Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-04-03
TINE ,a MAINE.
Continued from page ~

aDly sound body or men, IidJor, re
marked the Journal. Judging by thos
] have seen and considering the warn
climate you have been in
Yes the men are as a rule very well
Some are used up slightly, but par
of 1t is through their own carelessness
though, as you know how careless q
soldier is. Some have gained in weight
and others have lost"
How many have you lost out OF
your entire command since you left
Augusta and went to Cuba?'
Il lost two men in the hospital at
Savannah. before we went TO cuba
Since that time l have not lost man,
barring the negro mule driver / hired
in Cuba, who died.
1t was only by the strictest regard
for the mems health that he has
brought them through with such
record
| While in Cuba" said thes major.
I'VE We're camped in good positions as
| a rule. Yet there was everywhere
malaria in the ground. You could see
1t in the morning as it rose from the
| ground When we first arrived, / set
| about to procure boards for floors of
| the tents / soon secured enough for
my battalion, and thus l had more
| flooring than any five whole regiments
| in the island. This kept the men off
| the ground, as / built the floors very
| high from it, | regard this as one or
| the reasons why there was no more
sickness in my command. There was
smallpox in a regiment on one slue,
| yellow jack in another. and there was
| almost every disease OF the warm
climes about US but still none OF them
entered into our camp with the excep-
ton of the measles and nothing result
ed disastrously, as you know. | allow
ed none of my men TO go near the in
fected regiments and was very careful
with them throughout.
Right here ] want to say word for
the men, They behaved as true and
loyal sons of Maine should. AS soon as
left Augusta all fell into line and
with but one or two exceptions, l could
not ask for a better behaved set of men
than | had. They behaved like veter-
ANS"
II suppose everyone expected 10 hear
of some breach OF good breeding when
they We're paid off and let go in Savan-
nah. You know there was a Connecti-
and otherwise disgraced themselves.
Well, our boys did nothing of the sort.
do not say they did not drink any
thing. but ! do not know of case az
ter they had received their pay. where
they took more than enough to make
themselves feel well and then stop.
Not one case of a breach of peace came
to my notice. and all the way home
those whom | saw were very orderly
and gentlemanly."
How much was paid 10 your men
before mustered out?"
II believe there was something over
$40 900 paid to the men. there being less
than 200 of them. You see there was
| the three months pay. That came
about by the pay for the month OF
March and the two months extra pay
for foreign service. Then there was
their travel pay which amounted to
quite a sum when a private received
about So. Beside this the larger num-
Der had quite a sum coming to them on
| account of the clothing allowance
which they had not fully drawn.
| Speaking about the pay reminds me
of an unfortunate little incident of the
trip home. | and few others took the
Florida special from Savannah to New
York at O'Clock, Friday night. In the
party were Quartermaster Sergeant
Wallace Purnell of Gardiner. Sergeant
! James Semple of Bangor. and a cor
poral whose name l have forgotten.
| They had a stateroom in one of the
| Pullman cars. During the night some
one entered and stole all but two cents
Of their money, which amounted to
over $500. Semple had a ticket TO
Bangor. but the other two only as far
as New York. A gentleman in near
| by stateroom also lost S125
| II went into the smoker and explain
ed the situation to the passengers and
a subscription was taken and 500 rails
ed for the three men
| will any of your men go into the
regular service, do you Think
Il doubt If man of them joins the
regular army. They have had all they
care for. If they could have active
service they would not object, but they
believe the prospects of fighting in the
Philippines would be very small by the
time they could reach there"
How and when are the rest of the
men coming home?"
The greater part of them are COM
ing TO Boston by steamer. 1t is a T.
hour trip TO Boston from Savannah. so
| they viii not be here at present. DR..
Turkey with the few men who are all
| ing, and also with our horses will ar
| rive on the steamer in Boston. which
should be in there before Tuesday. The
fare on the steamer to Boston was a
little over S13 first class.
Some of the officers have not yet
left Savannah. Captain Hume, Quar-
, termaster Dutton, Captain Kimball.
Captain Jewett. and Captain Crockett
with some of the lieutenants will not
leave for day or two. as they have
some accounts with the government to
| settle. On account of property for
which ] am responsible, which the
quartermaster has not yet turned in.
l have not been paid in full All will
be settled within a few days. Adjutant
| Wade came as far as Boston with me,
where he stopped Some of the men
will visit the cities along the route.
We have been having a hard time
of it since we landed in Savannah. a
little over two weeks ago. All the
papers have had to be made out and
the property turned in. 1t has been a