Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-11-18
THE SUFFERING IN CUBA.

Was Worse Than That In the civil War
According 90 the Testimony Of Lieut.
Col. shumway of the I'd Massschusetts
Regiment.
Some veterans of the civil war are dis
posed to insist that too much has been
made of the sufferings of our volunteers in
Cuba, and we have been told that the men
of the COS suffered more and made less
fuss about it. A very good witness on
this point is Lieut.. Col. Shumway OF the
"a Massachusetts regiment, who went to the
front in the civil war from South London
derry, served three years, and spent nine
months in Andersonville and Libby pris.
ons. He was present at the annual meet
ing of the survivors of southern military
prisons at their annual meeting in Worces-
ter Friday, and is thus reported
Lieut. Col. L. H. Shumway said there
have been times when he thought he could
not be present al such gathering. He
said he believed his returning from Cuba
In such a good condition, mparatively,
was due to what he learned in southern
prisons. He then learned to get along
with small rations. He continued: / be-
lieve there were no soldiers in our army of
the Potomac aside from those in rebel
prisons, who suffered in three months as
much as the soldiers OF the Cuban war.
We used to be short Of food in the civil
war a day or two, but then the commissary
department came up with plenty for US.
In Cuba it was different
We had many things to contend with
last summer. In the first place the gener-
al who had the arrangements of the cam
paign was in my belief unfit to lead such
an expedition. man who weighs $40
pounds and has one equity leg cannot be
with the troops and look after them.
believe il impossible for him TO command
an army with success We left Framing.
ham May -. the water freezing the night
before, and in three days We were in Lake
land, Fla, with the thermometer Jog.
We were kept moving all the time, and
had no chance to drill At Tampa we
were issued II days travelling rations, and
were II days on the transports. We were
showed ashore In row boats through the
heavy surf in light marching order. We
had been out Of rations two days. / got
| ashore al 10 in the morning.
We made a forced march Of II miles, and
captured Siboney. While we stopped tor
rations the rough riders and two cavalry
regiments passed u and got into trouble
! at La Guasimas. We drew the issue OF
bareback. side Of bacon and four-quart
can OF tomatoes apiece. The question was
| how could We carry it ali. After one mea
out Of the tomatoes they got sour right
| away. The government had rations enough
/ on the transports If they had been issued.
| They gave u coffee uuburned and uu-
/ ground. We were a. days without an is
sue Of fresh meat There were - hard
/ tack for the "a men Of each company or
l one day when l was in command OF my
regiment was one of the fortunate
/ ones at Il Caney. You old soldiers won
/ der a, our smal. losses. Blu, we were not
/ a. in the civil war in three. four or five
/ solid lines of battle. A. Z Caney there
was only a skirmish line At one time at
/ FL Caney the bullets liaw as fast as ! ever
/ saw IN any battle iu the civil war. We
/ would have been moved down like sheep
/ if in the old-tashionrd lines.