USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume III > Part 2
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The career of the Ninth, stated briefly, runs somewhat like this : Some years before the Civil War, a company known as the Columbian Artillery, was formed in the North End, Boston. One of the first to be called out in 1861, it won its name, the Fighting Ninth, on thirty battlefields of the South. After the war, the regiment continued its good work as a part of
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the National Guard of the Commonwealth, and was ready to go into camp when President Mckinley issued his call for troops in 1898. Reporting at Camp Dewey, South Framingham, May II, it was mustered into the United States service, and on the end of the month entrained for Camp Russell A. Alger, Dunn Loring, Virginia. On June 26, it embarked at Newport News on the transport "Harvard," landing at Siboney, Cuba, July 1, 1898.
At El Caney-The night of the landing, the Ninth was sent on a forced march to the aid of Shafter before El Caney, and drove on through the tropical night from ten o'clock to four thirty the next morning. Mean- while, even the light equipment, the rolled blanket, and the haversacks with three days' emergency rations had been, for the most part, left behind. That same day they came under fire, and the next, again under fire, being stationed on the left flank with orders to hold, no matter what happened. Like other Massachusetts troops, they had only the obsolete Springfield rifle, "which went off with the roar of a cannon, made a smoke like a forest fire, and was effective only when you could see the whites of the enemy's eyes." When the Spaniard lacked a mark, he waited until a Springfield was discharged, and fired upon the position disclosed. The trench was the only salvation, and trench digging was the night and day occupation for ten days. It was the rainy season of the year, but the regiment was without shelter, and for two weeks slept in their trenches, or in the severest of the storms kept upon their feet. Their shelter tents and other equipment had been left aboard the "Harvard" when the regi- ment landed through the surf at Siboney, and were not unloaded until after the vessel had made another complete trip. Some of the stuff belonging to the regiment never reached it until the time came for its mustering out.
Losses from Disease-Santiago was surrenderd on July 17, and the next day, the worn out Ninth went into camp on the lower slopes of San Juan Hill, next door to a swamp. On August 23, it moved into Santiago to be sent home. The move was made at least a month too late. When the regiment came to embark, yellow and typhoid fevers, dysentery and malaria, had all but wrecked it. Two hundred of its men were in the hospital, and three hundred should have been had there been any hospital in which to house them. Ninety per cent. of the officers were at some time ill, and only one out of five in the ranks escaped disease. The Ninth had its own private graveyard within sight and hearing of the camp. Deaths were so numerous that it was ordered that no more military sa- lutes over the grave of a departing soldier should be fired, because of its depressing effect upon the ill. Major Grady died on July 30; Major
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O'Connor, on August 6; Colonel Bogan, who had been in command when the regiment left Framingham, was invalided home and died on August 9; Lieutenant-Colonel Donovan, who had succeeded him, was ordered home to save his life. A private gave his opinion of the whole affair when he remarked : "Those mules that jumped overboard at Siboney and swam out to sea to drown, were very, very wise. They must have known better than we did what a fearful hole this was."
The Return of the Survivors-The remnants of as physically strong a regiment as ever left Massachusetts were sent in three detachments from Cuba during the last week of August. As the disheartened troops made their way to their vessels, twenty got only as far as the water front and collapsed, being taken back to the hospital and death. On one trans- port, the "Allegheny," fifteen died on the way North to Montauk Point. On arrival, 175 from this same ship were placed under hospital treatment, while forty were so cared for from the other transports. Everything pos- sible was done for the returning men, the Massachusetts Volunteer Aid Association bringing bountiful supplies. Red tape was cut, and a fur- lough of sixty days was given the regiment that its members might be taken to their homes or the hospitals of Boston and elsewhere in the State, to save as many as might still pull through.
On September 8, at eleven o'clock in the night, many of the citizens of Boston gathered at the Old Park Square Station to greet the returning heroes. And what a sight! Out of the 943 men, the pick of the commu- nity, who had left Framingham in May, but 342 were able to return only four months later. Haggard, worn, sick, but prettied up as well as could be at Montauk, the gathering crowd turned away their heads at the vision of such wretchedness. And the pity of it was that not one man had suf- fered greatly from the days of battle; not one of the dead they had left behind had been killed by the Spaniard. The "Fighting Ninth" had gone to war at the behest of its country, but its greatest battles had been against preventable diseases, and its principal losses incurred because an unready. people had failed in sending them what was theirs by right.
On November 26, 1898, the Ninth was mustered out, after six months' . service. The members bore with them the thanks of the general who had commanded during the Cuban campaign; the approval of the President of the United States; the appreciation of the Governor of the Common- wealth; and the gratitude of the people of the State. But one wonders what the men thought about it all.
The Sixth Regiment-The 6th Massachusetts, U. S. V., worthy suc- cessors of the famous "Old Sixth," was the first of the four infantry regi- ments of the State which was called to arms by the National Government.
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It was on the sixth of May that the regiment went into camp at Framing- ham, there to await orders. There was the usual weeding out of those whom the surgeons ruled were unfit, and many who had served long and well in the National Guard, broke down and wept when told they could not go with their outfits. Like the famous "Old Sixth," this Sixth, after pleasant days in Camp Dewey (Framingham), was to pass through Bal- timore. But how different was the greeting! The whole journey down was one long series of ovations, but it was not until the regiment had reached the city whose attack in '61 upon the other Sixth, had brought on the first bloodshed of the Civil War, did the full meaning of Southern patriotism burst upon the consciousness of the whole country. If there were remnants left of the old antagonism between the North and the South, they were buried under the patriotic ardor of the War with Spain. There was nothing that could be done for the Massachusetts boys that was not; the key of Baltimore was theirs. "This reception was without question the most dramatic event of the war on American soil. For it was not a mere reception and patriotic demonstration. It was the new national spirit rising Phoenix-like from the ashes of '61."
In Camp-The Sixth went on to Washington and still on to Camp Alger, where it was joined for a short while by the Ninth Massachu- setts. It was at this camp that the regiment was recruited to its war requirement of 1,327 men. And it was at Camp Alger that the troops had their first taste of the rigors of war. Not that these were very great when contrasted with later events. The difficulties which the soldiery of the Spanish-American War had to overcome were the quite ordinary ones of life-food, water and clothing. In many of the camps, pure water was in insufficient supply ; the lack of it pursued the Sixth all through its months in service. The shortage, and the carelessness which it bred in the drinking from any and all sources, had its aftermath in typhoid fever and death. In a land of plenty, the troops suffered from a lack of proper foods. Not that the army rations were not what they shoud be, especially when reinforced by fresh fruits and vegetables. But they were suited to the Regulars, who were accustomed to them, and protective foods were hard to get. In the haste to furnish the various canned goods used so much by the army, much meat unfit for human consumption was shipped by unscrupulous packers. The "canned horse" of the day took a very heavy toll upon the ranks of the soldiers. There are tales told of the days when the conflict was nearly over, and the Sixth was on board ship in the Caribbean waiting to be taken home, that some of the embalmed beef was fed to the sharks, with so high a mortality that the shark crop was for many years after an almost complete failure. In the matter of clothing, the Sixth was fortunate beyond the most of the regiments in not being
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compelled to serve in a tropic climate in heavy winter clothing. The most casual student of the history of the war cannot fail to be impressed with the fact that the greatest enemy of our troops was not the Spaniard, nor the most deadly weapon, the Spanish gun.
Off to Cuba-It was only two months after leaving the Framingham camp when the Sixth was taken aboard the ship "Yale" at Charleston, South Carolina, en route for Cuba. This vessel was a passenger ship built to carry 500; with a few members of the 6th Illinois, it was forced to accommodate 1,500 men. The cooking arrangements for the thirteen companies was the usual ship-galley, eight by sixteen feet. The provisions were buried in the most inaccessible depths of the hold under a miscellaneous load of dunnage. It was intended to transport the troops to the area about Santiago de Cuba, a matter of three or four days; the Sixth was held on the "Yale" for eighteen days. The "Yale" did, indeed, arrive in two days off Siboney, but there was yellow fever ashore, a peril more to be feared than the Spaniards, and the regiment was held aboard the boat. While it waited, Santiago was surrendered. Half starved and thirsty, exposed to a weather which was burning hot all through the day and broken by tropical rains at night, unable to keep clean and without room for exercise, the health of the troops broke down with a rapidity which alarmed the medical corps.
Eventually the "Yale," with other transports, sailed for Porto Rico, where, at Guanica, on July 24 and 25, the regiment disembarked. It was by this time more fit to be sent to the hospital than to be sent upon a dashing campaign for the reduction of the Island.
Under General Miles-Nevertheless, General Miles called the officers of the Sixth together and gave the warning: "There was great work cut out for them; that the most honorable position was theirs, but also the post of the greatest danger. The regiment was to force a landing and hold it against every assault until reinforcements arrived, and he hoped they would go forward without flinching against everything they met." The landing, which was a surprise affair, was made in safety; but the next day the regiment ran into a Spanish ambuscade which tested its mettle. Men from Companies A, L and K, all from Boston, or the metro- politan district, were wounded, and Major C. K. Darling and Captain Edward J. Gibson were cited for "gallantry under fire." Then followed, during the rapid march, Yauco, Tallaboa, Ponce, Adjuntas, Utaido, Areciebo and other towns, and later Don Juan.
It was one of the most important campaigns of the war, and one car- ried out with greater military effectiveness than most. Porto Rico was subdued with minimum losses from gun-fire, there being but three killed
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and forty wounded. But the losses caused by the unpreparedness of the United States for war were beyond all reason. Twenty-seven of the Sixth paid with their lives, nearly all from preventable causes. When the regiment embarked for home, from Ponce, on October 21, 1898, it could muster only 925 men. On January 21 the Sixth had completed its service. When it had left for Porto Rico, General Brooke had said: "I am sorry to see you go. I shall miss the finest regiment in Porto Rico." In his annual message after the war, Governor Wolcott paid his tribute to the Sixth, concluding with the phrase, "the regiment won a reputation for soldiery, discipline and efficiency worthy of its historic past."
The First Heavy Artillery Kept at Home-A somewhat forgotten side of the War with Spain, and one in which a famous Boston military organ- ization played the principal rôle, was the necessity for coastal defense. A perusal of the newspapers of 1898 will reveal a good deal of matter refer- ring to the defenseless condition of Boston from an attack from the sea. The Spanish Navy was highly rated, and the location of its fleets were constantly in doubt before one was bottled up in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. With 4,000 miles of coast open to attack, there was reason to suppose that Boston might be one of the places where such an attack would be made. Most of the regular troops were drawn into foreign service. The fortifications of Boston Harbor were hardly of sufficient strength to be worthy of the name. Appeals were made to the National Government for aid in rebuilding and manning the forts, but were made in vain. Boston was compelled to take care of itself, and it is an inter- esting sidelight on the war that Massachusetts supplied half of the volun- teer batteries recruited during the event. The most notable contribution of the metropolis was the famous First Heavy Artillery, an organization with a long and remarkable record dating from 1784. This regiment went into actual active service before any other unit from the State, and while its duties took it no farther away from the city than the harbor fortifications, it did what it was called upon to do as well as any other body of Massachusetts troops. Theirs was the hardship of enduring the monotony of garrison life with none of the compensating excitements and rewards of extra-State service. The First Artillery had the honor of reporting in Boston ninety-nine per cent. complete on April 26, was reviewed by the Governor, and by noon had reached its appointed station, a record equaled by no other unit in the country.
The Second Regiment-The Second Regiment, Massachusetts, U. S. V., was the smallest of the infantry regiments from the State, never being recruited to its full strength, and served for the shortest period of them all. But this same Second, in the brief six months that it was under arms, suffered the greatest proportional losses of the six regiments representing
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the Commonwealth. More than ten per cent. of those who left Boston for the Cuban front lost their lives ; at its best the Second numbered 943, its dead numbered ninety-eight. It was among the first to enter the Fram- ingham Camp, May 3; before the end of the month it was in camp in Florida, and in little more than a month after its first inspection in Mas- sachusetts it was on the water for Santiago de Cuba.
The days in Framingham were like those of the other units, days of reviews, the securing and inspection of equipment, medical examinations which led to the discarding of many, and then the grand review by Gov- ernor Roger Wolcott, and entrainment for points South. The original plan was to embark at Newport, Rhode Island, from thence to go to New York City, where transports were awaiting the regiment. As it turned out, the trip to New York was by railroad, and after being loaded on the transports which lay in New York Harbor, they were taken off and sent down to Lakeland, Florida, by rail. Many of the men still have pleasant recollections of the brief stay in "Camp Massachusetts," which name they gave to the pine knoll between the two Lakeland lakes ; but the memories of Ybor City, just outside Tampa, are not quite so pleasant.)
The Springfield Rifle and Black Powder-On June 8 Florida was left behind. Cooped up on the vessels provided by the government for their transportation to Cuba, the regiment sweltered and cursed as they lay for days off the Cuban coast until landed on June 22 at Baiquiri. The battles for Santiago were on at this time, and the Second was marched to Siboney. The famous "Rough Riders" passed by their camp, and the sound of firing could be heard, but nothing as yet could be seen of the actual warfare. It was a case of stand by and wonder what would come next. The men had not long to wait, for they were soon on their way to El Caney and their first fight. In a battle that lasted from 7:00 a. m. to 5:00 in the evening, the Second had its share. The regiment had the misfortune to be armed with the antiquated Springfield rifle, and com- pelled to burn black powder with its attendant smoke. With every vol- ley, their position was outlined to the Spaniard, who paid them the closest attention every time the smoke showed where to shoot. For the safety of other troops, who were endangered by the fire brought upon the Second, it was sent to a flank position, which while it may have helped others, did not benefit the troop. Many were wounded; had the Spanish been any sort of marksmen, the regiment would either have been withdrawn or annihilated. The Second was under San Juan Hill the day of its capture, and under fire the most of the time. That night the regi- ment had its first cooked meal in forty-eight hours.
Before and After Santiago Meanwhile a heavy cannonading came to their ears from somewhere off shore, but they did not dream that Cervera's
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fleet had run out of the Santiago Harbor and had been completely destroyed. While those at home were celebrating this event, the Second was digging trenches in the broiling sun or the tropical rain. From July 4 to July 10, it was dig, dig, dig with knife, tinned meat cans, bayonets and fingers, trenches that as soon as they were completed were occupied by some other set of troops. On July 14, Santiago surrendered with its 20,000 soldiers. There were no more dangers from shot and shell, no more days of hard labor. Fraternizing with the soldiers of the enemy and with the Cubans was the order of the day, not realizing that they were fraternizing with the Yellow Jack and other diseases. Then, with the excitement of warfare gone, depression took hold on the Second. Dis- cipline relaxed, the men grew careless, many became ill, malaria being one of the principal diseases. The Red Cross ship "Texas" arrived and gave hospital supplies and relief to the stricken soldiers. But it was too late ; irreparable damage had been done.
On the Way Home-On August 10, orders were given to move the regiment aboard transports at Santiago. By the thirteenth of the month, it was on its way to Montauk Point, Long Island, where the disembarka- tion occurred on August 19. When the Second set out for Cuba from Tampa it numbered more than 900 strong. When it was put ashore at Montauk, it was but 300 weak. The boys were not detained for long at this port for they were in such ill condition that it was thought wise to send them home, where they might be assured the best of treatment among friends and relatives. A furlough was issued to the whole regi- ment. On November 3, it was mustered out of service. Only six months had elapsed since the Second had entered the National service. In that time two-thirds of the regiment had been on the casualty list, mainly from disease, and more than one out of every ten had made the final sacrifice for his country.
The Eighth Regiment-The Eighth Regiment has a history not unlike too many of the regiments of the Spanish War, in that it is the story of a body of men eager to get to the front, and never succeeding until too late for active participation in battle. Although one of the first of the volun- teer regiments to get into camp, because of delays and constant shifts of camps, it spent most of its time of service in the States. It did see for- eign service, however, which had its compensations, since so many of the National Guard troops never came within sight of salt water. The record of the 8th Massachusetts is long and honorable, and the months it lay in Matanzas, Cuba, marked the first foreign service of the regiment. The Eighth was an Essex regiment, but many of its individual members were from the metropolitan district of Boston. It was a part of the Third Division of the First Army Corps which was crowded into the fever
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infested Chickamauga Camp in Georgia. Much is written of the heroism of the soldier, who in the excitement of battle, fights his way through to victory, but what of the heroism of the man, who without the inspiration of gun-fire, keeps his morale and falters not in his duty when beset by dis- comfort and disease and the creeping death? Should not the honors go to the men who day by day saw their comrades struck down by the epidemic typhoid, quietly bore the strain, and fought back with the few weapons in their possession? There continued with the Eighth an ésprit de corps, a high sense of duty, and efficiency in service, in the face of death as imminent as on San Juan Hill, which won it the approval of every division commander and the plaudits of the government.
In Many Camps-From the nineteenth of May until latter part of August of 1898, the 8th was at Camp Thomas, Chickamauga, suffering from a lack of almost everything that they should have had. Six to eight men were compelled to occupy tents, many of which were not fit for the use of one. The water was polluted; food neither sufficient nor of the right sort ; and there was a constant stream of men going to the already over-burdened hospitals. When the division left the camp on August 21, there were twenty-nine officers and 1,237 enlisted men on the sick report, out of 337 officers and 9,464 men present ; or in other words, one officer out of every twelve and one man out of eight. Yet the Eighth not only maintained discipline, but was one of the most active factors in the reduction of the conditions which led to such an epidemic of disease. Meanwhile preparations for active battle front service did not lag. On July 26, the team from the regiment won first place in the rifle competi- tion of the Third Division.
Typhoid was spreading with such rapidity, that in August, the Eighth was moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where under better conditions, a fairly successful warfare was waged against disease. A month of recuper- ation brought health to the regiment, and military training could be car- ried on with some degree of efficiency. The regiment was cited in one of the government reports of the time as "the only regiment in the Park which had complied with the sanitary regulations." And at another period for its "military proficiency." As a part of the Second Brigade, Second Division, of the First Army Corps, the Eighth was sent to Amer- icus, Georgia, on November 12. On January 6, it entrained for Savannah, Georgia, from whence a few days later it embarked for Cuba.
At Matanzas-The war was all but over when the troops entered the shallow bay before Mantanzas. As the regiment was landing, the last of 15,000 Spanish soldiers were leaving. The soldiers of the insurgents were flocking to the city, and it was feared that there might be hostile demonstrations against the Spanish residents of the place. It was to
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prevent this-to act as police-that the American troops had been sent to occupy the Island. The Eighth was not only a police, but a sanitary corps, a set of diplomats, and general housekeepers for Matanzas, a place which was still suffering from the effects of the reconcentration practices of General Weyler. Yellow fever was rife, there were 19,373 indigent poor in the city who had to be cared for, and there were rival local fac- tions which might break out fighting at any moment. There was a labor strike, the first of its kind ever to trouble the city, one fomented by dele- gates from the United States. Two companies of the Eighth settled the strike. On January 20, the celebration of the evacuation of Cuba was begun, and on February 22 another fiesta was held in honor of General Maximo Gomez. These were times of danger to the peace of the city, but without disturbing the festivities, the troops managed to preserve peace. The soldiers cleaned and disinfected Matanzas, established a system of sanitation which made it the "cleanest city in Cuba." All these seem but minor achievements, but were not; the victories of peace are as great as those of war. When the regiment left Matanzas on April 3, to be mustered out after having served under arms longer than any other Massachusetts unit, it departed with the friendship of the Cubans waving them a sad "Good-bye." One of the documents of the day is a proclama- tion by Alfred O. Carnot, mayor of the city, issued by the Municipal Council "To the Eighth Regiment of Massachusetts." To quote its open- ing paragraph: "The brief period which you have spent among us has been sufficient to enable us to appreciate your patriotism, your great virtues, your self-sacrifice and generosity. An indelible token of the eternal gratitude and admiration you leave stamped upon our hearts. You are worthy sons of George Washington. .... Believe, therefore, and be assured that you leave friends here, brethren whose gratitude will ever cause them to love and bless you. Farewell !"
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