Harlan county soldiers who volunteered to fight in the Spanish-American War were unaccustomed to the food dished out at Camp Ship. Lightbread was the one commodity they didn't care for. Each soldier was given a loaf a day.

"We broke it up and threw it at each other," a soldier said. "We were used to eating corn bread," he added.

They had plenty of beef and salt bacon. They didn't need the bacon so they exchanged it for flour. The cook made biscuits for his Harlan County group.

Jim Forester was captain of the Fourth Kentucky Regiment. Lt. John C. Carter and John C. Howard were the other officers from Harlan. Col. David Colson, of Middlesboro was the commanding officer.

Bob Hall, one of the volunteers, suscribed his old Springfield rifle as being one of he best.

Powerful Rifle Kick

"It fired one shot," he said, "and most of the time it would kick you square around."

"After I re-enlisted I was issued a gun that would fire six times." Hall said. He was very proud of it.

"We took 20 mile marches," he explained, "and the wagon drove along beside us with barrels of water and vitals." "Our pay was pretty meek," Hall remarked, "only 15.60 a month."

During their training period, the first spinal meningitis ever heard of broke out in the camp, some of the men died suddenly.

Colonel Colson, a good leader, wanted his men to be well trained. He looked forward to a good army. One of the men, Ethelbert Scott, sought a commission and Colson assisted in securing it for him.

Ill Feeling Developed

Scott was a big disappointment to his superior officers. They expected him to have his men in tip top form. He fell down on the job. An ill feeling developed between Scott and Colson.

In February, 1899, when the men were to be discharged, Colson was at a nearby restaurant at the training site in Alabama with a group of soldiers. Someone knocked him down and shot at him several times.

One of the bullets went through his cape and pierced his hip. The assailant was believed to have been Scott

The Harlan group broke camp in the winter of '99 and came to Hagan , Va. on a train. A ten inch snow blanketed the ground and the weather recording was 13 below zero. Two or three persons in the county had frozen to death.

The group started up the Hagan trail on foot. The hard climb and heavy load caused some of them to prespire. When they reached the top of the mountain, the prespiration turned to ice.

Frost Bitten

"We rubbed our faces and eats but many of them were frost bitten in spite of all we could do," said one of the soldiers.

"When we got in sight of the houses and saw the smoke curling out of the chimneys it was a welcome sight," said Hall. "We knew we would find relief from our frost bitten toes," he said.

Following the discharge, a group of men happened to meet in Frankfort in the Capitol building.

Colson and Scott came face to face and Scott shot Colson in the right arm. The lobby was filled with people. Several shots were fired as Scott grabbed a bystander for protection.

In the gun battle, Scott was fatally wounded and two others were shot.

picture...SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR OFFICERS---Three Harlan County officers mustered together the Fourth Kentucky Regiment during the Spanish-American War. Every man volunteered. Although some of them changed their minds before reaching the training site, Camp Ship, Alabama, most of them came through and a few reenlisted. The officers shown here are; Lt. John C. Carter, Lt. John C. Howard and Capt. Jim Forester.

Sunday January 3, 1954

Volume 53 Number 1

Pages 1 & 5

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