The First regiment Massachusetts heavy artillery, United States volunteers, in the Spanish-American war of 1898

by James A. Frye

FINAL DAYS IN THE SERVICE

XIV.

So through the long and weary summer months the scattered batteries of the regiment served faithfully at their posts along the coast, patiently enduring the dull monotony of garrison life, and hoping against hope that the fortunes of war yet might bring them their own chance for training their guns upon an enemy. For a time rumor still busied itself with the movements of the Spanish fleet, while spook cruisers still held the seas—as the men on Shafter's crowded troopships could have testified to their sorrow—but, as the final event proved, Spain either was too blind or too feeble to improve her one possible opportunity of inflicting injury on her adversary by striking a sharp and sudden blow at some point on our long and weakly defended coast line. The national salute fired on the Fourth of July at all the posts along-shore answered a double purpose, since, while complying with army regulations for the observance of the holiday, it also served to celebrate the victorious fighting on land and sea at Santiago. But the men of the coast artillery, regulars and volunteers alike, listened with heavy hearts to the booming of their unshotted guns; rejoicing with their brethren of the Navy over the signal victory that had been won, they yet felt that the destruction of Cervera's squadron had deprived them of the one chance to which they had trusted for obtaining distinction. Like all thinking men, they had to face the fact that the events at Santiago marked the beginning of the end.

On July 11th, Governor Wolcott informed the authorities at Washington that the people of Massachusetts no longer were in uneasiness regarding the safety of the cities and towns on the coast, and requested that the First might be relieved from its present stations and assigned to more active duty. Colonel Pfaff also urged that his command be retained in service for any work that yet might remain to be done, while General Lee, who had heard of the efficient condition of the regiment through Lieutenant-Colonel Curtis Guild of his staff, made strong efforts to secure its transfer to his Seventh Corps, then completing its organization for the occupation of Havana.

But the time had not yet arrived when conditions would permit any further depletion of our already weak artillery garrisons. It is true that Spain, after the utter annihilation of her sea power, had been humbled into asking terms on July 26th, and that, with the signing of the peace protocol on August 12th, hostilities had been suspended; but there yet remained possible complications with Germany over the long and ugly succession of unfriendly acts of which the vessels of her fleet in Philippine waters had been guilty. Within a very recent period Berlin has seen fit officially to disavow any intention of interfering at that time with our naval representatives at Manila, but in spite of this disavowal it still remains a fact that such interference occurred, and it was not until early in the fall that our military and naval authorities could feel assured that the immediate future might not find this country called upon to face a fresh and really powerful adversary. Under these circumstances, all our available artillery troops, both regulars and volunteers, wisely were held at their stations until, on the final passing of the German war-cloud, there remained no further hope for active service against Spain.

On September 4th, telegraphic orders from the War Department were received at all the posts garrisoned by fractions of the regiment, directing preparations to be made for the assembly of the command for furlough and ultimate muster-out; and on the 17th, Colonel Pfaff issued his orders for the concentration of his widely scattered batteries at Framingham. On the 19th, the regiment was again reunited at the State camp ground, the batteries from the posts on the North Shore, under command of Colonel Pfaff, being first to arrive, followed at short intervals by the battalion from Fort Warren, under Major Frye, and the garrison from Fort Rodman, under Lieutenant-Colonel Woodman. It was found that camp already had been pitched by Captain Landy and his men, under direction of Colonel Converse, and all that remained to be done by the command was to settle in quarters and start in operation the battery messes.

After over three months of detached service at isolated points along the coast the twelve batteries again were welded together in the regimental organization. For the time being, all artillery drill and formations were dropped, and the command easily and quickly settled into the routine of an infantry encampment. Regimental and battalion drills daily were held on the broad field which, prior to 1896, had been familiar territory to the command, and in a surprisingly short time the regiment again developed the snap and precision in infantry work for which it had been distinguished before its transfer to the artillery arm of the service. Here, through the thoughtfulness and generosity of the State authorities, the regiment was rejoined by its band. None save those who have learned by actual experience in service how much may be done by music towards alleviating the wearing monotony of camp and garrison life can appreciate the welcome given by the men of the regiment to Bandmaster Collins and his musicians, on their return after their long absence.

Meanwhile preparations for leaving the service were pushed forward. The work was done under supervision of Lieutenant-Colonel Weaver, U.S.V. (captain First United States Artillery), detailed as mustering officer for Massachusetts, to whom had been assigned as assistants Lieutenants C. C. Hearn, Third United States Artillery, and O. Edwards, Eleventh United States Infantry. Slowly but steadily the absurdly cumbersome and complex tangle of "paper-work" was unravelled, final muster and pay rolls were completed, and the thousand-and-one accounts with ordnance, quartermaster, medical, commissary, and signal departments were closed. On October 5th this work substantially was finished, and shortly after noon on that day, in a drizzling rain, the batteries for the last time formed line as a regiment of United States Volunteers. Marching across the soaked parade, the regiment stood at attention while the garrison flag slowly was lowered, in token of the abandonment of the post, and then swung out through the main gate of the reservation for the muddy march to the waiting troop-train.

LIEUT.-COL. ERASMUS M. WEAVER, U.S.V.
(Captain 1st U.S. Artillery.)
Mustering-out Officer for Regiment.

Reaching Boston at two o'clock, the command formed in column for its final parade. By this time the drizzle of the forenoon had become a drenching downpour, but the men now were thoroughly wet through, and no attention was paid to the muddy streets. The regiment had gone out under like conditions, and was disposed to accept them as part of the established order of things. Without waiting for the rear-most batteries to emerge from the station, the command for marching was given, the band struck up the stirring strains of the "Stars and Stripes," and the regiment started over its route to the State House. Here Governor Wolcott, with the officers of his staff, reviewed the returning artillerymen. On reaching the foot of Beacon Hill, the Third Battalion halted, while the leading battalions marched on and formed line on Charles Street. Then the Bristol-Plymouth batteries, with arms at port, tramped past their Boston comrades, forming line on their right and presenting arms as they, in their turn, marched by—and with this brief ceremony the twelve batteries, as volunteers of 1898, separated forever. Colonel Pfaff, with his staff, the band, and "A," "C," "D," "G," "K," and "L" Batteries, proceeded to the South Armory, where, after cheering their commanding officer, the men broke ranks and scattered to their homes. Major Frye, with the Third Battalion, marched to the Park Square station, where "I" Battery was detached to entrain at Kneeland Street, and "E," "F," and "M" Batteries took their special train for their home stations. "B" and "H" Batteries proceeded by the most direct routes to their armories at Cambridge and Chelsea. The thirty days' furlough had begun, and all active service for the regiment now was at an end.

On November 4th, the officers and men of the twelve batteries reported back from leave and furlough at the armories at their home stations, and the final formality of physical examination for discharge was begun. In the First and Second Battalions this work was carried on under direction of Captain Newgarden, assistant surgeon, United States Army, assisted by Lieutenants Gates and Hitchcock, of the medical department, Second Massachusetts Infantry, while in the Third Battalion the examining surgeons were Major Magurn and Lieutenant Shea, Ninth Massachusetts Infantry. Owing to the small enlisted strength of the command, as well as to its magnificent physical condition, the examinations were concluded in a comparatively short time, and the regiment was given a clean bill of health by the board of surgeons through whose hands it had just passed.

The last detail now had been attended to, and on November 14th the First was ready for the final step towards leaving the volunteer service. Early in the forenoon of that day Majors Dyar and Quinby assembled their batteries at the South Armory, where, with the field, staff, and non-commissioned staff, they formally were mustered out of the service of the United States by Lieutenant-Colonel Weaver. At the same time Major Frye had accompanied Lieutenant J. P. Hains, Third United States Artillery, to the stations of the "Cape" batteries on a like mission. Lieutenant Hains enjoyed the distinction of having received almost the last wound in the Porto Rican campaign, having intercepted a Mauser bullet in the action at Aibonito, almost at the time when the peace protocol was being signed. He had become very popular among the officers of the First, and his selection as mustering out officer was much to the satisfaction of the Third Battalion.

Of the seven hundred and fifty-seven officers and men whose names had been borne on the rolls of the regiment during its term of service, there were mustered out at this time seven hundred and eleven. The regiment had lost two commissioned officers—Major Bryant by promotion, and Lieutenant Rolfe by resignation—and forty-three enlisted men, of whom Private Henry A. Williams, "F" Battery, had died while on furlough, one had received promotion, six had been discharged for physical disability contracted in the line of duty, and the remainder had been transferred to the regular service, the greater number of these enlisting in the Second United States Artillery. Major Dearing was not mustered out with the other officers of the staff, remaining in the service until Jan. 28th, 1899, for duty as examining surgeon with other returning Massachusetts regiments.

At this time what had threatened to be a serious complication was averted through the thoughtfulness of the regimental commander. Though the final muster and pay rolls of the command had been prepared in ample time, the pay department, through inadequate clerical equipment at this station, found itself unable to make the final settlements with the men at the time of their muster-out. In addition to money for clothing allowances and commutation of furlough rations, there was due to the batteries over six weeks' pay, a very considerable sum in the aggregate. As in all other volunteer regiments, not a few of the men had returned from service only to find their patriotism rewarded by the loss of their situations in civil life, and cases were not infrequent in which delay in final payment meant serious hardship. Fully understanding these conditions, Colonel Pfaff relieved the stress of the situation by unhesitatingly drawing his personal check for $10,000, thus making it possible on the day of mustering out to advance to each enlisted man $15 with which to tide over the interval before the final appearance of the paymaster. This thoughtful act met with the appreciation which it merited, and it hardly need be added that the trust shown in the integrity of the men proved not to have been misplaced. On November 18th the batteries of the Third Battalion were paid off, and on the following day the remainder of the regiment received its money—the last dollar advanced by Colonel Pfaff being repaid at the time the Government fulfilled its obligations. This, from every point of view, was a pleasant incident and one that reflected equal credit on the commanding officer and his men.

AN HONORABLE REGIMENTAL
RECORD

XV.

After bringing to its conclusion another eventful chapter in its already long and honorable history, the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery again has left the service of the United States to reënter that of the Commonwealth. In addition to the jealously cherished "White Diamond" badge, eloquent of its campaigning from 1861 to 1864 with the old Second Division, Third Corps, Army of the Potomac, it now has won the right to bear the device emblematic of service in the Artillery Corps of the War of 1898—the crossed conical projectiles, surmounted by the spherical shot. The record of the regiment in this, its latest war, is in every way worthy of its proud traditions. During its term of service there were no desertions from its ranks, no dishonorable discharges blemish its rolls, and the records show that its men, in conduct and discipline, steadily maintained the high standard for which the command long has been noted. The work allotted to the regiment was intelligently and well performed, and it is a most significant fact that of the seven hundred and eleven discharge papers issued to its officers and men on Nov. 14th, 1898, there was not one which failed to bear the endorsement coveted by every true soldier: "Service honorable and faithful."

It is much to be regretted that certain enlisted men of the regiment, and even a few among its officers, since their return from the service, have felt constrained to apologize for the nature of the duty which it fell to their lot to perform. It equally is a matter for regret that some of their civilian friends, unquestionably through honest ignorance, have made the absurd mistake of commiserating the command on its failure to reach what they are pleased to term "the front." While it seems almost a waste of energy, it yet may be worth while to note here a few facts concerning the functions of the coast artillery in the late war, as well as to emphasize the point that any probable foreign war of the future will demand precisely the same sort of service from troops of this arm.

Photograph by T. E. Marr, Boston
THE LAST EVENING PARADE.
Framingham, 3 October, 1898.

In the first place—and so long as the term "front," in its accepted military sense, shall continue to mean the point of expected or probable contact with an enemy's forces—it requires no argument to prove that the First Heavy Artillery was at its post, at the front, on the 26th day of April, 1898. This, to be exact, was fifty-seven days before the Second Infantry disembarked at Baiquiri, sixty-six days before the Ninth Infantry landed at Siboney, and ninety days before the Sixth Infantry left its transport at Guanica, at which points respectively these three Massachusetts commands for the first time found it possible to gain tactical touch with the Spaniards. In other words, in a war with a maritime power, every strategic point on navigable waters accessible to an enemy's ships of war is of necessity at "the front," so long as the hostile fleet remains undestroyed, and the First therefore justly may claim actual service at the front from the day following that on which Congress declared war to exist, until the 3rd of July, when the annihilation of Cervera's squadron finally and definitely relieved the coast from the threat of Spanish attack. While the five Massachusetts regiments of infantry were passing their earlier weeks of service at inland camps of instruction, absolutely beyond the reach of any possible fighting, the First Artillery—from the very day on which it left its home stations—was continuously on duty at vital points open to attack at any hour of day or night. This claim, it should be well understood, is made only in simple justice to the regiment and in the interests of historical accuracy, for not an officer or a man in the First would detract from the hard-won honors of the Second, the Sixth, or the Ninth—honors in which, as Massachusetts soldiers, they ever will feel an honest pride.

The earlier portion of this narrative may have served to show roughly the condition of our harbor defenses at the outbreak of the last war, as well as the imperative need of heavy artillery troops with which to garrison them. The time has not yet arrived when the whole truth may be told safely, or even with propriety, but since the actual artillery strength on duty during the war is a matter of easily accessible record, it may here receive momentary attention. Briefly summarized, there were in service for the protection of our four thousand miles of sea-coast but ninety-three heavy batteries, of which seventy were in the regular establishment and twenty-three were in the volunteers. Over one-half of the latter were contributed by Massachusetts alone, in her First Heavy Artillery, and it seems fitting again to refer to the fact that her twelve trained and disciplined batteries were the only ones obtainable from the militia of the entire country at the outbreak of hostilities. Of the remaining volunteer heavy batteries, four each were hastily recruited in California and Maine, two in Connecticut, and one in South Carolina. The event proved that but six of the entire ninety-three batteries were destined to take part in any actual fighting. These were four from the Third United States Artillery and two from the California volunteers, which—when the destruction of Montojo's fleet had allayed all fears for the safety of the Pacific coast—were relieved from duty in the fortifications and ordered to report to General Merritt, under whom they saw service as infantry in the land operations around Manila.

After what already has been said, it would seem that no elaborate explanation should be required to show why the heavy artillery arm failed to obtain more brilliant service in the last war. It must be borne in mind that its first and most important function is the defence of coast fortifications; its second, operations with the siege train in the reduction of fortified places; its third—and this only in rarely occurring emergencies—service as infantry. In the late war with Spain, as in any future European war, it was a matter of vital necessity to man our coast defenses, and to keep them manned until the threatening fleet had been swept from the seas; that once accomplished, and the artillerymen might reasonably have hoped for further service in the expected final operations at Havana. But with the naval victory off Santiago came the collapse of the war—and the ending of hope for the artillery.

By the legislation which transferred the First from the infantry to the artillery arm, the regiment was deprived of its opportunity of foreign service. Entrusted with the defence of the coast, it quietly accepted the responsibilities devolving upon it, and met them in a way that entitles it to the gratitude of the Commonwealth. First in the field, it had the mortification of finding itself soonest forgotten, for no correspondents followed it in its faithful service, and no newspaper filled its columns with the daily gossip of its camps. Accepting the situation, it faithfully went on with its duties until the end came, and then returned quietly to its place in the militia, content to apply to its own case the words of its commander-in-chief, President McKinley, "The highest tribute that can be paid to the soldier is to say that he performed his full duty. The field of duty is determined by his Government, and wherever that chances to be, there is the place of honor. All have helped in the great cause, whether in camp or in battle, and when peace comes, all alike will be entitled to the Nation's gratitude."

THE END.