Twelve Months with the Eighth Massachusetts Infantry in the Service of the United States

by Harry Endicott Webber

The City Hall in Matanzas, known as the Municipal Palace, was situated on the Plaza in the middle of the city. The Plaza was planted with palms and other tropical trees, and was the center of business and social life. In the evening, one of the military bands furnished music, and the citizens promenaded or gathered about the tables in the restaurants, whose many open doors made them a continuation of the sidewalk. The buildings facing the square were stately and picturesque, and in the evening when the Plaza was thronged with merry groups, and the electric lamps sparkled among trees and fountains, life seemed very gay and foreign.

The provost guard was always on duty, and patrolled the streets to maintain order. During the last of the stay at Matanzas, Major Eldredge acted as Provost Marshal, and Companies M, E, K, and H were detached from the regiment as a permanent part of his guard, and were quartered in the old Spanish barracks.

On January 20th, the Cubans began a celebration in honor of independence. No restrictions were placed upon these festivities, but troops were held in readiness to suppress disorder. Many cruelties had been inflicted upon the people of Matanzas by representatives of the Spanish Government, and intense hatred was manifested against the power that repressed them so long. As many Spaniards remained in the city, it was feared, in the enthusiasm of the celebration, some outburst of violence might occur against them. General Betancourt, who commanded the Cuban insurgents, assured General Wilson that his people were too happy to commit any breach of the peace.

Orders were issued to the troops in camp that a single gun fired from San Severino, was the signal to assemble, and that any disturbance was to be at once suppressed. At the end of the boulevard, near its entrance to the city, a marble statute of Alphonse XII, King of Spain, was walled up in a brick casing to hide it, and preserve it as a work of art against vandalism.

The celebration was held in a most peaceable and orderly manner, and was a joyful expression of gratitude for deliverance from oppression. Extensive preparations were made by the people; public and private buildings were decorated, and numerous arches spanned the streets, bearing appropriate inscriptions in both Spanish and English. One arch bore the inscription, "Hurrah for us." The word "us" painted in small letters, referred to the United States, and was evidently the way the author remembered the marks on Government property. The American and Cuban flags were waved together throughout the city.

The exercises commenced with a street parade of Cuban troops, the fire department, school children and citizens. The Eighth Drum Corps did duty at the head of the insurgent soldiers. In the afternoon, vespers were held in the Cathedral, and at night there was a display of fireworks and general public rejoicing throughout the city.

An interesting feature of the celebration took place the next day opposite the camp of the Eighth, where a solemn high mass of requiem was celebrated to the memory of some sixty persons who had been garroted on the spot by the public executioner. These were political prisoners who had suffered in the death chair, by having their necks broken while held in an iron collar, by a screw driven against their spinal cord, and operated on the back of the chair, very much as the screw of a letter press is worked.

An altar, covered with black velvet and decorated with silver fringe, was erected on the site of these executions. The priests and acolytes were dressed in black. During the services the Cuban soldiers rested on their arms, and formed a military guard about the altar. The Eighth Regiment and the Cuban Infantry Bands furnished music for the mass. The relatives of the persons executed attended in deep mourning, and added to the solemnity of the services by their expressions of intense grief. The corner stone of a monument to the memory of these patriots was laid with Catholic ceremonies. A detail from the Engineer Battalion prepared and lowered this stone in place during the ceremonies.

In the afternoon the school children, dressed in American and Cuban colors, led by the Eighth Regiment Drum Corps, paraded and held a festival in the theatre. During the evening there were numerous balls and fetes and further exercises in the theatre. Twenty men from each company were given passes and allowed to go into town. On January 23rd the celebration concluded with a review of all the troops, before the Municipal Palace, to show that the American troops sympathized with the inhabitants in their festivities.