The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1899-02-23
THE HRMY Fuckers.
Brave Men whose"yyo Counts for Much
in n Campaign.
LesIie,s Weekly

| Brave Men whose Work Counts for Much
. in q Campaign.
Leslie's Weekly.
One Of the most striking features of the
whole campaign was the pack train. The
packers OF the Army are very like the
Stokers On board a warship. They are
seldom heard of, but their work is the
most important of any that is done. They
supply the fundamental requisites, and
should their work stop the whole force
would suffer. They are the heart of the
military system, and yet their praises are
never sung by poets, and they are seldom
mentioned in dispatches. They are never
seen in parades and reviews, and yet to
these belong great portion of the glory.
The packers OF the Army are even more
entitled to the praise than are the stokers
OF the Navy, for not only is the work of the
former the very hardest, but they are com
PEELED to go right up in the firing-line
when the battle is at it's hight, and where
the danger is greatest, and unpack am
munition. 1t is really remarkable sight
to see these men and their total indiffer-
ence to all danger at the front during an
engagement, and very often one or more of
their mules are shot.
The packers are all Western men, and in
measure used to dangers, as the frontier
is the only part of the country where the
pack-trains are used regularly. Conse
quently there is that picturesque Western
air about the men.
The Army mule is the most essential
feature OF campaigning, but there are sew
eral varieties, and the pack-mule is,
without doubt, the most unique and in =
teiligent. There are about go animals in
a full train, and these are led by the
patient "bellmare," asteady, weli-broken
horse that leads the way, and around
whose neck a bell is suspended. The
sound of this bell is the guide the mules
follow, no matter where it leads. They
follow blindly, without any other guide
except the constant urging from the pack
ers who ride other mules along in the
train. The animals wear no bride ex-
cept, perhaps, a halter, and yet they trot
along and never stray from the trail. As
long as they are with the train they show
remarkable intelligence, but once take
them away from the rest and they are
hopelessly lost. Horses were very scarce
during the Santiago campaign, and so a
few of the pack animals were impressed
into service under the saddle. l was
fortunate enough to have one, and he was
not the least of my troubles. He was
branded with huge 49," and in every
one of his adventures he upheld the
tradition OF that time -honored symbol of
bad luck. 1t was most amusing to see
him on the road, as he always imagined
that the pack-train was just ahead and
at every bend he would crane his neck to
see if the rest of the mules were ahead.
If he ever heard bell that sounded like
the one he had been following he would
make for it, and no power could stop him.
When riding near the front | lived in
deadly fear lest someone in the enemy's
line should sound a bell II ever heard
a pack-train coming in the opposite di-
rectiOn | had to climb down and anchor
him to tree or he would Join it,
The packers of this campaign worked
day and night and no one ever heard of
them getting sick when the fever was lay
ing the best of us low. There was no
glory for them; they were just simple,
hired civilians; no uniform, no regiment,
but just good -natured, hard -working West
erners. Each one of the packers carried
"six-Sh ooter" of the frontier style.