The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-03
THE ARMY INVESTIGATION AND
THE REGULARS.


papers or compel the attendance of
witnesses, it will necessarily be de-
pendent mainly on voluntary and ex parte
testimony. In all trials at law and in
courts-martial it is customary for witnesses
to be cross-examined and for the defendant
to introduce rebutting evidence tending to
disprove conclusions apparently established
by one-sided testimony. 1t is not known
whether the commission will do that or
not. 1t should at least make every reason
able effort to elicit facts favorable to the
government, which is the defendant in this
case and without counsel. The commission
has extended a general invitation to all
persons in possession of facts bearing on
the case to communicate them in writing,
but this invitation is more likely to be re-
sponded to by those interested in establish
ing the charges than by those who are in
possession Of facts tending to disprove them.
There is reason to believe there is a great
deal of the latter kind of information ex-
tant If 1t could only be located and brought
out. Especially is there a great deal of it
among the regulars both officers and pri-
Yates. AS the regulars are the only trained
soldiers we have and the only class who
really know anything about the practical
conditions of military life their tes-
timony in regard to the treatment of
troops in camp and field ought to be much
more valuable than that of civilians or of
volunteers who, during the first few months
of war, do not know much more about
military affairs than civilians. This is not
said in any spirit of disrespect to the vol
unteers, than whom no Drawer or more
patriotic body of men ever existed, but it
stands to reason that officers and men who
are new to military life cannot know as
much about the real conditions of war and
how to minimize its hardships as those who
are trained to the business and who know
what to expect and how to take care of
themselves. 1t is a significant fact that not
a complaint has yet been heard from an
officer or soldier Of the regular army of poor
rations or bad treatment of any kind.
Whenever and wherever the regulars talk
they discount and deprecate the charges of
ill-treatment or neglect, and in a spirit of
mild but not ill-natured criticism attribute
the alleged sufferings of the volunteers
largely to the inexperience of the officers
and men. That is the sum and substance of
General Coppinger's statement. OF the COM
missary department, which has been so
severely criticised he says:
In my judgment the quality of subsistence
furnished by the department was good and
the quantity ample, The regular troops
lived we'll The volunteers in too many
cases messed badly but this was owing to
the ignorance of inexperienced officers who
dld not know now 70 procure and care for
the rations, and the ignorance of cooks who
did not know how to cook them. / have
been especially impressed by the comfort
able messing of regular soldiers close to my
headquarters, while volunteer troops in the
adjoining field were suhsisting on chunks
OF ill-cooked beef and vile biscuit-an ex-
used close by. To sum up, the subsistence
department did well. The volunteer troops
in many cases suffered for want of whole
some food because they did not know how
to handle the rations furnished
To the same effect is what he says about
the quartermasters department, the natural
difficulties OF the situation being greatly
aggravated by the ignorance of army rules
and forms among volunteer officers. OF the
medical department he says it did as we'll
as could have been expected, the difficulties
it had to contend with being enhanced 'by
the fact that most of the regimental, bril-
gade and division surgeons were entirely
new to military work.
Another officer who thinks the War De-
partment has been unjustly criticised is
Captain Pickering, of the regulars, who has
been visiting friends in this State. An in
terview with him is published in which he
says:
Concerning the privations suffered by
xrrelnr dAaR1Nf
fering among the militiamen not Injured to
the hardshipS of camp life, but the stories
of neglect and misery were overdrawn. l
was in the trenches before Santiago for ten
days. 1t rained every day and we had no
shelter, except a few small tents. but we
never went hungry. We had coarse fare,
but 1t was nourishing, and barring a few
mistakes such as must inevitably happen
when thousands of raw men are hurried to
the front without complete preparations for
feeding and housing the soldiers the War
Department did nobly.
The privates talk the same way. Perhaps
they do not express themselves quite as
carefully, but they make themselves under
stood. The Mishawaka Enterprise prints
part of letter received from Private Knee,
formerly of Mshawaka and now member
of the Fifth United States Cavalry in which
he says:
see where some of the volunteers have
not know much about what soldiers life
is, yet. / have had very near nine years
service in the regular army and / never
went hungry to bed l always get enough
to eat and tent to sleep in. The volun-
teers have been used to sleeping in feather
beds all their lives They do not know how
to rustic like the regulars. OF course we
do not have pie and cake and if some of
the boys do not get any of these Injuries
they think they have kick coming / have
had lots of fun with this kind of soldiers
They come around our camp and say:
why, you boys get better rations." But
they are mistaken. They do not know how
to cook them.
On the same line is the testimony of Pri-
vate Smith, of the Fourth Regiment United
States Regulars. who is home on furlough
visiting friends in Wabash, Ind. This regi-
ment was in the fight at Santiago The Wa
bash Plain Dealer prints an interview with
Private Smith, from which the following is
an extract:
There was very little complaint among the
regulars account of short rations.
Phil says that the volunteers fought
bravely and stood the hardships WELL but
that they lacked discipline. 1.-THE Second
side of US. They did not take their tents
oft the boat, saying that they would not
be gone long. Our boys broke bamboo,
pulled grass to make beds, and raised hunks
off the ground while the volunteers lay in
the mud. often pulling their blankets out
of mud holes in the morning and those who
had tents failed TO dig trenches around
them. The volunteers acted though they
were to remain but short time. whereas
the regulars Immediately made preparations