USA > Indiana > History of the One hundred and sixty-first regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry > Part 4
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On the 17th occurred the first regimental formation in the South, regimental parade being held late in the after- noon; the following few days were spent as usual under such circumstances; there were tents to be floored, sinks and shacks to be built and land to be cleared; the tempera- ture was 103º and the drilling necessarily very light, one and one-half hours only being devoted to those military gyrations which some of the men have dubbed "The Sol- dier's delight;" now Florida was a part of our country and still is, although some of the men were of the impression that one of the peace conditions should be that Spain should take it back, yet being of their native land, like true patriots
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
whose sole purpose it is to sacrifice themselves for their country, the men all became members of " The Florida Land Improvement Company " and spent their spare time in grubbing stumps and roots and underbrush, thereby enhancing the value of the land so that an acre wholly worthless when we came might under pressing circumstances be sold for a few farthings when we left. On the banks of the St. Johns, not far away, was situated the famous Cum- mer Lumber mills, one of the largest establishments for the sawing and shipping of yellow pine in the United States and with its genial proprietor arrangements were made for furnishing the regiment with Inmber. All told two hundred
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22
COMPANY STREET IN CAMP CUBA LIBRE.
and forty thousand feet of lumber were there used by the .. . One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana; as fast as it could be
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HISTORY OF THE
hauled to the regiment it was made up into floors and need- ful structures and by the 19th every tent in the regiment had its floor that was to guard its sleeping inmates from those sneaking malarial microbes that came up out of the ground like a thief in the night to fill the men with poison fever and to steal away their color and their spirits.
By the end of the first week the carpenters detailed for the purpose had erected all the company cook shacks; back of headquarters the battalion and noncommissioned mess tents arose and finally after the colonel and all his staff had more sand in their craws than ever before or since a kitchen and breeze catching dining room covered a spot on the sand where they could humour their stomachs in comfort when there was any thing else besides fish to eat. Among the first regimental buildings to be erected was the
COMMISSARY.
CAMP CUBA LIBRE.
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
structure to be used for the purpose of the commissary. Here the meat was handled and the bread baked and the rations issued and in this building the Exchange had its birth the following month.
The commissary business at Camp Mount had been in the hands of M. R. Peterson, assisted by Lieutenant Meston and rations were issued from the Fine Arts building. Upon the regiment's departure for Jacksonville First Lieutenant Crooker was appointed regimental commissary officer, which position he held until sickness made necessary a leave of absence and Second Lieutenant Freeman was appointed to succeed him on the 5th of September and served till the service closed except during the time between February 23 and March 23, when sick in the Second Division hospital at Camp Columbia, during which time Lieutenant Brunt acted in his stead. Lieutenant Freeman has been ably assisted by the valuable clerkship of Sergeant Charles E. Wolf, acting regimental commissary sergeant.
This department draws and issues all rations for the regiment and besides the one thousand three hundred to one thousand five hundred loves of bread baked each day, practically a loaf a day for each man, the following figures will show at what cost to the Government a month's rations are issued to a regiment of men. These figures are furnished by Lieutenant Freeman.
Fresh beef, 31, 500 lbs. at 6c $1,890.00
Beef roasted, one-pound cans, 3,900 lbs. at 14c 195.00
Flour, 30,400 lbs. at 2c. 608.00 Hard bread, 11, 700 lbs. at 6c. 702.00 Beans, 3, 000 lbs. at 2c. 60.00
Rice, 2,000 lbs. at 6c 120.00
Potatoes, 208 bush. at $1 208.00
Onions, 52 bush. at $I 52.00
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HISTORY OF THE
Tomatoes, 3,480 lbs. at 83c. . $295.80
Coffee, green, 2,000 lbs. at 8¿c.
175.00
Coffee roasted, 1,440 lbs. at 12¿c 183.00
Sugar, 5,900 lbs. at 43c.
265.50
Vinegar, 400 gals. at 12C
48.00
Salt, 1,600 lbs. at &c
14.00
Pepper, 100 lbs. at 152c
15.50
Soap, 1,560 lbs. at 3C.
46.80
Salmon, 3,936 lbs. at 9c
354.24
Bacon, 8,775 lbs. at 7c.
614.25
Total
$5,847.09
On the 19th another review was ordered, and the brigade was passed in review before its commanding officer, Colonel Montgomery, of the Second Mississippi. On this occasion, as on the previous one, there was no band to fur- nish music for the regiment, but after a long wait a very inferior set of brass band instruments came on the morn- ing of the 22d. All around us from other regiments had been heard the music of their bands, but now the boys were fixed and that day there was music down the lines. " Tich " beat the bass-drum, and the band marched down by the companies, while all the men fell in to cheer; the next morning at "can't get 'em up" time they were aroused in the same way. It was only two weeks until the instruments in question were laid aside and replaced by the high-class ones of the Second Mississippi, who were bound for home.
There was another review held on this day, this time it being the division which was passed in review on the usual parade place at 4 o'clock P. M. before Brigadier- General Hubbard. On the 24th the chaplain's assembly tent arose, a cool and commodious affair, where the officer
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
in charge could always look for his detail when they turned up missing, and where the men licked the ice when there was no water in the barrel and the hot sun made it danger- ous for them to venture after a bucketfull.
On the same day the barn, with its sixteen stalls, the best the horses ever saw since leaving Hoosierdom, was ready for them, previous to which they had stood about making the best of it. At Camp Mount they were sheltered in the comfortable stock barns, in Savannah in a rented affair that passed for a barn, save a few that were given free stalls by a kind friend across the way, while the accommo- dations in Cuba are shown in the accompanying cut.
11
·
BARN-CAMP CUBA LIBRE.
The 25th saw the colonel start on his flying trip to Washington; no one could swear to the purpose for which 5
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HISTORY OF T THE
he went but every private in the ranks knew. Already some of the men wanted to go home but the colonel was in for "On to Cuba," to which place when he returned the fol- lowing Sunday he told them they had the brightest pros- pects of going; it was Sunday evening just time for the chaplain's service when the colonel decided by reason of the exigence of the occasion to hold a little service of his own; he always drew a bigger crowd than the chaplain and that night the men being particularly anxious about their future state he got the whole regiment and when he told them of their probable going to Cuba the same fellows who had just before preferred home-going broke loose in uncon- trollable enthusiam upon the expenditure of which the chaplain had to wait for his service.
During the colonel's absence the division was reviewed on the 26th by its commander, and a few days later was passed in review before General Lee. This was the first time the corps commander had reviewed the Third Division, and it brought to the men their first opportunity of seeing the general, of whom they had heard so much. The men were in heavy marching order, and the formation was in masses, on three sides of a hollow square, in the clear space by the side of Panama park. It was the most elab- orate affair the boys had yet attended, and they did them- selves proud; their excellent training was beginning to show, and the regiment received the unqualified recom- mendation of the general. This review was closely fol- lowed by another on the last day of the month. This was, however, to be a review, and the first one, of the entire Seventh Army Corps, and was to be held in the city of Jacksonville before the commander of the corps.
The regiment left camp at 12:30 and marched into the city, taking its place in the Third Division, which was reviewed first after Torrey's Cavalry and the Signal Corps
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
had passed the reviewing stand. Twenty-three regiments and more than twenty-eight thousand men were in line. The entire police force of the city went before the pro- cession, and General Lee and staff headed the column until the reviewing stand was reached. Every inch of available space was crowded with a mass of white and black humanity, while from the piazzas of the Windsor the more favored looked down and pitied(?) the less fortu- nate. It took two hours for the corps to pass the review- ers, and the men were greeted with long and continued shouts of approval, although, from a military standpoint, the review could not begin to compare with those put up by the same corps, though reorganized, in later months. Among the remarks of the press it was said " Colonel Durbin's command won much praise by its fine marching, full companies and straight lines." Not more than a dozen men from the One Hundred and Sixty-first fell out from exhaustion, but it was a noticeable and notable fact that the men of the southern regiments could not stand the ordeal as well as those from the north, but with drooping heads, laid down in every spot, as the sturdy Hoosiers showed them how to endure their own climate. The companies returned at leisure, marching slowly and resting at will, until they arrived at camp, from 6 to 7:30 P. M., glad the day was over and ready for the night.
With the corps review closed the month and its events; much of the men's spare time was spent in exploring the country adjacent to the camp, many whiled away the hours between drills along the shell road that led to Jacksonville, that fine driveway that came into existence when northern generosity sent the suffering south more money than she needed or knew what to do with; others sought the shade under the solemn live oaks in Panama park and glanced in upon the concrete oval where some of the world's bicycle
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HISTORY OF THE
records have been made. The chief amusement was fish- ing in the placid St. Johns at Cummers mill or at the rail- road bridge at Trout Creek. Saturdays and Sundays found many disciples of Izaak Walton with line and net angling for drum and bass or devoting all energy to catching crabs, for it took two men to haul in a crab and then they gener- ally missed him. There was so much sameness to the scenery and the men saw it always before them so they will never forget it were there nothing else but impressions of idle moments to fix it before them.
For sixteen days now the regiment had been swelter- ing in awful heat; the burning sun was above and the burning sand beneath, filling all space with direct and reflected rays of intensest heat that drove the men moping to their tents. A small breeze about 10 o'clock that came blowing its way so gently up from St. John's direction, as if it felt uncertain of its welcome, was all that made the day endurable. Between the hours of II and 2 wisdom drove every man into the shade and regimental work had to wait for cooler hours. The chief blessing of that climate is in the cool nights; all that yellow pine grows in the night time; the humidity of the atmosphere is so dense that a man must either roll his clothes up and hide them or wring them out in the morning before dressing. Unaccus- tomed to such conditions, the men soon showed the effects of the change; acclimation was an impossibility; not for a citizen with home comforts, but for northern army men, yes. The number at sick call was gradually increasing and the eyes of some of the men were touched with a tinge of beautiful yellow. Then came the fever in terrific force, but it was a sickness the German calls " Heimweh," known in Camp Cuba Libre as "Home sick fever." It was not unmanly; going to Cuba was not a certainty; when it was the men cheered, although false reports of its heat still
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
more intense and of its yellow plague were not alluring. Let them fight, let them move-anything rather than an indefinite stay where they were, and the reason was legitimate, gainsay it he who will, and the same ground that justified the resignation of some of the army's highest officers and men of soundest judgment; and the funny part of it all was the farce played by the line officers before the colonel on the 3d of September, when each reported in turn a possible half dozen who were anxious to go home, and one a probable three or four who might go if the way was clear, while a regimental vote would have revealed eighty-five per cent. of the men with their hearts in Hoosierdom; in fact, a quiet ballot by the first sergeants resulted in ninety-five per cent., and a telegram of the in- formation sent the governor. The next day was Sunday, and the time for the chaplain's evening service had come, and the pulpit was to be occupied by the colonel. The regiment was there, and it was a great and notable event. The colonel only asked for five minutes, and when urged to use the hour modestly replied that such a thing would be an impossibility, but when he got started, like all men who really have anything to say, he forget himself in the interest of his subject and what he said was a plenty. No one doubts to-day that he said the right thing; it was a searching speech, with plenty of sarcasm, plenty of encour- agement and plenty of good advice, and the men went to their tents thoughtful and hopeful for the future.
On the 3d of the month the inspector-general of the corps, Lieutenant-Colonel Curtis Guild, Jr., came to the regiment on a tour of inspection. He was a genial officer, and the men liked him. The tents were all in order for his inspecting eye and the men were in company front in the streets. Their guns and clothing and military knowledge were inspected. A beautiful face on an enamel
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HISTORY OF THE
button was pinned to one man's coat. " Your sweetheart,
I suppose. " said the colonel. "Yes, sir," was the polite answer. "I suppose you think a great deal of her,"
remarked the colonel. " Yes, sir," said the soldier. " Well," said the colonel, with a twinkle in his eye, " put her under the lapel where she can't be seen; it's not military."
To another: " Well, young man, what would you do if you were a sentinel and an enemy should attempt to cross your line in the night?" "Present arms," was the prompt reply. "And you, my young man, what would you do if in the night time you discovered a fire in your captain's tent?" "Report it to headquarters, sir, through chan- nels."
Headquarters tents were then visited, and the staff lined up for inspection, a favorable report was rendered, and the inspector retired to Major Smith's tent.
During the next few days some of the companies indulged in the beginnings of skirmish drill, and on the 6th the regiment was once more in line for a division review on the parade ground by the park at 5 P. M.
On the morning of the 9th, Colonel Durbin was, by General Order No. 15, made commander of the First Brigade, in which capacity he served until October 14.
This same day saw the departure of the Third Nebras- ka. Colonel Bryan had gone some time before on a sick leave and his regiment was now going to Pablo Beach. The regiment did not move as a whole and as the men passed through our camp on the way to the train a portion of the band before the colonel's tent played them a parting march as they moved through in a drenching rain, and the next day found the One Hundred and Sixty-first with a supply of sentry boxes that had been put together by Ne- braska labor.
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
On the 12th about fifty men were sent to the Recu- perative Station at Pablo Beach. Lucky men! every one but one got a furlough home within fifteen days, and that
NUMBER NINE-RELIEF.
one preferred to grin and bear it out in the regiment, and accordingly returned. The same morning saw the depart- ure of the Second Mississippi Regiment, which left a brigade. of one regiment only in the camp. It was the privilege of the One Hundred and Sixty-first to clean up the camping site of the departing regiment, and after gathering out any lumber that could be advantageously used all else was. burned, the city authorities took up the water pipes and the ground was left clean but forsaken. The Third Ne- braska sent a detail back from Pablo to do this work on the ground they left, but of all camps that needed cleaning the one left by the First South Carolina needed it most; the
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condition of men and camp on the day of departure was a fit matter of report to General Barclay by Major Megrew, field officer of the day; that some had more sickness than the One Hundred and Sixty-first is not strange in view of the contrast between their camp conditions; it was a mat- ter of self protection that took a detail from the Indiana regiment into the filth and foul smelling odor left behind by these Carolina troops, and set fire to everything that would burn and filled all their sinks with sand.
There is no question but that the idea of burning gar- bage instead of burying it is an excellent health preserva- tive, and the "Backus Garbage Burner" will always in- variably connect itself with the health status of the regi- ment. It is generally supposed that water will extinguish fire, but the lieutenant-colonel declared that the only thing science revealed was that when water and fire came together, one of the two would be consumed, from which he deduced the idea that if he had enough fire he could burn water. A little search revealed an old engine boiler made of heavy iron and lying rejected in the yards of Mer- rill Steven's Engineering Company in the city.
The necessary purchase was made and the mammoth concern hauled to the rear of camp and there set up as shown by the accompanying illustration. A mighty fire that would have put the old time infernal regions to shame was there created and the colonel said "Bring on your garbage." Every thing that goes to make up slop was then brought, potato peeling, bread refuse, hardtack, tin cans, coffee leavings, dish water and all its other wet ingredients and into the fiery furnace it went; the flames licked up the water, then consumed the dry stuff and ended by burning up the ashes, while its designer looked on with a com- placent smile. The garbage was dumped in above, the machine operated twice a day and consumed a half load of
BACKUS GARBAGE BURNER.
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HISTORY OF THE
wood at each operation. The institution was presented to the Third Division Hospital on the regiment's departure and a somewhat smaller one procured at Savannah which did service throughout the stay in Cuba, where the locomo- tive was fired by Harry Rider, of Company F.
For ten days after the 12th nothing of note occurred save the faithful work of the men at drill. Every morn- ing from 7 till 9 battalion drills were on, and a regi- mental parade for every afternoon at 4:30. In looking back upon the work of these early days and upon the continual marching in review at "port arms " before the colonel one may discover the chief reason for that degree of excellence afterwards attained. It was not meant to pass in silence the narrow escape of our old friend Newton Burke, the wagonmaster; may he live long and prosper; his laugh was a cross betweeen a bantum cackle, a horse neigh and a sheep bleat; you can tell him in the next world if you're near him and he takes a notion to laugh. Others had escapes; Good- rich just missed a cork leg; the chaplain a swampy grave and Stott a humiliating death in the presence of the com- mand, all on account of a horse-the first two from inferior horsemanship, but to manage the steed that Stott rode took skill and strength that few possess. Every one has seen the picture of Sheridan in his daring ride so highly tragic as he dashed along the line of his command, but Phil wasn't in it with Stott. He was mounted on "Kaki." Every- one knows Kaki and knows that if he could speak he could tell some ancient tales, but the way he flew up and down the lines that day was most surprising to Stott and made him think seriously of resigning his commission and joining the Rough Riders. But Newton Burke's experience beat them all. You see, Newton was the new wagonmaster, and, before the corral equipments came, had a few days of leisure- and would see the wonderful country into which he had
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
come. Now, Newton should have known better than to get on Pete (pronounced as two syllables) for Pete would do any- thing for Sam Kahn and knew that Sam and Newton didn't get along very well, and consequently had it in for Newton; he couldn't dump the old man outright, for his purpose would have been too apparent, and so waited an occasion which came when a neighboring regimental band began playing as Pete and Newton were going along a ditch by the railroad. Now, Pete didn't do a thing to Newton but roll down the ditch and light on Newton with enough force to break his rib, and the latest is, that Newton got even with Pete by applying for a pension for being kicked by a government mule.
September was a month of noted camp improvement. The latter part of the first week's work was begun on the guard-house and ended by erecting a veritable prison, which the men called the bastile, and a cut of which is on another page. Prior to its construction the men were lodged in the assembly tent, and called it a snap; but when put in the bastile the thing was different, and yet how seemingly strange that some men were willing to spend much of their time there rather than make an effort to be a good soldier.
About the middle of the month the bath-houses were built, one for each battalion, and a little later, one for headquarters; then the mess-shacks were built, and the necessary work of this character at an end; provision for comfort, cleanliness and sanitary conditions had been made, but work did not stop here. Improvements contin- ued; early in the month two poles were spliced, making one of enormous length, and raised before headquarters to bear the regimental flag, and at reveille and retreat the stars and stripes were raised and lowered as long as Camp Cuba Libre lasted. This ceremony is at once beautiful
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and impressive, the flag going up to the music of "My Country, 'tis of Thee," and dropping slowly to the soft strains of the "Star Spangled Banner," as every man uncovers and lays his hat over the place of his heart. Witness it once and you will know the American loves his flag. Around the base of this pole was a seven-pointed star-shaped frame, filled with fresh sawdust from the mill, which, when the new pole was raised after the storm had broken the first one, was replaced by a mortar star, cov- ered over with a pure white coat, imprinted with the name of the regiment's brigade and division. Later in the month, on the 19th, was begun the rustic fence running to the right of the regiment and bearing in letters, made from limbs, the regimental and battalion designations; the tall pines standing in the camp were dressed in a coat of white- wash; the walks along the officers' quarters were covered with sawdust, every visible root was grubbed up and the utmost pains taken in policing the ground, and when the end of the month was near and the news came that the honorable secretary of war was about to visit the corps, the camp of the One Hundred and Sixty-first was ready for any man's inspection.
General Alger's visit to the Camp Cuba Libre was a notable event for the Seventh Army Corps and for the One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana. The general was accompanied to the city by Surgeon-General Sternberg and General M. I. Luddington, quartermaster-general. The First and Second Division hospitals were inspected and the divisions reviewed; it was after four o'clock when the general and his party reached the Third Division hospital in the rear of the One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana camp. Not content to allow the surgeon to make these inspections alone, General Alger accompanied him, and together they walked through every ward on the grounds,
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
making inquiry as to needs and conditions, and speaking words of kindness and encouragement to the boys who were sick. The sun was going down as the general left the hos- pital and walked over into the camp of the One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana. He gave only a casual glance at the white-washed trees and the well-made sawdust side- walks but passed to the rear of the camp. It was on this occasion that he pronounced those words which caused the eyes of the whole Seventh Army Corps to turn upon the regiment from Indiana. He said the camp was "a marvel of neatness " and pronounced it a "revelation." It was dark when the Honorable Secretary of War reached the parade grounds to watch the Third Division pass in review before him; it was perhaps the only review of its kind ever held, and was a most interesting spectacle to the people who waited impatiently for the general to come; the moon was vainly endeavoring to get from behind the hazy clouds and was barely successful in keeping total darkness from covering the scene. One regiment could hardly be distin- guished from another as they passed before the distin- guished visitor, but there was one regiment different from all the rest, and when it had passed the general said to its commanding officer, "Colonel Durbin, that is the finest regiment I have ever seen." After the infantry came the cavalry and the pack mules, which latter afforded great amusement for the visitors as they kicked up their heels and dust and broke away in double time toward the corral which they much preferred to passing in review before the distinguished guest from Washington.
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