Santa Mesa Bridge.

The Santa Mesa Bridge was near the confluence of the Pasig and San Juan Rivers.

Wounded American soldiers at Santa Mesa Bridge, 1899.

Wyoming troops participated in General Arthur MacArthur's advance along the line of the Pasig River including engagements at the water works, Guadeloupe Ridge, Caloocan and San Juan Del Morta where Pvt. Jospeh M. Spaeth suffered mortal wounds.

Bridge of San Juan del Monte, 1899.

Thereafter the Wyoming units were generally at outposts until July 12 when they were transferred to Manila where they waited with North Dakota Volunteers for embarcation to the United States.
Officers at an American Outpost near San Roque

American Outpost near San Roque

Guard Mount near San Roque

On July 29 the Wyoming units boarded the United States Army Transport Grant for the voyage back to San Francisco.

United States Army Transport Grant

The Grant was one of six ships purchased by the army at the beginning of the war and renovated into troop ships. Unfortunately, the refitting was not done until the War in Cuba was over. The ship was designed to carry a crew of 150, 80 officers, 1,000 men and 1,000 horses. The Army managed to shoe-horn in 1800 men. While in the ward room officers ate fresh meat thank to refrigeration, below decks conditions were no quite as nice. The sleeping quaters for the men might remind one of stacked cordwood.

United States Army Transport Grant

The voyage was uneventful. On August 2, Sergt. Major Moore died and was buried at sea. The ship paused briefly at Nagasaki to take on coal. There Cpl. Thomas Olsen died and was buried in the foreign cemetery. Upon arrival in San Francisco, Gov. DeForest Richaards boarded the ship from a tug

The troops were mustered out in San Francisco on September 23. The federal government made no provision for the cost of return to North Dakota or Wyoming. That cost was born by the respective states. As the returning train crossed Wyoming it paused at various towns where the boys were treated by the towns people to dinner and a celebration culminating in in Cheyenne where a dinner and dance were probided at Turner Hall.

Music this Page:

By Old Fort Filepe
Sung to the tune of "On the Road to Mandelay

I

By old Fort San Felipe
Looking lazy at the sea,
There's a Filipino maiden,
And I know she thinks of me.
For the wind is in the rice-fields.
And the bells they seem to say.
"Come ye back, ye Yankee soldier.
Come ye back to San Roque."

Chorus

Come ye back to San Roque,
Where old Dewey's squadron lay,
You could hear their oarlocks chucking
Far across Cavite Bay.
On the road to San Roque,
Where the naked babies play
And the dawn comes up like thunder
From Manila cross the bay.

II

Her petticoat was pina.
And it had a silken sheen.
Her name was Esmeralda dona Juanita,
She was like a gypsy queen.
And I saw her first a-smoking
Of a whacking white cheroot.
And a-wasting Christian kisses.
On a blooming second lieut.

Repeat Chorus

III

When the wind was in the palm trees,
And the sun was sinking low,
She would get out her guitarra,
And would play a bolero,
With her arm upon my shoulder.
And her cheek against my cheek.
We would watch the shining searchlights
With their brilliant silvery sheets.

Repeat Chorus

IV

Take me somewhere west of 'Frisco,
Where the best is like the worst,
Where there ain't no ten commandments.
And a man can raise a thirst.
For I hear the bugles blowing.
And it's there I'd like to be,
By old Fort San Felipe,
Looking lazy at the sea.

Repeat Chorus

Old Fort Filipe

As previously noted most of the songs from the Spanish American War were dusted-off versions of prior songs. Such is "By Old Fort Filipe" based on Rudyard Kipling's 1890 "Mandalay."

Mandalay

BY THE old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' lazy at the sea,
There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me;
For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say:
"Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay! "
Come you back to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay:
Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin' from Rangoon to Mandalay ?
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!

'Er petticoat was yaller an' 'er little cap was green,
An' 'er name was Supi-yaw-lat - jes' the same as Theebaw's Queen,

An' I seed her first a-smokin' of a whackin' white cheroot,
An' a-wastin' Christian kisses on an 'eathen idol's foot:
Bloomin' idol made o' mud
Wot they called the Great Gawd Budd
Plucky lot she cared for idols when I kissed 'er where she stud!
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!

When the mist was on the rice-fields an' the sun was droppin' slow,
She'd git 'er little banjo an' she'd sing "Kulla-lo-lo!
With 'er arm upon my shoulder an' 'er cheek agin my cheek
We useter watch the steamers an' the hathis pilin' teak.
Elephints a-pilin' teak
In the sludgy, squdgy creek,
Where the silence 'ung that 'eavy you was 'arf afraid to speak!
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!

But that's all shove be'ind me - long ago an' fur away
An' there ain't no 'busses runnin' from the Bank to Mandalay;
An' I'm learnin' 'ere in London what the ten-year soldier tells:
"If you've 'eard the East a-callin', you won't never 'eed naught else."
No! you won't 'eed nothin' else
But them spicy garlic smells,
An' the sunshine an' the palm-trees an' the tinkly temple-bells;
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!

I am sick o' wastin' leather on these gritty pavin'-stones,
An' the blasted English drizzle wakes the fever in my bones;
Tho' I walks with fifty 'ousemaids outer Chelsea to the Strand,
An' they talks a lot o' lovin', but wot do they understand?
Beefy face an' grubby 'and -
Law! wot do they understand?
I've a neater, sweeter maiden in a cleaner, greener land!
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!

Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there aren't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst;
For the temple-bells are callin', an' it's there that I would be
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, looking lazy at the sea;
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay,
With our sick beneath the awnings when we went to Mandalay!
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!

Next page, Fort D. A. Russell continued.