A Pawnee County Farmer Receives Sad Tidings.
Mr. S. F. Ingham of
Orinsville, Pawnee county, this week received the following letter from Manila:
Dear Sir:—It becomes
my painful duty to inform you of the sad death of your son, Thomas Ingham, on
the 25th of March. We arrived at Manila on the 23rd of March and on the evening
of the 24th I was ordered with my company to the front into position for the contemplated
attack on the city of Malolos for the following day. We marched about eight
miles that night and took position, under the scorching fire, near the
Caloocan church on the extreme left of the line. The next morning at daylight
the advance was ordered and we left the trenches under a heavy fire and charged
the enemy. My company was in the very thickest of the fight and the men, to a
man, fought like heroes. Every man stepped forward into the hail of shot as
though danger they had never known.
Three lines of the
strongest possible intrenchments, manned by thousand of insurgents, did we
charge and take, coming out finally on the edge of a river across which the
enemy was heavily fortified. As soon as it was possible I hastened the company
into the protection of the stone foundation of an old house. Just as we were
entering this place your son, who was standing by my side, was shot through the
body just above the heart. I did everything I could for the poor fellow but
without avail, for after a few moment he opened his eyes, looked and me and
smiled when I told him how well he’d done his duty and nobly he had fallen, and
passed away.
Allow me to proffer
my most sincere offers of condolence to you and to say that your son was one of
the best soldiers, honest, reliable and faithful; that he did the greatest deed
that a man can do—he gave his life for his country. He was buried among the
other heroes who have given their lives at Manila.
As soon as I am able
to get into the city I will send you the watch he wore when killed. He had
about $30 due him as pay from the government. If you write to the adjutant
general at Washington this can probably be obtained.
P. S. On this day my
company lost four men killed, one mortally wounded and eight from heat
exhaustion.—March 25, 1899. J. R. R. H.
SOURCE: “Killed His
Son,” Oklahoma Weekly Leader, Guthrie,
Oklahoma, Thursday Evening, June 1, 1899, p. 8
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