The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-12-01
TOBACCO BEFORE THE FIGHT.
The Plug That Made the Twenty
Fourth at San Juan.


the newspapers have been making a
terrific hullabaloo over the way things
were run down in Cuba, Porto Rico
and in the American camps, with very
little reliable information upon which
to base their charges" said an officer
of the Twenty-fourth Infantry Zone OF
the negro regiments), who was struck
by three Mauser bullets-badly wound
ed by one of then1-and a piece or
shell in the fight at San Juan i
didn't see much to complain about un-
der the circumstances down in Cuba,
and I had pretty fair chance to see
what was going on. The only genuine
criticism. in fact that / have to make
refers to the scarcity Of tobacco among
the troops down there. Tobacco was
at a premium during the greater por-
tion of our stay in Cuba, and the
soldiers who were deprived of 1t would
very willingly have paid for 1t at the
price Of it's weight in gold I don't
think it would be possible to over
estimate the value of tobacco to troops
undergoing hard campaign. 1t is
bread and meat and drink to soldier
enduring the hardships of war 1t is
at once a stimulant and a tonic, and
its value in allaying hunger is well
known to experienced commanders.
Queer as it may seem, chewing tobacco
also allays thirst. I know this, because
I've tried it. Another point with refer
ence to the chewing of tobacco by sol
diers in a campaign is that all of the
old-timers swallow the juice of the
weed. They allow that it is apt to
make fellows not used to handling it
In that way bit sicl1 at first, but
they say that the stimulating effect of
the plant is lost If the juice is ex-
perforated.
81 never had a better illustration of
the value of tobacco to men who had
long been laundering for it than on the
day of the San Juan fight. The black
soldiers of my outfit of the Oath had
been entirely tobaccoless almost from
the time We landed in Cuba, and it
was the hardest kind of a deprivation
upon men who had been used for years
to consuming the weed in all its forms.
The men missed tobacco particularly
after meals. After they got outside
of their coffee they would get together
and talk longingly of tobacco, and /
could just see their teeth leaking for
it, but there wasn't a quarter of an
ounce to be had I don't hesitate to
say that the men Of my company
weren't quite the same without to-
bacco, and a number of them frankly
said that they'd rather be without grub
than to go tobaccoless.
ION the morning of the San Juan
scrap l came into the proud possession
Of a one-pound plug of chewing to-
bacco. I'm not going to incriminate
myself by stating how I happened to
get the plug, but I got it all the same
A short time before it came our turn
to go into the action, I produced the
plug and handed it to the big, black
top Sergeant Of my company. You
ought to have seen his eyes stick out
when he caught sight of the plug.
Just pass it down the line,' I told
him, and let each of the boys take a
nibble off It,
1.-The Sergeant took a bite off the
plug himself, and then handed it to
the First Duty Sergeant. The whole
company was on to- the presence of
the plug of tobacco in the outfit by
this time, and they set up a cheer
They just forgot all about the impend-
ing fight, they were so tickled over
the sight of the tobacco. The plug
went down the line. every man taking
off a bite, and then it started up the
line and toward me again. 1t certainly
did dwindle in size, that plug of to-
bacco. By the time it got into the
hands of the Top Sergeant 1t was just
the size of one good chew. which the
men had, by careful calculation, saved
for me, the Loot'nant' Did I take
it? Well, I guess yes, and swallowing
every bit of the juice, like all the rest
of the men. And ] can tell you it
tasted good. The men threw their
shoulders back under the stimulus of
the tobacco, and became perky and
sassy and tightly all through-and I
suppose you remember what the
Twenty-fourth did in the San Juan
fight? I had the chew in my mouth,
enjoying it hugely, when the last Of
the three Mausers that plugged me got
me in the hips, paralyzing me from
the waist down for a couple of months
afterward, and, as + didn't become I'M
conscious, enjoyed that chew even
after ] was hit."-Washington Star