I, Herbert M.
Reddy, enlisted in the United States Army, Company G, Sixth Infantry, on
January 25th, 1899 at Dallas, Texas.
Out of thirty
men, only three of us were accepted. We were sent to San Antonio, Texas
for training. We were trained very thoroughly in bayonet exercises for
self-defense against insurrectors. They had been trained in the use of
bolos and were very efficient and hard to handle. We were told by the
Recruiting Officers we would not have to stay in the Philippines more than
eighteen months, but we were there two years and seven months.
On our
route from San Antonio, Texas, to San Francisco, California, we had quite
an exciting experience. There were three trains carrying three or four
hundred men each, making up the regiments of approximately a thousand or
eleven hundred men. The train that I was on, broke in two and separated.
The cause of the break was a broken link pin. The part the engine was
fastened to had to go at full speed to keep ahead of that part that
was loose. This wild ride came to an end when we got to an upgrade. Then
the two parts came together slowly and could be fastened together safely
without leaving the tracks.
After we
reached San Francisco, we had to march several blocks to where the
Transport Sherman was anchored to take us aboard. It was almost daylight
when we got there. I was one of several who were put on guard to receive
and count the boxes of gold and silver brought to the transport by mule
drawn dray, straight from the mint, to pay off the soldiers and other
government expenses in the Philippines. There was about one and a half
million dollars in gold and silver. We had to count the boxes as they were
put on the ship to be sure the right numbers were tallied. They were all
day loading the cargo that was brought in by train to be loaded on the
ship.
We sailed
out about nine o'clock that night. A tug boat with a good band sailed
around our ship playing, "Where is my Wandering Boy Tonight" and just as
we were going out of the bay, we could hear the band playing, "The Girl I
Left Behind Me." We were fourteen men short at roll call the next
morning. The trip to Honolulu took seven days, and we were there two days
taking on coal and water. During these two days, they let us off the ship,
and we took in Honolulu. We had a great time going through the town.
Especially interesting was Queen Lil's Palace with all the beautiful
paintings and other treasures. The Hula girls dressed in grass skirts
danced for us. I still have one of the fifty-cent pieces that I got while
there, and it was coined in 1883. (Several years ago a coin collector
offered me twenty dollars for it.) As I had never been in the tropics
before, I had a great time climbing the coconut and mango trees and
getting the fruit from them.
After our days
in Honolulu, we boarded the transport again for the Philippine Islands. We
went straight through until we came into Manila Bay, and remained there
about ten days, unloading hospital supplies and taking on sick soldiers.
It was a very discouraging sight to us. We had never seen such sick
looking humans as these men were. All of them had morbid dysentery and
were just skin and bones. They were out of the Twentieth Kansas Regiments
that were sent to the Philippines.
Company G,
Sixth Regiment Infantry was next sent to the southern part of Negros
Island and Co's. F and G were stationed at Dumaquete. As we went into
Negros, we went through the channel between Negros and Penay Islands.
Company K was the first company unloaded at Iloilo. From there we went to
Bacolod, where Regimental Headquarters were established on Negros Island.
This was on July 4th, 1899. The motor boat that was running from ship to
shore unloading men and supplies broke down and was put adrift. All night
the ship kept its searchlights going, but it was not until late the next
day that they got the boat with its battered sailors back on board. The
waves were almost white caps and the rescued sailors were a horrible sight
from the long exposure to the elements with the salt water beating them in
the face over twenty-four hours.
Soon after our Company was stationed at Dumaquete, we were sent out in
small detachments (twenty to forty men each) to different posts. Many of
the detachments were far from medical aid. One detachment, that I was in,
was seventy-five miles from a doctor. One of our men got his leg broken
above the knee; a bad break. We eased him off the ground where he
had fallen onto a board and carried him into the building we were using
for quarters. There, we placed him onto a bunk I had built for myself from
meat crates and bamboo. For a bedpan, I took a top off a hard tack box,
cut a circle a little closer to one end and nailed pieces of wood, (that I
had chamfered with my knife) across this board the width of the wash
pan apart, so that the pan could be slipped under the chamfer of wood and
lifted up gently so as to be able to slip the pan under in place. It was a
very good substitute for a bed pan. After we got him on the bunk, the next
move was to try to get the leg set. A First Aid man who had had
instructions on setting bones took charge. We laid the man on his back,
straightened his good leg with his heel flat on the bunk and his
toes straight up. At the foot of the bed we nailed a board vertical to the
bed. We took the thread off a spool, cut a notch in the board a little
wider than the length of the spool, and drove a nail through for the spool
to roll on. With the pulleys finished, we took adhesive tape and beginning
on one side of his heel, drew the tape around, leaving a space between the
heel and tape, large enough for a small rope to be drawn through and be
tied to the tape. Then we took an old Spanish siege gun and used it for a
weight. A doctor was sent for and was fifteen days getting there. He
removed our splints, and put the broken leg in plaster of paris, but as
the plaster would not set up, the splints went back on just as we had had
them. He did tell us we had set the leg as well as he could have done. The
doctor asked me to join the Medical Corps with the offer of five dollars
more per month, but at the time I was filled up on bed pans and declined
the offer. The boat that carried the Doctor back to Dumaquete also carried
several of our crew with it so I never learned how the man with the broken
leg got along.
We were
stationed at Dumaquete for sometime, camping in an old convent. From
there, a part of Company G was sent to Balayan with five months rations of
bacon, potatoes, onions, prunes, dried apples, hard tack and flour. The
next time, they sent out to us bacon, BE lb. in sealed cans, and dried
shredded potatoes, dried apples and peaches in boxes, which in a short
while, were webbed up by worms. We picked the worms out as best we could
and cooked the fruit, but it tasted old. To kill the stale taste we used
liberal amounts of cinnamon, and to this day, I abhor the smell and taste
of that spice. The best food we had there was turtle meat. The large legs
and fins made excellent steaks. Sometimes when the tides were out, we
would go down to the beach and catch crabs. The crabs were placed in an
empty can, boiling water poured over them, and when they quit squealing,
we cracked and ate them.
One of our men
apparently was bitten by something. He came in with his hand all swollen,
and it looked like blood poison was setting in. The sergeant asked for
volunteers to help him take the injured man to a doctor. He was allowed
only one man to accompany him and I was chosen. The three of us were
furnished a horse each, and the next morning, we had only ridden about ten
miles when we came to a deep river. As luck would have it, I found a row
boat up the river a short way and paddled it downstream where the men and
horses were waiting for me. The boat would only carry two men safely, so
we loaded the sick one in with his equipment, and he held the reins to his
horse so he would swim across with the boat. After unloading them, I
returned for the Sergeant and our two horses. He held the reins of both
horses and I rowed across once more. We then mounted our horses and rode
into a little village down the river on the seashore. There we tried to
get fresh horses, as the horses we had were too small and weak, but there
was only two horses to be found that were strong enough to carry us and
the next town was thirty miles away and half way to the hospital. The
President or Mayor of the village was very nice to us and most helpful. He
suggested we take a small sail boat, and this we did. The crew on the boat
had paddles and in case the wind changed or ceased they could paddle the
boat. It sailed out beautifully for about an hour, then the wind quit and
was very still, so we picked up the paddles and paddled. When our canteens
became empty, we had to go ashore for water but as none to be had, the
Filipino boys climbed coconut trees and cut the coconuts down for us. We
went into them and drank our fill. While we were ashore, I asked the sick
man to close his fist up tight. Between his third and little finger, a
white spot showed up. I took my knife, split it, and pulled the long slim
core out. It hurt him terrible but later he felt so much better. The crew
that was rowing the boat played out so we had to dismiss them and put on a
new crew. The old crew did not want this as they were afraid of the
Insurrectors, too. We waited until after dark to go ashore, paid off the
old crew and picked up the new one. While the Sergeant was paying
off the old crew, the sick man was feeling so much better; he took his
hand out of the sling, and asked a woman who was there with her young baby
if he might hold the baby. He took the baby and loved it so; he
entertained the crowd, while we waited for the new crew to be forced to
come aboard to row our boat. They must have come in from the mountains
because they got terribly seasick in a short while, but we forced them to
keep on rowing. By daylight we came to a little village on the sea shore
about thirty miles from the hospital. We paid off the crew that had rowed
up to this place, and immediately found three more horses, but could only
find two saddles and one pack saddle. We tied the pack saddle on a horse
with a rope and put loops on the rope for stirrups. I, being the lightest,
volunteered to ride the pack saddle. Sundown caught us about ten miles
from the hospital. The sick man was tired out so a Chinaman offered us his
two wheel cart for the sick man. Into the cart we loaded the sick man and
all our equipment besides our guns and belts. The Filipino boy not having
lines to guide the horse, rode the horse and guided him with the bridle
reins. The horse looked back and saw the loaded cart. It frightened him
and he ran away, but the boy managed to guide him between the coconut
trees. I had to ride as fast as I could to overtake them and get the
horse stopped. From then on we went safely to the hospital arriving there
about ten o'clock at night.
Next
morning, when I checked the bulletin board, my name was posted to go on
guard duty at five that evening. As I had gone two days and one night
without any sleep or rest, the Sergeant interceded and had me taken off
guard duty, even though I had to go on drill at eight that morning.
Some time after
this incident, I lost both my gun and shoes in a ship wreck near Balayan.
As we got on board the officer had us take off our belts with a hundred
rounds of ammunition. I was on guard, so he had me put five rounds in the
magazine of my gun. Then he had all the others on the boat put their guns
and ammunition down in the boat. After we were settled and out from shore
apiece the officer asked if anyone had ever been along the coast. As it
happened, I was the only one in the bunch that had, and that was when we
took the sick man to the hospital. The boat we were on had nothing in the
bottom for ballast. There were only our guns, belts and one or two men.
The rest of us were all on top. While we were out at sea, a whirlwind
struck the boat and turned it over on its side. The Filipino sailors went
under with it and cut the ropes, after which the boat settled with about
three feet of mast sticking out of the water. The sail boom and sail kept
the boat from sinking any deeper. The officer ordered us to get rid of all
of our clothes and shoes
except our undershirts. The undershirts were left to prevent us from
blistering. The Filipinos had us all to come close together around the
mast pole. They said our shoes sinking would attract the sharks. We had
ten or fifteen days rations in wooden boxes and they floated out in the
water, but we were glad to see they were floating towards shore. When the
boxes got about a hundred feet from the boat, we watched in horror, the
sharks' stroke broke the boxes open. That's when our voices really began
to quiver and we were all shaking. One Irishman among us asked if we were
having a chill. However, the Filipinos on shore, who had seen us leave,
realized we had disappeared too quickly and they paddled out in a small
boat to find us. They could take two light men back to shore with them,
and the officer asked for those who could not swim to go first. One of the
soldiers whined, "Lieutenant, I can't swim." For sometime after that when
this soldier began bragging about what he could do, some of the soldiers
would toss his words back, "But Lieutenant, I can't swim" and he would
shut up. When the small boat got ashore, a larger one was sent out for the
rest of us. They also tied the mast to a light boat, so it would not sink,
and towed the sinking ship in. We did not lose but one gun with the five
rounds of ammunition, and that happened to be my gun. Just as the boat was
beginning to sink the officer was asking if anyone had ever been along
that shore. Someone said, "Reddy has been there," so the officer asked me
to come where he was sitting. In the meantime, the officer told another
man by the name of Leonard to take my gun and stand guard in my place. The
officer told me to come and tell him the condition of the shore. This is
when the whirlwind stuck the boat and turned it on its side which has been
fully explained before in this report.
In August it
was understood there were heavy fortified trenched on the other side of
the Island from Dumaquete. The officers decided to go overland to come in
behind the trenches. A boat was to come around the Island to pick us up
about ten days later. We reached the pick up point on the ninth day. In
the posse were ninety men and officers. There were cogadories, one for
each man, and they were packed with provisions and ammunitions. The last
five days of marching, our feet were so swollen that we decided to cut our
shoes so we could take them off our feet. The officers told us not to do
this or we could never get our shoes back on. When we reached the end of
our march, the sand had gotten into our shoes and the swelling had made
our feet so sore we could hardly walk. The blood was oozing out at the
eyelets of our shoes caused from the sand lacerations. When we got over to
the trenches facing the ocean, we were close to a little village that had
a river nearby. There we got into a building and began to pull off our
shoes and doctor our feet. Most of the men's toe nails were black. Both of
my big toe nails were black and one came off. The next morning after we
got to this place, Captain Burss, with a detachment of fifteen or twenty
men, crossed the river on a raft and went up the beach. When night caught
them, some of the men were almost played out. A Corporal, who could speak
good Spanish, was our interpreter, and he volunteered to take the report
back that the Captain and his men would not be in until the next day. They
found him a horse to ride. When he got back to the river, he led his horse
onto the raft and pushed the raft off with a long bamboo pole. The tide
was going out and the current of the river was so swift, it carried him
out to sea. The next morning we could see him plainly standing on the raft
and holding his horse but there was nothing we could do. We had no way of
getting to him. In the early afternoon we saw the smoke of a steamboat
coming in. They let down a rope and sling. The Corporal fixed the horse in
the sling and they hoisted him into the boat and then he was hoisted up.
The Corporal was hardly recognizable. His face was swollen and his lips
were almost out of shape from the lack of water from, that evening until
the next evening when he was picked up, or twenty-four hours. The next day
we were all loaded on the ship and turned back to Dumaguete. The report
they gave us about the fortified trenches was a false one. The trenches
were so shallow, they would hardly hide a man lying down.
On that nine
day trip across the mountain, after not seeing a human for two days or any
signs of human life, we came to a river where there were a lot of burned
logs, stumps, banana stalks, and old dried bananas full of seeds. A
child's tracks were spotted leading down to the river and back in the
direction of the jungle. Before we had all crossed the river, they had
found a boy child. He was alone so the men brought him back with them, one
on each side. He was so frightened they had to tie him with a rope to one
of the men to keep him from running away. He was too scared to eat or
drink until the next morning when he tried eating a little, but before we
got to our destination, he was eating right along with the rest of us. One
of the officers claimed he was going to adopt him, but as I was sent to
another place, I don't know what became of the boy. On this same trip, it
became foggy and we could not see very far ahead of us. Night caught us on
the side of a steep mountain. There were no leaves but only shale rock
which was covered with crawling snails. We could hear the water running
down through the rocks as it was raining hard. The mountain was very
steep, but there were old dead logs that had fallen cross ways on the
mountain side. We lay down above the logs, rolled up in our wet blankets,
and that is the way we slept. The next morning we got out early and when
we came to an open level country, we stopped, built a fire and had
breakfast in the usual way. For the next couple of days we were in a more
level open country. One evening, just as night was approaching, we spotted
a little Filipino shack and camped there. The officers went inside, but
there was not room for all of us, however we put our rations up under the
shack. As long as the camp fire burned we could keep warm but after
midnight it turned very cold and none of us could sleep very much from
that time on. This was the top of the mountain, we were going over, and it
was at the highest point. That's why it was so cold. The ninety Filipinos
that were with us were so cold they were shivering and moaning all night,
so none of us slept much. The next day we began to travel down the
mountain and the lower we got, the warmer the weather. And by the time we
neared sea-level, it was miserably hot, and our heavy woolen clothing was
most uncomfortable.
On March 20th,
1901, I was walking post near the officer's quarters. It was night time in
San Carlos. The officer stuck his head out and said, "Hey, Extra, we've
just gotten word Old Aggie (Aguinaldo) has been captured." He was the
leader of the Filipino Insurrectors. They had him confined in the
upper-story of a two story building. About three days after his capture, I
chanced to get a good look at him, as a football game was in progress near
his quarters, and he came to the window to watch it, too. This was the
first football game I had ever seen, and to me it was horrible. The
soldiers were in uniform and the Overland Transfers were in civilian
clothes, but neither side had any protective gear. All the players were
bruised and bloody, and one man was taken off the field with a broken arm.
I had to leave before the game was over, so never knew how it cam out.
In April, I was
made Corporal. The boat that brought my Corporal Warrant also brought a
squad of Filipinos to be drilled for the Constabulary (or Scouts). This
dirty job was assigned to me because I was the Junior Corporal. They did
not know one word of English. The first order of business was to get them
away from the parade grounds where they would not be hearing commands that
were too advanced for recruits. At first I had to teach by signs with
little help from the Spanish and Filipino lingo that I had picked up, and
later I began using English altogether. When I gave a command I would turn
my back to them and look over my shoulder to see that they carried
through. When they failed to understand, it called for a demonstration of
some kind to get the message across. It really did not last long, as they
caught on quickly, and in three months they were walking post.
Shortly
after this, I was sent to Gihulngan to relieve a non-commissioned officer
whose time was up. He invoiced all the government property over to me,
such as provisions and the amount of each article. Included was ten
dollars to be used to purchase fresh foods such as chicken, eggs, and fish
and to buy canned goods from the government headquarters at Dumaguete.
The Insurrectors were occasionally cutting our telephone lines and we had
to keep them repaired. The government furnished us a Filipino to keep the
lines repaired. We were told we could not buy chickens and eggs in this
area, and if the natives heard a squad was coming, they would run all the
chickens into the bushes. I asked our line repairman if he would be afraid
to go with me, just we two. He volunteered and I filled my pockets full of
Spanish pennies and a few half dollars and quarters. For insurance, I
opened the front of my shirt about half way down and stuck a 38 colt down
the left side of my belt to the cylinder so it could not go any further.
No one could see it and no one knew I had a gun of any kind. The first
shack we came to, the dogs did not bark as we approached quietly. Using
their lingo I greeted the woman with a good morning and she asked us to
come in. Once inside I inquired if they had any eggs. She said no, but the
chicken laid their eggs in the houses and I could see them in the nests
which were always up in the corner of their shacks. I smiled and looked up
to the nests. "Silum-num," she responded, meaning they were rotten. That's
when I pulled out a handful of pennies and showed them to both the lady
and her little boy, telling them I would give two pennies for one egg. She
nodded consent and he brought eight eggs. We tightened our belts and
placed the eggs in our shirt front as we had no other way to carry them.
The next time we went back, we got eighty eggs and this time I went
prepared to bring them in. From that time on, each man had two eggs for
breakfast every morning.
Soon after I
took charge there, a boat anchored in the bay, and a couple of men came
ashore with heavy suitcases. They had been sent there by the government to
teach English to the natives in school. There was no place in
the village where they could get room and board, and as we had an extra
room in the house where we were camping, I took them in and boarded them.
We charged them twenty-five dollars a month for the two in advance. I went
to the Chinese store and purchased two dozen porcelain plates, cups and
saucers, and also knives, forks, and spoons. Twenty four mess kits went
into haversacks and were hung on the wall. One day, out of the blue sky,
two officers walked into our camp. The officer in charge said, "Corporal,
have your men out for inspection in fifteen minutes." As we had no bugle,
we used a large bell mounted on a pole. One bell was for assembly. The men
came as fast as they could and most of the men knew a boat was in the
harbor. The men put on their haversacks with two days emergency rations
and their old mess kits, which had rusted badly since we were not using
them. The presence of the school teachers seemed to be irritating the
officers most of all, and they asked me if I did not know it was against
Army rules and regulations to room and aboard civilians. I acknowledged
that I did, and pointed out the teachers had failed to find any other
place to stay, and that the government was paying both the soldiers and
the teachers. But not until the officers had checked our supplies and
found them to be sufficient, were they completely satisfied. They wondered
how we could maintain an adequate supply of staples with the two extras to
be fed. This was cleared away, when I explained our access to fresh eggs,
and the fact we could obtain canned corn, tomatoes, and succotash' (all a
favorite with the men) from the Company Commissary quite often by way of
the cargo boats. The boats carried merchandise and picked up hides, cured
tobacco in the leaf and Manila hemp made
from fiber of banana stalks.
Before I
came home, I purchased some material that was made from fiber from the
pineapple leaf. This was called Pin'a and it was a beautiful material.
This I gave to my oldest sister and as she was planning to get married in
the near future, she saved it for her wedding dress. She thought it would
be nice to make her wedding dress from material her soldier-brother
had brought her from the Philippine Islands and it did make a lovely
dress.
On our
return home, two years-plus later, we were again allowed ashore at Iloilo.
Corporal Flynn and I went up town looking around and found a couple of
suitcases large enough to carry all the clothes we had in our barracks
bag. We paid four dollars each for the suitcases, and transferred all our
belongings to them. As we were returning to the ship, I being on the
outside next to the drill ground, was commanded by the officer in charge
of guard mount to fall in for guard duty. (He was short a corporal).
Corporal Flynn took my suitcase and went on to the ship, and I fell in for
guard duty as ordered. The orders were being given by bugle and this
puzzled me, for I had not heard orders by bugle in a long time. While I
was wondering if I would know what to do, the whistle of my ship blew for
leaving port. I said, "I'm being left behind," and the officer
responded with "Well, get the hell out of here." He did not have to say it
a second time. I was gone. Corporal Flynn was aboard our ship, watching
out for me, and when he caught sight of me coming in for the home stretch,
he hollered, Run-Reddy-Run." And run I did, getting to the gang-plank just
as it was starting up. I fell onto it and went up with it. I was all out
of breath, but I had made it and we were now on our way to Manila and
coming home.
We finally made
it to Manila about daylight. We unloaded before breakfast was served on
the ship and marched to a Casual Camp on the Luneta, or park. There we
missed lunch as we were not signed up and had to wait for supper. By that
time we were getting lank. They had fresh cabbages that had just been
shipped in from China. They were cut in fourths and boiled. I got in line
about four o'clock and was among the first in line for supper. They issued
a quarter of cabbage each and I made it around for thirds. This was all I
ate and I slept better that night than usual. Cabbage just never tasted so
good, before or since.
We were in
Manila fifteen days. Just before we shipped out we had to go through a
fumigation process. All that we had with us, including government
and personal property, were fumigated, and then came the final inspection.
One of the Negro soldiers had forgotten about this inspection and had all
his uniforms and other clothing in the wash. Just as he had everything wet
the officer and doctor conducting the inspection showed up. The camp
officer ordered assembly and the Negro fell in line with the rest of us,
dressed in his fatigue clothes. When the camp officer got to him he
inquired " Where's your blouse?" "It's in the wash, Sir," came the reply.
"Where's your shirt?" "In the wash, Sir." The General smiled and went on
with the inspection.
The ship we
boarded was a three mast ship that had gone through a terrible typhoon and
had been stripped of everything including the life boats and everything on
the upper decks that was loose. It was re-equipped with all that had been
lost, and they were bringing this ship back to the United States to go
into dry dock for repairs. They told us of this and it was put to us that
if anyone wanted to risk going on it, they could go at their own risk. We
knew it would be about fifteen days before another ship would be going
out, and a bunch of about seven hundred of us thought if the sailors could
risk it, we could too.
When we left
Manila, we went to Nagasaki, Japan for more coal and water. We were there
two days and nights. The ship was anchored out in the bay. The coal was
brought to us on a flat-top barge, with the coal being piled up in the
center of the barge. On each step of the ladder two women stood facing
each other, and as a man on the barge shoveled the coal one scoop at a
time into small baskets, they were passed up the ladder by this human
chain to the center of the ship. There it was poured into an opening down
to the engine room of the ship.
When we
anchored in Nagasaki, they gave us orders not to go ashore and put on a
strong guard to prevent it. Yet, most of the Army officers did go ashore.
The ship's sailors, like us, thought this was unfair, so they fastened
a big rope on the off-side of the ship where there were a lot of small
Japanese row boats. The sailors could make the Japanese understand that
we wanted to go ashore, and as they rowed their boats right under the
rope, we slid down the rope into the boats, where they covered us until it
was dark. The boatmen were paid a small tip when they got ashore, and the
Jinrikishas were there to take us uptown. They charged us thirty cents
each, one man to jinrikisha, for two hours. When we saw a place we wanted
to stop, we would kick on the dashboard and he would stop. We would get
out and go into the building and look around while the jinrikisha driver
waited for us.
The first
department store I was ever in was there in Nagasaki. There were long
counters down through the store divided into sections. Each section
displayed only one type of articles, with one clerk to each section,
mostly girls. When I came to a section that had clothing, I bought two
suits of underwear. From another section, I bought curios, a Japanese fan
and a set of chopsticks, (two for each hand). When we got ready to go,
none of us could tell which jinrikisha was ours, but the Japanese knew us
and put us straight. They took us back to shore and while we were waiting
for a boat to take us to the ship, some officers came up with their arms
loaded with souvenirs. They asked us if we would mind taking a few of
their bundles as they were overloaded. We were most happy to accommodate
them, and as we got to the gangplank of the ship, the officers told the
guards that these men were with them, we had no trouble getting back
on board. I followed my officer to the door of his cabin to give him the
souvenirs I had carried for him. He thanked me and I thanked him for
getting us back on board and safely past the guard.
We all
loaded on the boat and pulled out on our journey home. The first day out
was very pleasant with no trouble of any kind, but on the second day the
wind got up and the waves began to get higher and higher. We were supposed
to be following the Chinese current which could carry us north of
Honolulu. I was on the upper deck and looked off and saw we were going
south. The sun was coming up over the side of the ship instead of the
front. I asked one of the crew what was the matter and why were we going
south. He said it was because we were running short of fuel and supplies
and he verified that we were about eight hundred miles almost due north of
Honolulu. We were hatched down from the top deck due to the severe storm
for at least twenty four hours at a time. The water was about seven inches
deep on the deck and the rolling of the ship caused the water to splash
over us. As all meals were served on top deck, we often went without;
sometimes we missed three meals in a row, depending upon the severity of
the storm. There were no tables to eat from, so we had to sit on the deck
floor, so we had to sit on the deck floor putting our mess kits of food in
front of us. I soon learned to try for the edge of the deck to do my
eating, as the stragglers, trying to find a place to sit, would have to
step over the food of those who were served first. This storm lasted about
nine days.
When we came to
Honolulu it was nice and calm. However they put a strong guard over us so
that no one could go ashore. There was a Mexican on board, who had been
employed by the Army while we were in Manila, to pack mules. There were
only trails for the mules to travel, but when the Mexican put a pack on,
it would stay until it was taken off. As he was not a soldier, he had
taken privilege to go ashore in Honolulu. The officer in command ordered
the guard to shoot the Mexican, but as the soldiers on board stepped in
and threatened the officer and the guard with, "If you shoot him, we will
shoot you, too." The officer thought it expedient to reconsider, and to my
knowledge no report was ever made of this incident that did amount to
mutiny. The Mexican went ashore. That night a few of the soldiers slipped
off the ship in the dark and some of them swam ashore. The guards were
strong, but they never put them under arrest, just made them go back on
board.
The next
day, after the ship had been filled up with fuel and water, we headed out
for San Francisco, California. We had good weather and the trip was fine
all the way. We were all out on deck watching God's Country, the United
States of America, when the firs sight of land came in view. Great cheers
went up from all of us.
We entered San
Francisco Bay and unloaded on Angel Island. We were on the island seven
days, making up our discharges and payrolls. While we were there, we slept
in big tents on straw mattresses. When we were ready to leave, we emptied
the straw from the mattresses and put the covers back in the tents. We
were paid off in gold and silver which we were required to turn into the
Wells Fargo Bank. They had the checks already made out in fifty dollar
checks and Wells Fargo charged thirty-five cents for each one hundred
dollar check.
Supplement
to Reddy's report received after June, 1969
On January 1st,
1900 a sham battle was staged near Dumaguete. It was started about two or
three hundred yards back of a rock wall seven feet high and two feet thick
with the top of it set in broken glass. The pieces were so close together
one could not put his hand or foot down between the pieces of glass. This
wall was approximately 150 feet from the building where we were camped,
which was the old convent. In the area between the convent and the wall,
the people gathered to watch the battle. When the first men reached the
wall, they would brace themselves against the wall, so that the ones
behind them could climb over them, and by putting their knees on the first
men's shoulders, they could easily put their blankets over the wall to
cover up the glass, so they could go over the wall safely. As we began to
land on the ground, the people who had gathered became frightened and
stampeded. It was later reported some bones were broken. About a week
later, the report came in that three or four hundred Insurrectors were
advancing on us. They had been encouraged by our terrible failure at the
sham battle, which was caused by our shells not firing, or when they did,
they jammed. We went outside the village to meet them because we did not
want any firing in the town to endanger the civilians. We were out about
four or five miles before we came in contact with the insurrectors. The
Insurrectors were hidden in bamboo clusters which were close to the trail
we were traveling. As we neared the clusters, they came out all in a
crouch with bolos in one hand and shields in the other. The one that had
me picked out was coming toward me. I shot through the shield and under
his right collar bone about three ribs down. This caused him to drop his
shield, and I saw where I had hit him. However, the shot didn't stop him.
He kept right on advancing toward me, until I had fired the third shot,
and he fell dead right at my feet.
The man who was
to the left of me, I knew was afraid of gun shots, so I knelt down. This
soldier was so frightened he was unloading his gun with the muzzle of the
gun down. Just as he was emptying the last shell, he pulled the trigger,
and the muzzle was so close to my left ear that I was shattered with
unburnt powder. The concussion knocked me off balance but I recovered
quickly and saw that an Insurrectioner was about to kill my
distraught buddy. Apparently he did not see him. I shot him down.
There was
shooting still going on back in the direction we came in, and we ran back
to join them. An Insurrector was running toward a big rock and a soldier
who was already up there fired at him. Instead of hitting him, the shot
struck the rock and it ricocheted back, hitting the Insurrector in the
head. It looked like it took the whole top of his head off. The
Insurrectors were still running cross-ways in the cornfield, trying to get
away, and I shot two of them. An old soldier who had been in the Army a
long time and had been in quite a few Indian squirmishes said to me,
"Reddy, can't you see they have given up and are trying to get away?
Why don't you quit firing and let them go."
The officer in
command gave the order to quit firing, telling us we weren't hitting a
damn thing. I said, "Sir, two are down over there," and pointed toward
them. One soldier went over to investigate and they were not quite dead,
so he shot them in the head and finished them. That was the standing
orders, when we couldn't take the wounded in, to kill them off, and that
would be the end of that.
At one time,
when we were about forty miles out of Dumaguete, we ran into an
Insurrection camp. When we came in sight of it, we could see their flag
flying. As usual we were deployed about five paces. At this time we were
along the water's edge, which was ten feet or more below the level of
the ground. The Commanding officer went up to peep over the ridge, saw
them, and gave us orders to charge. Over the ridge we went, all yelling as
usual. As we went over, I unbuckled my canteen and haversack with two days
rations, which made me lighter and free to run with much more ease. The
Insurrectors were all frightened and ran quickly into the brush. We
stopped to rest where the flag pole was. Disgusted, the Officer asked for
volunteers to follow them. I saw one of the Insurrectors in a little
opening and the Officer ordered me to shoot. He fell but the Officer
wouldn't let me go into the jungles to make sure he was dead. About six
weeks later, a hundred or more Insurrectors came in and surrendered and
took the Oath of Allegiance. Among them, was the Insurrector I had shot. A
few weeks later Sergeant McDonald came to me and said, "I could show you
where you hit that Filipino, but don't say anything to him about who did
it."
Herbert M. Reddy
|
