Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1898 — Letter From the Front. [ARTICLE]

Letter From the Front.

Port Tampa, Fla., June 7th, 1898. Editor Democrat: We believe now that we will soon be in Cuba. We received an order last night to pull stakes and break camp, which Vfe did in short order. We arrived here at noon to-day and immediately began the loading of the transports, By noon to-day we will be ready to start on our trip to Cuba. There are about 25 transports here, ten of which are already loaded. We will have on board our ship about 1400 troops. The troops are arriving here every hour by the train load and immediately boarding the ships. A small fleet of gun boats will accompany us to Cuba. About y 2,000 horses have been loaded for the use of the cavalry. One of the boys was drowned here this morning. He started to swim to one of the piers and was seized with the cramps and sunk before he could ba reached. He was a member of one of the calvary regiments. His remains will be sent home to-morrow .J The water is very rough now as we are having a squall, which makes it very disagreeable for those loading the transports. Well, I will close as my ship is getting ready to leave. I* will write when we reach Cuba. Yours, A. D. Lakin. Co. A, 4th U. 8. Infantry.