USA > Ohio > The Fourteenth Ohio national guard- the Fourth Ohio volunteer infantry > Part 8
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Friday morning came one of the brightest of the year. The delightful sea breeze was cool, refreshing and invigorating and the boys were happy. The long wait at Newport News had worked their nervous systems into such condition that anything in the way of a change was welcome. When the beating of the huge engines was first felt, like the pulse of a strong animal, the boys all flocked to the rails to watch de- velopments. Certainly they did not watch in vain, for everything was new. The sight of the huge vessel pushing its big nose through the light swelling waves is a pretty sight at any time and especially to those who had never before seen the sea. The vessel passed on out the bay, passing Fortress Monroe and other places of interest, finally pushing itself out of the limits of Hampton Roads and into the open sea. Here her course was set and gradually she passed out of view of land. The boys watched the fading out- lines of houses, steeples and hills with an interest that one who is leaving his native land can only feel, and
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when the last trace of America died away, the boys slowly retired to "secret places" to relieve themselves of the many misgivings occasioned by the "strange surroundings."
The St. Paul could not have been made more comfortable for troops had she been built expressly for the purpose. The deep, roomy hold furnished storage room for the subsistence and other supplies, the snug, well-fitted state rooms furnished excellent quarters for the men, and the white smooth decks furnished splendid room for promenading. Now this would have been exactly true if the regiment had con- sisted of six hundred men instead of thirteen hundred, and if the subsistence referred to had been of a dif- ferent kind than that about to be described. As it was the men were crowded. The decks were reserved for the officers, with the insignificant exception of the lower deck and the space "fore" and "aft," which was devoted to the storage of quartermaster's stores and to the quartering of two companies. What deck room was left was devoted to the use of the companies alternately-whose sergeants took them up to air out their clothing and for exercise.
When the regiment left Chickamauga park "travel rations" were issued. By travel rations was meant at that time, "Prime Roast Beef," "Boston Baked Beans," "Finest Quality Tomatoes," hard tack, coffee and sugar. This would have made an excellent luncheon for a hungry man, provided that it came as the menu would appear, taken from the labels as above, and only administered once, say each week;
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but when it came three times each day, seven days in the week and for more than four weeks in succession, there was room for complaint and every available part of the "room" was used.
"The Prime Roast Beef" will remain in the memory of every member of the Fourth Ohio who was on that voyage as long as he lives. The English language absolutely does not contain an expression more deceptive than that combination. It was the lowest grade of beef that could have been placed on the market, packed in tin cans, and after it laid in store rooms, freight depots and other repositories for unknown periods of time, it was handed to the enlisted men of the American army and they were expected to feel happy. In many cases the stuff was spoiled, if indeed it ever had been fit for the use of human beings, and that which was pronounced "sound and all right" had laid around in the sun or hot shade so long that it was absolutely sickening to look at, to say nothing of its use as a diet for men who were expected to perform the hardest kind of physical labor.
"Boston Baked Beans"-the name itself is sug- gestive as a delicate morsel, but when it comes to a hungry man in tin cans after having laid days, weeks and months where ice was not known, it did not appear as a strengthening food or as a tempting viand. The beans, too, were often spoiled and disgusting even to think of, and served, as they were, without cooking or even seasoning, it is not to be wondered at that the boys became tired of that sort of living.
The hard tack was the same variety that had been used at Camp Thomas and as long as the bread had to
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be hard, there was no just cause for complaint, but the coffee was simply horrifying. This was all that was given the boys warm. "Hot" would be a better sounding word to use in the connection, but it would be misleading. A detail from each mess was sent to one of the ship's galleys, where buckets of water little more than tepid were issued. These buckets were carried back to the messes, where crushed coffee grains were thrown in, and after being allowed to remain undis- turbed for a few minutes, the concoction received a small addition of sugar and the slightly colored fluid was called "coffee." It was all that there was to be had and of course all the "kicking" that could have been done availed nothing.
All attempts to describe the "Finest Quality To- matoes" could but be futile. Less narrow-minded gastronomic critics than vegetarians have pronounced tomatoes an excellent food, but had any one advanced such an argument before the enlisted men of the Fourth Ohio at that time, he would have been thrown overboard in less time than he could have apologized, even could one have been accepted. These tomatoes were stale, sometimes spoiled, sickening at best, and their effect on the moral and physical soldier was de- teriorating in the extreme.
Who was responsible for this unnecessary suffer- ing it is not the object of this work to determine, but suffice it to say that the officers of the Fourth Ohio did all in their power to prevent it. Colonel Coit even placed his own standing in jeopardy by objecting to such rations, but his efforts were in vain. The regi-
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mental officers were compelled to take what was given them, hence the men were forced to accept that or none.
While the regiment was enroute from Chicka- mauga park it was often possible for the men to visit restaurants or provision stores and spend part of their $15.60 per month for something to eat, but out in the "midst of the sea" there were no stores to be visited and he who could not eat what he was given was com- pelled to go without eating anything.
Some of the ship's bakers proved to be generous individuals, and taking pity on the men offered to bake ordinary-sized peach pies at from twenty-five cents to a dollar. It is needless to say that few pies were sold. It might be added, however, that some were stolen.
The officers of the regiment appreciated the cir- cumstances under which the men were placed, but they were unable to relieve the suffering.
There was a time in the experience of many of the boys when the subject of food did not interest them in the slightest degree. The inevitable sea sickness came over them in spite of all their manly efforts to avoid it, and it was no uncommon sight to see an ex- pectant hero delivering all his stomach or his future contained into the deep blue sea.
When the last dim outlines of Fair Columbia faded away beneath the horizon, the boys began to acquire an experience entirely novel. Aside from the view of the vessel and her spars and masts, her decks, huge stacks and intricate machinery, there was abso- lutely nothing on which the boys could feast their gaze
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except the sky above and the water below. Some of them watched the waves, but those who did were soon forced to go below to their bunks and wrestle with the agonies of sea sickness. It was soon learned that there are two stages of the disease: At the first the patient fears that he will die and at the second he is afraid that he will not die. There were a few of the men of the Fourth Ohio who did not suffer in either stage and these fortunate individuals found it the source of an exquisite but certainly a wicked pleasure in tormenting the poor fellows who struggled so nobly but so use- lessly to keep their heads up and their feet on the decks.
An interesting as well as profitable incident of the voyage on the St. Paul was the religious service conducted by Chaplain Schindel on Sunday, July 31. The service was not as largely attended as those at Camp Thomas, perhaps, one reason being that there was not room to accommodate all the regiment and the other being that it was at that time a physical im- possibility for the men to stand or even sit in one place long enough to listen to all of an ordinary re- ligious discourse. Chaplain Schindel himself suffered some of the agonies of coming sea sickness, and had he not reached his "lastly" at the time he did, the sermon would probably have been continued at another date.
As had been done at Camp Thomas, the music for the service was furnished by the regimental band. Captain Sigsbee had suggested the text: Revelation xxi, 1, "There shall be no more sea." A touching reference was made to the life of Captain Sigebee and
SANJUAN
1
de
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· Agua dilla
RI
Rio Piedras
Fajardo
ceibal
Aguas Buena
Gurabo Juncos
Humacao
coguan
Piedras
Barros
· Mayagues
cidra
so Lorenzo
ISABE
Aibonito
Cayeu
ynabo
VIEQUE
Patillas
Arroya
coama
You co .
Po
Guayana
BARLOW. G.F
PORTO (RICO. MAP SHOWING TOWNS OCCUPIED BY FOURTH OHIO .- COAST TOWNS ARE NOT INOLUDED.
Barranquitas
Yabucoa
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the other seamen on board the St. Paul, and when the chaplain drew out the thought in his discourse that the sea represented shattered hopes, unfulfilled plans, etc., the desctruction of the battleship Maine was made an illustration that moistened every eye within the sound of the chaplain's voice. One of the thoughts brought out in the sermon was suggested by the regimental clerk, Will Markeson. The sight of the waves as they rolled listlessly about, ever and anon striking each other and wasting their forces in an endless but fruitless struggle, thus illustrating the loss of many of the forces which are allowed to waste in the life of the average man, had suggested to the clerk a valuable lesson, and the chaplain decided that his hearers should profit by it. The sermon was an in- teresting and a valuable one, and will remain a lasting impression on the minds of those who heard it.
This service is also interesting from the fact that it was the only one conducted by troops transported on the St. Paul while she was in the government service and the last one conducted on her decks be- fore she went back into service as a commercial liner.
The weather was fine during the entire trip. There was a slight shower Monday evening, but the only effect was to cool and purify the atmosphere, and this was a most welcome change. Time drug heavily on the officers and men, and the few forms of amuse- ment that were possible to adopt soon became mon- otonous.
Finally the boys who were on the lower decks heard a shout from the upper part of the vessel.
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Those who were above flocked to the rails; the band struck up a merry tune and the word was soon passed to those who were in that part of the vessel where a view of the horizon could not be obtained, that land was in sight. It was indeed a grand sight, although the land that could be seen was merely the outlines of a small island off San Domingo, but the early morning sun lit up the tops of the broken hills so that the boys who had not seen anything but sky and water for three days, considered even that a most welcome sight. This was on the morning of Monday, August 1st, and at about 6 o'clock.
Land was almost constantly in sight from that on, but when the port of Guanico was reached a strange experience passed into the history of each man. The entrance to the harbor of the village could be seen very plainly and back in the harbor could be outlined the mastheads and bulk of a large vessel. The village of Guanico is only a small one, but the harbor is a good one and as heavy storms are of frequent occur- rence in Porto Rico and the surrounding waters, the possession of this harbor was at that time considered quite important. At the side of the large vessel could be seen a smaller one, presumably a gun boat, but even with the aid of glasses these vessels could not be distinctly made out. All the ship's guns were loaded and Captain Sigsbee took his place at the bridge. The St. Paul crept cautiously up to the harbor, signals being made to the strange craft, but without answer. Finally the gunboat started out to sea toward the St. Paul and the Ohio boys began to think that the time had at last come for them to see real action.
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As the gunboat approached nearer, however, it proved to be the United States monitor "Terror," and the larger vessel in the port of Guanico was the "City of Washington," loaded with supplies for our army. The sensations experienced by every one on board, however, while the identity of the vessel was in doubt, were the first of what was afterwards a series long to be remembered.
Guanico is but an hour's sail from Ponce, the port at which General Brooke intended to land his troops in Porto Rico. After a brief code conversation with the Terror, the St. Paul steamed down the coast. It was but a short time until the Massachusetts came alongside and delivered mail to the officers and sailors on board the St. Paul. A few miles further sail landed the St. Paul in sight of Ponce, and in the har- bor could plainly be seen the St. Louis lying in the protecting shadows of a strong American fleet.
The first thing learned by the Ohio boys was a bit of news somewhat disappointing when considered in the light of their ambition to fight, that Ponce had surrendered without a struggle; that the people had actually cheered the approach of the stars and stripes. Nevertheless, the band played "The Star Spangled Banner" as it never played it before and the St. Paul anchored for the night.
It was rather disappointing to the men to listen to "taps" on board the ship. So near the presence of the enemy, they had hoped to sleep under arms, with a double strength of guards around an actual camp on Spanish soil. They accepted their fate with a fair
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degree of submission, merely vowing that when they got a chance they would make up for all these hours of monotonous waiting.
The regiment heard the first words of welcome early the next morning when a dusky native was rowed to the St. Paul. The skiff which bore him across the waves was protected by a sort of box canopy, the only evidence that he was more than an ordinary Porto Rican. He might have been the mayor of the city, and he might have been the governor of the province for all anybody knew or cared, but clamoring up the sides of the great vessel, he crawled over the rail onto the upper deck, and swelling up at the chest, he pointed to his home across the bay and grunted: "Ponce! Porto Rico! 'Mericano!" Then punching himself in the ribs, he pointed toward the scene of the victory in southern Cuba a month before and ora- torically remarked, "Santiag' surren', surren'." He had evidently prepared an eloquent address of wel- come, but that was as far as he could go and accepting the cheers the boys gave him as gracefully as a back county politician, he bowed another welcome and climbed back into his skiff as mysteriously as he had boarded the St. Paul.
Thus finding that there was nothing for soldiers to do at that time at Ponce, General Haines was in- structed to take his brigade forty miles further down the coast and effect a landing at the small port at Arroyo. It was night when the regiment arrived there, so of course it was useless to attempt to land troops before morning. This was still worse to
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the boys and the growling was proportionately fiercer, but the effect was the same. The Seneca with the Fourth Pennsylvania lay nearest the shore, except the United States battleship Cincinnati, which occupied a commanding position of the port and the country immediately adjoining. Then came the St. Louis with the Third Illinois and the St. Paul with the Fourth Ohio, at least five miles further from shore than the other vessels. Lying peacefully at anchor near by, were the tugboats Stillwater, of Philadelphia, and the Gussie, of New Orleans. Swinging with the swell behind the larger vessels were a number of low, heavy lighters used by the natives of the island for drifting sugar from the shore to the large freighting vessels which took the principal product of the country to foreign consumers. The lighters were called "sugar bowls" by the sailors, because of their use. Those secured by the navy, however, had been used at Ponce for unloading horses and mules, forage and all sorts of supplies and stores. These were brought along for the purpose of transporting the men from the larger ves- sels to the shore.
While the vessel was cruising along the coast to Arroyo, the ordnance officer, Lieutenant Graham, was busily engaged in collecting the old Springfield rifles, belts and bayonets which had been taken from Ohio and issuing in their stead the new Kragg-Jorgensen arms. The men were also given fine web belts with capacity for holding one hundred cartridges each, and new bayonets. The officers were at once set to work instructing their men in the use of the new guns and everything was bustle on the ship.
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On Wednesday morning, August 3, arrange- ments were begun for unloading the men. The Still- water and the Gussie came along side the St. Paul, the lighters were towed into position and after the Stillwater had pushed too near the big transport and had torn away the passageway on her port side, the Third Battalion and the non-commissioned staff and band, in command of the colonel and Major Sellers, climbed down the sides of the St. Paul and then into the lighters. The Gussie towed them to the shore and they were at once assigned to quarters on the outskirts of the village.
The Third Battalion and headquarters had hardly reached shore when it was reported to the officers of the Cincinnati that the Spanish forces just beyond the town were throwing up earthworks. The Cincinnati at once began to investigate and seeing through glasses what appeared to be a number of men at work, she began to pump shells into the hills. Those back on the St. Paul could see the great volumes of smoke belch forth from the mouths of the guns of the Cin- cinnati and they could hear the sonorous report dis- tinctly enough, but they could not make out what oc- casioned the shooting. The St. Paul was too far from shore for rifle reports to have been heard and con- siderable fear was entertained lest the Third Battalion might have gotten into trouble. The fact that the lighters had all gone and that there was no possible way of assisting their comrades only made matters worse for the boys, and then when the St. Paul began to push still further out to sea, the disgust of those who were left aboard could not be concealed.
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"See here," said a stalwart soldier of C Company when some one suggested that the Third Battalion might need help, "them there fellers belongs to the Fourth Ohio. That's the fightin' reg'ment of this here bregade, and Maje Sellers is right there with 'em. Any time they ain't able to take care of their selves, somebod'll let us know." This patriotic remark had a good effect and the idea was carried from one to the other until the point discussed was what kind of noise these shells were making after they left the cannon.
In the meantime the Third Battalion was also wondering what the mark of the Cincinnati really was, but they knew as well as they cared to know how the shells sounded as they sailed through the air. They went directly over the heads of the boys in camp and they made a noise that none of them care to hear again. It developed later on that the fears of the of- ficers were wholly unfounded, as no earthworks were found in the hills at that point after hostilities had ceased.
As soon as the Third Battalion had been taken safely ashore, the Gussie came back for the First. Major Speaks was in command of this trip, assisted by members of General Haines' staff, the general having gone ashore before. This time the Gussie started for the open sea instead of toward the land and she made a circle of at least two miles before she started toward shore. The waves were high and the lighters were tossed about as though they were but chips. Each one contained about a hundred men, the most of whom were so sea sick that they did not
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·care whether they ever reached shore or not. Every- body was sick, from the major down to the ugliest pri- vate in the ranks, and if there were an occasional well man, he was too busy keeping out of the way of the fellows who were less fortunate, to appreciate the humor of the case, if indeed there could be anything humorous in such matters.
Just why the St. Paul could not get as near the shore as the St. Louis, which was exactly like her and which lay at least five miles nearer shore, is a matter which the Fourth Ohio boys could not understand then and which has not been fully explained yet.
It was dark when the First Battalion reached shore, but they were taken at once to the camp assigned in the morning.
From no fault of their own by any means, the companies of the Second Battalion remained on the St. Paul one more night than the others. They em- barked under Major Baker as early Thursday morning as it was possible to leave, and indeed they were glad to return to the regiment. By direction of Colonel Coit, Companies H and M remained on board the St. Paul and under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Adams and Captain Vincent unloaded all the officers' personal and the headquarters baggage. This was by no means an easy task, as the members of these companies voluntarily testified when they rejoined the command after it had reached Guayama.
The first camp of the Fourth Ohio on Spanish soil was about three-quarters of a mile from the coast, on the site of an abandoned sugar mill and on the
ADVANCE ON GUAYAMA, AUG. 5.
REPRODUCED FROM A WATER COLOR.
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plantation of a Captain in the Spanish volunteer army. He had occupied the house up to within the time the American ships came in sight, when he took his family and his household effects and fled. The residence which he thus deserted became the headquarters of the Fourth Ohio on the morning of August 3.
The house was built after the fashion common in tropical countries, set up on posts or supporters. "A house on stilts" was the description given by one man.
The residence part of the house was reached by a flight of stairs from the outside with a landing on an overhanging veranda which commanded a view of the sea and the beautiful landscape toward the vil- lage. Near the house was a long shed used for shelter for the oxen and other animals belonging to the plan- tation. As many as could be crowded into this shed spent the first night there, while the others pitched their shelter tents or wrapped themselves up in their blankets and crawled into a cart or the old mill. There was another small building, but this was used as guard headquarters. The band and non-commis- sioned staff established their mess in the lower part of the house.
As soon as the men reached shore, a strong guard was placed around the new camp. The exercise of the march from the shore to the site of the camp wore off the sea sickness and the first thing the men did when they had secured quarters for the night was to look for something to eat. Fires were kindled and coffee was ground. Vessels of every description were put to use and before any one was hardly aware,
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the whole plantation was filled with the invigorating odor of coffee. Cans of beans, tomatoes and beef were opened and actually cooked, and while this was not the diet the appetites of the boys really craved, it was nevertheless most tempting food when it was heated and thoroughly cooked to be served to men' who had lived on cold rations for almost a week. Be- fore morning a pig and a calf and several other ani- mals died in a very mysterious way and fresh meat formed a part of the breakfast of some. Strict orders were at once issued against foraging, and indeed dur- ing all the time the regiment was on the island there was very little if any thieving done, at least by the members of the Fourth Ohio.
As soon as the routine of camp work was com- pleted, the men were permitted to go to Arroyo. There the little provision stores suddenly experienced a flood of prosperity they had never seen before. The British consul at Arroyo exchanged the American money for the soldiers for the native Porto Rican coin at the rate of two pesos for one dollar. At the stores could be bought eggs, fresh bread, cheese made of goats' milk, Spanish sausage, wines of every age and variety, cigars, tobacco that no American could use and dried vegetables. At the market places were offered for sale at what to Americans seemed phenom- enally small prices, cocoa nuts, oranges, bananas, limes, mangoes and other tropical fruits, although it was the advice of the surgeons that none of this be used. The advice was not heeded altogether, but it must be said that the men were very temperate in the use of the native fruits and vegetables and as a consequence, there were no evil results.
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