River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-08-22
NO TOBACCO IN THE TRENCHES
Effect of Such Famine on "a BODY
OF Good Fighting Men Is
Dispiriting.

"Do you know it's a mighty risky
thing to deprive soldiers of their to-
bacco?" said a man who was in the
volunteer ranks during the Santiago
campaign, relates the New Orleans
! rimes-Democrat. ANY other kind of
physical seomfort-hunger thirst,
cold, wounds-ismore than apt to make
Ia man fighting mad. He wants to take it
out of somebody, and, as the enemy
| is primarily responsible for his suffer-
ings, he will sail into the fray with all
the ferocity of fellow who has bit
| ter personal grievance to redress. You
will understand, of course, that don't
advocate this treatment for putting
mettie into troops; what l say is that it
doesn't necessarily rob them of it; but
he loss of their tobacco will sap their
fighting spirit every time. 1t does it
| by turning them into the worst kind of
pessimists.
THAT was strikingly illustrated by
our experience in the trenches before
Santiago. There was a tobacco fam
inc from the first, but it wasn't until
after the two big general engagements,
when we settled down to see things
out, that its effects began to make
themselves felt. At that time our boys
were suffering from about as many
different kinds of discomfort as could
be gathered together in one heap.
"They were half starved, terribly ex.
hausted, wet, cold and dirty. They
were without shelter or a place where
they could lie down, except in the mud
dy trenches, where nobody dared light
fire for fear Of attracting the sharp
shooters, and you would naturally sup
pose fiat all these things would have
| furnished abundant material for grum-
bling, But they didn't, They were
scarcely mentioned. The only subject
that was generally discussed was the
chance of getting a smoke, and, when
that chance was finally recognized as
zero plus nothing, the whole company
settled down to deep gloom. Up TO
that time our men had been perfectly
confident of taking Santiago and lick
| ing the Spaniards out of their boots,
but the longer they remained without
tobacco the more doubtful they be-
came. They had all sorts of sinister
forebodingS-w would get the fever;
naval guns from the fleet; overwhelm-
ing reenforcements would be rushed
across from Havana, and the Lord
! knows what else. At the end of "a
hours there was only one man in our
detachment who still believed we had
ghost of a chance. He was a chap
who had stolen three big, black cigars
from the saddlebags of a passing gem
eral.
"The company remained in that
frame OF mind, only growing steadily
more and more hopeless until the
evening of the fourth day, when a com
missary wagon threw off a box of to-
bacco by mistake, thinking it was en-
halmed beef. Our men pounced on it
like tigers. and in five minutes every
body was smoking and confidence in
the American arms was fully restored.
"a man next to me in the trench, who
was writing his will when the tobacco
arrived, tore off the top lines: 4, John
Smith, being of sound mind etc, and
wrote a letter to his sweetheart in
stead. The troopers We're, if anything,
hungrier, colder and wearier than they
had been al first, but l never saw such
a sudden revival of martial spirit in
my life. If anybody had mentioned
naval guns or Havana requirements
he would have had his head punched.
So, l say, it is a risky thing to deprive
soldier of his ''baccy.' The mys-
terious pessimism that ensues viii re-
duce his fighting efficiency IS per cent"