The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-08-26
Official BURIAL CORPS
AMY OF MEN WHOSE DUTY 1T Is
ro BRING HOME DEAD SOLDIERS.
.fter Cuban War Demands Upon the
Government Made Such N Corps
Nccrssary-win Go to China.


.,crts OF the Spanish war and the con-
diets which have succeeded it, about which
,he general public knows little. but which
~ much interest to the soldiers of the
I.,i,sa States and their friends, is the
%, Department's burial corps. 1t is an
o-ganization small as TO numbers. but grim
81 ret,ccnt as 10 membership, and it's du-
g. are gruesome. although its services
r highly appreciated by the surviving
relatives of those soldiers and sailors who
faU from bullets or disease IN foreign coun-
tries.
Oe7cialIy IL is known in the War Depart
uent aad carried on the pay rolls as THE
United states burial corps" a title which
g 2 missioner, for the functions of the
burial corps is the disinterment and re-
coverv OF the bodies OF our soldiers and
sailors who die on foreign soil. The gov
ernment now undertakes, as one of tho
conditions of accepting the services of SOL
dlers and sailors. TO return their bodies
% the United States for burial in case
they are killed or die abroad. 1t pledges
itself 10 bring back to this country and
deliver TO his relatives in any part Of it
the remains OF any soldier or sailor who
dies abroad in service, whether it be in
cuba. Porto Rico. the Philippines, Chind
or elsewhere.
This buria! corps is comparatively a new
thing. having beer organized two years ago
this summer. Prior TO that time there
vas no necessity for such an organiza-
ton. for our soldiers and sailors were not
ENGAGED in hostilities abroad until the
spanish war came On. With that war came
new conditions. requiring new departments
OF the government. and the burial corps
was one Of them.
WANTED THEIR DEAD.
Mothers and wives saw their sons and
husbands enter the volunteer army for the
sabjugation of Spain. with more or less
equanimity. as they considered it to be
their duty to let them go, but after the
battles of San Juan and Santiago, when the
lists OF the dead came out, there arose in
all parts of the country a demand that the
bodies Of those who had fallen should not
be allowed 10 rest in foreign soil, but
should be returned to the United States and
70 the care of those who i'll life had loved
the fallen. This was a contingency on
which the administration had not counted.
I. was not suspected that the men who had
done the hghting and who died in doing 1T
would be of 50 much sentimental value,
dead. 10 their relatives that they would be-
siege the War Department, and through
their representatives in Congress and their
senator's. the President and Cabinet. for
the return of their remains, and the gov
eminent did not at first exhibit a very live
~ interest in the matter.
The pressure for the return to their for
mer homes of the soldiers and sailors who
died abroad became so great shortly, how
ever. 10 amount TO a demand, and one with
which the government was forced to COM
ply.
In addition to individual demands made
on the War Department by bereaved rela-
tives and by soldiers aid associations or
the administration through congressman
and senator's, a half dozen cities in New
England. from which considerable numbers
o. volunteers had gone to the war. organ
lied associations for the purpose OF recov-
ering and bringing home the dead Of their
communities.
There was one such association in
Worcester, Mass, where several thousands
of dollars were pledged for this purpose be-
fore the government took any practical
steps towards complying with the public
demand.
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE FIRST.
Edmund ". Beachley, whose home was in
Worcester aud who was a member of the
West Point class of 1898, which was gradu-
ated ahead of its time on account OF the
Spanish war. was one of the first officers
TO fall at San Juan. He went dow with a
bullet through his heart in the first of the
battle. and was buried where he fell. The
Second Massachusetts Regiment was also
at san Juan. and Fred p. Dean, a sign
painter from Worcester, was a private in
Company c.. He heard of the death of
Lieutenant Beachley. and, succeeding in
finding his grave, marked it with a rude
cross.
When the Second Regiment returned to
Camp Wikoff, Montauk Point, leaving some
OF its members in Cuban graves, efforts
were being made in Worcester to nave the
body Of Lieutenant Beachley, at least, re-
turned to the United States, and with II.
II possible. the bodies of the other Massa-
ehusetts soldiers who had fallen.
The War Department did not exhibit any
particular anxiety to spend money for what
seemed to the officials a merely sentimental
NeJtNAf anu III PlOuhoC was SNAho NN
that the bodies Of any soldiers would be
brought back.
United States Senator Hoar. as it hap
pened, for the benefit OF the soldiers and
their families. had appointed young Beach
ley 10 West Point. and had taken a father
Is sort of interest in him thereafter. and
he personally interested himself in seeing
that the remains of the young soldier were
returned TO his parents. Senator Hoar Sc
cured the discharge OF Dean from the Sec
ond Massachusetts, so that he might go to
Cuba, find Beachley's grave and return the
body 70 this country.
Dean took with him a Theoretically sealed
casket in which he brought back the re-
mains OF the young lieutenant. and that
was the beginning of the United States
burial corps. Rather. it was a part of the
heginning, for on the same transport which
carried the body OF Lieutenant Beachley
70 thc United States came that OF Sergeant
Hamilton Fish. of the Rough Riders. whose
iather had gone TO Cuba with two under
takers after the remains Of his son. Lieut..
beachleys body was returned to West
foint' from which he had graduated a few
months before, and was buried in the GEM