v<^t LIBRARY OF CONGRESS of Bavenport D0DaM31h335< Qass- ^^^:2./< -f ;ob Book -^ L^ ••~> Company B of Bavenport Bv (Beoroe (I. Cool?. riilNTED FOB COMI'ANY R BY THK, DEMOCUAT CO. DAVENPOKT, IOWA. yfit^^f^ r .■^./^^i.-■ Company B of IDavcnpovt. TART I. TWENTY YEARS OF PEACE. l87«-I.sitS. In May, 1878, was organized the first military company, with headquarters at Davenport, since the close of the war of the rebellidi;. This was accomplished by J. A. Andrews, who had been a major in the army, and the coni[)any, as originally formed, was comjiosed entirely of men who had served as soldiers in the Union army. The original plans for the company were that it should be composed only of ex-soldiers, and, while a part of the National Guard, it was an organiza- tion to keep together the comrades of the war, and keep alive the mili- tary and patriotic S[)irit tliat had led them to enlist, and endure years of hardship in the defense of their country. The organization was mustered into the state service as Co. B, of the Ninth Infantry, Iowa National Guard, which was then compara- tively in its infancy. The Guard was small and derived but very little assistance from the State. The uniforms were purchased and paid for by the members, and became the property of the state, when tlie company was mustered into service, without any compensation what- ever. Afterward the company, like others, were allowed four dollars per annum per man, to keep uniforms in repair and re[)lace them when necessary. The companies of the Guard having uniformed themselves, when uniformed at all, there was a great variety of clothing worn, and when brought together into regiments no two companies presented *Pai'es .5 to 20 of Fart I are republisliert from a souvenir hlstoi-ical sketch of the company nriiitcil in ".a. For tlie reniaiiiclcr of IMrt i ;i.nii :i.ll of I'art II. I am rcs|iipnsihu-. Tin- liooli nuiUifi- •tll.iins nor alms at " tlie diKiiitv of liistory." My pail, is simply an aiToonl, ol somi- things ilone ami said in the camps of Coiiipaiiv 1'. diuiim tlii' Spanisli war. Tho purposu of this writiiii; is to give some notion of tilt" Iviiid ol life we led in Uncle Sam's \oliiiiteer army. ,,,„,„,,„ ^ ,„,„,- Gl'.OlMih ('. COOK. even the same general appearance. Some had uniforms for a portion of the men, some a portion of a uniform for each man, and some, to the mortification of both themselves uud the public, were compelled to wear, on all occasions of drill and parade, clothing wholly unmilitary. Company B, however, was exceptionally well uniformed and equipped, being composed, as it was, of men who had seen service in the army, and who knew the requirements of a soldier, and had the pride in the organization and the service to enable them to provide clothing in which to make a creditable appearanct;. The first officers elected were: Ca[)tain, J. A. Andrews; first lieutenant, E. L. Crook; second lieutenant, H. L. Mason. The armory of the company was in the Metropolitan haK, on the fourth floor of the W. C. Wadsworth block, and was then the only ])lace to be obtained large enough for drill purposes. lu January, 1S7'J, both lieutonants resigned, and an election was ordered for Febi'uary 17th, to fill tlio vacancies. Geo. W. Hutchius was elected as first lieutenant, and Chas. AV. McElroy as second. Soon after this young recruits began to be enlisted. This caused some discord among the old members, and frustrated the plan to keep the company as an old soldiers' organ- ization. The matter of subsistence also became a serious question with many, and members became tired of paying all the expenses them- selves. Companies, to maintain their existence, were largely depend- ent on the communities in which they were stationed, or on a.ssessinents upon individual members. These conditions beget a spirit that yields very unreadily to discipline, and, while the Guard, as a whole, was far in advance of what might have been expected in this particular, there often occurred instances of disregard of authority highly injurious, and calculated to unfit, rather than pre))are, men for the strict observ- ance of law and orders, without which all military organizations become disgracefully ineffective. Through these causes, and others, the com- pany began to degenerate, and the members to lose interest. Discords arose between members, and contentions between officers and men, created by a feeling of opposition to authority. The company had not wholly disbanded in 1881, but was on the verge of going to pieces, and would soon have been mustered out of the service. Several influential citizens then became interested in the matter, and took steps toward a reiu'ganization, which was effected early in the year. A thorough weeding out was made of the old member- ship, and new recruits were enlisted until the interest was again 6 revived. The first officers of the reorganized company were: Henry Egbert, captain; P. W. McManus, first lieutenant; E. I. Cameron, second lieutenant. Captain Egbert had been a colonel in the army, and Lieutenant McManus also, both having had experience in various positions and in different commands, so both were eminently fitted to put the company in the best possible shape, and upon a firm and cor- rect military foundation. It was decided to have a state encampmeut at Des Moines in October of this year, and this served to interest the men still more in the drills. All worked together, and soon the com- pany was making fine progress in drill. Its quarters were still in the Metropolitan hall ; weekly drills were held and largely attended. The company went into camp at Des Moines October 30, 1881, with the other state troops. This encampment was the first experi- ence of most of the men, and many of the officers, in camp life and duties, and here they had their first practical solution of military movements by regiment. This encampment was very crude in more ways than one. The rations were scant and entirely different from anything the men had ever experienced ; the cooking was villainous. No blankets being provided, each man carried quilts and other bed clothing from home. None of the men had overcoats, except their per- sonal property of that kind, and on cool mornings and evenings it was difficult to distinguish the soldier boys from the other citizens. There was a great deal of "skylarking" and "foraging" among the men, and the people who lived within reach of the camj) ground were heartily glad when " the war was over," and they were again left to the enjoyment of peace and what was left of their property. This tour of duty, however, primitive as it was, served to interest officers and men more deeply in the Guard, and to show them their failings from a military standpoint. They set about informing themselves regarding military matters, and preparing to make a more creditable showing in the future. All returned to their homes fairly well pleased with the camp trip, and fully determined to go next year and do b^^tter. Soon after returning from Des Moines, Captain Egbert resigned and Lieu- tenant McManus was elected as the next captain. Lieutenant E. I. Cameron as first lieutenant, and Geo. V. Laumau as second lieuten- ant. On the strength of the interest awakened by the encampment a number of good new recruits were secured, and the company did some faithful work, showing steady improvement and putting itself in very presentable shape as to proficiency in drill. 7 The question of subsistence was still the hardest one to solve, and subscription papers were often seen passing around to pay armory rent and other incidentals. A brigade en(-atu[)inent was ordered from July Bd to 8th, 1882, at Muscatine, and the early summer of this year was occupied by the company in extra and regular drills, preparing for the event. They went into camp as ordered, in good form, showing while there that they were equal in personnel and discipline to any com- pany of the brigade. The five days' encampment were of great bene- fit to the officers and men, for many of them had been through tlie one of 1881 and knew how to go about getting the most benefit from this one. There was not so much time wasted in preluninaries, and more devoted to telling work. A part of the weather was rainy, but, on the whole, the encampment was well enjoyed by all. The boys did some " foraging," but were quite mild as compared to the year before. The showing made by the company was good enough, so that our captain was wanted for a higher position, and in April, 1SS3, he was elected lieutenant colonel of the Second regiment, of which our comfiaiiy was then a part, having been transferred from the old Ninth when the Guard was reorganized an^l the regiments were condensed from nine to six. By this arrangement the regiment gained a first-class ofiicer and the company lost the best captain we ever had. On May 22, 1883, E. I. Cameron was elected captain, Geo. V. Lauinaii first lieutenant, and H. W. Gilbert second lieutenant. These officers continued the policy and plans of the company as they had been before; the men showed the effect of regular drills, and, seeing the necessity of it, began to show better discipline. The boys held social parties, and occasionally gave a ball, fo increase tlieir income and |>ro- vide for expenses as far as possible. The encamjiment of 188-1: was by brigade, and was held in Fair- field. All showed marked inqirovement as compared with the year before, and the encampment was a very profitable one. We went into camp August 11, and did telling and regular camp work for five days. The boys enjoyed the time spent there, and most of them were more enthusiastic than ever. In April of this year Lieutenant Lauman severed his connection with the company, being compelled to remove to Chicago for [)erraanent residence. At an election held March 2."), 1884, H. W. Gilbert was elected first lieutenant, and W. J. McCui- lough second lieutenant. CAPTAIN liOliEKT T. KRKNUU. With these officers, the company eutered its first competitive drill. This was for a purse offered by the Fair Association, and was asaiust the Eodman Rifles of Rock Island, Ills. This was an old com- pany, and a good one, having won several prizes before. We had many misgivings as to the outcome, but all worked faithfully and hard. We had a great many extra drills, and many of them secretly, as our opponents had spies at our armory on regular drill nights to note our progress. We were coached by C. F. Garlock for a few drills, and every man took hold determined to do his best. The Rod- mans came over, thinking it only a matter of form to go to the grounds, drill, and get the purse. They had ordered a banquet before they left home, and intended paying for it with the prize money. We drew choice of place and drilled first. The boys were cool and deter- mined, and, though some errors were made by both ofiicers and men, all felt they had done their best and knew they had " i)ut up " a good drill. Our ojtponents were surprised, and half beaten, when we finished the program. Their captain said afterward that when we came onto the field and stacked arms he knew he was beaten. That "stack" was enough. The judges' decision gave us the purse by a handsome margin. The boys received many congratulations, and deserved them. They were quiet themselves, however, and made no demonstration on the grounds. We escorted our guests and late opponents from the grounds to the boat, to couvey them home, then returned to our armory. When we reached there the boys gave vent to their pent-up feelings, and fairly made the old building tremble. The Rodmans went home, invited the street urchius to eat their ban- quet, and then broke all the dishes and furniture. AVith the money won in this drill, and a little collected other ise, we bought a new gun case, and a nice one. It was a great addition to our ([uarters, as it was handsome, made of hard wood, and was a fine piece of furniture It is still in use in the new armory, and, beside being very useful, is a con- stant reminder of our first prize drill. In 1884 a consultation was held with brigade and regimental com- manders, at which it was determined to make a trial of camjting by regiments, instead of, as formerly, by Ijrigade. In accordance with this decision the Second reginunit went into camp in August, 1885, at Centerville. The company had worketl hard preparing for this encampment, as there was to be a prize drill for purses offered by citizens of Centerville. We went from home feeling that we should 11 be among the winners, as we had carefully prepared ourselves for almost anything in Upton. The progiams were to be given us thirty minutes before we went on the ground, so no one knew what we were to do. This being our second drill, however, we had a little better idea than before. There were six comi)auies competing in this drill, two not entering, and the decision of the judges gave us the second place. We were satisfied, for the drill was fair, and all thought us rightly placed. There was some jealousy engendered by this competition among companies who did not win, and who thought themselves our superiors. Some of this feeling still exists in the CJuard, I am sorry to say. In ISSn, the encampment was again by brigade, and was at Oska- loosa. At this encampment the regiment was commanded by our old Captain, P. W. McManus, as colonel, the boys having had the pleas- ure of casting an unanimous vote for iiim for this position on October 20, 1885. We had also worked hard, and many extra hours, prepar- ing for this encampment, for, though we were not expecting any com- petitive drill, we were anxious to keep the reputation we had gained, to show the brigade that the honors we had won were not accidental, and that we were prepared to hold them. After we were settled in our quarters it was announced to the brigade that a new stand of arms, of the latest improved pattern, would be given to the com pan v being the most proficient in drill, making fh(! best and most soldierly appear- ance during the encampment, and having the highest percentage on inspection. Of course, we did our best, and were in shape to do well, owing to our careful work at home. We were much gratified, and very highly elated, to hear from the adjutant general, after the whole encampment had been passed upon and the pay rolls made up, that we had won the guns. This gave us first pla(;e in the brigade of twenty- four com])anies, and the boys were more than pleased. The G. A. II. encampment was to take place at Maquoketa in September, immediately following our Oskaloosa trip, and we buckled down to hard work again, preparing to go into the prize drill to be held ihere at that time. We had at this time secured quarters from the city, in a building built for a market house, but then unused. We had secured some fine new lockers in the company rooms, and a new fancy dress uniform, which we had not yet worn in public. The.se last were [)urchased with money obtained by inducing the Washington Eifles, of Washington, D. C, who were then making a tour of the country, to stop here and give an 12 exhibition. They had about eighty men, and we had to provide for their eatertainment. We did a large amount of work and talking, and secured enough subscriptions to guarantee expenses. They came and were quartered at the Kimball House. This was the largest military parade seen here since the war upi to that time, and was a pronounced success, financially and otherwise, for us. The boys were very anxious to initiate these uniforms, and do so in a befitting manner. We were to wear them for the first time at the Maquoketa drill, and the Gover- nor's Greys of Dul)a(|ae were entered against us, all other companies having withdrawn when they entered. The Muscatine company was barred from the first, for if it entered the Greys would not, being afraid of their laurels. The Greys had been called the first company in the state, and were conceded to be the " crack " company of their regiment and Ijrigade. We therefore had the honor of our regiment and brigade, beside our own, to uphold, and were naturally a little nervous. The boys worked hard, however, drilling both morning and evening, working in the armory, on the streets, and in vacant lots. The programs were to be mailed to us the day before the drill. We went through ours twice, as we understood it, and took the morning train for Maquoketa. When we arrived there we learned the Dubuque company had been there two days, but vve could not find them. After some time they were discovered out in a pasture, behind the fair grounds fence, hard at work, drilling the program. When any of our boys went in sight the Greys stopped drilling. Our boys were not formed in line at all, after breaking ranks, until time for drill, and never were on the drill grounds as a company until they went on to drill the program. Our opponents were on the grounds, however, and drilled the program all the day before our arrival. We kept cool and got our dinners, then drew for places. We secured the choice, and took first. We went onto the grounds and completed the program in the time allowed, and did it with as few errors as we ever made in a drill. There was a special point made of the time consumed in executing the maneuvers in the program, it being thought that it could not be finished in the time given. Companies were to be given credit for extra time. Both companies drilled well, but while we thought we had won, there was nothing sure. Our opponents congratulated us on the drill we had put up ; they did not consider it up to theirs, but very good for us. About an hour after the drill we were ordered to report to the commander of the camp with our companies. They were soon iu Hue in front of bis quarters, and the officers reported. Ho then thanked us for our entertainment, and congratulated us on the finish of our drills and our appearance, keeping us in sus[)ense while he made quite an address, and then announced that Company B had won. This was the crowning success of our efforts as a military company, and the boys cheered and congratulated themselves witliout restraint as soon as the ranks were broken. We came home on the evening train, and were met at the depot by a delegation of citizens and a band, and escorted to Turner Hall, where a reception and supper had been [jrepared for us. In 1SS7, our encampment was at Ottumwa, and was by brigade. We had the usual routine of camp duties, and the men .showed a bettor understanding of the duties of a soldier, and what was necessary to be done to receive the fullest benefit from an encam[)ment. Every opjxir- tuuity was improved, liy both officers and men, to learn all that it was possible to do in the five days allowed us. The weather was fearfully hot, but the men, as a rule, were in good health, and showed but little effect of it. One day, however, was trying. This was Review day, when the men were kept standing for a long time in one position in the hot sun. Many of them were carried to their quarters, luiviug fallen down from the effects of the lieat. Some companies lost most of tlieir men in this way. Our company was fortunate in this regard, as only one man was obliged to leave the ranks. Our men, however, were in good condition and had been taking care of themselves. There were, however, no serious lasting effects from the lieat, and all recovered during the night. During 1886 and 1887 we had gradually secured more room from the city for armory purposes, and now had good com- pany and drill rooms iu the building owned by the city and formerly built for a market. The city had remodeled the interior for us, and all was pleasant. The camp pay of the men, now allowed by the state and placed in the company treasury, enabled us to get along quite comfortably. Early iu May, 1888, our captain's commission expired, and on May 14, H. W. Gilbert was elected Captain, R. J. Muckle first lieutenant; J. J. Frazier second lieutenant. Lieutenant W. J. McCullough had been appointed quartermaster of the Second regi- ment on May 14, 1888, and was not a candidate for a lieutenancy. The regular drill work of the company was kept up, and considerable interest was taken in target practice, a number of men making very creditable scores. 14 1. FIRST CAMP. 2. TUB ARRIVAL. 3. FIRST MESS. Our encampment of 1SS8 was at Burlington, and was a ver}' suc- cessful one. The com[)any made a good showing, and was highly com- plimented upon its appearance and improvement. Competitive drills in the Guard had been vetoed, on account of the unpleasant feelings shown by some companies in consequence of the ones we had before. Our comiianv had not participated in any interstate drills that were being held in various parts of the country, believing, as facts have proven, that most, if not all of them, were "fixed," and that merit did not win. This is now thoroughly believed, and such competitions are of the past. We now began regular meetings for the officers and non- commissioned officers, and had, in addition to the company, a lai-ge cadet corps, formed this year, drilling once a week, composed of boys who were interested but who were too young to enlist. This made a CTood source from which to recruit the company, and they were drilled, ready to take their places in the ranks as soon as enlisted. Most of the cadets enlisted iu the company as soon as they were old enough, and, of course, were far superior to raw recruits. In 1S89, the city concluded that they wanted our company room for i)olice patrol purposes, and as we were subsisting on their charity as rec^arded the armory, having no lease, they took it. This com- pelled us to move our furniture and lockers into our drill room, which, being none too large in the first place, was now too small for drill pur- poses. We drilled on the street when the weather would permit, and when it would not, could not drill at all. The loss of the company room diminished the interest of some members ; drills and other meet- ings were not so well attended as before. Our encampment this year was on August 5, at Ft. Madison, and was by regiment. We had two companies of U. S. Regulars in camp with us here, which was a great help to the members of the Guard, both officers and men, and all profited by it to the fullest extent possible. The trip to and from Ft. Madison was made by boat, and was greatly enjoyed by all. It was an a'Teeable change from<-the long night rides in crowded trains, and was highly appreciated. Soon after our return from encampment we were compelled to move our quarters, our drill room Ijeing taken for a house of detention iu connection with the police department. After some " house hunting," we secured a room in the Turner hall building for a company room, and moved our furniture into it, using the gym- nasium for drill purposes. This was unsatisfactory in many ways, for we were practically without a home. We lost our cadet corps soon 17 after moving here, as many parents objected to the location, and would not allow their boys to attend drills on account of the surroundings. There was some talk of other cjuarters, but nothing was accomplished. There was no other place in the city available, and none could be secured at all for the small sum the state allowed for the purpose. Some of the boys were becoming discouraged and losing interest. A brigade encampment w^as ordered for J)es Moines in 1890. This spurred the men up somewhat to renewed efforts, and we again buckled down to hard drills, and went into camp in August in good shape. There was nothing different from the regular camp life, except the pre.seuce of a regiment of I'nited States troojjs, which was a great assistance to us in many ways. In September of this year the Expo- sition and Fair Association held its first show, and offered three prizes for an exhibition drill. We began preparing for this at once on our return from camp, and on the day of the drill had a team in fair shape. The only outside company entered was Company C, of Muscatine, and, there l)eing three prizes, we organized a cadet corps for the occasion. The program was (piite difficult, and the day was rainy, but on the whole it was a very good military exhibition. The judges gave Company C first, our comi)any second, and the cadets third. We did not do as good work as we had expected, owing to the inability of some members of the team, both officers and men, to be present. Their places had to be filled by others not used to them. The place of second lieutenant was filled by a man fnmi the ranks who had never been in the position before. We also lost on insj)ec- tion, owing to several guns having broken firing pins in them because we were unable to get new ones from the state to replace them. Tiio judges, being regular army officers, threw out these guns as being unserviceable. This was our last competitive drill, and was our fifth one, out of which we won three first and two second prizes. During the winters of 1890 and 1891, business arrangements calling him per- manently away from the city, our second lieutenant left us, and in the spring of 1891, F. M. Parmele was elected second lieutenant. The year of 1891 was a busy one for us. We had decided to settle the armory question by building one. We thought if we could arrange to raise part of the money, a>nd use our state allowance, together with the income from our armory building, we could have a home of our own, and so went to work to secure it. We arranged to lease the ground from the city at a nominal rental, and secured a lot 18 sixty-three feet wide and one hundred and fifty feet long, in a desirable location on Fifth street between Main and Brady. A fair was held which netted us a little more than §600. We then issued certificates of stock at §10 per share and began disposing of them. The mem- bers of the company took a good many of them, and several citizens assisted in this way. We did not, however, succeed in obtaining as much as we had hoped. The foundation was laid in the fall, and the next spring we began the erection of a brick building 63x150 feet, thirty feet of the front being two stories and the balance one story in height. The building was completed slowly, owing to the financial difficulties, but was finally finished. We took possession in February, 1891. We had planned for an opening ball, but this had to be post- poned because water had got under the improperly laid maple floor, causing it to warp. This we had to replace with a new floor, causing us much delay and unlooked for expense. When the floor was finished, however, the new armory was dedicated with the finest military ball ever seen here. It was a complete success, and was attended by many prominent people from military and social circles. We now think we have as fine an armory as any in the state, having nice, comfortable, commodious company rooms on the second floor, front, and a drill room 60x120 feet of clear space. We have gas and electric lights, water, toilet rooms, reception rooms, and all the requirements of a comfortable and complete building. Our encampment of 1891 was held here at Davenport, and was regimental. This was the first of the kind seen here since the war, and was a surprise to many people. Few expected to see such a well organized, disciplined and equipped force as a part of the Iowa Guard, and many acknowledged that the state troops were deserving better support than they received from the state who had before held the opinion that we did not amount to much, and that the money appro- priated for us was wasted. At this encamj)ment the matter of going to Chicago for the dedi- catory ceremonies of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1892 was discussed, and there was talk of taking the whole state Guard. This was afterward found impracticable, or too expensive, and it was decided to send part of the Guard. It was finally decided that the first and second regiments should be detailed as the " Iowa Provisional Brig- ade," to represent the Iowa National Guard for this service. This duty was to be in lieu of our regular encampment, and we were ordered 19 to be in readiness for this trip on October 11. I'i anil IH. Our orders were afterward changed to the 20th. '21st and 22nd of October, owing to the change of dates for the dedication exercises. The Second regi- ment was afterward ordered to Davenport, and the first to Burlington, for a two-days' encampment of insti'uction before going to Chicago, as we had never been in camp, or together as a regiment, under the new revised tactics and new formation. The Second battalion of the Second regiment was quartered here in our armory, and Imd [ilenty of room. Rations were served by contract. The camp was very profitable in many ways, to officers and men alike, and had much to do vv'ith the fine appearance the Iowa troops made in Chicago. We arrived in Chicago on tlie morning of the 19tli of October, and were quartered in tlie Agricultural building at Jackson Park. The quarters were comforta- ble and plt>asant, but the rations were net what they should have been. Being furnished on contract, however, they probably were as good as could be expected. The trip was greatly enjoyed by us all. The limited quarters would not allow of much military work, and the boys put in the time seeing the exposition grounds and Chicago. There were troops there from all the states and territories which had a Guard, and we learned from seeing these and the different e(|ui[)ments. The men had five days in Chicago, and to mauj' of tliem it was the experience of a lifetime. Our active service in the Guard here in Iowa has not been as much as in many other states. Here there has been no call for it, and no cause for it. The nearest ap[)roach we liavo had to active service, aside from the regular camp service, was at the time of the What Cheer coal miners' strike in 1887. Wo then had a tele- gram to be in readiness to go to Wiiat Cheer on receij)t of telegraphic orders. All of the commissioned officers of the company were out of the city when the telegram came, but inside of an hour forty-eight men were in the armory, under command of the first sergeant, ready to go. This was the entire membership that was in the city, except two, who were unable to go on account of sickness. The officers returned later, and all lay in the armory all night expecting to be called to move any minute. But no orders came, and in the morning we were tele- graphed that we would not be needed. In the iVIay election of 1893, Edward G. Peck was chosen for captain, F. M. Jones for first lieutenant, and E. R. Hasson for second. Peck, however, for business reasons, never qualified as captain of the com- pany. First Lieutenant Jones commanded the company for six mouths, 20 lilKDS EYE VIEW OF FIRST CA511'. CAMP OF SECOND BATTALION. and was then, on November ITtb, made captain. Sergeant T. C. Dal- zell was elected first lieutenant January 15th, 1894. There was no encampment in 1893. One day, however, Captain Jones mobilized the company, put the boys in heavy marching order, and the baggage on a train, and ran down to West Davenport. They were very much fooled boys, for they were going against Chicago strikers, or, Indians at least. In the February inspection of 1894, Company B made a poor showing. There was not much interest in the company at that time, alth.nigh the Burlington encampment for the week, beginning August 24th, did something in the way of reviving it. lu November, Captain Jones resigned, on account of removal from the city, and four years later, when the comp'any was passing through Davenport on its way south, lie was able, in his position of chief train des[)atcher of the Iowa division of the Rock Island n)ad, to give the boys that very much appreciated last hour at home. In January, 1895, Robert Tillinghast French, then a private, was elected captain over J. Matteson,then first sero-eant. First Lieutenant Dalzell wanted French for captain, and threw him his support. It was the closest and most exciting election of ofiicers ever held Ijv the company, and it brought a splendid man to the top. The cham[)ague punch that night at French's was excellent. Early in July Second Lieuteuaul Hasson resigned, and First Sergeant Matteson was elected to fill the vacancy. In August the brigade encampment was held in Centerville, and nothing memorable occurred, except a well-exeeuted raid on the sutler. The camp was on top of a coal mine, and as hot as though it were all on fire. The company did Udt make much of a showing, for only about half the boys could get aw-ay from work. Lieutenant Routhers of the Eighth Infantry, who was at the time detailed for work on the Island, had been coaching the company two or three times a week, and had the full membership been at Centerville, we would have done very well. The boys gave a lawn fete and exhibition drill that summer at the Outing Park. It was a very successful society event. In the February inspection the com- pany made a fair showing. The regimental encampment at Ottumwa in 189(5 began on July 25th, and the seven succeeding days were very rain}'. The tents were rioored with loose boards, across two-by-fours which were laid flat. The ground was low, and one very rainy night the water threatened to rise over the floors. So the ca[)tain came down the company street 23 in the rain and helped the fellows turn the two-by-fours on edge. Thi'U Captain Robbie went back and sat all night, holding the flies of his own tent shut. The drills at Ottuiuwa were before breakfast, and the men had the afternoons otf. The eom[)any made a good showing that year. There was some nervy diving in the Ottumwa natatorium during that encampment. The bath house tank was some seventy-five feet long and fifty feet wide, with water from four to eleven feet deep. There was a good deal of diving, and the climax of it came when Cap- tain French and Charlie Sartorius, a boy of twelve or thirteen, whom Altman had brought to camp, unostentatiously dived forty feet from the rafters of the building. The adjutant and staff officers were well " whacked" with rubber bat's in that swimmingr tank. After livine o o o under the Articles of War and the army regulations, it is odd to look back and think of enlisted men whacking officers. Shortly before the Ottumwa encampment Captain French, First Sergeant Hender, Sergeant McManus and Private Main had gone to Cedar Eapids, for target [>ractice on the range there, 'ihey say that Captain and Commissary Jiill}- McCullough shot six times and got a black arm. (By the way what was it that dropped out of BilJv's iiat when he gracefully bowed to the ladies y History is silent, so ari^ the ladies, but they know. ) The lack of a range has been and still is the greatest handicap of the Davenport coni[)any. Its other handicap — debt — was removed by the energy and administrative ability of Ivobert T. French. In the spring of '9G the armory was badly run down for lack of repairs, and the company was loaded with an indebtedness of $6,7(H). With the assistance of Col. George French, Judge Nath. French, and of his sisters. Miss Alice Frcuich and Miss Francos French, the caijtain set about paying off this indebtedness. The members of the company also worked hard, and in a very short time, by the help of city, county and citizens, the thing was accomplislnMl. Nine thousand five hundred dollars was raised. The debt was paid, and great im- provements were made on the armory. Bath rooms, and athletic rooms, and a room for the non-coms, were added. A new roof was put on, and a new floor laid in the drill hall. Electric lights were put in, everything was replastered, the assembly room was re- modeled. Later, the company had fine new uniforms by a regular army tailor. These were not the unsoldierly and ugly fancy dress uni- forms of earlier days, but the trim blouse and trousers of the regulars. 24 Uncle Sam doesn't go iu for pomp and paraphernalia with his regnlar soldiers. He gives them exactly what they need, and dresses them not for show, but for work. Say what you please of the Kaiser's army, there is more good sense in Uncle Sam's. The good, clean ])uilding, the good, clean clothing of company B, gave it self yespect and made it soldierly in appearance and spirit. That was Robert French's work, and it was work characteristic of the man. His sister. Miss Frances, gave the boys a good piano, which still rings blithely with muscular music. Captain French improved not only the financial, but the social condition of the company. The first dance after the laying of the new floor was in October, '96. There was a reception iu the afternoon, and in the evening an excellent military ball. At the reception the com- pany went through guard mount and the bayonet exercises, and in the evening a smart company drill. On the evening of November -ith, '11(5, Captain French arranged to have the returns of the McKinley-Bryan election posted in the hall, and had hundreds of chairs brought down from Libr iry hall. A great many women availed, themselves of the oportunity to watch the returns. It was decidedly worth doing that. It seemed to remove something of the sordid associations of politics to have the best women of the city gathered there, absorbed in the news of the great election. After paying off the debt, remodeling the armory, reclothing the company and setting it on a higher social level. Captain French felt that his work was done, and, in November, '9G, resigned. Afterwards he planned to give a medal to the best drilled soldier of the company, and that medal is now being competed for iu three annual drills and inspections. It is not too much to say that Captain French did more to insure the refinement and stability of Company B than any man who ever belonged to it. We would not be in this armory today were it not for him. On December '2Sth, First Lieutenant T. C. Dalzell was elected captain and First Sergeut Hender was elected first lieutenant over Matteson. In the inspection of February '28th, 1897, the company made a capital showing. Rifles had been blued, there was a large company, and only the lack of target practice prevented the company from leading the entire Iowa division. In August of that year, the regimental camp was at Washington; the Davenport company made a clean sweep. Every orderly man was a "B" man, and when the boys 25 came home, Burmeister, being right guide, had a big, beribboued broom strapped to his rifle. Id the fall, Header, Roe, Burmeister, Lapitz and Watkius qualified at the Muscatine range as state sharp- shooters, and nearly all the rest of the coinpan_y as marksraen. Captain French had gone east in December '95, to work in the Carnegie iron and steel mills at Homestead, Pennsylvania. While there, in September '!)7, he was taken sick and went with his brother. Col. George W. French, to Toronto, Canada, where he was placed in the hospital. His sickness proved to be typhoid fever, and after a long and bitter battle, in spite of splendid pluck and perfect nursing, he died in Toronto hospital, November 7th, 1897. His sister. Miss Alice French, was with him through it all. It was an unspeakable blow to his family, and his many, many friends. Captain Dalzell and the non-commissioned officers of the company went to Chicago and met the train bearing the body home. The non-coms bore the coffin from the train to the hearse through the dense and sorrowing crowd which had gathered at the station. The company attended in a body the funeral services at the house. Robert Tillinghast French was only twenty-five when he died. He was graduated from Harvard in '93, after living four years strongly and beautifully at Cambridge. There he wrote, bo.xed, helped p(!o|)le, was loved. With his keen, strong intellect he performed collegiate duties easily and well, and had time to enjoy good things and make others enjoy them. After graduation he came to Davenpoit ami set about learning the business of manufacturing steel and iron. He liegan at the bottom and learned to do, himself, every kind of workwliicli was done in the Eagle works and the Sylvan Steel works dI Mnlinc. With grimy shirt, coarse shoes and dinner basket, lie went and came; by night and day he worked as rougher, roller, finisher, toiling, taking no favors. He was in earnest, he was thorough, he did the little things that culminate in great things. He was as ready to give iiis last dollar to a fellow workman who needed it as he was to give a threshino- to any hugh lubber who needed that. He was just and did justice, he was fearle.ss and very tender. College chums, fellow workmen, society girls, men of company B, idolized the beautiful fellow. It is hard to see a limit to what he might have done and been. He was greatly loved and greatly worth loving. Lieutenant Matteson resigned in November, and First Sergeant James M. McManus was elected to fill the vacancy. In February, '96, 26 WITH ALL HOME COMFORTS. on inspection, company B made the best showing of any company in the state. Captain Tom Dalzell [)laced the superstrncture of that ex- cellence upon the broad and deep foundations laid by Captain Robert T. French. 29 PART II. SEVEN MONTHS OF WAR. April 23— November 30, 1898 The weeks of April, 1898, were weeks of anxious expectancy for Co. B. lutere.st in tlie company rose to a higlier pitch than ever be- fore, oil the part of the boys themselves, and on the part of the city. Fellows who waiitotl to be " in it" spoke to Captain Dalzell about join- ing the company in case it .should be called out. President McKin- ley's call for 12.1, ()()() volunteers brought this interest to fever pitch. The days of waiting for orders became tenser and tenser. All day Saturday, A[)ril 23, men kept dropping into the armory to hear the news. At length, in the afternoon, First Sergeant Roe received the telephonic orders from Captain Dalzell to mobilize the company at the armory. Roe sent Corporal Leonardy out to notify the men, ordering them to report at 7:30 that evening. Leonardy went up one street and down another, stop[)ing at stores and shops and offices. Burmeis- ter shut his banking ledger with a snap, Martin left three yards of cloth unmeasured, and the girls in "The Fair" store threatened to mob Leonardy for taking him away; Main stop[)ed .selling a bed-room set. Miner left the telegraph key in Moliue to tick its message on the desert air, McManus left an unfiled [jjeadiug. Captain Tom dropped a half spanked orphan, Hender and Middleton a half dissected cat. By half [)ast four blue blouses and gray campaign hats were hurrying hither and thither through the streets. It is astonishing how each row of brass buttons seemed magnetized by some one particular girl. Tillie and Mary and Sadie and Anne were all affected in much the same way, by the buttons and the news. It was very touching and very pleasant. 30 By 7:30, the company was assembled in the armory, and Fifth street was packed with an interested crowd of observers and well-wish- ers. Everybody answered roll call, and then the boys were allowed to return till 9 o'clock to the bosoms of their families and best girls. One man really got married, and rumor married about ten more in those ninety minutes. Guard duty began that memorable evening of April 23, and until September 20, six months afterward, there was never a time, night or day, when there were not three of four men of Co. B awake on guard. That first guard-detail consisted of Sergeant Main. Corporal Leonardy, Privates Claussen, Greene and Carson. That night the same un- wonted kind of activity was going on in every Iowa town which sup- ported a company of the Guard; yes, from Oregon to Florida, from Maine to California, the same thing was happening. The whole wide- spread, mighty nation, city by city, town by town, was gathering its companies of blue-bloused men, soon to be massed by regiment and brigade, division and corps. The mobilizing of Co. B was in itself a small thing, but as part of a mighty process it was impressive. The first night in the armory, we spread our blankets and over- coats on the uuearpeted floor, — a dryer but harder bed than we later became accustomed to. Discipline had not yet fairly l)egan among us; the nieht was a good deal of a lark, and there was very little sleeping. We lay on overcoat buttons long enough, however, to get up with eagles stamped on our skins. The men dispersed to their homes aud to restaurants for breakfast, so there was no cooks' police, but after breakfast the room-orderly and a detail for special fatigue swept out the armory. It needed it. Sunday and Monday passed slowly, with much drilling of rookies, — the men dispersing for meals, and gather- ing for sleep and drill in the armory and for marches through the streets. Public interest in the company was at the highest pitch. The Davenport Shriners donated a hundred dollars toward a company fund for the relief of sick and wounded, the August Wentz Post invited us to an army supper, ladies gave little spreads to their friends among the boys, and — highest tribute of all — " a soldier " was treated with respectful idolatry by the street arabs. The urchius could not quite repress their curiosity as to whether we were " scared at going to war, " but they were ready to believe us when we said we were not, and it was 31 evident: that at last we had that veiy difficult thing to win — the sti-eet arahs a[)j)n)va]. Sunday evening, we inarched down to eat the bean supper of the veterans. They lined up in front of the armory, and the company, fol- lowing the colors, marched past them as they stood with bared heads. We formed line on the right, they marched past us, and, preceded by the old Second Regiment band, led the way to their hall. There they formed line again, wbilo a level beam of sunset light touched their faces as we went before them up the stairs to the scene of tlie beau banquet. Maybe we only fancied it, but it seemed to us that their eyes flashed with the tire of "tjl as thev looked at the vouuir men eoinc out that day. as they had gone long years before, in answer to the call of Uncle Sam. There was a touch of real poetry in this fraternizing of old and young, this passing on of the torch of patriotism fi-om genera- tion to generation, from wai- to war. They had our deepest veneration, those men wlio had been thrnvigh winter's cold and summer's heat, who had stood fierce bittles and long marches, fever and famine, imprison- ment, los.s of comrades, di.sease and wounds. They were better men than we, for they had been tried and found not wanting, they had done what we only hoped, and as it proved, hoped vainly, to do. But the veterans didn't play fair. Heroes of '01, you talked us half to death. you know you did. You told us lies that had been mellowing a tiiird of a century, and you never gave us a chance to lie back. You tireil smooth-l)ore yarns at us by file, and muzzle-loading jokes by volley. You had been drilling with those antiquated weapons more years than we had lived, and you used them with the deadly rapidity of a Maxim gun. You riddled, and sat upon, and bottled up our fledgling wit and eloquence. Your toast-master ignored our signals of distress. Why! Cervera's sufferings at Santiago were insignificant, compared with ours, in this first dreadful engagement of tlie Spanish-American wai". Praise is exhausted and furtiier tribute would be an anti-climax, when now we say that your actions of '61-'G5 speak louder (and longer) than your words of April 24-, 1898. Many of our good-byes were said Monday evening, for we had a general idea that we would leave Davenport within the next twelve hours. Of course, many of these good-byes did not prove final, for our friends and relatives visited us in Des Moines, and then we passed through Davenport on our way south. But these first good-byes were trying enough to many a mother. Monday night we did not sleep 82 rilE TIIKEE MUSKETEERS OF THE KITCHEN. much. A false alarm was spread that we would leave at 3 in the morniug, and in conse(|uence we had knapsacks packed and blankets rolled, and were in hourly expectation of orders to fall in and board the train, — a movement we had rehearsed in the armory by means of chairs arranged like car seats. At last, however, we were assured that we could not leave till S o'clock the next morning, and snatched a brief nap before the dawn. After a 6 o'clock breakfast Tuesday morning,— the last meal we were to eat as separate individuals, — we reassembled and again made all preparations for the start. Company L of Maijuoketa, afterward camped near us in the Forty-nineth Iowa at Jacksonville, came marching up Main street to the armory a little after 8. They shared in the rousing farewell which Davenport gave her soldiers that Tuesday morning. The old company of forty odd men, as it appears in the well known picture taken on the court house steps, marched through the crowded business streets before boarding the train. The Second Eegiment band was going too, and they headed us in the parade. Business and bunting were suspended everywhere; the schools poured forth their swarms to see us go. Doubtless everv one in the company felt heroic thrills and shivers chasing up and down his spine, as the band played proud music, and his feet fell in cadence on the pavement, and his rifle barrel aligned itself with those of his comrades, and people cheered and waved, and friends caught sight of him and shouted his name. As we look back on it, it seems strange, — that war fever which possessed the nation. But there was no doubt about its existence then; it was a spirit that fired every soldier's heart with the strength of sympathetic thousands who remained at home. It was redeemed from being merely theatrical by the faces of mothers and sisters, wives and sweethearts, among the merely interested thousands of the crowd. And who can say that such a mighty expression of enthusiasm does not fill a man with courage to die rather than disappoint the hopes his fellow-citizens have formed of him? At any rate, no one who wore the blue that day, and felt the enthusiam of that great mass of people, can ever forget it, or remem- ber it without a thrill. And of some things there that day we do not speak; they are not for speech. When we got aboard the train for Des Moines, and pulled slowly out, there was barely room in Fifth street for the train to pass through the crowd. Pavements, sidewalks, windows, roofs, sheds, car-tops and 35 wood piles, were so densely packed with people that you couldn't see a square foot of the horizontal surface. Tommy Owens said there wasn't room for a cat. Our train pickctl up Company C of Muscatine at Wilton and Company I at Iowa City. There the students and faculty of the University were at the station, Company I being escorted to the train by the S. U. 1. bat- talion, which had volunteered, as a body, its services for the war, with- out, however, having them accepted. '• K " joined us at Grinnell, and a fragment of "L" at Newton. " L " was afterward recruited u[) from all over the state. The si.\ companies reached Des Moines about S in the afternoon, and went into camp in the booths under the am[)hi- theatre. Under the guidance of our ex-regular sergeants. Roe and Mc- Burney, Company B soon had quarters that were the model of all the four regiments. The company kitchen was set up across tlu* race track, and "Butch" Siegrist was installed in the most important office in the company, that of cook. Privates Willey and Young were the first of that noble line of cooks' police, who hewed wood, drew water, built fires, ladled out slumgullion, stood guard over artillery pie, washed dishes and scraped skillets. Three days later Privates Pfabe and Al- ford got the first red ink kitchen police, which after all differs very lit- tle from black ink kitchen police. When you get red ink kitchen po- lice you have the unselfish pleasure of feeling that you are doing some other fellow's work for him. After a very early breakfast Tuesday morning, a dinner consisting of a corned beef sandwich on the train, and the work of making cam]), which included the toting of the villainously heavy me.ss chests, we were very ready for our first regular supper at 7 o'clock. The com- pany fell in single file, marched over to the kitchen, and every man, taking his tin plate of bacon and baked jjotato, his slab of soft bread and his cup of coffee, sat down on the grass and made a meal fit for a king. Our satisfaction was meanly increased when we saw less effici- ent mess sergeants than ours still struggling with camp stoves and uncooked rations, while their hungry companies rabbled around and made impolite remarks. Sergeant Roe chuckled with grim satisfaction to see how we rookies filed out there and took our soldier grub and liked it. While we were sitting there an important young officer of the Third strolled up, and approvingly noted our cuisine. He was a good officer, and stood up to his uniform with soldierly dignity. A private 3G of Company B, who happened to be an old college chum of this officei', was standing up with a cup of coffee in one hand and a gigantic bacon sandwich in the other. Naturally he didn't salute his superior officer. He just yelled out at twenty yards, "Hello Johnnie! How are you, old chap? Glad to see you! Come over here!" The officer looked as though he'd been caught doing something wrong, but friendship over- came chargiu and military etiquette. He obeyed the private's orders and came. A month later disciplined instinct would have made the thing impossible to both private and officer. Wednesday morning Company B sent out Privates Miner, Greene and Parker II as its first guard detail. You could pick a " B " man on guard mount at a hundred yards. There were regularly two orderlies a day from each regiment; one for the colonel, and one for General Lincoln, the camp commandant. On Wednesday but one orderly was chosen, and that one was Private Miner of B company. History re- peated itself on almost every guard mount in Des Moines. Company B " got both orderlies, " which phrase came with almost as much regu- larity as breakfast. If some other company got an orderly one of our men would challenge Adjutant Goedecke's selection, and usually win out in competitive drill. One morning "Doc" Hoag ran against a man fresh from three years in Uncle Sam's regular infantry. The regular was chosed for orderly. Doc challenged, and in the ensuing competitive drill, in the bayonet exercise, the regular's bayonet fell off, and Doc won. We couldn't lose. From the beginning Company B was systematically trained for en- durance. At Des Moines we were " hardened " as was no other company in the four re^riments. Every inoruiug, before breakfast, the company was lined up for trunk, leg, arm, hand and foot exercises. After that we had three or four minutes of double time, and this was gradually increased to seven or eight minutes. Most of us got so that we could do our mile without puffing. Of coarse we thought this " wind " was going to be used in chasing routed Spaniards. By the end of three weeks in Des Moines we were physically in beautiful shape for a fight. Uncle Sam should have given the Spanish army free transportation to Iowa and turned us loose on it in a nice clean country. We all had colds on account of the wet, chilly weather, and although a mile run before breakfast is rather an heroic remedy, it does cut the phlegm out of one's luugs. 37 Geueral Lincoln, who iuipressud us U8 the pattern of a soldier, gave us a good deal more division drill than wo afterward got in the South. He handled the four regiments together as they would have been handled in battle, and it was soinotinies pi-elty rough on the companies which hadn't been training in ilouble time. One day he marched the division out of camp in column of fours, anfain Dalzell, on account of his s[)loudid work at the head of the company, and his otherwise perfect physic 1 condition." The nest day this answer came to "Hon. Geo. T. Baker, mayor, and others: Dalzell matter satisfactorily arranged." Then Lieutenant Neugarden, conducting the physicial examinations, received telegraphic orders from the secretary of war to "commission Thomas C. Dalzell captain of Company B,Fiftieth regiment infantry,Iowa volunteers, regard- less of weight." The U. S. officers raised their eyebrows and realized that we were somebody. Thus the greatest possible misfortune that could have overtaken the company was averted. Davenport, not for the last time, earned the gratitude of the whole regiment for, in conse- quence of this action, the under and over weight clause was quietly droj)ped from the physical requirements as to commissioned officers. When the smoke finally cleared away after this examination, we had lost ten men instead of fourteen. The rejected were Sergeant Main, Privates Carson, Claus-sen, Jucksch, Lapitz, Young, Grupe, Bischott', Glaspell and Wallace. Jimmie Carson, however, wouldn't give up. He stowed himself away on the train south, and, after doing all kinds of work for the company, finally passed the examination in Jackson- ville, was enlisted, and became one of the best corporals in Company B. These ten men were discharged on the fourteenth, the day after the examination. Hansen was discharged on the sixteenth. Barmettler and Watkins passed the physicial examination and refused to be mustered into the United States service. They were discharged from the Iowa National Guard the same day as the ten rejected men. Watkins, who was married just before the company left Davenport, may possibly have had good reason for what he did. Barmettler, therefore, is the only man, of or connected with, Company B who showed a nice, clean, white feather at the prospect of fighting Spain. 44 IICH, AN's Al.l.l'.'Y IT I " J'A 'I'. ^-m K4' j / 1 / ^ZT^kMii BB^H: At 1 l-,K IIKII.L. The next day, Sunday the fifteenth of May, has far pleasanter rec- ollections. After the exauiiuatiou, it was known that the regiment would soon be mustered into the United States service and leave Des Moines. So nearly every man's mother and sisters and sweethearts* came out to spend Sunday with him. Excursion trains from Daven- port came out laden with the dearest and [)rettiest women in the world, and (incidentally) with some rattling good things to eat. Leave was easy to get that afternoon and evening, and few of us there were who didn't take it. Back of camp the woods were full of us, Lives there a man with soul so dead that he didn't say to himself that day, "This is worth getting shot for?" A Companj' B [larty of a dozen or more took supper at the Savery Hotel that evening, and after taps there was some very scientific guard-running. Mac pulled Van and Kidp tlirough the ijuard line. "Halt, Who's there?" said the sentry. "General officer," remarked the lieutenant, — "Don't you know better than to stop a general officer under escort?" So the sentry wilted, while the "general officer" and his escort passed on. It is not possible now to speak properly of the anxiety at that time of those who loved us. We can only touch the lighter siile of things. We ate sup- per iintil the Savery waiters said the kitchen was empty of everything edible. On Monday, the sixteenth, there were some necessary changes and [)romotions among the non-commissioned oSicers and privates. Ser- geant Burmeister being a})poiuted (piartermaster-sergeant, and Ser- geant Main having dro[)pod out in the physical examination. Corporals Leonardy and Schmidt were made sergeants. There being approxi- mately one corporal to every seven privates, the increase of the com- pany from a total of forty-five to a total of sixty-seven necessitated six corporals instead of four. Privates Greene, Parker II, Taylor and Miner were therefore [)romoted to be corporals, and were therefore obeyed and respected accordingly. That afternoon, the Des Moines branch of the Sons of the Bevolu- tion presented to the regiment a beautiful silk battle-fiag. We were not really mustered into the United States service until the following day, but the flag bore on its blue folds not the name of the old Second Regiment I. N. G., but the name of Uncle Sam's regiment, the Fiftieth *Tlie pliiial here is a typographical error which was earnestly pointed out by Alfred Van Patten too late for correction. John Chambers also denies it. 47 regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, which, strictly, was not in being until after the formal muster-in. The flag was none the less beautiful as the committee of the Sons of tlio Revolution presented it to our Ser- geant McBurney, who had been detailed as color bearer of the new regi- ment. Company C escorted the colors to Company B, now the color company of the regiment. The honor liad fallen by good luck to the best company, for after Major Caugldan's election our battalion had changed rank and number from Tiiird to Second, placing it in the cen- ter of the regiment. Company B was the right center company of the battalion, and therefore we took care of the colors. Captain Dal/.t'lTs action in declining nomination as major, be- cause he wanted ti> stick l)y Ihe coiiipiuiy is characteristic of his steady devotion to our interests. On the seventeenth, tiie regiment was mustered into United States service. Company B should have been the second company in, but George Martin was down town and we had to stand around and see Companies C and D [)rccede us. (leorge was expecting to get back in time for drill, and had not the muster-in turned up, no (juestions would have been asked, as he had not missed any roll call or check. But when at last hi> hove in sight about '2 o'clock, a good many (juestious were asked, by every man in the company, and in most vigorous language. George is a popular fellow, but never in all his life did he get so warm a reception as he got that afternoon. He liad time to think it over doing red-ink kitchen police. It was rather impressive, when, after muster-roll was verifud, we all held up our liaiuls and Captain Olrastead pronounced the words of the oath that bound us. " I do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and aUegiauce to the United States of America, that I will serve them lionestly and faithfully against all their enemies whomsoever; and that 1 will obey the orders of the president of the United States, and the orders of the otKcers a[>pointed i ver me. according to tiii> Eules and Articles of War." Very short and simple, that, but thes(> same Rules and Articles of War are neither short nor simple, and it takes strong virtues to obey them. If a man hasn't those virtues when he joins the army, he gefs them. He has to. The ceremony over, we marched down out of the large pavilion-like Power hall where it took place. We were State militia no longer, but United States Volunteers. As we passed in route step the companies not yet mustered in, we scoffed at them, and 48 called them militia, and invited their attention to the fact that we be- longed to a higher grade than they, and pointed out tliat they were honored in being allowed even to speak to us. Friday, the twentieth, was our last day at Camp McKinley, and glad we were it was so. We wanted to get south, and we wanted to get away from Des Moines, which struck us as being about the coldest blooded place we had ever seen. Patriotic individuals there naturally were, and Com})any B is glad to ex[)ress to them its gratitude ; but in con- trast with our home-town, — warm-hearted old Davenport, — Des Moines is a selfish iceberg. Few icebergs are remarkable for unselfishness. We fell in for most everything that day. We fell in for pay — not unwillingly. We were tremendously rained on while lined up for pay, but we felt that our ducking was in a worthy cause, and nobody wanted to fall out. We fell in to hear the Articles of War read, and tried to remember for what things " the punishment shall be death, or such other penalty as a court martial may direct. " We fell in for equip- ment, each man drawing underwear, woolen socks, shoes, blue shirts, leggings, and campaign hats. We fell into the mud, and what with pay, and orders to move on the morrow, we fell finally into a good humor that nothing could make us fall out of. If someliody told you he was going to beat your eyeballs in with a mallet you just smiled at him benignly. In the evening you went down town and smiled several times. To be sure you did a little perfunctory grumbling because the state didn't pay you state pay — which for enlisted men is twice as much as government pay, — but on the whole you were deeply and solidly contented. Next morning we were up bright and early, and after breakfast each man threw away about half his duds and packed the essentials in his blanket roll. We had turned in our knapsacks, and were glad of it. The weight of a blanket roll exerts pressure straight downward and is so distributed that you hardly feel it. Wo had to smile at the scribe who wrote so naively for his paper, "they carried their blankets " — serenely ignorant that those horse-shoe shaped rolls were our trunks, containing soap, towels, tooth-brush, blue shirt, underclothing, stock- ings, shoes, blouse, writing material, etc. When at last, after the cooks and kitchen police had packed the mess-chests, and another detail the ammunition and other company effects, and the wagons lumbered off with them down to the tracks, the order came to fall in. It wan very simple — just like any other forma- 49 tion, except that we were in heavy instead of light marching order. While the roll was being called in front of the exposition building Billy Weiss, who wasn't feeling well, fainted and was carried back into the building. He was soon all right however, and at secure arms, in a brisk shower, we marched down the iiill past the old Fourth, then quartered in the horse barns. The Fourth formed line and presented arms to our column. The shower ceased, a splendid rainbow appeared in the west, and we took it for a good omen. We then halted and rested in place, supporting the rifle butts on our toes to keep them out of the mud, while we waited for our cars to be backed in. This irave us a good chance to say good-bye to our friends of the Fourth. Natur- ally they were jealous, for our orders were for Tam{)a, and the chances looked good for our striking the Cuban coast ss soon as the regulars themselves. We were the senior regiment, and were therefore given the first chance. When at last the cars were ready for us it took a good while to load and stow the company baggage — the mess chests, qnarteriiiaster's chest, officers" trunks, first sergeant's desk, etc. It was a busy day for the baggage detail, composed of Sergeant Burmeis- ter, Privates Kulp, Ackley. Sharpe and Smith. Then there was a good deal of miscellaneous delay,- backing and filling of day-coaches and baggage coaches and engines, so tliat it was 12 o'clock or so when we got away from Ues Moines. Telegrams had been sent on to Davenport, and since Friday morn- ing the people there had been busy preparing that royal reception of May 21, which no man of the Second battalion will ever forget. Tlie train swung through the deep cut in the hills about half past 1, and iU-ur old Davenport burst on our eyes for the last time in many a day. Everyone in town must have been on Fifth street. Squads of men, women and children cheered us all along the line. Four or five blocks from the armory the crowd grew dense, and the train moved slowly. Companies C, D and M looked wonderingly at the excited, eager throng. They were expecting in Davenport to look at happiness through another company's eyes. When they received the order to dismount, enter the armory, and be fed, they obeyed with alacrity, and murmured, " verily, these people are the real thing! " The multitude was fed, and lo, there remained after the feast as many basketfuls as there were men. Muscatine people had come up to feed Company C, thinking that Davenport would care only for her own. When they saw bountiful tables spread for__ the whole^ battalion, they saw that this 50 THE KITCHEN AKTKU A Cl.orii l;l UST KEGIMEMAI, III.AiH^.l ARTEKS AFTER A SHOWER thing had beeu quietly doue by people whose hearts were richer than rubies and fine gold. Every man's relatives and closest friends were inside the armory, where, after a tight squeeze from the train to the door, we all were welcomed. We were petted, and what of it? We didn't get too much petting iu camp; we would have got none too much in Cuba, where chances seemed at least even that we were going. No man there would have fought better or endured hardship better had we been sent off coldly with no sign of loving appreciation of our city. At the time we received that lavish hospitality we did not have time to think, in the whirl of hand-clasps and sandwiches, pies and hugs, coffee and greetings, tobacco and good wishes, pickles and kisses, that were rained upon us. We did not know, till we got the Davenport pa- pers, just what people had done the hard work of preparing that dainty dinner and the dainty travel rations they sent with us. Mayor Baker, Mr. Juily, W. D. Petersen, S. F. Smith, W. J. McCullough, B. F. Til- linghast, C. A. E'icke. "Vinegar" Smith, Col. McManus, Nath. French, J. B. Meyer, Major Marks, Chas. N. Voss, George Metzger, A. \V. VanderVeer, The Daughters of the Revolution, the members of the Women's Relief Corps of the Grand Army post, relatives and friends of the boys among thi^ women. The Davenport Lodge of Elks, Hal Decker, Will Altman, Van Patten A Marks, J. H. Skelly, Otto Albrecht, Beiderbecke & Miller, the W. A. O. Market, The Fair, John McSteeu, Henry Kohrs, Haase Bros., George W. Cable, Ferd. Roddewig's Sous, and dozens of others, — all came in for their share of gratitude; all con- tributed their quota toward that superb exhibition of public spirit. The big, warm heart of the city seemed to express itself through the men and women who did the work, and work of that kind, taking shape in the Patriotic Relief association, continued throughout the war. Everybody was a little hysterical that day, and doubtless did and said things that seem unaccountable wheu looked back upon i«u cold bloo.l. But there were no discreditable things said or done; — our parting this time was sharp, quick and for sure, — the pain was prop- erly faced by the women. Coming out of the armory, loaded down with three days' provisions apiece, we found the crowd unscattered by the brisk shower which had passed. Boarding our train, catching a last glimpse of a dear face, craning from window and platform, we pullrd slowly eastward, past Brady, Perry and the station, and out upon the bridge. The impressive thing was the silence of the crowd. A rainbow spanned the east, as in the morning one had spanned the west; r>3 we seemed traveling out from the arch of one into the arch of the other. With roses in our hats and on our breasts, our train like a bower, and bugles blowing good-bye, out over the bridge went the Second battalion. That day had more true life packed into it than an ordinary year. We had really lived, and as we sat and thought it all over, every man (juietly felt that ho was doing the one true thing. The discontent of youth had vanished, and in its place came the euobl- ing feeling that Destiny was going to give us a chance to do some- thing worth doing. Many a man silently wondered, I suppose, if he would ever see the great river and her citied hills again. A few of us did not. Most of us felt that a gowl fight and an athletic death was not a bad thing, but each really expected something better — a safe re- turn — at least we told our folks so. To die gaily and with glory, how- ever, was better luck than four of our poor fellows had. The battalion reached Chicago sometime after midniirht, and for thirty-six hours, side-tracked beside the Chicago river in day coaches, it waited for the old Pullman cars which were to take it south. Major Tillie, Sunday afternoon, took the companies out for a walk, without arms, through the streets, and naturally the soldiers attracted a good deal of attention. Very strict guard was kept on Sunday and Sunday night, and very few men succeed in running the guard. Three or four men climbed up on top of the passenger coaches and got through in that manner. The foxy baggage detail persuaded the sentinels that they themselves were guarding tlieir freight cans. They ox[>lained that they were obliged to go constantly in and out from their cars to the rest of the train. Then the posts up and down lieside the cars were arranged so as to let the baggage detail do its own guarding. They were all there for breakfast, anyhow. A circus train stopped on the track next to us for an hour or two. Some of the boys gave an elephant a beer bottle full of liquid which the elephant didn't like. So instead of drinking it, he sfjuirttnl it all over Fred Vollmer. The train was surrounded Sunday and Sunday evening by a great crowd of women, some of them respectable, and through windows and over well guarded car platforms they heard and made rapid love. There were provocation and repartee and gutiaw, giving of addresses, squeezing of hands, and ardent glances. When, at 1:3(1 Monday afternoon, the whistle blew, and the Pullman train, to which the battalion had been transferred, started slowly out, one of the fellows of B company crying, "come and shake hands good-bye!" leaned from the window, pulled up 54 from the ground and fervently kissed a buxom damsel, while her heels and hosiery dangled blithely in mid-air. From tlie train windows there came a chorus of soldier raillery, — "Warm baby!" "Don't let her drop! " "Look at Andy ! " " Take her to Tampa! " " Great and only performance on the flying trapeze! " " Conductor, here's a lady stealing a ride! " " The girl he didn't leave behind him! "' The train moved more rapidly, and Andy reluctantly released his fair prisoner. As she reached the ground, there was a chorus of " Oh's, " and Koch, the company ringmaster, announced " the great and only parachute drop. " The men e.xpressed their regret at her abrupt departure, while the permanently blushing damsel waved good-bye and said she was sorry too. Through the towns and villages of Indiana, along the Monon route, the battalion had a continuous ovation, culminating at the pretty college town of LaFayette, the home of General Wallace. Reaching LaFayette about half past five Monday afternoon, we stopped for coffee ; and about eight thousand people did everything that hospitable people could do in half an hour. Every soldier who, for any reason, stepped off the train, was escorted up to a kind of cluli-room where there were many kegs and kind words. The best girls in town l)egcred buttons and got them, and Billy Weiss's friends there loaded him with cigars and good wishes. Always excepting Davenport, the magnanim- ous, LaFayette was the best town we saw, from Des Moines to Jackson- ville inclusive. We were unfortunate in going through the laro-er places on the Southern railroad at night, so only the meu on guard saw anything at all of Louisville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta. The way that engineer jerked the train through the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee was a cautiou. Tunnels and trestles and curves and hiii-h embankments went spinning back under us, till the meu in the two freight cars swore their wheels touched the track only once a minute. They touched hard enough then to make up, however, so it wasn't wholly like riding through the downy air. Monday night, the men on guard were issued ammunition for the first time, and the old Sprino-- field chambers felt the kiss of ball cartridges. There were rumors of Spanish spies and sympathizers attempting to do to Uncle Sam's sol- diers en route what they had done to the sailors of the Maine. It was doubtless just a cock-and-bull story, but the sentinels were delightfully busy looking for men with dynamite sticks, and they liad orders to shoot, if anyone came within ten feet of the tracks and did not immedi- ately withdraw when onlered. It was, no (ioubt, a very unnecessary precaution, but it gave everybody a delicious sense of danger, and the sentries felt like the real thing. At this time began the small boy's incessant [)lea, — "Give me a bullet," — which is the small boy word for cartridge. The ride down was hardly monotonous at all, for there was much to see, and there was the inspiring idea that we were getting straight to the front, eu route to Cuba. We saw some fine old mansions, but tlie mountain belt of Kentucky and Tennessee seemed to be mostly inhabited by cabins, niggers, whitewash, mules and razor- backed hogs. Ackley tried to catch a razor-back to shave him- self with. Wc all needed a shave and a bath, and Tuesday afternoon we had the latter. Major Tillie took advantage of a two-hour stop at Harriman junction, and ordered the battalion into the Emery river. It was a clear, swirling stream, at the base of a pine-clad mountain. The water, trans{)aient and blue as the sky, was whitened with the gli^ani of three hundred lithe young bodies. Too bad there weren't Filipinos on the other bank. This side of Chattanooga the battalion picked u[) a soldier, who proved to be a deserter from a New York regiment. He was held, con- stantly guarded, for three weeks, and was then released, for lack of specific charges on the part of his officers. Wednesday morning, we were in Georgia — sparsely settled, im- poverished Georgia, with her dark-red, melancholy .soil and scrubby forests, her huge, white l)lossonis swaying indolently in cabin do;)ryards, — where |)eople have nothing to do and a life-time to do it in. We stopped early in the morning in a village called Lumber City, for set- ting-up exercises and a march through the streets. We were feeling the unwonted southern heat a good deal, after the cold, wet spring in Des Moines. There was a good artesian well at one house, and the owner talked pleasantly. As B company swung cheerfully down one of the grass-grown streets we saw a sour-faced, crabbed old codger sit- ting on his front porch. We were in route step, but. as usual, ten or twelve blithe whistlers were rattling a lively tune to which our column marched. At first the old codger on his front ]ioivh Kx iked at Uncle Sam's blue uniforms with no kindly eyes, but the tune we whistled was " Dixie, " and he pricked up his ears. Passing just beyond the yard, the column swung about by fours and came back. The old fel- low saw us returning. He shuffled his slippered feet down the gravel walk from porch to gate, and, as we shot past, Dixie was too much for 5G him — liis coufederate heart melted, and thirty-five years of peat-up hatred broke down. Then and there he was reconstructed, and gave us his hearty benediction — " Go 'long ye whole-souled critters; go 'long! " About 11 o'clock, the train slid up to the village station of Graham, Georgia, and stopped, waiting for a north -bound freight to pass. Through the level line of car windows quickly bulged the small letter battalion, — blue-shirted chests and arms, gray hats and eager faces. B company looked out upon a girl. There were other folks there, but B company didn't see them. The girl wore a calico dress, but was herself " finer than silk. " She had a broad, tri-colored rib- bon in her hands. Murmurs of approval rang along the line. " Whew ! " " Hot Stuff! " " There's my girl ! " " Won't you give me that? " asked a sergeant — " that ribbon ? " " I cannot give you that, " said she, gravely. "A soldier gave it to me. " Her voice wrought a (juick change of tone in most of the men, but the irrepressible Andy, who had kissed the dangling damsel, asked flirtatiou-sly, "Won't you shake hands with me?" " With a soldier, always, " she replied instantly, and, stepping near the window as she S[)oke, she gave her hand to Andy, and looked at him with frank, kindly eyes. He didn't feel much like picking this girl up, and if he had the others would have given him — never mind. There was a little stir of applause. " You seem to think highly of a soldier, " said some one. " My father was a soldier, " she replied. Her eyes turned to a tall stoop-shouldered man in his shirt sleeves. He had a pale beard and gentle eyes. " Yes, " said he quietly, " I fought fo' yeahs against those l)lue suits of yuahs. But that's all ovah now — that is all ovah. " " It must be hard to forget, eh?" asked one of the boys sympa- thetically, " We can't forget, — we forgive though. " The old Georgian and the young lowan shook hands and liked each other. " Won't you tell me your name?" said H , who wasn't inter- ested in the old man. " Yes indeed. Mattie Burney is my name. " " Mine's , Company B, Fiftieth Iowa Volunteer Infan- try, " said Sergeant . " Here I'll write it for you. " He tore ofif the stiff back of a cigarette [)ackage, wrote and handed it to her. " So you-all are from Iowa, " she mused. 59 '•Oh, Miss Buruey, "' called Private C , "we must have some- thing to remember you by. Can't you give me something — anything? Here's a cartridge to remember C ; that's me. " " I do wish I had something. I would give it so gladly. If 1 had known yo' all were comin' I would have had something. And I would have worn a prettier dress. '" " Give me that ribbon, " coaxed A. '' come on. " " Oh no; not that. I will keep that always. It was given to mo by a solditr who went through heah yesterday. He would not like it. " •' Company B envies him, " said C. " I wish wo had something worth giving you for you to keep always. " "I thank Company B, " she said sweetly, '• I sliall always keep — the memory of you-all. " Her voice had the languorous, unconscious grace of the South. Her manners were charming. This country girl in her calico dress seemed to have inherited some courtly tradition of kind and lovely breeding. " That's a pretty comb, " put in A. "Do you like it?" Wearing no hat. she drew tiio half circle of the plain, celhdoid comb from her hair, which rippled into pretty freedom. " Will you give it to me?" asked A. eagerly. " Did you ever see such hair?" asked one in an aside. " No, and I never saw a girl talk like this witli nit-n, and not think of herself one bit," said another. Five or six boys were clamoring for the comb. Perplexed, she looked from one to the other. " Now we'll see wliich one she likes best" said the sergeant. •■ Oh, i wish I had enough to go 'round, " she laughed. "There! " .iiid breaking the comb in three pieces, she gave one each to three of the fellows. In the fight which ensued one piece was broken in two, so four men were lionoriMl. The whistle of the aj)proaching freight came from afar. "That means that we'll b(! pulling out, " said one of the fellows regretfully. " I'm sorry we're to see so little of you, " said Miss Mattie, " I like you boys. " " There's no place I'd rather stay than here, "' said one. bO "So say we, all of us!" "Me too!" "That's my bet!" came in hearty chorus. But her eye flashed, and, and she oxflaimed "Oh no, not here! It is splendid to see you-all, so merry and brave, going to face death gaily for honor and our country. I wish I were a man! " "Thank you for saying that!" cried one. "The sjiirit of the South said that!" As the freight thundered in on the track behind the special H leaned over and said in a low voice something, of which the word " write " could alone be distinguished. Then he took her hand and squeezed it in both of his. " Saw off, H , " said the sergeant, " you're appropriating public property. " Miss Mattie is our girl — Company B's girl. " " 1 would appropriate her if I had a chance " said the irrepressible one. " ril try it after the war. " " Come, come " put in Private C , seeing the girl getting un- comfortable, "You've made us all your friends. Miss Mattie, and though we never have the good luck to see you again, there's not a man of us who won't always have a warm spot in his heart for you and Graham. " The bell rang, the pacing sentries mounted the platforms, the train moved off, the brakemen swung aboard, the battalion waved and shouted its farewells. "Glory and good luck to you all!" called out Miss Burney. And every man who had looked at her and listened to her for those few minutes watched her waving pennant disappear, and carried away as a life-long possession the image of her lovely southern girlhood. Miss Mattie now owns, and doubtless will "keep always," the finest tortoise-shell comb to be found in Jacksonville: nor is it broken into four pieces, either. At Jessup, Georgia, sixty miles from Jacksonville, Major Tillie received orders to stop at Jacksonville, instead of going on to Tampa. It was disappointing, for Tampa today meant Cuba tomorrow. We reached Jacksonville at dusk, — a quick dust leaving no transition be- tween day and night. We shouted greetings to our friends, saw by day-light the unwalled tents of the Third and First battalions among the pines, were drawn onto a side-track near by, and then it was night. Our quarters till the morrow were on the Pullmans, and tlien a long farewell to linen sheets. Everybody but the men on guard was given liberty and made a rush for down-town bath-tubs, barber shops and ()1 ice-cream parlors. To the men left alone by the cars in the woods there were no such comiuou and familiar sights and sounds as buzzing, crackling street cars, and silken scrape of razor over four days' beard. There was only the mysterious night, vast and silent, with the outline of strange half-tropic trees against the sky, the rustling of palmetto fronds against your leggings, solitude, the unknown — and snakes. Guard duty from 2 to 4 a. m is always a lonesome job, but that first night, to wake out of sound sleep and go [)acing up and down the un- known grouiiil, wading through snakes you couldn't see, was decidedly trying on the nerves. Men came along from D company, ; nd said two rattlers had crawled up into their car, one of them being still alive in there. Butch Siegrist promptly saw a large white snake glide past l)im and go underneath the car. He said he licard its scales rustle too. Sergeant Leonardy immediate]}' mounted tilt! car |)latform, [)re- sumably to keep the thing from getting through the door into the car. Cook said he certainly saw something white moving under the car. Sergeant Leonardy, on the car platform, courageously ordered him to charge it with the bayonet. Cook saitl his long suite with vrhite snakes was bullets rather than bayonets, but remembering he liad sworn to obey orders, he approaclieil the white thing gingerly, gave a convulsive poke vrith his bayonet, and impaled upon it a writhing- newspaper. The Jacksonville Times- Union never before nor after awakened so much interest. ^Butch did the rest of his two hours on the platform instead of down in the ditch. ISoon after daybreak next morning we were lined up by com- pany, in heavy marching order, beside the railroad track, and the Pull- mans backed away. We stacked arms, piled up blanket rolls, and were issued a corned beef sandwich apiece. This, thanks to Davenport, was the first army travel ration we had touched since the day we left Des Moines. Then we went to work. We arranged the mess chests, dug an oven, set up our three un walled Sibleys and two officers' tents, and camp was made. There wasn't mudi to it, but it was all we had. The old Sibley's full capacity was fourteen men, but it was necessary to as- sign twenty-one or twenty-two to each of our tents. As the roof came right down to the ground, there was no ventilation ; we had not yet found a straw stack, anil we were not allowed to trench the tents, for fear of stirring fever germs out of this temporarily dry swamp. Luckily, it didn't rain to amount to much the first three weeks. We 62 A IIOSi'ITAL AiMiiULANCE. thought it was raining five or six times, but that was due simply to our entire ignorance, at that time, as to what rain really is. The result of the inadequate tentage was that seven or eight men in each tent immediately set about constructing the "shacks" which formed the distinctive feature of our first camp. The company, as a whole, worked at the large shelter, with its roof of pine boughs, which was a common loafing place when the men were off duty. Then from two to four men would club together and make a private shack for sleeping purposes. The first form of shack was this: — Four small pine trees were trimmed and set as posts, forming a quadrangle about seven feet long, and wide in proportion to the number of men " in ca- hoots. " Supports and braces ran back and forth between them; then smaller horizontal beams, also of rough pine, were run from post to post, about two and a half feet above the ground. These beams were mortised, roped, or nailed, or all three. Auger holes were bored at six-inch intervals though these beams, and sixty or seventy yards of rope were passed back and forth, making a tight netting. This was tilled up with small boughs and pine needles, and, covered with a blanket, it made a decidedly comfortable bed. The roofs were at first simply a mass of pine boughs to keep off the sun. When it was rain- ing we stretched a sloping rubber blanket immediately under the ceil- ing. Unfortunately, after our beds were nicely fixed up, we received orders from brigade headquarters to air all bedding daily, if it wasn't raining, and to burn all bedding weekly. The order was meant to ap- ply to the straw in the tents, but it was rather pedantically extended to the pine needle bedding of the shacks. By that time the small pine trees had all been cleared out, and it was against orders to cut trees. It wasn't so much fun sleeping on three ropes, but iu that lazy climate you could sleej) on a tight rope. After the real rain of June 20 we saw that what we had hitherto called rain was only a drizzle. Preferring possible fever to certain drowning, we immediately trenched the tents. Finding that we were rooted in Jacksonville, many men bought lumber, built dry-goods boxes on stilts, and lined them with tar pai)er and oil cloth. Those in the tents bought boards and laid floors. There were some new tents, eight by ten A wall, but by the time we got them more men had come to fill them, and there was always a place for " the shacks. " We were nine weeks and four days in our first camp under the pine trees, and six weeks and two days in the new camp. Most of the 65 illustrations in this volume an* of the old carap, which may be recog- nized ever3'\vhere by the presence of trees near at hand. The day after we reached Jacksonville the " Metropolis" said: — "The Fiftieth Iowa regiment has no band with i*^, but this reffimeut is one of the finest volunteer organizations in the United States. " And the "Times-Union and Citizen " said: — "The Second battalion of the Iowa regiment lias always been a very popular social organization in its native state, ami has in its ranks some of Iowa's most po[)ular and iiiHucutial citizens. The 'Second' is the wealthiest battalion in camp, and they are well equipped in every particular. " That same day we all had our hair clipped short, and certainly didn't look like " Iowa's most popular and influential citizens. " Mus- taches aLso wei'e far below par. Uncle Sam didn't issue napkins, and a mustache waxed with slumgullion isn't as swell as der Kaiser's. Truth compels us to say that, being hairless, we kept cleaner, but we looked like a lot of jailbirds. The word " wealthiest " in the Times- Union puff may possibly have accounted for the enterprising mer- chant's show window rigged up with a big sign, "The Fiftieth Iowa. " By the time twenty regiments got to Jacksonville, and among them had over five hundred thousand dollars a month to spend, we didn't see much of signs to catch exclusively this or that particular regiment. A regiment on a war footing, as all of them finally were, draws §26,- 509.0(> a month, the field and staff officers $2,0(it).()0, the line officers 14,700.00, the baud S4.S.-),80, the sergeants Sl,44t).()0, the corporals 12,590.00, the privates *ir),339.()0. Of course some of this money was sent home, but, as nearly as we can estimate it, as much came from home. It is not cxairiroratiui' much to say that two million dollars in cash was put in circulation in Jacksonville by the soldiers encamped there during the war. War is a good thing for cities and sutlers. The next war I'm going to be either a city or a sutler; preferably a sutler. The colonel touched seven months' pay at the rate of 8i3,")0O.OO a year, but our sutler, Hal- lowell, piled up his §3,500.00 in four mouths. But though, in many merchants, th'* great sum of money out in camp excited cupidity, causing them to regard the soldiers simply as a source of revenue, there were many kind, unselfish and very hospitable people in Jacksonville. Every man in the company, I suppose, could give instances of this. There are a dozen ])eople of this kind I. my- self, happen to know about. Mr. and Mrs. Hammett invited many a 66 homesick youth to dianer, and, after the company left for the north, took sick men into their own house. Mrs. M. E. Satchwell frequently sent magazines and basketfuls of good things out to the boys she knew, and, although half sick herself for awhile, she visited the hospi- tals, often and always looked out for any Company B boys she found there. Mr. and Mrs. Ed Fettiug couldn't do enough for the four fel- lows they took under their downy wings. The Misses Fetting, one of them a trained nurse, did untold good in the Second division hospital. The Misses Stout gave the boys dinners, and their father, Dr. Stout, gave them medicine. Mr. and Mrs. and Miss Bishop could not have been kinder. Dear old Major Anderson, perfect type of the old- fashioned southern gentleman, put some of the boys up at the Seminole club, and made life very agreeable just by being around. And, as I say, these are the people whose kindness was observed by one man only. Multiply by a hundred and it makes a goodly showing for the city on the St. Johns. The second day were in Jacksonville Company B of the Fiftieth was ordered to furnish what was known as the " water guard, " for the ostensible purpose of })reventing any one from decimating Uncle Sam's army by poisoning the city water supply. There were rumors of sacks of arsenic sunk in S|)rings near other camps. Water was piped out to camp from the Jacksonville water works, so, of course, it would involve poisoning the water of all the men, women and children in the city. I suppose, however, that a man who could commit the colossal crime of poisoning five thousand soldiers would not hesitate if he incidentally had to poison ten or fifteen thousand non-combatants. The fact that the possibility of such a thing was an idea seriously entertained by any number of people shows how excited the public imagination was at that time. And really, when you think of it, the men who blew up the Maine would hardly have shrunk from this more colossal crime. I sup- pose, however, that the general officers who established the water guard hadn't the slightest idea of guarding against poisoners. The beautiful grounds of the water-works were in the part of town nearest camp, and, without guard, many soldiers would have loafed there, and might possibly have caused some disturbance. Further, the most im- portant thing we could learn in Jacksonville was to keep vigilant watch on guard where we felt a serious responsibility. Hence the myth of the poisoners. The poison was like the sticks of dynamite that didn't wreck the train. At 9 o'clock on the morning of the 27th Lieutenant Header, Corporals Taylor, Greene and Miner, and fifteen privates, slung on their blankets and marched down to the water works for twenty-four hours of guard duty. In the midst of grounds prottily set out with trees and shrubbery- stand the buildings containing the big engines, furnaces, etc., of the water-works. Beside the big tower, not yet in use, there was an open reservoir, the size and shape of a base- ball diamond, which gave a large reserve of water in case of a fire. In the midst of a, smaller circular reservoir near by rose the jet of a fiuo artesian well, six inches in diameter and four feol in height. In the bark of the main building was a deep pit, into which the water was continually rushing before being forced into the pipes. This was the point where poison would be most effective. These three points had four sentrie.s, two on the big reservoir. There was another circular pond toward the left and rear of the building, and here was the fifth post. Of course ten men and two corporals were always at libertv to wander through the shady walks, and strike up flirtations witii the girls, and tease Old Joe, the eleven-foot alligator. A corporal and private went out to arrange for meals, and, after finding no decent res- taurant within nine blocks, they began to try private houses. After parleying with half a dozen ladies (some of whom they after- ward met more regularly) they struck a benevolent boarding house woman, whose cheery old darky cook certainly did beat Yillian and Stebens. This corporal was very neatly cut out by this private in the graces of a certain slim and charming damsel. If you don't believe it ask Miner. It was frightfully hot on some of those posts from 12 m. to 2, and from 2 till 3. The almost tropical sun stood square over your head and kept up a steady tattoo of heat waves. It was only ninety-two or -three in the shade, J)ut in the sun it was hotter, I think, than Iowa sunlight would be with the thermometer at ninety- two. Some of the fellows started to sleep on the grass outside the building that night, and a cool mist, delicious but dangerous, hung over them, soaking their blankets. Most of them moved inside after the first watch. Between midnight and 2 o'clock, with no sound audible but a low purring of machinery, the sound of falling water and the crunch of sentries' shoes in gravel, Doc Hoag on Post No. 4, spied a dark form slipping along in the shadows. " Halt! " sang out Doc. Tommy Owens would have said the dark form halted with a jump. There is something persuasive about the 68 A CRACKER S STANHOPE. FOURTH VIRGINIA MASCOTS AT DRILL word " Halt, " spoken loudly amid dead silence by a man with a loaded gun. "Who's there?" No answer. " Answer, or I'll shoot, " observed Doc, cocking and leveling his Springfield. " Don't shoot. It's me — an officer, " said a scared voice hastily. " Step into that light and be recognized, " was Doc's varia- tion of the regular formula. The dark form stepped with alacrity, and became visibly a big and very nervous policeman. "Oh," said Doc, lowering his rifle, "you're thai kind of an offi- cer, are you? What the H — 1 are you doing here? " "Why, nothing." said the policeman, sheepishly. "I was just comin' in for a little nap on this bench. None o' you fellows ever saw me before. Bin doin' it every night since this guard was put on. " " Not with this guard, you ain't, " said Doc, and he called the corpoi'al. When the corporal came, and understood, the officer was extremely relieved to find that he was at liberty to decamp. The water guard was relieved nest morning. Though guard duty is never a " snap " this episode, being out of the routine, was pleasant The routine of camp life was uninterrupted for a couple of weeks. The first Sunday in Jacksonville, the '29th of May, a large number of men from our company went down to Pablo beach, and had their first glimpse of and dip in the ocean. It was amusing to see the big eyes of the inlanders, who had uever seen the great waves break, nor smelt salt water, nor seen the skyline unbroken by any land. It was still more amusing to see them batted by the serf, and the half injured, half puzzled expression when the big combers knocked them down. Jimmy Carson said the waves tried to knock his head off when he wasn't look- ing. The sublimity of the sea awed them a little. Men who would carelessly swim across tlie Mississippi didn't feel like getting over their depth in this "stream of ocean" which was three thousands miles wide. It was, perhaps, fortunate, for we found afterward that Pablo beach had some very wicked cross-currents, that sometimes, wind and tide being right, carry swimmers northward and then toward Spain. One man who " knew rdl about the ocean " was out two or three hun- dred yards from shore when he saw four or five huge, black creatures bobbing shoreward from the deep sea. In spite of his nautical knowl- 71 edge he took the playful dolphins for sharks, made record-breaking time to the beach, and didn't boast any more of his intimacy with Mr. Neptune. The cooking for the first three or four days in Jacksonville wasn't verj' satisfactory, and we had no slielter from the sun while eating. Hence Captain DalzelFs telegram to Davenport for the mess-tent, the arrival of which, after three or four days, removed the greatest discom- fort of our lives in camp. The southern pine, which Jock called " tele- graph polos mit vitskers," were really of no account as shade trees. 'Iheir decorative value, however, was not !i[)preciated hy the boys who wrote home. In the first place, they were neither [)alm trees nor paliiu>tt() trees, as our good " Taps " wrote in his letters to The Democrat. They were the very resinous hard [)ine of the south. If you don't be- lieve they are resinous just lean your blue shirt against one of them, the bark of which has anywhere been cut througii. In place of the rigid symmetry of the northern pine, their branches grow with irregu- lar ;uid spontaneous grace. Each branch grows as it plea.ses, bending this way and that. The northern pine is a despot that allows no lib- erty of choice to its members in their growth. The palmettos are, of course, only a foot or so high. They give a half tropic character to all that part of Florida. Down at Pablo, only twenty odd miles away and no farther south, palm trees ai-e plentiful; their leaves and fronds be- ing like the palmetto, arranged und)rolla fashion, their trunks having a surface which looks like a pineapple, — endogenous affairs, --that is the trunk keeps growing up inside of itself, instead of adding new layers outside a central heart. Across the St. Johns river from camp were luxurious plantations, the houses being set round with date-trees, which look like sheaves of lances set with dajfifors, banana trees, whose big green flags flap lazily like elephant's ears, and married pairs of tig trees. There were groves of small orange trees, the big ones having been split by the great frost three years before, and lemon trees. There were little Japanese plum trees, rich and neat, and pomegran- ates whose seeds are sweet to eat and look like hexahedral rubies set in transparent green stone. There are velvet plants, and campVior trees, and everything else that can delight the tree-loving imagination. In the hummocks, which are little islands of big trees, amid swampy ground and low-growing timber, are magnificent live oaks, twenty and thirty feet in diameter, whose branches grow straight out for a hun- dred feet and then dip to the ground, making an interior hall, fes- 72 A SOLDIERS MARRIAliE. -•^--'•-' -■■--^--- AKKIVAL OF THE KOOKIES. tooned with trailing, gray-greeu, Spanish moss. You could sail across the St. Johns and up into tributaries that took you right into this Gar- den of Edeu. Then rowing back through the still night, the swirls of the oars and the wake of the boat would bubble and glisten with phos- phorescent fire, and the big southern moon would shine so bright that you could easily read by it. But tho.se glimpses of fairy land were infrequent. The frequent thing was something like this: — At -iiSO the trumpeters blew reveille. You were dead asleep, but you heard it, and before you woke up you were mechanically crawling into a blue shirt and feeling for your shoes. You pulled on trousers, laced your shoes, and tumbled out of your tent into the street. Then the first sergeant winked, or some- thing, and each squad fell in in front of its tents. The corporals re- ported absentees, and each put his squad thi-ough the seventeen exer- cises. The first sergeant winked again, squads were dismissed, every- body grabbed his towel and made for the wash- basins. Five minutes after dismissal of squads, at quarter past five, mess call sounded; the privates fell in, regardless of height, at the officers' end of the com- pany street, and were marched to the three long tables which ran from end to end of the mess tent in the rear. Tin plate, knife, fork and cup were at each plate; bread and bacon, potatoes and coffee, were passed around. After mess you usually had ten minutes or so to roll a cigar- ette and get your eyes open. Then came the notes of fatigue call ; the twelve companies were formed, and each one was marched by a com- pany officer over back of the tents of the field and staff. It was un- usual in military life, but the battalion commanders were obliged by brigade orders to be present for fatigue, and after the companies were lined uj) on the railroad track in the first camp, and on the shellroad in the second, the majors gave the command, " Forward, march! " and went back to bed. Then the regiment went forward slowly and loosely, across the entire camp, from the field officers' tents to the line of sinks, picking up every stick, scrap of paper, cigarette butt, lemon jjcel, twig, and wisp of hay. Each battalion had its bonfire in the rear, where everything burnable was burned, and the rest carted away. This " po- lice " duty was done thoroughly, and any attempt to shirk it was dis- astrous. Immediately after fatigue call, and while the well were pick- ing up " snipes, " the sick were taken up by the " non-com " in charge of quarters to the surgeon's tent. Until the middle of August there were not many to respond to sick call, but after that time about half 75 the company responded to fatigue and half to sick call, beside those uaahle to respond to either. So benches were placed beside the sur- geon's tent, and these benches were better filled than the " pews " on Sunday, after the grave and lovely notes of " church. " Each man had a minute or two to tell his troubles to the lieutenant surgeons, who did and said what they could, while the hospital steward marked each man "for duty, " or "sick in (juarters, " or "sick in hos[)ital, "' in the com- pany sick books. After fatigue and sick call came inspection of quarters, un- heralded by any bugle call. The company commandant, accompanied by a sergeant who shouted out "attention!" marched down one side of the company street, through the mess tent and kitchen, and back on the other side. The men stood at attention, each man in front of his own slee[)ing ([uarters. Blankets had to be airing, if it wasn't rain- ing; clothing had to be neatly folded, ami after the tent floors were in they had to be cleanly swept. At 5:40 came the first call for guard mount. The guard detail fell in in the company street and was inspected by the first sergeant. Of course the most perfect condition and cleanliness of person, cloth- ing, and equi[)ment was required of men going on guard. The guard detail of each rom|)any consisted always of from three to four privates; once in four days a corporal also; once in twelve days a sergeant also. At 5:45 came guard mount, and then each first sergeant marched his detail out onto the field otficers' street, where the ceremony of forming the guard and marching it to review took place. The inspection of the guard was rather trying on the men. To stand for ten or fifteen minutes (it seems an hour) motionless and rigid, with eyes straight to the front, is never luxurious. With the thermometer at ninety, and no breeze blowing, and the air still wet with the unscattered mist of the night, and the wet ground steaming in the sun, it may fairly be called uncomfortable, and nearly every day some man would keel over like a log. It was wise, on tho.se guard mounts, not to fix the eye-balls too steadil}'. If things began to swim a little, and get the least bit cloudy on the edges of the field of vision, it wasn't in the book but it was ex- cellent good sense to look first at near things and then at distant ones. To rest tl\f optic nerv^e wards off loss of consciousness and prevents an unpleasant tumble. It spoils the looks of the line to have men fall- ing over. 70 It was, perhaps, on guard mount that we felt most keenly the lack of a band. Fatigue being over, most of the regiment watched guard mount from the officers' street. Guard mount is a pretty ceremony, and it is rendered interesting by the rivalry of the companies in re- gard to getting one of their men in as orderly. A good band makes a difference of fifty per cent, in the tone and spirit of a regiment, and the difference is felt chiefly on guard mount and dress parade. The orderly having been selected, and the new guard having marched off to relieve the old one at the guard house, most of the fel- lows put on leggings, got out rag and stick and gun-oil, and went to work on their rifles. The rust started over night in that damp air, and once well started there was no stopping it. Belt plates came in for a furbishing only once or twice a week, but certainly they got it be- fore Saturday morning inspection. During guard mount the non-com in charge of (juarters went over to the commissary tent, with a couple of men and a Buzzacotte camp pan, and drew the meat for the dav. This meat was refrigerated beef, put out of the cars right there and then. That furnished to Company B was perfectly good and sweet, except one day, when the outside of it was pretty rank. It was only necessary, however, to cut oft the out- side part, the inside Ijeing unspoiled. We saw nothing of the famous (or infamous) canned roasted beef, which was an emergency ration. We drew the regular field ration; not, of course, as full or varied as the garrison ration. Half an hour after meat was issued the ice came up from town, and the non-com sent two men and a rubber blanket after it. At 6:25 came first call for drill, followed at 6:30 by drill call, which found the men standing, in leggings, web-belts with bayonets thrust into them, and rifles, either near their regular places in company line or else running to get there. Assendily, five minutes later, meant fall in, which command was instantly given by the first sergeant, who called the roll and reported to the captaiu. He. taking command, marched the company out for the regular morning drill. The various kinds of drill can best be considered later in a separate paragraph. After a drill of an hour and a half or so we would hear, being then out in the woods, the welcome notes of recall, blown over at camp. The company having been marched in, and having been brought to port arms and dismissed by the first sergeant, there was a rush for the cool water, prepared by the non-com in charge of quarters. No 77 canteens were allowed on drill, the theory being that a man stands it better without water. After being almost continually busy from a quarter to 5 until 8, the men were, as a rule, free from recall until drill call at 3:30 in the afternoon. This time after drill was employed by the men in bathing, sewing on buttons, or removing pine pitch from blue shirts. Some washed their own underclothes, others gave them to the crowd of negro washermen and women. The.se darkies, be- ing unable to road, but having long memories, would put little tags of colored cloth ou each bundle of clothes and remember in tliat way which clothes were whose. The most conspicuous of these people was " Old Reliable "' as he called himself. Although he was no more relia- ble than the others, the name stuck to him, and he, being the only en- ergetic nigger in the south, reaped a silver harvest; and no doubt now has a brown stone front and a white trash coachman. When you told him tho.se things hail to bo back ne.\t day, ho answered, "I'll do my endeavorest, boss; I'll do my endeavorest. " There was, as a rule, noth- ing but mess call at noon for the men, and that was not compul.sory. Some of them, therefore, often s[)ont the intervening time down town, going to Nick Arend's for lunch, and spending several hours in the cool and cosy rooms of the Seminole club, where there were billimds, cool drinks and things to read. For the officers and non-commissioned officers, however, there was daily theoretical instruction. School call was sounded at 10 o'clock ; the officers' school lasted about half an hour ; and then all non-coms not on guard or special duty went over and sat near the colonel's tent, under the big tree which figures in the illustra- tions. Captain Bisho[) of C company was instructor, under the su[)er- intendence of Colonel Lambert. Obscure points in tactics, and their practical application, were explained by the instructor, who answered questions which had puzzled corporals and sergeants in the perform- ance of their duties. Captain Bishop's regular army e.\perience had very well qualified him for this instructorship. At 11:80, came first sergeant's call. At this time each first ser- geant, repairing to the office of the sergeant-major, received back the company sick book, which the non-com in charge of quarters had taken up to the surgeon at sick call. He also received his first sergeant's book, which had been sent to the sergeant-major not later than 8:30, and from which the sergeant-major had calculated the portion of the next days' guard allotted to each company. A POPULAR lA^LIMi: 4 J 'VJlAi STAFF OFFICERS EN.IOVIN(i THEMSELVES. At 12 came: — "Soupy, soupy, soupy, without a single bean. Porky "porky, porky, witliout a streak of lean, Coffee', coffee, coffee, the worst I ever seen. ' But Company B, as will be afterward explained, fared better than the rude soldier rhyme of "Mess" would have you believe. If there were clothes to be issued by the regimental quartermas- ter, they were issued about 1 oVlock. The issue of rations to the com- panies occurred regularly every teu days, but the men were at drill and saw nothing of it. At 3:30 came drill call and assembly, as m the morning, and the drill was the same as then, only that reviews were sometimes substituted. Recall brought us in pretty tired, and we lay around and swapped lies for three quarters of an hour. At 5:30, came dress parade, the showiest thing in military life. Don't imagine that we put on those hot blouses for dress para.le, or wore trim caps with shining visors. Blue shirts and campaign hats "went" on dress pa- rade as elsewhere. The showiness is in the regimental formation, and the reporting of the battalion adjutants; in the how-de-doing of the adjutant and the colonel, and the publication of orders; in the sounding off and trooping of the band, in the playing of the Star Spangled Ban- ner and the sounding of retreat, which officially ends the day's work; and the marching up of the field and staff, the colonel returning their salute, and the passing iu review of the companies, each one putting up the very best line of which it is capable. For several weeks during the rainy season drill call would sound at 3:30, and then, immediately, instead of assembly would come recall, which was to say that Jupiter Pluvius had the floor and we would not drill. Then we put our heads in, and shut the tent-flies, and made bets as to whether the water in the company street would or would not rise higher than the four-inch tent floors. Of course there was an order aglinst games of chance in quarters, but what was there to do? And the non-com in charge of quarters was not going to get a ducking just to see what was being done in each tent. On rainy days, also, retreat roll call was substituted for dress pa- rade. If it was pouring at 5:30 the corporals checked their squads and reported to first sergeants, who reported to battalion adjutants, who told Fritz Goedecke. If it was not actually raining each com- pany was lined up in its own street, without arms, facing the west; then brought to parade rest, while the assembled field music sounded re- treat, and the band played the Star Spangled Banner,— an air that 81 grows sweeter and sweeter to a man the longer he is a soldier — an air that seems to idealize all the work-a-day details of his life. To staiid at the end of the day and hear that piece made a man feel (what no man ever spoke of) the fact that he was working for his country ; and that, however trivial or prosy his work, it was the best he could do for her, and he must do it well. After dress parade, or retreat roll call, came mess call at six, and supper. After supper the point of most interest was the issue of candies. There was about one-fourth of a candle for every four men, and competition was lively. The non-com in charge of quarters had to be careful to keep candles from being appropriated and hoarded by tlirifty individuals. Matches were almost as valuable as candles. The market price of a match was "the makin's " of a cigarette. There were but two more calls, the long and sweet tattoo, which, at (juarter to 9, told men that there were but fifteen minutes more of ligiits. Men visiting other companies sauntered back to their own quarters, men from town came in, walking rapidly or running; men at the sutler's finished their ice cream and " s(]uared up, " men writing letters wrote " must stop, there's tattoo. " Those who liked to undress with a light did so, and then came ''taps" — most musical, most melaiicholy of bugle calls, full of yearning for and promise of peace in the midst of war, and, over the grave, full of yearning for the life beyond it. Just before taps you had glimpses of dozens of candle-lit interiors, showing brown faces against white walls. After it, on a dark night, you saw nothing but darkness; in half moonlight the tents showed ghostly gray. Just after tape you saw a single light moving from tent to tent. It was the non-com in charge taking check. Taps:— I. II. Day is o'er; Life is o'er: Night's begun: Death's begun; Let the lights Let tlie eyes Shine no more, See no more, Duty's done. Duty's done. Wearied sore, Wearied sore, Sleep each one,— Sleep this one,— Day is done. Life is done. The regular routine made every day very much like every other. They were all of the same type with individual variations. Sunday there would be excursions to Pablo and St. Augustine, or across the St. John's, or dinner with friends down town, or an alligator hunt. Fre- quently, [for awhile, there wouldJ;be an afternoon thunder-storm or 82 THE "FORTS grabs" HOTKL. OUR bob" on kitchen police. cloud-burst in the place of afteruoou drill. Sometimes we would go on the rifle range for a day s target work. Sometimes there would be brigade, or division, or even corps review. Every day between 8 and 12,''or between 1 and 3:30, there would be a large detail from each company for special fatigue. Seven or eight men under a corporal would go and dig trendies in the vain attempt to drain the flat, low camp; 'or they would grub giant stamps off the parade ground, or build bridges over trenches, or shovel and haul sand, or help build a stable for officers' horses. Of course, drill was our main business io life, and we got all kinds of it, from squad drill up to regimental drill. The rookies drilled under McBurney, who promptly scared them into being good soldiers. Their progress was thorough and remarkably rapid. I am sure every man of them thought he would be blindfolded and shot if he did right face instead of left. "Lane! Lane! step up there, sir!" became a stock quotation. Tommy Owens, however, was not to be abashed by Mac's rigid soldier face. Oue day Tommy was very slow in executing " about face. " "Owens, what do you mean?" demanded the sergeant sternly. •'You have drilled before. You should be ashamed, sir. Turn promptly on your right heel. " "Sure, Sergeant," said Tommy, in honied tones; "Sure an' the heel of me goverument shoe has come off, sor, an' how kin Oi turn on ut?" Men say that Mac, although on duty, smiled. Tliis, however, is probably an exaggeration. For some reason, there was very little brigade or division drill such as General Lincoln gave us in Des Moines. To be sure, there wasn't enough open ground for neat manoeuvers, but if our division had operated in Cuba it would not have had much country. What- ever the reason, three-fourths of the drill was by battalion, and three- fourths of that was wisely open order, twocompauies advancing by sec- tion, two companies in reserve, all being thrown at last upon one firing line' then " to the charge, " and " charge. " After advancing by rushes over a Florida field, suuggling dowu into the deep sand to avoid imaginary bullets, we would find our legs full of "jiggers" ovchigres; little beasts that worked under the skin and made itchy red spots. Upon these we put kerosene. Some tried gun-oil. Other days we practiced advance guard work, throwing out point and flankers, form- ing company in advance, support and reserve. The advance in battle 85 formation and open order was performed to the satisfaction of General Bancroft by Major Tillie's battalion. This was the first day he saw our drill, and he complimented it hij^lily, saying to the major. "That movement was very well executed. You may take your battalion in, sir!" General Bancroft was a terror, and his praises were as rare as white blackbirds. The battalion was marching over to the parade ground one day when General Lee, a couple of staff officers, and a carriage containing the general's daughters, came up the road across which the battalion wa.s marching. (Jt-neral T.,ee reined in his big horse, and as Company B came along he exclaimed to the ladies, " Look at those faces! Just look at those faces! Did you ever see finer faces than those?" Were it not for the well known modesty of the present company chronicler he would mention the fact that ho himself was the person the general was thinking of; and, also that, with his customary tact, the general said faces instead of face, iu order to avoid hurting the other boys' feelings. One day the entire regiment was given a red-hot battle drill, with the three-mile house as an objective. We were closing in on this house through thick woods, devoid of underbush for the last twn or three hundred yards. Two fat darky women were waddling along through the woods, carrying baskets, when they saw the regiment com- ing for them. At a hundred and fifty yards the bugle sang out the fierce and rapid "kiU'em! kilTem! kiU'om! " of the charge, and the regiment shot forward, yelling, with glistening, bristling bayonets. The two fat darky women wailed and Heil. They wont faster than the regimental sprinter; they cleared the road fence like antelope; they pattered down the shell road in a cloud of white dust ; they bolted into a cabin, and shut the door, and probably piled tables and chairs against it. Another day the Second battalion was drilling on new ground. There was a dip, or hollow, about fifty yards from the eastern fence. At two hundred yards, moving east, we charged ; we came to the hol- low, went down into it and struck a swampy creek at the bottom. The officers were in the rear and didn't see it, .so the battalion raced throusrh it — knee deep and thigh deep, — neck deep if you upset, as some men did. It was wettish and muddyish, but it was good fun. One day General Bancroft put each company separately through company drill. Poor Heatou of Fairfield snarled his company, tangled 86 it and drew it into hard knots, while Old Two-Two, or Too-Too, or Toot-oo, laid on the lash of his satiric tongue. " B " watched " M," made mental notes, and when Amos came over we took a cadence of a hun- dred and thirty, and snapped through manual and marching without a slip. We had a tumble, though. The stumps had not yet been grubbed up, and Captain Tom, facing his company, was marching backward as we came left front into line. The captain struck a stump emphatically, and describing an airy parabola, sat down still more emphatically in traus-stumpian territory. The captain's first remark was also emphatic. Bancroft promptly decided that here was a forci- ble nature, and treated the captain with marked respect. Another day, on battalion drill, Bancroft sent two of our captains from the field on account of some trifling mistake. " Go to your quar- ters and study the drill regulations, " did not seem wall calculated to preserve the respect of the enlisted men for their company oflicers. The men, however, knew that we all made mistakes,— even General Bancroft— for we saw him make them. Even the privates knew that on brigade review the brigadier should bring his command to present arms before he himself turned and saluted the reviewing officer. Our brigadier terrorized and bullied the men on guard. He scared one sentry so that he could not give his general orders, and then asked the boy if his mother had good sense. Brigadiers should not ask imperti- nent questions about people's mothers. General Lincoln was just as strict as General Bancroft. Lincoln's men respected him, and obeyed instantly and cheerfully. His rebuke was just as stinging, but it was invariably felt to be based on accurate judgment and justice. General Bancroft is doubtless a charming man in private life; he may do well as a Harvard overseer, and as vice president of the Boston Street Rail- way, but as a brigadier he was a martinet, and, worse than that, an amateur martinet. If he had really known his own business we would have respected him for his sharp criticisms of the way we did ours. But why that piece of paper he carried and consulted when he desired to see seven or eight regimental evolutions? The general orders of every private in the brigade required more memorization than those seven or eight commands. He is reported to have said that the Fiftieth Iowa was not fit to march in a Boston torch-light procession. Also that they were undersized clerks and desk-men who lacked physi- cal vigor and intelligence. I suppose he was thinking of such puny creatures as Ham Gronen and Bill Schwartz! Still, General Bancroft ■ST did give us the uew and true iuformatiou that two nud two make four. He also told the assembled officers and non-coms of the brigade that the regulation quick timo step was thirty -six inches. The two plus two sum had convinced us of his uiathemnticnl accurac}', so, of course, we knew the Drill Regulations must be mistaken in giving the regulation step as only thirty inches. Thirty inches might do for undergrowu Iowa men, but for a stalwart Bostonian torch- light [)rocessiou the proper step Wiis thirty-si.\. When the trump- eter at the guard house sounded two flourishes for the brigadier you could see men '' rul>bor-ueckiug '" from every comi)anv street to see who was going to catch it now. It was nut for General Bancroft, however, that Sentry No. 1 called out, " Turn out de whole push ; here comes the main guy! " For a variety of incidents and causes General Bancroft was cordially hated by every officer and man in the regiment, and, it is likely, in the brigade. The brigade adjutant. Lieutenant Cassatt of the Fourth United States regular cavalry, captain of volunteers, was nat- urally not charmed with the task of licking volunteer regiments into shape while battles were being fought in Cuba. He was sore, and General Bancroft may have been influenced by his tone and attitude. Three of our men who wanted to be transferred to a retjular reeiment in front of Santiago nearly had their heads taken otl for daring to want to do what he, Captain Cassatt, was not permitted to do. Well, we learned open order battalion drill down there, anyway. We didn't know the drill signals of the bugle, only " halt, " anf .hint' occurred the unveiling of the confed- erate monument in Jacksonville. Federal and confelain sight were fourteen full bottles festooning their persons. The corporal, who was standing behind the line, gasped and made signals of distress. He steered his guests to his tent, and they pulled out bot- tles for five minutes. The corporal persuaded them that they were huuf^rv, and sot them off to the sutler s. Then he transferred a few of the bottles to the tents of his comrades — just few enough so their absence would pass unnoticed. At mess he tried to keep one eye on his tent. Jersey and Company, however got in somehow, unseen, and were rapidly making dead soldiers when the men came up from the mess tent. The Mississippians were very happy and generous and cordial, and the corporal introduced eight or nine of his friends. Of course, Jersey asked everybody to have one, and, of course, everybody did. A dozen men can, at a pinch, handle twelve bottles without out- rao-ing the proprieties. But it was really pathetic to see the expres- sion on Jersey's face when he found the bottles all empty and nobody full. He wanted to send for three dozen more; or, if the rest of the corporal's company would drink with him, three hundred more. We explained sorrowfully that the canteen was now closed. (I hope for the sake of our veracity that it was. ) We also regretted to say that our tyrannical officers — Lieutenant Jim had limped down from his tent to help tide over the emergency — that our d — d — officers wouldn't allow us to have our friends sleep with us. Also that our d — d — d— sentinels arrested everybody who tried to get out after 7 o'clock, and the only way to keep out of the guard house was to go at once. Lord forgive us the lies we told that delightful giant with his tender heart and hard muscles! It seemed to him the most natural thing in the 105 world to walk into a company's quarters and get it druuk. Discipline was an idea which his big, innocent mind had never entertained, — it was no use arguing that way at all. Wu didn't want to hurt his feel- iucs; for, in the first [ilace, he was a royal good fellow, and in the sec- ond, he was six feet three, weighed two-thirty, and was as bard as iron. He told us that he was out one niglit. after tajis, with four or five comrades, and the sentry wouldn't let them in. They didn't know what to do, but Jersey said, narrating: "I tol 'em I'd hold the guard 'n they cud go in. So I held him and they ran in. " " You held him?" •' Yeah. "' '• How was that?" '• Jest held him. " " Didn't he call the corporal?" " Nao: not till the boys was in. I held his miouth shot till they 'uns was in. " " Well what happened to you? Dioles, bundles of pegs, camp stools, improvised arm racks, rxld lumber, clothes lines: the lilaiiket rolls, canteens, haversacks, belts, bayonets, and rities of those with the wagons, all were piled into the wagons. The shacks tiicm- selves, some of them two-storv ones, were loaded on. One of tiiem looked like a cage on a circus wagon. Bob Osborne, craning his long neck out of the cage, was giraffe, and Jock exhibited him all along the route. But the great feat of the day was moving the big Company B bath house on a wagon. It was ten feet high, ten wide and twenty long and weighed, anyhow, a ton and a half. By means of ropes and poles and the muscle of sixty men, it was upset onto an army wagon, upon which two-inch boards were laid lengthwise. Speth acted as wagoner, but it was Company C's six- mule team and driver. This driver, a civilian, of course, had his leggings on backward: and Bob Osborne, seeing the hootloo, swore they'd never get that l)ath house over there. It wa.s about the biggest wagon load ever hauled, and as the wagon cleared the camp and struck a ditch there was a crash. Part of the side upon which it rested had given away, and let the whole thing down on the hind wheels. But they b(X)sted her up, and stuck under her a two-inch board, crosswise from wheel to wheel, and went ahead. The batii house was worth the trouble. Its use saved hosjii- tal room and funeral expenses. It was time the old camp was moved. We should have been out of there just six weeks sooner, after the first heavy rain. The ground being low and flat, there was no way of draining off the water. In vain we dug ditches six feet deep at one end. The water merely stood 112 AT MAYPORT HOTEL. AN OUTING AT MAYPORT, FLA. six feet deep. The soil was not sand, but hardpan,— packed, black earth that held water indefinitely. After a rain, the water was one or two inches deep over the company street, and a foot and a half in the southeast corner of camp. The pictures of the coloners tent and cook shack tell their own story. We built an island for the mess tent and kitchen, being forced, however, by the lack of wagons, to leave around our island deep pools, which were soon covered with green scum, and lay there rotting in the sun. Before we built the island, we stood ankle deep in water at meals. I do not know who is responsible for keeping the brigade there. Colonel Jackson reported after the first heavy rain that the camp was unsuitable. How very unsuitable it was I do not think he realized. Our lieutenant-surgeons reported week after week upon the unsanitary condition of things behind the kitch- ens. These reports were neatly endorsed and pigeon-holed. It's all over now though, and there's no use rattling the bones. If we have another war we'll go though precisely the same thing again. The vet- erans of the cival war snitf at criticism of our army camps and grunt out, " Soldiers must die. " To be sure, and cheerfully,— Jt'/ien neces- sary. But that things were scandalously mismanaged in '61 is no justification for mismanagement in '98. In ".18 we had the whole friendly continent to camp in, and thirty-eight years of medical devel- opment to devote to sickness and sanitation. A good deal may be at- tributed to inexperience, but a great deal must be attributed to lack of intelligence, energy and sense of duty on the part of liigh officers. When a man, soldier or civilian, lays down his life for a great end it enobles his nation and the world. When men's lives are sacrificed through lazy brutality it degrades. Well, the new camp was better. It was high, sloping, sandy and treeless. The sickness which developed there so rapidly through the month of August was simply the result of our old surroundings. Two weeks after we got into the new camp there was an official investiga- tion of the sanitary, or rather of the unsanitary, condition of the old one. A lieutenant-surgeon and two hospital stewards were trying to locate the first case of typhoid fever and the cause of it. Sergeaut Leonardy was detailed by Adjutant Goedecke to assist the stewards and answer their questions. He had to describe the old camp, tell how far the sinks were from the kitchens, how far the bath house was from the sinks, how many men there were in each tent, how green the pools were, and how many cubic feet of liquid daily leaked out of the 115 old slop-barrels. The investigation revealed that the first case of typhoid fever was Private B. Meudouhall's. of Company Ij. I supjiose that knowledge gave the authorities much satisfaction, but to unpro- fessional {)eople the investigation was much like locking the stable door after the calf was stolen. On August 21, General Lee sent a telegram to Senator Gear, say- ing that the condition of the Fiftieth Iowa had been greatly exagger- ated in the reports which had reached the state. He stated that the regiment had on that day but seventy-six in the hospital and sixty- four sick in (luarters. The general probably instructed somebmly to have somelxxly else send au orderly to so-and-so with instructions to have so-and-so report number of sick in regiment. Then so-and-so looks at the regimental sick books and finds one hundred and tliirty- four sick, and that is the official figure sent to Senator Gear. On the twenty-fifth, however, the comp(itiy sick book of •' B " showed nine sick in hospital and sixteen in quarters. The regimental book softened these figures to five in hospital and six in quarters. The regimental book showed eleven sick, the company book showed thirty-four, and there were a dozen half-sick men not on the company book. On the same day a regimental medical officer stated privately that forty per cent, of the regiment was unfit for duty. Two weeks hitter it was sixty |ier cent. Men recuperating at Pablo l)each were carried on the books as being on special duty. A company of the First Wisconsin, wliic li had shared the swamp with us, were hard hit by the typhoid. Seven- teen of their men had died up to August 21.— the regimental flag was always at half mast, funeral escort duty was as regular rs guard mount, and the company turned out three fours instead of eleven. The names of our dangerously sick in the latter part of August and in September would comprise half the company roster- -and no- body was wholly well. The meaning of the lialf-masted flag came h-ime bitterly to the boys and those at home, when on Friday. August r.l. Walter G. Nagel died in the Second Division hosi)il!il of typlioid fever. His father had left Davenport the night before, accompanied by Miss Erlith Risley, but unfortunately they could not arrive in time. Nagel was one of the best soldiers, one of the best-liked and brightest men in the company, — a college man and a journalist of great promise —who at the age of twenty-three had already done excellent work in his profession. 116 The newspaper men of Davenport met and appointed a committee to call upon the bereaved family and tender the sympathy and assist- ance of newspaper men in any capacity in which they might be of ser- vice. Another committee drew up resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting, as follows: — " Prompted by sentiments of patriotism, Walter G. Nagel, in re- sponse to his country's call for defenders, offered his life upon the altar. While in line of duty he was stricken. Inasmuch as he was actively engaged as a newspaper man upon the Davenport Daily Re- publican at the time of his enlistment, and had been for a period of two years, it was deemed fitting and appropriate that we, the repre- sentatives of the newspapers of the city of Davenport, offer an humble tribute to his memory. " Recognizing in him a man of sterling qualities— pure in charac- ter noble fn purpose-it is with the deepest regret that we learn of his' demise. His enlistment in Company B of the Fiftieth Iowa Vol- unteers was but an illustration of the inward promptings of his nature. As a newspaper man, he was prompt, faithful, and true-a soldier, he placed his life in the keeping of the Father who gave, and bowed to His immutable will. " While death was not from wounds received upon the held ot battle, yet in line of duty he fell, and not the less glorious is the sacred halo which surrounds the memory of this hero. Therefore, " While to those who knew and loved him best -to his mother, bowed with her awful grief; to his father, who watched and guarded him in his youth, and to whom he was an honor in manhood; to those whose love he had enshrined in his mauly heart, we can offer no con- solation, yet we come with this our tribute: "Resolved: That in the death of Walter G. Nagel the com- munity has lost a young man wht. was an honor to it; that the press has lost one of its brighest and best representatives; that the nation has lost one of her bravest and truest sons. " "S. W. Se.\rle, " F. J. B. HuoT, "S. D. Cook." So wrote his friends and fellow workers, the newspaper men of Davenport. His soldier comrades silently thanked them for those words. The bond of soldier life together is even closer than the bon.ls of daily work. In camp, every man's chaiacter is shown with start- iiy ilug tlistioctness through all surface [xjlish aiicl accidents of breeding. The four or five essential traits of a man, — his courage and kindness, his temixrance and truth, — these come to nn infallible test, and by that constant test of mess and bunk and drill and fun and sickness, Nagcl was tried by his comrades and found not wanting. The things they said were simple, but they canio from each man's heart. There was hardly anyone there who did not know that, while he himself went on living, a better man than he had died. (Jn Sunday the company fell in without arras and escorted the body to the station, whence it was to be carried to Oakdale in Daven- port. The boys filed past the cotfin, one by one, and saw iiiiu lying beautiful in the perfect peace of death. Bobbie Sindt blew " taps, " and the soul of the boy was in the lovely notes wiiich yearned and prayed. The hearse moved slowly down the Sabbath street followed by the company, marching very slowly and faultlessly to the solemn beat of a single mutHed drum. The armed firing sijuad was to the right ami left of the hearse, the band of tlu- Fiftieth jirccedeil it. Three or four times they played slow and powerful music, whicli being heard under those circumstances, voiced for us the wonder and mys- tery and sadness of death — '• vast and well-veiled Death " — which comes " in the dav, in the night, to all. to each, sooner or later, delicate death. " Another soldier's funeral escort preceded us to the station, and we [)assed still another which was returning. Mr. Nagel, at the sta- tion, passed down the line and pressed the white-gloved hand of every man in thi' company. It was pitiful beyond words to see him. Private Robert Risley was furloughed and accompanied the coffin home. And so we had done the last thing we could do for Walter Nagel, except remember him to the ends of our days as the pattern of a man and soldier. The peace protocol had been signed, the fighting was over, we had missed it. As long as we had a faint hope of movement and action, the man kejjt up; each one was interested in fitting liiinself to play his part in possible great events. But now came disillusion. It was all over, others wore the laurel, we the rue. It was very thought- ful of President McKinley to say that we too had done our duty and were entitled to ecjual credit. Eoosevelt, who must have been the best man to serve under who ever lived, said the same thing of the Rough Rider squadron which remained at Tampa. The consolation was kind, 120 ta » > 3 o o > a but uot wholly effectual. Had we been perfect soldiers of the German and English type, it would have been ours not to reason why. We would have waited, or fought, imperturbably, according to orders. But blind obedience, be it a good or bad (quality, is not in the Ameri- can soldier. Obedience yes, but it is open-eyed obedience that reasons and sees why. Consequently, — the war practically over, no active service to hope for, sickness honey-combing the regiment, — discipline began to relax. Guard duty was no longer done with precision. The business men at home were working to have the regiment brought north for recupera- tion. Thea came news that a hundred thousand volunteers were to be mustered out. It was left to the regiment itself to determine whether to go north or stay in Jacksonville. Most of the men wanted to go north, most of the ofRcei's wanted to stay. The discussion was unsol- dierly, but the regiment cannot be criticised for entering upon it. Brigade head(juarters ordered the regiment to find out what its own wish was, and the process of finding out necessitated votings and dis- cussions. The following telegram bears on the point: " Washington, I). C, August 22, 1898. Mayor George T. Baker, Davenport, Iowa: — The recpaest for the removal of Fiftieth Iowa regiment should originate with the officers and men. If they desire this, I can co-operate. Will promptly inquire as to need of trained nurses and medical attention. " James AVilson, Secretary of Agriculture. " On Saturday, the twentieth, telegraphic orders were i-eceived from the war dej^artment to grant Privates Alfred VanPatten and John Chambers honorable discharges ; and Monday evening, they left for the north. No men in the company were more anxious to get to the front as long as there was auy front. Chamljers had been company clerk, then with VanPatten had guarded the regimental colors carried by McBurney, and then had been sent, together with a corporal of " K, " to take a prisoner to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth. The penalty for letting a prisoner escape is imprisonment. This prisoner did )iot escape. VanPatten had declined the position of mounted or- derly to General Lee. As the two passed through the streets of Jack- sonville with their discharges in their pockets, they had great fun with the provost guards. These guards had orders to make soldiers on the street keep their blue shirts buttoned at the neck. Van and Cham, left them conspicuously unbuttoned. " Button up your shirt, " said a guard. 123 " It's too hot, " said Cbam. " Why, — why, — it's orders, " gasped the guard, in blank amaze- ment at being disobeyed. " Orders be d — d, " said the ex-soldier. Then the guard, being a rookie, and a man of no determination, stood with his mouth o[>en, staring helplessly after those high-handed law-breakers. The entertaining performance being repeated witli another guard, he got angry, called the cor[X)ral. who likewise got angry, and when he gave orders to march them off (o " Hotel Peek-n-lK)o, " Van and Cham., calmly prmlucing their '• buzzards, " told the irate corpora! to go to Jacksonville. They walketl away, exploding with laughter, ami the foolish look on that corporal's face was a study. On the twenty-seventh, S»'rgeant Burnieister rojoincil the com- pany after a long siege of serious sickness in Davenport, wiierc lie iiad gone on recruiting service, June 11. On Se[)tember ;?, Captain Ualzell telegraphed Mayor liaker: "Use all possible means to get regiment moved quickly. Sickness steadily increasing. Company B has twenty hospital cases, five new ones today. Can you send us reliable person to assist in looking after the wants of sick men? " It had already been decided to move the regiment north, and it was simply a question as to how quickly it could be done. On Sep- tember 1, Cautwell's letter to The Democrat shows that of Com[)any B's one hundred and six men, five sick men were at Pablo beach, fif- teen in hospital, nineteen in quarters, two iti the city and two north on furlough. Bob Osborne at this time won golden opinions for his care of the sick in quarters. With them he was as gentle, patient and painstaking as Com[)auy B's good angels, Mrs. Dalzell and Mrs. Hender, who worked night and day caring for the sick. Somebody printed a disparaging remark about Captain Dalzell in one of the Davenport papers. The company rallied in an instant to their leader's support, and had they discovered him, they would have kangarooed the writer of that remark. How cut up the company was by sickness may be seen from the fact that in a review of the Seventh corps held August 30, Com[)any B could turn out but twenty-six men. The uewswaper files for the first two weeks of September show the details of the process of caring for the sick and getting them home. L. A. Dilley came down to Jackson- 124 MAJOR THOJIAS C. DALZELL. ville as Davenport's personal representative, with carte blanclie to do everything necessary for both the sick and well among the Daven- port boys. Saturday night. September 10, Company B lost its second mem- ber by death. John Schroeder, whose home was seven or eight miles from Davenport on the Jersey Ridge road, joined the company at Jacksonville, June 24, and quietly performed all his duties until Sep- tember 1, when he went on sick report, and for three days was sick in quarters, " in line of duty. " On the fourth of September, typhoid having developed, he was transferred to the Second Division hosjai- tal, and after a sickness of only ten days, death came suddenly and un- expectedly as the result of a perforation. He was buried at Daven- port, and as one of the four who " gave all they had to their country, " his memory will ever be honored by his comrades of Company B. On the thirteenth, the paper work having been completed and the red tape unrolled, the Fiftieth broke camp. How luajiy little typhoid fever bugs must have met an unlamented death in that thick cloud of smoke which went up from burning bedding and superfluous effects — the tag-rag and bob-tail of a permament camp! In spite of all the sickness and death and monotony endured on that spot, there is still a kind of homesickness in looking back to it Many a word of soldier wit and pathos was spoken there, many an unspoken hope and thought is linked with the sight of those '' telegraph poles uiit vitskers, " many a starlight night and crimson dawn was beautiful there for us. The regiment left Jacksonville at noon, and after doing nothing for so long, the four days' trip to Des Moines was pleasant to the remnant of Com- pany B which had its health. The engine didn't have so much to pull coming back, the men were so thin. It is estimated pretty closely that the company had lost three thousand four hundred aud forty pounds since it first left Davenport. On Saturday, the seventeenth, the regiment reached Des Moines. All the way through Illinois and Iowa, until they reached Des Moines, the boys were warmly welcomed. In Des Moines no one paid the slightest attention to the soldiers, their com- fort or even their necessities. Nothing to eat had been prepared for them, so that what they ate the first day they paid for themselves. Don't talk Des Moines to us — we won't have it. After the regiment left Jacksonville, 0. A. Landy, private of Com- pany B, took Mr. Dilley's place as Davenport's representative in car- ing for the men too sick to come north. These were Olin G. Hoover, 127 Gustav B. LeGrande, Miller, Kurtz. Bullock, Gosch, Price, Rosche and Kahles. The hospital was so far improved by this time in every respect, that nothing more could have been done than was ilone for these men. In spite of all care, however, two more of the boys lay down their lives in the service of their country. Corporal Olin G. Hoover, an old member of the company, who, in April, had given up a gootl (Kjsition in Chicago to come back to Davenport and re-enlist for the war, died of typhoid fever in the Second Division hospital on September 19, two days after the regiment had reached Des Moines. The body was .sent to the family home in Evanston, Illinois, whence the funeral took place. Ciustav Birnhard LeGrande, of Valley City, died the twenty-fifth of September, at 2 p. m., of typhoid fever in the Second Division hosi)ital. He was burietl at his home in Valley City on the twenty-ninth. The comi)any, being then home on furlough, went out to attend the funeral, " taking with them so many tloral otTer- ings that the bereaved family could have no doubt of the sincerity of the tribute [)aid to the dead soldier. " The Saturday that the well, or the theoretically well, men of the regiment reached Des Moines, the sick of Company B were, through the efforts of Davenporters, brought directly home instead of to Des Moines. " Two agents of the people of DaveufMirt went several hun- dred miles down tiic road to meet the train, and supplied its barren hospital care with the stores for which the men of all the companies of the regiment were languishing. " Those rei)resentatives of Davenport were W. D. Petersen and B. F. Tillinghast. who met the train at La- fayette. Indiana. They succeeded, with the help of citizens at home, in getting tin- lars of the sick switched off the Northwestern at De- Witt. There were two hospital slec|M"rs full of fever-wasted high-tem- [)eratured men, and they ran over into the day coaches. When the train reached Davenport, carriages and ambulances were assembled at the Milwaukee de[)ot. Captain Dal/.ell. Lieutenant Mc- Manns, Koch. Weiss, Carson, Wohnrade, Sonntag, Reynolds, Sharpe, Fislier, Colony, and Fidlar were the dozen Davenporters taken from this train to the hospital or their homes. Of course, this was nothing like the full number of very sick men. many of whom had come home previously, and several of whom came down with fever after returning from Des Moines. But Davenport did her very best for her own sick and those from other places. Nor is there anything much better than Davenport's best. 128 On September 20, what was left from Company B came back home on a thirty-day furlough. Sergeant Leonardy and three men were left in Des Moines to look after the regimental government prop- erty. When at 6:30, Company B reached the home it left on April 23, they were a worn and sorry lot,— it was all over, and they had not seen a Spaniard. But as the boys marched down Perry, over Second, and up Main to the Armory, escorted by the " Daily Blues, " a glance re- vealed that these thin, brown men were soldiers. Their column of fours was an elastic unit with fixed intervals, every man of them stepped just thirty inches twice a second, and he did it without think- ing of it, unconsciously, tirelessly. Tight blanket roll, canteen and haversack were on him like his blouse, as part of him. He could march like that till the cows came home, in rain or shine, in heat or cold, fed or hungry— no matter— that cadence wouldn't fail if the column moved all day and all night. His baptism of fire had never come, but marching up Main street there, in the dusk of that Septem- ber day, was nevertheless a very perfect and effective fighting machine. In spite' of all blunders and original inexperience, these men were sol- diers who knew their business. They could have gone open order up San Juan as well as they swung that column through our city streets. The company returned to Des Moines on November 1 and passed a disagreeable month there, being finally mustered out of the United States service on November 30, sis and a half months after they were mustered in, seven months and one week from the time they were mobilized for the Spanish war. The company is now reorganized as " B " of the Fiftieth regi- ment, I. N. G., with Captain James M. McManus, First Lieutenant J. E. Burmeister and Second Lieutenant E. D. Middleton as company officers. Captain T. C. Dalzell has become Major Dalzell in command of Second battalion. The company history begins with the veteran soldiers of '65, and now again its ranks are full of men who know what real soldiering is. Six of the old "B" boys are now in the Philip- pines, and several more are going. Tommy Owens— shrewd, witty, reckless, Irish soldierman— is with the Fourth ; Lasher, Carson and Proctor with the Twelfth; Haney and Witt with the Nineteenth. Lasher was made corporal within two weeks after he joined the regu- lars Company B, as it is now organized in Davenport, is better trained than most of the companies of Uncle Sam's regulars, these be- ing now filled with rookies, who have had less training than that ot Company B's camp life at Des Moines and Jacksonville. 131 I 1[n /llbcmonam » WALTER G. NAGEL, DIED AT CAMP CUBA LIBRE, AUGUST 19. 1898. i 1[n /Iftentoiiam JOHN SCHROEDER, DIED AT CAMP CUBA LIBRE, SEPTEMBER 10, 1898. ITit /Ifccmoiiam OLIN G. HOOVER, DIED AT CAMP CUBA LIBRE. SEPTEMBER 19. 1898. t In /Ibcmoriam GUSTAV B. LeGRANDE, DIED AT CAMP CUBA LIBRE, SEPTEMBER 25, 1898. The following is a complete roster of Coinpauy B, Fiftieth regi- ment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry: COMPANY OFFICERS. Captain, Thomas C. Dalzell. First Lieutenant, Alfred B. Heuder. Second Lieutenant, James M. McManus. SERGEANTS. First, Albert A. Koe. Q. M., Julius E. Burmeister. Edward D. Middleton. Henry G. McBurney. John P. Leonardy. Emil Schmidt. COKPOEALS. Frank S. Fidlar. DeForrest C. McCollister. James A. Taylor. George H. Greene. Francis J. Parker. John A. Miner. Transferred IT. s. Signal corps. Charles W. Hoover. Olin G. Hoover. Died September HI, 189S. Louis G. Lasher. William J. Carson. George C. Cook. Discliarg d September 10, Victor H. Piatt. Louis Peterson. William F. Weiss. James D. Mason. Hamilton F. Gronen. MUSICIANS. Kobert E. Siudt. Phillip A. Sonntag. ARTIFICER. Laytou R. Ackley. WAGONER. Emil A. Speth. PRIVATES. Alford, Frank H. Attwater, Frank Baker, David S. Beesley, Hedley Bowman, Fred L. Bruhn, Ernest E. Bullack, Claude J. Busch, August Cantwell, James Y. Transferred to Hcspital Corps. Chambers, John D. Discharged August 20. 18H8. Colony, Philo C. C'orry, William H. Craik, Alex L. Transferred to Hospital Corps. Doty, Jessie L. Evers, Daniel F. Finger, Carl F. Fisher, William F. Gosch, AVilliam H. Grilk, Arthur C. Gi'oeuwaldt, Henry Hass, Albert Haney, Edward Hoag, Harry N. Hoeft, Henry, Jr. Huss, Rudolph Johannsen, August Kahles, Adolph, Jr. Koch, Hugo V. Kulp, Oliver W. Kurtz, Edgar M. 141 Lanily Olo A. Lane, Frank Lantry, Charles B. Lawsou, Joseph LeGrande. (nistav B. Died September ■^■>, IS'.tS. Lepper. Charles D. E. Martin. George H. McKown, Harry T. Meier, Henry Miller, Herman H. Miller. Marshal! Muhs. William Najrel. Walter G. Died August I'.i. \SW. Nebergall, Edward L. Osborne. Robert P. Owens, Tlioiuas F. Pahl. Max Parker, Albert M. Paulsen. Peter Pfabe, Harry Price, Obed K. Proctor, Alfred Renvy, Edward Reynolds, Charles Risley, Robert Rhoades, John Rohde, Carl A. Rosche, Theodore H. Schick, Fred Schmidt, Herman T. Schmidt. Andy W. Schmidt, Paul Schmidt, John A. Schroeder, John Died Seuteniber 10, 18'J8. Schroeder, Eddie Schwartz, William Sharpe, Walter I. Siegrist, Martin Smith, Peter L. Sparbel, Ernest Spelletich, Felix Stebens, Charles Thompson, Charles Traeger. Fred YanPatten, Alfred S. Discharpeil .\ugust 20, 1898. Villian, Edward H. VoUmer, Fred Wohnrade, Henry Weingartner, Edwin C. Willey, Fred O. Witt, John Wohlert, Houry. 142 i