The evening times., 1898-09-17
SOMEBODY BLUNDERED.
Incidents at Santiago Told by N War
CorresDondent.

Incidents at Santiago Told by N War
Correspondent.
After the first days fight 1t was ap-
parent that re-enforcements were needed.
Hungry and dead with fatigue the sur
vivors of the battle were made to dig in
the trenches until 2 o'clock in the morn
ing. Some re-enforcements were added
to the thin line. Half an hour later fight
ing was resumed. The Ninth Massachu-
setts fought all day, worked and watched
all night and fought again next day.
They We're without blankets, ponchos,
shelter tents, and haversacks. All of
these they had left on the beach where
they were landed in the surf The war
correspondent continues the story In the
Chicago Chronicle:
THE Harvard, carrying this regiment,
had reached Siboney the afternoon of
July l. The regiment was debarked at 8
o'clock in the evening and it was imme-
| diately lined up ON the beach, the men
standing in clothes that were dripping
with the water of the surf through which
they had waded ashore. They were given
no time to make coffee. Some canned
beef was handed to them and they ate it
| cold while they stood there awaiting or
ders. a courier came with a reremptory
mandate from Gen. Shafter that they
! should make a forced march to the front
and be in trenches on San Juan hills be-
! fore daylight.
Then somebody blundered.
AN order came directing the men to
| IL ..S
the carrying of them might delay their
arrival and delay might mean retreat
! of the worn-out 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.
| "Ten days later | saw Capt. Fennessy,
the quartermaster of the regiment. at
| Gen. Skaters headquarters. He said he
| was trying to get some means of for
warding the blanket rolls to his regiment
| in the trenches. Five days later ] saw
! him there again. AS he was leaving
| thought there were tears in his eyes.
my regiment is without blankets
and shelter and has been without them
| for fifteen days but l can't get any way
of forwarding them. he said. I've been
to the quartermaster every day and
sometimes three times day, and I've
walked out here four times 10 see II Gen
| Shafter won't do something. but he says
he can't There are hundreds of idle Gu
bans everywhere and I've tried to hire
them to pay them out of my own pocket
but they won't work. and l can do moth
ing more
Il saw him again July %, five days af-
| ter the surrender. He was walking be-
side a wagon train.
I've got the blanket rolls in here he
said. nodding TO the wagons. But N
afraid | am too late. l saw our fellows
Yesterday and the fever was among
them. Twenty-Five days is a long time
10 stand in the sun and the rain and 70
sleep in the dew. My conscience is clear
but my heart is breaking May God for
give the men who are responsible for this
inhuman cruelty
"He did come too late Col. Began
reached home in time to die. Lieut.. Col.
Logan reached E,gmont Key in time 10
go into the yellow fever camp. ! saw him
afterward carried aboard the SeGuranca
and the constitution Of the giant was
broken. He 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 al
! 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 long list of the
| Niuth's dead.
"A boat came down New York Bay to
meet the Seguranca. Mrs Logan and her
| brothers, one of them a Catholic priest
! of Boston. were the only passengers, The
meeting between the grizzled. tottering
! soldier and his beautiful wife was so
deenlv pathetic that | wondered al 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 We're standing silently by
turning away now and then TO put a
| handkerchief to their eyes.
| "Afterward received the exp anat,on al
! the sorrowful greeting. Only an hour be-
| fore Mrs. Logan had received a cablegrau
| from Santiago, telling her that her broth.
er. Major OConnor, was dead. He had
| succeeded Major Grady in command OF
| commanders. When Mrs Logan saw tbs
| emaciated condition of her husband she
| feared TO tell him then of her brothers
death
mo finer regiment went to Cuba; none
! had q greater number of athletes or schol-
ars and none was better endowed to en-
dure haTdships or more disposed 10 en-
| dure them cheerfully than the Ninth Mas
| sachusetts. No regiment returning had Sc
many gaps in its ranks that could have
been preven, ed; none was so wantonIy ex,
posed in that fatal climate Somebody
blundered brutally in ordering the mer
To leave their blanket rolls behind. an(
once made it was impossible to remedy
it. for ammunition and subsistence TAX;
precedence over baggage. and there wer,
no, enough wagons for the necessities o.
|