USA > Ohio > The Fourteenth Ohio national guard- the Fourth Ohio volunteer infantry > Part 4
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Infantry, the 2nd Infantry, the 16th Infantry, the 5th Infantry, three companies of the 3d Infantry, the Toledo Cadets and three Batteries First Regiment Light Artillery, making a total of 3,371 officers and men in the field. In addition to these, six companies of the 3rd Infantry were as- sembled in their armories, making a total of officers and men under call, of 3,647.
The cause for this array of military strength was a general "strike" of the miners and the National Guard duty is known as the "Wheeling Creek Cam- paign."
The first official information Governor Mckinley received was a telegram from the sheriff of Guernsey county, dated June 6, stating that a force of miners es- timated at from 400 to 600 men had taken possession of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Mineral Siding and that they were interfering with trains by placing obstructions on the track and compelling freight trains to run in on the switches and take off all coal cars be- fore being permitted to proceed. The sheriff added that the miners were armed with clubs and more dan- gerous weapons, and that threats were being made to do still greater damage. He also stated that he could not possibly organize a posse capable of coping with the miners and fearing that they would be reinforced, asked help from the governor.
Orders were at once promulgated to assemble the various regiments and by the next morning, June 7, another appeal was made by the sheriff of Belmont county, giving the same reason. In this county the
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B. and O. and the C., L. and W. Railways were at- tacked, the latter by about fifteen hundred men, mostly foreigners, so the sheriff stated.
The regiment was scattered all over Central Ohio, many of the men residing in the country and at small inland towns, so that it was three o'clock in the morning before orders were issued to the entire regi- ment. Major Speaks was then a clerk in General Howe's office and had it not been for his energetic ef- fort, the regiment could not possibly have been as- sembled so soon.
Everything was gotten in readiness and on the morning of the seventh, the Fourteenth left Columbus for Cambridge, where they arrived next morning. General Howe accompanied the regiment in order to be on the scene of the trouble and thus be better enabled to assume personal charge of general opera- tions. At eleven o'clock the regiment arrived at Morris Station. There they found that cars had been knocked to pieces, coal dumped on the tracks and everything in turmoil. At a quarter after one, how- ever, the trains were running for the first time in three days, but the strikers were in the hills near by, ready to sweep down on the railroad property as soon as the soldiers had left.
The danger at St. Clairsville Junction had be- come greater, consequently the Seventeenth was left on guard at Mineral Siding and the Fourteenth and Eighth, with Battery H started for the new scene. Telegrams were fast coming in to the governor and the situation became serious. More troops were ordered to
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prepare to move at a moment's notice, and the whole state became excited. It was reported to the governor that near a cut through which the Fourteenth would have to pass, the miners were located and that they had prepared to roll down a huge boulder on the train bearing the troops as it passed them. The train pro- ceeded, however, and was not seriously molested until it reached Wheeling Creek, six miles east of Bellaire. The train had proceeded along the banks of the stream through the hills until it reached a point where the valley widened into a basin. It was a beautiful spot, an ideal location for the little mining town, which nestled snugly here among the rugged hills. Across the valley, perhaps a mile, stood a little church, around which 600 men were assembled. The regiment was formed and immediately deployed into battle lines and excitement reigned everywhere. It looked as though there was to be a pitched battle and many ex- pected that the banks of the picturesque rivulet which flowed peacefully through the rocky hills, would soon be gorged with a stream of blood.
As the regiment advanced slowly across the little valley, however, the crowd dispersed. The regiment went into camp and threw out pickets. The soldiers and miners came into constant contact, but at no time did a clash become general. Several times crowds had to be dispersed, but no fatalities resulted from the dis- charge of any duty.
Onthe morning of the 9th Sheriff Scott announced that trains would start on the C., L. & W. from Bridge port, where coal trains had been detained by the strik-
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ers. The sheriff requested that ample protection be given coal trains throughout Belmont county. A guard was ordered consisting of the Second Battalion of the Fourteenth and the Second Battalion of the Second regiments, and Colonel Coit placed in com- mand with instructions to follow trains and permit no interference. The first train was somewhat delayed just before reaching camp, and before the soldiers had boarded it. It had been stopped for an instant just be- yond the lines, and was immediately attacked by a crowd of women, who pulled the couplings and carried them away. They were encouraged in their actions by a large crowd of men congregated near, but not on railroad property. A detachment was sent from camp who dispersed the crowd and enabled the train men to recouple the cars and proceed.
The coal trains guarded by the Fourteenth were molested, but so well did the boys perform their duty that no damage was done except at Burton, where the strikers succeeded in disconnecting one of the trains by drawing coupling pins. The train was gotten safe- ly through Belmont county, however, and the soldiers reported back to Wheeling Creek, tired and worn out but ready for duty wherever their services were needed.
The strike soon became more general and the sit- uation became more serious in proportion. Canal Dover was made the base of supplies and the governor decided to push a vigorous campaign against the strikers unless they gave up the idea of destroying property. The Fourteenth Regiment was scattered
THE FOURTEENTH AT;WHEELING CREEK.
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over almost the whole of the mining district, one part of the detached companies being placed under Colonel Darrow at Canal Dover, and the others under the im- mediate command of Colonel Coit, with headquarters at New Philadelphia.
There was at no time what could be called a pitched battle, but shots were actually fired on several occasions, but fortunately there were no lives lost ex- cept that of Private Gerber, of Columbus, who struck his head on a rock while diving in the Tuscarawas river. His body was embalmed and sent home under escort for military burial.
The miners pursued a sort of guerilla policy, keeping as much as they could out of sight of the sol- diers and making raids on railway and mining prop- erty. Bridges were burned and trains were stopped, but as soon as the troops approached they would re- treat to some place of safety. Colonel Coit gave or- ders to the sentries on duty to allow no one to approach nearer than 200 yards of the picket lines and then to advance singly and be identified by one of the mem- bers or employes of one of the mining companies. Several skirmishes were engaged in but nothing seri- ous occurred. Private Jacob Stinnell had the honor of capturing a banner from a party of miners and the act of himself and comrades was regarded as one of unusual bravery.
At Canal Dover several drunken persons and some of the colored cooks and camp followers engaged in a quarrel and trouble seemed imminent, but prompt action on the part of the officers quieted all the trouble.
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The drunken persons were arrested and under escort were turned over to the civil authorities. Bridges were burned in all parts of the mining district and the en- tire force of militia on duty were kept dodging from one point to another. Colonel Coit was at one time cut off from his base of supplies by the burning of a bridge, but he managed to get into communication with head- quarters by a round-about way.
Finally, on the seventeenth, the miners and oper- ators, having come to an agreement, matters became more quiet and Colonel Coit wired that part of his command could be dismissed. Companies H, G, M and L were accordingly relieved and the next day the en- tire regiment was called back to Columbus, where the boys were glad to join their families and friends. At Columbus the regiment was reviewed by Governor McKinley and the men publicly thanked for their ser- vices.
The regiment had been on continuous duty for nearly two weeks and in a service that was far from being a pleasant one. There was danger, privation and hard labor to perform, but the men suffered all their trials as real soldiers and the people of Central Ohio were justly proud of them.
While the services of the regiment in the Wheel- ing Creek campaign were still fresh in the minds of the people, a most distressing occurrence became part of the history of Fayette county. A negro named Dolby had committed a criminal assault near Wash- ington Court House, and as all indications seemed to point clearly to the man's guilt, public sentiment be-
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came uncontrollable. The negro had been duly ar- rested and was confined in the county jail, but as the records of Fayette county were without the stain of such crimes, the people declared that no one should break the record and live. Crowds gathered to discuss the situation and as the law did not provide for the ex- ecution by capital punishment of these crimes, many of the enraged citizens concluded that the best plan would be to adopt lynch law in the case.
They were soon joined in this opinion by others and before even they themselves were aware of the fact, a dangerous crowd had collected. As life and property seemed to be in danger the sheriff called in- to service E Company of the Fourteenth Regiment, stationed at Washington Court House, but they did not present force enough to cope with the crowd, so the governor was called upon for more troops. Com- panies A and B, of the Fourteenth, under Colonel Coit, were at once ordered to the scene of the trouble. They left on the afternoon of the 17th of Octo- ber and arrived in Washington Court House a few hours later. The official report has the following to say of the affair:
"During the day of the seventeenth but little trouble occurred except at the time the prisoner was taken from the court house to the jail for trial. As the sheriff, with his prisoner, left the jail, the crowd assembled, made a rush and but for the cool, solid and effective work of the military, would have secured the prisoner and accomplished their purpose. Officers and men in this afternoon engagement proved themselves
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good soldiers and, without exercising severe punish- ment upon those unlawfully assembled, prevented the mob from carrying out their intentions. The prisoner, having been arraigned before a grand jury especially convened, pleaded guilty to the charge and was at once sentenced to the penitentiary for the maximum term of years provided by law.
"The crowd had constantly been increasing dur- ing the day and, in consequence of the fierce struggle that had occurred in the afternoon, the sheriff was of the opinion that it would not be safe to take the pris- oner from the court house with the number of troops on duty. He therefore asked that more troops be sent so that the prisoner might be moved with safety to the train and transported to Columbus. While awaiting re-enforcements, Colonel Coit had the court house cleared of citizens and he, together with Major Speaks and the sheriff, begged and urged the crowd to dis- perse and leave the court house grounds. These ap- peals were frequently made to the crowds outside and each time they were met by jeers and taunts. Dark- ness coming on, Colonel Coit concluded to withdraw all guards from outside the building and station them within. He barricaded the doors and then warned the besiegers to not molest or attempt to break them down, clearly advising them that if such an attempt were made, the troops would fire.
"The colonel then went into the building and, after having guards placed at each entrance, gave or- ders that if the doors were broken in by the mob, to fire. Unlawful demonstrations were still kept up, and
AT NATIONAL CEMETERY, CHATTANOOGA.
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at about 7:15 o'clock of the evening of the seventeenth of October, with a battering ram of large dimensions, the south doors of the building were burst in and the detail stationed at this point fired a volley into the mob, which proved quite destructive, killing outright two persons and maiming and wounding some twelve or fourteen others. Reinforcements had been ordered to report to the sheriff.
"These commands were readily assembled and reached Washington C. H. in the early morning of the eighteenth. Forming the entire force, the prisoner was taken from the court house and escorted to the depot, where the troops under command of Colonel Coit em- barked, the sheriff having in charge his prisoner, and all proceeded to Columbus, where they arrived at about seven o'clock on the morning of the eighteenth. After seeing the prisoner safely landed in the peni- tentiary, the troops marched to the armory and were dismissed. Colonel Hunt, commanding the forces left at Washington C. H., remained until about 11 o'clock a. m. of the eighteenth, when they were dismissed by the sheriff and returned to their respective homes. The conduct of the troops throughout was commen- dable, and press and public, not only of the state, but of the entire country, sustained their action and in the strongest terms have spoken praise of Ohio's citizen soldiery."
Although the troops had done their duty, it was a sad sight to the citizens of Washington Court House to see their neighbors thus shot down and they felt very much grieved in the matter. Colonel Coit was
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blamed for the deaths, having given the order to fire, and the sympathizers with the intended lynchers were very angry. To even up matters, the colonel was charged with murder and indicted by a grand jury. When the time set for his trial arrived, he secured a change of venue and the case was taken into the courts of Pickaway county. The trial lasted several weeks and cost both the county and the colonel considerable money, but it finally ended with a verdict of acquittal.
Thus ended the history of the regiment as a Na- tional Guard organization so far as active service is concerned. The annual encampment in 1895 was at Chattanooga, near where, three years later, the men received their first experience as United States volun- teers. The next year, 1896, the encampment was at Cleveland, and in 1897 the boys were given an excur- sion to Nashville, where the last annual encampment was made before the war.
The year of 1898 brought with it experiences with which very few of the members of the Fourteenth were familiar. Some of the older members remember- ed the trying times of the great Civil War and to the younger members this year brought with it all the trials and hardships of actual warfare as will be seen in the following pages.
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CHAPTER V.
WAR WITH SPAIN.
Period of Peace-Condition of Army and Navy-American Peace Policy-Relations Between England and Spain- Cessions of land from Spain to United States-Cuban Insurrection-The "Ten Years' War"-Second Rebel- lion -- Daily Press Reports-Cuban and Spanish Lead- ers-Weyler's "Reconcentrado" Plan-General Lee's Report-The De Lome Affair-Destruction of the Maine The Country Aroused-Cry for War-Prepara- tions for War-President's Proclamation-Declaration of War-Dewey's Victory-Ohio's Volunteers-Militia Assembled-The Fourteenth at the Auditorium-Camp Bushnell.
A period covering more than thirty years of absolute peace within her own borders and with all the world found the United States at the beginning of the year 1898 about as unprepared for war as she had been at any time in her history. During that period she had courted peace with all nations and it seemed that no one had so much as dreamed that anything but the same blissful happiness enjoyed so long and so well should ever be disturbed by the howling of the storm of war. The army had been allowed to dwindle down to a minimum strength, the navy had been neg- lected, at least when compared to that of European powers, the military forces of the various states had re- ceived but half the encouragement they should have received and the idea of a naval reserve had just be- gun to be considered.
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In its general foreign policy, peace and good will was the first relation to be desired by our government under all administrations with all the nations of the earth. War had never come by solicitation, and hav- ing in all conquests been eminently successful, there seemed to be no need for any special provision for de- fense and the idea of conquest had never ben consid- ered. It seems that with Spain, however, the United States inherited war from the mother country. For centuries the navy, the soldiery and the citizens of the kingdoms of Great Britain and of Spain had tormented and insulted each other with a view of hastening war, and it seems that when the American colonies threw off the yoke of government by the crown, Spain, while inwardly rejoicing at the trouble England was having on her hands, was too jealous of her own Western possibilities to lend a helping hand to the struggling colonists. She hated England and everything that was English, and merely looked upon the contest be- tween oppressor and oppressed with an inward satis- faction she dared not express.
The first treaty ever entered into between the United States and Spain was ratified during the first administration of American government in 1795, at the time Thomas Jefferson was secretary of state. It will be remembered that at that time the Spanish government had important colonial possessions in the southern part of what is now the United States, and as trouble between these colonies and the United States seemed to be never ceasing, it was deemed best to secure as much of these possessions as possible. Ac-
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cordingly, Spain ceded the territory of Florida to this country. This had a tendency to ease the relations between the two countries and everything passed off quietly until 1848, when an invasion of Cuba and Porto Rico was contemplated by Mexico and Colom- bia. As intervention on behalf of these islands at that time would have been a blow to slavery as it then existed in the United States, nothing was done by the American government. Prominent statesmen and the country in general, however, constantly cast wistful glances toward the wealthy island of Cuba, and a few years later an attempt was made to secure possession of Cuba by purchase and even the snug sum of $100,000,000 was offered the Spanish gov- ernment for her equity in Cuba, but every effort at purchase proved futile. This attempt at purchase was made in good faith by both parties and was carried on very peaceably, but there was a party in the United States which was rather unwisely anxious to see Cuba pass into the hands of the United States and an effort was made to secure the island by force.
Accordingly the filibustering expedition of 1851 was organized and started to Cuba under the com- mand of Lopez, but the result was rather disastrous and many brave American boys lost their lives. The United States of course disavowed this action on the part of some of her citizens, and then it became the Spaniards' turn to offend. This she did in 1854 when the "Black Warrior," an American vessel, was seized in the harbor of Havana, and war was again threat- ened. The slavery question again had a tendency to
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repress any undue enthusiasm, and the matter was peaceably adjusted.
Another period of good feeling between the two countries then began and existed for nearly twentv years to be again broken by Spain during the much- talked of "Ten Years' War," when Cuba had made an effort to throw off the yoke of Spanish oppression and for ten long years struggled for her liberty. It was during the fifth year of this war that Spanish vessels captured the American "Virginius" and towed her to Santiago, where nearly a score of the men and officers of the American ship were rather irregularly executed. Trouble again seemed imminent, but it developed that the register of the "Virginius" was a "fake" and settle- ment was arranged by the Spanish government agree- ing to pay an indemnity to the relatives of those sea- men whose lives had been taken. The Cubans in this war, which lasted from 1868 to 1878, had many sym- pathizers in this country, but public opinion at no time seemed to reach alarming proportions.
This had been an expensive war, and when the island had been completely subdued, as the Spaniards thought, it was decided that the Cubans themselves should pay the whole expense of the war. Unreason- able as this was, Cuba was helpless; but the increased burden was a breath in the smoldering ruins of Cuban patriotism, and in 1895 another insurrection was be- gun. The "Ten Years' War" had not been barren of results even if the Cubans had been defeated. They had learned much of the art of war, and during the interval preceding the insurrection of 1895 an or-
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ganization almost perfect was effected. Local leaders acted quietly but effectively, and the Junta took the responsibility of perfecting all plans.
The result of combined efforts was that at the beginning of the insurrection in 1895, General An- tonio Maceo was ready to take the lead and a vigorous campaign was at once begun. Captain General Campos placed himself at the head of a strong Spanish force, but they were no better organized and little bet- ter handled than the insurgents, and as all military operation was that of guerilla warfare, General Campos and the king's troops did very little indeed toward squelching the rebellion.
The financial condition of Spain was by no means encouraging, but being naturally one of the proudest nations of the globe, she put forth every effort to put an end to the insurrection in her western colony. The Cubans were practically without funds and without a government which any government, though willing, could recognize. The dusky patriots made every pos- sible sacrifice for the common cause, and with what as- sistance they could receive from private individuals in the United States and other countries, they man- aged to carry on a warfare which was anxiously watched by all the civilized world. The daily press in Europe and America made dilligent records of every step made by either side, and millions of inter- ested readers watched for the accounts of the brilliant dashes and patient marches made by the Cuban leader and his scattered bands.
The Spanish leaders made every effort within their power to tone down these accounts and to send
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out conflicting reports to the press of their own coun- try. This effort was made for the two-fold purpose of arresting sympathy for the Cubans in the United States and Europe and to deceive the taxpaying public of their own country as to the exact condition of af- fairs in the incorrigible colony. Reports were sent out one day that the gallant Maceo had been killed and the next day the report was denied. This was kept up until the reading public was in great fear for the safety of the general, but to their great regret it was finally definitely learned that the brave leader had been killed in December of 1896. It has since been definitely learned also that he was shot and that he died as a soldier, but some reports at the time said that he had been stabbed by members of his own command. He was succeeded soon afterward by General Gomez and the war con- tinued. While the loss of Maceo was a severe blow to the Cubans, they were none the less discouraged and persisted in their resistance to the rule of the Cas- tilian crown.
The government at Madrid finding that Campos was making little if any headway in crushing the Cubans, sent General Weyler to relieve him. The Cubans, who had heard of General Weyler, shuddered at the thought of having to oppose him, but they soon had better reason to shudder at the mere mention of his name. So cruel and so unmilitary were the opera- tions of the Spanish army that its leader became gen- erally known as "Butcher" Weyler. The method of warfare was absolutely criminal and the "execution"
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of his army nothing short of murder. At least it is hardly considered by civilized nations within the rights of an army to slay helpless women and innocent chil- dren and to commit the outrages that reflect even on the character of the men composing a nation's soldiery, yet these methods were constantly pursued by Weyler. and these crimes were committed in the name of the Spanish government.
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