Walter W. Ward - Springfield in the Spanish American War

The rejections left the ranks of the Springfield companies much depleted and it was necessary to send officers to that city for recruits to fill the vacancies before the companies could be mustered in. Capt. Leonard of G, Lieut. Young of B and Lieut. Powers of K were sent on this duty and with them went about all of the men who had been rejected. As soon as the purpose of their visit was known in Springfield they were besieged by applicants for enlistment but having learned wisdom from what had happened in camp they took the precaution to have all the applicants pass a medical examination before bringing them to South Framingham and as a result few of the new men they brought down failed to pass the examining surgeons at the camp.

On May 6, another member of K company, Private Cook, was taken ill with tonsilitis and was sent home, much to his disgust.

On the same day the field and staff officers of the Second were mustered into the United States service by Lieut. E. M. Weaver, 2d artillery, who had been detailed as mustering officer for the Massachusetts volunteers. Adjutant Paul R. Hawkins was the first one to be mustered and he was followed by Quartermaster E. E. Sawtell. Surgeon Bowen and Assistant Surgeons Gates and Hitchcock had been mustered in on the day after our arrival in camp and had been assigned to duty in assisting in the examinations of recruits.

First Lieut. W. C. Hayes of G joined his company on the afternoon of the 6th and after being examined and accepted was assigned to duty.

On Saturday and Sunday, the 7th and 8th, three batches of additional recruits arrived in camp and were at once handed over to the examining surgeons. By Sunday K company had filled its ranks to the required number of 74 enlisted men and on that day was duly mustered into the military service of the United States for a period of two years "unless sooner discharged." The ceremony was a simple one. The company was marched over to brigade headquarters and formed in column of twos facing the mustering officer, Lieut. Weaver. The latter called out each man's name, beginning with the first sergeant and as each man answered he stepped to the front and facing about took position in front of the company in the same formation. The roll call over, the company was faced to the front, Lieut. Weaver removed his cap and the men uncovered. Then Lieut. Weaver read in impressive tones the oath of allegiance to the United States and administered it to the company, thus completing the ceremony which marked the transition of militiamen and raw recruits into soldiers of the United States. K company was the first company in Massachusetts to be mustered into the United States service and so far as known the first company in the country to be mustered in. That afternoon "government rations" were issued to K and the next day the men began eating them instead of the meals which had up to then been supplied by a caterer. Some of the men who failed to understand the difference between Uncle Sam's diet and that furnished at militia encampments found fault of course with the rations. Butter and milk are unknown in the regular soldiers' menu unless the company fund is drawn upon for them, and some of the men couldn't understand why they were not supplied and found fault accordingly. Later when we were all living luxuriously(?) in Cuba on "sowbelly" bacon, hardtack and coffee, sometimes without sugar, these men remembered with fond but unavailing regret the once despised government rations at South Framingham. The fond parents and relatives who were told in letters from camp of how meager and unsatisfactory the first food furnished by Uncle Sam was may correct their idea by glancing over the rations issued for the first five days to K company while at South Framingham:

300 lbs. potatoes; 422 lbs. flour; 27-3/4 lbs. bacon; 7 lbs. rice; 43-3/4 lbs. beans; 30 lbs. coffee; 56-1/2 lbs. sugar; 15 lbs. salt; 3/4 lb. pepper; 15 lbs. soap; 75 lbs. onions; 5-5/8 lbs. candles; 3-3/4 gallons vinegar and 422 lbs. fresh beef.

It is understood of course that the soap and candles were not issued as edibles but for cleansing and illuminating purposes. And it can also be seen that in the above rations there are possibilities for good eating and plenty of it. As a matter of fact milk and butter were soon supplied from the company funds.

G and B companies were mustered in on the 10th with full ranks. G was to have been mustered in the day previous but when the time arrived one private, a raw recruit, was missing and as the entire company was obliged to be on hand for muster the ceremony was dispensed with for that day and the men were marched back vowing vengeance upon the man who had kept them for 24 hours from getting into the service. Before very long another recruit was found and when the missing private turned up full of penitence and other things his uniform was taken off and after receiving a talking to from Capt. Leonard that made his cheeks burn with shame he was shipped out of camp.

The boys found plenty of amusement during their camp life and with nearly 1000 young fellows in one regiment time did not hang very heavily on their hands during the times between drills and other duties. Base ball and other sports were indulged in and letter writing and visits to the other regiments or an occasional pass to town prevented anything like ennui. In the Springfield companies there were few tent crews that did not have some distinctive appellation for their habitation. Private J. C. Ryan of B made his tent famous as a "steam laundry" and in G street there was the "Hotel Dingbat," so named because the men who occupied it could not think of anything else to call it. In K there was quickly organized an outfit later to be known as the "Wee Haws" and which made itself somewhat famous by the gift of song possessed by its members.

The "board of license commissioners" so famous during the encampment of 1897 was on hand but its members had but little of an official nature to do as the camp of '98 was officially a "dry camp." A good share of the dryness was, however, confined to the weather and a careful search of the records fails to show that any inmate of the camp died of thirst, although there were some serious cases.

ALL of the time during our stay in camp speculation was rife as to when we were going to the front and how; also under what designation were we going. It had been circulated that we were to be known as the 63d United States Volunteers, and other rumors, all of which turned out to be just as near the truth as that one were put into commission. These marked the origin of the "Jo Jo" bureau of misinformation which later became an important feature of the campaign.

On the night of Wednesday, May 11th at 9.30, orders were flashed over the wires from Washington to Lieut. Weaver to send the Second at once to Tampa, Fla., where the army of invasion of Cuba was gathering. Almost everyone except the guard and a few officers and attaches at regimental headquarters, was asleep when the orders came but within a very few moments after their purport had been announced, there was the wildest scene of excitement in the camp that had ever been witnessed in South Framingham. From Lieut. Weaver the orders were quickly transmitted to regimental headquarters and from there to the officers of the regiment. Inside of ten minutes from their receipt by Lieut. Weaver, every man of the Second was awake and in his company street and exultant shouts that went up, quickly aroused the other regiments. The Second was to be the first command from the old Bay State to be ordered outside her boundaries for active service and the men were so proud of it that they could not refrain from reminding the men of the other three regiments of the fact. To the credit of the latter it must be said that although at first they were a bit inclined to sulk because their regiment was not the first to be called upon, yet they soon realized that the honor was in a sense as much Massachusetts' as it was the Second's, and their cheers joined in with ours.