They are the type of our young manhood—our representative American youth—as Roosevelt is of its vigorous manhood. They are the salt of the earth, and Kane—is both salt and spice. All were comrades in arms, types of American manhood unspoiled by Fortune’s favors, capable of anything and everything. Such men mould the destiny of this great nation, and in their hands it is safe.
But neither of these two regiments is a fair type of the Volunteers; they are the two extremes. For a type, take the 1st Illinois. They were a Chicago regiment with fifteen years’ service, and they enlisted in a body to a man. They reached the firing line on the 10th and participated in the fight with two battalions, with distinguished gallantry. The third battalion was detailed on the necessary but unpleasant duty of caring for the yellow fever hospital at Siboney. These city-bred Volunteers peeled off their coats, buried yellow fever corpses, policed the hospital and hospital grounds, and nursed the victims of the scourge. They did not utter a complaint nor ask for a “soft” detail; they did their duty as they found it. Another battalion was detailed immediately after the surrender to guard the Spanish prisoners. This most thankless duty was performed by them with fidelity and care. The commander of the battalion and half his officers were proficient in the Spanish language as a part of their preparation for the campaign, and they soon established cordial relations with the prisoners they were set to guard. It was a trying duty, but they performed it faithfully. Sickness visited this battalion, and sometimes guard duty had to be performed with only one day off, but they never whimpered. The other battalion was detailed after the surrender to do stevedore work at the commissary dépot. The slender clerks and soft-handed city men slung boxes of hardtack and sacks of bacon and barrels of coffee, and performed manual labor with all the faithfulness that would be expected of men accustomed to such work, and with never a complaint. The sanitary measures of this regiment were perfect, and they bore themselves like Regulars. It is now recognized that this is a compliment to any Volunteer organization.
CHAPTER X.
THE SUFFERINGS OF THE FIFTH ARMY CORPS.
In such a campaign as that of Santiago, a certain amount of suffering is inevitable. In such a climate as that of southern Cuba, a certain amount of disease is unavoidable. In the very hot-bed of yellow fever and malaria, no army could hope to escape without contracting these diseases; and in a campaign conducted with the marvelous celerity of the one at Santiago, some difficulty in forwarding supplies must necessarily be encountered.
The root of all our difficulties lay in the fact that the commanding general had under him supply departments whose officers reported to heads of bureaus not under control of the corps commander. This caused unnecessary delays in obtaining supplies, entailed confusion in their distribution, and led to suffering beyond what was necessarily the result of the climate and the campaign.
A brief description of the method of obtaining supplies will make this point more clear. When a given article was wanted, whether it was soap, quinine, tentage, or transportation, a requisition upon the chief of the proper bureau at Washington had to be made, with full statement of the reasons for the request; this requisition had to be approved by all intermediate commanders and go through military channels to the chief of the bureau, who might or might not be convinced of the necessity for the article wanted. His action being endorsed thereon, the requisition returned through the same devious route, and possibly might be followed in course of time, either by invoices from some distant purchasing agent of the required articles, or by directions of the bureau chief to make further explanations. The usual length of time allowed for an official communication through military channels, in time of peace at home, from any regimental headquarters to Washington and return, is from ten to thirty days. Here was the first cause of suffering.
If the heads of the supply departments in the field, beginning at Tampa, could have acted promptly upon the orders of their respective commanding officers, without the action of any other authority, unnecessary delay would have been avoided.
To illustrate this point: The Gatling Gun Detachment was ordered to be equipped with revolvers upon reporting to the detachment commander, and this order was issued on the 11th of June, before sailing from Port Tampa. They did not so report, and it devolved upon the detachment commander to make requisition for the necessary equipment. This was done, but no revolvers arrived. The invoices for revolvers reached the detachment commander on the 15th of September, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was then, on leave of absence, sick, ten days after the detachment was disbanded.
This is an extreme case, but the same difficulty was experienced in obtaining supplies of all descriptions. It was, therefore, very difficult for a quartermaster, a commissary, a medical officer, or any other officer whose duty it was to obtain supplies, to have the same when emergency demanded it. The necessity for supplies could not always be foreseen, the quantity desired could not always be estimated for with precision, and it followed that sometimes there was a deficiency when the articles were needed.