Pennsylvania Volunteers
in the Spanish-American War

1898-1899

PA Spanish-American War

Letter Home from Louis Carpenter

"We were riding up the hill when suddenly we received orders to dismount and flatten ourselves out on the ground. Well, now, that ground is pretty rough there, a mass of brush consisting of chaparral, a kind of cactus called Spanish bayonet, and all sorts of creeping vines. We were sights when we got up later, our faces all scratched and torn, and after we got back to the camp some of the fellows' faces were poisoned and began to swell.

After we got up there was a lull in the firing, and we lounged around a stone house, a little way up the hill. The roof was covered with tiles made of clay and baked hard and then glazed. They were very pretty, and we climbed up and walked gingerly, so as not to break them. There were a lot of Cubans in the yard, and we sat up there watching their antics for some time. Pretty soon there came a little rumble and bang! A shell exploded in the yard. You should have seen those Cubans scatter. Then there came another shell. Well, yes, we did scatter, too; and, do you know, we didn't give a rap for those tiles in getting down."