Springfield in the Spanish American War

CHAPTER XVI
OUR VOYAGE HOMEWARD ON THE DEATH SHIP MOBILE

OUR voyage homeward on the Mobile was not exactly a pleasant one. At the very outset we again found that in army language we were "up against it." Our entire brigade, composing some 1500 officers and men, were on the boat, which although large, was not fitted up in very good shape for transport service and as a result there was at first much overcrowding. The Mobile had recently conveyed a cargo of mules to Porto Rico and on her return from that duty had lain for several days in the festering harbor of Santiago so that her sanitary condition could not be termed an ideal one. The officers were crowded together in her few staterooms and as for the men they were jammed below decks and above decks in any old way. The Eighth and Twenty-second regiments had been on board some time before our regiment arrived and of course had appropriated the best portions of the ship to themselves, something for which they could not be blamed so very much.

That evening we of the Second just simply "bunked" anywhere we could and as a rule we went to bed supperless, for everything was in such a mixed up condition there was no effort made at giving out rations. And on our arrival we found that we were to pass another time with our old friends, the canned "beef" and the nourishing and palatable (!) travel rations. After bidding them farewell, as we thought, forever, this was felt to be the worst blow we had yet suffered but there was no use "kicking" and we made the best of it. Fortunately or unfortunately, as one looks at it, the majority of the men had money enough to purchase quantities of canned fruits and delicacies before they left Santiago and these helped us out to some extent.

What we at first thought was a blessing but which afterward turned out to be the reverse was the presence of a large tank of ice water below decks to which we freely helped ourselves and with evil effect upon some of the men who developed dysentery from indulging too freely in the cold liquid. After a day or two the ice water was shut off from the men, and they were compelled to drink the regular ship's water. There was any amount of grumbling at this but it was the best thing to be done under the circumstances.

We remained in the harbor the night of the 12th and early on the 13th, our old "hoodoo" number being with us again, the Mobile swung her nose around and steamed down the harbor. Every man able to be up was on deck as we started out and realized that we were homeward bound at last. There were mighty few regrets expressed at leaving Cuba and our chief concern now was to reach home as quickly as possible. It was known that our destination was Montauk Point, L. I., and beyond that our information was a trifle hazy.

Passing down the harbor we came to the Merrimac as she lay about where Hobson had sunk her and we could see that she was not of much avail in stopping the channel. A little further we passed the wreck of the Reina Mercedes as she lay where the shells from our warships had put her out of business and just a little distance further along we passed out under the frowning walls and grim looking guns of Castle Morro, over which our flag was now floating. On the other side of the harbor entrance was an unimportant looking sand battery, but it was from it that the Spanish guns did their most effective work against our fleet. One turn more and we were out of the harbor and again on the bounding billows.

This day quarters were assigned the various companies of our regiment below decks. The men were supplied with hammocks and as these had to be slung close together and the men were just a bit unfamiliar with their management there were many tumbles out of bed that night. We found the sleeping accommodations on the Mobile superb. If you say that word "superb" quick it sounds well and that's the way we said it. A number of the men were obliged to sleep on deck and under a covering of loose planks and as it happened to rain two or three nights in succession, they did not like their sleeping quarters any too well.

The steward of the Mobile was an Englishman, like all her officers, and he was a direct descendant of thieves and inherited all their instincts of robbery. He thought nothing of charging $5 for a half-pint of vile liquor and his prices for anything else he could sell were in proportion. He contracted with some of the company commanders to furnish a number of loaves of bread each day for the men but the loaves turned out to be nothing more than biscuits and the prices asked were so exorbitant that a complaint was made to the captain of the ship and the steward was compelled to make restitution.

One of the first incidents of our passage homeward was the stopping of the Mobile by a United States gunboat on our second evening out from Santiago harbor. It seems that the Mobile was not showing just the proper lights and the gunboat steamed close to her to investigate, firing a blank charge across her bows as a signal to stop. The Mobile stopped. Then after a brief colloquy between the little gunboat and the big Mobile the latter was allowed to proceed. It should be said, however, that when the officers and crew of the gunboat ascertained that the Second Massachusetts was on board they gave us three hearty cheers.

Life on board the Mobile was not a bit more luxurious than it had been on the Knickerbocker or in Cuba. We had the same old travel rations and no means of cooking them. After the first day out an arrangement was made whereby Walter Butler, the cook for B company, was to have the use of the crew's galley to make coffee for the three Springfield companies. Walter did as well as he could under difficulties but ofttimes the water used in making the coffee was so poor in quality that the concoction was not exactly palatable. But it was better than ship's water.

The men messed as best they could. The officers had their meals in the dining saloon, paying $1 a day for them and they were not over luxurious. Neither were their quarters, for with the entire brigade on board the staterooms were insufficient to accommodate them all and they were forced to double up and in some instances three officers were assigned to one room and forced to "bunk" as best they could.

Many of the officers and men were just out of hospitals, and for them the voyage was a harder trial than those who were officially in good health. The ship's hospital was established on the aft deck and was protected from the elements only by canvas awnings and during the two or three times it rained during the voyage the sick men were drenched as they lay in their cots or hammocks. Surgeon Gates and Dr. Piersons, the contract surgeons who had done so much for our regiment in front of Santiago, were indefatigable in their attendance upon our sick and so were the hospital stewards, but the medical supplies were as usual insufficient and the accommodations entirely inadequate. Two men were detailed each day to assist in caring for the sick men from their companies and while of course they meant to do all they could for their comrades their performance very often fell far short of their intentions. Naturally the sick men were often peevish and troublesome and it cannot be said that the lot of the attendants was a very pleasant one.

On our second day out occurred the first death in the regiment, Sergeant Harold B. Wentworth of C company, who had been ill with typhoid fever and malaria. His body was buried at sea a few hours after death and the sad event was the first of a series during the voyage. Private George Higgins of F company was the next victim, his death occuring on the 15th.

August 17th was a black day for the Second. At 12.30 that morning Second Lieut. Harry J. Vesper of B company died after a long illness, with gastritis and malaria. He was a very sick man when brought on board but was nursed and cared for as tenderly as possible during the voyage. Private James Ryan of B was detailed as his attendant and was constantly with him, but even the best of care could not have saved him. The same day his body, wrapped in the folds of the American flag, was lowered into the deep, the Mobile being hove to for the purpose. The band of the 22d regiment played appropriate airs and Chaplain Wellwood of the Second conducted the services. The burial was nearly off Cape Hatteras. Lieut. Vesper, who was one of the most popular officers of the regiment, met his fate bravely and died in merciful ignorance of the fact that his brother, Private Paul Vesper of B company, had died a few days before the regiment left Cuba. At that time Lieut. Vesper was ill in the division hospital and it was deemed best to keep the knowledge of his brother's fate from him.

On this same day another B company man, Wagoner Paul J. Kingston, answered his final roll call, dying in the afternoon. Privates Earle C. Clark of H company and Franklin W. Manning of M company, made up the death roll for the day and their bodies were given to the sea.

On the 18th Privates Charles H. Cranston and Henry C. Collins, both of I company of Northampton, died and on the 20th just before we landed at Montauk Point Sergeant Ryder of E company passed away. On the voyage from Santiago to Montauk our regiment lost ten, one officer and nine men, and it is no wonder that the Mobile was referred to as a "death ship."

It is no wonder either, under these circumstances, that the men became depressed. Cooped up in an ill-smelling hold during the night, fed on unsuitable food and seeing the bodies of their comrades cast overboard day after day it was not strange that they became blue. But happily the voyage did not last long for on the afternoon of the 19th we sighted Montauk Point and knew that in a day or two we would be on good United States soil once more.

It was night when the Mobile cast anchor and early the next morning she was towed into what we supposed was quarantine. We passed several steamers with the yellow quarantine flag hoisted at their sterns and after a while the Mobile anchored and some quarantine officers came aboard and inspected the passengers and crew. Fortunately this ceremony did not last long and when it was over the Mobile was brought alongside a wharf as we in our innocence supposed to allow us to land.

But as it happened we were not to land that day. On the wharf were sentries and those of "Ours" who happened to get as far as the wharf were at once driven back. Neither was any one allowed at first to come aboard. As we swung in the stream before the Mobile got to the wharf a small boat containing some Springfield newspaper men attempted to get within reach of the Mobile, but she was ordered away and at the wharf it was some time before anybody was allowed to come aboard the Mobile. The first Springfield man we saw was Dr. David Clark, the surgeon for years of the Second while it was in the militia service. He finally came on board and was at once surrounded by the men of the three Springfield companies so that it was some little time before he made his way to the quarterdeck, where Col. Clark and the officers were awaiting him. He brought plenty of news for us and much information concerning Montauk Point and the arrangement of the camps there. At the same time came aboard baskets of sandwiches and fruit which Dr. Clark had provided. Thanks to the kindness of Dr. Clark many messages were sent from the ship to the anxious ones at home announcing the safe arrival of the Mobile and that the senders were well.

It was not until the next day that we were allowed to land and it was a sad spectacle to watch the disembarkation of the gallant Second from the ship. The men who were able to walk got down the steep gang plank in some kind of order and after an attempt at regimental formation, marched up to the quarantine camp, a distance of some two and a half miles, over the very roughest kind of a road. The sick were transported in mule wagons and they did not find the ride a very pleasant one. On arrival at the camp it was found all laid out with large wall tents arranged in company streets and the majority of the tents equipped with board floors, a luxury we had not experienced for many moons. Rough sinks had been made in rear of the company streets and supplies of soft bread, fruits and milk were waiting for us. A number of the sick officers and men were taken directly over to the hospitals and it began to look as if things might be half decent after all.

CHAPTER XVII
WE AND OUR FRIENDS ENJOY OURSELVES AT CAMP WIKOFF, MONTAUK POINT

FROM the beginning it was evident that our lines in Camp Wikoff were to be cast in more pleasant places than had been the case since we left Lakeland in June. To be sure the detention camp was not an abode of princely luxury and there were shortcomings in plenty about it, but there was an honest effort to care for our comfort. There were but few of the officers and men in our regiment in good health and even the men who did not go to the hospitals were in bad shape physically, but the knowledge of the fact that we were on United States soil at last and that but a short time would elapse before we would be en route for home was better than medicine. Then, too, there was the great improvement in our food, which was worth something, and there was the presence of our friends from Springfield, including some who had made all manner of sacrifices and had endured toil, discomforts and trouble to get to us with help and cheer.

No one can doubt but what it was the full intent of those in authority at Washington to treat the returned soldiers from Cuba in the best possible manner, but it is a matter of common knowledge that as a paving material for a certain warm place good intentions is the very best material yet devised by the arch enemy of mankind. The performance at Montauk fell far short of the promise and this was aided by the over officiousness of some very young and very fresh officers who had no idea beyond the blind following of red tape regulations no matter what might happen. It was to these officers that the delay and vexatious troubles experienced by Dr. David Clark of Springfield in his mission of mercy to us of the Second can be attributed and others associated with him had to face the same difficulties. The story of how Dr. Clark, Lieut. T. A. Sweeney and others were "held up" at the mouth of the rapid fire guns of the converted yacht Aileen by one Lieut. Rhodes, whose name is still cursed by every Second regiment man, is still fresh in the minds of all of us and it was only when the presumptuous young officer was made to realize that he was not the only thing that ever happened that the supplies sent to us by loving hands in Springfield reached us. There is the memory too of the long and weary hours Dr. Clark spent underneath the pier at Montauk in order to remain inside the guard lines and be on hand to greet us when our ship came in. There are the memories of the good work done for us by our old surgeon when the Second was a militia regiment, Major Brown of North Adams, and of Lieut. Sweeney, E. S. Bradford, P. H. Quinn, Charles Lathrop as the representative of Dr. D. J. Brown, T. W. Hyde, and last but by no means least of Frank P. Frost of Springfield, who as the personal representative of Henry S. Lee, worked like a beaver day and night. The Springfield newspaper men, too, should not be forgotten and the thanks of many a poor fellow are due to H. L. Hines, G. H. Atwood and Frank Lee of the Union and to H. K. Regal of the Republican and T. W. Burgess of the Homestead for many kindnesses and unfailing sympathy.

The sad scenes attending the disembarkation of the Second from the Mobile will not be forgotten for many a day by those who witnessed or participated in them. A number of the sick men were taken off late in the afternoon of the 19th, but when dusk fell Gen. Young, the commander of the camp, refused to allow any more to be brought ashore until the next day. The next morning the exodus from the ship began at an early hour and continued until at last we were all ashore. First came the sick in a ghastly procession down the steep gang planks and into the ambulances which were to convey them to the hospitals and the sight of the poor fellows was pathetic in the extreme. The sick ashore, then came those able to walk or totter and these men, the majority of them wrecks of their once vigorous selves, dragged themselves to the pier laden down with their baggage and fell in for the march to the camp. Those unable to walk were piled into mule wagons and the procession started.

It was not a long march, but it was a fatiguing one for the men and they were glad when the big wall tents assigned to the Second appeared. This was the "detention" camp for in the eyes of the medical officers we were still suspects even if we had passed quarantine, and we were to be isolated for five days. It was not a bad camp. The tents were new and clean and many of them were provided with board floors, a luxury that reminded us of our militia days at South Framingham. It had been the intention of the war department to provide straw for us to sleep on but like many other intentions it was not fulfilled until Secretary Alger happened to visit the camp of the Second and found no straw. Then some came along in a hurry. There were cooking outfits, too, and the days of the canned roast beef and the other constituents of the palatable and nourishing (?) travel ration were numbered. In their place came the appetizing beef stew, the roast beef, soft bread and cool milk. There were also canned delicacies, and fruits, and tobacco in plenty. In fact, there were too many good things for some of the boys, as the hospital records attest.

It is needless to say that the hospitals were filled. They were overcrowded, and that, too, in spite of the fact that additions were put on as fast as possible. The hospitals were of canvas but with raised floors and were equipped with cots. What the emotions of the sick boys were when they actually found themselves lying on a bed and between clean white sheets, and tended by kind and devoted nurses can be imagined. Not only that but they were given plenty of nourishing food and medicine was in plenty. After the lack of everything of the hospitals in Cuba the contrast was sharp, even though the Montauk hospitals lacked some things. As for the nurses and the doctors there was nothing they were unwilling to do to help the sick. Many of the nurses were Sisters of Charity or Sisters of Mercy, others were from the Red Cross society, others volunteers, but all were actuated by the same motives, and worked unremittingly to do all in their power for the boys. Some of the doctors were army surgeons and others were contract surgeons, but all worked alike. Then, too, there were any number of volunteer hospital assistants, all zealous to help us, some of them a little too much so, and it was a rare thing for the sick men in a hospital ward to lack for attention. Diet kitchens were established and a system of looking after convalescent and furloughed soldiers was established. In this work the noble efforts of the Massachusetts Volunteer Aid Association was pre-eminent and there are none of us who will forget what its representatives did, not only at Camp Wikoff but after our return to our homes. Not only did the society work among the soldiers from Massachusetts, but many a regular soldier was aided and comforted by its representatives.

Under the influence of proper care and food the men in the hospitals and the camps began to improve and though many died, yet more recovered. As soon as a soldier inmate of the hospital was anywhere near convalescence he was given a furlough to his home and transportation furnished him. At first these furloughs were only for ten days but after a bit they were lengthened to 30 days so that when the Second came to leave Montauk a good percentage of the officers and men had preceded it home. A large number of the sick men were taken from the camp hospital and sent to New York, New London, New Haven and other places where the local hospitals had opened their doors to the soldiers and where the care they received was in some respects better than that possible under the crowded conditions at Montauk.

In spite or all that could be done at Montauk there were many instances of individual hardship and although it seemed as if there were at least two or three people anxious and willing to look after every soldier yet there were cases of apparently unnecessary suffering. Soldiers discharged from the hospitals as convalescent would be sent to the depot at Montauk, a good two miles from the hospital, on foot and would be compelled to wait for hours in the hot sun before they could get transportation orders. At the depot there were often good men and women with cans of milk or lemonade and food, but even their zealous efforts could not prevent some suffering. All this was perhaps inseparable from the overcrowded condition of the camp and hospitals and the fact that there were not nearly enough officers to do the work properly.

On the 24th the regiment was released from quarantine and moved from the detention to the general camp. By this time rumors that we were to be furloughed and sent home were rife again and the date was finally fixed for the 26th. Meanwhile there had been some important visitors in our camp, including Col. Roosevelt, Secretary of War Alger and Gen. Wheeler and they all had good words to say for the Second. Also there were many visitors from Springfield and Western Massachusetts and the men were fed upon all kinds of delicacies, in some cases to the detriment of their health.

Musician Frank P. Jones of K company was the only Springfield man to die in Montauk, his death occuring on the 27th, after he had suffered for days with malarial fever of the Cuban type. He had not been ill in Cuba but the seeds of the disease lodged in his system there and in his weak condition when we landed at Montauk he was unable to resist it. We heard while at Montauk of the death in Cuba of Private Arthur M. Burnham of K and there were many regrets among his comrades. Private Burnham was ill when the regiment left Santiago for home and so was left behind.

On the 25th verbal orders furloughing the Second for 60 days were received and the regiment was ordered to be in readiness the next day to proceed home. At the expiration of the furlough the regiment was to be mustered out at South Framingham but this was afterwards changed to Springfield. The officers and men were all ready on the 26th to go home and the night before had been spent in packing up and putting everything in shape. The rifles and equipments had been turned in and the morning was eagerly anticipated. There was much disappointment when the day came and there were no signs of an immediate movement from the camp. Hour after hour passed and when it was finally ascertained that the departure was deferred to the next day because of a lack of transportation, there was nothing but disappointment from the commanding officer down to the privates. But the Second had by this time learned resignation and so the men waited through the long day and the equally long night for the word that the boat which was to convey the regiment to New London was ready.

The night of the 26th was made memorable by a wild stampede of a number of horses of the cavalry through the camp of the Second. The animals were being led to water and in some manner became frightened and getting away from the man in charge ran pell mell through the company streets of the regiment, upsetting stacks of arms and tents and leaving everything in much disorder. Fortunately no one was injured.

There was but little sleep in the camp that night. The boys were too much excited over the prospect of being at home on the morrow to care much for slumber, and they were up long before reveille sounded. Breakfast was hastily cooked and eaten and the outfit, or what was left of it, fell in for the march to the boat, some three miles away. There were ambulances for the sick and these were filled again and again. The men able to march were not numerous, and the companies did not have full ranks by any means. The men were without arms and clad in all sorts of uniforms, the yellow and blue Khaki predominating, although there were some who preferred the old militia blue uniforms they had worn from South Framingham. The regiment finally started for the pier amid the cheers of the 22d and other regiments it passed, and a short time after embarking was once more on the water but bound for home this time. The sick men who were unable to stand the journey were left in the hospital and those allowed to go were carefully looked after.

Arrived at New London the regiment fell at once into good hands. The people of that city had known of its coming and delegations were on hand when the boat came in, with food and refreshments for the boys. Meanwhile preparations had been made by the militia authorities of the state, and the people of Springfield and other places interested in the Second, to look after the men. Gen. Dalton had sent a detail of staff officers to Springfield with full power as to expenses to see that the returning soldiers who had shed credit upon Massachusetts were properly looked after, and a special train had been made up to go to New London to bring them on from there. Food and refreshments were taken on the train, and representatives of state and city were on board to render all possible assistance. The trip was a comparatively short one. At Palmer the three Worcester companies and F of Gardner were transferred to a train for their destination while the other companies came on to Springfield.