LETTERS HOME TO HIS FAMILY IN GREAT FALLS, MONTANA FROM A YOUNG SOLDIER SERVING WITH COMPANY A, FIRST MONTANA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY IN THE PHILIPPINES, 1898-1899

Depew, Lemuel Frank (1879-1928)

Published by [various places, including San Francisco, Manila, Cavite, Malolos, etc.], 1899

About this Item

A group of 31 letters home, in ink and pencil, most with accompanying envelopes, from Frank Depew, a young man just finishing high school in Great Falls, Montana, who volunteered to serve in the infantry at the commencement of the Spanish American War. Approx. 110 pages, some on "Remember the Maine" letterhead, all in a neat hand. The First Montana Volunteer Infantry mustered in in May 1898 and began their training at Camp Robert B. Smith, near Helena. In one of Depew's first four letters from camp he provides his family with a detailed list of his schedule which began with reveille at 5:30 in the morning and went non-stop until taps at 10pm. On May 26 the company left Camp Smith by train for San Francisco, carrying a regimental flag that had been presented to them by the people of Helena. They arrived in San Francisco on May 31 where they were welcomed by the Red Cross and went into camp some 4 miles from the docks. They did six hours of drills daily, which he describes in his June 21 letter: "Drill skirmishes always keep a distance of two yards between men. The firing line is divided into divisions and when the order to advance by rushes is given one division advances in double time about fifteen yards in front of the rear ones while the others fire and so on until they get about 60 yards from the enemy when rapid fire begins and we fix bayonets and at 30 we charge. . . . Today our Battalion had a sham battle and had a hospital in the rear; some men were wounded and taken on stretchers to where they were supposed to be bandaged up etc." He also sends his mother a small sketch of the camp layout, reports on the food, and informs his father he has seen Uncle Charlie and Aunt Jenny Depew and their son Henry who have a nice big house in San Francisco and who have been very kind to him. He mentions the names of fellow soldiers and tent mates, as well as one of the commanding officers, Lt. Col. Wallace. On July 16 he writes to his parents that he has seen the USS Pennsylvania which would carry the troops to the Philippines, steel clad and frame and "as narrow as a knife blade." He and his friends Seth and Jay, "the boys who left the high school to volunteer" would soon be "in the middle of the Pacific near the Equator sailing for the Philippines with an army of invasion." His letter of July 26 is from aboard ship where he says he spends his time reading "articles by Bryan and other good men in 'free silver,' monopoly, &c." As they were on their way to the Philippines, the Spanish surrendered and by the time the USS Pennsylvania arrived in Manila Bay on August 24, the Spanish American War was essentially over though the armistice would not be signed until December 1898. Depew's letter home to his parents, dated August 30, 1898, is from Cavite: "We came ashore the 24th and took quarters in the old garrison." He took a ten mile walk to the new Spanish fort and its three modern guns. "It would do you good to see the havoc Dewey's shells made on the guns and masonry." He includes a small pencil drawing of ships in the harbor, identifying a few by name, and mentioning he could see the wrecks of eleven Spanish War vessels there. He also says his regiment has received praise from both Gen. Merritt and Admiral Dewey already for not losing any men on the crossing even though the Pennsylvania was the worst ship with the worst food and quarters. He also takes a few lines to express his views of the native population: "Fruit here is rather scarce the natives being too lazy to cultivate anything. They are, I think, a very degraded race, being filthy low minded and dishonest. I have seen only two Americans that live here, one keeps a saloon and the other a grocery store." His letters from October reflect the restlessness of the troops as they continue as an army of occupation: "We are all disgusted for having to stay here so long, after the war is over to garrison these darned islands. We haven't got a single thing to do here and all the reading.

Seller Inventory # 69811

Bibliographic Details

• Title: LETTERS HOME TO HIS FAMILY IN GREAT FALLS, MONTANA FROM A YOUNG SOLDIER SERVING WITH COMPANY A, FIRST MONTANA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY IN THE PHILIPPINES, 1898-1899
• Publisher: [various places, including San Francisco, Manila, Cavite, Malolos, etc.]
• Publication Date: 1899
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Americana