In the Spring of 1898, patriotic fervor ran high in LaPorte, Indiana, as well as in the rest of the nation. Since LaPorte had no military company, and it was felt by many that the other Indiana regiments would not be ready in time to do any fighting in Cuba, a number of LaPorte men looked to other state militias which might be ready for battle much sooner. Eugene I. Wile, who had Chicago connections was primarily responsible for the enlistment of the LaPorteans in the First Illinois.
The LaPorteans received their "basic training" at Camp Tanner in Springfield, Illinois. From there they were taken to Camp Thomas at Chickamauga Park, Georgia. Then the went to Picnic Island, Port Tampa, Florida, to await transport to the island of Cuba. At no time did the men of the regiment have any idea where they would be going next, or when. At various times, rumors had them going to Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, among other places. For a great part of their time in the army, they waited. For instance, they boarded the transports at Port Tampa on June 30, but did not land in Cuba until July 9th.
Almost all of the men who served in Cuba suffered from illness. It was at first thought that yellow fever was the cause of most of the deaths among the sick. But very few cases of yellow fever were reported. In most cases, the men suffered from the somewhat milder malaria. The poor quality of food and the daily rains which never quite allowed one to be completely dry contributed to the run-down condition of the men, which allowed the malarial fevers to become severe and, on occasion, fatal.
Historical facts about the war in Cuba, what caused it, tactical information concerning battles, etc., will have to be found in other publications. These are the personal observations of the men who were there.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1898
The country's call to duty has been sounded and many of LaPorte's brave sons have responded, that they might, if necessity requires, give their lifeblood in defense of the land of Old Glory.
As LaPorte has no military company, E.I. Wile, Ed Noll, Frank Borg, Arthur Reed, Ed Ball, and Bert Wile of this city, enlisted in the First regiment of the Illinois national guard. They were notified to hold themselves in readiness to go to the front.
About 9 o'clock last night, E.I. Wile received a telephone message from Lieutenant Zweig to report for duty at 8 o'clock this morning at the first regiment armory. The others of the LaPorte delegation were notified at once and preparations made for immediate departure. Messrs. Wile and Ball departed on the Lake Shore special limited mail at 10 o'clock last night. A large crowd of LaPorteans was down at the station to see them off and shout after shout rent the air as the time approached for the boys to leave. Both were full of enthusiasm and anxious to get to the front. As the train slowly began to move out of the station the spirited music of the Star Spangled Banner was wafted to the ears of the crowd from the band room two squares away where the LaPorte City Band was practicing.
This morning Messrs. Borg, Wile, Noll, and Reed left on the Pacific Express to join the Chicago soldiers.
E.I. Wile and Ed Ball arrived at 22nd street at 11:55 p.m. and at the armory of the First regiment at 12:00 this morning. They found everything quiet and all waiting for the sound of the assembly. At 8 o'clock this morning the four remaining LaPorte boys reached the armory.
The LaPorte fellows will be taken to Springfield along with the balance of the command where they will be fully uniformed and equipped. According to advice received from Chicago this morning the regiment would leave there in a special train at 11 o'clock this morning.
In a letter to the Herald, Gene says, As I write the sound of a piano in one of the company rooms comes to me, so you can see all are in a happy frame of mind.
LATER
Word received from Chicago this afternoon is to the effect that the first regiment will not leave till 8 o'clock this evening for Springfield. Owing to being under age and on account of the fact that he cannot secure the consent of his parents, Arthur Reed was rejected by the officers of the First regiment.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1898
Special Correspondence‑‑Chicago, April 26, 1898, 1:35 p.m.‑‑Contrary to expectations we will not get away from here for Springfield until 8 o'clock tonight. Bert Wile, Frank Borg, Arthur Reed, and Ed Noll arrived in good time this morning and after I had introduced them to their officers we were all allowed liberty until 1 o'clock this afternoon, when we will assemble at the armory, and it is now definitely settled that we will start as stated above.
I wish you could see the excitement and hustle to get ready at the armory on Michigan Boulevard. Many pathetic scenes can be witnessed. Mothers, wives, and sweethearts are mingled with the men, and as many fathers and brothers, and it is a common sight to see tears in their eyes, and to see them embracing one another with utter abandon and oblivious of surroundngs. I bade my sisters good‑bye at the armory this morning and my brothers will see me off when the train leaves this evening. Will write you again tomorrow from the post at Springfield.
We are all well and anxious to get at our duties. Love to everybody‑‑Gene.
*****
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 1898
Special Correspondence--In Camp, State Fair Grounds, Springfield, Illinois, April 27, 9:30 a.m.‑‑At last we are here. We left Chicago last night at 8 o'clock and arrived here at 5:30 this morning. The cars were switched right into the grounds so we have had no marching to do.
The Scenes at the armory simply beggar description: The regimental band played "The Star Spangled Banner," and the vast throng of people which packed and surged through the immense building went into a perfect delirium of patriotic demonstrations.
We left the armory at 6:30 p.m. and marched to the Illinois Central station amid hundreds upon thousands of people, who stood and craned their necks from every point of vantage; flags were waved and the calling of names as each company passed, mingled with words of cheer and wishes of success, stirred us to a perfect pitch of desperate resolution to do and die for our beloved flag.
The trip through Illinois on the Central railway was another long series of ovations; at Kankakee the whole town turned out; red fire was burned and the railway station and its environments were alive with a solid mass of humanity, which yelled itself hoarse at us.
The scenes all over the beautiful grounds where we are encamped are also inspiring. Already 7,000 infantry are here and 1,000 cavalry and by night it is expected that 10,000 men will have reported for duty. Each train brings in a battalion and in any direction you may choose to look you will see soldiers. Some are on guard, a large number sleeping, and some are even playing ball.
Our quarters are in the pavilion of machinery hall and we consider ourselves lucky as we have at least a roof over our heads, which is more than most of the other First Regiment boys can say. Regimental headquarters are also in this building, and the regimental commissary is directly under the grand stairway leading to the balcony.
Guard details are just being started out and by 10:30 o'clock the camp will be thoroughly picketed.
LaPorte is well represented in the First regiment, for in addition to the five in this company, Hugh Moore has enlisted in "M" company, "Chuckie" Pusch in "K" and Leon Hart in company "H".
As usual "Biddy" is the life of the company and his bright sayings cause much merriment.
The mess call has just sounded, and as I have not eaten anything since last night, I think I'll join the company. More anon. Yours as ever, Gene.
*****
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1898
Special Correspondence, Camp Tanner, State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Illinois, April 28, '98, 11:30 a.m.‑‑While waiting my turn for final examination by the U.S. surgical staff I am going to write a few lines.
The company with which we have linked our fortunes brought along 119 men: orders have since been issued reducing the maximum number from 109 rank and file to 90 men, including the commissioned officers. This of course will result in many men being thrown out; but a good many old men have volunteered the same as I have, and we will be given the preference.
With "the pull" I have I am in hopes of fixing it so that the other four boys will also "stick".
12:30 p.m.‑‑Since writing the foregoing all of us LaPorte boys have been accepted by the U.S. surgeons, and Bert Wile, Frank Borg, and Ed Noll were complimented on their fine figures and large muscular and chest development. Ed Ball and I passed without a struggle, no doubts being expressed as to our physical condition, which fact will put people in LaPorte who feared that we two might not pass and which seemed to cause them more or less uneasiness and worry.
We in this company are overjoyed for out of 59 men who went before the medical examiners, only four were rejected.
Bert Wile and Ed Noll have just located another LaPorte boy, Harry Young, who is a member of the 2nd Illinois, I don't know what company.
"Swede," "Pumpkin" and "The Arab" misunderstood the orders published at retreat last night and when they tried to get into the building where we are quartered and endeavored to get into "F's" quarters they were "up against the real thing" and at this writing they are helping the balance of the chain gang to police headquarters.
We will probably be sworn into the government service sometime today, and then our new equipment will be issued to us. How long we will remain here is entirely problematical but the consensus of opinion seems to be about five weeks.
Best wishes for all, in which the other boys join me.
2 p.m.‑‑Since writing all the foregoing, I have been appointed a full-fledged corporal and congratulations are now in order.
*****
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, MAY 6, 1898
Special Correspondence‑‑Camp Tanner, Fairgrounds, Springfield, Illinois, May 4, 1898‑‑We have just received the Herald telegram announcing the sweeping Democratic victory, and while it did not come out just as we figured that it would, we humbly submit to it, and only hope Svengali and Trilby will do the thing up right by giving us the kind of administration they claimed they would.
Yesterday we indulged in a seven mile overland march over the worst roads I have ever seen, and if there be any farmer in LaPorte who would kick on our roads, for punishment he should be sentenced to put up with those of this locality. The trip was from this camp to Camp Lincoln, past Lincoln monument, and the roads traversed were entirely unpaved and were full of ruts and holes which made walking extremely difficult. We left camp at 1:30 and reached here again at 4 p.m., we made one stop of 20 minutes at Camp Lincoln and five or six other short rests during the course of the trip. Orders have been issued that each man must bathe his feet every night, and to one not accustomed to marching in this manner, the relief afforded by performing this operation is most exhilarating. So far none of us has felt any different after these marches, except that we sleep like the proverbial tops at night.
The weather today is enough to take the spirit out of the most enthusiastic ones; the day dawned gray, with a north wind and about 7 o'clock a cold nasty rain set in, which prevents much outside work, and those commands that occupy buildings have been indulging in section and squad drills, and while the men rest, officers and non‑commissioned officers "schools" are being held. It was the intention to have held another cross country march of ten miles today but the wretched condition of the weather will hardly permit of it; the line officers are, at this writing in consultation with Col. Turner, and I expect to hear that the order is revoked.
I received my official credential yesterday, and it now has the signatures of the captain of this company and all those officers up to and including General Barkley, commandant of the post. I enclose it herewith, and any readers of The Herald who care to see what a military press pass looks like can have the opportunity.
We have now been here for a whole week and to see the earnest and business-like manner in which the several headquarters are established one would think we had been here for six months. Each company is divided into squads, 12 to a company each in charge of a corporal. Each squad is boxed off by itself in what resembles very much a compartment for exhibiting fancy dogs or fat stock, only that the boards are but 1 foot high, and each compartment is filled with fresh straw; at night the straw is covered with blankets the men lying on them and covering themselves with other blankets. For pillows we use our shoes for a base and cover them with the cape of the overcoat or a blouse or more often with both. Each corporal bunks with his own squad. The five sergeants bunk together, and are in charge of the first sergeant. The three commissioned officers live more pretentiously, as they are each provided with an army cot upon which is spread a sleeping bag, much the same as those used in the Klondike.
The "decorations" of quarters are at once novel and varied. Each company has some particularly distinguishing feature, and in a crowd of 100 men all from a large city to a greater or lesser extent, it is not hard to find an artist and witty fellows without number. The result is, many very funny signs, some very elaborately executed. As I look around in "F" quarters, I notice a large stocking of the Female persuasion to which is attached a card bearing the inscription "For Ladies Only".
A few days ago a party of us made a visit to town and as a result several squads boast of incandescent electric lamps, minus the current, but plus all sorts of very original sign cards. One I can read from where I sit and it reads, "This is an electric light. Please do not ask embarrassing questions." The officers of this company have regulation silverware, individual pepper and salt cellars and even china cups and dishes to eat from and all from the "accumulation" trip we made. It is hard to throw a brick without hitting a United States flag. The boys take things which at home they would not think of. Hi Henry's Minstrels is billed to play in Springfield some night this week and some fellow "copped out" a couple of muslin dray signs and has them in his bunk. Show lithographs form the principal adornment of one section and it is labeled "Art Gallery". Another squad brags of five heavyweight men all possessed of more than their share of avoirdupois and they have dubbed themselves "Prize Fat Poland Chinas". I am in command of the "Pony" squad and a large cardboard sign hangs from a rope stretched across our bunk, upon which is painted the words, "Wile's Band of Trained Ponies".
An amusing thing in the drill of the hospital corps occurred today. The squad with a stretcher happened past our quarters, where the boys were indulging in a game they have invented and which they call "Rooster", and the object of the game is to as nearly imitate the actions of a couple of game cocks as possible. One of the fellows got "spurs" sunk into him just as the hospital corps came up, and while they were preparing to lay the "injured" man upon the stretcher, the aforesaid "rooster" accurately performed actions such as a chicken will go through after he has had his head cut off. The crowd howled themselves hoarse and it really was funny in the extreme.
Company "F" has secured the camp agency for a local laundry and the treasury receives 25 per cent commission for handling the packages, the money thus earned to be used for purchasing extra rations not down on the "menu" of the state. We are already doing a land office business, and I can taste chicken, strawberry shortcake, cream puffs, etc., now.
Last night we gave a swell dance. To the tune of songs by those who do not dance, we went through all the evolutions of the quadrille, lanciers, Virginia reel, and the many steps of the waltz and the two step. The affair wound up in a vaudeville entertainment and cake walk.
I would like to make a list of the nicknames of the boys, but it would make a whole column. The nicknames of the LaPorte boys have become a fixed institution, and it seems quite natural to hear one of the Chicago chaps holler out‑‑"Biddy", "Arab", "Swede", "Pumpkin", or "Hans".
The examination of our surgeons has been completed and the second and final examination of the several regiments has begun and will come in order of seniority of the several colonels, ours being fourth on the list, so we will hardly be looked after much before two weeks hence.
The post is now in full operation and the following calls are lived up to and carried out exactly according to program each day:
First Call 5:30 a.m. Mess 12:00
Reveille 5:45 a.m. Drill (or March 1:30 p.m.
Fatigue 6:00 a.m. Recall 3:30 p.m.
Mess 6:30 a.m. Guard Mount 4:30 p.m.
Sick Call 7:00 a.m. Mess 5:00 p.m.
Drill 7:30 a.m. Dress Parade 6:00 p.m.
Recall 9:30 a.m. Tattoo 9:30 p.m.
School Call 10:30 a.m. Taps 10:00 p.m.
First Sergeant's Call 11:30 a.m.
This program will give one an idea of how steady the work keeps up and how we are obliged to hustle in the morning to get quarters and streets policed in time to answer calls and drills.
To see the men at mess is one of the most interesting sights at camp. Every man is obliged to care for and wash his own "silverware" and "china" as we call it. We are marched to the mess shed, where a dusky individual by the name of "Dick" is the "Pooh Bah", and to him we all bow in deepest solemnity. He is a good friend to the boys and never lacks occasion to do or say a kind thing for us. He is assisted by men detailed from the company and all are in command of the quartermaster sergeant. "Biddy" Ball has had his turn at it and today "Swede" Noll is helping. We have drank to the success of LaPorte's new military company and with proper management and opportunities I feel sure the boys will be able to give good account of themselves in the future as they always have in the past. Love to everybody, E.I. Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, MAY 10, 1898
WILL GO TO WASHINGTON; LaPorte Boys at Springfield Will be Taken to the Nation's Capital
The ordering of troops to Washington and Chickamauga has increased interest, if such can be the case, in the movements of the soldiers from their present camps. Most of the LaPorte boys with the Illinois national guard are in the First regiment and this regiment has been ordered to Washington with the Sixth where the men will be held until needed. With the First regiment are the following LaPorte boys who will go to Washington should they pass the United States surgeons: Eugene I. Wile, Bert Wile, Ed Noll, Frank Borg and Ed Ball in Co. F, Leon Hart in Co. H, and Hugh Moore in Co. M. They expect to be examined Thursday and will probably leave for Washington within a day or two after that. Camp Tanner at Springfield will be broken up soon to some extent, as, in addition to those ordered to Washington, the Third and Fifth regiments will be sent to Chickamauga.
Recorder E.R. Hart was in Springfield Sunday and yesterday and visited his son, Leon. Mr. Hart saw all the LaPorte boys, who wished to be remembered kindly to their friends in the city. They were feeling in the best of spirits and anxious to get to the coast.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 1898
LA PORTE BOYS PASS; And are Accepted by the United States Surgeons; THEY WILL GO TO THE FRONT; Will be Sworn into Service Tomorrow Morning; Complimented Upon their Good Physical Condition, as They Did Not Possess a Blemish
Camp Tanner, Springfield, Ill., May 11, 3:00 p.m.‑‑The examination of the First Regiment took place today, the board of examiners beginning its work early this morning.
Co. F, to which the LaPorte boys belong, was examined before noon and the announcement has just been made that all have passed. Those who went through the ordeal and have been accepted are: Corporal Eugene I. Wile, Privates Bert Wile, Frank Borg, Ed Ball and Edward Noll.
Hugh A. Moore, who is a member of Co. M, was also passed by the U.S. surgeons.
The regiment will be sworn into the United States service tomorrow morning.
Leon Hart, Jack Vail, and Harry Young have not yet been examined, but it is confidently expected that they will pass without difficulty.
The Third and Fifth regiments leave tomorrow for the front. E.I. Wile.
*****
In a letter from the Herald's special correspondent at Springfield the information is conveyed that the LaPorte boys there are feeling well, except for a few small troubles. "Biddy" Ball had a cold, but managed to cure it by doctoring himself. "Swede" Noll has a game heel, which the surgeons are looking after so he is able to attend to his duties. E.I. Wile is just getting over a slight cold. Bert Wile and Frank Borg are real well and are getting fat.
The battalion of the Third regiment, in which Co. F is, was to be examined this morning by the United States surgeons. The boys were last evening furnished blanks to be filled out for use by the examiners and a cursory look at them showed that the LaPorte boys are an extremely sound and healthy lot of fellows and not one of them possessed a physical blemish.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, MAY 12, 1898
WARS RIGORS; LaPorte Boys Experience Some Heavy Marching and Severe Drilling; Will be Mustered Today; Bert Wile Excels as a Chest Expander and All the Boys Good Eaters; Details of How LaPorte Boys Passed Examination‑‑"Where are We Going, Mobile or Washington"‑‑Expect to be En route to New Station By Monday
Springfield, Ill., May 11, 1898‑‑Out of 103 men who went before the United States surgical board from Co. F, only four men did not pass the raking scrutiny of the six surgeons and not one of us LaPorteans failed to meet requirements. Of the number rejected, one, a drummer, is an assigned man, so our average for the battalion is the best, as Co. M lost seven out of 98, Co. G, 14 out of 106, and D, 21 out of 119, and the chances are that we will hold the record for the entire regiment. Orders state we shall take but 81 enlisted men, but, as the regulars carry 109 rank and file, an earnest effort is being made to take our entire number that is those who have passed, and to this end the wires between here and Washington have been kept hot all the afternoon, and as our colonel has a big "pull" in Washington we are in hopes that the efforts will be successful.
A corporal in our company is a brother of Congressman Mann, representative of one of the Illinois districts, and he is being "worked to a finish," at Washington.
We will be mustered tomorrow and as soon as we can be equipped, we will be sent away, just where I do not exactly know, but I learned, just before starting for town this evening that it will be either Mobile, Ala., or Washington, D.C. Now that the examination is over, the sole topic of conversation is "Where are we going?" and speculation in this regard is uppermost in everybody's mind and a hundred different groups are scattered all over quarters, each discussing this one momentous question.
Most of the men do not want to go to the capital, as the chances of seeing real service are obscure, and ceremonials in the way of escorts, reviews and dress parades will be our lot, and that is just what no one wants.
Frank Borg was the first of us to be examined, then in this order, Bert Wile, Ed Noll, Ed Ball and myself. Bert distinguished himself by expanding his chest the greatest number of inches of any man in the company and received many compliments for his prowess.
Hugh Moore, as I wired you, also passed, and after I had wired you Co. K were examined, but I was unable to ascertain whether or not Jack Vail got through. Leon Hart's company is in the third battalion, and will not be examined until tomorrow.
Harry Young's regiment, the Second I.N.G., will be examined immediately after the conclusion of the examination of our third battalion.
This afternoon the entire brigade, excepting the first and second battalions of the First infantry, acted as an escort to Gen'l. Fitzsimons, who left for his home in Chicago, as he has been relieved from duty, and is replaced by a regular army man. It was a grand sight to see column after column pass. The brigade is composed of the First, Second and Seventh infantry, Light Battery "C" consisting of six, rapid fire, Hotchkiss 6 and 12 pound guns, and the First cavalry.
Only the staff infantry, line officers and battery were horsed, but about 3,500 men walked and it was a big thing.
Will endeavor to write you another letter as soon as we are mustered and I think by Monday, at the latest, we will be en route for our new station.
We all join in good wishes to everybody. Yours ever, E.I. Wile.
*****
Camp Tanner, Fairgrounds, Springfield, Ill., May 9, 1898‑‑Yesterday we rested from a ten mile tramp which we took Saturday, and in addition each man was a self‑appointed committee of one to entertain the thousands of visitors who began to arrive as early as 4 o'clock Saturday afternoon, and until late last night they very nearly had possession of the camp.
Today we had a full taste of the rigors of war. The regiment instead of turning out at 7:30 for company drill were ordered to fall in, heavy marching order, and 10 minutes later we were on the road, moving upon Camp Lincoln, by a route in and about the country side and by the time we reached the objective point where we arrived at 9:30 a.m., we had covered seven miles over rough country roads. After a 20 minute rest, the command went to the parade ground and until 11:30 we were taken through the intricacies of the battalion, regiment al, company and squad drills. We rested for a half hour and then began a forage for water and wood and in a remarkably short time we had fires going and the coffee pots boiling merrily. For lunch we had beefsteak, sandwiches, coffee and crackers; resting until 1:30 when assembly sounded and again drills began, this time the extended order and a full exercise of the battle tactics. Gov. Tanner and his wife surprised the officers and when they drove on the field everybody assumed his best military bearing and when we passed in review before him, company front, every head erect, eyes straight to the front, we had in our company a line of perfection. These afternoon drills were continued until about 3:30, when we again took up the tramp toward camp, where we arrived at 4:15, not making one halt in the whole march of three miles. The day was warm, sultry and cloudy and the way we fellows perspired was a caution, but the orders for the care of the feet and with reference to the person are so strict and perfect, that it is not long before every one of us is comfortable and my stars how we do eat! And sleep! Scarcely do the last notes of taps fade away into the distant echoes, before almost everyone is in the land of Morpheus.
All us LaPorte chaps longingly watched for visitors from home on Sunday and the only LaPorte person to grace us was Recorder Hart. I extended him the hospitality of F's quarters in general and the "bunks" of the "Pony Squad" in particular and he will tell you how he fared with reference to making his toilet from our "silver"(?) wash basin, hard water and crash towel. We were mighty glad to see him and this will probably be the last chance LaPorteans will have of visiting Camp Tanner before we leave, unless they come quickly, as we are momentarily expecting our marching orders and will get them just as quick as we can be examined and our regiment will doubtless come up this morning.
The 5th and 3rd infantry are now in the regular service and United States commissary and quartermaster department officers are on the ground dealing out arms, equipment, rations, etc.
Opinions differ as to what station this regiment will occupy, but it is believed Washington will be our objective point and this is not exactly suiting all the men, as they prefer going to Chickamauga or some place where the chances for seeing service are better.
Two very unfortunate events have happened within the last 48 hours, one the death of a private in M Company, the one Hugh Moore belongs to and a corporal in Co. I, second infantry, who was bidding some of his friends among the excursionists good bye, when an engine ran over him crushing his ankle, which necessitated the amputation of the foot. He is an 11 year man and we were all "broke up" over the sad accident. Calvin Hunt is the name of the "M" man who died. He contracted a bad cold during the bad weather of the last week, which finally developed into acute pneumonia, and in a very few hours his life went out. His company in a body escorted the remains to the depot and a guard of honor went to his home in Chicago with him.
We LaPorte boys have our little troubles too. "Biddy" has a cold and between his coughing and his snoring proclivities he makes my dreams anything but pleasant. He doesn't like the doctors and this morning I insisted upon his taking medicine and tonight he looks and feels better. "Swede" has a "game" heel which the surgeons are looking after so he is able to attend to his duties. The "Bottom" corporal as I am known, has a cold and I am getting it nicely under control by vigorous doses of quinine, potash and whiskey. Bert Wile and Frank Borg are real well and we are all getting fat. Bert is the only real simon‑pure, ready‑made, dyed in the wool lady's man in the LaPorte "bunch", and he was in his element all day Sunday. If reports are true he made a decided "hit" with a certain dark eyed beauty from Bloomington. His mail is already larger and his smiles and countenance correspondingly more benign.
Tonight a game of indoor baseball is being played in the annex of this building between teams from the Fifth and First regiments and judging from the cheering the First has the best of it.
Leon Hart and Jack Vail who belong respectively to H and K companies are daily callers at our quarters and they too look and feel well. I meet Hugh Moore very often and it is good for sore eyes to see the way they "land" on The Herald. There is not a line they don't read, locals, displays, plates and all. E.I. Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, MAY 13, 1898
WERE MUSTERED TODAY; LaPorte Boys are Now Soldiers of Uncle Sam
Springfield, Ill., May 13, 2:30 p.m.‑‑Co. F, of the First regiment, lost 18 men today, they being returned on account of the army regulations calling for but 84 men in each company. All the LaPorte boys were however retained.
The men were this morning mustered into the United States service by Major Roberts and the LaPorte boys are now for sure soldiers.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, MONDAY, MAY 16, 1898
OFF TO SOUTH; First Illinois Regiment Will Leave for Chickamauga Tomorrow; LA PORTE BOYS IN GOOD TRIM; Hascall Rosenthal Entertains Some of the La Porteans; James, Tom and Harvey Moore Visit Camp Tanner‑‑Another LaPorte Man Discovered in the Camp‑‑The Uniforms of the LaPorte Delegation Described
Camp Tanner, State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Ill., May 15, 7 p.m.‑‑On account of a lack of cars it is extremely doubtful if we get away before some time during Monday night but the commissary and quartermaster's departments are pushing things along with all possible haste and to this end they will labor all night.
At 1:15 this afternoon the assembly was sounded on the balcony overhanging the pavilion of the machinery hall and as this was a signal for the boys to assemble beneath it, it was hardly three minutes before the people visiting the boys, besides the men themselves, scrambled pell‑mell over each other, utterly regardless of our sore left arms resulting from the vaccination every man in the regiment underwent on yesterday. Col. Turner, telegram in hand, first told the boys that he had cause to feel that every man in his command from the privates to himself would hail with delight the news he had for them and in these words said, Men of the First Regiment, United States Illinois Volunteers, I have in my hand a telegram which orders us to Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, Georgia, tomorrow at 2 p.m.
Cheer after cheer rent the air, men embraced the persons nearest him regardless of whom it might be, tears of joy and tears of sorrow were strangely co‑mingled and the scene was at once affecting, inspiring and grand Preparations for immediate departure were at once begun and in an hour the numerous mailboxes were choked full to overflowing. The men squatted down, anywhere, everywhere to drop a hasty line to their dear ones at home and the camp suttlers did a land office business in stamps, postal cards and stationery.
I am down town tonight on an errand for Major Sanborn of our battalion and upon calling at state headquarters I am informed that we will not leave here until Tuesday at 10:35 a.m.
Despite the bad weather and the muddy condition of the camp 20,000 visitors have been here, and among the number were James, Harvey and Tom Moore who came to see Hugh. Albert Borg was a guest of his brother Frank and I have located another old LaPorte boy by the name of Bowers, and who is a nephew of Mr. Rachor, sr. His father was a carpenter in LaPorte many years ago and this young man was born there. He belongs to Co. C of the Sixth infantry, which corps is brigaded with us and will leave for the front at the same time we do.
We received our "box" from home today and "we didn't do a thing" to its contents. The boys authorize me to say to all those who had a hand in it, that they have our undying gratitude, and some of the things will not be touched until we arrive in the South.
The Third and Fifth regiments left between 10 and 5 o'clock yesterday, in a blinding rainstorm, but the ardor of the men was not dampened a particle and the royal send off accorded them, I am sure, will linger forever in their memories.
I wish you could see the "make up" "Pumpkin" Borg has donned. By skirmishing around he managed to find a blouse of the vintage of '61, four sizes too small, a pair of trousers, which any amount of sugar cannot induce to come nearer than three inches to his ankles and he is topped with a campaign hat which "may have seen better days". Bert Wile "accumulated" a better blouse than he had, by surreptitiously "borrowing" it from a member of another company. "Swede" Noll has a fairly good uniform, but all the brushing he can give it has so far failed to materially improve it. I doubt if we will be any better equipped until we enter the field at Chickamauga. Of my own appearance I leave you to judge from the enclosed ‑ well you can't call it a photograph, but I understand I "busted" the camera, which accounts for the terrible imposition on the photographer's art. (The photograph referred to is a fair representation of the Herald's special war correspondent.) "Biddy" Ball is the personification of one of "Sherman's Bummers" and he says his outfit in itself is enough to kill a Spaniard and for this reason he will probably bring back all of his cartridges.
Hascall Rosenthal was a most welcome caller yesterday and today. He royally entertained Bert and me at dinner last evening at the Leland, where all the high officers and their families are guests. The way we ate was simply scandalous. When the grim and dark visaged minion of the dining room approached us, in one accord and voice Bert and I said "Bring us the whole thing from fish to toothpicks." He did it and I guess the dish washers thought part of a regiment had been there ‑‑ it is hard to tell what the cook thought.
As stated above, yesterday our entire regiment was vaccinated and men "keeled over" in profusion. Your uncle Fuller, did not entirely faint away, but, oh! so near it! I was groggy, dizzy and sick all at once, but did not become unconscious, but so weak I had to be assisted to my quarters. Big, husky, strong fellows all around me fainted dead away. It was not pain, because there was none, but seeing dozens of others topple over and the further fact that my aesthetic taste and aversion to sow belly, beans and hardtack so worked upon my stomach that I did not have much stowed away, and to go against that kind of game on an empty stomach did not tend to put me in the best condition for the ordeal. I was unmercifully guyed and had to set 'em up to the cigars to square myself. One other fellow, one of the biggest men in our company, became "dead to the world", fainting away entirely.
This will probably be my last letter until we reach the historic ground of Chickamauga. God be with you till we meet again. Faithfully yours, E.I. Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, MAY 17, 1898
THEY LEFT THIS MORNING; LaPorte Boys are Off to Chattanooga and Chickamauga
Springfield, Ill., May 17‑‑The First regiment in which were all the LaPorte boys left shortly after 9 o'clock this morning for Chickamauga. The LaPorteans were in good spirits and glad to get off. Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1898
IN CAMP AT CHICKAMAUGA; The LaPorte Boys in Excellent Spirits After Their Long Trip
En route to Chickamauga, Nashville, May 18‑‑We left Springfield yesterday morning via East St. Louis, Cairo and this city and will leave here for Chickamauga some time during the evening and will reach there early in the morning. The weather is very warm and people are wearing their duck and linen suits. Our trip was a perfect ovation and we literally walked on a path of flowers. Hugh Moore and the other boys are in one section with our battalion, while Vail and Hart are in the third section. Wile.
Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, Tenn., May l9‑‑The First regiment of the Illinois United States volunteers arrived at camp this afternoon. All the LaPorte boys are in excellent spirits and glad that the journey is over. Col. H.L. Turner has been placed in command of a brigade in the volunteer army, and our regiment was the first to be assigned to the First brigade of the Third Division of the First army corps. We were in the railroad yards nearly 12 hours before being taken to camp. The sun was broiling hot and the three miles march to the camp was terrible. The boys send their best.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1898
ON HALLOWED GROUND; LaPorte Boys Camped With Their Regiment on a Famous Battlefield; GENE WILE TELLS A TALE; Jack Vail, Hugh Moore, Biddy Ball, Leon Hart Well and in Good Spirits; Rock of Chickamauga‑‑Monuments Tell of Heroic Deeds‑‑"Oh It's Fun to Be a Soldier"‑‑Extreme Heat‑‑Enormous Appetites‑‑Inquiries for the Herald
Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, Ga., May 25, 1898‑‑The only reason I have not written before now is that we have all been so actively engaged in different lines of duty and the weather is so warm and enervating as to induce everyone to lie down at every opportunity.
The trip down here was a memorable one in many respects. Our leave‑taking from Camp Tanner was a sad one, as hundreds of the friends of the members of this regiment remained over from Sunday and took this last opportunity of saying good‑bye. We reached East St. Louis at 5 p.m. and I should guess the whistles of 100 railroad engines, 20 steamboats, and I don't know how many dozens of factory whistles greeted our arrival in one grand salute.
The 14th Minnesota stood quartered in cars on another track as we pulled into the town and we exchanged cheers with them. Our first stop out of Springfield was at Girard, Ill., where the Ladies' Auxiliary of the local G.A.R. post served us with hot coffee and sandwiches, and how we "assailed" them‑‑I mean the coffee and sandwiches.
We traveled in Pullman tourist sleepers over the Chicago and Alton and at East St. Louis were put upon the tracks of the Chattanooga, Nashville and St. Louis railway, which company landed us in Nashville about 1 o'clock, Wednesday. We were given a short march of a mile at DuQuoin, Ill., in order to stretch our legs. The people there gave us a rousing reception and upon our arrival started an immense bonfire and cheered lustily when we departed. All along the route the car platforms were crowded and at every station the whole population turned out to wish us God speed. We were fairly showered with flowers and attached to neatly tied bunches of roses, peonies, snowballs or syringas, were the names and addresses of young ladies; this we found was not confined to the towns north of Mason and Dixon's line, but all through Tennessee. As above stated, we arrived at Nashville about 1 o'clock Wednesday, and after carefully brushing up for a half hour, the order to fall in for regimental parade was sounded. Dressed in our blue flannel shirts, blue trousers, canvas leggings, campaign hats and web belts, we paraded the principal streets, landing at the state capitol, where Governor Bob Taylor welcomed us to the city and state in a characteristic southern welcome. We were given liberty for 15 minutes and roamed at will through the old state house and received many kind little attentions from the army of clerks and officials, among the number being many winsome beauties of the distinctly southern girls, and their soft, easy, graceful dialect was a revelation to many of us. From the most lowly negro to the most distinguished and polished native, none failed to accord us a pleasant "no, sah", or "yes, sah". At every point we were the recipients of the highest compliments for our appearance and bearing, as will be seen later on in this letter. The regiment made a tour of the south in November, 1895, and made a very favorable impression upon the people of this section at that time, partially on account of the grey dress uniform probably, but particularly on account of the fine marching and drilling qualities of the corps. We remained in Nashville until 5 o'clock when we again took up our journey on toward Chickamauga. From every point of vantage we took in the beauties of the scenery through the rough country we passed over. A stop of 20 minutes was made at Murfreesboro where the great battle of Stone River was fought, and just west of that town we saw the cemetery in which lie the remains of 6,000 brave Federals, among the number being some 400 members of the 9th Indiana infantry. Our train was divided into three sections, each battalion occupying a section, and the trains were run about 10 minutes apart. At each stop the natives regaled us with good wishes and "Where ah you all from?" We were importuned for souvenirs of every description, from hardtack to company and regimental decorations, in exchange for which we received sugar, milk or flowers.
Our trains reached Chattanooga some time during early Thursday morning and when we awoke we beheld the historic Lookout mountain on our right, with the sun shining brightly on the windows of "Lookout Inn" which is perched upon the highest point of the big hill. We expected to have landed at Lytle or Battlefield Station by 8 o'clock in the morning, but the railroad facilities are so shamefully inadequate for the handling of the business and we did not get there until almost 1 o'clock and my God! but it was hot.
After what seemed like an interminable delay, we took up our march for our camp, and right here let me tell anyone who is inclined to ridicule or look lightly upon what our brave boys of 1861‑65 endured, that a march of three miles, loaded down as we were and as they were, over roads inches deep in dust, with the thermometer 100° in the shade, is either a fool or a brute. In addition to our rifles, each man carried in his belt 40 rounds of ammunition, a canteen of water, a haversack, blanket, overcoat, knapsack, in which were packed toilet articles, extra clothing, etc., which at the least calculation weighs not less than 50 pounds. As if to make a bad matter even worse, no arrangements had been made for feeding us and a delay in providing wagons for hauling quartermaster's stores did not enable us to get a bite to eat until nearly 7 o'clock. Just think of it, we did not have a Morsel of food from 6 o'clock a.m. until 7 p.m. Our tents were issued to us after dark, but we managed to get them up. I can't now realize how, but we did, and by 10 o'clock everyone was asleep. One redeeming feature of this climate is the fact that the nights are cool; so far I have slept out in the open, under a massive oak tree, with a blanket to lie on and another to cover with.
An almost criminal act of neglect is that no arrangements have been or were made for drinking water, and the men suffer much distress and inconvenience on this account, and as soon as a spring is discovered and "eased," it is condemned, but a barrel is now located at the end of each company street and the water hauled five miles. Chickamauga Creek is about a half mile from our camp and its cool, swift running waters are a God send, and every spare moment we have we take occasion to bathe there. Yesterday I washed two suits of underwear, ten handkerchiefs, five pairs of socks and three towels in the creek. It is only waist deep and the water clear as crystal.
The camp of the regiment is at a point where, on the morning of Sept. 19, 1863, the rebel General Liddell began his advance to the north, at the site of the old blacksmith shop, up as far as Snodgrass hill and Dyer house, which stands about 1,500 yards from the railroad station, near where General Geo. H. Thomas made his famous stand and created his name of "The Rock of Chickamauga". All these different points of interest are marked with iron markers and old field pieces mark the positions of batteries which took part in the two days' fighting. On our way out here along the road in the fields we saw many monuments marking positions of different regiments and among the number I noticed a beautiful one erected to the memory of 72nd Indiana infantry.
Our nearest camp neighbors are the 9th Pennsylvania infantry on our right, the 14th Minnesota on our left, the 8th Massachusetts in our rear and in our front and across the creek the 1st New Hampshire are encamped. The 3rd Ohio and 25th Kansas are somewhere in our rear, and they frequently pass through our company streets.
I wish you could see some of the country troops, especially those from Kansas and Missouri; of all the hoboes and scum of humanity, these men surely are the best specimens I have seen. They are half clothed, dirty and look as though they have none of them ever enjoyed a good square meal, and this does not alone apply to the enlisted men, but to the officers as well. outside of the Massachusetts boys we are the best equipped regiment I have yet seen. They have everything complete including the new brown duck working uniforms. So far I have seen troops from the following states and this will give you an idea of the vast number of men here: the 12th New York, 1st New Hampshire, 9th and 5th Pennsylvania, 2nd Missouri, 25th Kansas, 3rd and 4th Indiana, 12th and 14th Minnesota, 8th Massachusetts, 3rd Ohio Infantry, 3rd Ohio Artillery and 1st Ohio Cavalry, 3rd Wisconsin, 3rd, 5th, and 1st Illinois, 1st West Virginia, 1st Indiana Artillery. Other regiments are arriving every hour but from our place we see only a few of the arrivals.
Sunday I attended church services which were held in front of regimental headquarters; our music consisted of singing by the entire command, led by a cornet. Our chaplain in the field is the Rev. Hedley Hall, who has seen service with the English in several of its Indian and African wars.
So far we have had only one sick man in our camp, a private from my squad, who is suffering from pleurisy contracted in Camp Tanner. He is a very sick boy, but is receiving the best of care and is improving. "Biddy" Ball fell down the night we reached camp and when I asked him what ailed him he said he did not know, so I gave him a drink from my whiskey flask and he revived at once and roundly denounced me for being stingy with it. He is as well as he can be and today he is doing guard duty, his post being the colors at headquarters. The rest of us are real well and our colds completely cured. We all suffer more or less inconvenience from our vaccinations which have "taken" with a vengeance.
Girls are as scarce as the proverbial hen's teeth; a moment ago a wagonette load passed along the road a few hundred feet away and they were treated to a grand ovation.
Hugh Moore's company is in the same street with us and he was just in my tent, where I am writing this letter from the top of a pile of knapsacks, to inquire for a Herald. I have received so far Monday's, Tuesday's, and Wednesday's papers, they all coming in a bunch this morning. I saw Leon Hart and Jack Vail from a distance this morning for the first time since our arrival here.
Our meals have been fairly good, the only fault I have had to find is that we don't get half enough to satisfy our mammoth appetites.
On account of the extremely hot weather, we do all of our policing and drilling before noon and do nothing after dinner.
I will try to write another letter giving more explicit details of our work, some time during the week. Regards to everyone, E.I. Wile.
WILL BE SENT TO CUBA; LaPorte boys Will Be in the Invading Army; OFF FOR TAMPA TOMORROW; Approaching Nearer the Real Seat of the War; The First Illinois Infantry and Colonel Studebaker's Boys from Indiana Are Among Those Ordered to the Island
The LaPorte boys with the First Illinois infantry will leave Camp Thomas at Chickamauga park tomorrow morning for Tampa, Fla., on their way to Cuba. The One Hundred and Fifty‑seventh Indiana, Colonel Studebaker's regiment, has also been ordered from Chickamauga to Tampa. These two regiments and including regiments from New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania will constitute part of the army that will invade Cuba.
The orders for the move were issued yesterday afternoon. The LaPorte soldiers will leave camp with their regiment at 5 o'clock tomorrow morning and will march to Rossville, a distance of six miles, load their effects on the special train and start on a journey which will bring them 600 miles nearer the scene of the conflict. These four regiments will form a provisional brigade under the command of General Simon Snyder. The men will carry Springfield rifles and take with them 500 rounds of ammunition per man, two days' traveling rations in their haversacks and eight days' field rations. All surplus baggage must be left behind.
From Tampa these regiments will be ordered to Cuba within a very short time.
The boys of Company I, First Illinois infantry, have a pet pig. Company F, of the First, has a daily paper, called the "Noise Generator". It is edited by E.I. Wile, of this city, and A.W. Jackman, of Chicago, and is read every evening after supper.
Frank Borg, who has been quite ill, has improved and is comparatively well.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1898
HISTORIC FIELD; New Troops Drilling Where Brave Men Fought and Fell; TRAINING THE ARMY MULE; Herald Correspondent as Editor, Typesetter, Proof Reader and Newsboy; Company, Battalion and Skirmish Drill the Proper Caper; Inspiring Sight; Defective Postal Arrangements; Disproportion of Food and Appetites; Sow Belly and Hard Tack;
Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, Ga., May 29, 1898‑‑I regret that I have not been able during the past week to write you another letter, but the work is so constant and the weather so warm and letters so hard to write on account of lack of facilities for resting paper.
We receive the Herald very irregularly on account of the miserable postal arrangements. Lytle, the nearest post office, is three and one‑half miles from our camp, and were the hundreds of shanties that have sprung up since the mobilization of the army taken away, there would remain nothing but the entire business centre of the town which is merged all at once into the store, bank, post office and all. It takes four days to get a letter into Chicago from this point, and I have no doubt much mail is lost entirely. We receive letters from our friends anywhere from four to eight days after they are mailed.
Our existence is gradually becoming more endurable, as we are now supplied with three barrels to a company which are filled every day with water drawn from Crawfish or Blue Springs, five miles away. I have been in charge of one wagon detail which hauled water and when the water comes from the spring it is as cold as ice water and as clear as crystal. It is not bad drinking water 20 hours after it is drawn. No one is allowed to waste a drop and washing water must be drawn from Chickamauga creek or the surface wells which are only a few hundred yards from our front line.
When we got The Herald which contained an account of the organization of the Soldiers' Relief society, we hailed the news with unconcealed delight. We get good, wholesome food, but our work is so hard that our appetites are entirely out of proportion to the amount of food issued to us. I received a letter today from a lady in LaPorte who told me we might expect a supply of home comforts soon.
We drill almost uninterruptedly from 6:30 a.m. until 10:30 and rest until 3:30 p.m. when the day's work concludes with either a battalion or regimental drill, and twice a week we have brigade review. Our first review took place last Wednesday on the historic Kelley's Field. The sight was one long to be remembered.
Last evening while we were out on our regimental drill I witnessed the finest dress parade I have ever seen. It was put up by the Eighth Massachusetts, which has at once the best and most curious band of field music and is composed of eight fifes, eight bugles, 16 drums and an immense bass drum. it is simply remarkable the drilling those chaps can do. When they passed in review, company front, there was not a break in their lines.
Immediately after breakfast we police our tents and streets and at 6:30 we go out on company drill for an hour, then rest an hour and for two hours more we are taken out on battalion drill. All of the different drills are skirmish and extended order: on battalion drill advance and flanking parties are formed by the right companies, who form the advance, while the left companies by a long detour oppose our advance. It is a very inspiring sight to see men drop behind every point of cover and begin firing. The call "to the charge" is first sounded, the men forging ahead, then the charge, and with fixed bayonets the men rush forward yelling at the top of their voices. These skirmish parties often walk or rather march, and a good share of the distance in double time, often as far as ten miles over all sorts of roads, through dense thickets covered with rocks, across river bottoms, then across beautiful meadows and hills. We sweat like butchers, and we are all tanned as brown as a nut and eat like horses. Immediately after morning drill and after supper all hands make a break for the creek, and it is not long before we are all comfortable.
One of the most interesting sights in the camp is the training of the army mule, and while in some cases they become decidedly obstreperous, some of the sights are highly amusing. They are fast becoming trained and each company has been issued two four‑mule teams all hitched to the wagons made by the Studebakers, and it looks very natural to see this name as frequently as we do.
After our day's work is done we at once begin to enjoy ourselves. One of the corporals in the company has constructed an immense rustic bench and the wits of the company go thro' their regular performances, and among other "things" which happen is the nightly reading of the "Co. F Noise Generator", the only "newspaper" published in Camp Thomas. I evolved the idea and am editor, operator of the linotypes, proof reader, newsboy and all combined. The telegraph news department is in charge of Biddy Ball. The matter is made up of general gossip of the regiment and we often have an audience of several hundred men. Extracts from the first issue were printed in the Chicago Daily News of May 25th. They have a representative in the field and this first paper was read at regimental headquarters that same evening and I am told was much enjoyed.
On account of the duties incumbent upon me as editor, etc., I have so far not been able to get much of a chance to look around over the battle field except what I have seen in passing on our marches.
Bert at the present writing is enjoying a call from a friend of his from Graysville, Ga., which is the place where Bert's father was in business and where Bert too was employed, and as he came with a well filled basket we expect to indulge in an evening lunch before taps tonight.
Rumors are current here concerning future plans and occur as many times in the course of a day as there are hours. The last one I have heard is that we of the Third Division of the First Army Corps are to be moved to the slopes of Mission Ridge. We are all tickled to death at the prospect, as that will bring us to within three and one half miles of Chattanooga and the prospects of being able to get a shave in a barber's chair is pleasant to even contemplate.
This regiment is the junior regiment of our brigade and our place in the First Army Corps is as follows: First brigade, Third division. We are brigaded with the Fifth Pennsylvania and the Twelfth Minnesota. The Pennsylvania regiment has the right of line and Minnesota the left and we the center.
I think about the whole force is no where and one would hardly believe that 70,000 troops are on the ground. Yet in every direction you may turn you will first meet a long, lean, lanky son of New Hampshire with his high nasal dialect and a second later you will be talking to a hobo‑looking individual from Kansas.
A most imposing sight is to go out on the vast expanses of Kelley's Field or Snodgrass hill, both points which were bloody with strife and clash of battle and where one can see regiment upon regiment going through all the various movements of the battle exercises, just as though they were in dead earnest and charging in full sweep upon an imaginary foe, in full cry like a pack of hounds.
Our meals are very much on the improve as the native farmer bites at our smoked bacon and in exchange for fresh meat, we give them our "sow belly" and are glad of the chance. I guess our company is the only one onto the "graft" as I hear lots of complaint from other companies of the regiment. I am detailed on the kitchen squad tomorrow and I fear the boys will not be well taken care of.
We LaPorte chaps are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the "box" from home and, I can assure you, anything will be welcome.
At last the members of the regiment are happy, as our "exchange" or canteen or sutler's department is in full swing and is doing a rushing business.
I am enjoying a luxury today as I have become possessed of a big box which was packed with clothing and for the first time since our arrival I have had a comfortable place to write. I am sitting on top of an empty beer keg and am as comfortable as though I were sitting in a leather chair at a roll top desk. I am using a candle in lieu of an electric light and it serves the purpose admirably.
We are pleased beyond expression at Capt. Morrison's promotion and hope we may soon hear of the two LaPorte companies being called to the field of actual preparation. I noticed a case of insubordination in one of the companies, and in this connection let me tell the boys that sort of thing don't "go" when they enter Uncle Sam's service, and such conduct is treated with the most severe punishment. The other day the ordinance officer swore at some men under him and he will be court martialed, and if the charges are substantiated regulations and articles of ware state that he can be cashiered out of the army.
It is 15 minutes before the first call for taps, so I must close. All send best wishes. E.I. Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1898
OFF FOR TAMPA
The First Illinois infantry, to which the LaPorte boys belong, left Camp Thomas,, Chickamauga Park, at an early hour this morning for Tampa, Florida. How long they will remain there before being transported to Cuba is not known.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 1898
RECEIVE MARCHING ORDERS; The First Illinois in Which There Are Five LaPorte Boys Starts to Tampa, Fla.
Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, Ga., May 31, 1898‑‑I may not have time tomorrow to write you another letter before our departure for 800 miles nearer the front, as we shall doubtless be very busy packing up. We received our orders yesterday afternoon at the conclusion of regimental drill, and it was then given out that we would leave Chattanooga tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. Late last night we were told we should not go until Thursday morning, and, as it now stands, we are to leave here at 5 a.m., Thursday, and march to Ringgold, eight miles south of here. We have been supplied with two army wagons, and all we will be required to carry will be our blankets, rolled in the rubber ponchos which have been issued to each one of us, and our extra clothing, blanket bags, and camp equipage, such as tents, cooking utensils, etc., will be hauled to Ringgold and there loaded aboard the train.
When the word came that we were to proceed to Tampa, great shouts rent the air, and there seems to be a general air of satisfaction at the prospect of getting nearer to civilization and where a man can get a shave once in a while.
I received Saturday's copy of The Herald this noon, and we all regret that Mr. Hubbell's regiment was not accepted, but are glad to note that Co. A will go. Good luck to all the boys.
We have ordered pictures of Co. F sent to LaPorte. They show the company now in the field and were taken at Springfield. Among those sent are ones showing the muster by Maj. Roberts, U.S.A., and one taken here, today, of the five LaPorte fellows in this company.
It is growing dark, so I must close. Continue to send the paper to this address until you hear from me again.
I presume you never received the letter I mailed from here on the 22nd inst., as I have not seen it printed.
Love to everybody, in which all join me. Gene.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 1898
SIDE TRACKED; LaPorte Boys on Their Way to Tampa‑‑Thermometer 110°
Richland, Fla., June 4, 1898‑‑We are lying out on a side track at this station, 40 miles north of Tampa, and the sun pouring down on us. The thermometer in this car shows at this hour 110°. I can hear the boys saying there is no water in the car. We should have been in Tampa by this time, but I doubt if we will get there much before night. We are all real well, thanks to four large baskets of lunch we took with us from Chickamauga, as the rations issued when we started were intended to last only until this morning. We have not had any coffee since yesterday noon. We will probably be in camp at Port Tampa, and after a few days there we rather expect to go at once to Puerto Rico. Love to all, Gene.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1898
LA PORTE BOYS OFF TO CUBA; Sailed Today from Tampa to Santiago, Where they will Land;
Forty‑six transports carrying 27,000 soldiers under the command of General Shafter departed today from Tampa for Santiago de Cuba, and although it is not definitely certain that the First Illinois infantry, in which are the LaPorte boys, is included in this army of the invasion it is reasonably certain that they are.
A letter received from Ed Noll by his mother states that the day on which he wrote their equipments were already on board the transports and that they were ready to leave, but that they did not know when that would be nor did they know definitely where they were going.
Colonel Studebaker's regiment is among those who left today.
The Third Ohio is also in the army of invasion and in this is a LaPorte boy, Tim Ball, who is Colonel Anthony's orderly.
In addition to those already mentioned the following are the LaPorte boys who on Monday next will be on Cuban soil: Corporal E.I. Wile, Burt Wile, Ed Ball, Harry Young, Hugh Moore, Frank Borg and Jack Vail.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 1898
DOWN IN DIXIE LAND; How LaPorte Boys Fared on Their Way to Tampa; NINETY‑EIGHT IN THE SHADE; Soldiers Ride in Pullman Tourist Sleepers with Nice
Clean Sheets and Soft Pillows; Revelling in Palm Groves of Florida; Wonderful and Ever Changing Scenes; Military Representatives of Every European Country;
Port Tampa City, Fla., Monday, June 6, 1898‑‑Doubtless you have received the postals wrote en route from Chickamauga, ere this time and I would have attempted a letter sooner, but have not had time until this morning.
I will take up our move from the camp at Chickamauga Park, and you can judge for yourself how we fared. To begin with I want to refute a statement which was published in the Chicago Times‑Herald of last Friday to the effect that it took the regiment 10 hours to march 10 miles. In the first place we walked nearly 16 miles, the route really being 10 miles, but a very fresh young guy, a member of Co. C, who, for the purpose of getting out of lots of work, induced the colonel to let him pick the road a few days before on his bicycle and he acted as the guide over the road to Ringgold, Ga., where we were embarked on the railroad. Of course he had not a thing to carry but his own precious person, and he lost the right road and took us six long miles out of the way. If he could have been found that night, I believe we should have lynched him. We left camp at precisely 9 a.m. Thursday and the main body reached Ringgold at 2:30 p.m. Roll call was taken at 5:30 and only 20 men had failed to report and at 7 p.m. they showed up. So much for the "10 miles 10 hours" gag of the metropolitan reporters, who by the way are as unreliable as the average citizen of this country. Right here I want to say a word about this much talked about "southern hospitality". My experience thus far has been that you pay very dearly for the "Hos" and they cheerfully throw in the "pitality." You can't get a pleasant look, unless you "show" them its equivalent in good coin of the realm. Our route to Ringgold from camp was over the site of the historic Alexander Bridge, which has been replaced by a handsome stone and iron structure that now spans Chickamauga Creek. This road we followed until we struck the worst roads imaginable. Once we were on nice smooth ground and a little "jut" in the road brings you to a defile just wide enough to permit the passage of a wagon. Another turn and you face a hill which is almost perpendicular, down the side you plunge dodging the rocks which lie loosely scattered over the trail, plunge on through sand and dust ankle deep. Soon we reach a spring. The welcome order is passed along the line to rest. Immediately a perfect swarm of tired, dusty, sweaty, hot and partly discouraged patriots rush to slake their thirst and to fill canteens. Again the march was taken up and from that time on the men began to fall out of ranks. I had a guard on the wagon train and the first bad road we struck the troubles of the teamsters and wagoners began as the miserable arrangements for packing and loading them at once became manifest, the result being that the loads shifted and many wagons along the road presented a pitiful sight indeed. The colonel would not permit of delay necessary to pick up things thus lost and I venture the statement that $1,000 worth of provisions were left on the road side, everything from salt pork to a camp kettle. Well we finally got to Ringgold, and all along the line of march lay panting, breathless fellows all too worn out to care whether they died right there or in Cuba or anywhere else. The mules were unhooked from the wagons and watered and a hasty supper or lunch or anything you care to call it was prepared for the men and the hard task of loading the baggage began. By dark every wagon, mule and horse was loaded upon the cars, and at 9 o'clock the wagon sections of our train pulled out for the long trip. The men were loaded aboard Pullman tourist sleepers and by midnight every man was asleep between two nice clean sheets and a good soft pillow under his head. The sun during the course of our march beat down pitilessly and one of the surgeons told, during the evening, that one time during the day the thermometer in the woods registered 98°. Just think of it and every man jack of us carrying his blanket rolled in a rubber poncho, a canteen, a haversack containing two days travel rations, his belt filled with 45 rounds of ammunition, the whole topped with a rifle. Our other clothing, including our blouses were packed away in the knapsacks, which were brought along in the wagons. Ringgold, Ga., lies at the foot of the Taylor Mountains and is the town which was destroyed by the Federals at the opening of the series of battles fought from Stone River to Chickamauga and was before that time a thriving little place of 5,000 inhabitants, but is now about the size of Westville, and as dead as the proverbial door nail. Biddy Ball was in my detail and Swede Noll rode with the quartermaster's outfit, while Bert and Pumpkin Borg marched with the company and came out of the ordeal without a struggle and the next morning we all turned up fresh as daisies. Our train containing the men and officers was made up in three sections, the first one left Ringgold at 11:10 p.m. We reached Atlanta very early Friday morning, but stopped only long enough to change engines. On the way out from there we passed Fort McPherson where the Spanish prisoners are held, and, only for the lone sentinel at the gate, no one would think it was a place of such importance. Macon was reached about 9 o'clock, where we again changed engines and the tanks in the cars were filled. The whole trip was almost entirely devoid of incident, everyone seemingly being interested in making himself as comfortable as possible, as the heat was so intense as to make any other occupation a labor of love. The novelty of troops passing through the towns has about worn off and when we stopped at a town the natives gazed at us with that lazy, indolent air which characterizes the whole population of the country through which we passed.
Fortunately for the LaPorte bunch in "F" Company, Bert and I located an old LaPorte boy, Sol Moyse who drove out from Chattanooga Wednesday evening with his sister and they brought us four well filled baskets of eatables. Without these things we would have been hungry before we reached here, as the traveling rations gave out by Friday noon. We arrived at Tampa Saturday evening about 5 o'clock, having been delayed two hours, ten miles north of there by the tracks and ties catching fire from the woods which were burning for miles on both sides.
This place is nine miles south of Tampa and our camp is just off the railroad and adjoins that of the 157th Indiana, Col. Studebaker's boys. I have seen a lot of the boys, among the number Oscar Verweire, and Bert found a cousin of his from Plymouth. The ground is covered with a dense growth of palms, of the variety from which fans are made. We are only a few hundred yards from Tampa bay and the minute we got planted everybody made a rush for the salt water, which to many was a novelty. We can wade at low tide to within 100 yards of where the 25 transports are riding at anchor and a little farther out are three war ships the names of which I have not yet learned. At Tampa there are camped in all 30 regiments of different arms of the service and here about 20 more. All the artillery and cavalry and most of the regular infantry have their troops already loaded aboard the different vessels. The famous colored regiments, the 9th and 10th cavalry and the 24th and 25th infantry are here and they certainly are the finest troops I have yet seen; great big strapping fellows, one blacker than the other and the best behaved and disciplined of them all! they are tickled to death to show us any and everything. They are superbly mounted. I hear one expedition leaves tonight and includes about all of the regular troops concentrated at these two points. We are in the provisional 5th army corps now, having been reorganized since leaving Georgia and I do not know how soon we will be ordered away.
It is a wonderful, ever‑changing sight here. First you are talking to a regular cavalryman, then an artillery man, directly up comes a volunteer member of the infantry and then a sailor. the famous "President's Regiment", the First regulars, are camped at Picnic Island just a short distance from us. They are the pride of that arm of the service and are a fine corps. Two fellows of E Company called at our camp Saturday evening. They were among those who have already been under Spanish fire in Cuba and held a regular levee when they were giving us the account of their experiences.
Yesterday afternoon I went over to Tampa to take a very much needed bath and shave. I went to the Tampa Bay Hotel, which is the headquarters of the army and I had a good look at Gen. Miles and his staff. Military representatives of every European country are quartered there and the scene was one I shall always remember. Some of the uniforms they wear are gorgeous and contain every color of the rainbow.
The hotel I mention is beautiful beyond description. It is built in the Oriental design and covers three acres. The grounds and their environments are exquisite, being arranged in an immense garden, in which is planted every variety of tropical plant, flower and shrub, from mulberry tree to oranges.
I have not found the weather here as warm as at Chickamauga, due probably to the steady breeze from the ocean, while the nights are delightful. It is unusually dry here for this season of the year I am told and therefore the fruits are not as plentiful as they should be, though I have regaled myself with watermelons, oranges, pineapples, peaches, etc., which sell at moderate prices.
Yesterday morning I received a letter from a Chicago lady who wants me to send her the paper I have been editing for the purpose of printing it in Chicago, the "profits" to be devoted to our company mess. The matter is being considered by the stockholders of the "Co. F Noise Generator" and the chances are that her request will be granted.
I am sitting in front of a general store in town and down the road I see a big train of pack mules coming and across the street the ice wagon is standing and his "Royal Highness" is sawing off a piece for a huckster.
As I said before, I do not know how soon we will be moved, but should anyone care to risk a letter it should be addressed care of Co. F., First Infantry, Illinois Volunteers, Port Tampa City, Fla. It takes about three days for a letter to get through.
The government has established a strict censorship upon newspaper articles and it is just possible this letter may not reach you, but I guess we can chance it. We are all well and send our love to everybody. Yours faithfully, Gene.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, MONDAY, JUNE 13, 1898
NEARING THE SCENE; The Herald's Special Correspondent Describes What Transpired; ON THE EVE OF THE INVASION; Timothy Ball was the First LaPortean to Enlist in the Present War; What Will be the Destination, Cuba or Porto Rico? Probably the Last Letters Till the End of the Campaign;
Picnic Island, Tampa Bay, Fla., June 7, 1898‑‑As stated in my letter of yesterday, we moved to this station this afternoon, leaving our other camping ground two miles away directly after lunch at noon, making the distance in less than one hour. The spot is an ideal one, being shaded by palmetto, pine and orange trees, which are dense and close together, and added to this a breeze, quite a stiff one, is blowing all the time. The Plant system owns the island, which is about a half mile from shore, and communication with the main land is had by a long foot bridge, and a railroad trestle brings out cars loaded with provisions and immense tanks of fresh water.
This is probably the last letter you will get from me, as orders have been issued that no mail will be allowed to go out after tomorrow evening, although we will be able to get all incoming mail until we sail for the front.
Today I received The Herald of May 31st and June 1st, they having been forwarded from Chickamauga. I need hardly tell you how welcome the papers were, for besides receiving our first letters from friends since leaving Chickamauga, these papers served us better even than those, as there was so much of real interest in them. Frank Borg is very much disgusted with somebody, as, outside of little indifferent complaints, he has not been sick a moment. The LaPorte people doubtless have him confused with a Lieutenant Borg, of the Third Illinois, who took sick at Chickamauga and died there.
Ed Noll hurt his foot slightly and was laid up a few days ago, but never went to the hospital at all. The reports sent out by representatives of the city dailies are absolutely unreliable and are, to a greater or lesser extent, willful falsehoods. The rest of us, in fact all of us, are just as well as we can be.
In coming over here this afternoon, we passed along the immense docks and tied to them are the transports which will carry the first expedition to Cuba. All the regulars are loaded aboard them, together with their guns, horses, mules, wagons, etc. I have not been able to learn with which expedition we will go, but from present indications I doubt if we will get away for a week or 10 days. There are so many conflicting reports and orders that one does not know whom and what to believe, so I doubt very much if the 157th Indiana will leave any sooner than we do, though in conversation with some of the members of that regiment yesterday I was told part of their baggage and camp equipage was loaded.
The object of camping our regiment on this island is for the purpose of guarding the vast supply of munitions of war which is stored in cars along one side of the island. In addition to this we have in charge the Spanish spy who tried to lead the party from the First U.S. infantry into an ambuscade. With him we have a deserter from one of the Ohio regiments. They are confined in a little station near the bridge and are each guarded by a sentinel who does not leave his prisoner for a moment. If such a prisoner escapes from a guard, the sentinel receives just the punishment which would have been meted out to his charge.
Last night signal service was practiced with the search lights which are aboard the war vessels we have in plain sight from our present location. The work was kept up until way into the night and was very interesting.
The publication of the "Noise Generator" has been seriously interfered with, but now that we are comfortably located here we will take it up again tomorrow.
An amusing thing, when we arrived on this coast, was to see the fellows try to wash themselves with soap. There is only one kind of soap obtainable here with which suds or lather can be made and that is of the queerest character; it is called "Coal Oil Johnny", and is made from petroleum. Those who were unable to get it used vaseline and the combination of salt water and that preparation made an excellent substitute.
I have just been over to a little lunch stand near us, where I devoured three of the most delicious nutmeg melons, right off the ice, and for which I paid but five cents. Bananas, pineapples, oranges and other tropical fruits can be had in abundance and very cheaply.
In assuming this camp we take the place of the First United States infantry, which is one of the regiments forming the invading army. As stated they are all prepared for immediate sailing and when we awake in the morning I presume the fleet will have departed.
And now good‑bye. You will probably not hear from me until the close of the war, and God alone knows if I or any of the rest of us may ever return to tell the tale. We have all prepared ourselves for the worst that can come, hopeful of our safe and early return.
Like the hymn sung by the brave fellows at the church services which they attended at Rev. Wheeler's church last week, I will close, "God Be with You till We Meet Again." Ever yours, E.I. Wile.
*****
Picnic Island, Port Tampa, Fla., June 8‑‑Since writing last evening a Corporal by the name of Benjamin Zweig has been detailed from this company on recruiting service and leaves for Chicago at noon today. He with others on the detail will be on duty at the First Regiment Armory, Sixteenth Street and Michigan avenue for one week and if any of the LaPorte boys care to get into service immediately I would suggest that they go to the recruiting station immediately. Companies of the volunteer infantry will be recruited to 109 men and officers as was origin ally intended and those provisional regiments now organized will be drawn from for that purpose. I fear the opportunities of Co. A from LaPorte going into the service as one company are slim for this reason.
My brother Joe, is well acquainted with Corporal Zweig and by calling on him at his office, 160 LaSalle Street, he will be glad to introduce any LaPorteans who care to join us.
We are all well. Ed Noll is on guard, doing duty at the cars containing powder and other ordinance stores. Hastily, E.I. Wile.
*****
Tampa, Fla., June 7‑‑To the Herald: I intended writing you sooner but had not the opportunity. I enlisted in Company D, Third Ohio Volunteer infantry on the 5th of March and I think I was the first to enlist from LaPorte.
We arrived in Tampa on the 26th of May, after being on the road four days and four nights. We came through Chattanooga and saw all of the historical battlefields of the late war. We also came over the high bridge of Kentucky, which is the highest in this part of the country.
We are expecting to leave here this evening. All the horses and baggage have gone to the transport boats to be loaded.
When we soldiers get back from the war I do not know what the old soldiers will do. They will not be able to hold down the store boxes and talk war. Well, they have held the fort long enough and now they will have to give us a chance. We are camped at DeSoto Park. It is about the place where DeSoto landed.
The work of equipping the boys has been going on in dead earnest for the last week and we are now about the best equipped soldiers that will go to the front.
We can not complain of the food or the way we are treated, as we have the best colonel that was ever in command of a regiment. This is Colonel Anthony. Well I must close for this time. I will try and let you hear from me after we get across the pond. With best wishes to all, I am, Timothy O. Ball.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1898
IN HEAVY MARCHING ORDER; Jack Vail Relates Some of a Soldier's Experiences; New Style of Waging War, Conveying Warriors in Palace Cars; One‑Clawed Crab; The Proverbial Army Mule;
Jack Vail, who is with the First Illinois infantry, writes to his mother, Mrs. Emily Vail, of this city, by whom we have been permitted to furnish our readers the contents of the letter:
Port Tampa, Fla., May 5, 1898‑‑You doubtless are aware that our regiment was ordered to Tampa, Wednesday. We struck tents at Chickamauga, slept in the open air that night and started at 8:40 Thursday morning in heavy marching order for the point where we were to take the train. This proved to be Ringgold and the route we took made the distance 15 miles. It was a dreadful march. The burden each man carried including 40 rounds of ammunition weighed over 40 pounds. The weather was very hot, roads dusty, with long steep hills to climb. Only a few of the boys were able to go the whole route, and the balance dropped out more or less exhausted. Heat does not seem to overcome me as it does many others, and I came in without falling out and was immediately detailed to assist in loading the army wagons. There were thirty heavily loaded four‑mule wagons. The mules helped to pull them upon the platform and we did the balance, putting them on the first car and carrying them the full length of the train at first, and then each one against the other until all were on. I had such an unquenchable thirst and drank so much stuff that I have been more or less sick, but am coming around all right and feeling fair today. We took the train Thursday night at about 11 and arrived here last night. We came in Pullman sleepers and were not at all crowded, and I had a good night's sleep and part of another. We came via Atlanta and Macon, Ga., and at the latter place bore off south and came through western Florida. Georgia is all right, but western Florida does not strike me as a country I would like to live in. The principal productions seem to be rosin, sand, and negroes. All the orange groves seem to have been destroyed by frost.
As I understand it we are camped on the south side of Tampa Bay near the gulf. There is but little shade and the ground is covered with palm bushes, with enormous roots, that form a net work on the top of the ground all over the camp, much to the discomfiture of our mule staff in their efforts at moving loaded wagons where needed. There are numerous aquatic animals here. One is a one‑clawed crab called the fiddler, and at one time part of the camp was infested with them, but they soon dug out and left. Down on the beach at low tide they can be seen in countless numbers. We get the benefit of the sea breeze here part of the time which tempers the heat and makes it endurable. We also have a long stretch of shallow sea water for bathing which is a blessing indeed. I have just come out of the water and though I was feeling sick when I went in I came out greatly improved. It is rumored about camp that we are not to stay here long and that Porto Rico will be our next point, which I hope will prove true, but a great many unfounded rumors get spread about camp which we designate as "pipe stories".
The perils of a soldier do not all come from the enemy's shot and shell. Dreadful marches, killing tasks, lack of food and medical attention are the enemies most to be dreaded.
We get but little news here, but there is a pipe going around that we have captured the Spanish ship Viscaya which I hope proves true.
If we are to embark so soon I may not write you again for some time. I see Eugene Wile frequently. He was assistant mule driver on the march from Chickamauga and like many of the other drivers was amateur or new at the business. It was hellity‑hoop for the mules up hill and down and hardtack, potatoes, onions and other stores were left derelict along the road in large quantities. I think that our ministers ought to have prayers for divine assistance in mitigating the miseries of the army mule. Jack.
THE DAILY BULLETIN, THURSDAY JUNE 16, 1898
AT THE FRONT; Letter From An Old LaPorte boy; STATIONED AT PICNIC ISLAND; Tells of Camp Life and Other Interesting Matters; Is Enjoying Good Health; Frank Borg Gives a Practical Demonstration of the Fact That He is Still Alive;
Walter Dolk, of this city, is in receipt of a letter from Frank Borg who is in Co. F, First regiment Illinois volunteers stationed near Tampa. It was reported that Frank had succumbed to the rigors of army life, but his letter will show that he is still very much alive and ready for anything that may come up in the line of duty. The letter reads like this:
Picnic Island, June 10‑‑Friend Walt, I received your letter about an hour ago and will answer it at once as we don't know how soon our mail will be stopped from leaving camp.
How such foolish reports as my death can be circulated without any foundation whatever is very queer. I never felt better than I have for the last two months. There was a Borg in the Third Illinois regiment who was very sick while at Springfield, and perhaps that is where the rumor started.
We are camped on an island near Port Tampa. It is an ideal place for a military camp ground; good railroad facilities, good water, plenty of shade from palm and cedar trees and Tampa Bay for bathing purposes. As the island is small we don't have any drilling but make up for it in guard duty. We post a guard at several powder storehouses at the Tampa coal docks and on some of the dispatch boats. Wednesday and Thursday nights I was guarding a Spanish prisoner of war and an army deserter. The Spaniard, you have probably read about, is the one who guided an expedition of U.S. regulars into an ambush in Cuba some few weeks ago. He is a hard looking nut. As yet his fate has not been decided.
If the Ladies' Relief club of LaPorte sent us a box it has probably gone astray as we have not received any; there is a large amount of mail and express matter lost at Lytle, Ga., on account of bad management. I am ever so much obliged to you for the stamps as they are one of the most valuable articles in camp. I don't know when we will be ordered to Cuba but I hope it will be soon; you can bet your money that the LaPorte company will never be called on, but if any of them want to enlist they can do so by going to the 1st Regiment armory at Chicago. Our company has a recruiting officer there and when our company has reached the full quota, they will be sent directly to our camp. There is a chance for any of the boys who want to go, but they don't want to think it is all play and no work because we are worked a good deal harder than any one imagines, and there is something harder to come, but we are anxious for it to come soon, as the longer it is put off the longer we will have to be out. There is too much red tape about this thing to suit me, the transports have been here for a couple of weeks all loaded, but the orders to move are countermanded every other day. Well, I will have to close with regards to all the boys in the push. Frank.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 1898
THEY WAIT TO ENLIST; Four LaPorteans Have Gone to Chicago for that Purpose
Benjamin Wilhelm, Ora Boardman, Will Ludwig, and Mr. Tinkham the three first named being members of Co. A of this city, left this afternoon at 4:50 o'clock for Chicago, where they will enlist for service in the First Illinois regiment now at Tampa, Fla., but which is short of men and is therefore being recruited to the full strength.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 1898
TO LEAVE TOMORROW; LaPorte Sends Another Delegation to the Army; OUR BOYS WERE ACCEPTED; they Passed the Physical Examination Without Difficulty; Indications Point to the Fact that Michigan City will be Represented in Indiana's New Regiment;
A telegram received from Chicago this afternoon states that Ben Wilhelm, Ora Boardman, Will Ludwig and Mr. Tinkham, who went to Chicago last evening, as stated in yesterday's Herald, passed the physical examination this morning and were accepted.
They will leave at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning to join the First Illinois regiment now supposed to be at Tampa, Fla.
The telegram also stated that more men are required and that the chances for getting into the service are excellent.
All indications at the present time point to the calling of the Michigan City company, and not the LaPorte company, for the new regiment to be organized in this state next week.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 1898
THEY WILL BE IN COMPANY F; Second LaPorte Delegation Left Chicago Today;
Chicago, June 17‑‑We arrived in Chicago about 7 o'clock but did nothing but amuse ourselves until this morning. At 9 we went to the armory and found Zweig of Co. F. He was glad to see us. We all passed the examination this morning, and received orders to report at the armory tomorrow at 9 o'clock, when we will be sworn into the government service. They expect to start about 150 soldiers to Tampa, Fla., tomorrow some time, or at least at the first possible chance to get transportation. We have become acquainted with a number of officers at the armory and they treat us very nicely. If anyone in LaPorte wishes to write to us our address for a short time will be Co. .F. First Regiment Illinois Volunteers, Tampa, Fla. We are all in good spirits. Ora D. Boardman.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 1898
ARE GUARDING DYNAMITE; LaPorte Boys are Healthy and in Good Spirits;
The Herald is privileged to reproduce a letter received by Miss Mary E. Ball from her brother Ed Ball, who is a member of Co. F, First Illinois Infantry, supposed to be at Tampa, Fla.
Port Tampa, Fla., June 14, 1898‑‑I had a visit from Tim this morning and he is so much pleased with our regiment that he wants to come over, and I am going to try to get him in this company. He looks rugged and healthy and I guess is with a fair regiment.
I did not expect to be accorded the privilege of writing any letters from here, as we had orders not to, but they have been changed and we can write all we want to.
The transports carrying some of the troops left this morning.
Our regiment has the most important post of any regiment. We are guarding ammunition and other explosives. Our camp is right here on an island with plenty of shade and a good place to bathe in, so we are satisfied, although there are about 50 cars of dynamite and other explosives within 100 feet of our company and if they were fired we would be blown from here to California.
We have been assigned to the Fourth army corps and we will be in the Porto Rico expedition. We have been here long enough to satisfy us and we are all anxious to go anywhere. We have been issued summer suits and so are ready. We would have gone with the first expedition to Cuba but for the fact that our regiment is the most reliable and best disciplined. We are to be paid July 1, unless we leave, and in that case it will be sooner.
Mass is held at the hospital which the Sisters donated. Father Sullivan is the name of the priest. I have a little sacred heart medal which was given me by a Cuban young lady, a Miss Garcia, who, by the way, feeds a few of us boys every time we go to the city. With love, Ed.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 1898
SOLDIERING AS A FINE ART; What the LaPorte Boys are Doing at Tampa to Pass the Time;
Dallas Zener is in receipt of a letter from Ed Ball, from which The Herald is allowed to cull the following:
Port Tampa, Fla., June 11‑‑All the boys are exceedingly well and are feeling strong, as our appetites are ravenously good and the grub first rate.
Owing to our regiment being detailed here on Picnic Island to guard government stores, ammunition, etc., it is doubtful if we leave here on the first expedition, which has been loaded on the transports for a week, but will have to wait until another regiment can relieve us.
The Spanish decoy, who led the first expedition of regulars into a trap in Cuba, is here in our guard house, also a deserter, who has been sentenced to two years in the "bug" house. I presume that we will take the Spaniard out early some morning and put the "spurs" into him.
All we have to do here is guard duty and eat, and I guess we are poor at that.
We have a fine place to bathe, here in the bay, and a fresh breeze all the time.
The town is under martial law, and I tell you it is worth a man's life to open his mouth down here. One of the regulars got into a fight yesterday with a colored chap and received a cut in the head, and then the regulars went into the colored man's house and threw everything out that was not screwed down and burned up the joint.
If you should happen down here you would not know us, as we all have fierce beards and the King Bee of the Levee is a bloated aristocrat compared with us.
It is my opinion that we will be anchored here for a couple of weeks.
When it comes to work, Swede, Pumpkin, Burt and the rest of us have reduced the art of soldiering to a science.
When we first came over here we were ordered not to write any letters after Wednesday, but the order has been changed. I think, however, that mail is delayed here for 36 hours, so that if this does not reach you in good season, you will know the reason. Biddy.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 1898
IN THE SADDLE ALL DAY
Miss Mary Ball is in receipt of a letter from her brother, Tim, who is in the Third Ohio infantry, and in part is as follows:
Tampa, Fla., June 17, 1898‑‑I have been over to Port Tampa twice to see Ed. Yesterday I took dinner with him. The boys have a very nice place to camp, being on Picnic Island and have plenty of shade, which we have not got at our camp. There is only one tree in our camp, so it is very hot for us.
My regiment is in the same corps as Ed's, as we are both under General Lee and as I am mounted orderly I will get a chance to see Ed quite often after we get in the field. I have not got a very easy position as some days I am in the saddle all day long and I have to go when every they want me to and wherever they want me to go, but I have a chance to make a name for myself and that is what I am going to try for. Most of the boys have been kicking about the feed, but I have not, as I eat most of my meals at the colonel's tent. He has a cook of his own. The day that General Fitzhugh Lee was here reviewing the troops I was in the saddle from 9 o'clock in the morning till 6 o'clock at night and maybe you think I wasn't tired. I must say good‑bye. Love to all, Tim.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1898
LAND OF THE PAJAMAS; Another Interesting Letter from Our Correspondent in Southland; PITCHING HORSESHOES; Prices Out of Sight and Everybody Broke Make Luxuries Scarce; Co. F's Sunday menu; Pup Tents are Issued to the Troops; New Brigadier and School of Officers
Picnic Island, Port Tampa, Fla., Sunday, a.m. June 19, 1898‑‑As usual the prohibitory order on outgoing mail turned out to be a "hot air pipe story", and our mail will go forward I think without any interruption. This was true, in part, as news of every description was censored during the time the transports were preparing to sail, as the authorities did not want any information to get out until the expedition was well under way, and, now that they have departed, I have every reason to believe mail can go out without any interruption. I hope so at least.
It is absolutely impossible to guess how long we shall be kept at this post. One day I think we will leave here in the course of a few days and the next it looks as though we will not get away all summer. At present there is but one steamer in port and one man‑of‑war, the gun boat Morrell. She is but a small boat. A company of engineers from the District of Columbia is camped with us on this island. Its members are engaged in building pontoon boats and parts for making the bridges. Last night I happened down through the engineers' quarters and the men were unloading two or three carloads of engineers' stores and tools, so it begins to look as though preparations for a long stay were being made.
We have received The Herald which contained Tim Ball's letter from Tampa. His regiment is still there and will no doubt be in our division. He has been here to see us twice during the last week and one day took dinner with us. He is mounted orderly for his colonel, but don't seem to like his job and he is trying to get a transfer to this company.
Yesterday Capt. Steele received a letter from Corp. Zweig, in which he said he could get five or six LaPorte men for recruits. We are anxiously looking for a paper which will advise us who the boys are who desire to join us. I also notice that the examinations are extremely rigid and that out of one batch of five who applied, three were rejected by the surgeons.
Last Sunday evening I went on guard with a detail from this company and my relief was posted in the warehouse on the docks. We had a fine opportunity for seeing the transports loaded. I counted 240 mules and 175 horses which were loaded into one boat. They have a novel method of handling the animals. In the first place everything but the halters are stripped from them and they are driven onto the gangplank, then onto a sort of elevator and then they are lowered into the hold of the vessel and tied to rings fastened to the aides or the snip. The men march aboard in sets of twos, bunks are assigned to them, but they are fearfully crowded and in this climate they suffer terribly, and as they are allowed full sway of the ship it is a common sight to see men sitting on the "steps" of the rat lines, in the cross trees on the rails, the decks and at any point where a breeze can strike them.
As fast as the transports were loaded all day Monday they moved out and all that night and during Tuesday forenoon the ships could be seen moving out to sea, and now the harbor presents a very desolate appearance. None of the eight regiments which were drawn from Camp Thomas has yet departed nor will any sooner than we. The quota of guards from this regiment has been reduced, and the 157th Indiana is furnishing the number we had been detailing heretofore.
Shelter tents have been issued and each two men occupy one; they are made in two pieces and button together much after the fashion of a double breasted coat. To one end of each piece of the tent a guy rope about four feet long is fastened through a grommet. At either end of the tent these ropes are fastened over small pegs driven into the ground and the foot of the tent when it is buttoned is triangular shape the lower point being also fastened to a peg. Each side is held to the ground by three more pegs, which makes a total of nine pegs. A pole at each end holds the tent up. These poles are made in two pieces spliced with heavy tin. Therefore each man carries one pole, one piece or half of the tent proper and the pegs. The front end of the tent is open and in rainy weather our ponchos are fastened to the opening. It has rained a little every day during the past week, and Biddy, who is my mess mate and I have had no trouble to keep dry. When we first got the tents, on account of their resemblance to a dog house, everybody at once set up a barking and we had no end of fun out of it.
Last Sunday night we had a rain and wind storm the like of which I have never seen. Almost all the men in camp were about drowned out. As stated I was out with a guard detail, but the doors in the warehouse where we were located stood open and the water blew inside in torrents. We tried to close them but an immense gang plank lay in the doorway, and for a long time we could not get it out of the way, and the result was I got drenched to the skin, my poncho being of little or no use. It does not hurt a person to have wet feet down here as one gets dry almost as fast as he gets wet. A cold is an unheard of malady.
The proper dress during the time we are off duty is a suit of pajamas. I am sitting under an immense palm tree, dressed in one of these comfortable suits and bare footed, so I am pretty comfortable, though the sun is pouring down a fearful heat.
A week ago we began drilling two hours a day. Our drill ground is across a bayou from where we are camped, and, in order to get to it, we are compelled to walk nearly three miles. So far it has proven a great hardship, as the weather is so intensely hot that we are entirely worn out. In going through the skirmish drills we are compelled to run over the dense growth of palm cabbage, the roots of which grow on the surface and it is extremely hard to keep on one's feet, drilling as we do in double time.
I have never seen as large a variety of fish as the boys bring in every day. Some of them are the oddest and most peculiar shaped things one can imagine and we have a great wag in the company who nightly gives "natural history lectures" using the different species of fish for subjects.
Pitching horseshoes is another regular diversion just now, and stakes of lemonade are played for and often times excitement runs high.
I have just received Thursday's Herald in which I note the names of the four fellows who desire to join us, and I hope they passed the examination. We look for the detail and recruits some time the latter part of next week.
General Hall, our brigadier, happened in on us the other day when we were attending officers' school at Col. Turner's headquarters. He is by all odds the trimmest looking officer I have yet seen. Me gave us some good advice and he was attentively listened to during his whole talk. General Hall was formerly colonel of the 4th U.S. infantry which for several years was stationed at Fort Sheridan and the most cordial relations existed between the officers of that regiment and the First Illinois.
These officers' schools are very instructive and all commissioned and non-commissioned officers attend them. For the last few days we have been discussing our Ringgold march, and when we undertake another such a trip we will know better how to conduct it.
We have not yet heard from the Relief society, but I fear my last letter might have been misleading, but, in the light of the fact that every report we get turns out to be a canard, it is not safe to believe anything, hence the ladies doubtless are afraid of anything they might send going astray.
Railroad men tell me that freight cars are lying along the tracks for 12 miles and they are unable to move them. The express companies too are doing a land office business and they charge all sorts of prices for carrying freight.
The price of everything has gone away out of sight, but it don't matter much as almost everyone is "broke" and it is "rumored" we are to be paid by July 1st, but like every other report this too is taken with a grain of salt.
We are all well, as is Tim Ball, whom we all agree has grown since he left home.
This is Sunday and the following is the menu for dinner:
Boiled Mullet, Scotch Broth, Roast Beef a la Mode, Roast Chicken, Oyster Patties, Sweet Breads with Tomato Sauce, Fried Potatoes, Saratoga Chips, Hot Biscuits, Corn Cake, Sliced Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Olives, Celery, Pickles, Orange Ice, New York Cream, Nesslerode Pudding, Assorted Cakes, Nuts, DemiTasse Coffee, Ice Tea, Cheese.
This information was furnished me by Bert, and I am just informed by Swede Noll that Bert has been "hitting the pipe", so this dinner will doubtless exist in our vivid imagination.
We have changed Pumpkin Borg's nick name to Pineapple because they don't have pumpkins down here.
No changes have been made in the other names. Borg and Noll were up at Tampa yesterday and today they answered sick call.
When we pack up and are on board our boats and about ready to sail, I will let you know, and in the meantime I will continue to write when I can and trust home folks will continue to write us. All send kindest wishes. Gene
BOARDMAN AND WILHELM AT THE FRONT
A letter received from Gene Wile announces the arrival at Picnic Island, Port Tampa, Fla., of Ben Wilhelm and Ora Boardman, who were immediately put through squad drill. Gene drew another "dog" tent for them, and buttoned it to the one he and Biddy Ball occupy, and they are all now nicely ensconced in it. "The newcomers," Gene adds, "are looking fine and are in excellent spirits, and I have no doubt will soon become accustomed to the new order of things."
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, SATURDAY, JUNE 25 1898
MEANS BUSINESS; Baggage Reduced to Fighting Weight in First Illinois Infantry; AN UNQUENCHABLE THIRST; Regiment to Embark on First Transports going to the Seat of the War; Twenty Minutes for Water; First Issue of Tobacco; Scrambling for Gum; A Pleasant Sunday; The Comfortable Pajama; No End of Sport;
Picnic Island, Port Tampa, Fla., June 21, 1898‑‑Yesterday orders were issued from battalion headquarters to reduce baggage weight to "fighting weight". This was occasioned by the receipt of orders at headquarters, which are to the effect that this regiment is to embark on the first transport which arrives.
I had my usual guard detail out last night, doing duty on the government coal dock and while there, this morning, we were relieved from duty by a guard from the First Ohio infantry and this is looked upon by our officers as very significant, as our guards were taken off after only twelve hours duty when we should have stood twenty‑four. The Chicago Chronicle has a correspondent here and I am acting as his reporter from this company. In conversation with him today, he told me that we will undoubtedly get away from here inside of 10 days. While I was at the coal dock an immense transport, which heretofore has been a tramp freighter, pulled up to the wharf. She is the English steamer Specialist of London, and she is arranged to carry 1,500 men, and her hurricane deck is covered with wooden sheeting, under which bunks are built. These bunks are about three feet wide and six feet long. The ship is a monster and all steel. She is painted "war gray", the same color as all the men of war which I have seen in this port.
At present there are some eight or ten transports in port or within the limits and that many more are expected during the night.
Great quantities of coal are being constantly received and last evening the big schooner James W. Pierce from Philadelphia pulled in with 1,600 ton for delivery at the government coaling station. The training ship Salmon P. Chase also arrived in port yesterday and she looked beautiful as she proudly sailed into the basin yesterday about noon under a full head of canvas.
Ben Wilhelm and Ora Boardman showed up in good shape and at this writing are being taken through drill. I drew another "dog" tent for them when I returned from guard this morning and we buttoned it to the one Biddy Ball and I occupy and we are now nicely ensconced in it. The boys are looking fine and are in excellent spirits and I have no doubt they will soon become accustomed to the new order of things.
I am informed that when we reached our new base of operations the postal communication will be immediately opened, so that we will be able to write to our friends on this side. This idea will be carried out, wherever we move, and this arrangement is a source of great satisfaction to us all.
Today it has been as pleasant as any summer day up north. A good stiff breeze has been going on all day and it has been cloudy and consequently the sun has not been real bright; nevertheless I am attired in my Chinaman's suit and I am in no especial need of an oil stove heater for my quarters.
On account of the prevalence of bowel complaints, an order has been issued that no water can be drank for 20 minutes after return from drill and that must be boiled first. The sale of lemonade and kindred drinks has been forbidden. Most of the companies have purchased big blocks of artificial ice, which are placed in barrels in the streets, and the water from which the ice is manufactured being distilled, we are better off than ever, and the consequence is that we get water which has an edge on it and a little of it slakes the ever almost unquenchable thirst we all have.
A number of the boys are now in possession of pajamas and tonight we are going to give a Chinese minstrel. Vaudeville entertainments nightly are the regular diversion now and we have no end of sport. Our captain is a perfect mimic and his efforts are much enjoyed.
As I am writing, the first issue of tobacco is being made. In the package containing the tobacco was a quantity of chewing gum, not enough to go around, so the sergeant had all the men form in a ring and then he tossed the whole business in the air and told the boys to scramble for the gum. Fun, it was enough to make the most dignified laugh. Of course Biddy and the rest of the LaPorte bunch were "Johnny on the Spot" and when the "smoke of battle" had cleared, Biddy came up smiling with his eyes and mouth full of sand and his hands with gum.
It is time for mess call to sound. Good‑bye for this time, and with regards to everybody, in which the other six Hoosiers join me, I am, yours faithfully, E.I. Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1898
LONG AND TEDIOUS RIDE; Pvts. Wilhelm and Boardman Arrive at Front; Receive Hearty Greeting From LaPorte Boys in Camp; Hot Work Drilling; Sea Bathing;
Port Tampa, Fla., June 21, 1898‑‑Well we have reached our camp all right after a long and tiresome ride, and it is a relief to be off the train, even if it is in the sand, on the banks of Tampa Bay. Ben Wilhelm and I are the only LaPorte boys that came down in this bunch, and we were very sorry that the rest of the boys did not get in, but they can come later; about Thursday they will start. When we arrived here we got off the train and marched a little way to the camp and the first thing we knew Ed Ball came bouncing along and jumped upon us like a cat would a mouse, and then in a little while we met Bert Wile and Frank Borg, but did not get to see the other boys until the next morning as they were on duty. There were 10 of us that went to Co. F and they made a squad out of us and gave us a sample of what the sun is down South. After we came in we met Gene Wile, Ed Noll and Hugh Moore. They were very much delighted to see us and commenced to tell us all about it. To give you an idea of the route we came, I will mention some of the towns that we passed through. We left Chicago at 6:50 Saturday night, stopped at Terre Haute, Ind., Hopkinsville, Ky., Nashville, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala., stopped at Montgomery, Ala., Dupont, Ga., Jacksonville, Fla., went to Sanford, Fla., and across the state to Tampa. Port Tampa is where we are stationed. It is nine miles from Tampa. It was about 8 o'clock when we got here and after a little talk with the boys we went with Ed Ball and stayed in his tent for the night. I went out bathing with the company this morning in the bay. The water is salt and it does not take off the dirt, but it is refreshing, and they say that it is very healthy. I think I will take about two a day at first. There are many untruthful rumors here and one especially to the effect that our time will be short in this camp. Gene Wile will be more able to find out the truth about it than I, so I will leave it for him to tell you. Well its pretty hot here, so I will close for this time. Yours, Ora D. Boardman.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1898
HOPE EBBING AWAY; Parents of Walter D. Sharp Forced to Believe Their Son is Dead; ARE OVERCOME WITH GRIEF; Dillwyn Bell, Sharp's Chum, Also Given in the Missing List; Bell is a Cousin of Mrs. Burt Ryan, Formerly Miss Eloise DuFour, and Visited in LaPorte Last Summer;
Little by little the hope that Walter D. Sharp might have escaped death in that memorable battle at La Quasina, near Santiago, last Friday, in which nearly a score of Roosevelt's brave followers lost their lives is slowly ebbing away and the family is being forced to a realization of what is meant by grim visage of war.
The Herald yesterday noted the fact that Walter's name was in the list of the missing after the battle, but at that time it was believed that he would appear all right and that he was uninjured. Today's news, or rather lack of news from there, is discouraging and as the palliative word "missing" is really interpreted as meaning no less than "dead", little hope is entertained here that the brave soldier who gave his services to the nation in a war for humanity has escaped death in the very beginning of the invasion.
Private Sharp is a son of L.L. Sharp, for many years manager of McVicker's theater. Mr. and Mrs. Sharp and children arrived here last week from Chicago and are occupying their cottage, which was formerly the Michael cottage at Waverly Beach. Walter was a graduate of the Yale‑Harvard school and was attending Chicago University when he enlisted. He spent all of last summer at Pine Lake and while at LaPorte became acquainted with and was liked exceedingly well by the young people of town.
Dillwyn M. Bell, who is also reported among the missing and whose parents have nearly given up all hope of seeing their son alive, was Sharp's inseparable chum. He is a son of D.W. Bell, a well known Chicago architect of the treasury. Young Bell also graduated from the Yale‑Harvard school and at the time he enlisted he was working in his father's office. He was the first of the two companions to enlist. He went with Colonel Turner's First regiment to Springfield, but resigned before it departed for the South and joined Roosevelt's rough riders. His father was reluctant to give his consent to his son's enlisting, but "Dill," as he was familiarly called, was so eager to go the his father could not oppose his wish. Bell became color‑bearer of Troop L, with the rank of sergeant, and from San Antonio, Tex., he telegraphed for Sharp to come at once if he wanted to be with the first soldiers to invade Cuba. Mr. Sharp gave his consent with reluctance and Walter started for Cuba with Roosevelt's rough riders.
While fearing the worst the families have one hope left and this is that the boys were captured by the Spaniards and are now prisoners of war. This hope is nourished by the fact that Bell was the color sergeant and so was especially liable to capture, and the further fact that the boys were inseparable companions. As both were unusually fleet footed it is thought that they may have outstripped their comrades in the final charge through the chaparral upon the Spanish position and fallen into the hands of the enemy.
The dispatches from the scene of the battle show that at the beginning of the fight Captain Capron, who lost his life in the fight, borrowed Bell's rifle and shot two Spaniards before being mortally wounded himself. When he fell young Bell was standing beside him, and received from him a farewell message to Mrs. Capron. Bell had seized a dead comrade's gun and kneeling beside the captain fired steadily. From that time his comrades do not remember to have seen him.
Sharp and Bell were prominent in Chicago athletic circles, Sharp having been a member of the Chicago University football team, while Bell held several medals, having won the mile, half mile, the 400 yards dash and the hurtle race in the intercollegiate meet in Chicago four years ago.
Last summer Dillwyn Bell visited at the Sharp cottage, as did his two sisters. He was also entertained at the home of Judge Biddle, being a cousin of Mrs. Burt Ryan, formerly Miss Eloise DuFour, who was at that time visiting her cousin Miss Elizabeth Biddle.
Several of the Chicago papers today contain excellent portraits of both the boys‑‑for boys they were, neither being over 21 years of age.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1898
WILL LEAVE SATURDAY; Michigan City Company Will Pass Through LaPorte
A telephone message this afternoon from Indianapolis to Capt. Anderson of Co. M orders that company to leave Michigan City Saturday morning at 8 o'clock. The boys will pass through LaPorte at 8:41 a.m.
*****
Simon Wile has received a letter from his son Burt Wile, of Co. F, First Illinois Volunteers, who is at Tampa, stating that the One Hundred and Fifty‑seventh Indiana Volunteers would not be allowed to enter Cuba as the men were not in a fit condition to do so, but that the First Illinois would soon embark on the transport in the harbor. The dispatches in today's papers state that the One Hundred and Fifty‑seventh Indiana is all right and has been selected along with the First Illinois and the Third Pennsylvania to re‑enforce General Shafter in Cuba. The indications are that the troops either left today or will leave tomorrow for Cuba. The letter from Burt states that all the LaPorte boys are well, except Hugh Moore, who has been in the hospital several days, but was improving when the letter was written.
*****
A letter received by Henry Wilhelm from Ben states that he and Ora Boardman were in good condition and rapidly getting accustomed to the life in camp.
*****
Rev. N.E. Tinkham is in receipt of a letter from his son noting the safe arrival of himself, Will Ludwig, Will Vandewalker, and Ed Arndt at Port Tampa. Henry Ludwig has also received a letter from Will to the same effect. Both boys write encouragingly of the prospects.
The LaPorte boys had their first experience with the Florida rainy season Tuesday night. The rain fell in sheets, and as the men had failed to ditch around their tents the water stood about as deep in the tents as on the outside.
The Ladies' Relief Society of Chicago has sent $50 in money and a quantity of tobacco to each company in the First Illinois regiment.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1898
ON THEIR WAY TO CUBA, LaPorte Boys Leave Port Tampa for Santiago
Upon several occasions within the past two weeks, the announcement has been made that the First Illinois volunteers and the other regiments of Gen. Hall's brigade had embarked for Cuba, but in each case it has proven to be a canard. Today's dispatches, however, announce officially that Colonel Turner's regiment has left Port Tampa for Santiago de Cuba. Two transports, the GATE CITY, and the CITY OF MACON, are carrying the troops, which make up the brigade. In this brigade are four regiments, First Illinois, One Hundred and Fifty‑Seventh Indiana (Studebaker's Tigers), Third Pennsylvania, and First Ohio. Two other brigades are in the expedition. The men in the First were so delighted there was a scramble getting aboard the transports, while cheers rent the air. They were the first on board. In this expedition were the following LaPorteans: Corporal E.I. Wile, and Privates Frank Borg, Burt Wile, Ed Noll, Ed Ball, Ben Wilhelm, Ora Boardman, Will Ludwig, Hugh Moore, Jack Vail, Leon Hart, Harry Young, and Will Vandewalker. The troops will reinforce General Shafter.
PREPARING FOR DEPARTURE, Everything in Readiness to Leave But Destination Unknown. Special Correspondence‑‑Picnic Island, Port Tampa, Florida, June 29‑‑The other LaPorte boys reached here Friday night and are all well. Hugh Moore has just left for the military hospital at Ft. McPherson, near Atlanta, Georgia. For the past few days, the regiment has been firing at targets and at point blank, range volley, company, battalion, squad and will fire with ball cartridges. We were paid off for April and May this morning. We are ordered to board the transports this afternoon and are at this writing breaking camp and packing up and expect to sleep aboard the ship tonight. I don't know what boat we will get. We think Porto Rico is our destination, but are not sure. E.I. Wile.
The transports left the following day as expected.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, JULY 8, 1898
Special Correspondence, On Board Transport Steamer CITY OF MACON, off West Coast of Florida, Friday, July 1, 1898‑‑Immediately after receiving pay on Wednesday, we began our active preparations for boarding the transports and, by 3 o'clock that afternoon, all tents were down, baggage packed and we were lying around momentarily waiting the order to fall in for the march to our boat, but as usual the orders were changed and accordingly we prepared supper; arrangements to bivouac were then made. About dark it began to rain and it rained long and hard until way after midnight. Some of the fellows put up their shelter tents, while others had already swung their canvas hammocks which had been issued that afternoon. I found a place to sleep, in an old shed, so did not get wet, but for the most part the men got drenched to the skin. Reveille sounded at 4 a.m. yesterday and after a hurried and meagre breakfast of black coffee and hardtack, we again awaited the order to march to the ship. After a long and weary wait until 11 o'clock we finally got away and in our usual hard luck right in the hottest part of the day, we took up our march of nearly a mile to the docks.
In addition to our rifle, blanket bag, haversack, canteen, belt, and ammunition, we now have to carry, rolled up in the rubber and woolen blankets, one‑half of a shelter tent complete, the ropes and a canvas hammock, so that our load now weighs nearly seventy pounds. The trip across the bridge was devoid of incident, except that it was quite inspiring to see the long lines of the trained and thoroughly equipped regiment, the pride of the west, now recruited to over 1,300 men, as it swung along with the full even stride which has made it famous as a marching regiment, walking along to the music of our new band playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever." As soon as we reached the wharf, the troops were loaded. On this boat is the field and staff, the First battalion, and Co.'s E and I of the Second battalion, besides the officers' horses. We have 60 days travel and field rations, 400,000 rounds of ammunition and an endless supply of engineers' stores and equipment. With the crew of the ship, the men, camp followers and dischargers, we have something over 800 men aboard and we are not very much crowded.
We were all very agreeably surprised when our boat pulled away from the dock at Port Tampa about 2 o'clock, as we none of us expected to have gotten away for at least two or three days after the embarkation, as the troops of the first expedition lay in the basin for nearly 10 days before they cleared. As soon as we were assigned quarters, everyone made a rush for the upper decks and the rigging in order to get the benefit of every breath of air that was to be had. The "Gate City", the sister ship of this boat, has aboard her the other six companies of the regiment and pulled out an hour after we left.
As we pulled down through the channel, shout after shout rent the air, from those aboard the ships lying at the wharves and from the shore. The master of an immense English freighter which was taking a cargo of phosphate at the docks performed a graceful courtesy and for his thoughtfulness received a mighty cheer. He lowered his own colors, and, on the yard supporting them, attached the American flag and pulled the two up together. As we passed on out of the basin, alongside the United States gun boat Morrill, she saluted us with three long blasts from her whistles, and in turn was also the recipient of a chorus of cheers.
After supper last evening the regular evening rainstorm began brewing and in an incredibly short space of time the water began to pour down. Hammocks were swung in the hold and the fellows made preparations for the night, and I along with the other non‑commissioned officers of our company went to the saloon where Capt. Steele who is the master of transportation had arranged a place for us to sleep. I spread out the contents of my roll on the floor, used my boots, shirt and trousers for a pillow, and was soon sleeping the sleep such as only a real tired person can enjoy. I asked those who were quartered below how they stood it and they told me it was very hot at first, but that during the night it became quite cool and comfortable.
A pilot accompanied us out of port, and when we reached the mouth of Tampa Bay, we "hove to" and waited for the "Gate City" to come up, and after a wait of over an hour her lights could be seen and soon I noticed a boat being lowered from her sides, her pilot rapidly rowing over to us, when our own pilot was lowered over into the boat and away they went. The "Gate City" kept right on her course and we followed in her wake. The boys were all too tired and worn out to think of anything but rest, so we spent a very quiet evening.
We expect to reach Key West about 5 o'clock this afternoon, when I will mail this letter. There have been a few cases of mild seasickness, occasioned I think by bad stomachs, as the see is smooth as a pond, and as blue as the sky. The fellows have been amusing themselves in various ways, from card playing to letter writing. The favorite pastime is watching for "flying fish", which seem to swim along ahead of the ship in schools, and it is great sport to see them flop out of the water and make jumps of 10 or 12 feed into the air and then suddenly disappear under the water.
Harry Badger, Clyde Jacks, Miltenberger and Vandewalker called to see us Wednesday evening. They had only a short time to remain and I tried to induce Harry to stay to supper but he would not do it. He is very sorry that he did not join this regiment as the One Hundred and Fifty‑seventh was one of the three regiments which was thrown out on account of its poor showing at inspection, and besides Harry says he don't like the look of the crowd.
All the LaPorte boys in this regiment, except Jack Vail and Leon Hart are aboard this boat and are all very well and are taking in everything of interest, with wide open eyes. Hugh Moore as I wrote you was sent to the division hospital at Atlanta. He has been sick for some time, and Capt. Switzer told me yesterday he did not think it safe to take him along, and as soon as he is able to stand campaigning he will be sent for.
I had a narrow escape from being left behind. I had a few letters to write before leaving Port Tampa, and in order to be undisturbed and at the same time have a cool place, I went aboard the water boat which was tied along side us. I never thought for a moment we would get away before Monday at least and was right in the midst of my work, when someone hallooed, "Say, if you want to go on the Macon, you'd better get a gait on you!" I looked up and sure enough she was loose and her hatches being closed. Well, I gathered up my plunder and rushed onto the hurricane deck, threw it (my plunder) over to some fellows and made a flying leap after it, and was helped aboard by Frank Borg and Ed Noll.
All our officers and most of the men are now equipped with the new brown uniforms and they are a great improvement over the old ones, in that they are much cooler and not so hard to keep clean. We do not know where we are to be sent, and if anyone tells us one place, just about the time we are ordered to one place, the order is changed. Arrangements have been made so that our mail will be forwarded to us from Key West, and mail coming to us should be addressed in the usual manner to Key West, Fla., "Please Forward". Of course there is no certainty that it will reach us, but it is worth the while at any rate.
The fact that we were paid for one month and five days, that is from April 26 to June 1st, has made us each a bloated aristocrat, but we are nevertheless like a shipwrecked mariner.....
"Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink."
As soon as the paymaster arrived, an order was published prohibiting the sale of everything but tobacco and lemons at the little store on the island, and we could not so much as buy a can of fruit or meat and everyone is thoroughly disgusted, as it is impossible to buy anything aboard the ship and our rations get awfully tiresome as they consist of canned beans, canned roast beef and black coffee.
The cook just now is the most popular man on board; he is a German and I have so far successfully "worked him" by addressing him in his mother tongue and today I got a half dozen hot biscuits and a cup of elegant soup. He has promised to take care of me in the future.
The officers have their meals served to them in the saloon, and as I am in that part of the vessel now, and they are just being served with dinner, I note that they fare very well. They ought to at the price which is $1.00 per meal.
Beer per pint brings 30¢, one‑half dozen buns 15¢, two small loaves of bread sell for 25¢, and the only free commodity is ice water, of which there is an abundance.
It is now nearly 4 o'clock and we are still out of sight of land and I hardly think we will reach Key West before dark. A letter box has been placed on the upper deck, so I will end this letter and write again before we leave Key West, as I think we will remain there several days.
All the boys join in best wishes.
It is too bad the LaPorte company could not get out, but the officers and the other should make an effort to keep together and they may yet get a chance to show their valor. Good bye. Yours, E.I. Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, MONDAY, JULY 11, 1898
Special Correspondence, On Board Steamer CITY OF MACON, off Key West, Fla., Saturday, July 9, 1898, 10:30 am‑‑‑We dropped anchor last night at 8:30 about 10 miles north of this point, where we lay until daylight this morning, when we passed the immense battleship COLUMBIA, which is riding at anchor a few miles away from us. Near and all around us are troop ships, merchant men, prizes and a dozen different warships of every class from torpedo boats to first class battleships, and woe to any Spaniard who would attempt to get at us.
Since we are anchored here, many of the boys have been indulging in a swim. Or a Boardman is the only LaPortean who was brave enough to tackle the cool deep water; besides the danger from the undertow, these waters are full of man eating sharks and the officers soon put a stop to the sport.
Gambling seems to be the favorite pastime just now, and I don't know but that is just as good a way to spend money as any other, for we don't have a chance to spend it, as no one is allowed liberty to go ashore and there is nothing to buy aboard ship. Just as soon as something outside of army rations is found to eat our surgeons forbid it. So far the steward has been able to feed about 25 extra persons per meal at 50 cents each. A person has to be an adept at football to get into line to get a ticket. Last night I succeeded in getting supper, but I got no breakfast.
For a wonder it did not rain last night, but about the time we dropped anchor, it began to blow and our ship rocked and pitched until my fifty cent supper got a good shaking up, and I had urgent business for a few moments at the side of the ship. This morning I am feeling pretty good, but dizzy and sort of "funny" and I have told the captain that he must pour oil on the water, so I will not waste any more meals. He has promised to do so.
A report of a further engagement before Santiago has just come to us, and we hear that a large number of our poor fellows were killed. I do not give the report any credence, however, and I have decided that it is another "pipe."
I will write again tomorrow and as often thereafter as I can. I have looked all the LaPorteans over and they are all well this morning. Yours, E.I. Wile.
PRICES ARE EXORBITANT
Miss Josephine Borg has received a letter from her brother, Frank Borg, who is in Co. F, First Illinois Volunteers. The letter was written July 4th on board the transport CITY OF MACON, en route from Key West to Cuba. He writes in part:
There are over 100 ships in the harbor at Key West, within two miles of which we are now anchored, and each one has a couple of hundred flags flying. At noon today the warships are going to fire 21 guns apiece so we will have quite a celebration. For dinner today we will have canned beans, beef, hardtack and coffee. That is all we get as long as we are on board the boat, but five of us sent to Key West after a lot of canned fruit and meat, so we will live pretty good for awhile. We could buy things on board the boat but they charge too much‑‑60 cents for a quart of beer, $1 for a pie, 25 cents for a sandwich, 80 cents for a dozen small biscuits, and other things in proportion. I have been gone for about an hour since I started to write, during which time I had a fine breakfast. I had an old pair of blue trousers and I traded them to one of the crew for his meal. I got two eggs, two potatoes, a piece of meat, three pieces of bread with butter and a cup of coffee. When a fellow gets a meal like this all the rest of the boys gather around and watch until it is all gone. I have always been pretty lucky in getting something extra to eat, but I know some fellows who have not eaten anything for five days because they couldn't bear the smell of beans and beef. Address all mail to Port Tampa with request that it be forwarded. Frank.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1898
Special Correspondence, On Board Transport Steamer CITY OF MACON, Key West Harbor, Fla., Monday, July 4, 1898, 7:00 am‑‑‑The mail clerk is waiting at the head of the companionway for the mail boat to take the last mail we shall be able to get ashore before our departure for the front this afternoon at sundown.
We have been waiting here for the cruisers Yale and Harvard, formerly the ocean liners Paris and New York; they arrived respectively Saturday and yesterday, and barring a few little details which will be arranged today we are ready to depart. Our destination seems to be Santiago, for yesterday lieutenant of marines, A. Marix, an old member of F, and who by the way is a nephew of Lieutenant Commander Marix, of the Maine court of enquiry, told us of the rout of the enemy before Santiago.
This in many respects is a memorable Fourth for us. The only outward evidence of a holiday is the constant playing of bands and all the ships in the harbor are "dressed", that is from stem to stern are displaying a lavish assortment of flags of all nations but that of Spain. Not a gun has been fired and we are content to do our celebrating by yelling. This morning a detail of two men from each company is going ashore for the purpose of buying the boys such little things of comfort as they can get in the city, and the lists they have made up contain every article represented in all branches of trade from corn salve to canned peaches.
We are to be conveyed by a large number of war vessels including the veritable floating fortress, Columbia, the second class battleship San Francisco, recently purchased of the Brazilian government, the New Orleans, the Wilmington and a lot of others, the names of which I have been unable to learn. Those I have mentioned lie right near to us, and in my wildest dreams of what constituted a warship, I never had any idea how formidable they really are.
We all continue well and as contented as can be expected. Our steward is probably the most unpopular man aboard and he will be in big luck if he reaches the end of his voyage alive. Without any exception he is positively the meanest and most despicable specimen of humanity I have ever seen. Our quartermaster sergeant is a chap of great resources and he hit upon a plan to get fresh biscuits for us by furnishing the ship's baker with a portion of our flour and baking powder. Immediately the aforesaid minion and Poo Bah heard of it he stopped it and this is only one instance of his meanness. At a guess I should say he has in his storeroom 1,000 small bottles of beer of a vile quality, which he tries to sell the men warm at 30¢ per bottle. Our rations consist of black coffee, hardtack, canned beans and canned beef. These things would be palatable, if we could warm them, but even this he will not permit. Often full slices of bread and toast are left untouched by the officers, and do you think he would give them to us, not he. You either pay him or into the slop pail they go. It is an amusing and yet a pathetic sight to see men, who have always enjoyed every comfort of a home, beg for some choice Morsel cast aside from a full plate, and have it refused them. Yesterday a scullion, a dark hued chap, was eating his dinner in the kitchen and with a generosity born of a true heart I saw him divide with a hungry, homesick young patriot. The cooks and every member of the crew outside of the steward stand ready at all times to help lighten our cares, but are held in check by this package of greed and bombast.
On account of the sudden and unwarned approach of a storm, not many of the fellows sleep on the decks, and prefer to endure the heat and stench of the hold. When they merge from the hot pot in the morning they look more tired than when they go below and the only wonder is there is not more sickness than there is, but I am glad to say, aside from a few minor cases of sea sickness, there are a few ill men. Even with all these nerve taking and discomforting conditions, the men are in the most excellent spirits and it is these very conditions which are tending to cement a bond of fellowship, while our trials and miseries only serve to extend that bond of sympathy. Of course, in such a conglomerated assortment of men, there are to be found the usual quota of "kickers" and sore heads. These fellows are simply left to their own resources and they come around before very long, sheepish and penitent and only glad to be taken into the fold once more.
I make it a point every morning to look after the other LaPorte boys, and I find they are well and happy. I see very little of them during the day, however, as they are scattered all over the ship, but they like myself cannot help but find an ever present interest in the stirring scenes which are so apparent on every hand.
Further proof of the eternal fitness of things has twice been made manifest to me since we boarded the boat. A fellow sitting alongside of me the other day noticed my name on an envelope and remarked that he once knew a man by the same name. Come to talk it over, several years ago he worked for his brother in Crookston, Minn., in a general store, next door to my brother Ed's store, and Bert found a man whose folks occupy a flat in the same building his brother lives in Chicago. I have found three old Notre Dame men who attended college when I did and it is needless to say we talked over Auld Lang Syne and our Alma Mater.
I hear the sentry at the companion ladder telling the officer of the day that the mail boat is within hailing distance, so I must end my letter. Our tenderest thoughts are with all our dear ones at home. You will not hear from us again from these shores prior to our landing in the hostile country and again we bid you our last farewells. We pray the God of hosts to watch over us and to keep us safe from the great dangers we are about to be confronted with and that we may be spared to return covered with glory and the realization of having done our duty well and honorably. If we fall, we have the satisfaction of knowing that we have done that same. God bless and keep you all. We may none of us ever see your dear faces again. Ever faithfully yours, Eugene I. Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, Thursday, July 14, 1898
THEIR FIRST EXPERIENCE, LaPorte Soldiers Fire on Rough Riders by Mistake
A special copyrighted cable dispatch to the Chicago Times‑Herald this morning from its correspondent with the army before Santiago says: "What might have proved a serious mistake was made by the First Illinois regiment upon its arrival at the front. It fired upon the out posts of the rough riders, which it mistook for the enemy. The Illinois men discovered their error, however, before any damage was done."
In this regiment are 14 LaPorte boys.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, Tuesday, July 19, 1898
ON THEIR WAY TO PORTO RICO, LaPorte Boys in First Illinois Leave Cuba
Dispatches from the front today state that the First Illinois volunteers in which there are 14 LaPorte boys, have left Cuba and are now on their way to Porto Rico.
The First Illinois saw no fighting at Santiago, having arrived too late to take part in the battles. When they landed, they were sent far forward to the right of the American line, and were stationed north of the city of Santiago. If the Spaniards made an attempt to sneak out of the city, as they were expected to do, it is probable the First Illinois would have seen some heavy fighting.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, Monday, July 25, 1898
AMID DEAD AND DYING, Scene Following the Battle of Santiago Graphically Described by a Herald Correspondent; LaPorte Boys with the First Illinois Regiment Enjoying Good Health; The Correspondent Sits Beside the Bodies of Captain Capron and Sergeant Hamilton Fish When Writing His Letter to the Herald; Many of the Cubans are Nothing but Rovers and Pirates
Special Correspondence, Siboney, Cuba, Sunday, July 10, 1898‑‑We arrived off this God forsaken place on Saturday morning last about daylight, after a tempestuous voyage during which time I was fearfully seasick for two days and nights and was unable to be upon my feet until I reached terra firma yesterday afternoon. Immediately upon arrival we struck what might be called camp and bivouacked on the beach. We got off our boat by means of the small boats from the numerous men of war lying here, during a heavy sea, alive, well and happy. At sun down I was put in charge of a guard detail and now bear the empty honor of being the first corporal of the First Illinois company to do duty on Cuban soil.
Of course long before you receive this letter you will have heard all the glorious news, so I can only add that I have seen much of the misery and horror which is the natural outgrowth of a war. For several days past and even as I sit here in the military post office there is a constant stream of ambulances unloading their unfortunate burdens at the division hospital on this shelf of the mountain in an abandoned cigar factory and aboard the magnificent United States hospital ship "Relief". From all accounts, and I have talked to men of the different commands which were engaged in the series of battles, the carnage was simply awful and the work of the enemy cruel, heartless and cowardly. Our loss is variously estimated at from 1,000 to 1,700 killed and wounded and the Spanish at from 2,000 to 4,000. An idea of the horror of the battles may be gained by the knowledge that one entrenchment about a quarter of a mile in length was filled with dead Spaniards to the depth of three feet. One instance of the cruelty and savagery of our foes was told to me by a sergeant of the Seventy‑first New York infantry who received a wound in the hand of where men under the protection of the red cross flag attending to the wounded were fired upon and killed on the field by Spanish sharpshooters, who for the most part are French and Austrian. They are daily violating every clause of the Geneva conference of the nations, in that they are using poisoned brass cartridges and exploding balls fired from their Mauser rifles.
Troops armed and equipped as we are with Springfield rifles and "smoke" powder are not allowed on the firing line, although our regiment has just departed from the front, while I am left behind with a detail of 25 recruits and I am about as mad as a wet hen, but I expect to go on by tomorrow night, at the latest.
Up to this hour, 5:50 p.m., Santiago has not capitulated and I consider my information the best, as a scout has just come in from the front with a sack of mail and he left there at 4 p.m. so you can se we are only about eight miles through the mountains from the fire line.
All along the beach, for a distance of four miles, lay the wrecks of Cervera's fleet and on this beach are several of their small boats and launches blown and burned to pieces. Those Cubans I have seen here are nothing short of a band of rovers and pirates. They have already grasped the situation and assiduously hang onto their mangoes, cocoa nuts, etc., until they can receive the equivalent in good American silver.
Monday, July 11‑‑It got too dark last night to finish this letter and since then I have been back in the mountains along the narrow gauge railway for four miles looking for a hospital. This we did after dark and in the rain. It was so dark I could not see 20 feet ahead of me. It was a wild goose chase and we are all disgusted with the continual change and conflict of orders.
I do not know how or when mail will reach us, but while at the post office last night I was told that we should get mail today, but now that we are detached from the regiment indefinitely, I am sure I don't know when I'll get mine.
On account of the heavy dew which falls, the nights are extremely cool and a blanket a necessity and as a matter of fact I have not found the days as warm as at Tampa.
All around us on the mountains we can see the block houses of which you have all read so many times and when the enemy was shelled out of here they were left in an excellent state of preservation. The engines on the railway referred to, were dismantled, the pieces being strewn all over the neighborhood, but Yankee ingenuity made itself manifest and they were "slapped" together and are proving very useful; the railway is owned by Carnegie, the Iron King, and is used in connection with the vast coal and iron mines along its route.
The Thirty‑third Michigan infantry are here, and among the companies is one from Benton Harbor. I found a lot of boys among them I know and yesterday a detail from that company was sent back toward Santiago to head off a horde of refugees and, while up there, they came across the home of the superintendent of the railway, which they describe as a thing of beauty and complete from silverware to an ice making machine. He deserted his possessions the day war was declared and the establishment is now in full possession of a band of rovers and refugees.
The bodies of Captain Capron and Sergeant Hamilton Fish, Jr., are lying encased in metallic caskets a few feet from where I sit and Mr. Fish, Sr., is here to take the remains back to New York. Biddy Ball assisted at the interment of Lieutenant Neary Saturday afternoon. A large number of the poor devils who were killed are buried in the hills above this point, each grave being marked with a brown board, with the name rank and company cut in the board.
I have all of the LaPorte boys who recently enlisted with us in my detail, while Bert, Borg, Noll and Ball went on with the main body.
Not one of us has been sick and all the direful results of a wet season, like everything else, has been magnified. It rained a trifle last night and is cloudy now. On the top of the mountains it rains every day and we can see the clouds gather and empty themselves five miles away.
We will move shortly, so must close. All send love. Yours faithfully, Eugene I. Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, Thursday, July 28, 1898
EXPECT NO FIGHTING, LaPorte Boys in Cuba Believe Peace is Near at Hand; RECRUITS WERE LEFT BEHIND; How the Soldiers Learned of the Surrender of Santiago; Landing the Horses; Block Houses on the Mountain; Doing Guard Duty at Siboney; The View of the Mountains and Valleys Most Grand
The following letter has been received from Ora D. Boardman, who is in the First Illinois in Cuba, by his father: Siboney, Cuba, July 10, 1898‑‑As I have a few minutes to write I will send you my first letter from Cuba. I am on guard now and have two hours on and four hours off which is the first I have had since I started. Guards are on 24 hours at one time and my time expires at 6 o'clock this evening. It is not hard work, but you have to keep your eyes open. After a long distant ride on water and a 10 days' stay on the boat they landed us at a little Spanish town called Siboney (that is, it is a has been Spanish town but it is not now, for they have been driven away and there is nobody here now but Cubans and soldiers.)
There is a natural harbor here but they have no docks or pier, so were landed in row boats about eight at a time. Each one took all of his things with him, bun, knapsack, haversack, canteen. Our company has the honor of being the first one of the Illinois troops to land in Cuba. This is a beautiful place. The scenery is something that I never expected to see, all mountains and small valleys. We are in one of the valleys running into the coast. One can look up all around and see the tops and some of the clouds appear to strike them. When the sun strikes them in places, between clouds, it is the prettiest sight I have ever seen, as the mountains are covered with small trees and moss. In the harbor and sea are about 25 large transports and some huge war boats. There are all kinds of fruit here, oranges, bananas, and a lot of things I never heard of before, and above all cocoa nuts. They grow wild here. There are some within a block of me now. You should have seen us scramble for them the first thing when we got ashore. Anyone would have thought we were starved, but was not long before we got a stomach full of the milk and the meat. The Cubans are as black as coal with curly hair and when they talk you would think there was a drove of hogs grunting. They are about half clothed.
There is one railroad here that runs from Santiago. The dead and wounded are put on a hospital ship that is here. I talked with a fellow that was hit with a piece of shell; he could hardly walk but he had good courage. There are lots of such cases here. This place is about eight miles from Santiago and they are fighting up there right now. Today we got orders to march to the front, to leave our knapsacks here, and they gave us three days' rations. That was two cans of beef and a hatful of hardtack which we put in our haversacks. Well, we started and took a long breath for the eight mile march; and got about halfway up a small mountain and then we were stopped and all the new men taken out and some officers placed in charge of them. We were left behind to our sorrow, because we all wanted to go, and the worst of it all was to leave the company, part going to the front and the other part staying here. I don't know what they will do with us now. At the present time we are resting principally. Gene Wile is with us too. After we came back a gun boat came in, making a continuous noise with the whistle. A high officer said that was to signify that Santiago had surrendered. Everybody cheered. I think that it is only a question of a short time that Spain will have to surrender and I hardly think that I will see any fighting, but you can't tell for sure. I am at the post office now and a fellow that is pretty well posted said that he was quite confident that we would never smell powder.
On top of the mountains are little houses called block houses for the purpose of having a lookout, and a couple of cannon are perched there also. As I look out at the transports that we came in on I can see them bring the horses in. They tie a rope to their heads and make them jump in and swim to the shore. A row boat goes ahead to help them keep up.
The officers took us on a wild goose chase last night about two miles on the railroad to guard a hospital. Well, we found the three miles, but couldn't find the hospital and then came back and went to bed. Ora D. Boardman.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, Monday, August 1, 1898
IN MIDST OF WAR; Herald Correspondent Writes of What He Sees; DESCRIBES MAGNIFICENT SCENERY; Plenty of Money but Nothing to Buy; Pathetic Sights; Scarcity of Dangerous Reptiles and Insects
Special Correspondence‑‑Near division fever hospital in the Jaraugua Mountains, two miles east of Siboney, Cuba, Sunday, July 17, 1898‑‑When I wrote partly on last Sunday, and finished my letter Monday, I did not know where we of the detachment were to go, or what our duties would consist of. As stated then, we came up part way to where we are now on a tool's errand, but about 10 o'clock Monday forenoon, another start was made and we reached here an hour and a half later, ate part of our three days' travel rations, and at once began preparations for the establishment of a camp.
I went on guard in a blinding rain storm at 6 p.m. and the only shelter I had was my poncho and blanket. We have with us our "dog" tents and hammocks, and a number of the men succeeded in getting them in position, but not so the guard, and as we got wet to the skin, it did not matter much and we braved it out through the night. The rain continued through the entire night and the better part of Tuesday, and finally let up about 4 p.m. In the meantime large tents were brought out on the railway from Siboney and the men set to work with a will and by dark we had a sufficient number up to insure comfort for the night. Since then more tentage has been placed in position, and coupling this with the fact that we are receiving very good meals we have no reason to complain.
The detachment is divided into two companies formed into a provisional battalion, and we are camped on either side of the railway which runs from Santiago to Jaraugua, at which latter place are located two immense iron mines and this railway is used, or rather was used, in operating these mines. Alongside of the track is a five‑inch water main, which is tapped at frequent intervals, and water of an excellent quality is drawn from the pipe. The water is pumped from one of the numerous mountain streams at Jaraugua, which is located about four miles up the mountains from here.
The detachment was sent up here for the purpose of preparing the hospital for fever patients and since arriving here, daily details have been at work digging sinks, erecting tents, cutting wood, etc. We are about finished with the work and yesterday I was informed that a detachment from the 24th U.S. Infantry was to relieve us and we were to join our regiment in Santiago, but I am afraid it will turn out to be another "pipe story". There seems to be much diversity of opinion as to the character of the fever the patients have, but I am informed by the old Cuban doctor, who is in charge of the hospital, that for the most part it is malaria, intermingled with a few very mild cases of yellow fever. I had one detail over there on Wednesday (the hospital camp is about 1/4 of a mile down the track), and while there we buried three men who had died the previous night. These men had been brought up from the front and took sick while lying in the trenches before Santiago, and none of them had yellow fever up to date, and at this writing there are about 200 patients there and the death rate is about one man a day.
Among the patients are three women nurses of the Red Cross society. They are not afflicted with fever, but are simply worn out with their arduous labors and are out now. Altogether there are four lady nurses on the ground and I assure you it is a real pleasure to even hear their voices and more so to converse with them.
The balance of my regiment moved to the front on Sunday afternoon and, from word received from there, they must have suffered untold hardships and misery. They had but three days' rations and immediately upon there arrival were put in the trenches where they have remained ever since. They got wet and for 24 hours had nothing to eat at all. Since then Santiago has surrendered, provisions and dry clothing have been sent forward and I guess by this time they are fairly comfortable. One chap told me that before the supplies were sent up, men were offering as high as $1.50 for a pound of tobacco, and 50¢ for cigarette papers.
Of course by this time you have read of the fall of Santiago, but up to this writing our forces have not occupied the conquered city and our officers have given us to understand that the entire Spanish army is to be transported back to Spain without arms and that the four negro regiments now here and all immunes from the states now under arms are to be brought here to be vest as an army of occupation of the province of Santiago and we are to be returned to the United States and kept there until fall, when a campaign for the taking of Havana and the other important points is to be begun unless Spain sues for peace in the mean time. Of course this is very gratifying to us all and seems to be correct.
All of the buildings, excepting a saw mill now used for a division commissary at the little village of Siboney were burned immediately upon the arrival of General Miles and Surgeon General Senn.
So far as I have been able to learn, there is little or no sickness among the men of our regiment, excepting possibly a few minor cases of little or no importance. None of we LaPorteans, thank God, are among the number, and as there are couriers from the front every day, I have made it a point to enquire for them.
Yesterday in company with a small party, I took a walk up into the mountains to the little village of Jaraugua where the mines are, and the scenery along the line is of the grandest, wildest and most beautiful nature ever conceived. Towering for thousands of feet above the level of the road bed rise mountains, rich in their vast stores of coal, iron, lead and other minerals. Arriving in sight of the town, can be seen the "runs" to the mines, now deserted and neglected. Part of the town is located along the banks of a swift flowing, rock bottom creek in which we saw a swarm of natives of all ages, sexes and colors bathing or washing clothes. On the first shelf of the mountain are spread adobe houses thatched with dried palm or cocoa leaves, then on the next shelf are more pretentious looking shacks roofed with tin and zinc. Still higher lies the railroad bed along which are built substantial buildings, all painted in bright colors, light blue predominating, and these are warehouses, railroad offices and miners' stores. All are densely populated with a motly throng of people, half clothed, neglected and half starved Cubans. Cuban army headquarters are established there, also a base of supplies in charge of American officers, and each day at 3 o'clock food is issued. In the large mine store a hospital for wounded Cubans soldiers has been opened and their sufferings simply beggar description. They do not get half the care they need, very little to eat and little or no medical attention. In the confines of this small settlement there are at a low estimate 5,000 souls. It is an affecting sight to see whole families on the verge of starvation. They will sell or trade anything they possess for food. We took along with us a lot of canned beef and hardtack and for five pieces of the latter I secured a gold band ring and for five more a gold earring. I enclosed, roughly embossed copies of Spanish coins I traded for beef and hardtack, showing the relative value to our money and the metal from which each is made, also the prices I paid for each. In addition to these coins, for a two pound can of beef, from a Cuban officer I secured four old Spanish half dollars made respectively in 1781, 1784, 1796, and 1799. One woman had an exquisite silk lace mantilla of Spanish design, which she offered me for two pounds of beef, but I had run out and money they will not take.
Every hour of the day parties of refugees pass through our lines from Santiago, and some of the sights are pathetic in the extreme. A few days ago a whole family came through packing what appeared to be their whole earthly possessions. Clinging to each woman are young babes, and all of them either the young or old with only clothing enough to cover their persons, pressing onward and all looking, what they are, in fact, the pictures of abject misery.
Many of the people living in Jaraugua pass along our camp every day on the way to the cocoa and mango groves. Many of them bring back pineapples and watermelons, all of which find ready sale, the boys trading eatables of a more solid character for them.
Every man and boy is armed with a machete, and many with fire arms of various ages and kinds and with these they will not part for love or money. I have secured one of the poison shells containing the brass bullet also a Mauser cartridge.
On account of being equipped with ammunition which, when fired, creates more or less smoke, our fellows, as is the case with all the other volunteers, have not been allowed to fire a shot, the experience of the Seventy first New York, Ninth and Second Massachusetts, and Thirty‑third and Thirty‑fourth Michigan, proving the danger of drawing the enemy's fire, and after these regiments had fired for a few hours they were stopped and the brunt of the fighting fell upon the Rough Riders and the regulars who are all provided with small calibre arms which use smokeless powder.
The artillery brigade was landed at Baiquiri eight miles east from here on the coast and they pass our camp over a road which runs across and over the mountains through Siboney to Santiago, which in many places is just wide enough to get through with nothing to spare.
I have seen very few dangerous reptiles or insects. There is one species of the tarantula, an immense spider, whose bite is very painful but not fatal. Flies and mosquitoes abound in millions. The mosquitoes are small, but bite so persistently they are the bane of one's existence and the man who has a mosquito netting is indeed fortunate.
We rather hope to join our regiment in the course of a week and, while we are quite comfortable here, we all prefer to be with the command, as the prospect of their being moved to Santiago seems very good and as the city has many points of interest and civilized conveniences we look upon a residence there with genuine pleasure. Most of the fellows still have money, without a chance to spend it, so if we go to Santiago we surely will be able to enjoy a little laxity from camp life. All send love and best wishes, Yours faithfully, Eugene I. Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1898
HUMANITY'S SAKE, LaPorte Boys Demonstrating That They are Willing to Sacrifice their Lives That Cuba May Be Free; Interesting Letters, Portraying Life as Seen in Santiago, From Frank Borg, Will Ludwig, and John Adams
The parents of Frank Borg, who is in Co. F, First Illinois Infantry volunteers, at present at Santiago, Cuba, are in receipt of a letter from him under the date of July 17th, from which we are privileged to cull the following: I wrote to you the 13th and told you that we would have a battle the following day. We went into the rifle trenches at 4:30 in the morning and stayed there until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The Spaniards surrendered the city at just 12 o'clock. We got 20,000 prisoners, they having 12,000 men in the city and 8,000 outside. today all the Spaniards marched between our ranks and took off their hats as they passed the American flag. We also got all their rifles, cannon, and ammunition. Santiago has a population of 71,000 people and when they heard that we were going to bombard the city they fled to a town called Caney, about eight miles from here, but now since the city is captured they are coming back, and the sights are simply awful. I have just been down to the road giving some of them hardtack to eat. There are lots of finely dressed people with them, but then money don't do them any good, as they can't buy anything, because the soldiers need all. I gave three finely dressed old ladies a hard‑tack apiece and they thanked me a dozen times. The children hunt all along the road for crumbs and old tin cans that have had meat in them and then they scrape every bit out and eat it. But I pretty near know what it is to be hungry and thirsty as I have had quite a little of it since I came out, although I never said anything about it, but the war is now practically over, so it don't make much difference. The first day we got here we lived 48 hours on three pieces of hardtack and were in the rifle trenches all the time and couldn't leave them to get water, but that is all over and the indications are that the First regiment will be home before a month has passed by. The ceremony today attending the surrender of the Spaniards was a sight I will always remember. All the American troops were lined up and the Spaniards walked through and laid down their arms and we fired a national salute of 21 guns and raised the flag over the city. You ought to have heard the boys cheer. Just think what a noise 25,000 men can make if they all yell at once. The Spaniards felt pretty blue. We haven't had any sickness in our company for a long time. I don't believe this island is very healthy. The nights are cold and we have an awful heavy dew. I have slept out quite a number of nights and the blanket is always soaked through by morning.
Willie Ludwig, who is also in the First Illinois, but detached from the regular command, writes entertainingly to his parents of his experiences in Cuba. We quote from a letter written on July 17th:
"This being Sunday I am devoting my time to letter writing. Most of the boys went to town this morning after services, which were held at 7:30 o'clock. The services were conducted by an Episcopalian rector and I enjoyed them very much. We are still guarding the hospital camp about two and half miles from Siboney. Our camp is about a half mile from the hospital and everyday a detail of men goes over to cut wood, put up tents and do other work. There are a great many patients there now and everyday the train brings more. The postmaster at Siboney, who was sick at the hospital, died with the yellow jack. The doctor says we need not be afraid of the disease as long as we keep ourselves clean. We take a bath everyday and when we have been at the hospital we have to take a bath before we come into camp. The food we get is all right now and I can eat all they give me. The rest of the boys from LaPorte are well and feeling fine. The air is fine and when the sun is out of sight it gets nice and cool. It rains everyday and is cool at night. This is about the healthiest part of Cuba. I don't know just how long we will be here. We expect to move now at any time, since Santiago is taken, and the report is that we will be taken back to the states and just the regulars left here. It does no good to send papers for they will not be delivered. So the better plan is to cut out slips that you want us to see and send them in the letters. It is the same with sending packages, for we never get them, unless they are very small. On all your letters put "Please Forward" and they will surely reach us. Our camp is in a good shade and I don't think we could have found a better place. There are four in our tent and we have plenty of room. From what we hear we will be home before Christmas." In his letter, Will encloses a very fine little collection of shells.
Mrs. L. Adams yesterday received a letter from her son Jno. Adams, who is a sergeant in Co. E, Tenth regiment, United States regulars. He has also written to his brother Henry, but scarcity of paper at Santiago is the cause of both letters being extremely brief. He writes: "We have no facilities to write much as we have very little paper, no envelopes, and no stamps. I am in luck to be able to write at all on account of the scarcity of paper. Don't worry about me for I am well and feeling fine. The battle commenced again last evening, the 10th, at 4 p.m. and lasted till dark, but this morning we are doing only a little firing, the artillery doing the main portion of the fighting at present and shells are exploding all around us, but do very little harm. I have no idea when we will be through here. Our food is not good as it should be but then all are satisfied with what they get. Men would rather fight the Spaniards than eat. We are faring well as could be expected and are getting along finely. The only thing that isn't as it ought to be is the hospital corps. They can't take proper care of the wounded. I haven't seen the Illinois regiment yet but when they come I will see the fellows that I know or that know me."
THE LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1898
HARDSHIPS OF WAR; How the LaPorte Boys at Santiago are Faring; LONGING FOR HOME, SWEET HOME; Letters from Benjamin Wilhelm, Edward Noll, Winnie Biege, Frank Tinkham and Geo. Vandewalker, Relating Their Experiences at the Front
A most interesting letter has been received by Rev. and Mrs. N.E. Tinkham from their son, Frank, who writes from Siboney, Cuba, under date of July 16, as follows: "We landed on Cuban soil the 9th of July after being on the boat 10 days. I tell you I was awfully glad to get on land again, even if it was among the worst class of people I ever saw in my life. The Cubans along the shore, or at least at that particular village are a very low set, and dirty as pigs. I tell you it cooled my patriotism quite a little when I saw the people in whose behalf I had come to fight. They live chiefly on cocoa nuts, mangoes and other fruits which grow here in abundance. A Cuban will sell you most anything he has, except his machete, for hard‑tack or canned roast beef. The regiment remained here about a day and a half when we, the new recruits, were detached and left behind to guard the hospital which is about a mile from the coast. There are about 150 of us here and maybe you don't think we have to work. First you are on guard 24 hours, then perhaps the next day get on hospital detail to do various kinds of work, such as putting up tents, digging graves, etc. It is a yellow fever hospital, but the fever, so far, is a much milder type than what we have in the United States, as only about 11 percent of the fever patients die. I feel very well at present but tired as I just came off guard. The report is now being circulated that we will soon be back in the states and I hope it is true, but we hear so many reports here we do not know what to believe.
I just received your letter which you wrote the 26th of June, so you see it takes a letter a good while to reach me. Our rations are pretty good and the following is the variety: potatoes, bacon, tomatoes, beans, oatmeal, coffee, canned roast beef, onions, and hardtack. Not all this at every meal, however. I have a large tent, one that I can stand up in, and so we get along fine. We hear some peace talk and one of the officers offered to bet $25 a few days ago that we would be home to eat Thanksgiving dinner. Well, will have to stop and get ready for mess (supper) but will write more tonight.
Well, mess is over and I feel good. We had fried hardtack with sirup on it which we call fritters, and I tell you it tasted pretty good. Our boys who went to the front have not fired a shot yet at the enemy but have been under fire while behind the trenches but no one was killed. A railroad runs through our camp but seldom are any trains running. Perhaps you read about the Spaniards leaving the engines on the track after hiding some of the pieces, but our engineers soon patched them up so they are used in carrying supplies to our troops. I guess I will not have a chance to get under fire and from what I can hear of it I am not at all anxious. I think I realize now more fully the meaning of the words, 'Home, Sweet Home'."
Mrs. Michael Noll is in receipt of a letter from her son, Edward, of Co. F, First Illinois infantry volunteers, who is now at Santiago, Cuba. He writes under date of July 13:
"Things look like war at the present time. We landed at Siboney on Saturday and stayed there till Sunday evening. We marched 11 miles that night and then "put up" on the roadside until 3:45 the next morning, when we marched five more miles. While marching those five the Spaniards could see us, and talk a bouts bullets flying and buzzing by our ears! It made us think of home. We reached the place we were headed for about noon. Monday evening we were put into the trenches about 300 yards from the Spaniards' line, and about 9 o'clock it lightninged and rained. Talk about being wet! I stood in about two feet of water all night and we expected to be charged on that night. The regulars and rough riders dug all night on these trenches and they are about 150 yards from the enemy's lines and I think the Spaniards will get a warm reception when they start to fire. Gen. Miles arrived today and he gave the Spaniards till tomorrow noon to surrender. We have received orders to get ready for another fight. We are seeing hard times at the present time in the eating line and also the sleeping quarters. Some of the Washington boys offered us 50 cents for a hard tack but we had to refuse them as we did not have any ourselves. We had beans for dinner and I thought the boys would have a fit -- it was like a Thanksgiving dinner to get them. It is impossible to sleep as we lie on the mountain side in small pup tents. One has to get down on his hands and knees to get into them. Two sleep in each tent. It rains here day and night and we have to stand out in the rain until it stops. We throw our clothes in the tent to keep them dry while we stand naked in the rain. I met Will Conlin, a former LaPorte boy, the other day. He belongs to the regulars, being in Co. A, Seventh Regiment. If Santiago surrenders tomorrow the war will close within six months. Tomorrow we fight unless the Spaniards give up."
The HERALD is in receipt of a letter from Winnie W. Biege, of Rolling Prairie who is in Co. D, One Hundred and Fifty‑seventh Indiana volunteers, at Port Tampa, Florida, wherein he desires to express to Jno. Noble, Charlie Noble, Will Van Geison and James Powell, all of Rolling Prairie, his heartfelt thanks for the tobacco which they sent him and which he duly received.
Edward Jonas has received a detailed letter from Ben Wilhelm of the trip from LaPorte to Cuba, where he is now quartered with the First Illinois to which he belongs. Regarding his Cuban experience, he says: "We had a poor location on the boat coming from Tampa to Siboney as we were supposed to eat and sleep with the horses at the bottom of the vessel. We had poor feed on the boat but the boys who enlisted in April were paid about $18 before they left Tampa and were able therefore to buy a few things on the boat. Their money did not last long as they paid as much as $1.50 for a small pie, 50¢ for a cup of tea, 25¢ for a sandwich and 30¢ and 50¢ for a small bottle of beer. We were on board the boat 10 days. I was in the first boat to be landed on Cuban soil, as we were taken ashore in life boats from the gun boats. We were surprised to see trains running when we landed. Sunday afternoon we were ordered to be ready to march to General Shafter's headquarters near Santiago, a distance of eight miles. Twenty-five recruits from each company in the regiment were left behind. Boardman, Ludwig, Vandewalker, Tinkham, Arndt, Gene Wile and myself are the LaPorte boys who were left behind. We are now camped about two miles from Siboney guarding a hospital. A person will almost have to carry his things with him if he does not want them taken. The boys cannot buy anything, not even stamps, paper or envelopes. We can get all the cocoa nuts, etc., we want, but we have to be careful what we eat so we will not get sick. It is reported that Santiago has been captured and that we will not go back to the United States till next fall."
The following letter was written by George A. Vandewalker to his sister, Miss Emma: "Fernandina, Fla., July 31, '98; Dear Sister‑‑I received your last letter just before we left Tampa, but I was on guard duty and did not have a chance to answer it. Our change of location seems to have been a change for the better. We have better water and are on higher ground. About 40,000 troops are encamped here, and more are coming. I think we will be around here a couple of months and then move to Havana or home.
I have changed my quarters and am now living in a "pup" tent with a Polander named Frank Lowinski. Six in a wall tent was too many for this climate. We received your package all right. Tom Clark, one of the hospital corps tried to buy one of my stomachers. He says they are one of the best things out.
We now have one of the best cooks in the shanty that we have had since we left home. He is doing his level best and doesn't burn everything. When the commissary doesn't furnish what we need he goes after him. There is some talk of keeping him as cook and excusing him from all other duties. Hoping to hear from you very soon, I remain, Your soldier brother, G.A.V.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1898
LA PORTE BOYS ARE SICK; Five of Them in the Hospital with Malarial Fever
Frank Heusi is in receipt of a letter from Will Ludwig written from "Yellow Jack Camp", near Santiago, Cuba, July 27, wherein he states that five of the LaPorte boys in the First Illinois had been taken to the hospital all suffering from malarial fever. The sick boys are Corporal Eugene I. Wile, special correspondent of The LaPorte Herald, and Privates Edward Arndt, Ora Boardman, Frank Tinkham, and Benjamin Wilhelm.
Ludwig and Vandewalker are the only ones in that detail of LaPorte boys that were well when the letter was written. The other boys, Burt Wile, Frank Borg, Ed Noll and Ed Ball were further inland and as far as known are well.
Out of 212 men in that detail, only 75 remain, the rest having been taken sick, most of them with malarial fever, but some with yellow jack.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, Friday, August 12, 1898
Extracts from a letter received by M.L. Vandewalker from his son, Wm. A. Vandewalker, now in Siboney, Cuba: "Camp Yellow Jack, Cuba, July 25, 1898‑‑Dear Father, I received your letter last night about 9 o'clock and was very glad to hear from home. We are not able to get any news from the states at all, and are what you might call a lot of greenhorns. We are now living on the fat of the land. Last Thursday we had mountain goat for supper and Saturday we had venison.
One of my mess mates, Cook by name, can cook anything in that line to perfection. Myself and Cook killed the goat and dressed it, and then roasted it in a pan we borrowed at the officers' mess. It was simply elegant. The deer we had was the forequarter, and cook and I fixed it up also. I made the dressing of onion and hardtack with plenty of salt and pepper. We roasted the quarter of deer from 12:20 until 5:45, and it was done to a turn. Roast beef is nowhere beside it. We are still camped at the same place that we were when I wrote my last letter and still guarding a yellow fever camp. They are carrying the boys to the hospital from all around me.
Night before last, I was corporal of the guard and Gene Wile was also. We had a big Irishman on Post No. 4. About midnight or a little after I should say, he had been posted about an hour, when in the highest accents he could master we heard him call out, "Carperil o' the guard, No. 4." Then came, "Hault, hault, hault, I tell ye." and then his gun cracked and he killed a government mule. You never saw a man any worse scared than he was and he hasn't got over his scare yet.
I am detailed to take a squad of men and cut the grass for a new camp across the road upon a hill. The LaPorte boys here are all well except Ed Arndt who has the dysentery. We have one of the finest places to take a bath that you ever saw. It is out of camp about 10 rods. It is a shower bath and the water runs off right away, so there is no danger of sickness there. I just came back from taking a bath when I sat down to write this. There were 30 men carried to the hospital yesterday and today, so you see this is not all play. I have been in but one skirmish and that was a snap. I must close now. Give my love to all. Your son, Wm. A. Vandewalker.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 1898
A LETTER FROM CUBA; Edward Noll Relates His Experiences While in the Trenches Before the City of Santiago; LaPorte Boys Feel That They Have Had Enough of War and Are "Dead Willing" to Return Home.
Moses Linard is in receipt of the following letter from Edward Noll, a private in Co. F, First Illinois infantry, now at Santiago de Cuba. With Burt Wile, Frank Borg, and Ed Ball, he took part in the battle at Santiago and in the letter touches thereon: Santiago de Cuba, July 26‑‑No doubt you will be somewhat surprised to hear from your "Uncle Fuller". This soldier's life is not what it is cracked up to be. It is much different from that of a Sunday School picnic. We landed at Siboney on the 9th, camped there a day and then started out for the field. We marched eleven miles that night to General Shafter's headquarters, where we put up till 2:30 a.m. the next morning, when we had to get out and "hot‑foot" six miles more with 75 pounds of baggage on our backs. We reached our destination about 10 o'clock that morning, where we pitched our dog tents. On this march we had two shells fired at us from the Spanish guns. Both were high and burst about 150 yards to the right of us. That kind of work made us all think of home, sweet home.
We were put into the trenches which the Seventh regulars had dug. Among them we ran across Will Conlin and I am here to tell you that the Rough Riders and the Seventh did some hard fighting. We also met a cousin of the clerk in your store (Chas. Shultz). We knew him the minute we saw him. He is with rough riders and goes by the name of Lorance. LaPorte is well represented. We lay in the trenches from noon until 11 o'clock the next morning before we were released, but, oh, what a night! It rained as hard as it could pour down and we stood in about two feet of water, and it was so dark that you could not see your hands in front of your eyes except when it would lightning. Orders were given out that the Spanish were going to make an attack that night and for us to keep a sharp lookout. When we heard the least bit of noise we would shoot. We shot several times during the night and we learned in the morning that we got one Spaniard and two horses.
This life is no snap, but we are proud to say that we had a hand in the fighting and that we were in the trenches the day the Spaniards laid down their arms and when the Spanish general handed over his sword to General Shafter, and when the stars and stripes waved over the city of Santiago de Cuba for the first time‑‑and will wave forever. It was a sight worth seeing, but at the same time I have had enough of this kind of soldier's life. We had bread last night for supper for the first time since we left Springfield. We have been living on canned horse meat and hardtack ever since we have been out. I am getting so that I am ashamed to stare a horse in the face, fearing that he will reach out and get me. When we want to wash our faces and hands we have to hang out our towels or lay out our poncho and catch the rain that runs off our tents. If we were caught washing with the water that we have to drink, we would be thrown into the guard house, and at that speed, you can guess how often we take a bath.
We have been guarding the Spanish cavalry for the past week, but are going to ship them about Friday, and the sooner we get the "Spinages" shipped out of here the sooner we will get back on to American soil, and I hope to God it will be soon. The "push" is feeling O.K. and the boys send their best regards.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1898
SPANISH BLOCK HOUSE: A Peculiar Institution Found at Santiago; PREPARING TO COME HOME; Mud that Sticketh Closer than a Brother ‑ Frank Borg Relates Various Experiences Which Have Befallen Him in Cuba
The following very interesting letter has just been received by Dan Hunter from Frank Borg of Co. F, First Illinois Infantry: Santiago de Cuba, August 1, 1898‑‑Knowing that you would like a fair idea of the general appearance of the province of Santiago de Cuba, and the movements of the American Army since the troops have entered it, I will try to tell you thereof as far as I know.
Our expedition landed at Siboney, it then being the point from which Shafter's entire army drew supplies, but it is now occupied only by hospitals while Santiago is the supply station.
The harbor at Siboney is as fine a natural one as you can find anywhere, the largest war vessels coming within 300 or 400 yards of shore, and it is always safe to make a landing by a small boat. The village is surrounded by mountains and hills, and on some of the you can notice small, square-built houses. I have examined them and they are flimsily built affairs. The dimensions of most of them are 10 x 10 feet and eight feet in height, made of boards, with thatched roofs, and around the outside they dig a trench and then surround the whole with fences of barb wire, strung about six strands high and five deep. You know what I mean by five deep. It is the same as putting one fence back of another, so if the enemy breaks one down it has four more to cross. The trochas are all made the same way, excepting in the thickets and the mountain trails where they also add three or four wires raised about a foot from the ground. They are completely covered with grass and weeds, and a person running with any speed thro' such a place is bound to come to grief. I think if we had all the wire used for defensive purposes in Cuba, we could perhaps control the market. I got this idea yesterday forenoon while walking down a hill with two buckets of water in my fists. My foot caught under a wire and when I and the pails got to the bottom I knew I had crossed the trocha, and had ordered the same sent to a place where they don't have much use for wire.
The trail from Siboney to Santiago is 10 miles as the crow flies, but by the route we took it was at least 15. There is the loveliest mud to be found anywhere, right in this same trail. I think it is a shame that it should go to waste; it might be put to some use. When I come north I will bring some for the children at the Orphans' Home. It will be fine for mud pies as it sticks very close. In fact, as we marched through it in a hurry the night we were ordered to the front, several shoes were left sticking where the owner least desired to have them. After a person has traveled in this mud for 10 or 15 minutes, his feet begin to resemble those of an elephant, about 10 inches in circumference and three inches thick.
The Cuban negroes fall into American ways very easily. We have even taught a few of them the fascinating game of craps, and by this time I suppose Santiago has the crap fever. When we stop in the city on our way to the transports we will try and gather in a few pesetas from the festive youth who doesn't know a loaded dice when he sees one.
The people here raise three crops a year, so you see it is a very productive soil and climate. The principal articles are tobacco, sugar cane, coffee, and rebellion. The last named article takes the least cultivation but after it is ripe, no one seems to care fore the harvest, but from all appearances the Spaniards are gathering the crop this year, which promises to be a very heavy one.
We have all got a number of souvenirs which I doubt if we ever get home, as we are still a long way from Indiana. The boys are buying all the Spanish machetes they can lay hands on. I have a piece of the Spanish flag which, until recently, flew over their entrenchment's at Santiago, also a piece of mahogany wood cut out of the blockhouse on San Juan hill, and a number of Mauser and Krag‑Jorgenson bullets. I think these will make a load beside all the equipment we are supposed to carry.
We are now simply waiting for orders to leave here, which we expect in a few days. We will probably be sent to Long Island and held there until needed. Frank.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1898
SHARP RETURNS HOME; Went through the War with Roosevelt's Rough Riders; HE WAS NOT EVEN INJURED; Although He Was in the Thick of the Fight at La Quasina and El Caney; His Life was Saved by a Pipe;
Looking almost as well as the day on which he left his home, though a little weak from the terrible experience which he encountered, and having gone through the late ware with Spain with Roosevelt's rough riders without receiving a scratch, Walter Sharp, son of Mr. and Mrs. L.L. Sharp arrived last evening at the summer home of his parents at Waverly Beach. There was joy at his homecoming as for weeks during July his family had thought him dead and that he had given his life on the field of battle for humanity's
The Sharp faintly has spent several summers in this city and by many of the town's people they are quite well known. Walter was in LaPorte all of last summer but returned to Chicago in the fall to enter Chicago university. He was an enthusiastic athlete and held a position on the varsity eleven. He and Dillwyn Bell, also of Chicago, were chums and both were particular friends of John R. Thomas of that city. The latter was a member of the First Illinois regiment, but when fortune gave him an opportunity to get a commission in Roosevelt's regiment he at once accepted. He wrote to his friends Bell and Sharp, and both at once determined to enlist, which they did in Troop L. Bell joined the troop before the regiment reached Tampa, but Sharp did not reach Tampa till the day on which they were ordered to Cuba. He was sworn in June 4 and the following day Roosevelt's fighters landed at Baiquiri east of Santiago, on the morning of June 22 after a rough passage, during which the men received but little food that was really fit to eat.
When interviewed last evening by a Herald representative, Sharp expressed himself as utterly disgusted with the grub issued to them on the transport. "We were given the regular field rations,' he said, but not being allowed to cook on board we were compelled to put up with the stuff in the shape we got it. Why, that Armour's canned roast beef was simply rocky. The boys called it horse and in fact it was nothing else than horse meat. The crowded condition of the boat and the rations made many of the boys sick but all pulled through and when we anchored we managed to be the first to land. The following afternoon at 3 o'clock we were given the anxiously awaited command to march to Siboney and again had the good fortune to be in the advance guard. Before dark that night we had covered 11 miles of the roughest kind of mountain trail. The men were in fine spirits, sickness had not invaded the ranks, and we were just resting up for the fight which we knew was to come. We slept as much as the circumstances, drenching rains, land crabs, and the heat, would allow. The damp chilling air that always followed these rains was not conducive to good health but we cared not for that. Our advance force was composed of the rough riders, the First regular cavalry and the Tenth cavalry, under the command of General Young. We were on the flank, several miles inland from the main column, to prevent a surprise. On the morning of the 24th we were ordered out at 4 o'clock and after a hasty breakfast we made a march of four and a half miles when we came upon the Spaniards. Our rapid advances surprised the Spaniards and when we did reach them they apparently were retreating toward Santiago. This talk of our being ambushed is all off, for we had two Cubans with us who kept us posted on the location of the enemy and consequently we were hunting the Spaniards when we came upon them. As soon as we came upon them, we opened fire to which they responded. Being in the lead we suffered heaviest. The fighting was terrific for a time, all our men being ordered to lie down, but Captain Capron showed as fine nerve as any man could by walking up and down the line and telling us to give them hell between each time he pulled his own gun. Twenty minutes after the battle opened he was shot in the shoulder, the ball taking a downward course. I was standing at his side when he was hit and was the first person to speak to him when he fell. I saw he was mortally wounded and so we picked him up and carried to the hospital where he died two hours later. Just before he was shot, Bell saw him kill two Spaniards with his six‑shooter.
"For over a half hour our little band of 70 men alone fought the Spaniards, when we were reinforced by the First cavalry regulars and the Tenth cavalry colored regulars. There were 2,000 Spaniards and they poured a rapid fire of Mauser bullets into us from behind the breast works, rifle pits, and block houses, the Spaniards being compelled to retreat before our rapid and deadly fire. Our troop was in the lead and so we lost three men out of the nine that were killed in the regiment. Captain Capron was an ideal soldier and the boys fairly worshipped him. His death was a sad blow to the troop. I was not even injured though one bullet struck a barbed wire within four inches of my head, and another plowed its way through the stock of my carbine and nearly frightened me to death. Neither was Bell injured in this fight, but Lieutenant Thomas had a Mauser bullet bore a hole clean through his shin. We were deployed out over the hills and when we drove the Spaniards from their camp they retreated in perfect order and apparently had everything prepared for just such a fight.
We rested until the 30” when at 4 p.m. we were ordered to march toward Santiago. At midnight we halted on the hills above the city, a distance of 4 miles away. Early in the morning the batteries were wheeled into position in front of us and the fight began. The Spaniards dropped a shell over Troop L and we were forced to move to the left. As we were marching at right angles to the front line a shell struck Bell, who was in front of me, in the back. He fell but within 10 minutes got up again and moved to the front. He was ordered back but did not go until he was forced to go. I heard the shell burst just before it struck Bell. We were then marched back to a position behind the battery and while I was resting on one knee pumping shot into the enemy a Mauser bullet struck a briar pipe which I carried in my right trouser pocket. It saved my life. It was getting too warm for me and so we moved to the left. We concentrated our forces and made a charge up the hill, compelling the Spaniards to retreat. When the shades of night fell we began digging trenches with spades and picks which we found in the Spanish blockhouses. In making that charge in the afternoon we advanced by squads. One squad would run forward firing on the Spaniards as they ran, but suddenly they would fall flat on the ground. At that moment another squad on the other side would begin firing and advancing and after making a gain would drop down. Another squad then took it up and so on, one squad covering the advance of another. This thing puzzled the Spaniards so that we made a charge of over 600 yards without losing a man.
We were now on the top of the hills and after digging our trenches under cover of darkness we opened fire on the enemy at dawn. Bell again reported for duty but was ordered back. He went to the field hospital, in which he was employed thereafter. He finally was sent to the hospital at Siboney.
"We remained in the trenches till July 12 when we moved down the road to Santiago and our camp pitched along side the First Illinois infantry. It rained for about an hour every afternoon and the dampness that pervaded the atmosphere was more deadly than the fire of the Spaniards. The First Illinois boys cursed their luck for not having been able to get to Cuba in time for the battle. We saw the refugees for three whole days marching out of Santiago after that city had surrendered. It was a pitiful sight. We received the best treatment especially in the line of rations, for Colonel Roosevelt made a special effort to get good food for us. We even had fresh meat, white bread, potatoes, and vegetables, and often times the infantry men were forced to come to us to get a little something that was fit to eat. We had it but they didn't.
Sharp saw the LaPorte boys who were with the main division of the First Illinois infantry (Ball, Noll, Borg, and B. Wile) and had quite a talk with Burt Wile.
There was and is yet an old LaPorte Boy in Troop L of Roosevelt's rough riders, the same troop to which Sharp belongs. The person is "Hannah" Shultz, a brother of Frank L., Wilhelm, and Dick Shultz, who still reside here. It will be remembered that he left home about five years ago, going west. He joined Roosevelt's fighters and with them went to the front. In the army he went under the name of Dick Lawrence. He told Sharp that as soon as he could get a furlough he would come to LaPorte to see his relatives. He is now in New York and may be expected at any time.
After Santiago surrendered the rough riders camped on the banks of a river and spent life easy. They broke camp on the 31st day of July, sailed from Cuba the following day and arrived in New York after a seven day's journey.
Sharp was sick but two days while in the service and then he did not feel sick enough to go to the hospital. Bell, on the other hand, was taken with yellow fever about the middle of July and was just recovering when Roosevelt's boys left Cuba. He will be home the latter part of the month.
He spoke the highest praise of Teddy" Roosevelt, their colonel. Once he said that he would not let them go anyplace where he himself would not dare to go‑‑and he kept his word, for he always led the advances. Sharp also spoke enthusiastic ally of the boys in Troop L and related various incidents that had befallen him or he had witnessed.
Sharp brought home the remains of the pipe that saved his life. The stem is whole, but about two‑thirds of the bowl is gone. He brought home a sombrero which he wore during the campaign, but the remainder of his close were burned. Three cartridges, a Mauser, such as the Spaniards shoot, a Krag‑Jorgenson used by the American forces and a Remington 42‑caliber were brought back by him.
He is home on a furlough and will spend some time at the summer home of the Sharps on Pine Lake. He is quickly regaining his former condition and weighs but 13 pounds less than when he enlisted. His face is not sallow, but has a little glow which is steadily increasing as he continues to breathe the pure air of Pine Lake.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1898
CUBA CORRESPONDENT; Gene Wile Demonstrates to His Satisfaction that War is Hell; MEETS A GOOD SAMARITAN; Comfortable as a Lord and Getting Along Beautifully; Perfect Hospital; Extremely Low Death Rate
General Hospital, Siboney, Cuba, Tuesday, August 2, 1898, via Santiago de Cuba‑‑My weekly budget was interfered with by reason of my being placed 'hors de combat', as I was taken with a fever a week ago Sunday, and, for a period of four days, I went through all the tortures and horrors of the dread disease. In this connection I wish to put at rest all fears concerning this fever, and to assure our friends that there is very little yellow fever prevalent, and what there is is of the very mildest type. It is malaria or mountain fever.
As I have previously written, our detachment of the recruits was sent up into the mountains to erect the tentage and to perform such other work as would become necessary for the establishment of a fever hospital. We had not been there scarcely longer than a week before 50 men from the Twenty fourth U.S. infantry (colored) relieved us and all we had to do was lie around, kill time, eat and do a little guard duty. The regiment in the meantime was doing about the same thing, as it was not obliged to do any fighting, Santiago having fallen and surrendered without giving our fellows an opportunity of getting a whack at them.
Beginning about the 20th ultimo, the men of the detachment fell sick, one by one, until the evening I gave up, out of 205 men and officers composing a battalion, less than half that number remained able to do any duty. As fast as they took sick each man was removed to the hospital which is only about 500 yards from where we were camped, and, as soon as they became convalescent, were separated from the other patients and held there to be sent down from the one above referred to. The facilities up there are entirely inadequate, and the treatment by the native doctors so harsh, I made up my mind to 'pike out' for this hospital, and it is lucky I did, for I am as comfortable as a lord, and am getting along beautifully. When I reached here I at once hunted up our regimental hospital steward, whom I had previously heard was on duty here, and he was looking for a place to put me, when a big, fleshy, good‑natured man came up to me, asked my name, asked me if I was an Israelite, which fact I could not deny, from the contour of my face, my nose having become even more prominent, on account of the fever causing my face to become quite thin and drawn. He at once made me comfortable in his own tent, provided me with a lady nurse, and here I am, weak as a kitten, but comfortable, and were it not for a constant pain at the base of the spine, I would be as well as anyone.
What few men of our detachment remain well, and at this writing there are but about 15, are encamped at the place we landed, the other camp having been abandoned, and I understand they are ordered to join the regiment today somewhere near Santiago which is about 12 miles from here.
Last night two men who had been sent up to the regiment for our mail, brought back word that we were to be returned to the States within 10 days. God grant this may be true, we all fervently wish. Sherman, I think it was, said War is hell. No truer thing was ever said. Cuba is the hell and the war but an incident, and each phase of it the embellishments and trimmings of hell.
The location of this hospital is ideal. I have already told you that every building in this place was burned by orders of General Miles and Colonel Senn. The tents are arranged along a long flat bluff or first shelf of the mountains, overlooking the broad expanse of the blue ocean, as follows: Ward No. 1 is at the extreme eastern end of the camp and consists of five large double hospital tents, each of which contains eight cots, four on a side, leaving an aisle of about three feet wide. Thus, it will be seen, each ward contains 40 patients. The hospital is divided into halves, each half having 10 wards, so that there are now about 800 patients. The convalescents are quartered in large tents some distance to the east of the hospital proper and, including all patients, cooks, physicians, and nurses, there are probably 1,500 souls in camp. The arrangements for caring for and ministering to the sick are as nearly perfect and interesting as science and brains can make them. In addition to the regular staff of army surgeons and nurses, there are 50 "contract physicians' and 100 immune nurses, who arrived here a week ago. Each ward is directly in charge of one of these doctors, and to him are assigned two of the nurses, one for day duty and one for the night. The nurses in turn are assisted in the more laborious part of the work by men detailed from the Twenty‑fourth infantry which is camped just west of the hospital. Among the nurses are 15 ladies, and the matter of fact, systematic and businesslike manner in which they perform their work is a revelation to me. Much suffering and many lives have been saved by the opportune arrival of these men and women, and now that a full supply of stores are at hand it will not take long to successfully cope with the situation. As soon as a patient arrives he is washed, given a nice, new, clean night shirt, a new cot, two fresh bed sheets, a new blanket, and over his head hangs a mosquito bar, to keep of the flies; then begins the treatment, which is simple in the extreme. I will not attempt to say what medicines are used, but unless the cases are exceptionally violent, from three to five days finds the fever broken and the patient able to walk around. Very little solid food is given, and during treatment water is frequently given, and condensed milk and beef tea form the food for nourishment. Dr. Herman, the physician with whom I am quartered, told me last night that the death rate is very low, the average being less than three per day. This fact alone ought to convince people of how little really dangerous sickness there exists here. The greater danger so far has been the inability to give proper attention to the sick ones, but now that this contingency is being overcome, the fatalities will be reduced to a minimum.
A great deal of credit is being given to the reports of our early return to the states, and it is my candid opinion that if we ever reach our own glorious United States we will not be called upon to leave it again in this war. There is absolutely nothing for the troops to do here, it will take but a very small army of occupation to hold the territory already captured, and if reports are true that immune troops are on the way here, I think my chances for looking in upon you in the new office between now and September 1, 1898, decidedly good.
Not having been with my regiment since July 10, I am unable to say how the boys from LaPorte are getting on. I send word and ask of them from everyone who goes to or from them, and I find it hard indeed to get anything definite, but I guess they all escaped taking sick. Not so those of us in the detachment, as we have all been sick, but thank God all are able to be around again.
Friday night I received a batch of Heralds dated respectively July 2,5,6, 7,8, and 9. They were sent along with the other mail direct to the regiment and showed the marks of much handling as the boys there devoured them as ravenously as I did no doubt. At this writing Dillwyn Bell, of the rough riders, is looking them over and he is going to send them to young Sharp who is with his regiment in Santiago.
Neither Sharp and Bell received a scratch during the battle in which the rough riders performed such an important part, and I saw and talked to both of the boys a couple of days after we arrived here. They take the reports in the Chicago papers concerning themselves as a huge joke, and assured me that at the earliest moment they notified their friends of their safety. Bell has been sick with the fever while Sharp has not been off feed once.
In addition to the papers I have received, I have had four letters. One was dated July 4th and came to hand on the 20th ultimo. Two others were mailed June 28th and reached me today, while the fourth one was dated July 12th and also reached me this morning. One can scarcely form any idea of how welcome a letter is. I venture the statement that I have read and reread each of my letters a dozen times. The same is true of newspapers. Up to this writing the latest paper I have seen is the Chicago Record, of July 15th, which gives full accounts of the happenings up to that time, and nothing of any consequence has happened near here since.
I am getting very restless indeed to again join my company, and if I continue to feel as well as I do today, and my back will let me, I hope to start for the front day after tomorrow. The regiment is located about two miles southeast from Santiago, and the railroad being in operation after a fashion, I shall take a 'train' in the morning and get a guide to help me find them after I reach Santiago.
Immense stores of every character lie on the docks at Santiago, and among them is fresh beef, and those of us who are allowed heavy diet have been reveling in it for several days past. Fresh bread of a doubtful character is also being issued, so we are faring fairly well.
It rains more or less every day now and the natives tell us it will continue to do so for two months. This fact I think will hasten our early removal to the States. The weather when one is not in the sun is not so very uncomfortable, but in the sun it is something awful. The nights are simply delightful, but a heavy dew falls and if one is obliged to be outside a rubber cover is a necessity.
As I sit here the nurses are carrying past me huge chunks of ice. Santiago is equipped with three large ice plants, so that patients here, that is the heat prostration cases, get ice in their treatment.
The appetites of the convalescents are something remarkable, and the capacity of the kitchens is taxed to the utmost, and this one branch of the hospital arrangements is the only one not up to the standard and in keeping with its other departments and excellence.
This morning for the first time, I saw one of the armored cars which the Cubans have been using in their conduct of the war. In outward appearance it resembles an ordinary narrow gauge boxcar, except that about four inches from the roof there is an opening of about the height of three inches which extends all around the car, that is about the size of a small street car. Inside, the car is lined with boiler plate. The car has but one door which is fastened from the inside with immense heavy bars. The outside shows the marks of many bullets, but as a refuge the car is admirable.
I am anxious that this letter leave Santiago today, so will have to end now.
All join me in best wishes and the hopes of seeing our friends at no distant day. Every faithfully yours, Eugene Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1898
LA PORTE BOYS HOME; First Illinois Infantry Reached Montauk Point Yesterday; WILL REMAIN THERE 10 DAYS; Ludwig, Vandewalker, Boardman, and Wilhelm Arrived at New York Friday; Soldiers will be Mustered out in Chicago;
EUGENE I. WILE CO. F ORA BOARDMAN CO. F
EDWARD NOLL CO. F BENJ. WILHELM CO. F
EDWARD BALL CO. F WILLIAM LUDWIG CO. F
FRANK BORG CO. F FRANK TINKHAM CO. F
BERT WILE CO. F W. VANDEWALKER CO. F
LEON HART CO. H HARRY YOUNG CO. I
JACK VAIL CO. H EDWARD ARNDT CO. F
The First .Illinois infantry arrived at Montauk Point from Santiago last night on board the City of Berlin.
The trip was made in five days. The weather was perfect. The air was cool and bracing and did wonders toward recuperating the sick. Many of the boys that were carried aboard at Santiago almost recovered during the voyage. But one man died during the voyage, Corporal Waldron of Company A. About 150 men will be taken to the hospital prepared for them at Camp Wikoff. None of these is seriously sick. They are mostly fever convalescents. The health of the First, as compared with other regiments that saw service in Cuba, is good. Ten days at Montauk Point it is thought will put the regiment in fine physical condition.
The transport remained in quarantine till noon today when the debarkation began. There were on board the boat 35 officers and 785 men of the First.
The regiment will be taken to Chicago to be mustered out, instead of Springfield, as first reported. The men will be kept at Camp Wikoff, Montauk Point, till Monday or Tuesday of next week, and they will then be taken to Chicago on special trains. As soon as Chicago is reached, 60‑day furloughs will be granted to the men so that they may visit friends and relatives. At the expiration of the furlough they will return to Chicago to be examined and mustered out.
It is expected that the LaPorte boys in the First, who have homes here, will arrive here in the middle or last of next week. The names of the LaPorte boys who did service in the First appear at the head of this column. If the people of LaPorte intend to give the boys a public reception, now is the time to begin preparing for the same.
It is a noteworthy fact that although LaPorte had fully 50 persons in the army and navy during the late war not one lost his life. The 14 LaPorteans in the first passed through a large part of the Cuban campaign and they will now return to us unharmed by the enemy's bullets and unscathed by disease. Terrible has been their suffering at times, and while other towns and cities around us have lost brave sons, the LaPorte boys are returned safe and sound.
Arthur Stern this morning received a letter from E.I. Wile, written at Siboney, Cuba, August the 16th. In this he states that the regiment expected very soon to sail for the states. Continuing, he adds, "I am detailed at the headquarters of the Twenty‑fourth United States Infantry (colored) as regimental clerk and will doubtless remain with them until we reach Long Island, N.Y., which is the place at which we will remain to recuperate and rest up. I have been on detached service ever since we landed and out of the 37 days I have been on Cuban soil, I have only been with my company four days.
"Ben Wilhelm, Ora Boardman, Will Ludwig and Will Vandewalker left along with some 250 convalescents for the states on yesterday, while Ed Arndt and Frank Tinkham were left at the hospital here, as not being strong enough to travel. The other LaPorte boys in Co. F are up near Santiago and will return with the regiment I believe some day this week."
****
If Wilhelm, Boardman, Ludwig and Vandewalker sailed on the 15th they arrived at Montauk Point last week, but inquiries of the relatives of those mentioned fail to throw any light on that point. The Times‑Herald's list of arrivals on the City of Berlin last night gives the names of only the following LaPorte boys: E.I. Wile, Frank Borg, Bert Wile, Ed Noll and Leon Hart. Either the four named above have arrived and are now at Camp Wikoff or else they are still are in Cuba with Tinkham and Arndt. Vail and Young's whereabouts are unknown.
Since the above was written, F.J. Ludwig has received a letter from his son, Will, of Co. F, First Illinois, stating that he, Boardman, Wilhelm and Vandewalker arrived at Montauk Point Friday night, but were unable to send any letter out till Sunday, on which date the letter received today was mailed. They were shamefully treated on the transport. When they reached Montauk Point they received the first bread and milk they had had since leaving home. They expected to land on Sunday but did not anticipate getting away from New York for a week or more.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 1898
THE FIRST TO RETURN; Ora Boardman, Who Enlisted and Went to Cuba; WITH THE FIRST ILLINOIS; Arrives Home and Tells of His Experiences as a Volunteer Soldier;
Ora Boardman, who less than three months ago left for Cuba as a member of Co. F, First Illinois infantry, returned home last evening, looking more like a walking skeleton than a human being.
As he stepped from Lake Shore passenger train No. 23 he became the center of all eyes, but not a person in the crowd at the station recognized him. He walked to the end of the platform where he saw a number of young men with whom he was acquainted and although all looked at him with interest on account of his uniform, not a person showed a sign of recognition. He began to laugh, at the same time remarking, "Don't you know me?" The voice was familiar and in a second James Forrester cried out, "It's Ora!" There was a scramble to shake his hand and then Burt Garrison, one of the hack men, took Ora to his carriage and drove him to the home of Chas. Lown, a relative, residing at 308 State Street.
The news quickly spread that Boardman, the first member of the gallant First to reach LaPorte, had arrived, and soon there was a constant stream of callers at the Lown residence. Later in the evening he left for the home of his father, J.F. Boardman, three miles north of town. When he reached home there was rejoicing at the return of a loved son who had passed through dangers untold and was now safe and sound once more in the family circle.
In an interview with a Herald Representative he spoke enthusiastically of his experiences and his trip but he was bitter in his denunciation of the treatment which the boys received. He was not one of the original members of the First Illinois but joined Co. F, at Tampa as a recruit with five other LaPorteans under the second call for volunteers. Shortly after reaching that Florida town the regiment was ordered to Cuba, but when Siboney was reached the original members of the various companies were sent inland to the trenches around Santiago, while the recruits were hustled to a fever hospital to do guard duty. It was not long before the boys dropped off one by one and it was necessary to hustle them into the hospital. Ora, with the rest, was soon under the doctor's care. Here he remained for about three weeks, where he received little or nothing to eat. The temperature was high and what he and the others suffered in that fever hospital can hardly be expressed. The doctors, many of them at least, were unfamiliar with the nature and working of the diseases which they were called upon to treat. Neither did they have the necessary medicines to give the boys and many who died dropped off for want of the stimulants which they should have had. Such food as a sick man required was not to be had, and cases of death from actual starvation were not infrequent. But slowly those who had the constitution to withstand this drain upon their vitality recovered, Ora among them, and on Sunday, August 14, the 400 convalescent soldiers were informed that they would be taken to Santiago the next morning to go on board a transport bound for the United States.
In speaking of the scene which followed this announcement, Boardman said, "Everybody was delighted and cheers could be heard on every hand. We were marched down to the bathing place, took our farewell sea bath in Cuba and were presented nice new canvas uniforms. Before we left the hospital we were robbed of everything in our possession, except a few articles that could be carried in our pockets. Not a soldier was allowed to leave Cuba with a pack on his back. I had collected a large number of souvenirs which I intended to bring home but these were taken from me. Monday morning at 9 o'clock we were placed on flat cars and taken within a short distance of Santiago. After drawing new blankets and lying around for four or five hours, without dinner, the engine returned and pushed us down to the iron docks, where a passenger boat was waiting for us. We were then transferred to the large transport Cantania. We lay in the harbor where we could get a good birds‑eye view of Santiago, until Wednesday, the 17th, when at 1 o'clock in the afternoon anchor was hoisted and we moved toward the mouth of the harbor. While coming out we passed the Merrimac, which was sunk by Lieutenant Hobson. The smokestack was sticking out of the water about four feet and it looked as though she was sitting square on her bottom. We also passed a Spanish war boat lying on her side, a total wreck. The last sight I saw on the Island was El Morro castle, which, perched on a small mountain with stone stairs leading to the top, commands and protects the mouth of the harbor. It is an old timer and traces of former wars can be seen on its foundations.
"For nearly nine days and nights we were aboard that pesky old boat before we came in sight of land. The first night out we slept on the hard floor but after that we were given cots and hammocks. The food we received was rocky; in fact we were often given as much consideration as would have been bestowed upon so many cattle. Although we reached Long Island on Friday the 26th we were not landed till Sunday, when we were taken to the detention hospital.
"The only LaPorte boys on the transport with me were Ben Wilhelm, Will Vandewalker, and Will Ludwig, but we became separated in the disembarkment and I haven't seen them since. On Monday I was discharged from the hospital and at once made application for and was granted a 30‑day furlough. I was given transportation and a sleeping car ticket and left New York for home Tuesday evening."
Ora said that he understood when he left Cuba that E.I. Wile was sick with the yellow fever, but Wile is now in New York, consequently he could not have been sick. The letter in yesterday's Herald from him to Arthur Stern shows that at that time he was doing clerical duty for the Twenty‑fourth United States regulars.
After the boys reached New York, Boardman said, nothing was too good for them. The people fell over each other in attempting to give them nice food, various delicacies, etc. One man on Monday took Ora with him and spent about $5 in buying lunches, fruit, etc., for him. He was a total stranger but the fact that he was doing it for a soldier was sufficient.
Boardman weighed 148 pounds when he left LaPorte, but now he is a mere skeleton and weighs but 115 pounds. He has a full beard, while his complexion is sallow and of a yellowish tinge. Last evening he was taken sick and it was necessary to call Dr. O.L. Sutherland. He had a high fever, but this morning he is somewhat better. He is weak and it will take months for him to recuperate.
He was glad that he had the experience and even ventured the remark that he would be willing to go through it again.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1898
CUBA TO NEW YORK; Will Ludwig's Experiences on Board; THE TRANSPORT CATANIA; Only Convalescent Soldiers Were on That Boat and Four of the Men Died During The Voyage to Montauk Point;
Fred J. Ludwig is in receipt of two letters from his son, Will, of Co. F, First Illinois infantry, who is now at Camp Wikoff, Montauk Point, being on his way home. The following are extracts from the letters:
On Board the Catania, August 22; Ha! Ha! At last we have bid Cuba farewell. Everybody on board is glad of it. We left Siboney Monday the 15th, at 8 o'clock in the morning. The Sunday before, or rather the day before, all those who were able to walk were sent down to the sea shore to take a bath. You never saw a weaker looking crowd, for a great many could not walk. The next morning we received new uniforms and socks and our old clothes were burned. The suits are of brown ducking, well made, but get dirty very easily. We were piled onto flat cars and run down to Santiago. Here we got off the cars and stood around in the hot sun without anything to eat or drink until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when we were taken down into Santiago and boarded this boat. The transport was not ready for us, we had no bunks to sleep in and so we had to spread our blankets on the hard floor. This was very hard on the men who were just getting over a sickness. I was as stiff as a board in the morning. During the next day we received either a hammock, cot, or mattress and pillows, so we slept all right the next night. We lay in the harbor of Santiago all day Tuesday and Wednesday until 1:30 p.m., when we pulled anchor. About 30 transports were lying in the harbor when we left. On the way out through the small entrance we passed the cruiser Merrimac. She lay just inside the harbor and all that could be seen was about three feet of the smoke stack and the masts. There was also a Spanish boat lying near the entrance. Morro castle is just at the entrance of the harbor on the left hand side as you go out and is quite a strong post.
We have been on board now six days and have about two or three more to spend on it. The boat has only 400 men on but goes very slowly. I will be glad when we get to Long Island as we will get better food there. The food we are getting now is not fit for sick men to eat and I eat just enough to keep alive. I have lost about 20 pounds. A great many of the boys are sick and in hard shape. Four men have died since we left port. I am glad that I feel as good as I do, for I can always get on deck and walk around. I stay on deck most all day for it is not healthy to be down in the hold all the time. I will write you again when I get on shore.
*****
Montauk Point, Long Island, August 28; I wrote you a letter while on board the transport on the way over and have not had a chance to mail it yet, so you may get both letters at once. We are still on board this pesky old boat. We arrived in this bay Friday morning. A tug came out that day and took about 80 of the sickest of the men ashore, but left the rest of us here. It is a shame that we should be kept on this tub, for we were made to throw all our beds and cots overboard before we got here and all we have to sleep on now is the hard plank floor with one single blanket to cover with. We have spent three nights in that manner and every bone in my body aches, also my head. Outsiders do not know how we have been treated on this boat. Yesterday we received some bread and milk, the first we have had since we left home. As soon as we get on shore we will be treated all right. I think we will land this morning. I don't know just how long we will have to stay on this island, but I don't believe it will be over 10 days and after that we will be home.
You can imagine what a difference in the climate between here and Cuba, we still have these thin suits on and are almost freezing all the time for there is always a stiff breeze blowing. I get up every morning at 4:30 and walk the deck to get warmed up and to get the stiffness out of my bones. I have a little money left, but most of the boys are broken, for we have not been paid since we left Tampa.
I think if I can so a range it I will spend a few days in New York before coming home, for I may never get a chance to see that city again.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1898
OVER THE LAKE SHORE; First Illinois Regiment will Pass through LaPorte; EXACT TIME NOT YET KNOWN; The Soldiers Left Camp Wikoff this Morning and Leave New York City Tonight Aboard Three Special Trains
The First Illinois regiment will pass through LaPorte over the Lake Shore on its way from New York to Chicago. The boys broke camp this morning, but they are not due to arrive in Chicago till Friday morning. The journey will be made by easy stages so that the sick men may ride comfortably.
The order was given last night to the boys of the First at Camp Wikoff that the westward movement would begin this morning. The contract for the transportation of the troops was awarded yesterday to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroad. Pullman sleepers will be furnished so far as possible for all the sick men.
The regimental train will be in three sections, divided as follows and running several hours apart:
Section No. l‑‑Containing all the well men of the regiment and the regimental horses. The train on arrival in Chicago will await arrival of the hospital train, in order to assist in handling the sick. The estimated number on board is 100.
Section No. 2‑‑Hospital train, containing all sick men, Colonel Turner and wife, and nurses and surgeons. Number on board, 200.
Section No. 3‑‑Containing all convalescents. Estimated number, 500.
The soldiers are due to arrive in New York City from Montauk Point some time tonight. It is expected that they will pass through LaPorte tomorrow night or Friday morning. A stop will probably be made here, and it is also believed that the reception committee from Chicago will come to LaPorte to meet the soldiers.
About 100 members of the First will be left behind, not being well enough to be moved.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1898
DEPARTURE DEFERRED; First Illinois Did Not Leave Montauk Point; TILL 9 O'CLOCK LAST NIGHT; Boys Will Not Pass Through LaPorte Till Friday Night or Saturday Morning‑‑Special Train Coming From Chicago;
As exclusively announced in yesterday's Herald the First Illinois will pass through LaPorte over the Lake Shore railroad, but on account of not getting away from Montauk Point till 9 o'clock last night, they will not reach here till tomorrow evening or Saturday morning. From the best information obtainable the first special train bearing the regiment did not leave New York City till noon today and as they are running on a slow schedule they are not expected in Chicago till the time above given. From New York to Buffalo the trains are running over the Lehigh Valley road, but from Buffalo they come over the Lake Shore.
Great preparations are being made in Chicago for the reception of the boys and arrangements have been made to run a special train from Chicago to this city bearing a corps of physicians large enough to give each man personal attention before he reaches Chicago.
The Soldiers' Relief society of 1898 and the W.R.C. of this city are making preparations to give the boys dainties when the train reaches LaPorte. Efforts are being made to allow a half hour stop at this station.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1898
ARRIVE AT 5 O'CLOCK; The Soldiers Expected Here Tomorrow Morning; TO BE ROYALLY RECEIVED; Advance Guard from Chicago Arrived this Noon and the Doctors, Nurses and Committee Come Tonight
A dispatch from a Lake Shore official states that arrangements are being made and the schedule of the time of the special trains so fixed that they will arrive at LaPorte at 5 o'clock tomorrow (Saturday) morning. A stop of one hour will be made here and the trains will then proceed to Chicago, arriving there shortly after 8 o'clock.
Slowly the hours glide by and as each one succeeds the other, time brings us nearer to that hour when the gallant First, in whose ranks are several LaPorteans, shall enter the portals of the city. The trains bearing the brave soldiers are slowly nearing the city over the Lake Shore and when at last they shall reach the city there will be one grand ovation for the home coming sons of LaPorte.
The four special trains bearing the First Illinois regiment left Jersey City over the Lehigh Valley road yesterday afternoon, the hospital train, the first of the four, pulling out of the station at 1:30 o'clock and the others following at 15‑minute intervals. The first section is composed of eight Pullman cars, a tourist sleeper and a dining car. Aboard this section are the sick men. The other three sections carry the horses and the well men. All along the line the men are being cheered and at every station crowds of people gather to greet the boys. At many places the townspeople are serving dainties to the sick and more solid food to the well men.
THE ARRIVAL AT LA PORTE
The special trains were scheduled to arrive at Buffalo, N.Y., where they will be transferred to the Lake Shore road at 9 o'clock this morning. The Chicago papers state that they will arrive there about 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, in which case they will reach LaPorte between 6 and 7 a.m. This is simply a supposition and inasmuch as the trains are running on a schedule of their own nothing at all definite can be ascertained. It is possible that the trains may pass through LaPorte about 3 o'clock in the morning or it may be the middle of the forenoon before they reach here.
COMING FROM CHICAGO
The regiment will be met at this city by Mayor Carter Harrison, a reception committee of the veteran corps, and physicians, nurses and newspaper men from Chicago. They will arrive here on a special train and in addition to those mentioned above, Major Shea Smith and Judge A.R. Porter will be on board. It is also thought that a small committee from the Union League club with President Alexander Revell will accompany the party to this city.
The special train will leave Chicago so as to reach LaPorte sometime before the regiment arrives. It will be sidetracked and after the attention that will be given the soldiers here has been completed the coaches of the special will be coupled onto the train carrying Colonel Turner and staff and taken into Chicago when the regiment leaves.
Among the physicians that will be on board the train from Chicago will be Dr. C.D. Hews, formerly of this city, whose office boy, C.J. Kuyper, is a member of Co. M. He is sick and on the hospital train.
THE ADVANCE GUARD
G.B. Coffin, F.R. Sargent, and W.H. Christoph, members of the veteran corps, arrived this noon from Chicago for the purpose of preparing for the coming of the special relief train from Chicago and also to work in connection with the ladies of the Soldiers' Relief society of 1898. The gentlemen brought with them a quantity of coffee and other provisions. This afternoon they are assisting the ladies in preparing for the reception of the boys.
THE ARRIVAL
When the special trains arrive here a stop of some length will be made, during which various dainties and foods will be served by the ladies to the boys. Arrangements are also being made for the band to assemble and the soldiers will be given a grand ovation as the trains roll into the station. The cannon, which for years has been resting in the loft of some barn, will belch forth.
Sergeant‑Major S.C. Stanton and wife, of Chicago, will be among those who expect to arrive this evening for the purpose of meeting the soldiers. They will be guests of Dr. And Mrs. J.L. Gray.
The committee that arrived at noon is this afternoon in conjunction with the ladies, soliciting for eggs, milk and sandwiches, with which the boys will be served.
THE LA PORTE BOYS
Corporal E.I. Wile is very sick at the hospital at Camp Wikoff and is therefore not on the train. He telegraphed his brother David Wile, Chicago, and the latter passed through the city this noon on his way to Montauk Point to get Gene and bring him home.
Bert Wile is on the hospital train, being sick.
Frank Borg, as far as is known, is well and coming home with the boys.
Ed Noll is also sick and is therefore on the hospital train.
Ed Ball was too sick to leave the hospital and is therefore not on the train.
Frank Tinkham is also sick in the hospital at Montauk Point. A telegram this afternoon to his father conveyed the information that he is very ill.
Benjamin Wilhelm is among those left behind in the hospital and accordingly his father left this morning for Montauk Point to see him.
Jack Vail is another LaPortean whom it was necessary to leave at the hospital.
The whereabouts of Ed Arndt are not known and it will not be known till the train arrives whether he is aboard or not.
Will Ludwig, as far as known, is well and will come home on the train.
Leon Hart is also believed to be well and on the train.
Will Vandewalker is another who it is thought is well and aboard the train.
NOTES
A reporter for the Chicago Record passed through the city last night at 10:22 for the purpose of meeting the train at Cleveland.
LATER
Since the above was written it has been learned that in all probability no special train will be run here from Chicago, but the doctors and committees will arrive on the first section of No. 28 tonight and the supplies on the second section.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1898
LA PORTE RECEIVES FIRST ILLINOIS; Brave Warriors from Santiago Pass Through the City this Morning; FOUR SPECIAL TRAINS CARRY THE TROOPS; Reception Committee, Physicians and Nurses from Chicago Meet the Brave Boys at This Station; Ladies of the soldiers Relief Society of 1898, Assisted by the Women's Relief Corps and Chicago and LaPorte People Serve Sandwiches, Eggs, Fruit and Hot Coffee to the Boys
Cheers from a thousand throats filled the air as the first section of the special train bearing the First Illinois regiment on its way home rolled into the Lake Shore station at 5:28 o'clock this morning. Aboard this section were the sick men of the regiment, while the three sections that followed carried the well men, the officers and the horses. During the hour stop that was made at this station the ladies of the soldiers Relief society of 1898, assisted by the Women's Relief Corps and a Chicago committee, served luncheon to the brave soldier lads of the gallant First. No grander ovation had been given the warriors from Santiago at any place on their long and tedious ride from Montauk Point than was accorded them by the people of LaPorte, who turned out en masse to greet the returning heroes.
PREPARING FOR THE BOYS
For several days preparations had been going on for the reception of the men but the real hard work began yesterday noon with the arrival from Chicago of the advance guard of the veterans corps of the First, G.B. Coffin, F.R. Sargent and W.H. Christoph. Assisted by the ladies they collected 900 boiled eggs, 1,200 sandwiches, 18 gallons milk, 2 gallons cream, a large quantity of sugar, a barrel of ginger snaps and various other articles in the eatable line. The three Chicago gentlemen were more than delighted by the open generosity of the people of this city and vicinity and had only words of praise for them.
On the first section of train No. 28 from Chicago came a large quantity of sterilized water, a large number of sandwiches and other provisions. On this train also was a second committee from Chicago, in the party being: Hon. Alexander H. Revell, president of the Union League Club; Judge A.R. Porter, president of the Veteran Corps; Hon. Wm. H. Harper, representing the Army and Navy league.
The expectation was that Mayor Carter Harrison would come to LaPorte, but he decided at the last moment not to come and accordingly he remained in Chicago to receive the regiment.
On the second section of train No. 28 came a party of a dozen newspaper men, representatives of all the morning and evening dailies in Chicago. They spent the night here, being afforded every facility by the Herald for their work, and returned to Chicago aboard the special trains.
Attached to the newspaper train this morning were two special cars from Chicago aboard of which were the reception committees, the doctors, nurses and lady attendants, including a delegation from the Woman's Auxiliary of the First Regiment. Major Shea Smith was in the party and also Colonel E.D. Swain.
In the absence of Mrs. Turner, Mrs. S.C. Stanton, wife of Dr. Stanton, had charge of the auxiliary corps.
The reception committee which arrived on this train was composed of the following ladies, two persons being assigned to each company: Mrs. S.C. Stanton, general chairman; Mrs. J.C. Sanborn, assistant in charge; Company A‑‑Mrs. Taylor E. Brown and Mrs. Edward Miles; Company C‑‑Mrs. E.W. Peckham and Mrs. Lampere; Company D‑‑Mrs. Edward J. Dimick and Mrs. Joseph C. Pollock; Company E‑‑Mrs. E.C. Jones and Mrs. H.J. Clark; Company F‑‑Mrs. Steel and Miss Smith; Company G‑‑Mrs. Peterman and Miss Fairbane; Company H‑‑Mrs. Barry Kingman and Mrs Thompson; Company I‑‑Miss Chenoweth and Miss Wager; company K‑‑Mrs T. Isbester and Mrs. F. J. Warner; Company L‑‑Mrs. Boleyn and Mrs W. C. Gibhardt; company M‑‑Miss Cummings and Mrs. Cummings.
In addition to these women the following were attached to the hospital corps: Mesdames Wilkinson, Olson, Stanton, and Bell. The physicians that arrived were: Doctors H.T. Davis, S.C. Stanton, V.S. Frankenstein, D.W. Rogers, D.W. Wilkins, A.S. Gray, and S.G. McCracken.
Shortly after the arrival of the Chicago delegation the Ladies Relief society and those who had volunteered to assist them began to appear on the scene and soon all was hustle and bustle about the Depot hotel, where the ladies made their headquarters. Steaming hot coffee was being made and when the first train arrived all was in readiness for the reception of the boys.
MOVEMENTS OF THE TRAINS
The four special trains bearing the troops were transferred from the Lehigh Valley road to the Lake Shore at Buffalo shortly after noon yesterday. The first section left Buffalo at 1:46 p.m., the second at 2 o'clock, the third at 2:05 p.m. and the fourth at 2:10 o'clock. The run to Toledo was made in less than 11 hours, the last section leaving that station at 12:57 this morning. Good time was made to Elkhart and at 3:55 a.m. the first section left there, the other three following in 15 minute intervals.
The announcement last night that the first train would probably arrive at 5 o'clock brought a crowd to the station at that hour which completely filled the station buildings, the platforms and the yards adjacent thereto.
An hour before the arrival of the train the cannon had been brought forth and many a person who would otherwise have overslept was awakened by its resounding reports.
When at last the cry was heard that the train was in sight there was a general movement toward the tracks and as the engine pulling the hospital coaches steamed into the yards at 5 o'clock the cheering that arose from the crowd was tremendous. It thrilled the sick boys aboard the train and their fever‑stricken faces peering out of the windows showed the emotions they felt at the ovation.
This train was composed of eight Pullman sleepers, a dining car and a baggage car and aboard the same were 262 sick men. Colonel Turner and wife were on board this train as were also a number of nurses, one of whom had come all the way from Cuba with the boys.
It was known that several LaPorteans were aboard this section and so the crowd at once began to search for them, but none except the ladies who gave out flowers and food was allowed on board the train except by special permission. Within a few minutes Bert Wile and Ben Wilhelm were discovered in the sixth car from the front. They were in the same section. The crowd surged around the windows at which the faces of the boys peered. Both were very sick, Wilhelm especially. Believing that the men would fare better if allowed to be removed from the train here, application was made by the families of the boys for their removal to their homes. After a little red tape had been gone through the application was granted and the two boys were with tender hands removed to their homes, where they will be given that attention which they could not get elsewhere.
In the meantime the Ladies of the Relief Society assisted by a score of others were feeding the boys on the train. They were given what delicacies they desired and could eat. Handsome bouquets were distributed to the men. The doctors and nurses boarded the coaches and rendered such assistance as they could. For over an hour the train was at the station, during which time the boys were given every attention.
Ed Noll was also found by the crowd after some little searching, but he was one of the healthiest men on the sick train. He was just recovering from a sick spell. He looked thin, but otherwise appeared fairly well.
At 6:40 a.m. after all that could be done here for the sick boys had been done, the hospital train left LaPorte for Chicago, bearing with it a large number of physicians and nurses.
The second section reached here at 5:45 a.m. and aboard the same were companies M, F, G and D, major B. Sanborn being in command. Two cars of horses and eight Lehigh Valley day coaches filled with men made up the train. As soon as it was learned that Company F was aboard there was a rush for the train. The people had not far to look for the LaPorte boys. Biddy Ball's smiling face soon appeared at the end of one of the cars, and simultaneously therewith the lank form of Pumpkin Borg. Everybody shook hands with them and told them how glad he was to see them once more. During the whole time that the train was in the yards, the boys held a reception from the car steps. Ball was probably one of the best looking and healthiest of the LaPorte boys and but for the sallowness of his complexion he appeared nearly as well as when he left. he had lost some flesh, however, but it showed very little on him. Borg on the other hand appeared quite well but he showed plainly the ravages of disease. Geo. Vandewalker and Will Ludwig were also on this train. both appeared to be in comparatively good health, especially Ludwig, who looked well and said that he was feeling first rate. Jack Vail, another LaPortean, was also aboard. He had been sick but was improving rapidly and was now getting along. For the most part the men on this section did not show, except for the yellowish color of their faces, that they had been through a terrible Cuban campaign. The boys were given their fill by the LaPorte ladies and all claimed that the coffee with its sweet, rich cream was the best they had ever had. Not till 7 o'clock dig this section leave the station and as it pulled out three rousing cheers were given for the First and particularly for Co. F.
Section No. 3 reached the Lake Erie crossing at 6:05 a.m. but was sidetracked east of Railroad Street for some time before it was run up to the station. Major E.B. Talman was in charge and in his battalion were Companies A,C,K, and L. No LaPorte boys were aboard. The soldiers were royally received and taken charge of by the ladies who gave them all that they could possibly wish for in the line of eatables. At 7:20 this train left for Chicago.
The fourth and last section was in command of Major J.N. Eddy, Jr., who had with him Companies B,E,H, and I. Leon Hart, son of Recorder and Mrs. E.R. Hart, was on this train and as soon as he was spied he was given a small sized ovation. He looked thin but gamy. His parents learned for the first time this morning that he had been through a long siege of illness and was just recovering therefrom. Fearful lest some harm should come to his son, Mr. Hart went to Chicago this morning for the purpose of looking after him. Mrs. Hart left at noon to join them in Chicago. The boys on this section were bounteously provided for by the ladies and at 7:45 a.m. the last section pulled out of the city amid the shouts and cheers of the crowd.
NOBLE WORK OF THE LADIES
The following tribute to the ladies of the Soldiers Relief Society of 1898 and to the Woman's Relief corps was written by a member of the advance guard of the veterans corps of the First Illinois:
Among the most pleasant incidents of the trip to Chicago was the provision made by the ladies of LaPorte, Ind., who are organized into a relief body called the soldiers Relief Society of 1898, assisted by the Woman's Relief corps of that city, to breakfast the warriors from the battlefields of Santiago. The Soldiers Relief Society of 1898 was organized by the ladies of LaPorte shortly after the breaking out of hostilities for the purpose of procuring and sending aid to the soldiers at the front. They have accomplished wonders in the way of sending money, bandages, "house wifes" and medicine cases filled with medicine to the different hospitals. They hold meetings once a week, have a membership fee of 10 cents and rely mostly upon contributions from the people of LaPorte and surrounding country to carry on their good work. This wise course proved to be the most productive as was evidenced by the magnificent way in which the citizens responded to their appeal to satisfy the craving appetites of the brave soldier boys. They have been stimulated in their efforts from the fact that LaPorte furnished about 15 soldiers to the First Infantry volunteers, mostly brothers and cousins of these noble ladies. They intend to continue their relief work until every soldier from LaPorte is restored to full health and strength and until their services are no longer required by the suffering soldiers in the war. Following is a list of offices of the Soldiers Relief Society of 1898: Mrs. S.M. Closser, president; Mrs. Will Beal and Mrs. J.L. Gray, vice presidents; Mrs. W.J. Everhart, treasurer; Mrs Lillian Watson, secretary; Mrs. Mary T. Clark, Miss Libbie D. Everhart, Miss Lida Vail, Mrs. Will Andrew, Mrs. Ellen Trumbul1, executive board; Mrs. D. Wadsworth, Miss Lottie A. Closser, Miss Mary D. Everhart, and Miss Libbie Miller, entertainment committee.
ODDS AND ENDS
Captain Steele of Co. F, was interviewed by a Herald representative regarding the alleged arrest and imprisonment of Corporal E.I. Wile and also with reference to Gene's present illness. In reference to the former the captain substantiated fully the story as related in the Herald. Wile's arrest was due to a misunderstanding of orders and when the matter was righted he was at once released. The only punishment imposed was the assignment to him of a little additional clerical work. Gene’s illness had assumed a very alarming state when the regiment left Camp Wikoff. He was left in the detention hospital. At times he was out of his head. The turning point in the illness was due yesterday, but the outcome has not yet been learned. Captain Steele met David Wile, who is on his way to Montauk Point to see his brother, at Cleveland. It is the earnest hope of Gene's many friends in this city that he will soon recover.
While the hospital train was here a private named Brown was in a dying condition in one of the berths. He was given every attention by the doctors and nurses but it was reported shortly before the train started that the man had died.
The band boys have the thanks of the people of LaPorte and the soldier boys for the selections rendered while the warriors were in the city. When the band started up "The Star Spangled Banner" one of the captains called out for the boys to uncover their heads and instantly every sombrero was removed.
The collection of souvenirs made some of the people almost forget their manners in their efforts to get buttons, pieces of hard tack, plates, cartridges, etc. Many persons secured quite a collection of Cuban souvenirs.
A Herald representative made an effort to find Harry Young but could not.
The receipt of the telegram from Montauk Point that his son was very low was a severe blow to Rev. N.E. Tinkham. He wished to go to New York, but was not prepared to meet the expense of the trip, owing to the suddenness of the announcement. In view of that fact, several young men of town took it upon themselves to assist Mr. Tinkham and by the aid of a subscription paper, $60 was raised within a few hours last evening to defray the expenses of the trip. Mr. Tinkham left at 10:22 o'clock last night for Montauk Point.
A Herald representative talked with a large number of soldiers with reference to the treatment which they had received since landing and everyone interviewed expressed greatest satisfaction in every particular. Not one had a complaint to make except that they were being fed too much. They had three suppers last evening, for every place a stop was made the ladies of the town provided luncheon. The boys thought the reception given them here was the best along the whole line.
There were several members of the Red Cross society here from Chicago. There were 14 professional nurses in the delegation that came from Chicago.
The ovation received by the dandy First in Chicago this morning was without a doubt the grandest and most soul stirring ever accorded a returning regiment.
The Chicago committee was more than pleased with the work of the LaPorte ladies. They expected them to assist in feeding the soldier boys but they did not anticipate the they would do the whole thing, as one of the Chicago ladies expressed it.
Landlord Hamilton of the Depot Hotel was very kind to throw open his whole house for the use of the ladies. They appreciate it very much.
Dr. J.L. Gray assisted greatly in looking after the committees that came here from Chicago.
Bert Wile and Ben Wilhelm are under the care of Dr. E.L. Annis. Bert is improving but Ben is still quite exhausted from the excitement and the strain. It is hoped that both boys will have a speedy recovery.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD MONDAY SEPTEMBER 12 1898
.
TINKHAM DIED A HERO; Willingly Gave His Life for His Country; END CAME THIS MORNING; Went Through the Cuban Campaign with the First Illinois, Only to Die of Disease While on His Way Home
The very bitterness and anguish of war has been brought home to the people of LaPorte by the death of one of its brave sons, a young man who when his country called him stepped into the ranks, knowing full well that he might be called upon to give his life's blood for that country. He left home, parents and friends, a youth full of hope and expectations for the future, when the cruel war should have come to an end; he returns to his home cold in death. he died not by the bullets of the enemy, nor on the field of battle, but the privations and sufferings had left their marks upon him. He was notable to stand the drain upon his vitalities, disease attacked him and his voice was hushed by the angel of death. No longer is he in the charge of human beings but in the care of that infinite God who watches o'er all.
Little did the parents of Frank Tinkham think, when on June 20th he enlisted in Co. F, First Illinois infantry, that he would not return to them alive. He left in opposition to the wishes of his parents but when they found that he was determined in his desire to go to the front they blessed him and asked the protection of Almighty God. In company with several other LaPorte boys he left for Tampa, Fla., where he joined the company to which he had been assigned. Shortly thereafter the First regiment was ordered to Cuba, but when Siboney was reached he and the other recruits were left to guard the fever hospital, while the rest of the company was sent inland to occupy the trenches around Santiago. For weeks he did his duty at the very hot bed of disease and death, until he could stand it no longer and was compelled with many others to go to the hospital. He was given such attention as the doctors were able to provide and in time he recovered sufficiently to leave Cuba on board a transport, arriving in New York Sunday, September 4th. Being then ill he was taken to the detention hospital, but his case was not considered at all alarming. When the regiment left Camp Wikoff on Wednesday, however, he was in such condition that he could not be taken on board the train with safety and he was accordingly left behind. Friday a telegram came from V.C. Young, the attendant at the hospital, to Rev. N.E. Tinkham, father of the young man, stating that his son was very ill. Through the kindness of his friends he was able to leave Friday night for the bed side of his son, which he reached yesterday. A letter, written at the time the telegram was sent, reached Mrs. Tinkham yesterday and stated that Frank was sick with malarial fever and dysentery, of which disease he died. The letter further stated that he was very low and that his recovery was doubtful. As soon as Rev. Tinkham reached his son's bed yesterday he found him slightly better and immediately conveyed that fact in a telegram last night to his wife. There was a lightening of the mother's heart over the glad tidings of her son's improvement, but this morning when the dreaded news that Frank had passed away shortly after midnight the shock was more than her brave heart could stand. She collapsed and is now suffering from nervous prostration.
Frank was but 18 years old, having been born May 25, 1880. When his father came here to take charge of the LaPorte circuit of the Methodist church, Frank came with the family and has since made his home here. He attended the public schools of this city the past year. He had given his heart to God and in the belief of a happy hereafter he died a soldier in the army of his country and a soldier in the army of Jesus Christ. He leaves two brothers, one who is studying to be a doctor in Chicago, the other a law student at Valparaiso.
The remains will probably arrive here Wednesday and will be received by Austin Cutler, who will have charge of the funeral. When that will be held is not known yet. The expectation, however, is to make it a military funeral.
*****
ANOTHER HERO DYING; Benjamin Wilhelm's Condition Most Serious; HIS FATHER HOME FROM N.Y.; Various Items of Interest Regarding the LaPorte Boys in the Army, Their Home Coming and Illness
Benjamin Wilhelm, who was brought home sick Saturday morning from Camp Wikoff, Montauk Point, is in such a condition that there are almost no hopes for his recovery.
He was sick for some time in Cuba and when he was brought to New York on the transport he was taken at once to the detention hospital. He improved a little and consequently when the First Illinois regiment was brought home he was taken along in the hospital train, although, it is claimed he was not in condition to make the trip. That he did not pass away on the train is wondered at. When taken home Saturday he appeared to improve slightly and in fact was some better Sunday morning. In the afternoon he took a turn for the worse and ever since his life has been despaired of. Everything possible is being done for him, and Dr. Annis, who is in attendance, late this afternoon, said that he has but the slimmest chance for recovery.
It was reported at various times this morning that he was dead, but all reports proved groundless.
Henry Wilhelm, his father, returned this noon from New York where he had gone to get him but had missed him on the road. His brother, Alfred, of Ligonier, is here, having arrived this noon.
The report that his brother, Edward, who is in a regiment now in Florida, is dead is not true.
BIDDY GETS NOTICES
Most of the Chicago papers mention Biddy Ball's reception here. The Inter Ocean says: "One of the happiest soldiers in the whole world at about 6 o'clock Saturday morning was Private E.N. Ball, a LaPorte boy, who is a member of Co. F. Private Ball was in the next to the last car of the second section, and he stepped to the platform when the train drew up on the siding. A dozen young women, with several relatives, were on hand to greet him, and by the time he got through kissing and being kissed he was nearly exhausted. A like experience was enjoyed by numerous others whose relatives and friends lived in LaPorte, or came out to meet them."
Bert Wile, who is now at the home of his parents, was considerably better yesterday and also spend a good night. This morning, there was a change for the worse and his temperature rose to 104°. This afternoon he is somewhat better.
Bert brought home probably the best and most varied collection of souvenirs of any of the LaPorte boys. A Herald representative was this morning given an opportunity to view the same. It insures a Spanish machete, a belt from a dead Spaniard, a piece of wood from the tree under which Hobson stood when he was exchanged, Spanish coins, buttons, and insignias, pipes made from wood from trees in Santiago, various Spanish and American bullets, and dozens of other valuable souvenirs. It is a collection to be proud of.
WINNIE BIEGE HOME
Winnie Biege, whose home is near Rolling Prairie, has returned from the war. He served with credit in the North Manchester company in the One Hundred and Fifty‑seventh Indiana, on Saturday receiving his furlough at Indianapolis. He will be mustered out with the rest of the company October 10th.
Ed Ball and Ed Noll returned Saturday evening from Chicago and spent Sunday at home with their families. Biddy is in good health considering what he has gone through, but yesterday he was taken sick. He recovered, however, sufficiently to go to Chicago this morning to report at the First regiment armory to receive his furlough.
Ed Noll was taken sick last night and it was necessary to send for a physician, but he is better today. He was not able to go to Chicago and his brother, Mike, therefore, went over to report that he was too ill to go.
Frank Borg, Will Vandewalker, Will Ludwig, and Leon Hart remained in Chicago to receive their furloughs but will undoubtedly return this evening if able.
The mustering out of the troops will take place November 12.
NO ONE DIED ON THE TRIP
Two men on board, however, were very sick, one John R. O'Malley of Co. G, who had taken morphine by mistake. He was kept walking so that he would not fall into a stupor. When Chicago was reached his condition was such that there were hopes for his recovery. The other man was Griffin, of Co. I, who was delirious. The physicians are hopeful of his ultimate recovery.
PRAISE FOR THE LADIES
All the Chicago papers speak in the highest terms of the work done by the LaPorte ladies for the First Illinois on its arrival here Saturday morning. Nearly all the journals devote several columns to the write up of the LaPorte reception. Nothing like it had ever been seen before and all the Chicago people are unstinted in their praise of LaPorte and particularly the ladies.
NOTES
Ora Boardman was quite sick Saturday and Sunday but recovered sufficiently today to come to town.
The Herald inadvertently failed Saturday to mention that Mat Pallien, assisted by others, had charge of the firing of the cannon upon the arrival of the soldiers. Mat knows how to handle the cannon and when the matter is left to him one knows that all will be done as it should be.
It has been learned that the sick soldier named "Brown" who was on the hospital train Saturday morning did not die at this station as was reported on our streets Saturday. He reached his home in Chicago, and was alive today.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 1898
A MILITARY FUNERAL; To Be Given Frank Tinkham of the First Illinois; BEN WILHELM IS IMPROVING; The True Story of Eugene I. Wile's Trouble as Told by Captain Steele; All the Boys Getting Better
As stated in yesterday's Herald, Frank Tinkham, LaPorte's first man to give his life in the late war, will be given a military funeral.
The remains will arrive over the Lake Shore at 1:16 tomorrow afternoon and will be met at the station by Patton post, G.A.R. The veterans are called to meet at the army hall at 12:45 o'clock tomorrow for the purpose of going to the station to act as escort for the body.
The funeral will not be held till Thursday and the remains will probably be taken to Knox for burial. The Presbyterian church has been offered for the services and it will probably be accepted. Presiding Elder Dale will probably officiate, assisted by other ministers. It is thought that the schools will close and that many of the business houses will also close. The pall bearers will be: Landon Everhart, W.O. Ephlin, George Taylor, Charles Leslie, Arthur Gaul, and George Angell.
The Methodist conference yesterday at Plymouth passed resolutions of condolence and sympathy for the sorrowing relatives.
WILHELM'S CONDITION
There is a slight improvement today in Benjamin Wilhelm's condition and there are now hopes for his recovery. He passed a good night and is resting easier today. He has malarial fever and dysentery.
CORPORAL WILE ALL RIGHT
Captain Steele, of Co. F, First Illinois, in speaking over the telephone of the reported arrest of Corporal Eugene I. Wile, says: "Corporal Wile was left behind at Siboney with a detail of 27 men from my company when the regiment marched forward to the trenches at Santiago and was there doing his duty properly. He was within a few days after taken sick and put into the hospital. When he became convalescent, the hospital authorities discharged him, with instructions to report to his company. Now, the only company he knew at that time was mine, which was at Santiago. When he had been there about two days, an order came from General Shafter, purporting that "this man Wile was a yellow fever patient not yet thoroughly well" with instructions that he be put under arrest. He was accordingly sent to Major Markley, of the 24th Regulars, and put at clerical work, and, when our men left Santiago, he continued to remain with Major Markley in performance of his duties. I can assure you the happening has no serious bearing whatever, and can be explained with a very few words to the entire exoneration of Gene without blame of any sort. I left him at Montauk in the detention hospital a very sick boy, but cheerful, and I believe he will be able to be sent home very shortly."
Simon Wile this morning received a letter from the nurse in whose care Eugene I. Wile is. It stated that Gene had been very sick but was improving now. He is in the Sinai hospital in New York City and is in excellent hands.
CONDITION OF THE BOYS
Bert Wile is so much better today that he is able to sit up. He is gaining quite rapidly under the circumstances and will soon be quite well. Although he has been a very sick boy the rumors that his condition was alarming are erroneous.
Ed Noll is much better today, there being a marked improvement in his condition.
Ed Ball returned last night from Chicago being as well as any one of the boys who had passed through the Cuban campaign. It was necessary for him to return to Chicago again to report at the armory for his furlough, but he was taken sick last night and so he was not able to go. He is better this afternoon.
Leon Hart is home, being quite sick. He was barely able to go to the armory yesterday and when the boys were dismissed and told to return today his parents secured a physician's certificate that Leon was too sick to remain longer and he was accordingly brought home from Chicago last night. This afternoon he was somewhat improved.
Will Vandewalker is weak but otherwise is all right. He reported yesterday at the armory as ordered.
Will Ludwig is still in Chicago. He was in pretty fair shape and as far as known is still well. He will probably return from Chicago in a day or two.
Frank Borg will be home from Chicago this evening, accompanied by his brother. Frank is in good condition and is the only one of the original five boys who went from here in the First Illinois who is not now sick.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1898
THE REMAINS ARRIVE; Private Frank Tinkham's Body Received by a Veterans' Escort; FUNERAL AT 2:30 TOMORROW; Captain Steele and a Guard Will Attend From Chicago; The Business Houses Requested to Close During the Services
The funeral services over the remains of Private Tinkham will be held at the First Methodist Episcopal church tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. They will be under the auspices of the G.A.R. and the boys of 1898. Rev. Dr. Dale, assisted by several other clergymen, will officiate. Burial will be at Patton's cemetery.
The City band will lead the funeral cortege. Captain Steele and seven guards will arrive tomorrow morning for the purpose of attending the funeral.
The following request has been issued by the G.A.R.: It is earnestly desired that all places of business be closed from 2 to 3:30 p.m., Thursday and where possible all flags be placed at half mast during the day. Let us all remember the boys of '98. Invitations extended to all societies to turn out.
The remains of Frank Tinkham, who died at Camp Wikoff, arrived this afternoon over the Lake Shore accompanied by Rev. N.E. Tinkham, father of the young man whose life was given for his country. Tenderly was the body received and with military honors will it be consigned to its last meeting place.
Hundreds of persons were at the station to express by their presence the sympathy which they felt for the bereaved family. A platoon of veterans met the remains and acted as escort for the body, which was taken to the undertaken parlors of Austin Cutler. Rev. Tinkham was met by Revs. Bovard, Middleton, and Cissel and was conveyed to a carriage. When the casket, in which rested the body was taken from the box in which it came, a large flag was wrapped about it before it was placed in the white hearse, which had previously been draped both inside and outside with the stars and stripes.
The cortege formed at the foot of Michigan Avenue and thence proceeded south. In the first carriage were Revs. C.L. Bovard and H.M. Middleton. Following this came the escort of veterans under Commander H.C. Shannon, Isom Horner beating the muffled drum. The funeral car followed, the honorary pall bearers, six soldiers of the present war, walking on either side of the same. This squad was composed of Privates Frank Borg, Will Vandewalker, Will Miltenberger, George Vanderwalker, Harry Badger, and Will Ludwig, in command of W.H. Crane.
In carriages that followed were Rev. Tinkham, Presiding Elder Dale of this city, and other clergymen.
The pallbearers were Charles Leslie, Landon Everhart, Howard Peters, W.P. Ephlin, Ray Gaul, and George Taylor.
On Michigan Avenue, south of Main Street, the G.A.R. escort formed in two lines, through which the funeral car passed, the veterans uncovering their heads. The remains were taken to Cutler's undertaking rooms, from which place they were removed to the house at 4 o'clock this afternoon, an escort of G.A.R. accompanying them.
THE BOYS WHO ARE SICK
Ben Wilhelm passed a very good night and is resting better today. The prospects are still brighter now for his ultimate recovery.
Bert Wile was taken with a chill last night and this morning was not so well, though during the day there has been an improvement. He has malarial fever, not typhoid, as reported on the streets.
Ed Ball is better today. He is not in serious condition.
Leon Hart is ever so much improved today. He looks and feels better. The young soldier is in bed, but is renewing his strength rapidly. The doctor says he will come out all right.
THE BOYS RETURN
Frank Borg and Will Ludwig of Co. F, First Illinois infantry returned last evening from Chicago, where they received 60‑day furloughs. Both are in good shape and, except for being considerably thinner, are not much worse for their Cuban campaign.
Jack Vail is visiting his mother and sisters at 1201 Michigan Avenue, having arrived last evening from Chicago. Like the rest of the boys, he is tired and worn out, but otherwise is in pretty fair shape.
Will Vandewalker came home from Chicago on the late train last night. He is about played out but is able to be up and around.
BEAUTIFUL PRESENT
Morgan H. Weir, yesterday, presented Ed Ball a fine gold watch. Ed was in the employ of Weir & Weir prior to going to war, and when he came home sick Mr. Weir's kind heart was touched and he sent the watch by the doctor, together with strong wishes for Ed's speedy recovery. To say that Ed was pleased expresses it mildly.
SOLDIER NOTES
When Will Vandewalker returned from Chicago last evening he brought home with him a 60‑day furlough for Ora Boardman, also of the First Illinois, who has been home for two weeks on a sick leave.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1898
IT IS AN IDEAL CAMP; Such is Rev. Tinkham's Opinion of Camp Wikoff; VERY HEALTHY ATMOSPHERE; Pervades the Whole Place, While the Officers, Doctors, Nurses and Attendants Are Very Kind and Considerate
Rev. N.E. Tinkham, who returned yesterday from Montauk Point with the remains of his son, was interviewed this morning by a Herald representative regarding his sad trip and in what condition he found things at Camp Wikoff.
He reached Montauk station at 2:30 o'clock Sunday afternoon and it took him till 5:30 p.m. that day before he located his son. He visited the general hospital and went all through it but no trace of Frank could he find. He then went to the detention hospital, where after considerably inquiring he found V.C. Young, whose name was attached to the dispatch which he received before leaving for New York. This person, it developed, was a young lady nurse, the daughter of Colonel Young, who was devoting her time and energy to nursing the sick soldier boys. She took Rev. Tinkham to the tent in which his son lay, Frank recognized his father at once, for when the nurse asked him, "Do you know this person?", he said, "Yes, that is my father."
There was little energy left in him then but the sight of his father brightened his face greatly and he felt more at peace. Rev. Tinkham would not have recognized his son, for he was wan and emaciated.
Miss Young told Rev. Tinkham that Frank realized fully that he would die and during the talk which the father had with his dying son, the latter said: "I am glad that I did not die before peace was declared, for then I would not have been a hero."
Toward the night he became delirious and it was to be seen that death was slowly approaching. Rev. Tinkham, tired and worn out by his long trip, tried to get a little rest and sleep, but it was an awful night. Finally toward midnight the nurses called him, for the end was drawing near, and then by the bedside in a tent on Long Island the father saw the life of his son flicker and go out as the soul winged its way toward heaven. It was the 12:50 a.m. Monday by Eastern time, or 11:50 p.m. Sunday by LaPorte time.
In speaking of Frank afterward the nurse said that on Wednesday, Just one week before his body arrived home, he was dressed and up and around, but a relapse set in and he grew worse steadily from that time on. The doctors and nurses did all they could for him but human aid was of no avail.
In Frank's pocket, Rev. Tinkham found the pay which he had that week drawn and also a testament which his mother had given him. On the fly leaf thereof, under the date of June 26, while in Cuba he had written, "I have given myself to God." He was converted and Joined the Methodist church at Rolling Prairie when 10 years old.
When Rev. Tinkham began arranging to have his son's remains properly cared for and prepared for shipment he encountered his greatest troubles, and in speaking of them he said he had a terrible time." I got an undertaker to embalm the body and place it in a casket ready for shipment, for which he charged me $91. It was outrageous but the undertakers are simply robbers and they charge whatever they feel disposed to. The casket which I got was nothing but a metallic affair, with absolutely no lining of any kind. The thieving undertakers even attempted to cram Frank's body in a case three inches too small. The government allows $35 and transportation in case of death at the camp."
Rev. Tinkham was unable to get away from New York till Tuesday morning with the remains and on the same train with him were the remains of two other soldiers that had died at Montauk Point.
"The place where Camp Wikoff is located is an ideal place for a camp," said Rev. Tinkham. "It is perfectly clean and healthy and I found everything in the very best shape. The officers, doctors and nurses are kind and did all they could for me. I have but two complaints to make and this is against the robbing undertakers and the fact that there seems to be a shortage of clerical help at Montauk Point. The telegraph operator was many hours behind in the sending of telegrams and work was constantly piling upon him. Outside of these two things everything was in the very best condition and I was even surprised at the order, the neatness and the healthiness of the camp.
*****
HOMAGE TO A HERO; Last Sad Rites Over the Remains of Private Tinkham; HANDSOMELY DECORATED; Was the Church‑‑The Edifice Filled With Mourners, While Hundreds Were Unable to Gain Admittance
With the full honors due one who has given his life for his country, all that was mortal of Private Tinkham, of Co. F, First Illinois volunteer infantry, was this afternoon consigned to its last resting place.
LaPorte praised the brave son who when his country called him went to the front with a willing heart and now mourns at his bier. Many a silent tear has been shed for the young hero, for though many knew him not yet that bond of sympathy and human love which is so strongly brought out in sorrow went out from every heart in the city to the bereaved family. By their presence at the last service over the ashes of the soldier boy did the people in a measure show the sympathy which they felt. Homage was paid to the brave lad and ages will not erase from our memory the duty which he rendered his country and in doing which duty he gave that which was precious to him‑‑his life's blood.
Long before the hour announced for the beginning of the service at First Methodist Episcopal church, people began to arrive and soon the edifice was packed to its utmost capacity. The aisles and vestibules were filled and as the hour neared for the arrival of the funeral cortege from the house people began to line the streets on either side. Fully four times as many persons were outside the church as were within the edifice. The city schools were dismissed for the afternoon and many of the stores and business houses closed their doors out of respect for the memory of the dead. Flags were flying at half mast during the day.
The City Band and the members of the Patton Post, G.A.R. marched from the army hall to the church, where they opened ranks, the funeral cortege passing through on its arrival from the house.
The services were very impressive, but the lateness of the hour allows but a brief mention thereof today.
After the reading of ritual by Dr. Dale, the choir, which was composed of Alfred Peglow, Edward Morse, and Misses Agnes Maurer and Beth Ericsson, sang "Sometime We'll Understand." The funeral march, as the casket was brought in and the mourners entered, was played by Miss Edna Dunn. On the platform were Revs. T.B. Barlow, E.D. Daniels, Charles H. Wheeler, Reuben H. Hartley, R.H. Sanders, E.P. Bennett, C.L. Bovard, Davis, Isaac Dale, J.H. Cissel, H.M. Middleton and F.A. Morgan. A fervent prayer was offered by Dr. Cissel after which Revs. Wheeler and Barlow read the scriptures. "Saved by Grace" by the choir was followed by Rev. Bennett, who delivered a brief sermon. The principal sermon was then delivered by Dr. Dale, who was followed by Rev. Sanders. Prayer was offered by Rev. Middleton and the service closed with "The Christian 's Good Night" by the choir.
The people were then given an opportunity to view the remains, after which the cortege proceeded to Patton's Cemetery.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1898
PRAISE FOR THE DEAD; Words of Tribute to the Memory of PRIVATE FRANK TINKHAM; "His Life was Given for the Freedom of a People that Were Oppressed and Cruelly Treated"‑‑Dr. Dale
The funeral services over the remains of Frank Tinkham, the first LaPorte boy to give his life for his country in the late war, were held yesterday afternoon at the Methodist church, but the lateness of the hour allowed but a brief mention thereof yesterday. The hearts and souls of our people have been stirred by the death of this brave boy, as was evinced by the large throngs of sympathizing friends that filled the church, the halls, and even the street for blocks away. The young ladies in the Soldiers' Relief Society had decorated the church with the ever dear old American flags, and flowers of red, white, and blue. The casket was literally covered with flowers and the beautiful floral pieces were many, among them being an American flag made of red, white, and blue flowers, the gift of the Soldiers' Relief Society of 1898, and a piece from the classmates of Frank. The name plate on the beautiful casket was handsomely engraved, being the handiwork of Harry Hutchinson, chum and Sunday school classmate of the deceased. The design was made by Prof. A.E. Slocum. In the upper left hand corner was the year of Frank's birth and in the upper right hand corner the year of his death. Forming a half circle across the plate was the name "Frank Tinkham", underneath which was an American flag entwined by a wreath, and across the lower part were the names of the company and the regiment in which Frank saw service. A touching story is told in connection with this name plate. When Frank was saying good‑bye to Harry Just before starting for the war, Harry in a joking way said, "If you die, I'll make a coffin plate for you." Little did he dream that he would within four months be called upon to fulfill that promise. The following ministers occupied seats on the platform: Revs. C.L. Bovard, C.H. Wheeler, E.D. Daniels, F.A. Morgan, R.H. Hartley, T.B. Barlow, R.H. Sanders, H.M. Middleton, Isaac Dale, J.H. Cissel, E.P. Bennett, and Wm. Davis.
Dr. Dale read the ritual as the funeral cortege entered the church.
"Sometime We'll Understand" was then sung by a quartette composed of Messrs. Alfred Peglow and Edward Morse, and Misses Agnes Maurer and Beth Ericsson, Miss Edna Dunn presiding at the organ.
Prayer was offered by Dr. Cissel.
Scriptural readings were given from the 39th Psalm by Rev. Wheeler, and from I Corinthians xv, 41‑58, by Rev. T.B. Barlow.
The quartette then sang "Saved by Grace".
Rev. E.P. Bennett, of South Bend, who had always personally known Frank, gave a touching address. He said" Frank Emerson Tinkham was born in the M.E. parsonage at LaFontaine, Wabash County, Indiana, May 25, 1880. Last spring he enlisted in Company F of the First Illinois volunteer infantry and was sent to Cuba. There he contracted a disease from which he died at Camp Wikoff, Montauk Point, Monday, September 12, so that at the time of his death he was a little past 18 years of age. The all important question in any man's life concerns his relations to God and his religious experiences, and it is my sacred privilege this afternoon to speak to you concerning the religious life and experience of our departed brother, and I think that no message that can be spoken this afternoon will do more to assuage the grief of the parents and brothers and other relatives and friends than the simple story of Frank's religious experience. I knew Frank as a child in Sunday School before he had had any definite religious experience. When a boy some 10 years of age, in his father's home, the parsonage at Dayton, Indiana, God came to him and he had a very clear and beautiful conversion and very definite religious experience. After that experience, his life drifted, as lives of many boys drift, into channels that brought him to bitter regret and sorrow. After he enlisted and went to the war, he was brought, as many another young man was brought, to face the profoundest questions of life and destiny, and, while he weighed these questions, his mind and heart were brought back to the rock of his salvation, and he wrote to his parents words that were full of trust in God and resignation to His will. While on board the City of Macon, July 6, he sent home this message to his parents: "Well, I think I will be home by Christmas. I have put myself wholly in the Lord's hands and trust Him fully. However, I know that unless He wills I will have no harm come to me. I feel just as safe here as if I was at home, although not nearly as happy. I know that the Lord is here as well as at home and that my dear parents pray for me all the time and that God will hear their prayers. It does not seem to me that you are so far away as you are, for I can almost feel you thinking of me sometimes. The same God that cares for me cares for you and it seems a comfort to think that when I talk to Him you are talking to the same person and I feel that we are very near each other.
"When Frank went to war, his mother gave him a testament on the fly leaf of which she wrote a prayer such as only a mother can breathe, and underneath this prayer Frank wrote, "Gave myself to God July 26, 1898 in Cuba". When Brother Tinkham reached his son at Montauk Point, he had a few moments conversation with Frank, and in that conversation he asked him the question that sometimes staggers a man, viz., "Is Christ with you?" And Frank said, "Yes." The chaplain who was with Frank during his last sickness testified that Frank had the comfort of a Savior's presence in his last sickness and that Christ had been an ever present help to the soldier boy.
"Frank enlisted in the army without his parents' consent. They realized the dangers he must encounter as well as the weakness of his constitution and it was with difficulty that they resigned themselves that he should be thus exposed to the dangers and sufferings of war; and when the dangers became more severe they made every effort to have him taken out of the army. They had written to the war department and entered a petition that he might be released from service. When Frank was dying, he looked up at his father and said, "I am so glad the you did not get me out." And his father said, "Why?" "Then I would not have had the honor of being a soldier". Frank proved himself a soldier and a patriot."
Dr. Isaac Dale, of South Bend, then delivered an address which was filled with encouraging and hopeful thoughts for the bereaved ones. He began by saying that we have many illustrations in our day of the heroic words of St. Paul when writing to the early Christian s who said, 'We are to be men'. Paul spoke in heroic terms calling out the courage of the human heart, and it is through devotion and its lines of duty in life that we have any such lives as Frank's.
He said it had been an inspiration for us to have this insight into the inner life of our young brother and it has revealed to us the noble motives and purposes that were in the mind and heart of this young man, who stood just on the threshold of life. His spirit could not be suppressed and he was willing to brave the dangers connected with going to Cuba. It is a great thing to die for the right. We should live for others and no man has any right to trample upon the rights or interests of other people. Mankind should be recognized as a brotherhood, a family united by bonds not to be broken. He said that life, to be experienced rightly, must be laid upon the altar of humanity. We recognize that in this is the true basis of human excellence and human greatness. No matter how humble or obscure a person may be, he has interests too sacred to be trampled under our feet or to be disregarded in any manner. We should be loyal to the things that pertain to the hopes and welfare of mankind everywhere.
He exhorted the brothers and sisters to rally round the bereaved family with devotion and sympathy, for all party and sect have given way.
He said that the older ones would remember in '61 and '65 that there were scenes which reminded them of today‑‑the cry of anguish and tears in those dark days of war, and at this time the old experienced soldiers mingle with the soldier of today. The former know what it all means‑‑they have been through it and none can quite equal these heroic men. Frank's dear life was given for the freedom of a people that were oppressed and cruelly treated, and their cry to the world was in vain until our own country came to the rescue.
He urged that we forget not those now watching at the bedside of sick ones.
Rev. R.H. Sanders then spoke a few chosen words. He said that Frank had not lived and died in vain. That he had not only been a soldier for his country but a soldier for Christ. The feeling that his brave death has awakened will live on and on, that there is nothing to fear in death now that Jesus Christ lives and holds the keys of death. He expressed the hope that this affecting scene might cause all to see how frail we are and make us stronger to go forth to battle with life.
Rev. C.L. Bovard then spoke of a little incident. A short time before Frank enlisted they met and shook hands and Rev. Bovard said, "So you have decided to enlist," and in Frank's bright manner he made his earnest answer, and Mr. Bovard assured him that Christian prayers would follow him to war. Mr. Bovard had been very much impressed by the way the Holy Spirit has supported brother Tinkham during these sad days of waiting. Nothing but the grace and power of God would be sufficient to comfort the bereaved at this time of great affliction, but He will sustain them.
Rev. H.M. Middleton then offered a sweet prayer for Frank's young friends, that though they had not been soldiers in Cuba, yet they could be soldiers in Christ.
The quartette then sang "The Christian 's Good Night" and the friends were given the opportunity to view the remains.
After the services at the church the cortege formed as follows: Band, G.A.R., Class Mates, Ministers, W.R.C., Pall Bearers, Funeral car with guard of honor composed of Privates Frank Borg, Will Vandewalker, Will Miltenberger, George Vandewalker, Harry Badger and Will Ludwig; followed by the relatives and friends, the latter being unlimited. The procession was more than a mile long and hundreds of people assembled at the cemetery. Before reaching the grave, the line separated, the G.A.R. followed by the classmates, passing around to the left, the ministers, pallbearers with the casket, the guard of honor and the mourners passing to the right, the two lines meeting at the grave. The impressive G.A.R. service opened by the Commander H.C. Shannon, after which the chaplain, Rev. E.D. Daniels, invoked the divine blessing. A quartette composed of Austin Cutler, H.C. Shannon, E.L. Ephlin, and Rev. E.D. Daniels beautifully sang "Rest On." Commander Shannon then addressed a few words, which were followed by floral offerings from Comrade Ephlin, "a symbol of undying love for comrades of the war;" one from Comrade Bryant, "a symbol of unselfish devotion;" and one from Comrade Whorwell, "a symbol of victory."
Rev. E.D. Daniels then delivered an address.
After the casket was lowered into the grave, Rev. C.L. Bovard read a beautiful little poem entitled "Frank Tinkham is Dead," composed by Sheridan Dunn the day the sad news of Frank's death reached here. The classmates then marched past the grave dropping flowers therein. Dr. Dale pronounced the benediction, and "taps" were sounded, a very appropriate ending to the impressive exercises.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1898
TO BANQUET THE BOYS; LaPorte to Hold a Peace Festival in October; A PUBLIC MEETING TODAY; At the City Hall to Make Preliminary Arrangements for the Reception and Banquet to the Returned Soldiers
CITIZENS, ATTENTION! The citizens of LaPorte are earnestly requested to be present at a public meeting to be held at the City Hall, Tuesday evening, September 20, 1898 at 7 o'clock, for the purpose of making arrangements for a Peace Festival or reception and banquet to our soldier boys. All ladies of the Soldiers Relief Society of 1898, the Women's Relief Corps and other ladies and every citizen who desires to lend assistance in this undertaking is urged to be present at the meeting. L. Darrow, Mayor.
The above notice explains in brief a plan which is now being agitated. It is desired as soon as the boys recover from their illness to give a banquet, such as is being given in other cities to the home‑coming soldier boys.
No definite plans have yet been made, but the promoters in the affair wish to give the people an opportunity in a semi‑public manner to give expression of their appreciation of the services rendered by the LaPorte boys. Such a reception or banquet would also be in the nature of a Peace Festival.
The original suggestion for this reception came in the shape of a communication to Mayor Darrow from the "National Monument Committee", which is now preparing to erect a national memorial as a fitting tribute for the boys in the army and navy who died for the country's honor. General Nelson Miles is chairman of this committee. The suggestion made was that every city in the country hold a peace festival on Friday, September 30, and that the money collected by its means be sent to the committee for the monument fund. Owing to the fact that all the boys will not be well by that time it is proposed to hold such a festival or banquet about the middle of October. The new band master will then be here and the City Band will take a prominent part in the reception.
It is not proposed to make the banquet a public affair but the reception and exercises which would follow would be public. The committee suggests an outline for the program and offers to furnish free of charge copies of a new song "Gloria in Excelsis," written by T.J. Vivian, the music being composed by Victor Herbert.
It is urged that as many as possible attend this meeting Tuesday evening, so that committees may be appointed and preparations begun for the peace festival.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1898
EUGENE I. WILE'S ALLEGED "ARREST"
The following is an extract from a letter written by Fred Wile, of Chicago, to his brother Jos. M. Wile, of that city, relative to the alleged "arrest" of their brother, Eugene, The Herald's war correspondent:
"I had a very interesting 10‑minute conversation with Colonel Turner over the telephone during the afternoon. He remembers the circumstances of Eugene's alleged 'arrest' very well, saying any story to such effect as The Argus prints is scandalous. There was no "arrest" to the transaction in any respect; that he was simply ordered returned to Siboney, for fear his disease or sickness was not yet beyond the contagious stage. I am sure when Colonel Turner and Captain Steele are at their offices (both being somewhat indisposed and at home today) I will be able to procure over their signatures such a flat‑footed denial as will make The Argus' statement look ridiculously foolish."
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD MONDAY SEPTEMBER 19 1898
E.I. WILE HOMEWARD BOUND; Will Pass Through LaPorte This Evening
Eugene I. Wile, corporal in Co. F, First Illinois volunteer infantry, and special war correspondent for the LaPorte Daily Herald will pass through LaPorte this evening aboard Lake Shore passenger train No. 23 due here at 6:56 o'clock on his way from Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City, to the home of his brother in Chicago. He is in the care of a nurse and is accompanied by his brother David J. Wile. The above information was conveyed in a telegram received this afternoon by The Herald.
*****
OUR SOLDIER BOYS
Bennie Wilhelm is not considered out of danger. He is holding his own, however. Mr. Griffin is in charge of him at night.
Eddie Ball is very sick. Wm. Brown is staying with him night and day.
A letter from Ed Arndt states that he is at St. Peter's hospital, Brooklyn. He is weak, but improving.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1898
E.I. WILE RETURNS FROM WAR; Was Corporal in Co. F, First Illinois, and Herald Correspondent
Eugene I. Wile, corporal in Co. F, First Illinois volunteer infantry and special war correspondent for the LaPorte Herald, passed through the city last evening aboard Lake Shore passenger train No. 23, west bound and due here at 6:56 p.m. en route from Montauk Point to Chicago.
Wile enlisted in the First Illinois with a number of LaPorte boys immediately upon the call for volunteers. From Chicago the men were sent to Springfield, then Chickamauga and finally to Port Tampa, Fla. Shortly after the bloody battles at El Caney early in July the regiment was ordered to Cuba where it arrived sometime before the surrender of Santiago. The regiment proper was sent to guard the city and was present at its surrender, but Wile was sent to with a detail to guard a fever hospital at Siboney. It was while here that he was taken sick. He recovered sufficiently, however, to return to the United States with the regiment. He was still sick and was taken to the detention hospital but was afterward transferred to Mt. Sinai hospital, where he received excellent care. At one time he was in a very serious condition but his grit pulled him through. As soon as he was able to travel it was thought best to remove him to Chicago where his brothers reside.
When the train pulled in at this station several hundred persons were there to greet him. Many boarded the train and shook hands with the sick soldier. He was in the care of a nurse, a young man who during his father's illness, the late Jacob Wile, was his constant nurse and attendant. Gene looked better than many expected he would, although he looks poor. He said that he felt weak and tired, but otherwise was in pretty fair shape. He was the recipient of several bouquets of flowers.
When Chicago was reached he was taken to the Michael Reese Hospital where he will remain a week or more. He expects to return to LaPorte in about 10 days.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1898
FRANK TINKHAM
Another soldier true and brave
Lies within an honored grave,
Who fought and died his land to save
It is Frank Tinkham.
His mother gave him as a guide
The Bible, and her prayer inside;
He ne'er forgot it ere he died
It was Frank Tinkham.
To die a soldier was his pride.
He's marching on the other side;
For now with Christ he doth abide,
Young soldier boy, Frank Tinkham.
How many gave themselves to God
While on the battle field they trod,
Down on that sunny soil and sod,
As did Frank Tinkham?
Rest on in peace, young soldier boy
You fought your battle true.
The Lord will bless and give them Joy,
His Christian boys in blue.
And as the years keep rolling by
We listen and we wait;
We'll ne'er forget our soldier boys
Of eighteen hundred and ninety‑eight.
A.D.G.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 21 1898
GREETINGS TO THE HEROES OF LA PORTE
Welcome home, brave soldier sons of LaPorte.
You faced a treacherous enemy in the trenches and faltered not.
You stood eye to eye with death in camp and were not afraid.
Some of your comrades sleep in heroes' graves, some lie wasting with fever, and not a bronzed face but tells of the price you have helped to pay for the new glory that has crowned this nation's arms.
You have added lustre to a brilliant page in history and preserved undimmed the brightest traditions of American valor.
LaPorte welcomes you back to the old home scenes and the fireside lone, from which you marched forth so brave and strong at the nation's call.
The cheers and tears that followed you there were but a foretaste of the grand and tender greeting that awaits you now, victors, heroes, all.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 22 1898
BALL SERIOUSLY ILL
Ed Ball is still seriously ill. The attending physician has hopes that he will come out all right, but he is in a serious condition.
Bert Wile was out driving yesterday for the first time since his illness.
Ben Wilhelm is slowly improving.
Will Ludwig is on the high road to recovery.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 1898
Ed Ball, the sick soldier is better today though still quite sick. Bert Wile has almost fully recovered from his illness. Ora Boardman is still quite sick. Ben Wilhelm is doing very well.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1898
BALL IS CRITICALLY ILL; Returned Soldier Having a Hard Fight For Life
Ed Ball, the returned soldier boy, is critically ill. Everything possible is being done to save him and it is the hope and prayer of his many friends and acquaintances that he will recover. His sister, Miss Mary Ball, returned today from the west, where she teaches school, having been called home by Ed's illness.
Ora Boardman is better today, and Ben Wilhelm is much improved. Leon Hart is improving slowly, but not rapidly enough to suit the young soldier.
The report at 4 o'clock this afternoon that Ball had breathed his last is not true. At that time he was resting easier than this morning.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1898
BALL IS BETTER
There is a slight improvement today in the condition of Ed Ball, though he is still critically ill. The family now has hopes that he will ultimately recover. William Brown who had been nursing him for some time, both night and day, was compelled to give up as he had become exhausted. J.W. Baker is now acting as nurse.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1898
THE SOLDIER BOYS
Ben Wilhelm had a slight relapse last night and is not so well as he was the first of the week.
Ed Ball is resting comfortably and is slightly improved.
EUGENE WILE GAINING RAPIDLY
The following extracts are taken from a private letter written by Eugene I. Wile: Chicago, Sept. 27, 1898‑‑I had fully expected to have left the hospital yesterday, but the doctor told my people that my condition is such that I shall be compelled to remain at least another week. This is a great disappointment to me, as I had hoped within the course of another week to hay been back in good old LaPorte.
A few days ago I received Mrs. Beal's beautiful letter which was forwarded from Mt. Sinai hospital. As you may know I have received an endless number of letters and to attempt an effort to answer all of them would require the services of an expert stenographer for a whole day, so I have concluded to wait and answer as many as possible in person, and the others by mail when I am well again.
I am gaining in strength and weight a little each day. My rest at night is perfect. So well do I sleep the nurse is obliged to waken me at 12 o'clock and at 4 a.m. to take my temperature.
This afternoon for the first time I am going out of doors, when I will be put in a "wheel chair" and ride about the lawns of the hospital.
I am glad to note the continued improvement of the other fellows and with the care they are receiving I have no doubt they will soon be about.
I just took a look at my "record sheet" and find my temperature, pulse, and respiration are normal. Faithfully yours, Eugene I. Wile.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 29 1898
DIED FOR OLD GLORY; Private Edmund N. Ball Passes Away; He Returned Apparently Healthy, But the Disease Germs Were in Him and He Was Taken Sick; Second Death of LaPorte Boys
Again the bitter anguish and deep sorrow that bring to one a realization that an irreparable loss has been sustained confronts the people of LaPorte in the death of another of its brave soldier boys. The city mourns for the departure of one who in the time of his country's need forsook all that was dear to him and with a self‑sacrificing spirit took up arms for humanity's sake. Full well did he know when he left home that he might be called upon to give his life's blood in the defense of that flag which he loved, but though he passed through a Cuban campaign the fortunes of war spared his life and he returned to his home, his parents and his friends apparently in the best of health. The germs of disease were in his system, they took root and though all that human love and skill was capable of was done death claimed him. He died a hero in the eyes of the people of the grandest nation on the face of the globe.
The spirit of Private Edmund N. Ball of Co. F, First Illinois Volunteer infantry, took flight last night and as the word passed from mouth to mouth that "Biddy," as he was familiarly known by his friends, had joined the silent army there came over all a feeling of the bitterest sorrow. Many a tear was shed for the young hero. Since the turning point in the disease on Saturday, there had been a slight, though to many almost imperceptible, improvement and this apparently continued till yesterday afternoon, when a rapid decline set in and at 8:20 p.m. he passed away.
On the night of April 25 last, Ed Ball and Eugene I. Wile left LaPorte for Chicago where they Joined Capt. Steele's company in the First Illinois and the following day there were Joined by Frank Borg, Bert Wile and Ed Noll. These were the original boys who enlisted in Colonel Turner's regiment. On the following evening they left Chicago aboard special trains for Springfield, where they arrived on the morning of the 27th. For weeks they were kept at Camp Tanner and then as the war became warmer they were hurried to the camp at Chickamauga Park. Then there camps were pitched at Port Tampa and Picnic Island, Florida, and finally they were placed on board transports and taken to that place where many would be called upon to give their lives not by the enemy's bullets, but by the ravages of disease. In all the camps, from Camp Tanner to the camp in front of the walls of Santiago de Cuba, Biddy was the life of the company and his bright remarks kept the boys in constant good humor. Always willing to do his share of the work and oftentimes even more than was required him he soon became the general favorite and established for himself an affection in the hearts of his comrades which time cannot eradicate. Though many of the boys were separated from their command, among them several LaPorte boys, and taken to the fever hospital at Siboney for guard duty, Ed was allowed to stay with the regiment proper, which guarded the city of Santiago on one side. For weeks they were kept here, and then, there being no immediate necessity for their services and as death was rapidly thinning their ranks, the First Illinois was ordered home.
Biddy left Santiago with the other boys August 25th on board the City of Berlin and arrived at Montauk Point on the night of August 30th. He was in fairly good health and while the regiment was at Camp Wikoff he felt in excellent spirits. On the morning of Saturday, September 10, he passed through LaPorte on one of the special trains that carried the First regiment to Chicago. He was apparently one of the healthiest of the boys aboard and all who saw him remarked on his good looks. He seemed much better than any of the other LaPorte boys in the regiment. After the big demonstration in Chicago he returned home and was received with open arms. It was the same Biddy, he had changed not and was as jolly as ever. On Monday he returned to Chicago and received his furlough (though the papers proper did not come till last week) and then came home. But disease was in his system, the strain on his vitality had been too much and the following day he was taken sick. He continued to grow worse. Everything possible was done form him by the doctor, nurse, family and friends, but it was destined to be his last illness. Last Saturday the turning point in the disease, typho‑malaria, was reached, and an apparent improvement was noticed. He was unconscious and had been so for several days. Apparently slight improvements were perceived each day, till yesterday afternoon, when he began to grow worse with alarming rapidity. Between 6 and 7 o'clock last evening it was seen that the end was rapidly approaching and at 8 o'clock he breathed his last. It was as though the unconscious state in which he had lain had slowly merged itself into the everlasting sleep.
Edmund Newell Ball was born in LaPorte January 27, 1877, so that he was but 21 years old. He attended the public schools in the city and also St. Rose's academy, completing his education by a course at the LaPorte Business College. For some time he assisted his father who was then in the undertaking business, but afterward took a position as a stenographer in the law office of Weir & Weir. He was faithful, industrious and ever willing to do a favor and his death was a shock to his late employers.
Many a head is bowed today in grief at his demise and the place made vacant in the circles in which he moved will never be filled. He died a hero and the city will pay tribute at his bier.
The funeral services will be held Saturday morning at 10 o'clock at St. Peters Catholic church, Rev. Father Schramm, assisted by visiting priests, officiating. It will be a military funeral and the members of Patton Post will meet tomorrow evening to arrange for the same. The members of the post and the soldiers of 1898 will meet at the G.A.R. hall Saturday morning at 9 o'clock for the purpose of attending the services. The burial will be at Pine Lake Cemetery. The City Band will lead the cortege and the body will be escorted by a squad of soldiers. Capt. Steele has been telegraphed to and it is probable that several members of Co. F will be here to pay their last respects to Private Ball.
Austin Cutler is in charge.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1898
FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS; Several Members of Co. F Coming From Chicago to Attend the Ball Obsequies
Corporals Geo. H. Turkington and H.L. Burgess of Co. F, First Illinois infantry, arrived this morning from Chicago, having been called here by the death of Private Edmund Ball. They said that all the members of Co. F in Chicago who are able to come will be here tomorrow to attend the funeral, but so many of the boys are sick that it is doubtful if more than a dozen will be in shape to make the trip. All the members of the company, and especially the officers, have a warm feeling for the LaPorte boys in Co. F. Biddy's death was a severe blow to them and the manner in which they talked of him showed that he had a strong hold on their hearts. If possible, Capt. Steele will be in attendance at the funeral. Corporal Turkington while in Cuba had charge of the detached volunteers at the fever hospital at Siboney, in which detachment were Corporal E.I. Wile and Privates Boardman, Vandewalker, Tinkham, Wilhelm, Ludwig, and Arndt of this city. Corporal Burgess was in command of the squad on the firing line at Santiago in which were Privates Noll, Borg, and B. Wile, of this city.
The funeral services of E.N. Ball will be held at St. Peter's Catholic Church at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning, Rev. Schramm officiating. Interment at Pine Lake Cemetery. It is the desire of those in charge of the funeral that as far as possible all the stores close during the services out of respect to the memory of one who died for the flag. A subscription has been taken among the business and professional men, Gus Eberline and Otto Plumbeck circulating the paper, for the purchase of flowers, to pay the band, and other expenses of the funeral.
LA PORTE DAILY HERALD, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1898
ANOTHER HERO GONE; He dies With His Face to the Foe; CITY FULL OF SYMPATHY; Remains of Edmund Newell Ball Followed to the Grave by Mourning Relatives, Friends, and His Soldier Companions
All that was mortal of Edmund Ball was today consigned to the quiet restfulness of the grave. "He sleeps his last sleep; He has fought his last battle; No sound can awake him to glory again."
At the hour announced beforehand, the City Band, the Grand Army, comrades of the deceased, and troops of sympathizing friends gathered at the family residence 505 Adams Street, to pay their last tribute to the gallant young soldier who, single‑handed and alone, bravely fighting deadly and dread disease, was as truly a hero as if struck to death by the bullet or sword of an enemy on the battlefield, amid the blazing lines.
When all was in readiness, the line of march was taken up for St. Peter's Catholic Church in the following order: funeral director, City Band, members of Patton Post, hearse and pallbearers, guard of honor, carriages.
The procession proceeded to Main Street, thence to Monroe and the church, where seats had been reserved for the relatives of the deceased, the pallbearers, guard of honor, grand army and relief corps, the church being pretty well filled in the meantime, and before services began, was packed. With solemn tread, amid the impressive chant of the church, the coffin, with its precious contents, was borne to the foot of the altar, where the pallbearers were tenderly relieved of their burden. When all were seated, requiem mass was celebrated by the pastor, Rev. Father Schramm. It was very solemn and impressive. At its close Rev. Timothy Sullivan, a former popular pastor of St. Peter's Church, ascended the altar, and preached from a text taken from the lesson of the day appropriate to the occasion. He said they had come there to pay the last tribute to an American soldier and a soldier of Jesus Christ. He spoke of having baptized the dead soldier. It was sad for youth to die. Deceased had nobly responded to his country's call. He had returned from the war, and his coming was a Joyful one, but the Joy was destined to be of short duration. Edmund had brought with him disease which is more fatal than Mauser bullets. There was no human comfort at such a time. Where find comfort and consolation? Only in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they might well exclaim, "Oh grave where is thy victory? Oh death where is thy sting?"
It is this hope of a glorious resurrection that comforts and consoles. We should therefore accept St. Paul's advice not to weep. The speaker explained the mystery of the death of youth. Men are not judged by their age in another life, but by their works, and the young are taken from life in the beauty and innocence of youth, and because of that innocence, before their beauty has been marred by temptation. There was every reason to hope for this young man's eternal happiness. There were two grounds on which the reverend gentleman based his hope, because deceased was an American soldier and a soldier of Jesus Christ. No grander inscription could be placed upon a person's tomb than this: "An American soldier lies here." This is the grandest country in the world. After speaking of its extent and grandeur, Father Sullivan said it was a grand country because of its government. A good government is better than all else he had mentioned of this country's greatness. He said our government was good because it comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. He compared the Declaration of Independence and the gospel. Both favor the equality of all men. Both favor Justice and mercy and truth. Both are the defenders of the poor against tyrants and oppressors. Father Sullivan spoke in the highest terms of the soldier. He reviewed the history of this country from Lexington to Manila and El Caney, spoke of the suffering of Washington's soldiers at Valley Forge. We fought one of the best drilled armies of Europe in the revolution. In the civil war our army suddenly grew from 25,000 to 2,500,000. In the last war 100,000 men were called for and 300,000 responded. They were the youth of the land. They came from every walk of life. Rich and poor were among them, and many of our noblest and best. The war was of short duration. It was one of the most brilliant wars of all time. Europe stood amazed at our bravery and skill, and highly complimented our gallant soldiers. Some of the papers complain of the payment of pensions to the soldiers of the rebellion. They are wrong in doing so. The soldier deserves all he gets. He ought to have more if anything. The country would be miserable if the South had won. We would have been cut up into a number of warring states, and the country would not have been worth living in. The speaker said he would not have remained here if the rebellion had succeeded. Fault is found with the government regarding the last war, but it is not right to do so. Mistakes undoubtedly were made, but the war was well managed on the whole. It cost only 3,000 lives while that number was lost in a few days at Gettysburg, and thousands were killed and wounded in two days at Chickamauga. We should all love and honor the American soldier. The dead are worthy of it. The sick and dying are worthy of it. He believed the man who dies for his country is saved. Christ cannot close the gates of heaven against such a man. He is saved by blood. Father Sullivan closed with an eloquent tribute to the dead soldier who lay before him.
After further religious ceremonies, the grand army retired from the church, the pallbearers again tenderly lifting their burden, and the church was soon vacated. The procession took up its line of march as previously. Turning into Harrison Street from Monroe, it proceeded to Michigan Avenue, down that to State Street, thence to Madison, and soon in the direction of the Pine Lake Cemetery, where most of the grand army took conveyences, the band returning to the city.
At the grave, the impressive and appropriate funeral service of the grand army was read, the guard of honor fired the last salute, taps were sounded, and Comrade Ball was "Left alone in his glory."
The guard of honor consisted of members of deceased's Company F, of the First Illinois, under the command of Capt. O.D. Steele.
The pallbearers were Sergeant Zweig, Corporals Burgess and Turkington, of Chicago, Privates Borg, Noll and Vandewalker, of this city.
Corporal Ronan and Private Rogan of Chicago, were also present.
The coffin was a beautiful one. As it stood in front of the altar, literally covered with the exquisite floral tributes, it was the cynosure of all eyes.
The church was decorated with bunting, a large flag hung in front of the choir loft, and the altar and vestments were in black.
There were nearly 50 conveyances in the procession.
The Carriage company closed from 9 a.m. till noon.
AFTERWORD
Edmund N. Ball died in LaPorte on September 28, 1998, as a result of the illness he incurred during his service in the War with Spain.
************
Ed “Swede” Noll died in LaPorte on April 28, 1909, at the age of 37, of “a complication of diseases”. He was unmarried.
************
Gene “Hans” Wile moved to Chicago where he became a successful insurance man. He died in Chicago on September 6, 1917, at the age of 49, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was survived by his wife Minnie (Hirsch) Wile. He had no children.
************
Bert “Arab” Wile died August 7, 1929, “in a Chicago sanitarium where he had been confined for many years.” He was survived by his widow and by a son Allan.
************
Frank O. “Pumpkin” Borg married Mary Regina Willi on November 27, 1902. They were the parents of five sons, Frank O., Jr., Hubert V., Bernard A., John M., and James A., and 2 daughters, Mary Magdalene and Mary Regina. Frank work for the M. Rumely Company and was Superintendent of the LaPorte Foundry. Throughout his life he had periodic mild recurrences of the malarial fever that he contracted during his service in the War with Spain. He died in LaPorte on September 5, 1950, at the age of 79, of natural causes. He was preceded in death by his wife in 1933, and was survived by all seven of his children and by many grandchildren.
Bibliography
Everett, Marshall, Exciting Experiences in our Wars With Spain and the Filipinos. Chicago: The Educational Co., 1900
|
Freidel, Frank, The Splendid Little War. New York: Bramhall House, 1958.
|
Johnston, Edgar, The Great American-Spanish War Scenes. Chicago: W.B. Conkey Co., 1898
|
McIntosh, Burr, The Little I Saw of Cuba. New York: F. Tennyson Neely, 1899.
|
Millis, Walter, The Martial Spirit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1931.
|
O’Toole, G.J.A., The Spanish War. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1984.
|
Post, Charles Johnson, The Little War of Private Post. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1960
|
Roosevelt, Theodore, The Rough Riders. New York: Scribner’s, 1899.
|
Society of Santiago de Cuba, The Santiago Campaign. Virginia: Williams Printing Co., 1927
|
Watterson, Henry, History of the Spanish-American War. Hartford, 1898.
|
Wheeler, Major-General Joseph, The Santiago Campaign. Boston: Lamson, Wolff & Co., 1898
|
White, Trumbull, Our War with Spain for Cuba’s Freedom. 1898.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment