Daily Kennebec journal., 1899-05-27

PAIN, because tlcIe were too manV of
them to be moved by men in a hurry
Boulders were left, because thev were
too heavy to be moved by men in .
hurry. This road, as might be SIM
posed, afforded only the fercest kind
of travelling. Tired soldiers. loaded
down with heavy rolls, rifle and am
munition. frequently left their nlaces
IN the mule wagons to resume on foot
their killing tramp to the front. sucb
was the effect of the jolting over that
thoroughfare.
No driver was able to handle his
wayward mules eXpertly and at the
same time keep an eye cooked IN for
Spanish sharpshooters. Quite a num-
Der of these unappreciated workers
We're picked off on the Siboney road.
Because their work was removed from,
the glare of the firing lines musketrv
back in the lonesome chaparral where
no observers We're, war correspondents
overlooked them. So no descriptions of
their work were cabled home, nor has
any noted writer yet put them with the
other heroes of the war
And their work was effective and
valuable. Men on the fighting line
must be almost as free from extreme
hunger as from cOWardice to do big
work for any length Of time. A little
pinching of the ntestines, such as
comes from living on a half dozen
hardtack day may do small harm
when il is a matter of only two or
three days; in fact, may give an ascot
lc tinge to the temperament and tend
TO make men keener. and so of greater
use to their comrades and themselves: /:
but let ii go beyond that, let the un-
heroic mule drivers slip up and fail to
get their bacon and hardtack to the
front for three full days, and that su-
perb little army Of Santiago would
come near to being a broken corps
whiting before hunger.
Besides getting out the rations the
mule drivers had to see to il that the
army was kept supplied with ammuni-
ton. There We're drivers down there
who laShed their teams clear up to the
foot OF the trenches, diScharging their
boxes of cartridges within a hop, step
and jump Of the firing lines. 50 that the
men might fill up their belts ana
bosoms without loss Of time.
There were days when even picked
government mules could not make the
Siboney road with loaded wagon. and
some even when they could not haul
an empty one; there We're times
when the vehicles would be
turned over by straining beasts
in their efforts 10 drag il over
stump or pun it out Of a hole; there
We're days after very heavy rains when
ha ,.;y. 81.
ordinary height and the usually placid
stream became swirling torrent.
which scoopcd careless men into its
whirlins eddies and drowned them. and
caught poor beasts before they could
be released from the entanglng har-
ness and drowned them, too. Then the
army Went on short rations; but the
men of the mule brigade prevented
famine in camp by loading supplies
directly on the mules backs ana goad-
ing them to the front.
Loading a pack mule. by the way is
special work that not many men can
DO in first-class fashion. To tie two
boxes of bacon to mule 50 that they
will not slip during the jolting Of z
dozen miles of the worst road that men
or beasts were ever doomed to travel
takes more rope and skill than an in
experienced one would ever imagine.
During the busy days of the cam
paign, when the roads and chaDarr&l
We're clustered with the men and be-
lOngings of the army, when soldiers
with empty stOmachs clamored to be
fed, any man who looked strong ana
rugged had only to report to the com
missary officer at Sibnney to get a Job
at driving mules. In those days there
were not enough men to go around.
Enlisted infantry and cavalry men
then had to jump in and help get the
vital supplies to the front The work
was hard: men broke down. got fever
or We're picked off by the sharpshoot
ing gentry in the treetOpS. Later when
the early mule drivers We're all in the
hospital. in August when the old army
was being shipped home and new men
coming. there was even a greater de-
mand for men to do this Work-men
who understood these stubborn beasts
and were not afraid of Cuban sun and
Jungle fever. Toward the end of the
campaign negroes from the southern
states We're shipped to Santiago for
this work. A kicking mule and a
Georgia negro seem to be affinities.
There were many negroes among the
first drivers of the war. when the life
Although these men worked like slaves
under most diScOuraging conditions,
they We're better off than the soldiers