Gun-laying Practice on Outward-bound Steamship.
]
By night, there had been enough house-building accomplished for the
sheltering of four batteries. The rest of the men stowed themselves in
odd corners of the fort, large numbers bunking with their friends the
regulars, and many picking out soft spots on the floor of the post
recreation-room and gymnasium. As a matter of fact, it was four days
before the entire command was settled in quarters—wet, windy days at
that—lack of working tools for putting the houses together delaying the
completion of the task. But when the village finally stood finished, it
was a model village indeed—with a city hall, as exemplified by the
office of the adjutant; a city hospital, in the shape of the surgeon's
red cross shanty; eight straight, though narrow, streets, with six
houses in each; and last, if far from least, a fire department,
consisting of two hose-reels manned by detachments from "I" and "L"
Batteries, with Captains Williamson and Whiting serving as the Board of
Engineers. Later there was added a banquet hall, in the shape of a huge
mess-tent, which loomed up grandly in fair weather, but tumbled
ignominiously into the mud on the stormy days when it was most needed;
but in the early days, officers and men took their rations as best they
could, in the stuffy casemate of the gymnasium or amid the gloom of the
"Dark Arch." And it may be said here that the messing problem was not a
matter for easy solution, since the crowded condition of the fort made
it impossible for the batteries to cook with their Buzzacot outfits,
while the fixed kitchen appliances used by the regulars were inadequate
for rationing a garrison of over nine hundred men. The question was
finally settled, however, by employing a contractor to provide a general
mess for the regiment, and this method was followed in the rationing of
the command until it was broken up and sent to its various coast
stations, late in May.
If the enlisted men were not luxuriously quartered in the early days at
Fort Warren, the commissioned officers certainly were not much better
off. The colonel, with his fourteen field and staff officers, went to
housekeeping in three rooms in the second casemate to the eastward of
the sallyport, while the first casemate to the westward found its eight
rooms well populated with the thirty-five officers of the line. The room
assigned to the lieutenant-colonel, the three majors, and the surgeon
was a type of garrison luxury. It was lighted and aired by three narrow
musketry loopholes, which afforded a somewhat monotonous view of the
main ditch and sodded slope of the northern cover-face, while its
contracted area was taken up in part by five cots, as many fieldchests,
and a variable number of camp-stools. But it had an open grate, in which
a coal fire was always glowing, and on the nights when the rain drove
down upon the muddy parade, or the impenetrable fog swept over the
ramparts, it was far from lacking in comfort. As a matter of fact, the
enlisted men were extremely well provided for, since each house in the
battery streets ultimately was equipped with a coal stove and with lamps
in plenty, while volunteer ingenuity was not long in providing bunks,
arm-racks, and cupboards. As a rule, there were about fifteen men, under
the proper non-commissioned officers, quartered in each shack, an
allowance which gave ample space.
When the command reported at the fort, it was in excellent condition so
far as concerned its health, and its officers purposed to keep it so. It
is worth noting that on the day after its arrival, in spite of the
fatigue, exposure, and excitement attendant upon its departure from
home, there was not a single response at morning surgeon's call, which
was nothing less than remarkable when it is recalled that here were over
seven hundred and fifty men, fresh from office, shop, and factory, who
had slept in damp uniforms, and in most uncomfortable quarters. This
good record in the matter of health was maintained to the end of the
regiment's term of service, and that it was so maintained is due to more
than mere chance. Rigid rules, rigidly enforced, were laid down for camp
sanitary matters, and minute inspections were daily made by both
battalion and battery commanders, while the medical officers were alert
and untiring in looking to the welfare of the men. The trying and
unseasonable weather of late April and early May, together with the
heavy details brought under exposure on guard and patrol duty, resulted
in some sickness, but at no time was the hospital list unduly large. In
its service of over six months there was but one death in the regiment,
and this casualty occurred in the case of a man who contracted scarlet
fever, and died while on mustering-out furlough. All through the summer
the regiment improved in health and physique, and when finally it
returned from the field it was in the pink of condition for further
service. In justice to the officers of the command, this point cannot be
unduly emphasized: the general condemnation of volunteer officers, so
common since the close of the war, admits of certain sharply defined
qualifications. While no estimate yet can be made of the dimensions of
the pension bill for 1898, which finally will confront the country, it
may be stated as an assured fact that the taxpayers need worry little
over the item in the account chargeable to the First Massachusetts.