During the night Fetz of ours, who was doing sentry duty, by the ominous click of his gun’s hammer and a threat to fire, resurrected two festive soldiers out of the brush in which they were hiding, preparatory to an attempt to get into camp unobserved. They were gathered in and taken to the guard-tent, where for two days they sweltered and sweltered. The spectacle these two young gentlemen presented as, bucket in hand, they went through the streets gathering up the refuse, under the vigilant eye of a sentinel, was a source of great amusement to their comrades.
While camped on the Capitol grounds we had breakfast and supper at the hotels, and luncheon at camp. Arrangements were made so that no more than three companies would be away at any one time. As usual a number found fault with the hotel fare, but a week later, when the regiment had to do its own cooking, they would have been very glad to return to it. At lunch we had all the fruit we wanted; corned beef was always on the bill of fare; but the keg of beer, that accompanied it, reconciled us. Then there was bread, bologna sausage, sometimes crackers, and always cheese; altogether we fared very well during the week.
Friday morning, on our return from breakfast, Sergeant Kelly made a motion, that the rule be established, whereby any who shaved during the campaign would be fined a dollar.
The motion was seconded and carried unanimously. Sergeant Kelly was one of the first to avail himself of the expensive luxury.
The City Guard boys had now settled upon a unique style of wearing their hats, which distinguished them from the rest of the companies. The hat was dented four times perpendicularly, bringing the crown to a point; this, with the unshaven faces, and the long swinging stride and step we kept while marching to and from town, made us particularly noticeable, and many comments were passed on our appearance. We were getting well seasoned for the hard work, which we were shortly to be called upon to do, and which we hope we did well.
The newspaper reports about this time were giving the boys “that tired feeling.”
In a previous chapter it has been told how disgusted the men were at the failure to take the depot. Therefore you may judge their surprise, on reading the accounts published in the newspapers of the same, to see that the failure to accomplish good results was laid at the door of the rank and file of the National Guard. The press was not the only accuser of the men, but from another source in which the men expected to find their vindication they received the “unkindest cut of all.” Their general officers it was who said they could not take the depot, because the men were demoralized and could not be trusted. Oh! what a subterfuge! On the surface what is to be conveyed by such a statement? Two alternatives present themselves. First, either the statement is true, or, second, the position of the officers themselves was weak and they desired to strengthen it by shifting the responsibility for the failure from their shoulders to those of the rank and file. If this latter course was the one pursued then they might have known, mighty though they be in the National Guard, that the consequences of such a course would be sure sooner or later, to redound with greater force upon themselves, and that instead of their position being strengthened, they would stand exposed in all their iniquity, stripped of the last shred of defense.
Investigation proves that the latter alternative is the correct one. The men, despite what comes from the press or by other sources, were not demoralized or untrustworthy. Being demoralized is meant, we should judge, that the troops were not under the strict control of their officers, and that confusion and lack of discipline reigned in ranks. At no time in the day did such a state of affairs prevail. It is true that a number of the men were prostrated by the heat, but the prostration extended only to a comparative few and not to the entire body of men as given out in the reports of certain officers. Besides this, the prostration came after the troops had stood in line under the hot sun for something like three hours. The men were willing and ready at any time that afternoon to attempt to force the strikers from the depot. Never were they called upon to do a harder thing, or one in which they felt more disposed to rebel against their officers, than when they were ordered to withdraw from the scene and leave the depot in charge of the strikers. There was not a squad of men in Company B, and when I mention Company B, I mean also every company with one possible exception, who would not willingly, even gladly have charged the mob of strikers. Curses, not loud but deep, were uttered in each company as they withdrew. In one of the companies under the command of Colonel Nunan the men cried out to advance, but no order came. Tears of vexation rolled down the cheeks of some of the men. To travel over a hundred miles and then suffer defeat—oh! how humiliating—not at the hands of the strikers, but from their own officers. And yet, in the face of all this, the failure to take the depot was laid at their doors.
Who was to blame for the failure of the operations on the Fourth? It remained for a court of inquiry to finally fix the blame upon the shoulders it belonged. This court was appointed by Governor Markham, September 8, 1894, to inquire into the conduct of those troops of the National Guard participating in the strike campaign, from its commencement to its close. The work of the court was to be performed without regard to rank prejudices or preconceived ideas. The court sat in session for a period of twenty days, and made a minute examination into the operations on the Fourth. Its work was well done. In the columns of one of our large dailies the following appeared:
“The court of inquiry has done its duty well—truthful, fearless, unmoved by considerations of friendships. Our Californian experience with investigating bodies had given us no right to expect this high and honorable result, and it is entitled to a swift, signal, and memorable approval by executive action.”