1902 Discharge Papers
1902 Discharge Papers
An uncle found the discharge papers of my Krag carrying great grandfather, Charles Swan, which I have posted about a few times on this forum. Military history is under articles in this website. His discharge papers were signed by 2nd Lt. Louis Hamilton, the great grandson of Alexander Hamilton. His battles were listed. I knew of his Boxer Rebellion battles, but not of the Philippine Insurrection battle, which was at Big Bend, Imus River, October 3rd, 1899. I will be researching this battle and finding field reports.
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Re: 1902 Discharge Papers
I looked into the book titled "History of the Fourteenth United States Infantry" from January, 1890 to December, 1908. It does not appear that a whole lot happened October 3, 1899. It still may have been quite a day as compared to my own today sitting at home. In part it reads:
"There was no serious resistance by the insurgents, and there were no casualties during the day in the Fourteenth Infantry, tho the work of advancing thru swamps, rice fields and mud over ground cut up by ditches and interspersed with fences and bamboo hedges, was arduous."
Also, on the discharge papers Charley was listed as a musician during his enlistment and as a blacksmith in his previous occupation. And where it shows marksmanship, it was written on the line "No Practice". In his letter home during the Boxer Rebellion he did state that he had to get a different grip on his rifle after his wrist was hit with shrapnel during an advance on Yang Tsun, so he did have a rifle. He deer hunted after getting discharged so I'm speculated he deer hunted before enlisting so he was likely familiar with some type of rifle.
"There was no serious resistance by the insurgents, and there were no casualties during the day in the Fourteenth Infantry, tho the work of advancing thru swamps, rice fields and mud over ground cut up by ditches and interspersed with fences and bamboo hedges, was arduous."
Also, on the discharge papers Charley was listed as a musician during his enlistment and as a blacksmith in his previous occupation. And where it shows marksmanship, it was written on the line "No Practice". In his letter home during the Boxer Rebellion he did state that he had to get a different grip on his rifle after his wrist was hit with shrapnel during an advance on Yang Tsun, so he did have a rifle. He deer hunted after getting discharged so I'm speculated he deer hunted before enlisting so he was likely familiar with some type of rifle.