The efforts of our generous friends in New York in supplying funds were much appreciated by the whole regiment. We had been in line for months and the men were seldom paid. Even when payday came those who were absent in hospital, or those who had been absent when the pay-roll was signed, got nothing. The funds were left absolutely at my disposal, and I knew from the calibre of our Trustees that it was their wish that they should be disbursed in a generous spirit. Many of our bright sergeants were started off to Officer’s School without a sou in their pockets. I believed that our New York backers would like to have the best men of our regiment able to hold up their heads in any crowd, so I saw that every one of them had fifty or a hundred francs in his pocket before starting. When I could be sure of addresses, I sent money to men in hospitals and in casual camps. While the regiment was in line money was no use to anybody, as there was absolutely nothing to buy, not even an egg or a glass of wine, but here in Germany, with shops and eating houses open, my cash was a real boon, and I did not hesitate to disburse it.
Just after the armistice, with the prospect that leaves might at last be granted, I sent to our trustees a bold request for $20,000.00, to guarantee the men a real holiday. When the permissions for leaves came I found that in most cases this money was not needed, as the long deferred pay gave most of the men sufficient money of their own. So I devoted a generous amount of it to help finance the company dinners which were gotten up on a metropolitan scale in the hotels of Remagen. These were joyous affairs—feasts of song and story-telling and speech-making. Colonel Donovan and I made it a practice to attend them all, and he got in many a strong word on spirit and discipline which had better results in that environment than could have been produced on a more formal occasion. Father Hanley was always a favorite at these gatherings as he handed out the latest rumors (which he himself had manufactured), discoursed on the superiority of Cleveland over New York, and of the 3rd Battalion over any other bunch of fighting men in the whole universe. It was a part of my share in the function to speak on the good men in the Company that had paid the great price; and it is a tribute to the loyalty and steadfastness of human nature to see how the merry-makers would pause in their enjoyment to pay the tribute of a sigh or a tear to the memory of their companions of the battlefield who were absent from their triumph.
Our winter on the Rhine was our happiest period in the whole war. First and foremost the regiment was all together in one place; and companionship is by far the biggest element of satisfaction in a soldier’s life. The men had good warm billets and most of them had beds to sleep on. The food was substantial and plentiful, though, for that matter, I think we were at all times the best fed army that ever went to war. There were periods of starvation in battles, but the main difficulty was even then in getting it from the kitchen to the men in line.
The men had enough work to do to keep them in good healthy condition and to prevent them from becoming discontented; but all in all, it was an easy life. All of the old-timers got a chance to go off on leave, most of them choosing Paris, the Riviera, or Ireland. Short excursions to Coblenz by rail or river were given to everybody.
Our band had a prominent part in adding to the pleasures of life. Bandmaster Ed. Zitzman had returned from school, and he with the Drum Major John Mullin and Sergeants Jim Lynch and Paddy Stokes made frequent demands on me for funds to purchase music and extra instruments. In France I had bought sixteen clairons or trumpets for the Company buglers to play with the Band. Here on the Rhine I bought other instruments, including orchestral ones, so we were well supplied for field or chamber music. Lieutenant Slayter took charge of the Band in matters of discipline and march time, with excellent results.
One of the greatest of our successes during this period was the 165th Minstrels, organized by Major Lawrence, always active in everything for the good of the men. After having scored a distinct hit at home and throughout the Division, they went on a tour through the Army of Occupation, and were booked to go back through France if we had remained longer abroad. The performers were: Interlocutor, William K. McGrath; End Men, Harry Mallen, Thomas McCardle, Harold Carmody, Edward Finley, and Charles Woods; Soubrettes, Robert Harrison, James O’Keefe, James F. O’Brien, William O’Neill, James Mack, Melvin King, and John McLaughlin; Chorus: Charles Weinz, Edward Smith, John Brawley, John Ryan, John Zimmerman, John Mullins, Thomas O’Kelly, Eugene Eagan, Walter Hennessey, Peter Rogers, William Yanss, Clinton Rice, Thomas Donohue, Chester Taylor, Sylvester Taylor, James Kelly, Charles Larson, with T. Higginbotham as strong man and Milton Steckels as contortionist.
The health of the command has been excellent, although since we have come into civilized parts we have developed a certain amount of pneumonia which we escaped while living in the hardships of the Argonne. Since leaving Baccarat I know of only two of our men who have died from other than battle causes; Private Myers of the Machine Gun Company was drowned in the Marne in August and John E. Weaver of Company L died during the same month of illness. In Germany we lost Corporal Patrick McCarthy, Company E, died of pneumonia October 20th, W. J. Silvey of Company D, James Kalonishiskie and Robert Clato of M, James C. Vails of H, Corporal Joseph M. Seagriff, James O’Halloran, Charles Nebel and Terrence McNally of Supply Company, Emery Thrash and George Sanford of L, Carl Demarco of F, and one of the best of our Sergeants, John B. Kerrigan of Headquarters Company.
Our only grievances were the difficulties of getting back our old officers and men, and the stoppage of promotions for officers after the Armistice. Every day my mail had a number of letters from soldiers all over France asking me to get them back to the Regiment; and work on this line constituted my greatest occupation. Many of the men took the matter in their own hands and worked their way across France, dodging M. P.’s, stealing rides on trucks and trains, begging meals from kindly cooks and nice old French ladies, and finally, if their luck held out, getting back amongst their own. Others were returned by a more legitimate route, until, by the time we left the Rhine we had nearly fourteen hundred men who belonged to the original command.
A large number of our officers had been recommended, some of them over and over again, for promotion, and had not received it on account of wounds which kept them in hospitals when the promotion might have come through. And now they were barred from receiving the rank which they had earned on the battlefield, the vacancies being filled by replacements. Some of these replacement officers made themselves a warm place in the heart of the regiment especially Major James Watson, who joined us in Luxembourg and was put in command of the 3rd Battalion; and also an old friend of ours from the 12th New York, Major Jay Zorn, who was with us for a short time.
Finally this legitimate grievance was settled in the most ample and satisfactory fashion. Lieutenant Colonel Donovan was made Colonel, and placed in command of the regiment, Colonel Howland going to take charge of a leave area in France. Major Anderson was made Lieutenant Colonel, and Bootz, Meaney and Merle-Smith Majors. There were also a number of promotions to the rank of Captain both in the line companies and in the Sanitary Detachment. There were two other men that we all felt should have gotten their majority, but when the original recommendations were made they were both suffering from wounds in hospitals with no seeming prospects of ever getting back to the regiment. These two were Captain John P. Hurley and Captain Richard J. Ryan, who also, to everybody’s great delight, rejoined us on this river (which we call the Ryan river) though still in a doubtful state of health.