Springfield in the Spanish American War

by Walter W. Ward

Whether it was the camping along the line of the recently made trenches, the earth of which was said to be full of malarial germs, or that the fever was already in the air that caused the epidemic among our men is not certain, but within a day or two after the Sunday on which the Stars and Stripes were hoisted over the city the fever began its career in our regiment and in a few days over fifty per cent. of the officers and men were affected with it. The daily drills soon had to be discontinued, for hardly enough men to make a decent showing were able to turn out for them in the majority of the companies. It was the same way at the daily inspections. Frequently a man standing in the ranks would fall down in his tracks from sheer weakness and would have to be carried to his tent by his comrades. Soon there was no pretence of conforming to the orders requiring these drills and inspections and the men, who were able to move at all, did so as if their feet were encased in lead. At surgeon's call every morning there were sights which were enough to appall the stoutest hearted among us. It was directly after reveille that this call was sounded, and then from all parts of the camp dreary processions of what had been strong and hearty looking young men, would drag themselves slowly to the surgeon's tent and stand or lie on the ground waiting for their turn to be treated. And it must be said that the treatment was not of a sort calculated to cheer them up. The only medicines on hand were quinine and salts and a preparation for stomach disorders. Of quinine there was a plenty, but after a time the systems of the men, in many cases, became so saturated with it that even doses of thirty grains or more produced but little effect. And what hurt the boys more than the fever or anything else was the feeling, right or wrong as it may have been, that we of the Fifth Army Corps, who had done our work uncomplainingly, and done it well, were being neglected by the government whose call we had obeyed among the first. It was known that our state had sent us away from South Framingham with a medicine chest second to none in the army, and that this chest was even now on board of one of the transports in the harbor, but for all practical uses, as far off as the North Pole. Some of us knew that requisition after requisition for medical supplies had been sent in by our surgeon and had not been honored, that in spite of all our surgeons and stewards could do it was next to an impossibility to obtain an ambulance, and that we were even denied the services of one of our assistant surgeons, Dr. Gates having been detailed to the Fourth infantry, which was at that time without a medical officer.

All these things helped the fever. Depression was its best ally, and then came nostalgia, the homesickness which men who have never experienced sneer at, but which is the bane of armies, and which in the Cuban campaign helped kill more men than the bullets of the Spaniards. For nurses for the sick there were only their comrades, willing enough God knows, but unaccustomed to the work, and with their own nerves and tempers wrought up to a high pitch. With lack of surgeons, lack of medicines, lack of nurses, lack of proper food, lack of proper accommodations and lack of everything that sick men should have, it is a wonder that the entire regiment was not left behind to fill graves in Cuba.

But even a more pitiful sight than the men who answered the surgeon's call every morning had to witness, was the spectacle of the poor fellows who were unable to get up from their beds on the ground, and who lay there day after day under the stuffy tents, their bodies burning up with the fever, too weak or too despairing to even accept the poor nourishment which their comrades tried to get for them, and in some cases so far gone with nostalgia that they refused everything and only wished for death. It is a known fact that fifty per cent. of the men of the Second who died in that last camp of ours in Cuba, died of nostalgia and nothing else.

Meanwhile, everything that could be done with the limited resources at command, was being done. The company commanders sent into Santiago and bought at the commissary stores, such decent food for sick men as could be procured, and through the efforts of Col. Clark, some suitable food and delicacies were obtained from the Red Cross society. The Colonel also purchased, at his own expense, a number of cots and hammocks for the regimental hospital.

It was indeed a trying time. Officer after officer and man after man went down with the fever. Adjutant Paul R. Hawkins was hard hit with it and was finally removed to the second division hospital. Major Henry C. Bowen, the regimental surgeon, also succumbed and was taken to the same hospital where he died. Quartermaster E. E. Sawtell was another victim but did not go to the hospital. Captain John J. Leonard of G, was stricken and for long days fought the disease in his quarters, and Lieut. Edward J. Leyden of his company was taken to the hospital. Lieut. W. L. Young and Lieut. Harry J. Vesper of B were attacked, the former not seriously, however. There were but few men in any of the companies fit for duty and it was difficult to get enough men for the necessary details. The drills were given up for not enough men to make a decent showing were fit to turn out and it was with difficulty that enough men for regimental and brigade guard were provided. Some necessary work had to be done and from brigade and division headquarters details were constantly being asked for and every man able to stand on his feet had to be pressed into service.

The officers, during this trying time, did all in their power for their men, but it was not much they were able to do and the men felt at the time, that they should have done more. In this they were unjust, for the officers were suffering as much as the men, and the latter have since come to realize that many of the opinions expressed at this time and later, on this subject, were unjust. The fever and the other diseases spared no one, whether he wore shoulder straps or not.

Dr. Hitchcock, our assistant surgeon, succumbed to the fever, and was taken to the division hospital and the surgeon, Dr. Bowen, soon followed him there. This left us without a medical officer, and for two or three days the outlook for the sick men of the Second was a dark one. But we were then provided with two contract surgeons, Dr. Persons and Dr. Dunwoody, and both proved themselves excellent gentlemen and hard workers. Soon after their arrival, Dr. Gates, our other assistant surgeon, who had been detailed to the Fourth infantry, was sent back to us, and his presence was as good as a tonic to the sick men. His cheery smile and sympathetic ways were even better than his medicines, and for a time, after his return, the health of the command appeared to improve. Meanwhile, the famous "round robin" had been sent, and its result was that the Fifth corps was ordered to return home as soon as transports could be procured. From then until August 12 the thoughts of the men were concentrated upon the time we were to go home.

Meanwhile, the men who escaped the fever and other diseases, were doing all possible for their comrades. The company officers, finding that idleness at this time was the worst possible thing for the men who were at all able to get about, set them at work, and though this seemed at the time a hardship to the men, it turned out to be the best thing that could be done, for it not only served to keep them in better shape physically but helped to keep their minds occupied and prevented them from dwelling too much upon the gloomy situation in the camps and from thinking too much of home. They were encouraged and in most cases ordered to build raised bunks for themselves, these serving to keep their bodies off the ground while sleeping, and to erect shelters of boughs and palm leaves instead of remaining in their shelter tents. When the big wall tents arrived there was no further need of these "shacks" but they served a useful purpose even if not handsome looking.

It was not long after the surrender that we began to get large packages of mail, including the Springfield papers and it is hardly necessary to say that they were welcome. In these papers we found stories of the campaign and of the part the Second had played in the actions at El Caney and San Juan. Many of the letters the boys had written from Tampa and Cuba had been printed and in the reading of these there was much fun. We learned from the papers of the big Fourth of July celebration that had been planned in Springfield, and how it had been given up when the news of El Caney and the rumors of heavy loss in "Ours" reached home. And we received the Fourth of July buttons which had been made in honor of that occasion and proudly wore them about the camp to the envy of some of the other companies of the regiment. It did us some good to know that we had not been entirely forgotten. And sometimes in the mails there were packages for us, sent by loving friends from home and welcome, whether they contained much or little. The arrival of the mail was an event in those days. Sometimes all that there was could be brought from Santiago on the back of one horse, but there were times when one of the two wheeled carretas was necessary to transport it. The array of bags would be dumped off in front of the office tent of the regiment and then the work of sorting out the contents would begin. That destined for each company having been piled up, there were usually enough men waiting to take it away, and for the next few hours the men would read their letters and papers and exchange news. The arrival of the mail was invariably followed by a time of letter writing and the return mail was sometimes nearly as heavy as that which had come in.

As time went on the fever appeared to be wearing itself out and some of those who had it began to recover slowly until they were able to drag themselves around. For days there was a feeling that the worst was over, and this feeling was especially strong in our battalion, which, by the way, had not as yet been as hard hit by the fever as some of the other sections of the regiment. But then came the yellow fever scare and the deaths of one or two of our men and these resulted in a return of the old depression and consequently the sickness.