USA > Indiana > History of the One hundred and sixty-first regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry > Part 7
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The regiment had been preceded by a detail of men in charge of the corral contingent and other regimental property. On the 7th Lieutenant Anheier, by order of Colonel Durbin, selected as a detail of men to accompany him on this mission Corporals Imes, Holdridge and Gor- man and Privates Stanley, Reynolds and Hurst, of Com-
WAGON TRAIN ON ITS WAY TO CAMP.
8
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pany I, and Private McAdams, of Company H. Sergeant Owens, of Company H, Ralph Robinson, Corporal Wilson and Sam Kahn were also to accompany the party. They went aboard the transport Roumania about 8 P. M. the evening of the 7th. The First North Carolina were on board. Seven regimental horses were in charge, two ambulances, twenty-seven wagons and seventy-nine mules. The vessel left at 5 A. M. on the 8th, arriving before the harbor the night of the 10th, and waited until Spanish law allowed it to enter after 6 A. M. the next morning. By 6 P. M. mules and wagons were unloaded and the mules corraled by a long rope stretched down a wide street.
Those nights were wild ones in Havana-nights of quarreling and wrangling and shooting, and it was the first night that the much-commented-upon riot occurred at the Hotel Inglaterra in which five Cubans were killed. By noon of the next day, all effects unloaded, the wagon train was ready to start for the ground that was to be the camp- ing site for the Indiana regiment. A guide was secured, and under a hot sun the journey was begun.
The camp was reached about 4 P. M. on the 15th. The wagons were used to bring the corps headquarters effects from the wharf to Buena Vista.
When the regiment arrived the property was turned over to proper authority and Lieutenant Anheier reported with his men to the regiment.
CHAPTER VII.
HAVANA TO CAMP COLUMBIA.
The pen seems reluctant to write; not that the heat and dust and final fatigue which belong to the experience of this never-to-be-forgotten day, are things hard of descrip- tion; such are common place, the mere mention of which suffices, but that the scenes which were ours to witness: the unbounded enthusiasm, the unrestrained manifestation of welcome, the glad shouts of happy-hearted people and the feelings which stirred the soul of the American soldier, are simply indescribable.
The troops were in command of Colonel Durbin, who, with his staff of brigade officers, headed the moving col- umn. The One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana was in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Backus, while Major Hol- man G. Puritan commanded the Third Battalion of the Second Illinois, which followed immediately in the rear.
Our regiment alone would have been the largest body of volunteer soldiers that had yet passed through, but with the above-mentioned battalion of the Second Illinois there were in all about fifteen hundred men in column on this memorable occasion.
The One Hundred and Sixty-first band of thirty-two pieces, ten snare drums, four fifes and eight bugles, marched in its accustomed place behind the regimental staff. The Illinois Battalion was headed by their regimental band. The great column began to move at 8:50 A. M. It marched through one or two minor streets, then up Cuba
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street, until it arrived at Rigla, one of the principal business streets of the city; through this street, or city lane, as they all might be more properly called, by reason of their uncom- fortable narrowness, the column passed until it reached the Prado; passing to the left of Parque Central it moved out Principe Alfonso, and from here wound its dusty way for five miles more, until at 2:10 o'clock we were in the vicin- ity of Quemados, at the allotted place for the staking once more of tents.
It was, indeed, a triumphal entry and passage through the city. If ever there was tendered a more enthusiastic reception to an army of men history has failed to record it. From its beginning to a point far beyond the city lim- its, at which place the multitudes were turned back by the Spanish guards, its memorable scenes will make a glorious chapter in the history of that people and in our own. Thus far in our experience it was the one thing that paid every soldier of us a thousand times and more for his enlistment. All the heat, all the sickness and homesick- of those sultry days at Jacksonville were forgotten in the midst of the glad excitement and grand demonstration that gathered round us on our march.
The man who wanted to go home was now glad he came and he beheld things it is the privilege of few to see.
Other military processions have been longer; many times our number over have followed behind the royal standard of an Alexander, a Cæsar, or a Napoleon. Our own people in the sixties received the boys in blue as they "came marching home again " with a joy and an enthu- siasm that knew no bounds and that memorable review of May, '65, when the assembled army of the Union marched through the Capital city of our nation can never be sur- passed for glory, or grandeur, or the accompanying display
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
of a rejoicing people; but these were different and this is the first instance in the history of the world where a nation marched its army into a land it had saved from the oppres- sion of a tyrannical master. These people were therefore not only happy; they were grateful and their enthusiasm for that reason the more uncontrollable; was therefore the more soul stirring for every one who witnessed it.
Every one was in high spirits. The band played so well, so much and with so much vigor that the wonder was they had enough wind to reach the camp; the men when in cadence step marched with utmost pride; the crowds shouted and even the horses seemed to catch the enthu- siasm which swayed the multitude of soldiers and of people.
It was a proud moment for the American soldier when for the first time he took off his hat to his own beautiful flag on foreign soil. It was waved from a balcony on our right shortly after the march began, the Stars and Stripes that made the people free! It greeted us with a world of meaning. The business part of the city was not so thor- oughly Cuban as the residence portion and as our moving column filled the narrow avenues whose only virtue is that the ladies can "shop " from one side to the other, thereby getting a maximum variety of prices at a minimum cost of fatigue, we met the gaze of many who doubtless wished us safe at home, or worse.
Now and then an American flag was unfurled from some of the crowded balconies above us, but as the regiment proceeded the enthusiasm ran higher and the crowd that kept continually pouring in from all sides would have com- pletely choked the street, had such a thing been possible before so large a body of moving men. At the end of Rigla street "halt " was given to rest the men and to clear an entrance for the regiment into the Prado and from this time until the column had passed the Spanish guard-line,
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HISTORY OF THE
the enthusiasm and excitement grew with every square we marched.
It was the chief delight of the barefooted Cuban boys, of the swarthy young men and in fact of the entire Cuban element to clear the way of any obstructing vehicle whose driver chanced to be a little tardy or a little stubborn in turning into the side street to give the regiment its needed room for passing.
It was in one of the wider streets that a heavily laden cart was encountered, but the regiment was marching in columns of platoons and it was evident that either the reg- iment must turn back or break into column of fours or the driver must right about face and wheel to the rear. The colonel thought it would be easier to move the cart than the regiment and although he had scarcely been on the island an hour he did not experience the least difficulty in making his wishes known; the jubilant Cubans charged upon it with a vengeance. "Fuéra, " (get out) they cried and never gave the driver a chance to do it but with an amaz- ing economy of ceremony they siezed the concern by the bridle and by the wheels and hustled the whole lumbering affair into a side street in a way not calculated to leave its occupants in the sweetest possible humor; and they were not, for they were Spanish guards on a cart loaded with commis- sary supplies; they remonstrated and though they were recipients of some vituperation and a little mud, they did not resist for they had had their day and seemed to know it; but all along the route be the vehicle a Spaniard's or a Cuban's it must needs leave the passage clear and woe betook him who hesitated, especially if he were a Spaniard. The Spanish street car driver had a long gauntlet to run, but it was nothing worse than hisses and biting sarcasm sprinkled with a trifling bit of mud or an occasional spray of Cuban saliva.
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As the regiment took up its course through Alfonso street it became evident at once that we were to pass through a residence portion of the city occupied by the more influential class of Cubans. The houses, dressed in Cuba's characteristic colors of white, light blue and pink, presented a better and more substantial appearance, though everywhere was the iron-barred windows which gives to the city at the first impression the suspicious air of a huge penitentiary (and makes one curious to know what is going on within). And now the display of stars and stripes and the Cuban flag grew more profuse. They were run up the flag-staffs, Old Glory always above; they waved from the housetops, they hung from the balconies, they stretched across the porches, or, better still, waved us their salute from the hand of some beautiful senorita. The wealthier and more cultured were satisfied to crowd the porches and balconies, but those whom the world has been pleased to call the common people packed the streets from the buildings to each side of the moving column. They ran before, they followed behind, they pressed along the sides, singing, dancing and filling the air with "Viva Americano," " Viva Cuba." A strange conglomeration of an amalgamated people; some with skins as black as Plu- tonian night, or ebony, if that is blacker, some as brown as any Malay, and some as fair as any Caucasian can ever hope to be. The eyes of these half-clad people sparkled with unaccustomed luster and delight. They would kiss the American flag and shout "Viva Mckinley," while occasionally one more wrought up than others must needs give vent to his feelings in some emphatic oration; with wild gesticulations and a highly-strung husky voice, he would beat his uncovered breast and shout away at an angry woman's rate, stamping Spain into the dust beneath his feet, and lauding Americo and Cubano to the skies; at
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least we thought he did, for this much we understood: that Spain was "mucho malo" and America and Cuba " mucho bueno."
From the windows and doorways and porches and balconies and steps were waved beautiful silken flags, bright colored handkerchiefs and fancy Castillian fans, accompanied by the nodding heads and gracious glances of Cuba's fairest ladies. We were all acquainted and the formality of etiquette was forgotten, and if any soldier was fortunate enough to faint or fall out at such a place he was immediately envied by every stalwart man in ranks.
Frequent stops were made to rest the men and on one occasion the halt was made with the head of the column before what was apparently the residence of a wealthy family. Two large and handsome flags, America's and Cuba's, were crossed before the steps leading to its en- trance. As the ladies seized the stars and stripes and waved them to greet us, the adjutant requested the band to play "The Star Spangled Banner." At the first note every hat was removed and the scene that followed can never be forgotten. Every one was loaded with bouquets; the bridles of the horses were filled with roses and every mounted officer covered with flowers as fair as the sun ever shone upon. They carried us the coolest water, the finest wines, and imported brandy and the choicest of Havana cigars. Cheer upon cheer filled the air and touched the heavens with their volume while the band played their soul stirring music, now the One Hundred and Sixty-first, again the Second Illinois and sometimes both. As the column once more took up its march toward its destination a great number who had followed all the way pushed on before, men and women of assorted colors, middle aged and chil- dren; they stripped the trees of their long green branches and holding these aloft they led us on out the road through
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Cerro, chanting some fantastic air and keeping time with their feet which threw them all into a strange sort of swinging gait which continued 'till they reached the Span- ish guard line, where falling to the side they watched the "big soldiers " pass and then slowly took their tired selves back to their humble homes.
The regiment had now reached the Spanish barracks, about six miles from the heart of the city; the band played and the Spanish guard turned out in double column on either side of the road; they came to a " present arms" while we marched past at " port arms." This much must be said for the Spanish officers that they treated American soldiers with all proper respect and consideration, saluting in a most respectful manner when it was proper to do so. If you could put yourself in their place you could better appreciate their feelings and therefore better ap- preciate their courtesy. The Spanish soldiers had had an experience of which he had long since wearied; the poor unpaid and half starved fellow had grown tired of chasing a foe who, like a phantom, always evaded him while all around him his comrades were dying by the score, of fever instead of falling in open, honorable battle, and when the "boys in blue " came he knew what all the world knew, that he was fighting a hopeless battle. The humblest of them were reserved and respectful. From the Spanish barracks the regiment moved silently along the dusty high- way through Puentes Grandes and Ceiba out to its destined camping place by Quemados.
High up on the right, and just beyond Cerro, a Spanish fortification frowned down upon us. Around it was the in- genious and formidable barb wire obstruction, with a depth of eighteen feet, interspersed with posts three feet high and interwoven with wire; it made a difficult and almost impos- ble approach for the enemy. The exposure while cutting
A CUBAN CAMP. (SEVENTEEN TENTS ARE IN THE ROW.)
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
it and the certain entanglement consequent upon any attempt to pass over it when cut, placed the approaching force too completely at the mercy of its foe. With the
BARB WIRE DEFENSE.
proper entrenchment behind, it is hard to conceive of a better device for holding an enemy at bay. It will have a part in the fortifications of the future.
Now and then along the roadside and dotted over the country, there came in view the notorious Spanish " block house," some hexagonal in shape, some round, the majority square; some one, some two stories high; masonry work of no considerable strength whose chief and indeed valuable service consists in affording a shelter place from which to fire. So many were they that it was impossible for any considerable number of men to pass through the country
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HISTORY OF THE
without coming repeatedly within reach of their firing distance.
BLOCK HOUSE.
Nothing further of interest can be noted, save every- where the beauty and fertility of the country-the stately palms, the bananas, the cocoas and other products of the rich, red soil.
At Beuna Vista the regiment passed the Seventh Army corps headquarters, and in twenty minutes the First North Carolina and the Second Illinois saw us marching by to occupy our allotted place in Camp Columbia. The boys were tired and glad to drop down for a good rest. The day's march was over, but the memory of it will ever be fresh in the mind and its scenes forever live before the eyes of every soldier who participated in it, and Old Glory, too, will always have a deeper meaning and a richer splendor because of the experiences of that day.
CHAPTER VIII.
CAMP COLUMBIA.
December 17, '98-January 31, '99.
Upon arrival Colonel Durbin reported the same and relinquished the command of all troops other than the One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The companies marched each to their places as designated by an officer of the engineer corps and threw themselves down for a rest. The regiment had been given what seemed to us the most unlovely spot on all the island, but around us in every direction was a panorama of wonderous beauty; behind us the green fields adorned with magnificent palms stretched a mile away to Quemados and Marianao, whose red tiled roofs would have been visible ten times as far away, and twenty miles in the distance, over nature as fair as God had ever made, rising in clear outline against the sky to our left were the northern limits of the Blanquizar mountains. On the gentle slope to our right were pitched the tents of the Second Illinois and the First North Carolina and be- yond them the brigade and division headquarters, and just before us, three miles that looked like one, lay the shining waters of the Florida straits that washed the shore of the island and lost themselves far in the dim distance that it gave the men day dreams of the land they knew the wa- ters touched far away in the north.
It was the slowest camp pitching the regiment ever experienced, first because the men had nothing to pitch and secondly the next day when the quartermaster's supplies
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did come the boys experienced great difficulty in driving the wooden pegs into the stone upon which the camp was stationed.
It was one collossal rock here and there sticking its face above the soil, but never sinking more than six inches below. Some one had blundered in the loading of the ves- sel; the tent poles were at the bottom and it was impossi- ble for the quartermaster to furnish the regiment tents the first day, and that night the boys stuck up their guns and hung them with their ponchos, threw up their little shelter tents or, in good old patriarchial way, took the soft side of a stone for a pillow and slept out under the Cuban skies. Some of the officers did likewise or pitched such old tents as could be found, and night closed over a strange scene, such as might be taken for an army resting from a hot chase of a retreating enemy.
Some of the men received cots for this first night and the next day the issue was completed; this was a new lux- ury for soldier life and when placed in the large tents, also provided for the first time, one for six men, gave as much comfort as a soldier could reasonably expect. Quarter- master and commissary supplies and headquarter stuff were piled in a seemingly promiscuous heap.
The following day, December 18, was spent in "im- proving the land." It was quarry work-piles of stone were raked together and hauled away, a stone fence demol- ished and other necessary but rocky work undertaken.
At the close of the day tents sufficient to shelter the men were up; the headquarters were still jumbled together and remained so for a week. The officers ate what they could procure and paid outrageous prices for it, and the Cuban bread, sweet-meat and orange venders were in clover. They gathered in groups around the camp, a motley set of people, shoeless, the most of them covered
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
with straw hats and linen pants and a part of a shirt and every one with his cuchillo (knife) hung in its leather case inside his pants at the waist. They had oranges dumped on the ground, four for five, jelly in cakes and sweet meats of innumerable variety and color; they jabbered their mother tongne at the boys and taught them Spanish, but the most that most of us learned was to say " quanto" and get skinned a little in the change.
Now was the time for the capturing of prizes and the gathering of relics; the Cuban who could tell the biggest lie was the man who made the sale; later, "machetes " and "mausers " became ordinary weapons of war that sold for a few dollars without a history, but during those early days one could almost see the blood dripping from the famous machete and hear the dying yell of an innumerable host of Spaniards shot down by this or that rifle as they were brought near the camp by some illustrious patriot "del ejercito Cubano." It was in these days that Lieutenant- Colonel Backus made his wonderful find and he didn't ask any one to believe his story; there was the history of the rifle written under his own eye by the Cuban himself, and our own regimental Cuba should read it, which he did, and -- " never mind the history!"
On the 22d the headquarters were established in their proper place, but an objection had in the meantime gone to corps headquarters concerning the unfavorable location of the camp, and on December 22 General Lee, accompa- nied by General Williston, rode over the ground and ordered all clearing work to stop.
For a few days the men seemed to wander at will and began to explore the neighborhood; but reports of yellow fever in the vicinity caused the guard lines to be drawn very close and no one was allowed to leave the camp.
Seven miles south of Camp Columbia are the Vento
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HISTORY OF THE
springs, beautiful and powerful, which supply Havana with the purest water and from which water was to be furnished the Seventh Army Corps; but until the piping work was completed, all the water used was hauled in barrels from a spring beyond Mariano, two and one-half miles away. There was consequently at first a scarcity of water. One does not need to mention it, but the regiment needed a bath; and on December 23 the entire regiment marched three miles away to the sea coast, near Playa, and turned its coral beach for a brief time into a big bath tub for twelve hundred men. Some got clean and some got something else-they got their feet filled with big black porcupine bristles that stung and caused the feet to smart and swell, and then they got to ride home in the ambulance, as did others who preferred to ride and therefore " didn't feel very well."
Christmas was near at hand -- a few selections by the band-a few thoughts homeward, and its eve had gone. The next day ushered in a day like one in August at home. On the knoll among the scattered supplies the chaplain held a little Christmas service. It is said that the staff also had a little time at mess. In his turn each one entertained the rest, save the chaplain, who had gone to take Christmas dinner with one of the companies whose officers had generously provided their men with turkey and other good things. The staff did not have turkey-Lieu- tenant Wilson had purchased one, but it was too fat. He could thin it down a little for New Year's day, so he made a "reconcentrado" of it, and shutting it up in a pen began his cruel process of starvation. By New Year's day he had a dead turkey, and the staff had ham for dinner.
On Christmas day one officer and five men from each company were allowed to be absent from camp till 6 P. M. The same allowance was made in other regiments. The- wisdom of restricting passes is at once apparent, consider --
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ing the existence of three armies whose soldiers might come in conflict, and the serious consequence that might result from disorderly conduct.
Considering the American pretense and what the nation stands for before the world, and the consequent example of sobriety and manliness its soldiers should place before a people whom we have dared to call less civilized than ourselves, it is deplorable that even officers should so conduct themselves in abuse of the above privileges that there must needs come down the evening of the same day an order to the effect that owing to the disgraceful conduct of some of the Seventh Army Corps officers no more passes would be issued. It is not an attempt at self-justification, but due the officers of the One Hundred and Sixty-first to say that investigation exonerated those absent from camp from any suspicion that the above charge rested upon them. A drunken officer is less of a man because of his straps.
It had now been decided to turn the camp about, practically end for end. Such a move necessitated a like change for appearance sake of the two other regiments in the brigade, but when the change was made the entire brigade not only presented a better appearance, but occu- pied a better and more convenient position. Six com- panies moved on the 28th, the remaining and the head- quarters on the 29th. The 3Ist brought the last day of the year and the uppermost thought was the long march on the morrow. In the evening there was music and a " Hoosier " watch party, and as the old year died "taps" were sounded with fine expression by musicians Williams and Hays, and as the last note died away in the stillness the band struck up the national tune "America," then they played " The Star Spangled Banner " and "On the Banks of the Wabash Far Away." 9
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