The National tribune., 1901-11-21
CAMP CUBA LIBRE.
The Blue and the Gray Represented in
Gen. Lees Corps.
BY j. ". NJ.

As a member of the Seventh Army
| Corps during the war with Spain | had
! frequent opportunities TO study some of
the types of the modern American sol
der rs that corps was composed of resi-
meuts from the North, South. East and
| West There were North Carolinians
and Jersey men, men from Wisconsin and
Mississippians; Rough Riders from the
! far West, and Signal Corps men from
| Connecticut, all wearing the blue and
serving under the tri-colored folds of Old
! Glory.
| was particularly impressed by the
| appearance of Mississippi regiment as
| it marched past in July, 1898, to take
part in the review of the Seventh Corp1
| -: Jacksonville, Fla. Side by side with
mere youths strobe with elastic step and
| military swin.; gray-haired men, their
white boards blowing in the breeze, but
still as buoyant as boys as an observer
expressed it. When the Mississippians
came to a halt | approached one of the
aged boys in blue and entered into con
versation with him. Finally 1 remarked
that the age limit for entering the mill
he appeared TO be slightly above the
limit
"Yaas," he replied in the dialect pecu-
liar to his section Of the South; Il reckon
| passed the limit some time ago, for
when | fit with Gineral Lee in Narginny
| | had turned eighteen, and that's bin a
few years ago, although it seems but last
| year sence ] wore the butternut and gray
of Confed."
"How did you manage to pass the ex-
amining officers TO enlist this tlmeE L
asked
''Oh, that was easy. I saw him a-lOok-
| in right hard at my white hair and whis-
lSers, and | said to him, I'm prematurely
| gray, Mister. | amt ID yet. He just
winked his other eye and said it was all
right, and | stepped up to the Gap'n's
office and signed the papers that made
me q Yankee soldier"
There were number of ex-Confedcr-
ates in the other Southern regiments con-
nected with the Seventh Army Corps,
and no doubt their experiences with the
age limit We're similar to that of the ven
erabIe Mississippian.
There were two regiments of Virginia
volunteers in the corps, the I'd and 4th.
These Nirginians We're slender and rather
tall as Il rule, easily amenable to army
discipline, springy and alert in their move
ments, and ideals as light infantrymen.
The 4th regiment was from Richmond
and vicinity, and was considered Il crack
organization.
| The North Carolina regiment was com
! posed largely of mOuntaiHeers, hardy fel-
| lows, and made excellent soldiers. For
some reason a feud existed between the
| 4NOIiH 'dIbiiHldIS anu LHe NDlbnIeflS VI
the I'd \. j., and they had fire.
quent clashes and fights. How the feud
started no one seemed to know. The
''tarheels' were on good terms with the
other Northern troops, and We're on es-
pecially friendly terms with the 2d Vol
unteer Cavalry, Torrey's Rough Riders.
| Just after the tropical rain storms,
which came nearly every afternoon, the
several regimental camps would be flood
ed by the dOwnpour until they resembled
| lakes, while pots and pans and all man
ner of camp equipage would float serenely
about. On such occasions the North Car
Olinians on guard duty about the camp
would remove their shoes, roll up their
trousers above their knees and continue
their pacing to and fro, dripping like
drowned rats. During the rushes in their
sham-battles they would give the old rebel
yell so vigorously that it could be heard
at Panama, where the Rough Riders were
| in camp.
The South Carolinians and Floridians
were tall and slender, like the Virginians,
| but as hardy as live-oaks, and they, too,
We're ideal light infantrymen, and sounded
the rebel yell whenever the command was
"Chargew