The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-04-23
THE NEWS AND OBSERVER SUNDAY MORNING APRIL 90

English welcoming the troops to the
city, and specially mentioned General
FitZ. Lee, whose name seems by them
to be considered somehow as synony-
nous with the working out of their iu-
dependence. In Il cafe down in the
town, there were the pictures of Marti
Gomez. Maceo and Fitz. Lee. Strange
to say the picture of Garcia did not APP
pear in any of these cafes and | could
not find out the reason. There was one
street named for Ftz. Lee and one for
Mckinley spelled "Mackinly." One
hardly knew how these people lived.
They were very poor. They looked hag-
gard. The streets were struggling. the
houses low and filthy. and there was a
Scpulchral silence over everything. One
little cigar factory, or rather cigarette
factory was interesting. There were
many young girls who worked eight
hours Il day, for which they received 80
cents only. But ii seemed to me in It
larger sense great good was being done
by the going of these American troops
through the country. 1t proved to Gu
ban and American that each was friend
Iy and loyal to the other. General Lee
no doubt had this object in mind when
he started these practice marches. 1t is
that the troops and the peo-
pie could not thus have come in touch
all over the island. But General Lees
authority had been restricted to Havana
province. The great power had been
given to Ludlow, Civil Governor of Ha-
vana city and suburban villages. He
was little more than clever engineer
and snOb and had surrounded himself
with snohs. He used to walk down tho
hallway from his bath at the Hotel
Inglaterra, and the S15.G0 priyates would
salute him during his progress. together
with what caddiSh officers happened to
be in his path. while the tail of his bath
robe royalty swept the floor. Poor, adj
died, old Brooke-he was doing the
best he could. The only thing that
could he said of Ludlow was that he
was not Il fool But the hand of Fitz.
Lee has been missed in Havana. Ha-
vana is used to him, and the Cubans love
and know what to expect from him.
Yet, in the Washington game of politics,
Fitz. was too strong to be trusted furth-
or with power. He had way of sur
prising the American public with some
thing sensible of the horsc-sense variety:
SO the President preferred cajoling him
with the appointment of his son to IL
second lieutenancy and the promise of Il
Brigadier Generalship i'll the regular
army to giving him continued power
amidst the scenes of his former tri-
umphs.
The next day was the most severe eX-
perienced by the Battalion. Major
Smith had flank movement in his
mind He was going to cut off good
ten miles by taking across country, the
hypothcnuse of right angle triangle.
We were going to camp that night on
the outskirts of punta Brave, some -.
miles away, that is by the shortcut.
There was absolutely no road in the
way marked out by Major Smith He
was going to make n bold experiment
bold because if it had not succeeded,
there would have been many a suppress
ed mutter and curse too from the men
who had already begun to suffer from
sore feet and sore arms. But the bulk of
the men were in fine fettle. We retraced
a part of the march of the day before.
We went by the same Orange-grove.
They were MISUNDERSTANDING and the Bat
alton would have made short work of
them. but the orders had gone forth that
not man was to touch an orange. The
order was hard to obey. Then too the
men halted right in the orange grove
while they were getting wafer from the
we'll Yet not one disobeyed orders.
Beavers held his men firmly in hand. and
more effective commander of men.
do not believe there was in the Seventh
Army Corps. The Battalion went
through that orange grove without any
injury of any kind to it. 1t was re-
markable. 1t accentuated to me the
North Carolina character of obeying or
ders. This was the chief merit of the
First North Carolina regiment to my
mind. They went just like their daddies
did across Gettysburg field because they
were told to go, and they would have
been going still if nobody had told
them to stop. What Il day it was, to be
sure! We marched ten miles across
marsh land with the brush neck high.
We marched, perforcc, single file, the
whole battalion, with the wagons be-
hind. | never expected the wagons to
get through. but they did. 1t was
Major Smiths custom to start the men
by seven. so as, if possible to pitch
camp by 3 or f. 1t was good policy.
But between s and u. then came the
rub. The humidity and atmospheric
pressure was something terrific. The
water oozed out of the body, and down
he brow and face. even the hair becan"
perfectly wet. But there was not a
murmur Looking back, one could not
see the line hundred feet away. At
one point we passed what had been the
hatched tent of a Cuban officer who
was killed there. Al another point. we
passed flying hawk. and perhaps Il
hundred bullets went after him with Il
cheer from the line up to their necks IN
the bushes. but the hawk won out.
S | say, there was not a murmur. The
line went doggedly forward for four
hours waiting to see the road where we
were to end the shortcut Present
ly n mountain came in sight-the same
mountain near which Maceo was slain
the mountain which could be seen from
Camp Columbia. though it was three
weary miles away 1t was nearly noon,
and the delicious breeze began to have
play. and the moisture began to get INTO
the upper air. 1t is true it was hot.
but it was drier air. We were not out
OF