The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-10-15


until the truce flag was raised That
was the first chance they were given to
breathe and to look around since they
had landed. When they did they realiz-
cd that they were in a sad plight for
lack of blankets, poncnos, shelter tents
and haversacks. All of these they had
left in the surf
The Harvard carrying this regiment,
had reached Siboney the afternoon OF
July /. The regiment was debarked by
O'Clock in the evening, and it was i'm
medlately lined up on the beach, the
men standing in clothes that were drip
ping with the water of the surf through
which they had waded ashore Some
canned beef was handed to them and
they ate it cold while they stood there
awaiting orders. A courier came with
peremptory mandate from Gen. Shaft
cr that they should make forced march
I" the front and be in trenches on San
Juan hills before daylight
Then somebody Numbered.
An order came directing the men to
leave their blanket rolls on the beach,
as the carrying of them might delay
their arrival and Il delay might mean a
retreat of the WORKOUT men who had
| fought the heroic battle that day.
"Oh. send the blanket rolls up tomor-
row in wagons" said the courier, when
Col. Began protested.
1otn I
the qnartermaster of the regiment, at
Gen. Skaters headquarters He said
he was trying to get some means of for
! warding the blanet rolls to his regiment
him there again. AS he was leaving L
thought there were tears in his eyes.
My regiment is without blankets and
shelter. and has been without them for
fifteen days. but | cant get any way of
forwarding them" he said i've been
to the quarlcrmaster every day. and
sometimes three times a day, and I've
walked out here four times to see il
Cen Shafter won't do something, but
says he can't. There are hundreds ct
idle Cuhans everywhere, and I've tried to
hire them, to pay them out of my own
pocket, hut they won't work, and l can
do nothing more"
saw him again July ~. five days
after the surrender. He was walking be-
side Il wagon train.
1--WE got the blanket rolls in here" he
said. ncdding to the wagons. but am
afraid | am too late. ] saw our fellows
yesterday. and the fever was among
them. Twenty-Five days is long time
to stand in the sun and the rain, ami to
sleep in the dew. My conscience is clear,
but my heart is breaking May Goa for
this inhuman cruelty
He did come too late. Col Began
reached home in time to die. Lieut. Col.
Logan reached Edmont key in time to
80 into the yellow fever camp l saw
him nfterward carried aboard the Scgur-
ancn. and the constitution of the giant
was broken. lie had left Major Grady
in command of the regiment. The first
day he was able to come On deck some
one told him of the death of Major Grady
ut Santiago. When he was able to come
on deck he would sit about with dropping
head. for the dispatch that told of Major
Grady's death contained a long list Of
the 9ths dead.
A boat came down New York bay to
meet the Seguranca. Mrs. Logan and
her brothers. one of them Catholic
priest of Boston, were the only pas
scngcrs. The meeting between the griz-
zlcd tottering soldier and his beautiful
wife was so deeply pathetic that /
wondered ut it. She hung ON him and
wept as if her heart were breaking. He
tried to console her with saying that
he was returning safely, and then he
seemed worried that his brothers-in-law
were standing silently by turning away
now and then to put a handkerchief to
their eyes.
Aftcrward ! received tho explanation
of the sorrowfnl greeting Only an hour
before Mrs. Logan had received Il cables
gram from Santiago telling her that her
brother. Major O'Connor, was dead. He
had succeeded Major Grady in command
of the regiment. which had thus lost
four commanders. When Mrs. Logan
saw the cmaciatcd condition of her hus-
band she feared to tell him then of her
brothers death.
No finer regiment went to Cuba; none
had Il greater number of athletes or Of
scholars, and none was better endowed
to endure hardships or more disposed to
endure them cheerfully than the 9Th
Massachusetts. No regiment returning
had SO many gaps in it's ranks that could
have been prevented, none was so wan
tOnly exposed in that fatal climate.
Somebody blundered brutally in ordering
the men to leave their blanket rolls be-
hind, and, once made. it was impossible
to remedy II, for ammunition and sub
sistcncc take precedence over baggage
and there was not enough wagons for
the necessities of war.
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