The most important work of an army is that of the commissary department, which is the one division of labor that receives the least credit and no glory. An army might get along without its engineer corps, or its signal service; it could at least march without guns; but it cannot move a foot without its full supply of food.

A few days before Santiago fell, General Shafter wired the War Department that he thought it likely he would be compelled to withdraw. The despatch was made public in the press; to withdraw meant a retreat, and instantly a wave of indignation arose against General Shafter. He was blamed for being weak; he was blamed for allowing himself to be drawn into a trap; he was blamed for everything that the criticising public could think of in their resentment. That the American army should retreat was maddening to the people, for they could see no reason for such action, except the power of the enemy against them. It was not the enemy, however, that threatened to drive the Fifth Army Corps back, nor was it the weakness of the commanding general—it was a rain storm. The columns had pushed forward toward Santiago as fast as possible, and so long as the line of communication between the front and the base of supplies at Siboney was open all went well. But suddenly it rained, and then all was different. The road was eight miles of swimming mud, flanked by impossible jungle; a wheel could not turn in it, and the pack animals could flounder through it but slowly. Hence the supply of rations at the front began to dwindle away, and General Shafter decided that he must move his army toward the food supply, as the food supply could not move toward the army.

Lord Roberts was confronted by the same difficulty in South Africa, and he met it in a masterly manner. The army supply corps that handles the commissary department has been a marvel of efficiency. The work of supplying the British army in the field in South Africa has been done much better than the same work was done by the American force at Tampa or in Cuba; and had it not been for the brilliant management of Colonel (later General) John F. Weston, who was in command at the base of supplies, General Shafter would certainly have been compelled to withdraw from the positions that had been won after hard-fought battles. Colonel Weston ignored all forms of the regular routine; his one object was to feed the men on the fighting line, and feed them he did.

One day I heard one of his officers complaining that he could not get some of his papers receipted, showing a delivery of rations to a certain brigade, and Weston answered, in a characteristic manner, “Damn the receipts! You give rations to anybody who wants them, and after it’s all over I’ll receipt for the whole bunch; and if the government doesn’t like it the government can have me—but the men won’t go hungry.”

Every time I had an opportunity of going to the supply depot I secured all the tobacco I could buy to give to the men at the front. It was an article worth more than its weight in gold, and there was no greater pleasure than to have the chance of making some of the men happy. There was a regulation against allowing one person to purchase more than a pound of tobacco at one time. I asked permission of Colonel Weston to be allowed to buy more; but he was loth to sell it to me until I explained that I did not use it myself, but wanted it for the men. After my explanation he would not sell it at all, but gave me all I could carry. During this time the government held his receipt for all this tobacco, and it really was equivalent to so much money. Colonel Weston’s contempt for governmental red tape saved hundreds of lives in the Santiago campaign; and instead of asking for an accounting for the lack of receipts, the Washington government made him the head of the subsistence department, where he has done the best work in rationing our army at home and in our island possessions that has ever been known.

Before the change in the head of the commissary department was made, things were not so well done. We cannot do better than to look toward England for some valuable points in the conduct of this department, especially in the matter of army supplies for the warmer or tropical countries. They have had more experience than we in feeding their forces on foreign service, and consequently they have brought the business to a state that borders on perfection. In strategy, fighting, and the movement of troops they have been found lacking; but one of the things they have done well is the feeding of their men.

It is a colossal business to supply over 200,000 healthy men, with field and mountain appetites, when they are 7,000 miles away from home, and where there is an active enemy seeking to destroy their communications. It would be a great task to feed that number of men at home, where there is no difficulty in transportation; but when a month’s time must be occupied for the delivery of the food stuffs, the problem becomes most serious.

The quartermaster’s department of the British army has to provide the rations for the men and forage for the animals; besides this, it is called upon to furnish the transportation of the food stuffs, as well as of the army itself. The paymaster’s work is also included in this department. After the quartermaster’s department has put the supplies on the ground, it falls to the lot of the Army Service Corps to deliver it to the various commands in the field.

The Army Service Corps is one of the features of the British army which American authorities would do well to study. It is an armed and drilled commissary corps, of about 4,000 officers and men, which handles the entire work of that branch; but it is a fighting corps as well, when occasion requires. This last feature is of great value, in that it does away with the necessity of a detachment of men being drawn off as a special guard for every wagon or two. The Army Service Corps acts as its own convoy where only an ordinary one is required. When on home duty, it presents a spirited appearance, with a military aspect fully equal to that of the artillery. Its wagons and mounts are of the same type as those of the artillery, and its general equipment is similar.

This corps is one of the few departments that has done well its entire duty during the South African campaign. The reason is obvious—there was no theory regarding the appetite of a robust soldier; it was a solemn fact, just as evident at Aldershot or on Salisbury Plain as in the field. It has been just as real in Egypt or India during the past years of peace as at the present moment at the Cape. The British soldier ate as heartily when he was fighting fanatic dervishes as when he fights the Boer; consequently that department was not compelled on the field to test antiquated methods or to experiment with new theories, only to find them wrong.

The system that England works upon is the establishment of a base of supplies at home, situated at Woolwich, where the government supply depot was established for the especial purpose of meeting the demand of an emergency in case of war. At this depot supplies have been kept ready for shipment to the front at a moment’s notice. They are all packed in cases, the heaviest of which weigh one hundred pounds, while the majority weigh from thirty to eighty pounds. These cases are of convenient size for rapid transportation in the field, and they are so packed that it is not necessary to open them until they are issued to the consumers.

Cape Town was made the secondary, or field base, where all supplies are shipped as fast as they can be loaded on ships; and it is necessary to keep an extra supply of rations and forage sufficient for the consumption of every man and animal on the field for three months, at least, and as much more as it is possible to accumulate above the amount used. Should this reserve stock be called upon, the men would be put on shorter rations until it was an assured fact that the delay in the arrival of fresh supplies was overcome.

The reserve stock consists of 5,000 tons of canned beef, 5,000 tons of white flour, 5,000 tons of hard bread, 90 tons of coffee, 50 tons of tea, 780 tons of sugar, 150 tons of salt, 10 tons of pepper, 1,500 tons of jam, 500,000 gallons of rum, 40,000 tons of oats, 40,000 tons of corn and bran, 40,000 tons of hay. None of this may be used unless it is absolutely necessary and all other supplies fail. Besides this supply at the Cape, an intermediate depot was established at de Aar junction, which is about half way to Pretoria; others were at Bloemfontein and Johannesburg, and the last one was established at Pretoria.

My first idea when looking through these supply stations was of the huge part America played in the South African war. One might well imagine he was in the commissary department of the United States army, as nearly all the supplies bear the mark of American production. While I was at the German army manoeuvres I observed the same thing—American farmers were keeping the German army alive; and my first sight of anything that pertained to war in the South African struggle was a great pile of cases of the familiar Chicago canned beef, such as we used in Cuba, on the wharf at Baira, in Portuguese South Africa. I think the English army could be trailed from Cape Town to Middleburg by empty cans of what they call “bully beef,” each one with the Chicago or Kansas City label.

“I didn’t know America was so large,” said an officer to me one day, “until I saw so much tinned meat down here.”

That same “tinned meat” from Chicago will do more to command the respect of every European nation towards the United States than all the battleships we can float. They have realized what it would mean to attempt to feed an army without the assistance of America.

Many shiploads of supplies came directly from American ports to the Cape, not only of food stuffs, but also of horses, mules, and cattle. It involves more to supply the animals of an army than to feed the men themselves, for the quantity that is used by a mule, horse, or ox is much greater than that required by a man. Each horse has to be given twelve pounds of hay, twelve pounds of oats, and a pound of bran every day. The mules receive ten pounds of oats, six pounds of hay, and one pound of bran. The oxen are usually turned out to graze, and find sufficient food in the veldt grass; when that is not abundant, they receive about eight pounds of hay, but no grain. A large amount of “mealies,” as American corn is called, is used in lieu of oats or other grain, although in many cases the horses will not eat it, being unaccustomed to it. It is always best to feed the animals on the product of the country from which they come, if possible, as they do not understand and will not eat strange grain. The native pony which I rode in South Africa would not touch the plentiful oats, although at one time he was without proper forage for several days.

The use of spirituous liquors has been established in the British army many years, and the issuance is still carried on in the same manner that it was years ago. I do not think there is as much tobacco used in the British army as in ours, although I have nothing but personal observation to judge by in the supposition; but the Britisher wants his “grog” in the army quite the same as in the navy. The issue is about half a gill of rum per day. The quality used is of the very best known, and it comes from a stock bought by the government in Jamaica about forty years ago. The last of that old supply is now being used. The use of liquor as a part of the ration in the British army is almost as old as the army itself, and although it has been fought by the prohibitionists for several years, it still continues. There is not enough issued to cause any intoxication, and the use of the amount which the men receive undoubtedly works effectively against drinking to excess. A man naturally wants what he cannot have, and if he is denied the use of liquor he immediately craves it, and to satisfy that craving he takes too much. While in the field or at Cape Town I saw but one soldier under the influence of liquor; this occurred in Pretoria on the day of the formal occupation; he had celebrated the event too enthusiastically.

There has been a great outcry in the United States against the army “canteen” as having a bad influence over the soldier. If the people who rail at this establishment will look at it in a proper light they will see that instead of increasing drunkenness it has a direct tendency to decrease it. Some men drink to excess whenever they get a chance, and such men always will do this, for alcoholism is a disease, and its victims will always find the opportunity to get drink. Others are quite satisfied with a single drink; but they want that one, and they will have it. If they cannot find it at the post they will go where they can obtain it, and that means in some saloon, where the temptation to take more is far greater than at their own canteen. Not only is the desire less in the post canteen, but should a man become intoxicated in the least degree no more would be served him; while if he were in a public house he might keep on drinking as long as he could stand up against the bar, or as long as his money held out.

In the British army the use of large quantities of jam is supposed to prevent, to a degree, the craving for liquor, and consequently it is issued to the men regularly. Tea is also a part of the British ration that is never used in the American army, as our men do not want it. The American soldier laughs when he hears of British troops in the field being served with afternoon tea; but its use is so universal in the British Empire that the men crave it as our men crave coffee.

The British soldier in the field is better fed than the American, and he has more variety; but to obtain that variety of food costs time, and in consequence the troops move much slower than ours do.

The rations of the South African army were in marked contrast to those of the Fifth Army Corps during the Santiago campaign. We got bacon, hard bread, and coffee, and very seldom anything else. Occasionally tomatoes in cans were issued to us, and sometimes sugar; but the three staple articles just mentioned were all we were sure of, and all we wanted. The volunteers suffered somewhat, because they did not know how to cook these simple rations so as to make them acceptable; but the regular, who had lived on them many times in the West, was satisfied and asked nothing more. The tomatoes were issued in gallon cans, and naturally were exceedingly difficult to carry if the regiment was moving rapidly.

I recall that on the day when the battle of Guasimas opened, General McKibbin’s brigade was encamped near Siboney, and we were ordered to go into action on General Young’s right, as it was known the enemy was in front of us in force, and it looked as though a general battle would ensue. The brigade was ordered on the road just as some rations had been issued, and in the issue were these large cans of tomatoes. The men could not carry them, and so were compelled to abandon them. I waited until the regiments had moved out, and then watched a crowd of Cuban “soldiers” gathering up the cans, as well as a lot of blankets that some of the men had thrown away. I allowed the Cubans to gather a goodly lot, and then ordered them to carry the stuff on the march forward, and later in the day, when the regiments had halted, our men got their rations back. It is almost useless to issue food in large packages to men on the march, for they cannot possibly carry them, and the food is wasted. It is not the custom of our commissary department to do this, but for that Cuban campaign the government bought all the food supplies that could be found, regardless of the covering.

The further task of putting rations on the firing line, or at the extreme front, is a prodigious difficulty. The railroad is used as far as possible, and then wagons and pack animals are brought into play. In South Africa the transportation was exceedingly crude. All sorts of wagons and carts were brought into service; everything that rolled on wheels was promptly commandeered. Ox-wagons, buckboards, Cape carts, grocery wagons, and even private carriages were a part of the long line of vehicles. The ox-carts and great trek-wagons were chiefly used for commissary supplies, but they were so heavy as to be unsuitable for the work. An ox-cart was drawn by a span of sixteen or twenty animals, while the army wagon was drawn by ten mules. This was almost twice the number necessary, and the superfluous stock greatly delayed the operations, for it could not carry much more than its own feed. Those mules were much smaller than our big army mules, but six would have been ample for any ordinary load. When more are used, there is a great amount of energy lost. Pack-mules were almost unknown, and they are never used in South Africa as they are always used in the army of the United States. One of our trains of forty mules can carry much more than forty mules can pull, and with far greater ease. The pack-train, moreover, can go anywhere, over any sort of roads or treks, even into the firing line itself, with rations or ammunition; while a wagon must have a good road or it will be compelled to turn back.

In our trains the mules are not bridled, but are taught to follow the lead of a “bell-horse,” an animal with a bell around its neck, and either led or ridden by one of the packers. Wherever that bell goes, the other mules will follow, regardless of obstructions or anything else. In my judgment, nothing can compare with the pack-mule for transportation in the field. Wagons are useful as long as there are good, hard roads to follow; but enemies have an unpleasant way of going away from the roads into hills and mountains, or across trackless plains, and there is where the mule is not merely valuable, but absolutely essential. These pack animals can keep up, not only with the infantry, but also with fast-moving bodies of mounted troops. The “packers” of the American army are civilian attachÉs, but they are a very essential part of the force. They are nearly all men from the West, and are generally of the cow-puncher stamp, afraid of nothing, not even of work. These packers did some of the most heroic work during the Santiago campaign, although they never got any credit for it, and are seldom mentioned in despatches. They are to the army what the stokers are to the navy—the very means of life; yet bound to go on doing that hard, undistinguished work, with no applause from the great unthinking public. They are never seen in parades and reviews, yet to them belongs a great portion of the credit for these displays. The packers of the army are accustomed to go into the very firing line to deliver ammunition. It is indeed a memorable sight to witness these men in action, and to watch their indifference to the danger that is singing about their heads. Very picturesque are these Western packers, with their happy abandon and their oblivion to worry. They wear no uniform, they have no regiment to be proud of; they are just plain, good-natured, hard-working civilians of the great West. The only arms they carry are their own Colts, just as they carried them in New Mexico or Montana.

One day, when the fighting was at its height in front of Santiago, a pack-train came up to the line with a welcome supply of rations and ammunition; and after the boxes had been dumped on the ground, and the men were prying the lids off with their bayonets, one of the packers strolled up to the trenches and drawled, “I ain’t had a crack at a greaser since I left the reservation, so here goes.” He stepped out on the embankment, in full view of the enemy, and emptied his six-shooter towards the little low city in front of us. As the Spanish trenches at this point were fully a quarter of a mile away, his pistol did not produce a panic among them, but he enjoyed his prank.

“Well, I reckon I must have got four out o’ that six,” he remarked, as he began to reload.

“You’d better come down out of that, or one of the other two will get you,” called a soldier.

“Get me!” he said contemptuously; “I never see a greaser yet that could hit a bunch o’ steers in a corral.”

He was becoming the target of the entire Spanish line, and drawing their fire; so an officer ordered him to get down, and told him at the same time that if he wanted to shoot he might borrow a rifle.

“No,” he replied; “I ain’t got no time to monkey ‘round here, for I got to get some grub up, or you-all don’t eat.” And off he went, telling the other packers how he had “done up half a dozen greasers.”

If the British army had had a goodly number of Kentucky mules, the big sixteen-hands sort, instead of the little donkey wagons they did have, they would have saved several months of their campaigning. One of those big mules can carry all day as heavy a load as he can stand under; then if you remove the pack-saddle and let him have a roll, he is fresh enough to keep going all night. Not only are they equal to heavy loads and long hours, but they can go longer than a horse without forage.

The British army has an emergency ration that is said to be very useful in case of extreme need. Each man and officer carries one in his haversack, and the men are not allowed to open them, except by order of an officer, or in case of absolute need when no officer is near. This emergency ration consists of a tin can, shaped something like a pocket-book, five inches long, two and a half inches wide, and an inch and a half thick. It is divided into two compartments, one containing four ounces of concentrated beef, known as pemmican. The whole weighs about twelve ounces, and the label on the case informs the soldier that the ration is calculated to maintain strength for thirty-six hours if eaten in small quantities at a time. I never ate one of them, but I have heard some of those who have say that they could eat half a dozen of them and still feel empty. They do not satisfy hunger, but merely sustain strength.

Another ration, prepared by a firm in England, consists of a species of stew of beef, potatoes, carrots, and gravy; it makes an exceedingly good dinner, one can being sufficient for two men for one meal. It may be heated easily in the can in a few moments, as it is already cooked, and it could, if occasion demanded, be eaten cold. General Weston has been sending a similar ration to the soldiers in the Philippines, put up in convenient shape, with rounded corners to the can so that it may be carried in the pocket.

In many respects the usual rations of the British and American armies are very similar, but the latter army uses much more bacon than the former, which uses much more fresh beef.

The British military authorities always study out a ration for a particular campaign, and then issue it according to the different climates and zones. Major Louis L. Seamen, who has seen a great deal of military service in every part of the world, has devoted much study to this subject, and he claims that there is nothing more important in army subsistence than this adapting the ration to the temperature. The ration adopted for the campaign in South Africa is:

1 lb. canned meat.
4 oz. bacon, as a change from meat.
2 oz. cheese.
1 lb. hardtack instead of 1-1/4 lb. bread.
1 oz. chocolate instead of tea or coffee.
1/2 oz. coffee, 1/4 oz. tea.
3 oz. sugar, 1/2 oz. salt, 1/3 oz. pepper.
1/64 gal. rum, 4 oz. jam, three times each week.
2 oz. condensed pea soup.
2 oz. rice instead of 1 oz. dried vegetables.
1 oz. dried vegetables.
1 oz. lime juice.
1 lb. fresh meat.
1-1/4 lb. bread.

The ration of the United States army is:

20 oz. fresh beef or mutton.
12 oz. pork or bacon.
22 oz. salt meat, when no fresh meat is issued.
14 oz. dried fish, when no fresh meat is issued.
18 oz. pickled or fresh fish instead of fresh meat.
18 oz. soft bread, or
18 oz. hard bread, or
20 oz. corn meal.
16/25 oz. baking powder, when necessary in field to bake bread.
2/25 oz. beans or peas, or 1-3/5 oz. rice or hominy.
16 oz. potatoes, or 12-4/5 oz. potatoes and 3-1/5 oz. onions; or
11/15 oz. potatoes and 4-4/5 oz. canned tomatoes; or
16 oz. fresh vegetables.
1-3/5 oz. coffee, green; or 1-7/25 oz. coffee, roasted; or
8/25 oz. tea.
2-2/5 oz. sugar, or 16/25 gill molasses or cane syrup.
8/25 gill vinegar.
16/25 oz. salt.
1/25 oz. (black) pepper.
16/25 oz. soap.
6/25 oz. candles, when oil is not furnished.

The American army also has what is called a travel ration, issued on any transportation where it is impossible to cook more than coffee. It is also often used on quick marches, as it is a short but sufficient allowance. It consists of:

1 lb. hard bread.
3/4 lb. canned beef.
1/3 lb. baked beans or tomatoes (canned).
1/8 lb. coffee.
1/15 lb. sugar.

It was this ration that we used throughout the Santiago campaign, save that most of the time we had bacon, instead of canned beef, and we very seldom got the beans or tomatoes. I found it adequate for the entire time, even with all the hard work we went through. No one found fault with it, except some of the volunteers, and they were dissatisfied with the ration because they did not understand how to use it to advantage. A regular soldier can make about fourteen distinct dishes with that ration, each one very palatable.

There was considerable trouble over the complaints raised by the volunteers, and it developed into the “meat scandal” that has furnished jests for the comic papers ever since; but these difficulties are bound to appear in every campaign. I did see some meat in Cuba that was not fit to eat; but, on the whole, the meat supply was very good when one considers the haste in which it was purchased and the climate where it was used.

England has had her difficulties in the same form, but her people do not make such an outcry as was raised in our newspapers. Early in the South African war the troop-ship Arawa sailed from Southampton, and before she got to sea it was discovered that her cargo of meat was spoiled. She put back, and the entire lot, amounting to fifteen thousand pounds of English and colonial beef and mutton, was dumped out on the dock—a “very unwholesome mess.” The mutton was green, and in a bad condition; as soon as the port health officer saw it he ordered it to be taken to sea and dumped, which was promptly done. Had this occurred in America during the Spanish war the newspapers would probably have demanded the instant removal of a few officials. In England, however, the only comment in the papers was that “the incident was the one topic of conversation at the docks yesterday, and military men were highly indignant about it.”

Before closing the subject of rations it is necessary to speak of the commissary department of the Boer forces, if I may use this phrase regarding a department that does not exist. Among the Boers each man is his own supply corps, finding his rations wherever he can, and in what quantity he can. It is marvelous what a small amount these burghers can subsist upon while carrying on active operations. During an action near Pretoria I was lying on top of a kopje, watching the advance of the British forces, while they kept up a heavy shell fire. About one o’clock I felt hungry, so I opened my haversack and took out a loaf of bread and a piece of beef weighing perhaps a couple of pounds. Near me was an old, white-bearded Boer, who must have been at least seventy-five. After I had been eating for a few moments I noticed that he had no haversack, and so asked him if he would not have a bit of the bread.

“Have you plenty?” he asked before accepting.

I said that I had, so he took the loaf and broke off a very small piece, handing the remaining portion back. I told him that he might keep it all, and also gave him some meat. As soon as he had assured himself that I had more, he called to a couple of boys near by, and they came over, accompanied by other boys. He divided the loaf and meat, and it served for the full day’s rations for five fighting men.

“I had some bread yesterday,” said the old man, half apologetically, “but I have not had time to get any to-day.”

“Will you have a drink?” I inquired, as I unslung my canteen.

“Water?” he queried, as though afraid I was going to offer him something stronger.

The British people at home have taken comfort in assuming that, as no supplies can get to the Boers, the war will be brought to a speedy end. Deluded people! So long as there is a trek-ox and a sack of mealies in the Transvaal the Boers will be sufficiently supplied to carry on the war. They carry no store wagons, they issue no rations; but occasionally an ox is slaughtered, and each man hangs up a piece of the beef until it is dried. He sticks that into his pocket, with some bread made of corn, if he cannot get better, and he is perfectly content.

I asked General de la Rey where he expected to get his supplies after he left Pretoria, and he remarked quietly, as if without humorous intention, “Oh, the English are bringing in enough for both armies.”

He had warrant, too; for I know of many cases where, as the supplies of a command were getting low, they went out and captured a wagon-train or a supply-train on the railroad, and replenished their larders. General de Wet has kept his commands for many months in rations, clothing, and other necessaries of war from the supplies of the enemy.

When the Boers went into a town, they never commandeered anything without paying cash for it, and in this matter they were far too lenient. I was sitting in the Transvaal Hotel in Pretoria one evening when a command of about forty men rode up. The commandant came into the office and asked the proprietor if he would give the men a meal; they had been marching since early morning without anything to eat. The man in charge (the proprietor, being an Englishman, had fled at the beginning of the war) asked if they could pay for the entertainment. The officer replied that they did not have enough money to pay the regular price, but that he would give all they had and would pay the rest later. The hotel man told him roughly that he was not running his place for fun, and that he could not feed the soldiers unless paid in advance. The commandant walked slowly out and told his burghers what had been said, and they wheeled their horses about and continued their march through the town, supperless. I do not believe there is another people on earth that would have done the same thing, and allowed that money-grasping hotel man to go on serving meals to men who were too cowardly to fight for their country, or to foreigners who had deserted their cause, but who happened to have enough money to satisfy his exorbitant demands.

Many of the burghers went out of Pretoria on the last days with scarcely enough to keep them alive, simply because they had no money, and they would not take by force even a portion of the stores piled high in every shop. The forbearance of these simple people was almost past belief.