USA > Indiana > History of the One hundred and sixty-first regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry > Part 9
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flies bangew h a vengeance, the frames creaked,
the shrinkingi id hard at the pegs and everywhere
destruction Well .. muent. Many of the division hospital tents went down, all the assembly tents fell, and our own was irreparably ruined. The guard tents fell and from one to several tents in every company. The men were used to it, however, and when the wind got through they put them up again and were ready for drill.
The month was full of history, though not all of it per- taining directly to the regiment; there was, however, the usual drill evolutions and the month's share of camp con- struction.
All through the month there was in course of erection, in the rear of camp, a commodious and much needed, but, alas, never used bath house, a most convenient arrange- ment surpassing anything yet provided; a regular double decker. The upper story was provided with nine shower baths, the lower with one large tub for twenty-five men, besides which there were other complete toilet arrange- ments for twenty-four men. Other regiments were also provided, the work in this case being done not by the men of the regiment but by the corps of engineers, Second United States. They made a fine bath house, but were a mighty long time at it. That it was ready for use some- time after the regiment left is to be presumed.
On the 5th Colonel Backus drew the plan for the One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana band stand. It was to be octagon in shape, to be built of bamboo, and to sur- pass in uniqueness and beauty anything in the Seventh Army Corps. Would it be hard to substantially join the bamboo? Yes, but the colonel would do it. Forthwith wagons were sent into the country to procure the Cana Brava (bamboo), for the frame and the palm leaves for its characteristic thatched roof. It is not necessary to relate
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRS' NDIAN
the adjutant's war with the Cuba'stsy ansys se bamboo he had innocently appropriated, owls & ie chaplain's mules ran away while he was pulling a . ¿any post four feet out of the road side, but the poles and leaves were brought and the work began. When nails would not hold the poles were wired together; each of the eight sides were ten feet wide, seats edged with bamboo were put in place, the floor was made of famous Playa sand, the palm branches were strapped upon the roof and it was finished, a shining green Kiosque with accommodations for forty musicians. Of course the green faded out, the leaves were brown in a day as if to remind us that man is like the grass of the field; in the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth; but when the band played we forgot all about that. The companies were yet without dining rooms and February saw their erection. Lieutenant Johnson, of Company A, had returned in time to complete the music stand, and Febru- ary 13, began work on the eating shacks. Ten feet in front of each kitchen was built a long narrow frame work and covered with paulines. Each was twenty-five feet long and fifteen feet wide, providing fifty men on either side with seating and table room.
The drill was mostly battalion; for ten days it was battalion drill in the morning and dress parade in the even- ing; then came a few days of company drill, and the lat- ter part of the month was devoted to battalion extended order drill and to "advance and rear guard work," in which latter the battalions marched into the enemy's country, threw out their skirmishers and advanced for points of attack; now toward some thatched hut, or some ravine or even God's holy house in Marianoa, but failing to find an enemy returned to camp and left the bewildered Cubans wondering what they had in mind to do.
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Major Havens paid us his accustomed visit on the 6th. The major was always welcome. On the 10th, at dress parade, the regimental photograph was taken on the hill- side, near the division hospital. Picture business paid better than a commission in the army.
Among other events of peculiar interest to the army in general was the burial, on the IIth, of the remains of General Calixto Garcia, an imposing ceremony, marred only by the childish action of the quick-tempered and pharisaical-dispositioned Cuban officials. The following is taken from La Lucha, of February 13:
"The funeral of the Cuban general, Calixto Garcia, which took place on last Saturday afternoon, was altogether an imposing ceremony, not only on account of the divers elements which figured in it, but also on account of the immense number of people of all classes who literally covered the balconies and terraces of the houses and invaded the sidewalks and even the streets through which the mournful cortege was to pass.
" Clubs to the number of eighty-three formed in the procession, in which were also to be seen four splendid hearses, respectively drawn by four, six and ten horses, the coaches laden with part of the floral crowns dedicated to the memory of General Garcia, whose body had been placed on the caisson of an American cannon.
"In compliance with President McKinley's instructions, General Brooke ordered that the honors of a general who had died in campaign should be rendered to General Garcia; accordingly four companies of cavalry and four batteries of artillery of the United States formed in the funeral; Gen- eral Brooke with his staff and escort also attended.
"The caisson with General Garcia's body was followed by three priests on foot; then came General Garcia's sons, in a carriage; Generals Brooke, Chaffee and Humphreys and Colonel Richards and the secretaries, in three car- riages; General Brooke's staff and Lee and his staff, mounted, a cavalry troop; General Ludlow in a carriage, his staff mounted.
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
"The two corps of Havana firemen, that turned out in full at the end of the procession, greatly attracted atten- tion, on account of the fine look of their personnel, and brilliant uniforms.
"It is really a pity that the misunderstanding occurred at the last hour, owing to which the delegates of the Cuban assembly, part of the members of the city council, all the Cuban generals and troops withdrew from the funeral, thus defrauding public expectation of seeing armed Cubans formed for the first time in this city; and a sentiment of uneasiness, as to the future consequences, became general."
Four days more, and the 15th, bringing up the sad memory of a year ago, was at hand. It was the anniver- sary of the destruction of the Maine. The following order was received:
HEADQUARTERS SEVENTH ARMY CORPS, CAMP COLUMBIA, HAVANA, CUBA, February 14, 1899.
GENERAL ORDER NO. 12.
To-morrow being the anniversary of the loss of the United States battleship Maine, all duty in this command excepting the necessary guard and police, will be sus- pended.
By command of Major-General Lee.
R. E. L. MICHIE, Assistant Adjutant-General.
It was the night of February 15, 1898; it was 9:40 o'clock. The sky was overcast, but now and then the soft rays of the clear moon would break through to kiss the placid waters of the bay as they gently washed the sides of the great vessel as if to say, "All is well." Taps had sounded and the boys had "turned in," and while they were sleeping and dreaming, perhaps, of home or per- chance of how they were bravely manning the guns in some
WRECK OF THE MAINE.
x
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
great and honorable naval conflict, listening with pride in their dream-bound imagination to the thundering of the big twelve-inch guns, there was consummated the fiendish perfidy of an enemy, who did not dare to meet the defend- ers of Old Glory in fair and honorable battle, and therefore chose the cover of darkness to touch the lives of innocent .. men.
Two hundred and fifty-four men were lost that night. A few of the one hundred rescued died shortly after. Feb- ruary 17 nineteen bodies were interred in Colon cemetery; others followed, until more than a half hundred rest beneath that sacred mound.
A year had passed since the tragic event, and a fitting memorial service was to be held in Colon cemetery.
At 9:30 marines from the Brooklyn, the Resolute and the Lebanon, accompanied by a detail of sailors and their band, formed in front of the United States Club in the Prado, and with a troop from the Seventh Cavalry and a large procession of carriages and army ambulance contain- ing ladies with numberless wreaths of beautiful flowers, they started at 2 o'clock for Vedado. At the entrance to. the cemetery they were joined by General Brooke and his staff. At the same hour a battalion from the First Maine Heavy Artillery, one battalion from each division, one troop cavalry and one battery of light artillery formed in the road leading to Havana with the head of the column resting at Puentes Grandes bridge. When this escort with General Lee reached the cemetery part of the ceremony had been finished. The marines and sailors had drawn up, and as the Brooklyn band rendered a few selections they filed past the graves, 'each placing upon them some beauti- ful flowers. Then came the ladies with the other floral offerings. General Lee's party then came and rendered similar tribute; a national salute of twenty-one guns was.
THE MAINE GRAVES.
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
fired and the crowd passed out under the colossal arch of Havana's holy field, leaving the dead heroes sleeping beneath a wilderness of flowers. It was impressive, solemn and pathetic; it was all that could be done to honor our country's dead, but the United States will have done its duty only when somewhere on the Prado or on some other suitable spot a beautiful and imposing monument rises to their memory.
Since the narrative has entered the Havana cemetery it will be interesting to take the reader to one corner of this huge burying place, and there look upon one of the most shocking sights in Cuba-the "Human Bone Yard " -a cut of which is given on the following page. This enclosure is over seventy feet square, and the depth of the bone pile . is over forty feet, containing, to-day, the bones of many millions of people. The rich man is hauled to his grave with highly caparisoned livery; the poor man carried in a rude coffin on the shoulders of four young men; according to his wealth, he is buried in his coffin, or, as is more usually the case, taken out and lowered by a rope into his resting place in mother earth's bare bosom. The coffin- bearers each pick up a piece of dirt, kiss it, throw it upon the corpse, pick up their coffin and take it back to be used for the next poor man. A little lime is then thrown over the corpse and the grave-digger takes his hoe and scrapes in the soil to a depth of about eight inches above the poor fellow's remains, and the SAME grave is then ready for another occupant, who is not long in coming. If this is shocking, what follows is more so: For centuries the established church of that island has imposed a yearly grave tax, an exorbitant sum which the poor, of course, cannot pay, and as the poor predominate in numbers the hideous bone pile is the result, and every cemetery has its ghastly corner into which the grave-digger is busy throwing the
HUMAN BONE YARD.
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bones while he empties the grave for another tenant. The day of this heathenish practice is over! Up to Washington has gone the cry of the Cuban people, asking the privilege for their dead to rest undisturbed, and the influence of the starry flag, the ideas of the American nation, will make it so.
In the regiment a corps review had been ordered. The first order for this review, dated February 8, corps headquarters, called for a review of the corps on the IIth inst., at 3 o'clock P. M., on the open ground in the vicinity of the camp of the One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry by the major-general com- manding, division of Cuba. The drill ground in our vicinity was the largest and best available; it was thoroughly pre- pared by Cuban labor, giving to the One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana the best practice ground in the whole Seventh Army Corps.
Many of the regiments were on their way to execute the above order when it was revoked because of rain, and the men, already drenched, went back. It was ours to wait in the dry. On the same day, from regimental head- quarters, general order No. 6 was promulgated, stating the review would be held Monday, the 13th, with battalions ready to move at 2:30 P. M. All men able to bear guns to be in line and no one excused except in writing by the major-surgeon.
Again the men were on their way. Again it poured and again came the order of postponement until Friday, the 17th. This time the elements were threatening, but the review was on. The First Division was followed by the First Maine Heavy Artillery and then the Second Divis- ion, of which the One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana was the last regiment, passed in review, followed by the Light Artillery Battalion and the Cavalry Squadron, which last, 11
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for the satisfaction of the people, passed a second time, in running order. This was the first time in which General Lee himself, with his staff, passed the reviewing officer. In all, there were fifteen thousand soldiers in line. The troops were given a critical inspection, and a judgment that was favorable rendered for them all; the men were on their nerve that day and it would have been hard to find a better body of marching men. The spectacle was imposing and the impression was general that it would be the corps' last review.
The 22d brought another anniversary and also an order for the suspension of all military duties. The men were al- lowed to go out in considerable numbers. Many officers were also absent, and it was a quiet camp all day. At 12 o'clock the national salute of twenty-one guns was fired, under the direction of the commanding officer of the Light Artillery Battalion, from the eminence on which the headquarters of the Second Division is located.
At the same hour in the city of Havana occurred a review of the Regulars; the Cabanas guns fired a salute and the Seventh Cavalry Band played "America," which was the signal for beginning the march of three thousand men, who passed in review before Generals Brooke and Ludlow, who, with their staffs, had their reviewing positions in front of the " Inglaterra."
The order was: Seventh Cavalry, Second Artillery and Tenth Infantry; the Eighth Infantry and two compa- nies of engineers bringing up the rear.
The review only lasted about twenty minutes, the men returning immediately to camp.
Salutes from the Texas and Brooklyn were fired in response to that of Cabanas.
The next day brought Gomez to Marianao. The old chief had skulked in the woods long enough; he had made
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
terms with America for the payment of his army and was on the way to stand before the people whose cause he had espoused. The One Hundred and Sixty-first band had been asked to meet him and escort him through the city at 1:30 P. M., he was expected and the band was there, the popu- lace was there, hundred of soldiers in blue were there and the Cuban army was there, seven hundred infantry and five hundred cavalry, a strange mixture of color and age; we have remarked upon the color before; but there were young boys, children not over thirteen and some that were nearer twelve riding bony ponies small of stature, soldiers in the Cuban revolt. Every half hour brought a train, but not the general, and when the crowd had waited three hours and a half a special bearing the "stars and stripes " and the Cuban flag came rolling up from Quemados; every one knew it bore the expected chieftain and immediately a scene of greatest confusion reigned, the bands played and the multitude yelled. The mayor of Marianao had driven his handsome pony and carriage to the proper exit to receive the old hero, but some excited Cuban who knew it all persuaded him to quickly drive to the other entrance and about the time he got there Gomez came where the carriage first stood. What, no convey- ance to meet the old battle-scarred veteran ? and the crowd bearing down upon him! near the entrance stood an ante- deluvian shay with a skeleton between the shafts and an ebony faced driver on the seat. They jerked his old rattle- trap half way and the general the other half and would his posterity ever believe it the "peseta " hack-driver was to drive the great Gomez through the streets of Marianao. Just then the mayor spun around the corner, and his angry passions rose; it was " carramba " with one hand and then "carramba " with the other, and then "carramba " with both and Mr. Know-it-all expostulated, and the mayor
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expostulated and said " carramba " again, and just then four drops of rain fell from the sky and the old warrior of many a storm was in his mackintosh before it could be told and the dusty buggy top dropped over him and he was off before a third of the crowd who had stretched their cervi- cal vertebra so hard had a chance to see him. The One Hundred and Sixty-first band went before him playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever," while his Cuban follow- ers came behind him and thus he was escorted to Cuban headquarters; in the evening a reception was given and later in the theatre a ball. The general wore a slouch hat and around his neck was tied a silken handkerchief; he was a trifle stooped and his face bore signs of the hardships he had suffered in his late campaign. The next day he entered Havana and received the ovations of a grateful populace while the political charlatans were whetting their knives to stab him in the hour of his triumph.
This suffices for February, unless it be to mention the 26th, when the privates had an opportunity to watch and laugh while the line officers drilled, practicing sword salu- tation a la regulation; or perchance to tell of how the boys of the Seventh Army Corps changed the schedule on the "Ferro-Carril de Marianao." It is a simple story of a simple plan. The trains didn't stop where the boys wanted to get on, and they " soaped " the track. The train stopped and the boys got on, but it caused General Lee the trouble of writing General Order No. 18, and then, of course, the boys stopped.
During the latter part of February officers and men were in daily expectation of an order from brigade head- quarters sending the brigade out for a ten days or a two weeks' practice march. The Second Brigade had just returned from such a march, and it was generally under- stood that the First Brigade was to proceed upon a similar
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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST INDIANA.
one, going, however, around the city through the Havana province, instead of the southwesterly direction taken by the Second Brigade. On February 27 (Sunday) Colonel Durbin, Major Smith and Major Olds made a prospecting tour, selecting suitable roadways and camping spots.
In the meantime, however, the surgeon had, on Feb- ruary 25, sent up to division headquarters a protest against the plan. The protest received the approval of the acting chief surgeon of the division, but after going to the chief surgeon of the Havana province, was returned practically disapproving the protest, and recommending preparations for the march, which, though not yet ordered, had been set for March Ist, but the major's protest was too sensible and weighty, and word came on March Ist that the proposed practice march had been postponed, but the fact was that the idea was altogether abandoned. In the meantime the colonel had planned another march, that of a day's pleas- ure trip to Vento Springs. The adjutant, in company with Captain Fortune, picked the way on Wednesday, March Ist, and in the early morning of the 2d, with Company A as advance guard, the regiment started on its way. When they came to the Second Division hospital the nurses and convalescents and all of Company M turned out to see them as they passed. The bugle corps did its best from the top of the hill till the railroad was crossed, when the band struck up "The Indiana State Band," and kept it up in a way that meant business till Real street was reached. The regiment marched out past the sugar factory to the main railroad, where the ambulances waited while they pushed on one and one-half miles to Vento. The band played a tune and the boys were turned loose. They took a swim, had lunch at 12, went down into the basin, went through the tunnel, and while some lounged others went over to visit the insane asylum, one-half mile away.
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At 3:30 the regiment took its way toward camp, arriving at 5:45.
Before the construction of the Vento springs the city had been inadequately supplied with water from the Zanja and Ferdinand VII aqueducts; the magnificent aqueduct of Isable II, or of the Vento, was begun in 1859, deriving its supply from the pure and inexhaustable Vento springs on the edge of the Almandares river, nine miles from Havana.
The aqueduct itself has already cost three million five hundred thousand dollars and is still incomplete, being temporarily connected with that of Ferdinand VII. It will cost three million dollars to complete it. The Vento spring is a wonderful construction, being a large stone basin open at the bottom, through which the spring bub- bles. The aqueduct is a tunnel of brick, eliptical in shape, placed under the ground and marked by turrets of stone placed along its course, carrying the water to two great res- ervoirs near Cerro and from thence to the city. An at- tempt was first made to pipe water for the camp from Ha- vana, but the elevation interfering, a big elevated tank was built near the Fourth Illinois by means of which the wa- ter was to be forced through the camps. On Sunday night, January 22, a tremendous crash was heard and as the men went flying toward the sound conjecture was running wild; it was generally conceded that a frightful wreck had oc- curred and Bruce of Company K declared he saw the train just go up and the head light just go out, but as they drew near they found the huge water tank smashed to splinters in a flood of water and mud. The water was afterwards piped from the reservoirs and every camp furnished with the clear, pure water of Vento.
The asylum visited by the boys has a sad history; when war came its inmates were neglected; at General Lee's departure two thousand barrels of a wheat preparation, a .
VENTO SPRINGS.
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portion of America's gift to the starving people of Cuba, was left in the sheds at the wharf. This the Spanish au- thorities seized and divided it equally between three insti- tutions of which the asylum referred to was one. There were then one thousand and seventy-five inmates and from then until the fortunes of war changed no other provision was made to sustain their life and less than two hundred lived through that awful period of starvation-starved to death! The surviving ones are all nearly dark skinned, showing their superiority of physique and consequent power of endurance.
A week of usual camp routine followed next. There was drill and parade, an issue of clothing by the quarter- master and a sermon by the chaplain. At dress parade on the 6th General Lee was present and was stationed at Colo- nel Durbin's left, while Lieutenant-Colonel Backus passed the regiment in review. The general, in company with Admiral Sampson, passed through camp again the follow- ing day and again on the 9th, in company with Captain Sigsbee of the Texas, visited camp, witnessed the review and stopped for conference with the colonel. Among other things the disposition of the Maine artillery tent floors was a matter in question. The Maine boys had left on the 8th and many of our own tents were still without floors; that evening a few floors found their way over the hill by mistake; the mistake was a simple one. Our regi- ment had been asked to put a guard over the much coveted property; the instruction to the guard was to allow no one to carry away the floors, but when he gave the instruction to his relief he said " no one is allowed to carry these floors but the One Hundred and Sixty-first," and the floors began to move. However, the next day they were given us by proper authority and were accordingly moved and made up for the regiment what it lacked in floors for its men.
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GOVERNMENT WAREHOUSE AT QUEMADOS.
On Friday, the 10th, at 2:15 P. M., the battleships New York, Brooklyn, Indiana and Texas passed, in order named, along the coast on their cruising expedition to Cienfuegos and Santiago. Thirteen guns were fired by the light artillery from the eminence near division headquarters and the salute returned by the guns of the New York. On the 10th the Exchange was moved out of its weedy corner and obscure surroundings and taken to the " Midway," so dubbed by the boys, for here was the band, the assembly tent, the post-office, and the exchange and here the officers sent for their men when they were wanted and couldn't be found, spending idle moments listening to band practice, playing games, writing letters, buying stamps and soft drinks at the Exchange. It was also on the 10th that cir-
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