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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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The first Nebraska in camp and field, by first
THE FIRST NEBRASKA
IN CAMP AND FIELD.
.BY .....
..
FIRST NEBRASKA BOYS.
From the Press of HERALD PRINTING COMPANY. Crete. Nebraska.
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
COL. JOIIN M. STOTSENBERG
INTRODUCTION.
The wide spread interest of the people of Ne- braska in its regiment at the front, the eagerness with which anything authentic in regard to it is sought, combined with the lack of much that is authentic written about it, led the editors of this work to believe that a complete yet brief history of the regiment written by some of those who composed it would be welcome to the home of every Nebraskan who is an admirer of the 1st Nebraska.
It is our purpose not only to give a history of the First Nebraska from the time when, as nation- al gnard, it was ordered into camp at Lincoln, with the dates of all battles, and important events, np to the time it was mastered out, but also incidents and anecdotes illustrating army life in camp and on the firing line; what the boys did from day to day and how they passed their leisure time.
Then there has been so inch written about the Philippines and Filipinos which is misleading that we consider it our duty to give a brief description of the country and the people from ob- servation. We will simply state facts and let those who read draw their own conclusions. We
are not bigoted enough to try to form public opin- ion nor do we wish to do so. And we firmly be- lieve that what we say about the country, the people and our regiment, untrammled by political prejudice or by the hope of gain, will be received with thankfulness by those friends of the First Nebraska who wish something authentic in re- gard to it, and those who desire information in re- gard to the Philippines.
We hope that this work, written by First Nebraska boys, from notes taken on the field, will be well received by those friends of ours who have taken such a generous interest in us both while we were far away in a strange land and after our return home. And if we can give those who wish it an accurate and complete history of the First Nebraska we will think that we have accom- plished our purpose.
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CHAPTER I. CAMP ALVIN SAUNDERS LINCOLN,
The First Nebraska regiment, national guard, was ordered iuto camp Alvin Saunders April 25, 1899 under the first call for volunteers in the Span- ish war. It is almost needless to tell Nebraskan s what was done during the time it remained in camp. The daily papers were full of it. The principal task was selecting the able bodied from among the crowd of applicants and swearing them into the service of the United States. The ranks of the National Guard companies were sadly depleted by the examining physicians and the places had to be filled with others.
There we had our first taste of the discomforts of army life (they were not hardships yet), stand- ing gnard in the mnd and rain and sleeping on the cold hard ground with a single army blanket for mattress and cover. As the days dragged slowly along and no orders came we began to think that we had left our business and our homes for nothing We spent a good deal of time discus- sing our chances for getting to the front-and run- ing the gnard lines. But at last the suspense ended. On Sunday May 15 orders were read at dress parade that started us on a career of which none of us then even dreamed. They were for us to proceed to San Francisco at once. After dress parade the camp was a pandemonium. Enthus- lastic soldiers cheered and congratulated each other, while some, appreciating a little more the realities of war were writing home and saying
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good-bye, the last for many a noble young fellow . The camp was full of visitors all that afternoon, relatives and friends of the soldiers who lived near Lincoln and others who had come to witness the parade. There were many tear stained faces that evening as mothers and sisters said the last good- bye, and who shall say that among those cheering, enthusiastic soldiers there were not some heavy hearts? And conld yon call mem less brave? How many less light hearts and less cheerful ^goodbyes" there would have been had some hand drawn back the curtain that bid the future for the next year and half.
That night double guards and patrols were pnt on, for the officers thought, and not without good cause, that many of the boys would take a goodbye visit to the city. But nothing can keep sokliers in camp when they want to get out, and taps found fow in bed. When the delinquents were returning in the small hours of the morning it wonld not have been so hard to get in had it not been for the troop of cavalry who had their guards on the east of the grounds. There always was and always will be a mutual feeling of contempt between the cavalry and the "donghboys" as in- fantry is elegantly called by the more fortunate (?) possessor of horses. The result of this feeling was that their guards did their best to catch one boys as they came in, and when they did catch them they turned them over to our guards instead of turning them loose as soldiers would have done, and of conrse they went to the guard house.
The next morning Monday May 16th. all was in a bustle. Everything had to be gotten in shape to leave that day. We had to load our supplies on cars and those of us who had no uniforms had to
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draw them. By noon everything was ready and the embarkation on trains commenced. The first. battalion composed of companies A, E, L and D left via the Union Pacific, the second, composed of companies C, H, I and G left abont two hours later over the B & M, and the third -companies F, K, M and B embarked via the Rock Island. Col- onel John P. Bratt was in command, Lient. Col- onet Colton commanded the first battalion, Major Stotensburg the second and Major Mulford the third. The embarkation was witnessed by large crowds who cheered the regiment a hearty good- bye. They crowed in our way, shaking our hands and giving us a "God bless yon, " but there were tears in the eyes of many, and they wondered if they would ever again touch those loved hands or if they would be folded across a silent breast in a far away soldier's grave among a strange people.
Our trip to San Francisco was a triumphal tour. No Roman conquerer over received a heartier ovation, Every station was packed with a cheering crowd, and at every place we stopped we were given refreshments, and begged for brass buttons or some little souvenir. Mean- while the boys were not idle either; many had their pockets full of ribbons and addresses of girls, and some, had bunches of bat pins and hair pins and other small articles. When the train pulled into Colfax, California, we were surprised and de- lighted at the beautiful flowers with which we were delnged. They were indeed refreshing to us after the cold and damp of Lincoln and the dreary waste of the Nevada deserts, and the snow and cold of the mountains. The train was a veri- tible bed of roses, flowers were piled in the aisles and in the seats and as they were bruised their
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fragrance filled the cars. We had plenty of bou- quets to give the girls the rest of the way, and what was better, plenty of girls to whom to give the bouquets.
The three battalions arrived at Oakland a few hours apart, the first arriving at about 11:00 o'clock and the third about 3:00 o'clock on Satur- day May 20th. When we crossed the ferry from Oakland to San Francisco, we received a royal welcome from the Red Cross society and were served with an excellent Inuch which was very acceptable after four days on canned tomatoes, canned meat, hard tack and black coffee, and not much of that even. Immediately afterwards we marched about four miles to camp and pitched our tents, by which time it was dark.
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CHAPTER II. CAMP MERRIT, SAN FRANCISCO.
The camp, which was called Camp Merritt, was situated in the edge of the suburb of Richmond and between that town and Golden Gate park, the lovliest park in the west. East of the camp, just across the road, was the largest cemetery in San Francisco, and on the west was a large sand hill, just beyond which lay the bay. From the camp, on a hill in the park, could be seen a large cross which commemorated the discovery of the bay by Sir Francis Drake.
The selection of that camp was almost crimi- nal incompetency. It had been an old race track with a pond in the center, which had been filled in with rubbish from the city, and then covered with sand. Many a time as we were smoothing the sand which was our bed we have taken out old cans, tea kettles, shoes and other rubbish. A very healthy place to camp.
Then commenced the work of drilling and getting ready for sterner business. It was no easy task to make soldiers out of a lot of green men, for with the exception of the few national guard men and the few college students. none of the boys had ever drilled before. But they learned rapidly, and no wonder. It was drill, drill, drill. In the morn- ing after reveille, we would have breakfast, police up the camp and then get ready for company drill. After company drill, two hours rest (if we got in from company drill early enough) and then bat- talion drill; then dinner, then company drill, two
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honrs rest, (under the same conditions as before) and then battalion drill again. The weather was very hot in the day time and very cold at night. About the time we came from the last drill in the evening, hot and tired, and I am afraid, not very good natured, that cold, damp, clammy fog would roll in from the bay. saturating our cloths and chilling us to the marrow. Some of the boys tried wrapping their blankets around them as they went to draw their supper, but they then had to sleep in wet blankets. To make it worse, one day an order came from head-quarters for the men to take all the straw oot of their lents as it bred disease, and the men were enjoying to inch Inxnry; they must get used to hardships. After that we slept on the cold sand. It was so cold that we could not take our clothes off at night- as one fellow ex- pressed it "I dress to go to bed and undress to get np." But some of us did not go withont straw very long. Bebind Col. Bratt's tent were two car- loads of baled straw, and anyone can easily ima- gine what happened. Immediately after taps one night four boys visited the straw pile. To get to it they were obliged to go between the tent of B company's officers and the fence. They had crawled along silently until almost there when one one of them fell over a tent rope and gave the tent a violent jerk. They scampered just in time to a- void the wrathful lieutenant who came rushing out to see who had disturbed him. He questioned the gnard on the beat along the ontside of the fence but of course he knew nothing about it. It is a strange thing that although a man's eyesight is tested before he enters the army, yet nearly every guard is almost blind. The boys waited until everything was quiet and tried it again, this time
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taking care to avoid teut ropes. They got a bale and after some difficulty in getting past the tent, rolled it to their own tent and then tied the flaps down. All of them then went away but one, who was standing in front of the tent when his captain came walking up the street. Noticing this one tent alone closed he said, "What is that tout closed for." "To keep ont the cold, sir" was the answer. The captain glanced at the marks outside the tent and remarked, "It is a pity that that straw is so far away none of you can find it." "Is there any around here, sir," the innocent private asked. The captain gave him a Manser bullet look and passed on, but he did not look into the tent. When the bale was opened it nearly filled the tent so the boys invited their friends to help themselves. But they did it too openly and the officers made them take it all back, but they did not sweep their tents very clean.
Discipline was very strict. There were guards all around the camp and strict orders were issued for no one to leave. On special days, such as pay day, and when Capt. Killian of K company was officer of the day, extra men patroled the company streets, to catch the boys as they came in. But even then they could not all be kept in, although they had to pass the guards, the patrols and then avoid check roll. that is. a ton coll. mif-ioned officer goes to every tent to see that all are present. At first that was easy. There were six in every tent and of course they did not all want to go out at the same time, so when the of- ficer would come to the tent and say, "How many in here," the answer would be "six;" but after the officers discovered the frand and would no longer take anybody's word, but looked in, then other
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schemes had to be invented, such as rolling up a blanket to make it look like a man or letting the other fellows invent some excuse for the absence, which was usually pretty glibly done. But still the chances for escape depended largely on the officer who took check roll. If he was a "good fellow" the chances were pretty good, but if he was afraid of "losing his job" they were not so good, and many were caught and had to spend twenty- four hours in the guard honse. While spending a few hours in the guard house for running the guard lines was not considered a disgrace among the boys, yet no one cared to have his name ou the guard book for others to read later, nor to do the menial labor assigned to the prisioners amid the jeers and laughter of his comrades. Twice, if I remember correctly, we were allowed to leave camp at certain hours, and these hours, and Sun- day afternoons when there was no drill, and other times when we could get past the guards easily (by looking for a blind one) we spent in seeing the most interesting things in San Francisco. Our favorite resort was the Cliff House, about two miles from camp. From there is a lovely view of the ocean, and there also are the famous Sutro baths, which we could use for a nominal price.
With drilling, policing camp, inspections and guard duty we did not have much time for amuse- ments, yet we had the evening when most of the boys would sit around the fire in the cook's tents (for it was cold) and tell stories and sing, or talk to the people who every evening came out to see us and bring us some delicaces. For a long time those who had made friends in the city did not eat gov- erment rations. Many of the boys also, when
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they were sick and it was dangerous to sleep on the cold ground, run the guard lines after check roll and slept at the house of some kind friend in the city. But this was rather hard, as they could not go to bed until late and had to get up early enough to walk back to camp before six o'clock, as there were no street cars running at that time in the morning.
Many of the boys were disturbed by others coming into their tents either blunderingly by mistake, or purposely, at times when they were not wanted. To stop this nearly all the tents were numbered and had the names of the occu- pants painted on a little board and nailed on the tent pole. Even this however did not always have the desired effect, but it served as a warn- ing, and if anybody put his head into a tent when he was not wanted somebody ordered him out, and at the same time somebody else threw an orange or a shoe or a mess kit or anything else that was handy at his head, and the aim was gen- erally good. Often the intruder was allowed to come in and then all in the tent would take him down and roll him in the sand or tear his clothes, until he learned more etiquette. One tent. which we remember distinctly, had seen so much service of this kind that it was never straight, but the stakes were set in sand and did not hold well anyway. As we said there were six in a tent, packed in so tightly that when one wanted to change his position he had to give a signal so that all could move. Three slept on each side of the tent pole and if any of either three en- croached on the other three, there was trouble. One cold night as it was drizzling one fellow put his arm past the pole and a scuffle commenced.
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The others jumped up, of course, to help their re- spective sides and the six boys were soon a strng- gling mass. Two, who were grappling each other on the ground, raised up in one corner and down went the tent. The other four boys would not help put it up but laid underneath while these two were trying to restore it to its proper posi- tion, but it was a difficult task and the rain was cold, so they jerked it off the others and ran into another tent and stayed until their own was put up. We have not recorded any conversation that took place because it is too hard to remember and our notes have omitted it.
We had oranges, oranges and oranges. There were wagon loads of them standing around camp all the time and often some one in the crowd would buy a box, and standing on the fence, throw box and all among the soldiers and laugh to see them scramble. We had more than we could eat and would store them in our tents to throw at each other and intrnders.
Soldiers, you must know, never work any more than they have to; the one that can do the least work without getting into trouble about it is the best soldier. Washing dishes was one of the particular hardships, and every scheme was worked to get out of it. We had a patent mess kit which consisting of two tin oval shaped plates so fitted as to close together and fasten with a lever which served as a handle when open. After eating, some of the boys would wash theirs and others would simply close theirs and throw them into a basket in the tent, and then when mess call sounded there was a rush to get the clean ones. Those who were fortunate enough to get the clean ones, and the best ones, always
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scratched their names on them, so it was often the case that all the mess kits and cups bore the names of all in the tent. Perhaps then all would agree to wash their own dishes, which would last two or three days-sometimes. This was caused by the difficulty we had in washing our dishes be- cause it is hard to take grease off tin with cold water, but afterwards we discovered a very sim- ple way. We rubbed the dishes with sand or mud and then washed them with water. The crowds of visitors would stand outside the fence and laugh at us but we can assure you that the method was effectual.
The spare time between drills and a little while before "lights out" was partly used in writing letters and reading our mail from home, sewing our clothes and other necessary work, and sometimes we slept an hour during the day be- canse what little sleep we got at night was not very restful on account of the cold.
The people of San Francisco made our dis- comforts seem less to ns by their generous treat- ment. They did everything they could for us and did it cheerfully and from the heart. They were constantly handing us baskets of food over the fence until it was prohibited by. our officers, and then everything had to be inspected by the doc- tors, but thanks to Capt. Mullius not much was condemed. This very thing once caused a poison- ing scare. Some of the boys ate strawberries and cream that was given them over the fence and were shortly afterwards taken sick. Poisoning was at once suspected, but upon investigation it was found that the strawberries had been sprink- led with Paris green to kill the insects and had not been washed before they were eaten. We after-
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wards had another in the Philippines which re- mains a mystery to this day. Two incidents will show how thoughtful the citizens were of our comfort and health. One evening while a rather noisy group was standing or sitting by the fire an old soldier climbed over the fence and advancing to the group turned his back and stood still, not saying a word. The boys looked at him, wonder- ing what he meant. After standing there awhile he turned around and said, "I see yon boys have not been in the army very long. When I was in the army if a man turned his back to us we went through his pockets." Instantly there was a grab for his coat tails which yielded up three bottles of whiskey. He smiled and said, "wait a few inin- utes" and soon returned with two more. One cold rainy night just after dark as a young fellow who had never before been away from home was walking guard, thinking of home and of the dis- agreeable task before him, a lady, leading a little girl by the hand, walked up and asked him if he was cold. He replied that he was, and she then asked him how long he would he on guard. Upon his replying "all night" she took a bottle of brandy from her pocket, saying, "I had more of these but gave them to the boys. I hope that it will do you good." Then with a hearty "good night, " she left him. Her kind words and thoughtfulness im- parted to him new strength, and he has often said that through all his subsequent hardships he car- ried a remembrance of that lady. Sometimes people who had become acquainted with the occu- pants of one tent would prepare little surprises for them, coming ont in the evenings or on Sun- days with lunch baskets well filled and staying until eight o'clock, when all visitors must leave.
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We can never forget the kind-hearted people of San Francisco.
Our hospitals at San Francisco were not very well equipped, yet there was considerable sickness caused by the hard drilling, and the sudden change from the hot days to the cold, foggy nights. One fellow who went to the hospital with pneu- monia said that he laid on boards, nearly starved and suffering with the cold. Our greatest enemy there was pneumonia and we left a few men with that disease in the hospital at Honolulu.
We have said that we learned our first lessons in guard running at Lincoln, but at San Francisco we became past masters in the art. It was simply impossible to stay in that camp all the time, and we could very easily find a guard who was notafraid to let us out or in if no officer was watching, be- cause he knew that tomorrow he might want to go to town himself. Some nights when the non.com- missioned officer came to take check roll there would not be over fifteen or twenty of a company present, but he generally reported "all present or accounted for." But we also learned other things which were hard for some who were well raised to learn, -walking guard on cold, ramy nights and sleeping on the ground or in a sitting posture on a log. We also learned to take things as they come and not to complain about the absence of those things which we had before considered as necessities. In short, we learned to be soldiers- not tin soldiers, to be looked at on dress parade, but real soldiers who were willing to take the hardships and pleasure of a soldiers life as they came-to endure the former and make the most of the latter.
Our facilities for writing letters were very
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poor, but the Modern Woodmen erected a large tent across the street for our accomodation where we were supplied with writing material, books and magazines, also a place to write.
On the fourth of June we took our first step in preparation for departure for the Philippines. Up to this time we had been doubting whether or not we would ever be ordered to go, or simply stay in camp all summer and then be sent home, not at pleasant prospect. But that day's proceedings al- most settled it to our minds. It was an inspection in heavy marching order at the Presidio, the mili- tary reservation. We marched up, carrying the regulation field equipments, unrolled our blankets. which contained all our clothing. etc, and were in- spected by U. S. officers, and were highly compii- mented by them.
On the 11th of June 1898 we had our first pay day. We were paid about 12 o'clock and had per- mission to leave camp until 8 o'clock that evening, in order to bny what we needed for our trip across the ocean. If we had only known then what we knew ten days later how nich better preparation we conkl have made. I believe a few got back at 8 o'clock that evening but they went out again after taps That night the sounds from camp would have been amusing to a visitor. From all over the camp, now on one side, now on another, now far, now near, could be heard the cry "Halt- halt-halt, " and the sound of scampering feet, but nobody seemed to halt. That afternoon and the next day the camp swarmed with fakirs, selling everything imaginable. As so many soldiers were out in the afternoon they came the next day in in- creased numbers. Of course they caught some suckers, but they met many Tartars. One of them
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