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Matanzas

On January 10th the Obdam bearing the First Battalion of the Eighth, came to anchor at Matanzas, in a wide, shallow bay, where ships lie a mile or more off shore to discharge. Hills topped with palms, rose on either side of the city, which spread out on a strip of land between two little rivers, and straggled up the slopes, until the stone houses of the town proper gave place to palm thatched huts on the outskirts. The city upon a close inspection, was dirty and battered, but from the sea its pink and blue walls presented a picturesque appearance.

General Wilson, the Military Governor, and his staff, immediately landed, and were received by the Twelfth New York. The men of the Eighth witnessed this function from a distance. They were kept on the transport during the day, while their baggage was landed.

The military camps were located on the western shore of the bay, where the northeast trades blow continually across the bay from the open ocean, always insuring pure air. It was a scant mile from the city, and pipes from the municipal water service were laid, insuring a bountiful supply of water.

The camp of the Eighth lay behind the old Spanish Fort San Severino, and between the camp of the engineer battalion, and the Twelfth New York. A broad boulevard in a bad state of repair extended from the old fort to the town. All the troops were encamped along this boulevard, on ground that for rockiness and general hardness of appearance, outclassed any perpendicular farm in New England.

The rocks were of coral and volcanic origin, thrown up ages ago, and appeared above the surface in many fantastic shapes. Every square yard had its share of rock jutting above the red soil in sharp pinnacles. The ground had been covered with brush and cactus, but the engineers had been at work during the week prior to the arrival of the Obdam, clearing this away, so that when the First Battalion landed, it found the ground cleared of all vegetation.

The landing was made at a small wharf near the fort, and a few steps across the dilapidated boulevard, brought the men to their future home. The regiment had an excellent site, the bay lay before it, and the ground rose in terraces from the water until it terminated in a range of hills a mile back of the camp.

Major Eldredge who had preceded the regiment as a member of General Sanger's staff, received the public property turned over to the United States by Spain, in accordance with the evacuation agreement, in Matanzas, and later in the City of Cardenas and other towns in the province. When the regiment arrived, he was busily engaged at Matanzas in establishing charities, and in reorganizing the police department. The country about the city, as in other parts of Cuba, was a waste, and the people were in a destitute condition. It was the first duty of the United States to care for the people, and supply them with food.

While the First Battalion was locating itself at Matanzas, the Second and Third Battalions were enjoying a delightful voyage. During the whole trip the sea was calm, and the Michigan glided along as smoothly as any pleasure yacht upon a summer cruise. Very few men complained of sea sickness, and soon got over any unpleasant feeling, and enjoyed the trip.

It was warm and stuffy where they were quartered in the hold, but their discomfort vanished with daylight, when they climbed on deck to loll in the shade and enjoy the steady northeast trade. The Michigan was formerly a freight vessel of the Warren Line, used as a cattle boat to carry live stock to England.

The enlisted men were assigned quarters between decks. There were no berths, but each man was furnished with a duck hammock, which at night was hung on hooks in wooden uprights. These hammocks were hung in tiers, one over the other. In the morning the hammocks were rolled and stored, and the quarters prepared for inspection, which took place twice daily, at 10 A. M., and just before retreat. These inspections were made by the Colonel, accompanied by the transport quartermaster, the police officer, medical officer, and master of the ship. After the morning inspection, daily exercise was required on deck.

Sometime during the day every man had a bath. They stripped on the forward deck, and were pumped upon with a stream of water from the ocean.

The officers quarters were as cramped as those of the men. There were only ten state rooms. The ships guard consisted of one company detailed for each day, the captain acting as officer of the day, and the lieutenants as officers of the guard. Each company commander provided his command with proper police utensils from the ships quartermaster, and looked after the policing of the company quarters. Cooking was done in the ship's galleys. During the trip, Stiles commenced work with the musicians on board, for the new regimental band. This nucleus had band practice every day.

During the second day the transport steamed along the Florida coast within sight of a continuous stretch of beach sand and palm groves. At Jupiter Inlet a salute was exchanged with some guns mounted near the summer hotels, and the ship went so near the shore that the winter visitors could be counted on the hotel piazzas.

Late in the afternoon of the 12th, the first glimpse was caught of Cuba. During the night the transport lay off shore waiting for a pilot. On the morning of the 13th, a pilot came on board and the vessel steamed into the Bay of Matanzas, and came to anchor about two miles from the city. A guard detail was immediately placed upon the small wharf near San Severino to guard the baggage as it was landed. Details were made to clear up the ship and assist in discharging baggage and live stock.

As soon as the sentries were posted on the wharf, the soldiers began to be lightered to the shore. A corral was established near the wharf, where the horses and mules were soon assembled. Before night the men on the Michigan were landed, and had joined their comrades of the First Battalion in a pup camp, between the Boulevard and the water, under the walls of San Severino.

For a week the soldiers of the Eighth were busy preparing their new camp. Large hospital tents were issued to the command. Each company was divided into squads of six men under a corporal, and assigned to a tent. These tents were large enough to accommodate ten men, and in them seven men had all the room they required. A large fly was issued with each tent. As it was impossible to drive tent pins, large joists were used in the framing of the tent floors, and portions of these joists were extended on either side, to which the guy ropes were attached. The tent floors were laid about a foot above the surface of the ground on posts. To every man there was issued a Gold Medal cot.

Each company, with the lumber brought from Americus, erected a frame mess house with substantial flooring, and constructed mess tables and seats. The roofs of these mess houses were covered with canvas, and in the rear of each a kitchen was built. The quarters of the battalion commanders were upon a terrace slightly raised above the level of the line officers street. Behind this terrace was another, the center of which was occupied by Regimental headquarters. On one side of this terrace, a Regimental hospital was established, and on the other end, a stable with a canvas roof for the horses and mules.

The greatest difficulty was experienced in constructing roads through this camp. The rocks cropped out in points, which had to be broken with sledge hammers, or blasted with powder. Major Graves performed the important duties of superintendent of streets, and soon had a beautiful macadamized road running the whole length of the camp in front of the line officers quarters.

From the center of this road, a well constructed way led to the field officers terrace, and to the corral on the headquarters terrace. Each company street was also macadamized. The rough pointed stones which had been broken off were laid as a foundation and gravel and sand were brought in as a covering. These roads were crowned in the center, and were a most creditable production, and the source of much favorable comment and praise. Major Graves was often congratulated upon the work of his new department.

The gray walls of San Severino early attracted the attention of the soldiers. It was an old Spanish fort erected to defend the approach to Matanzas, and had just been evacuated by Spanish troops.

The Cuban visitors to camp who could make themselves understood, spread harrowing tales of death recently inflicted upon insurgents within its gloomy masonry. The old fort had been standing for centuries, and looked to the imagination like a suitable home for any kind of horror or torture. The tales told were to the effect that insurgents were often lined up in squads against the walls and shot to death, or decapitated and their bodies thrown into the bay. A special wall in the counterscarp was pointed out as the execution place.

The American soldiers, ever on the outlook for souvenirs, succeeded in probing many battered bullets from the coral masonry of this wall, which were sent home as evidence of these tales. The fort was soon occupied and used as a military prison.

Lieutenant James H. Craig of Company L was detailed as its first commander, and under him the casements were made habitable for its guards, and for the prisoners awaiting general court martial or serving sentences. An old piece of Spanish ordnance was mounted on the parapet and did duty for a sunrise and sunset gun.

This picturesque pile was always in the foreground of any outlook from the camp of the Eighth, and under its shade the men loafed, or took they daily dip in the waters of the bay. All shipping passed the fort or lay at anchor under its guns. In the morning or at night the water in front of it was alive with birds and pelicans, diving for food, with great fish bags hanging from their lower jaws, and in the lazy afternoons, these same birds were seen perched on pieces of flotsam taking siestas.

A few miles across the bay the walls of a settlement said to be occupied by Cuban insurgents, broke with a broad band of glittering white between the bright blue of the water, and the green expanse of grass and palms, which on rolling hills, rose to meet the blue sky on a distant horizon. The steady trade wind, beginning about eight in the morning, and dying away just before sunset, rendered life in the shade of the fort pleasant and comfortable, however high the thermometer mounted in the sun.

As soon as the camp was put in condition, military work outside of guard and provost duty was usually performed in the early morning or late afternoon. During the middle of the day officers and men had leisure to enjoy the pleasure of just living and being in the tropics.

Much of the hard work in unloading transports and getting the camp sites ready for occupation was done by Cubans in the employ of the government. Some two hundred of these worked about the camps in squads, under the charge of non-commissioned officers from the engineer battalion. A large number were employed in cleaning up the city, and putting it in a sanitary condition. Much work was undertaken by the government to furnish employment to the poor.

Lieutenant Colonel William Stopford was appointed general police officer for all the camps, and had quite a force of civilian employees under him. In his sanitary work he was charged with the duty of destroying the many reconcentrado huts that had been constructed on the outskirts of the town. The sides of these huts were made of dried palm bark, and the roofs were thatched with palm leaves. They had been built by the poor country people compelled to come within the lines of concentration by the Spanish soldiery. Their owners were usually glad to take the fifteen dollars offered by the government and move out. The purchase and moving out process was completed in a few minutes, and the evacuated homes set on fire.

There was a great deal of destitution throughout the cities and towns of Matanzas Province. Most of the towns had been occupied as fortified camps by the Spanish troops, and the people of the surrounding country had been brought within the limits of the camps to prevent their helping the insurgents.

The food supply was inadequate to support the population herded together in this way, and there were many deaths from starvation, and great mortality, especially among the children. Committees were formed throughout the Province for the purpose of getting food to these people. Captain Horace S. Bean of Company B was sent into the interior to organize these committees and superintend the distribution.

Chaplain George D. Sanders was detailed on special duty as chairman of the commission on charities and corrections for the District, where he served with much credit until mustered out.

Many poor people came to the camp to collect scraps of food that were thrown away. They were mostly children and were not burdened with much covering. They were special objects of pity to the soldiers, who supplied them with food and clothing. After the depots were opened in the city for the distribution of food, people were forbidden, for sanitary reasons, assembling about the mess houses.

The men were annoyed by other visitors for whom they had no compassion. There was a large variety of bugs and insects that made their homes among the coral rocks. Centipedes and tarantulas were especially unwelcome, as they formed the unpleasant habit of spending the night in flannel shirt sleeves and trouser legs, and resented being disturbed in the morning when the owner put on his clothing. Fortunately, their bites, although very painful, were not deadly. It was soon discovered that they disliked tent floors which had been washed with a solution of corrosive sublimate, and after a while these pests either died, or migrated to other quarters, where they were treated to less frequent doses of corrosive sublimate.

Everything in the City of Matanzas, including streets, people, buildings and language, were at first matters of great curiosity to the soldiers. The city was supposed to have a population of some 40,000, and was the chief sea port and capital of the province bearing the same name. The streets were narrow and ill kept. The sidewalks were not over two and a half feet wide, and most of the roadways were so rough that it would be impossible to drive a light American wagon over them without great discomfort.

The houses were mostly alike, built of stone or stucco, and many were colored a light blue or pink. They were built about a square court yard, and usually not over two stories in height. The front of the houses were flush with the sidewalks, and the windows barred on the outside. No glass was used, but behind the iron bars, were shutters, which, when opened, permitted anyone in the street to look upon the family life within the front room. The front door was usually large enough to allow a carriage to enter the house, and opened into a passageway leading to a court. The kitchen was in the corner of this court, or in a covered way leading into a back court. This back court was sometimes used as a stable, and the exit from the stable was through the court and front door of the house. Charcoal brasiers were used exclusively for cooking, and a stove was unknown. The sleeping rooms were usually upon the second floor, and opened upon a balcony, which ran around three sides of the court. In the better class of houses there was usually a fountain in the court, surrounded by flowers and shrubbery.

Owing to the absence of decent roads, everything brought from the country had to be carried upon pack horses. The milk dealers carried their cans in the pouches of a huge saddle placed upon a very small horse. Fodder was carried through the streets on similar saddles, and a horse bearing a load of grass, looked as if he was going to a masquerade disguised as a hay cock. Venders peddled bunches of poultry tied together by the legs, and fishermen went about carrying blue lobsters hanging by their tails from sticks, and advertised their wares in shrill invitations to buy "langostas frescas."

Life in the streets and in the stores, the manner of preparing and marketing foods, the different business methods, and the Spanish language as a setting to all this strangeness, was new and interesting. The men enjoyed the custom of storekeepers charging different prices to officers and enlisted men over the same counter for the same article, and the bland way a haberdasher would meet an officer's protest, by telling him that everything ought to cost him more, as his pay was larger. On Sunday, the only places of business closed were the U. S. Quartermaster and Commissary Depots.

Sunday afternoons and evenings were holidays for everyone except the storekeepers, and during Lent the streets were filled with masqueraders. This manner of life was new to the men from New England. Passes to visit the city were freely issued, when not interfering with military duty, and men with good records were allowed to visit Havana for a few days.

The City Hall in Matanzas, known as the Municipal Palace, was situated on the Plaza in the middle of the city. The Plaza was planted with palms and other tropical trees, and was the center of business and social life. In the evening, one of the military bands furnished music, and the citizens promenaded or gathered about the tables in the restaurants, whose many open doors made them a continuation of the sidewalk. The buildings facing the square were stately and picturesque, and in the evening when the Plaza was thronged with merry groups, and the electric lamps sparkled among trees and fountains, life seemed very gay and foreign.

The provost guard was always on duty, and patrolled the streets to maintain order. During the last of the stay at Matanzas, Major Eldredge acted as Provost Marshal, and Companies M, E, K, and H were detached from the regiment as a permanent part of his guard, and were quartered in the old Spanish barracks.

On January 20th, the Cubans began a celebration in honor of independence. No restrictions were placed upon these festivities, but troops were held in readiness to suppress disorder. Many cruelties had been inflicted upon the people of Matanzas by representatives of the Spanish Government, and intense hatred was manifested against the power that repressed them so long. As many Spaniards remained in the city, it was feared, in the enthusiasm of the celebration, some outburst of violence might occur against them. General Betancourt, who commanded the Cuban insurgents, assured General Wilson that his people were too happy to commit any breach of the peace.

Orders were issued to the troops in camp that a single gun fired from San Severino, was the signal to assemble, and that any disturbance was to be at once suppressed. At the end of the boulevard, near its entrance to the city, a marble statute of Alphonse XII, King of Spain, was walled up in a brick casing to hide it, and preserve it as a work of art against vandalism.

The celebration was held in a most peaceable and orderly manner, and was a joyful expression of gratitude for deliverance from oppression. Extensive preparations were made by the people; public and private buildings were decorated, and numerous arches spanned the streets, bearing appropriate inscriptions in both Spanish and English. One arch bore the inscription, "Hurrah for us." The word "us" painted in small letters, referred to the United States, and was evidently the way the author remembered the marks on Government property. The American and Cuban flags were waved together throughout the city.

The exercises commenced with a street parade of Cuban troops, the fire department, school children and citizens. The Eighth Drum Corps did duty at the head of the insurgent soldiers. In the afternoon, vespers were held in the Cathedral, and at night there was a display of fireworks and general public rejoicing throughout the city.

An interesting feature of the celebration took place the next day opposite the camp of the Eighth, where a solemn high mass of requiem was celebrated to the memory of some sixty persons who had been garroted on the spot by the public executioner. These were political prisoners who had suffered in the death chair, by having their necks broken while held in an iron collar, by a screw driven against their spinal cord, and operated on the back of the chair, very much as the screw of a letter press is worked.

An altar, covered with black velvet and decorated with silver fringe, was erected on the site of these executions. The priests and acolytes were dressed in black. During the services the Cuban soldiers rested on their arms, and formed a military guard about the altar. The Eighth Regiment and the Cuban Infantry Bands furnished music for the mass. The relatives of the persons executed attended in deep mourning, and added to the solemnity of the services by their expressions of intense grief. The corner stone of a monument to the memory of these patriots was laid with Catholic ceremonies. A detail from the Engineer Battalion prepared and lowered this stone in place during the ceremonies.

In the afternoon the school children, dressed in American and Cuban colors, led by the Eighth Regiment Drum Corps, paraded and held a festival in the theatre. During the evening there were numerous balls and fetes and further exercises in the theatre. Twenty men from each company were given passes and allowed to go into town. On January 23rd the celebration concluded with a review of all the troops, before the Municipal Palace, to show that the American troops sympathized with the inhabitants in their festivities.

On February 9th, a shot was fired by a member of the Eighth Regiment in the discharge of his duty. It was the stormiest night the regiment experienced in Cuba. About midnight the sentinel in front of the Colonel's quarters thought he saw two men coming from the hills and creeping towards the tents. They refused to halt when challenged. The sentinel rested his rifle over a corner of the tent, with the muzzle a few inches above the Colonel's ear and fired. The sentinel reported that one of the men uttered an exclamation in good strong English, and the two beat a hasty retreat. As an investigation disclosed two goats in rear of the camp, it was generally supposed that the sentinel attributed some general remarks of the Colonel about this occurrence, to one of the goats.

On February 11th all the troops at Matanzas were reviewed by General Breckenridge, Inspector General of the United States Army. The review took place upon the boulevard, and was followed by a careful inspection of the camps. This inspection was thus commented upon in his official report to the War Department:—

"Matanzas Infantry Camp a model. ****** These same soldiers had a perfect camp also at Lexington, Kentucky. Such seasoned, well-instructed soldiers as the best of these, like the Eighth Massachusetts, Twelfth New York, and Third Engineers, and such handsome, healthful camps, wrung from adverse nature are gratifying to all whoever commanded them, and are to be expected from such officers as Generals Wilson and Sanger."

On February 20th the Regiment assisted in the reception of General Maximo Gomez, the Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban Army. The men of the Eighth were stationed about five paces apart on each side of the streets leading from the Plaza to the railroad station. An escort consisting of six troops of the Second United States Cavalry, the fire department of the city, societies of citizens, and the school children, all under the command of Colonel Pew, met the General at the station, and conducted him between the lines of the Eighth, to the Municipal Palace. The streets were decorated with flags, and the citizens turned out in holiday apparel. The General was received with all the honors due his exalted station and standing in the island. Enthusiasm was unbounded, and the Cuban General appeared much moved by the ovation accorded him along the entire route.

Flowers were showered upon him from the balconies, and flags were everywhere waved. The General was slight in stature, appeared about seventy years of age, and was mounted on a handsome Cuban charger.

As the procession passed, the members of the Eighth fell in behind and brought up the rear in columns of fours. At the Municipal Palace the General reviewed the troops forming his escort. General Gomez remained in the city a number of days, and upon leaving was escorted to the railroad station by the Eighth.

During his stay, he visited the camps and spent some time at the target range, which had been installed under the direction of Major Eldredge. The General tried his hand at shooting, and received an excellent score card from Lieutenant Craig, who was in charge of the range. His visit was made the occasion of a reception and ball given at the theatre, by all the officers of the Garrison. This ball was the social function of the season, and was in acknowledgment of the many courtesies extended to the officers by the citizens of Matanzas.

The Twelfth New York was the first Volunteer Regiment to leave Matanzas. When the transport which was to carry it home, arrived in the bay, the band of the Eighth paraded through the line officers street, and company after company fell in and marched to the camp of the Twelfth to show the good feeling existing between the regiments. While marching over the band played "On the Bowery." As the column passed through the camp of the Twelfth, its band got together and joined the band of the Eighth on the march back, playing "Home, Sweet Home." The men of the two regiments fell in together behind the bands, and after marching through both camps, halted in the open space between the camps while the bands played "Auld Lang Syne."

On March 21st the Eighth, after evening parade, escorted the Twelfth New York to the wharf, where it embarked in lighters to go on board the transport "Meade", which sailed the following day.

On March 27th, orders were issued for the Eighth to be mustered out in Boston. On April 2nd, the transport "Meade" returned from New York, and the Eighth was ordered to embark the following day. In the evening the officers, with the band, called upon General Sanger to pay respects for the last time to their chief. During most of their service, they had served in his command. They appreciated the efforts he had made to maintain their health, and held in high esteem his qualities as an officer and soldier.

On the afternoon of April 3rd the post flag was lowered in the camp of the Eighth, and the regiment, numbering 46 officers and 1177 men, embarked. Early the next morning the transport steamed out of Matanzas Bay, and the foreign service of the regiment was ended.

Just before sailing, a messenger from the Municipal Government of Matanzas presented the Colonel with an official copy of a proclamation, which had been adopted and issued by the city the preceding day.

"TO THE EIGHTH REGIMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS

The brief period which you have spent among us has been sufficient to enable us to appreciate your patriotism, your great virtues, and your self-sacrifice and generosity. An indelible token of eternal gratitude and admiration you leave stamped upon our hearts. You are worthy sons of George Washington.

You are returning to your beloved homes. Return then; There, love, friendship and hope await you. Speed you, and be you happy there, you who have accomplished in Cuba the greatest moral and material undertaking of the 19th century. There you will be able to hold up your heads among the great and the good; for great and noble also are those who there have contributed to the glory of the homeland. Believe therefore, and be assured that you leave friends here, brethren whose gratitude will ever cause them to love and bless you. Farewell!

Matanzas, April 3, 1899:

Alfred O. Carnot,

Mayor of the City.

By order of the Council:

Municipal Residence."