The Oskaloosa Times Jefferson County Friday May 19, 1899 Soldiers Letter From Cuba. Holgain, Cub, May 4, 1899. Dear Sister:--I am well and hope this will find you all the same. I was sick two days this week, but am alright now. I wrote and told you that we were going to start home last month, but the order was changed and we wont start now till about the 15th or 20th of May. So it will be about the 10th of June before I will get home. I saw the paper where Colonel Hood had been to Washington and tried to get us into the regular army but could not do it. Then he tried to have us detained on the island, but the adjutant general told thim that we had to be mustered out. We were the first volunteers on the island and we are the only ones here now. We would have been out before now, if it had not been for officers. They never had a good job before and they want to stay as long as they can. They were all on the bum when they joined the army, and will be when they get out. Some are afraid to go back to the states with us; afraid they will get killed. Your brother, G.W. Meredith.