The Washington times., 1915-02-14
Minnesota Men
Broke Badly.

The Thirteenth Minnesota Volunteers
broke badly the first time they came
under fire. on the day OF the famous
assault on the city and defenses Of
Manila" The general who command.
ed their brigade let them down very
easily in his official report by saying
that they were we'll screened behind
adjacent gardens" Men screened be-
hind the walls Of church are not Of
much account in any fighting that is
going on unless they are taller than any
soldiers ever saw among the regulars
have to be on fairly long stilts to shoot
over q church, even the one at Cinga-
Ion which screened" the Minnesota
men.
But just as part Of the seventy-hrst
duty at San Juan. so part Of the Min
nesota boys, an indiscriminate mix
ture from pretty much all the twelve
companies of the regiment. remained
Company cor pa S Of the TWenty.tkird regulars
that bore the brunt Of the action. Two
. captains and a lieutenant stayed with
+ their men. although they took rihes
and fought as privates unuer the com
|mand Of Captain Nichols. the regular.
| All three were wounded, the two cap
tains. Seebach and Bjornstad. very
The Porto Rico expedition developed
scS scter. There e, It S was ss the sixth Msssa-
chusetts Regiment that did not come
ur to the mark, the colonel got going
ashore with his men from the trans
! port and the lieutenant colonel being
unwilling to leave the beach. so that
: the regiment, when 1t did go. went
under command Of a major.
These things are unpleasant, but they
are not so much the fault Of the men as
Of the system to which I've we have ars,ta elunE NJ;
the sorrowfui and disastrous evidence
! we have had that 1t is wrong. The same
men who failed to distinguish them
selves SCI in Cuba, Porto Rico: and the
under proper leadership would make
| first class soldiers.
! 1t was not only volunteers who were
thrown into disorder at San Juan.
There were men Of the Sixth and Six
| zip for while In complete confusion.
| But the difference in discipline and
| training showed In the result The con-
fused regulars finally got themselves
| found men going forward to the fighting
| lines and went with them. Companies
! were disorganized and men were fight
ing under strange officers, but they
| were on the line and doing their best.
A have seen a volunteer regiment that
started out little better thAn a mob
become a first class fighting organiza-
ton under proper training and dis
cipline. The First Nebraska volunteers
are a case in point. Under the in
efficient colonel who commanded that
| regiment when 1t went to the Philip
pines 1t was sick. drunk. and almost
| mutinous.
When that colonel was shipped home
and Major stotsenburg. who was a
lieutenant Of regulars. was made
colonel wonderful transformation
| took place.
He took the regiment out of Manila
and put it under canvas in the country.
He weeded out the sick. weak. and un-
desirables, and the rest he set about
training. At first they hated the ground
ne walked on for the average volunteer
Is extremely impatient of discipline.
| But when they found that he was max
ing them into solid. efficient organiza-
| ton new self respect developed in
those men and they became one of the
most effective fighting units in the COM
mand. Moreover. they idolized their
+ colonel and when he was killed while
leading them in charge it was the
bitterest blow the regiment could have
| received.