative to collect that "receipt" from that Unreconstructed Confederate deadbeat.
7. 

Leviticus 25:39

39 “‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. 40 They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. 42 Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43 Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.

and 

Psalm 37:21


The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously.

That is our wicked cockroach, who payeth not on time nor on the dime. 

8. More free seashells by the seashore. The cockroach is a wastrel.
9. What? the cockroach did not charge for the priviledge of hearing his grammophone?
10. The monkey was probably jealous as he watched the cockroach eat.    
11. We have heard the cockroach mention the stereopticon. See IMAGE. 


You will see that one in "Thunder and Lightning" soon.  The cockroach worked with something like this:

That is what PVT Hines was supposed to procure *(steal) and set up for our John Milsaps.  
12. Clayton Scott popped in. Very brief direct exchange with the cockroach. Scott has become a REMF. Not quite a deserter yet, but very much still a shirker.    
13. A. J. Merritt; not sure of his status, but if he is a muleskinner, as implied by Scott, then he would be the 1890's version of a teamster or "cargo wagon hauler driver". The American army hired these contract drivers so that they coulkd use their soldiers to soldier, not drive wagons. In the venacular of the era, these men were "worthless hoss thieves".   
13. INTENSE SARCASM => when you read the cockroach make excuses for not doing what he claims he wants to do, rest assured reader, that the real reason is that the wastrel wastes his time and does not set to. It shows his lack of discupline and character to not accomplish or self initiate. Very un-Filipino or non-American in attitude.
14. He, the Filipino mugger, was sent to the rockpile. 
15. Bagbag Bridge has been discussed. 
16. Leviticus 20:13 and Hong Kong Tea.   
===============================================================================

Diary of James J. Loughrey April 25, 1899

A telegram was received from Manila stating Colonel Smith had been promoted to Brigadier-General. The order was read out at dress parade. Someone in ‘B’ Company shouted out ‘three cheers for the general’ and about a score responded.

17. When in a whole regiment you can only get 20 men to cheer for an announcement like this one, that sort of tells you what the 2nd Oregom Furniture Thieves really thought of their once fat colonel, who is skinnying down in the heat.   

===============================================================================

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Tuesday, April 25th, 1899

The weather is clear but hot. We had regular drills. We furnished twelve for guard duty and patrol. In the afternoon I was detailed to go after meat to the meat boat. Although the water was rough and excitement high, we returned safely at 7:00 p.m. Our rations are poor and there is much dissatisfaction prevails.

18. The 10th Pennsylvania Train Bandits have to cascoe a ferry back to Manila for meat? That means somebody has cut the land lines of communication back to Manila... again. 

[miletus12]

Diary of Chriss A. Bell April 26, 1899

Summers heard from. He beat Lawton to meeting place by two days. Captured town and cleared country around Brigade. Lost, killed, & wounded about 10 men. Am slowly getting on to work at Custom House. Like it much better than at quarters. Mail came yesterday but none for me.

1. See MAP. The 51st Iowa Pork Cookers eventually crossed the Pampanga northeast of the railroad bridge and got behind Pilar's trench line to force the Filipino retreat.  


2. The Luna Sharpshooters. 

The Luna Sharpshooters: The Most Feared Marksmen in Philippine History

By MARIO ALVARO LIMOS | Nov 4, 2020

Some 120 years ago, a handful of exceptionally skilled Filipino sharpshooters earned a reputation so legendary, their conquests are still remembered to this day.


The Luna Sharpshooters were a crack unit of elite marksmen handpicked and trained by General Antonio Luna to serve in the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War. Wherever they were sent into battle, they were sure to turn the tide against the enemy.

Some 120 years ago, a handful of exceptionally skilled Filipino sharpshooters earned a reputation so legendary, their conquests are still remembered to this day.

The Luna Sharpshooters were a crack unit of elite marksmen handpicked and trained by General Antonio Luna to serve in the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War. Wherever they were sent into battle, they were sure to turn the tide against the enemy.

Because Luna was able to study warfare tactics and strategy in Europe, he thought of forming a group that would fight the Americans. He formed the Philippine Revolutionary Army, whose members originally came from the Spanish Army but were recruited by Luna to fight for Filipinos. From the ranks of this army, the Luna Sharpshooters would emerge.

Marksmen of Death



The Luna Sharpshooters earned a fearsome reputation, which is why the Spaniards nicknamed them Tiradores De La Muerte or Marksmen of Death. Their mettle was tested when they clashed against the forces of General Arthur MacArthur in the Battle of Malolos, in which Luna and his force of 5,000 Filipinos faced off with five American commanders and their army of 15,000. Malolos at the time was the capital of the Philippines.

Luna knew they were outnumbered, but did not want to give Malolos to the Americans without giving them a taste of what Filipino fighters were made of. The Americans thought Malolos would be an easy capture, but the battle lasted for a whole day.

American official history noted that the campaign to capture the Philippine capital lasted from March 25 to 31 and resulted in 56 Americans killed and 478 wounded. Losses on the Filipino side are unknown.

It would be a month later when the Americans would learn to fear and respect Luna and his Sharpshooters during the Battle of Bagbag and Pampanga Rivers on April 25 to 27, 1899.

The battle was a decisive victory for the Philippines, with American casualties numbering 700 deaths, as opposed to 200 deaths on the Philippine side.

3. Actually the Battle of the Bagbag and Pampananga Rivers was a horrible confused affair, between a few hundred men present on both sides, with quiet epic heroism between the combatants and with the outcome that the Americans crossed the rivers and achieved all of their objectives at less than the expected price in lives they estimated would be paid. The truth is the truth. 

Again, this does not detract from the Filipino patriots. It is hard to beat that murderous Mormon artillery with raw courage and a rifle.
 
=====================================================

And speaking of artillery...

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 26-99

Gunboat engaged enemie’s shore batteries today on the e. close to delta. Rebels fired 5 shots in 7 seconds, so it is either a rapid fire gun, or a battery of more than one gun. This is my 2nd night in raining a little, with a br’t moon, rainbow in the west. Was about 97° this morning.

4. The Filipino patriots rolled out a couple of captured Spanish 6 pounder muzzle loaderss and the USS Laguna da Bay blew them up. The 1st Washington Tobacco Thieves hardly noticed.

=====================================================

Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Wednesday, April 26th, 1899

Manila, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo

The time is after 9 p.m. The rain is falling, the thunder muttering and lightning illumining the prevailing blackness.

The U.S. mail leaves tomorrow & I have remained close at home all day, sticking to this table, first writing with a lead pencil & afterwards copying with in an article for the Salvation Army monthly published in New York City entitled “Harbor Lights”. The heading to the article is “Five Memorable Nights on the Philippines”. Company was scarce today much to my gratification, as I was thus able to give my thoughts uninterruptedly to literary work.

Cooked breakfast and supper mush, bacon & cocoa.

Tonight while I was sitting at this table writing, the Kragg Jorgensen rifle of a Utah sentry across the way was discharged accidentally. Seemed to hit this house the bullet. The sentry was playing with the breech apparatus.

5. The sentry discharged his Krag by "dry-fire" or function checking the action after a cleaning and field strip. In theory, the rifle is empty when the soldier does this drill. The PROBLEM is that a Krag is a side hopper fed as opposed to vertical magazine fed rifle. You can open the side gate and visually inspect and miss that bullet ready to be rammed home as you cycle the bolt. Bang. The devil protected his own and the cockroach escaped injury.   

=====================================================

The 10th Pennsylvania Train Bandits are still on holiday.

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Wednesday, April 26th, 1899

It has rained all night and the morning is nice and refreshing. Many battles have been fought near Malolos. Five of us had a pass to Manila. I spent most of the train ride with my German friend and returned to the boat at 4:00 p.m. Before we went on, the train arrived from Malolos with six men killed and 48 wounded and also many rebel wounded. All were put aboard the hospital ship and taken to the First Reserve Hospital. On Monday the same troops lost eight men who were killed, several drowned and 40 wounded.

6. Those casualties were from the Cornhuskers. "Hail Mary, full of grace". I still do not know how they did it.  

[miletus12]

Diary of Chriss A. Bell April 27, 1899

Calumpit fell yesterday with loss smaller on side although the city was entrenched behind the most formidable trenches yet uncountered [encountered]. No further news from Lawton & Summers. We are a wondering as to plans of the movement. From maps & what is known of plan of campaign cannot see how much can be accomplished lie in way of capturing Aguinaldo’s men It appearing that he is not surrounded and can easily retire. Same old routine of duty at Co. H. Guard every other night. Nothing news is good to home going. Sheridan left yesterday carrying again sick but no troops. Dillon came up from visit at Corrigedor (sic) where Jim W is. Jim no better but in good spirits.

1. Are you confused, readser? So was I. Let me translate: Pilar managed to extricate about 4,000 Filipino Patriots from the American right hook. This is told from the American perspective, so that is the 51st Iowa Pork Cookers under Irving Hale, mioving east to west, after crossing the Pampanga River trying to pass to GEN Pilar's north to turn south and cut off the retreat routes. Arthur MacArthur's left movement was delayed at the Bagbag River long enough so that the escepe routes remained open and Pilar's troops escaped west and north. Funston's heroics and the 20th Kansas Cattle Rustlers and 1st Nebraska Cornhuskers storming the bridge aside, this was a well executed Filipino evolution. The Americans were just too slow to close the bag.

======================================================================

Down at around Taguig, the 1st Washington Tobacco Thieves are not doing so hot, either.

Diary of Alfred Burton Welch April 27th-99

Filips close, so at 9.30 we filed across the creaking bamboo bridge –Co’s D, F & H, and in an hour Co’s G & L came up from Pateros. Scouts advanced to within 30 yds of old church when fired upon by the flips who were strongly entrenched behind stone walls of the ruined village.

…and seriously wounded. Four dead and . number may die. We have no idea of the havoc wro’t on other side, but, judging by bloody indications it must have been terrible. We found 25 new graves where dead ins. were buried from our last fight on 20th. Co’s H & L crossed field to protect our rt. and were engaged all day. A battalion of 12th U.S. inf. came to our support but themselves engaged the enemy and did not reach us as they had them all they could do to save themselves. Was very hot, close to 100º and many went to rear suffering sunstroke, altogether it was a hard fight. Had to take Corp Phelps place on guard and I had upper river outpost No. 1. I doubled up the watches, 30 min from 7 to 9 –then I stood until 10.40 –then two privates until 2– then two until first call at 5 a.m. When we came in a good deal of firing to the west, and several times filip scouts were close.

2. See MAP.



3. They are hung up around where the Pasig branchlet empties into Laguna da Bay. (Morong). Another tough opposed river crossing for the Americans is in order.

=======================================================================

Diary of John E.T. Milsaps Thursday, April 27th, 1899

Manila, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo

Am very tired. Have been rushed all day, from the time I got out of bed until the present moment, with this difference that I am closing the day’s toil. Time flies so fast! Wrote last night part of the article for the New York “Harbor Lights” i.e. the finishing part, which was largely copied with ink; finished it this forenoon.

Before tackling the aforesaid article, read 2 chapters of Leviticus & one psalm; then remembered my precious God in prayer & praise. Going into my kitchen I discovered a monkey clinging to the window. Caught him & gave the scamp (he upset my ink bottle on the table before repairing to the kitchen for further adventures) to the sentry across the street, he belongs to the soldiers. We have a small monkey in No. 2 sent over by the Utah boys. We all the little chap “Old Man”. He is a first class nuisance but amuses us.

Cooked & partook of breakfast but did not wash the dishes. Couldn’t spare the time.

Completed the article “Five Memorable Nights in the Philippines”. Wrote it in the back of blank Tagalog receipts secured at Paombong. They have “La Republica Filipina” crest stamped on them with a rubber stamp. Covered 25 pages MS. when written with a lead pencil, but was written closely with ink & reduced to 21 pages. The article was divided into the following subheads: “A Night With Dewey’s Blockading Fleet”, “A Night in Camp With the Besieging Army”, “A Night of Block house No. 2” and “A Night of Fire.” Wrote & sent a letter with the copy enclosing 2 photos: Lighthouse on Corregidor Is. and Cocoa nut raft & houses at No. 2, addressed the letter to Ms. Lt-Col. Minnie Brewer, Newark, New Jersey. Wrote & copied my 2 Weekly Letter to Lt.-Col. Alice Lewis New York city. Several Spanish & mestizo women & children came around to hear my gramophone but went away disappointed. I had no time for that kind of pastime. Copy & letters completed jumped on the Calle Jolo street car & mailed them about 15 minutes before the U.S. mail was advertised to close.

After dinner wrote & copied a 4-page letter to Adj. C.W. Bourne, manager of Ft. Herrick, S.A. Colony at Willoughby, Ohio. Added Philippine news for a local paper at his request.

Cooked supper of bacon, cocoa & oatmeal mush. There is much strength in this trying, enervating climate to do considerable work. Am sometimes surprised.

Read the Houston “Post” & some local papers. Am following the war closely in these parts & also take considerable interest in the progress of Houston and Texas.

Ex-Lieut-Col. Keppel’s letter & the letter of Major Ashley Pebbles re the Booth’s trouble (S.A.) in the U.S. has cast a gloom over my spirits. I very much deprecate strife in the Salvation Army.

4. Useless claimed he was busy. You know if he knew how to type and could get one of his flunkies to steal one of these from the American Army, he might have been more efficient? 


That OUGHT to look familiar to many a Filipino. It is a Remington Model 5. You could use it as a hammer to pound test pegs into rock and still pound out a novel. It still is in the USG inventory!
5. What scripture could the cockroach have failed this day?

Leviticus 13 and 14

Regulations About Defiling Skin Diseases

13 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “When anyone has a swelling or a rash or a shiny spot on their skin that may be a defiling skin disease, they must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons who is a priest. 3 The priest is to examine the sore on the skin, and if the hair in the sore has turned white and the sore appears to be more than skin deep, it is a defiling skin disease. When the priest examines that person, he shall pronounce them ceremonially unclean. 4 If the shiny spot on the skin is white but does not appear to be more than skin deep and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest is to isolate the affected person for seven days. 5 On the seventh day the priest is to examine them, and if he sees that the sore is unchanged and has not spread in the skin, he is to isolate them for another seven days. 6 On the seventh day the priest is to examine them again, and if the sore has faded and has not spread in the skin, the priest shall pronounce them clean; it is only a rash. They must wash their clothes, and they will be clean. 7 But if the rash does spread in their skin after they have shown themselves to the priest to be pronounced clean, they must appear before the priest again. 8 The priest is to examine that person, and if the rash has spread in the skin, he shall pronounce them unclean; it is a defiling skin disease.
9 “When anyone has a defiling skin disease, they must be brought to the priest. 10 The priest is to examine them, and if there is a white swelling in the skin that has turned the hair white and if there is raw flesh in the swelling, 11 it is a chronic skin disease and the priest shall pronounce them unclean. He is not to isolate them, because they are already unclean.
12 “If the disease breaks out all over their skin and, so far as the priest can see, it covers all the skin of the affected person from head to foot, 13 the priest is to examine them, and if the disease has covered their whole body, he shall pronounce them clean. Since it has all turned white, they are clean. 14 But whenever raw flesh appears on them, they will be unclean. 15 When the priest sees the raw flesh, he shall pronounce them unclean. The raw flesh is unclean; they have a defiling disease. 16 If the raw flesh changes and turns white, they must go to the priest. 17 The priest is to examine them, and if the sores have turned white, the priest shall pronounce the affected person clean; then they will be clean.
18 “When someone has a boil on their skin and it heals, 19 and in the place where the boil was, a white swelling or reddish-white spot appears, they must present themselves to the priest. 20 The priest is to examine it, and if it appears to be more than skin deep and the hair in it has turned white, the priest shall pronounce that person unclean. It is a defiling skin disease that has broken out where the boil was. 21 But if, when the priest examines it, there is no white hair in it and it is not more than skin deep and has faded, then the priest is to isolate them for seven days. 22 If it is spreading in the skin, the priest shall pronounce them unclean; it is a defiling disease. 23 But if the spot is unchanged and has not spread, it is only a scar from the boil, and the priest shall pronounce them clean.
24 “When someone has a burn on their skin and a reddish-white or white spot appears in the raw flesh of the burn, 25 the priest is to examine the spot, and if the hair in it has turned white, and it appears to be more than skin deep, it is a defiling disease that has broken out in the burn. The priest shall pronounce them unclean; it is a defiling skin disease. 26 But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in the spot and if it is not more than skin deep and has faded, then the priest is to isolate them for seven days. 27 On the seventh day the priest is to examine that person, and if it is spreading in the skin, the priest shall pronounce them unclean; it is a defiling skin disease. 28 If, however, the spot is unchanged and has not spread in the skin but has faded, it is a swelling from the burn, and the priest shall pronounce them clean; it is only a scar from the burn.
29 “If a man or woman has a sore on their head or chin, 30 the priest is to examine the sore, and if it appears to be more than skin deep and the hair in it is yellow and thin, the priest shall pronounce them unclean; it is a defiling skin disease on the head or chin. 31 But if, when the priest examines the sore, it does not seem to be more than skin deep and there is no black hair in it, then the priest is to isolate the affected person for seven days. 32 On the seventh day the priest is to examine the sore, and if it has not spread and there is no yellow hair in it and it does not appear to be more than skin deep, 33 then the man or woman must shave themselves, except for the affected area, and the priest is to keep them isolated another seven days. 34 On the seventh day the priest is to examine the sore, and if it has not spread in the skin and appears to be no more than skin deep, the priest shall pronounce them clean. They must wash their clothes, and they will be clean. 35 But if the sore does spread in the skin after they are pronounced clean, 36 the priest is to examine them, and if he finds that the sore has spread in the skin, he does not need to look for yellow hair; they are unclean. 37 If, however, the sore is unchanged so far as the priest can see, and if black hair has grown in it, the affected person is healed. They are clean, and the priest shall pronounce them clean.
38 “When a man or woman has white spots on the skin, 39 the priest is to examine them, and if the spots are dull white, it is a harmless rash that has broken out on the skin; they are clean.
40 “A man who has lost his hair and is bald is clean. 41 If he has lost his hair from the front of his scalp and has a bald forehead, he is clean. 42 But if he has a reddish-white sore on his bald head or forehead, it is a defiling disease breaking out on his head or forehead. 43 The priest is to examine him, and if the swollen sore on his head or forehead is reddish-white like a defiling skin disease, 44 the man is diseased and is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him unclean because of the sore on his head.
45 “Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt,[c] cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.

Regulations About Defiling Molds

47 “As for any fabric that is spoiled with a defiling mold—any woolen or linen clothing, 48 any woven or knitted material of linen or wool, any leather or anything made of leather— 49 if the affected area in the fabric, the leather, the woven or knitted material, or any leather article, is greenish or reddish, it is a defiling mold and must be shown to the priest. 50 The priest is to examine the affected area and isolate the article for seven days. 51 On the seventh day he is to examine it, and if the mold has spread in the fabric, the woven or knitted material, or the leather, whatever its use, it is a persistent defiling mold; the article is unclean. 52 He must burn the fabric, the woven or knitted material of wool or linen, or any leather article that has been spoiled; because the defiling mold is persistent, the article must be burned.
53 “But if, when the priest examines it, the mold has not spread in the fabric, the woven or knitted material, or the leather article, 54 he shall order that the spoiled article be washed. Then he is to isolate it for another seven days. 55 After the article has been washed, the priest is to examine it again, and if the mold has not changed its appearance, even though it has not spread, it is unclean. Burn it, no matter which side of the fabric has been spoiled. 56 If, when the priest examines it, the mold has faded after the article has been washed, he is to tear the spoiled part out of the fabric, the leather, or the woven or knitted material. 57 But if it reappears in the fabric, in the woven or knitted material, or in the leather article, it is a spreading mold; whatever has the mold must be burned. 58 Any fabric, woven or knitted material, or any leather article that has been washed and is rid of the mold, must be washed again. Then it will be clean.”
 
Cleansing From Defiling Skin Diseases

14 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “These are the regulations for any diseased person at the time of their ceremonial cleansing, when they are brought to the priest: 3 The priest is to go outside the camp and examine them. If they have been healed of their defiling skin disease, 4 the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the person to be cleansed. 5 Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. 6 He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7 Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the defiling disease, and then pronounce them clean. After that, he is to release the live bird in the open fields.
8 “The person to be cleansed must wash their clothes, shave off all their hair and bathe with water; then they will be ceremonially clean. After this they may come into the camp, but they must stay outside their tent for seven days. 9 On the seventh day they must shave off all their hair; they must shave their head, their beard, their eyebrows and the rest of their hair. They must wash their clothes and bathe themselves with water, and they will be clean.
10 “On the eighth day they must bring two male lambs and one ewe lamb a year old, each without defect, along with three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, and one log[c] of oil. 11 The priest who pronounces them clean shall present both the one to be cleansed and their offerings before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
12 “Then the priest is to take one of the male lambs and offer it as a guilt offering, along with the log of oil; he shall wave them before the Lord as a wave offering. 13 He is to slaughter the lamb in the sanctuary area where the sin offering[d] and the burnt offering are slaughtered. Like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest; it is most holy. 14 The priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot. 15 The priest shall then take some of the log of oil, pour it in the palm of his own left hand, 16 dip his right forefinger into the oil in his palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of it before the Lord seven times. 17 The priest is to put some of the oil remaining in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. 18 The rest of the oil in his palm the priest shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed and make atonement for them before the Lord.
19 “Then the priest is to sacrifice the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from their uncleanness. After that, the priest shall slaughter the burnt offering 20 and offer it on the altar, together with the grain offering, and make atonement for them, and they will be clean.
21 “If, however, they are poor and cannot afford these, they must take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for them, together with a tenth of an ephah[e] of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, a log of oil, 22 and two doves or two young pigeons, such as they can afford, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
23 “On the eighth day they must bring them for their cleansing to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting, before the Lord. 24 The priest is to take the lamb for the guilt offering, together with the log of oil, and wave them before the Lord as a wave offering. 25 He shall slaughter the lamb for the guilt offering and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot. 26 The priest is to pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand, 27 and with his right forefinger sprinkle some of the oil from his palm seven times before the Lord. 28 Some of the oil in his palm he is to put on the same places he put the blood of the guilt offering—on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot. 29 The rest of the oil in his palm the priest shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement for them before the Lord. 30 Then he shall sacrifice the doves or the young pigeons, such as the person can afford, 31 one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. In this way the priest will make atonement before the Lord on behalf of the one to be cleansed.”
32 These are the regulations for anyone who has a defiling skin disease and who cannot afford the regular offerings for their cleansing.

Cleansing From Defiling Molds

33 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 34 “When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a spreading mold in a house in that land, 35 the owner of the house must go and tell the priest, ‘I have seen something that looks like a defiling mold in my house.’ 36 The priest is to order the house to be emptied before he goes in to examine the mold, so that nothing in the house will be pronounced unclean. After this the priest is to go in and inspect the house. 37 He is to examine the mold on the walls, and if it has greenish or reddish depressions that appear to be deeper than the surface of the wall, 38 the priest shall go out the doorway of the house and close it up for seven days. 39 On the seventh day the priest shall return to inspect the house. If the mold has spread on the walls, 40 he is to order that the contaminated stones be torn out and thrown into an unclean place outside the town. 41 He must have all the inside walls of the house scraped and the material that is scraped off dumped into an unclean place outside the town. 42 Then they are to take other stones to replace these and take new clay and plaster the house.
43 “If the defiling mold reappears in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house scraped and plastered, 44 the priest is to go and examine it and, if the mold has spread in the house, it is a persistent defiling mold; the house is unclean. 45 It must be torn down—its stones, timbers and all the plaster—and taken out of the town to an unclean place.
46 “Anyone who goes into the house while it is closed up will be unclean till evening. 47 Anyone who sleeps or eats in the house must wash their clothes.
48 “But if the priest comes to examine it and the mold has not spread after the house has been plastered, he shall pronounce the house clean, because the defiling mold is gone. 49 To purify the house he is to take two birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop. 50 He shall kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot. 51 Then he is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn and the live bird, dip them into the blood of the dead bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52 He shall purify the house with the bird’s blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet yarn. 53 Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields outside the town. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.”
54 These are the regulations for any defiling skin disease, for a sore, 55 for defiling molds in fabric or in a house, 56 and for a swelling, a rash or a shiny spot, 57 to determine when something is clean or unclean.

These are the regulations for defiling skin diseases and defiling molds.

and

Psalm 141

A psalm of David.

1 I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me;
hear me when I call to you.
2 May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

3 Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil
so that I take part in wicked deeds
along with those who are evildoers;
do not let me eat their delicacies.

5 Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness;
let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head.
My head will not refuse it,
for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.

6 Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs,
and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.
7 They will say, “As one plows and breaks up the earth,
so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.”

8 But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord;
in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.
9 Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers,
from the snares they have laid for me.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by in safety.

6. It does not take much guessing on my part to pick out the relevant scriptures, that the cockroach fails.
7. Of course the monkey was happy. He had a garbage dump in which to play. 
8.  The article “Five Memorable Nights in the Philippines” was written on stolen Filipino stationary captured by the American army; which in turn, Milsaps' flunkies "borrowed" for him. We find it interesting, not for the lies that Milsaps scribbled in the pages, though those provide some historiography to check against USG and Filipino patriot accounts, but for the stationary itself, as we can use this to gauge the level of Filipino technology in region and with the rest of the planet. 1890s bookbinding and printing is a rather strenuous tech event. See IMAGE



The Book of Judith in Tagalog. It is in terrible condition, but the binding is "modern" for the age as is the lined notepaper.   
9. All the cockroach had to do, was show the spectators / listeners how to crank the grammophone and set the needle on the cylinder, but being too selfish, stupid and lazy to give joy to his fellow visitors, or being too incompetent to collect money for the priviledge, he lost out on love, faith, hope, charity and PROFIT.   
10. The selfish unclean pig of a man excuses his sloth, inefficiency and incompetence and blames the heat for it. Here is a hint: go back to Texas and complain about how the heat saps your strength there. 
11. INTENSE SARCASM Italics=> If the Salvation Army no longer fits you, then leave them and join a carnival act.

=======================================================================

Diary of James J. Loughrey April 27, 1899

As a result of the action taken by the boys on the 25th we had an hour’s drill, double time, with 4 minutes to rest. There was hell to pay for the Officer-in-Charge was awfully strict and this was our third day’s punishment.

12. See MAP.

13. The 1st California Flour Mill Thieves burned a village without orders. Then they looted it. It appears the officers did not get their "cut".  

======================================================================

John Henry Asendorf had to be edited again. 

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Thursday, April 27th, 1899

We had a heavy rain all night. We had regular drills. We received a small mail. The Sheridan left taking with her lots of mail. I sent six letters, some Filipino books which are relics from Malolos and three pairs of slippers. She also had 950 men (discharged) on board, twelve of which were from the Tenth. From Company C were Company Robert Griffith and William Collins. Albert McMasters, Daniel Knight, William Insley and Frank Kelley are in the hospital here at Cavite. Charles Ashcraft, William Howard W. Englehart, Louis Coyner and Benny Miller are at Manila. The rest of our wounded are in company quarters off duty and about twelve are laid up with sore feet and legs. A good many suffer with the Darby Itch. Most of our boys are drawing new blue uniforms and underwear. I went on guard at 5 o’clock. It was a beautiful night. It is reported that a heavy battle was fought at Calumpit. Over 600 (Filipino PATRIOTS) killed and very small losses on our side.

14.     The USAT "Sheridan" which diary entries contain for this date, is this: 

 

Big and UGLY. 
15. SGT Asendorf sent back some of his stolen loot that he scarfed up from the slim pickings he found at Malolos. No pianos or complete beds for him, like the war criminal GEN E. Otis shipped back!
16. The Darby itch was first seen in the Americanh Civil War. Basically if you wear clothes without washing for too long, interesting occupants take up residencs with you inside those clothes. Refer to Leviticus 13 and 14. We now call those critters; "jiggers".
17. Blue uniforms, hunh? Still using leftovers from the American Civil War?   
18. The 10th Pennsylvania Train Bandits had 20% casualties like everyone else pulled off the line for rest refit, replace and recuperate.