The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-18

Gen. Josiah Pickett was asked re-
Gently by The Spy man to express an
opinion on the idea that is prevalent
among some of the friends Of the vol
unteers, that the old G. A. r. men are
Jealous of the prestige that thew have
won in the popular mind. He said in
reply to the questions Jealous. no IN.
deed There is no soldier of the late
war who is jealous of the volunteers or
eegrndges them for an instant the
lame they have won 1t is trua nc
think sometimes that peopIe are o W.
ing more stir over them than we 20
member they ever did over US. but that
~ the result Of changed conditions
IN tne first place, there has ero,,,
up since the civil war a new eenera-
ton to whom the idea of war is q
mover one. They had never experienced
~ conditions before the recent strue-
~ purst upon them and they did not
AHoW, asfthe people who We're in aarI,y
and active life in 1861 IS do. what 1ya,.
really means They saw the militia
"hlch was composed of young men %
OUT IN full bodily strength last Nav
ana return in few months compIeteiv-
debilitated
When the troops departed few sun
posed they would see active service
ana the hardships they really did I'M
aefgo shocked the community beyond
measure. But the causes of these hard
| ships are wrongly measured by very
many. In more than few of the
cases where death resulted to the SOL
diers in the recent war, 1t was doubt
less from their own fault more than
anything else
To be sure, the climate of Cuba must
De admitted to be a bad one. The
campaign was commenced, although
this could not be helped at a very
lnopportune time But the soldiers
were not in many cases fit to be
placed in such circumstances as sur
rounded them
In many instances the officers un.
questionably efficient in all that per-
! tains to the school of the soldier were
| not as efficient in the school Of disci-
pine, and out of their close and friend
! ~ relations with the men in the
ranks, were lenient, to the subseouent
| distress and disaster of the volunteers
| do not wish to draw comparisons or
to say anything derogatory to the men
| who volunteered, for veteran resnects
any man who has done what he could
| for mis- country, and honors a good SOL
| aier wherever he sees him, but il
| seems fair to say that the members of
1 NiAN NoAh4AtSt itS liileutS IN the recent
war had less of an incentive to ehoul-
| der their muskets. and consequently re-
| garded the conflict with notives-un-
| doubleday patriotic-but less deeply inn
| bued than those which inspired the
volunteers in the war of the rebellion.
| In 1861 the call WAS for men Ia pre-
| serve the union; and the response was
] from all classes and conditions OF cit
| liens. In the recent war, the crll was
of a far different nature, In the first
place the integrity Of the Union was
| not at stake, and in the second place
| ii was generally understood that the
! call for troops was to be supplied by
| the existing commands Of militia. Ana
| in view of this understanding there
We're no volunteers, except those men
already enlisted in the states service
as militiamen
! When this war broke out, the militia
companies were subjected to a severe
| physical examination. and many of
| the members who had been longest in
/ the service were rejected The COM
! panies were recruited to a full war
| footing. and in too many cases the re-
cruits were men of less efficiency from a
! military standpoint. than the men
men whom they displaced, although su-
| perior to them physically.
I The company organizations We're
/ broken up by this means, and
| very often the whole good of
| the previous training the COM
| panies had was lost Some of the Off
GERS in the field. as ] am told, did not
know how TO draw supplies for their