The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-07-23
MAJOR R0MEYN'S BUDGET

nFEmh0n
w.. General Garcia had his Head
"ns .,Sr'-Pen Portrait Of the Insargeat
TSod.r-IEIs soldiers Sized mp.
social correspondence Of Intelligencer.
" sIBoNEY, cubn, az miles BY land.
e,rbt miles by water from Santiago.
rmro ss}-Ths town is a long single
.,root running parallel with the beach
nd hacked, except at the eastern end.
IVA line OF hills about 200 feet high, on
,rsIcb are perched two Of the small de-
s,nswe works o: the spaniards which
s s,m1 "a thckly the hill-tops all through
,bIs region. one OF these is on a shasp
oak ~, inst long enough to hold It. reach-
"a nv n flight OF steps. and Is absolutely
S,rnrcguable to an infantry attack. Al
,Se east end OF the town. . a low bot
,on, narrow at the mouth but opening
Sut TO a beautiful valley thlckly over
,rnWn with Jungle, above which towers
,hickIy the graceful coacoanut palm. On
,bc opposite side Of the valley, and so
si,uated as TO command the landing
and adjacent coast along the town front
tsan old stone work with emhraSure for
a dozen or more guns-a work not later
Than the seventeenth century, and
worse than nothing now.
High above 1t Is light work for In
fantry overlooking the town and land
;nr and easily commanding both. The
water Is very deep In front OF the land
inc which Is on a crescent shaped
beach. the only drawback being the
surf when the wind blows on shore.
General Garcia's headquarters are
here at this writing. saw Garcia pass
inc along the street on horseback last
evening. A good sized, dignlhed- look-
inc man OF about sixty, ] should Judge,
clad in liken, and wearing a broad
brImmed Panama hat, one only had to
see rim among the surrounding to know
that he was a leader. He stopped a
moment In front OF buildlngsused as a
blrrack by the Cubans, neStSto the one
occupied by the correspondents, and 1
noticed that all the men rose and stood
uncovered while he was speaking.
One scarcely knows what to say Of
the Cuban soldiers. Ragged-worse than
that. half-naked-half-star many OF
them barefooted, OF all colors from
pure CastIlllan to pure black, Of all
classes OF social standing, or total, want
Of In the island, they are most mot
Icr gathering. One sees all sorts OF
arms from the captured Mauser, model
OF 1884,, down to the old muzzle-loader
OF half century ago. Captains OF COM
panles are frequently "as black as the
ace OF spades" and prIVates pure white.
Occasionally I see men in the crowd
whom know are not natives, but seem
TO be in subordinate positions. There
are some Spanish d6serters there, also.
have lust witnessed scene In front
NJ the building where l write this which
reminded me OF what had read In
stanley's works on Africa. A detach-
ment has been in from the front to
draw rations. 1t had Rone other than
human transportation. Sides OF bacon,
sacks Of flour 400 pounds each). boxes
Of hard bread $50 pounds each), etc, all
went out on the heads OF the men, and
these weights must be carried out about
nine miles to their camp at the front.
There has been wonderful amount
Of chatter, and some did not relish the
work. | saw colored "non-com." gun
In hand, crawl under our porch ate: a
sulker, who came out as II someone more
potent than man was after him. and
took his box OF bareback on his head
and trotted of after the crowd.
All seem very slight in build and do
not think ! have seen man In the
ranks who would weigh one hundred
and fifty pounds.
have spoken of the imposslbllity of
getting mounts. and that leads natur-
ally 10 thoughts OF cavalry and that Of
Cuban cavalry. There are some mount
ed men kept about their headquarters,
for orderly duty, their mounts the orH-
nary scrubby PONY OF the country. Of
ten not more than thirteen hands high,
thin. and Sore-backed, unshod Cbut none
Iame), !and all 'igaited"--not square
troiter among them. Their forage con-
sists principally OF young cane. carried
in in bundles frequently covering the
animal completely from ears to tail.
Their saddles are such as they can OBJ
tain-not the slightest uniformity. For
saddle blankets many use thick quilt
ing Of straw or coarse grass, and a
thick mat On same material is used In
place OF an "arapejo" or OF pack sad
die for pack animals. The later are
the sorrlest Of the sorry" With raw,
liberated backs and shoulders, they
stagger along under heavy loads which
are more than our well-fed, good-sIzed
animals are made to carry, the contrast
too sharp TO be overlooked, even by the
most careless observer.
Every Cuban foot soldier carries a
pack OF greater or less dimensions. 1t
has not the shape OF knapsack or Of a
peddler's pack; It Is OF any shape that
the contents, !. e., what constitutes his
ration, and whatever else he may be
possessed Of may give 1t. He hangs II
over his shoulders by any sort OF cord
or strap he can get; frequently n rope
made OF bark, and which one would
think must wear his armpits raw In an
hour. II anything in 1t is greasy, what
does that matter? He has other greasy
things on hIm-one more does not add
much to the load.
HENRY RoMEYN.
Brevet Major, U. s. A., Retired.