The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1898-09-17
ABOUT CUBAN SOLDIERS
Stephen Cranes Description of
the Rank and File.
THEIR EMoTIoGLGss CHARACTER.

No Cheering When Skaters Forces Land.
ed ut Baiqnirl. lie Says-They Arc Good
Scouts. but American Troops DO Not Ee-
gard Them Fsvorably For the Fighting
Line Rough Riders n Revelation A
Long Climb to Sec santiago-Mange Fed
Cubnns Revolt.
Writing under the date Of June 81
from Sibonoy. Cuba, Stephen Crane,
special correspondent of the New York
World, writes as follows about the Gu
ban soldiers:
The day is hot and lazy, endless Gu
ban infantry struggling past the door of
our shack send the yellow dust in
clouds. The Thirty-third Michigan is
landing in dribbles upon the leach.
Four Red Cross nnrses-the first Amer
lean women to set foot on Cuban soil
since the beginning Of the war-came
ashore from the state Of Texas a few
minutes ago, and the soldiers, dishevel-
ed, dirty, bronzod. gazed ut them with
all their eyes. They were a revelation
In their cool white dresses. Life ooca-
sionally moves slowly at the seat of
war. This makes rwo days Of tranquiili.
ty. The Spaniards. when they fed from
the conflict with Roosevelt's men and
the First and Tenth regular cavalry,
took occasion to fee a considerable dis
TANGO; in fact, they went nearly into
Santiago do Cuba
The attitude Ct tue American soldier
toward the insuraeut is interesting. So
also is the attitude Of the insurgent to-
ward tba American COLDER. One must
not suppose that there was any cheering
enthusiasm ut rho landins Of our army
at Baiquiri The Anlesiran. soldiers
looked witt, silent euriosity upon the
ragged brown insurgents and the insur-
gents looked stalidly, almost indiffer-
emily, at the Americans.
The Cuban soldier. indeed. has turn
ed into m q. soiutely e~motionlees char
acter save Wlen be is msddcned by, bat
tie. He staryes and he inakes no COM
plant. We feed h;r, and he expresses
no JOY. When yoa co,nc to think Of it,
mi follows the other naturally. Ii he
had retained the emotional ability TO
make u fuss over nearly starving to
death. he would also have retained ths
emotional ability to faint with Joy at
sight Of the festive canned beef. hard
tack and coffee. But he exists with the
impenetrable Indifference or ignorance
Of the greater part Of the people in an
ordinary slum.
Everybody knows that the kind of
sympathetic charity which loves to be
thanked is often g%rievously disappoint-
ed and wounded in tenement districts,
where people often accept gifts as il
their own property had turned up after
n short absence. Tho Oubans accept or
.stores in something Of this way. II
there are any thanks, it Is because Of
custom. OF course, / mean the rank and
file. Tho officers are hammered both
like ordinary people. But there is no
specious intercourse between the Cubans
and the Americans. Each hold largely
to their W people and go their own
ways. The American docs not regard
his ally az o good man for the fighting
line, and the Cuban is aware that his
knowledge Of the country makes his
woodcraft superior to that of the Amer
lean. He regards himself also as con-
siderable Of a veteran aud there has not
yet been enough fighting to let him
know what immensely formidable per-
sons are your Uncle Samuel's regulars.
The fighting of the rough riders, by
the way, surprised him greatly. He is
not educated in that kind Of warfare.
The way our troops kept going, going,
never giving back a foot despite the
losses, hanging Oh as II every battle was
a life or death struggle-this seemed
extraordinary to the Cuban. The scene
Of the fight ON the gath is now far with
in our lines. The Spanish position was
perfect. They must have been badly rat
tied to have 80 easily given 1t up at the
attack Of less than . 1000 men. Here
now the vultures wheel slowly over the
woods.
Scovel and / swam two Jamaica
horses ashore from the Triton, found
some insurgents and took a journey into
the hills. Colonel Cebreco's little force
we found encamped under the palms in
matched huts with sapling uprights.
The ragged seniinaked mon lay about in
dirty hammocks, but their rifles were
Springnelds, 1873, and their belts were
full of cartridges. The tall guinea grass
had been trodien fiat by their bare feet.
We asked for a guide. and the colonel
gave us an escort of five me- for
ride over the mountains.
The first ridge we rode up was q SIM