The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-07
STORIES FROM THE CAMP
LIEUT.. NEWALES NERVE IN THE
FIGHT AT Ell CANEY.

| inc OnknONm De0u.
Camp Wlkoff Correspondence New YORK.
Sun.
What every officer of regulars does, II
he is or intends to become an efficient fac
tor ON the field of battle, is to attempt to
win the confidence and respect of his men,
| He endeavors to become well acquainted
with their personal peculiarites, and he
studies how to instill into them that spirit
which, having no English equivalent for
ii we call esprit de corps A captain usual
ly has plenty of opportunity for this, the
other company officers not quite so much
so. and it sometimes happens that lieu
tenant finds himself suddenly in command
of a company which has been somewhat
demoralized by the loss of the man to
whose leadership it has become accus-
| toned. Then Is the time when he must
| act swiftly and firmly if he would avoid
! disaster. Such a crisis came to Lieut.
| Newell, second lieutenant of Company A
| Twenty second Infantry, at Ell Caney, and
the choicest war "reminiscences of his men
| is how he came out of it. The firing
! had been sharp where they stood, and
early in the fight the captain and first
lieutenant fell, leaving the command to
Lieut. Newell, who is a young Southerner.
| His men were nervous and disheartened
| by their losses and their commander saw
that unless he got them In hand soon there
would be some happenings that would not
| look well in the reports. Some of his
men were out ahead skirmishing, and one
of them, man who was popular in the
| company, fell. The lieutenant ordered his
men forward to get the wounded soldier.
! They stood still. Again he ordered them,
but they did not obey. Turning to a ser
| geant whom he implicitly trusted Lieut..
| Newell said quietly:
Sergeant, I want you to go out with
me to get that wounded man"
| Eyes, sir" said the sergeant, saluting.
The company stood and watched them
| go forward. At the first glance the lieu
tenant saw that the soldier could not live
more than few minutes. He groaned out
a request to be taken back 10 the lines
| to die
IAN right" said the officer. 'WeH take
! you in a minute. Just lie quiet, and I'll
! stay with you"
In two minutes, during which time
Lieut.. Newell and his sergeant stood there
under fire, the soldier died. Then the two
| went back to the lines. Nothing was said
| between the company and the officer who
| had just proved himself, but the nervous
waverng of the line was over. The men
/ stood like rocks, and when the order came
to advance they went forward with a
cheer. In three minutes they had passed
the line that separates the tyro from the
| veteran.
THAT amt in the book, sir" said the
soldier, who told this incident to the writ
| er; but, by God, that's the sort of thing
that wins battes!'
One canteen is supposed to supply the
needs of this entire camp. 1t doesn't do it
| ten like it couldn't-but it does its best.
The Second Cavalry runs the canteen in
| the center of its camp which is about
three miles from the railway station, on
the main road across the Point. The
| building Is a small open shed with a bar
across the middle, from which drinks are
| served on both sides to a bowling mob
from five deep in the morning to twenty
deep at night. Only one sort of 'hoot'
can be procured there-draught beer. That
| is drawn at a rate to make the busiest
metropolitan bartender consider his job a
restful sinecure. The Second Cavalry can
| teens customers do not saunter in and
order a beer. They rush in breathless,
! throw themselves against the surging
mass of thirsty humanity, and struggle to
get within reach of the bar. Then they
order, five, six, seven, eight, ten, and
| even fftene beers. These are individual or
ders. When a syndicate is formed the
money goes into the hands of the man
with the longest reach and the others line
out behind him. The biggest average thus
FAR was attained by syndicate of four,
who put in their orders for forty-nine
beers, the drinks being apportioned in lots
of fiftene, twelve and ten. AS the bar
Will hold only a limited number of
''schooners,' and these are in almost con-
slant demand many of the thirsty find il
expedent to bring their own receptacles. |
Anything goes-tin pals, tomato cans ket-
Loo ,fraW l..
all descriptions, and. in fact almost any
portable object that is beer-tight Two sol
diers came in yesterday with a wash boil
er and an order for 50 worth of beer, which
they carried off to camp. In the evening
particularly the place is a pandemonium
on one key.
"Hey, Bud give us ten" Seventeen
over here" why don't they get more
barkeepers i'll this OUTFIT" "Say, Buddy.
where's my twenty-five I put up for?"
Lego that; that's my layout" Push
some booze into this can, will your" "Tur-
~ up; here's man dyin' of Cuban thirst"
"Dray fifteen there for a gent that's froth-
in at the mouth" Dollars worth in this
pail"
For supplying this demand the sbarkeep-
ers, who are privates of the Second Cav
airy, get, in addition to their regular pay,
IS a week. and if ever men earned a wage
in the sweat of their brow those barkeep-
ers earn theirs. The beer which is sold a /
cents a glass, is Of fair quality and cold
being drawn from a vault under the bar
room. All the profits of the enterprise ara
turned over to an officer of the regiment
who devotes them to the purchase of ex-
| tras for the mems mess, with the result
that, barring outside Donations the Second
has been the best-fed regiment here. It's
health average has been exceedingly good
Although the profits all go to the Second
the customers come from everywhere
Hundreds of them walk three miles or
more across The hills for the sake of that
"hoot." AS soon as they are provided the
thirsty soldiers retire to the grass out
side, sit down, arrange their glasses sym
metrlcally around them, and proceed sol
EMMY to business. A civilian went over
there early yesterday evening and gave
up trying to get in, owing to the crowd.
Outside he found a long, lean trooper seat
ed in a circle of fifteen glasses, three OF
which were empty. The trooper was en-
gagged upon the fourth in his progress