Springfield in the Spanish American War

by Walter W. Ward

As it happened, Ralph H. Newcomb was the first of the Springfield men to reach the Prairie and report for duty. He was in Washington on a visit when orders were issued for H company to report at Brooklyn and when he was notified by Lieut. Crossman he lost no time in getting to that city and the navy yard, beating out his comrades by several hours.

Hammocks were "swung" on the Prairie for the first time on Saturday, May 7th, and from that time until muster-out in September hotel fare was a dream of the past to which the boys looked back with considerable regret. The Prairie, completely transformed into a war ship, left the navy yard and steamed down the harbor to Tompkinsville. This was on Friday, the 13th of May, but if there was any "hoodoo" it failed to work. The next day the Prairie steamed out to sea and had target practice, badly frightening some of the residents of the coast with the big guns. Late in the afternoon the Prairie gave chase to a suspicious craft which turned out to be an English tramp steamer.

The Prairie had been assigned to patrol duty on the North Atlantic coast with the San Francisco. The "Frisco" was sighted on the day following and both ships steamed into Provincetown and remained there for the next day, sailing out late in the afternoon. It is recorded that the sailors washed clothes during their stay in Provincetown and it is evident they were getting a taste of the life of a jolly tar. The regular patrol tour of the Prairie was from Provincetown north to some 40 miles above Boston, then south to Nantucket to Provincetown, meeting the San Francisco off the cape and obtaining mail.

These were not idle days by any means. What with battalion drills, inspection, target practice, painting ship and the regular routine of ship's work the long hours of duty passed quickly and the men were pretty well tired out as a rule when the time came to get into their hammocks. But the men of H company learned fast and soon accustomed themselves to life on one of Uncle Sam's war ships. The one thing they did not take to very kindly in the line of work was coaling ship and this came rather oftener than they had any relish for.

In the way of food there was little to complain of, although the fare was not Delmonico-like by any means. One of the mess cooks kept a diary of what he served up for every meal during the service of the Prairie and it shows that the menus, while probably simple enough to the men on board, would have been regarded as the acme of luxurious living by their brethren of the Second. A few samples are given: breakfast, June 10, Indian meal and coffee; dinner, soup, roast beef and potatoes; supper, hash and French toast. June 12th, breakfast, bacon and potatoes; dinner, sausages and potatoes; supper, beans, cold meat and sausages. The daily average was fully up to the samples given above.

Capt. Train of the Prairie was a disciplinarian and there were punishments meted out for various small offences. One man was deprived of shore liberty for three months for throwing swill out of a port hole. For smoking outside of "smoking hours" the customary punishment was 48 hours of extra duty, while for being late with hammocks the sentence was for the delinquents to parade the deck for an hour or two hours with the hammocks on their shoulders.

The Prairie sailed from Provincetown June 10th for a brief cruise southward, but returned on the 14th. The weather was very foggy during the cruise and on the 14th the ship came near running down an English tramp steamer passing within a boat's length of her.

On the 16th the Prairie sailed again from Provincetown for Delaware breakwater, arriving there on the 18th. The next day she sailed for New York, anchoring off Tompkinsville the 20th. Coaling ship was one of the innocent amusements of the day and the men stowed away 83 tons in the afternoon. Early next morning the sport was resumed and before breakfast 28 tons more had been put away in the bunkers, the record for the day being 182 tons. The next day the coal situation again took the attention of the crew but they finished the job. Shore liberty resulted in some of the men overstaying it and being shut off from any more during the stay. On Sunday, June 26th, the men got into blue dress for inspection but before the ceremony was over orders came to sail at once for Key West. Off came the blue suits and the men got into their "coal" suits again and finished coaling ship at 1.30 in the morning. The Prairie sailed for Key West on the 27th, arriving there June 1st. Her stay was short, for the same day she left with mail for the blockading squadron off Cuba and sighting the Amphitrite the next day transferred her mail to her. Later that day the Prairie gave the mail to the Newport, Montgomery, Vicksburg and Marietta. That afternoon the men on the Prairie saw the Marietta pick up a refugee from the shore and saw the guns from Morro Castle fire at her but fail to strike.

On July Fourth the men paraded in blue and fired the national salute. The Prairie for a day or two acted as flagship of the squadron during the absence of the Amphitrite at Key West.

On Tuesday, July 5th, the Hawk came alongside the Prairie with orders for the latter to proceed to Mariel, 23-1/2 miles from Havana, and assist in the capture of a liner supposed to have been trying to run the blockade. The liner proved to be the Spanish transport Alphonso XII, with a large number of soldiers on board. She had tried to run the blockade but had been discovered and chased so sharply by a couple of the converted yachts attached to the blockading squadron that she was run ashore and lay head on. The troops and her crew had managed to get ashore by the time the Prairie came up, but it was not certain that she was not manned and several shots were sent at her from the starboard six-inch guns. After the fourth or fifth shot there was an explosion, evidently her magazine, and as she did not return the fire the Prairie ceased firing. During the firing a saucy little Spanish gunboat stuck her nose out of the harbor but a couple of six-inch shells settled her fate and she was sunk in quick time. The firing at the Alphonso XII was first-rate target practice and at long range, too, all the shells hitting her, although the range was 6600 yards.