WE GO TO THE SOUTHLAND AND BEGIN TO FIND OUT WHERE WE ARE AT.
On Saturday evening, May 14, we started once more for the South, this
time by train and had the distinguished honor of beating out the
much-advertised 71st New York, which had been ordered to start at the
same time, but forgot its tentage on board the steamers and was obliged
to wait for several hours in consequence. Our train accommodations
could have been much worse, the train being run in three sections of
14 cars each and as four companies travelled on each section this
arrangement gave each company three cars, while a sleeping car was
reserved for the officers and with a baggage car made up the section.
With three cars to a company there was plenty of room for the men and
we managed to sleep quite comfortably. At every station along the route
we received plenty of greetings and this happened so frequently after
we got below Mason & Dixon's line that the boys wondered a little,
inasmuch as we were from "Black Massachusetts." But it was evident that
all but a very few of the people of the South realized that the civil
war was over and we got no heartier reception anywhere along the route
than in Virginia and North and South Carolina.
We reached Washington early Sunday morning and made a brief stop just
long enough to allow some of the boys to make a raid on a couple of
milk wagons. To our disappointment the train did not run through the
city but skirted it and we failed to get a glimpse of any of the show
places. We kept on going and late Monday evening, the 16th, landed at
Lakeland, Fla., where we went into camp, our destination having been
changed by telegraphic orders received soon after crossing the Florida
line.
Life on the train was not very exciting. We made but few stops and
those mainly to change engines. In South Carolina we made our first
acquaintance with wood burning engines. After these were hitched on it
was a case of stopping every few miles to "wood up." When the train did
not stop for wood it did for water and between them both progress was
slow to us but we found that according to southern ideas we were going
at express speed.
Our troop train was a great attraction for the children at the stations
where we stopped and it was a common thing for the boys and girls of
these places to hand us bunches of jessamine and magnolia flowers while
the older folk looked on approvingly. The colored people were somewhat
demonstrative but both they and the white folks never neglected an
opportunity to sell us cakes and pies at every stop. The pies reminded
us of those we had been getting at home, they were so different, but
as a relief from canned meat and beans they were welcome. Occasionally
when we stopped we found it possible to purchase bottled beer of an
inferior grade, but better than most of the water we had to drink.
On the trip south Lieuts. Young and Vesper of B company established
records as sleepers that put them far ahead in their class. Captains
Leonard and McDonald had the same section in the sleeping car and about
every night there could be heard a more or less vigorous protest from
the former against Capt. McDonald's use of a 700 horse power pipe.
Lieut. Harry Parkhurst of K was the victim of much "jollying" over
a story printed in a New York newspaper to the effect that he was
a nephew of the Rev. Dr. Parkhurst of New York, but he took it good
naturedly.
At Dupont, Ga., Private William Ferrier of G foraged a little during a
brief stop and captured a diminutive specimen of the "razor back" hog
prevalent in that locality and bore him in triumph to the train. Any
visions of pork chops which might have been indulged in were dispelled
by a look at the pig's anatomy which was plainly visible through his
skin but he was taken along just the same and met his fate at Lakeland
when he was killed and roasted by Private "Dido" Hunt of G and served
up to a small but select circle.
At one of the many stops in Florida a portly colored lady hung about
the train and made violent love to the good looking officers, her
comments on the personal appearance of some of them being rather more
pungent than flattering. So far as known she did not steal any of them.
During the stay at South Framingham Privates E. N. Aiken and B. R.
Madison of K company had blossomed out as composers and one of their
effusions which was sung by the more or less able musicians of the
company in camp and on the train to the tune of: "There'll be a Hot
Time in the Old Town To-night" was as follows:
"When you hear those guns go bang, bang, bang,
We'll all join in and lick that Dago gang,
For we want war or we'll have no name at all,
There'll be a hot time when the bugle shall call."
The above was Private Aiken's. Here is Private Madison's:
"In the battle front we stand with our rifles in our hand
And for Cuba's freedom we will ever fight;
And with showers of shot and shell,
We'll send the Spaniards straight to h----l,
When we march into Havana bye and bye.
CHORUS.
Tramp, tramp, tramp the boys are marching,
Cheer up, Cuba, we will come,
And beneath the starry flag
We'll tear down the Spanish rag
And float the Cuban flag forevermore."
Our arrival at Lakeland was marked by an incident which went to show
that we were not in the north. Just as our train pulled in a shooting
affray, in which a couple of troopers from the Tenth U. S. cavalry, a
colored regiment and some white people participated, occurred and a
white citizen of the town was killed. As nearly as we could understand
it the troopers were not to blame but shot in self defense but there
was much excitement in the town and strong patrols of the First U. S.
cavalry, a white regiment, were sent out. We were kept in the train
that night and the next morning after a bath in one of the many lakes
from which the town takes its name, marched to our camp at the fair
grounds and on the shores of Lake Morton. The camp was pitched on an
elevation and under the southern pine and cypress trees from which hung
long festoons of Spanish moss. Much of this was gathered for bedding
but it was soon abandoned for this purpose when it was found that it
harbored numbers of lizards and sometimes small snakes.
Our neighbors at the camp were the First and Tenth regular cavalry and
the 71st New York which arrived a day after we did. The 71st men being
from Manhattan were inclined to be a bit fresh at first but they soon
came to understand that the Second was not exactly a "farmer" regiment
and let us alone. One disagreeable incident went to show that among
the New York officers were some snobs. Sergeant James Gibbons of G
while "down town" one day went into the dining room of the hotel and
ordered his dinner. The commanding officer of the 71st and some of his
officers were in the room at the time and as soon as he realized that
an enlisted man was actually daring to eat in the same room with him
his indignation became so great that he walked over to the table where
Sergeant Gibbons was seated and ordered him to leave the place, saying
that only officers were allowed in the dining room. Sergeant Gibbons
did not feel like moving and the hotel proprietor assured him that he
would be served as well as any officer. So he refused to budge and
enjoyed his dinner, much to the disgust of the New York officer.
Life at Lakeland was fairly enjoyable. The temperature was high,
ranging from 84 on one day it rained to 124 on a day it did not. We
had our big wall tents we had brought with us from South Framingham
and soon had them filled with more or less crude devices in the way
of furniture. Mattresses there were none and our beds were Mother
Earth which was of a brunette hue down there. Bathing in the lake was
a favorite pastime between drills but after the muddy bottom had been
stirred up a little it was a question whether we were dirtier before
the bath or after it. There were all kinds of "Jo Jos" about a huge
alligator who made his home in the lake but he had evidently heard of
our appetites and kept out of sight.
The First cavalry, camped some distance on our right, had established a
canteen soon after its arrival and it became a favorite place for our
boys. A couple of days after our arrival we got our first mail from
home and that day was a red letter one in our Lakeland life.
Just before reaching Lakeland some K company foragers had captured a
goat at one of the stops but the owner pursued the animal to Lakeland
and when he put in a claim for him Capt. Warriner ordered the "billy"
given up. Our menu in camp was far more varied than on the train for
"post" rations were being issued and the company cooks were "getting on
to their jobs." Private Mandeville, who afterwards acquired much fame
by being left behind at Fort Tampa, presided over the kitchen of G. In
B company Walter Butler got up savory dishes and Private Harry Fisher
looked after the culinary department for K. Butter was conspicuous by
its absence from the table and one boy in K missed it so much that he
dreamed of it. One night his dreams were so realistic that his cry of
"Ma, please pass the butter," awoke his tent mates and that expression
was the rallying cry in K for several days.
The death of Private Weslie Brass of Westfield, a member of I company,
cast a gloom over the regiment and all the companies turned out to do
escort duty when the body was shipped home. His was the first death in
the regiment.
On Sunday, May 30th, orders came to break camp the following day and
proceed to Tampa, which we did, arriving there on Monday afternoon, the
31st.