Died in Iloilo on February 16 1899 of Smallpox
Sunday afternoon was a sad time for us. Our Chaplain died of smallpox Saturday night in a small bamboo hut on the river bank in front of our barracks. His coffin was rudely constructed of planks, taken from one of the partially burnt buildings, and even the charcoal had not been planed off. Around his coffin was wrapped a piece of white domestic. His hearse was an old two-wheeled cart with a water buffalo hitched to it. His grave is in a forlorn place. Only about twenty of the boys were present, on account of the nature of the disease. Every one said it was the saddest funeral he ever witnessed.
Erle C Taylor, Mar 2 1899
MANILA. (Received March 2, 1899, 10.07 a. m.)
ADJUTANT-GENERAL, Washington:
Casualties near Caloocan, First South Dakota, February 27: Company B, Private Herman Bellman, knee, severe; L, Sergt. Robert B. Ross, scalp, slight. Twentieth Kansas, February 28: G, Capt. David S. Elliott, killed. First Montana, February 28: A, Privates Alvin F. Plottner, shoulder, slight; K, Howard L. Tanner, thigh, moderate; M, William J. Cheastey, hand, slight. Near San Pedro Macati, First California, February 28: F, Privates Arthur M. Smith, neck, severe; K, Harold E. Parks, arm, slight. First Washington, March 1: C, Corpl. Alfred B. Reichelt, shoulder, moderate; Private Herbert L. Osborne, chest, severe. Chaplain Lewis L. Leland, First Tennessee, died at Iloilo, February 26, smallpox. Answering inquiries, Capt. Thomas R. Hamer, slight flesh wound, convalescent, able sit up; for Meikle-john. Private Hiram C. Conger, H, Tenth Pennsylvania, shot through right lobe of liver, improving rapidly; for Meiklejohn. Private George Church, A, Thirteenth Minnesota, doing full duty with company.
OTIS
Otis, Mar 2 1899, 1007am, Casualties
Arrival of the Dix.
The United States freight transport Dix. formerly the Samoa, arrived from Manila via Nagasaki yesterday. Her only cargo was the remains of 325 officers, soldiers, sailors and civilians who died in the Philippines and have been sent here for final interment. Four of the bodies are unidentified, owing to the marks and numbers having been removed from the graves by some vandal. The remains of
Lieutenant Howard M. Koontz, Forty-fourth Volunteer Infantry;
Chaplain J. Leland, First Tennessee Regiment;
Lieutenant D. D. Pasco, Eighteenth Infantry;
Lieutenant Max Wagner, Twenty-sixth Volunteer Infantry, and
First Lieutenant Charles R. Ramsay. Twenty-first Infantry,
were among those brought home.
Arrival of the Dix
SENATE
59TH CONGRESS, 1st Session.
REPORT No. 331.
LOUISE J. D. LELAND.
JANUARY 22, 1906.—Ordered to be printed.
Mr. GEARIN, from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the following
PRIVATE REPORT.
[To accompany S. 2552.]
The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2552) granting an increase of pension to Louise J. D. Leland, have examined the same and report:
Louise J. D. Leland, whose post-office address is No. 330 Cliffside avenue, Upper Montclair, N. J., is the widow of Lewis J. Leland, who served during the war with Spain as chaplain First Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Infantry from May 26, 1898, to February 27, 1899, when he died at Iloilo, P. I., of disease incurred in service and line of duty.
Mrs. Leland is now receiving a general-law pension of $20 per month. Testimony filed with this committee shows that she has no property or other resources and is entirely dependent upon her pension for support. The following report regarding the honorable and efficient service of Chaplain Leland, furnished by the War Department, is of interest in the case:
HEADQUARTERS FIRST TENNESSEE INFANTRY, U. S. VOLUNTEERS,
Iloilo, P. I., March 31, 1899.
SIR: I have the honor to herewith submit supplementary report of the part taken by this regiment at the taking of Iloilo and subsequent engagements in island of Panay, and respectfully recommend that the following brevet and honorable mention be granted:
* * * * * * *
Chaplain and Capt. Lewis J. Leland, for gallant and meritorious conduct on the fighting line and in rendering valuable aid in transporting ammunition and commissary stores to the front on the day of taking Iloilo, February 11, 1899.
* * * * * *
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
GRACEY CHILDERS,
Colonel First Tennessee Infantry, U. S. Volunteers,
Commanding Regiment.
ASSISTANT ADJUTANT-GENERAL,
First Separate Brigade, Eighth Army Corps.
LOUISE J. D. LELAND.
The next pension business was the bill (S. 2552) granting an increase of pension to Louise J. D. Leland.
The bill was read, as follows:
Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to place on the pension roll, subject to the provisions and limitations of the pension laws, the name of Louise J. D. Leland, widow of Lewis Jay Leland, late chaplain First Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, war with Spain, and pay ber a pension at the rate of $30 per month in lieu of that she is now receiving.
The bill was ordered to a third reading; and it was accordingly read the third time, and passed.
