The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-10-04
NO KICK COMING
Col. Tom Fitch Does Not
Believe
THAT BOYS ARE SORE
Thinks Talk Is all Done by
One or Two.

When asked about the roar that the
members of the Wichita company have
been making, Colonel Tom Fitch said
yesterday:
Il do not think you will find any roar.
I think all this talking has been done by
one or two fellows and the papers have
taken II up and made it general l nave
nothing TO say particularly. I have no
criticism of the boys of the Twenty-frst
to make. They are fine lot Of men and
obeyed orders. The Twenty-first was ad-
mittedly the finest regiment Of men at
Chickamauga- They were selected as the
escort of honor for General Breckenridge,
and again for Secretary of War Alger,
when he visited US. These signal marks
of distinction are alone a sufficient an
swer to the charges made against The
officers by the newspapers. do not want
you to understand that I am making
any defense or trying to explain any
thing. L do not care about this talk 1
did my duty TO the men, to the state of
Kansas and to the country. That's all
that is required of an officer, and the rec
- u l44C L " -IlISL hdISdS Will prove
that 1 did that But then so did every
other officer and every private in the
regiment. No man in particular is enti-
tied to the credit for the splendid accom-
plishments of the Twenty-first Kansas.
Every man, from the private to the high
est officer, helped to make the record.
when we went to Camp Chickamauga
the Twenty-frst was called 'Coxey's
Army and dozen names, in derision.
and when we left it was with general re-
greet of the brigade officer all his subor-
dinate officers and by associate regi-
ments. You can't find one of these men
who will make any specific charge
against me-"
It's told on you. colonel, that you had
Lieutenant Bell in your tent chastising
him for associatfng with the privates."
We'll, what if did Now Just admit
ting that is true, what effect does that
have on private? What grounds does
that constitute for roast of me? do
not think there is anything in all this
talk These men, of course, had to give
up some personal privileges which they
enjoyed standing on the streets here in
Wichita. An army has to be disciplined
1t has to be trained. An officer can't dis
clpline men by getting out and rollicking
around with them and associating with
them.
Speaking about their rations, they had
fresh bakers bread nearly the whole
time. None of these boys know what the
regular army slard tack is. They mad
fresh meat once or twice day and beans,
vegetables, etc. There couldn't be any
complaint about what they had to eat"
did you hear any of the men calling
you Battle Ax?'
Every man gets some sort of a. name
during his career. The Battle AK incident
tickled me. 1t was this way. We had
what we called a canteen. It took the
place of the old post suttler. It was
little store where we sold cigars, tobacco
and such things. Some of them sold
whisky, but we didn't The profits were
divided among the men of the company.
No commissioned officer was allowed to
participate. All the profits were distrib-
uted among the men and amounted to
nearly $l,500 in the Twenty-first. Soon
after we went to Chickamauga a man
came to me and wanted to sell tobacco.
told him he couldn't do il for the profits
of the canteen went to the men and if
an outsider should go in, it would de-
prive the men of just so much. The Bat
tie AK people had made arrangements to
distribute some tobacco among the BOYS
and about this time it was learned that
two or three Of the regiments were going
away, so not TO miss them, the Battle
Ak people went in two or three days
ahead of time and distributed their to-
bacco. 1t got started some way that l
wouldn't let them sell or distribute Battle
AK tobacco.
"One or two mornings after that
heard the men calling through the camp,
one or two of them, Battle AK Battle
AK had no idea what II meants till
one of the officers told me.
THE Battle AK. people went through
afterward with two or three more loads
and I think I never saw men more heart
lily ashamed of anything than the Battle
AK story
We'll, they are good men. They are
fine fellows. / wish them well. Some OF
the best friends have in the world are
boys Of the Twenty-first. I don't think
they have any kick COuuiu-''