Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-20
GLORY FOR
DESPISED
KANSANS

Kansas was Calleu d JOO lOt WueH 1 We
came organized last year. The jay
hawkers wanted to fight, but the TWEEN
tieth Kansas. under Colonel Funston,
was not considered entirely creditable
to the Sunfiower state. In fact, it was
held in contempt to such an extent that
other troops were sent to. the great camp
ing rendezvous, and the Twentieth Kan
saS went west.
Colonel Fred Funston had fought in
Cuba under Gomez and had come home a
seemingly broke and exhausted man,
yet here he was, at the head of a body
of men who were clamoring for glory.
Politics interviewed, the friends of the
Twentieth Kansas claimed, and the high
purposes of the Colonel and Of the men
We're defeated. To Cuba they could not
go. The Twentieth Regiment was the
laughing stock of the National Guard Of
Kansas.
The men in the Twentieth Kansas had
very little money. When the regiment left
Kansas, assigned to the west, it had no
uniforms: its men were clad in ragged
civilian attire. when they arrived on the
coast they were laughed at, for they pre-
sented anything but a Military appear
ance. Gen. Merriam seemed GUS
and he put the Twentieth Kansas Oh a
sand pile. 1t should be remembered that
there is plenty of sand in California, but
the Twentieth Kansas had the full bene-
fit Of it.
: 1--WE have no uniforms. but we have
feas,. ."a men wrote home. Funston,
Colonel, became ~3ntansled in a dispute
with Little, Lieutenant ...1e'' anu on
the axiom that big bugs have little o""ees
on their backs to bite 'em, so little bugs
havelesser bugs, and SO on, ad lnfinitum,"
the petty officers and enlisted men joined
the throng and began quarreling among
themselves.
All this was very d~iscouraging to Gen.
eral Merriam, and if he could do nothing
else, being in command of the camp, at
least he could see to it that the Kansans
did not go to the Philippines with Mer-
rift, to carry dissension with them. So
neither Merritt nor he did anything to
hasten the e~quipping of the despised regi-
ment. Without uniforms when they left
home, they were almost without clothes
when at last the military equipments
came.
-Tive times did Washington order the
regiment to embark, and four times did
sober second thought countermand the
orders.
At last the regiment did get positive
orders to get off the sand pile and rid it
self of its California f1eas.
When the Twentieth arrived at Manila,
ffeas and all, it was slowed away some
where on the right-not the very right,
because tanks are posts of honor with
the center, but far enough away to keep
it from being a nuisance.
All this time there had been nothing for
the army in the Philippines to do. Troops
had been transported, Dewey had ar
ranged landings for them, and they de-
barked. The Twentieth was busy writ
ing letters home when something hap
pened. A Filipino officer had attempted
to break through the Nebraska lines and
had been shot down. Firing began, the
assembly sounded. ammunition was
served, and the despised Twentieth Regi-
ment had something to do.
The regiment was dragged along be-
hind the firing line in the fighting of May
4, 5 and 6, doing what it could to show it
was a regiment of Americans, and on the
9TH found itself facing Caloocan. 1t had
been planned to take the town that day,
and the kansans We're up in front, in the
center.
Reuter-. the British Associated Press
man, knows a good thing when he sees
it. He cabled to London, and back from
London as follows:
AT 4 p. m. the American ships ceased
firing. Then the army fired three guns,
at an interval of 10 seconds, signalling
the advance of the whole line, the Kan
sas Regiment leading through the jungle.
The rebels left wing was diverted by
Major Bell and a hundred men. 1t was
Xix clockWork. There was no hitch any
where
Line deNiS tnoSe deSpiSed kanSanS
fought. They jumped into that jungle as
many a time they had done in their great
Kansas rows of twelve-foot corn, and
they went through it with a mighty
shout. 1t was Kansas Day. Some one
shouted:
Rock Chalk! Jay Hawk. K. S. U" the
football yell of the Kansas University,
and the regiment went mad. 1t had any
number of students in il, and Lieutenant
Alvord, himself a student of the univer-
sity, jumped further into the jungle than
any other man. He took up the cry and
on he went.
He never came back. They buried the
brave fellow where they found him.
'Hurrah for Kansas some other fell
low cried. and on the despised Kansans
went. Nothing could hold them back.
They had got off the sand pile, on to the
firing line; they We're there to fight and
Kansas was watching her lads. So was
the world, but Kansas was the world to
kansans. They almost brought about a
check by their ferocity.
"straighten out our line" the division
commander commanded.
II will, sir, as soon as I can get the
Kansas back was the answer.
When he did get them back they had
invaded Caloocan, lost six men and had
22 wounded.
After that there was no longer a de-
epised ans regiment. The Twentieth
was put in Caloocan and ordered to hold
1t. On the night of the Sth it was learned
that the Filip.nos had planned a rush.
The Twentieth was ordered to repel it.
Instead of standing to receive the attack,
the regiment Went in the night, crawled
Il Dol the enemy, alert as it was, and
went through like the no: winds of their
own state. Their battle cry was a foot
ball yell.
on the 9th. after this night rush, they
-, cont r. tr. IL e .I II
enemy, in hopes of hemming him, and
once morn Reuter- sinaled out this ~