black regulars,
excepting the Twenty-fourth Infantry, appeared to have slightly the
advantage. The arrival of the Tenth Cavalry in "good condition" was an
early cheering item in the stream of suffering and debility landing
from the transports. Seeing all of the troops land and remaining at
Camp Wikoff until its days were nearly numbered, the writer feels sure
that the colored troops arrived from the front in as good condition as
the best, and that they recuperated with marked comparative rapidity.

The chaplain of the Twenty-fifth Infantry, while en route to join his
regiment at Montauk, thinking seriously over the condition of the men
returning from such a hard experience, concluded that nothing would be
more grateful to them than a reasonable supply of ripe fruit, fresh
from the orchards and fields. He therefore sent a dispatch to the
Daily Evening News, published in Bridgeton, N.J., asking the citizens
of that community to contribute a carload of melons and fruits for the
men of the Twenty-fifth, or for the whole camp, if they so wished.
Subsequently mentioning the fact to the commanding officer of the
regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Daggett, he heartily commended the idea,
believing that the fruit would be very beneficial. The good people of
Bridgeton took hold of the matter heartily, and in a short time
forwarded to the regiment more than four hundred of Jersey's finest
watermelons, fresh from the vines. These were distributed judiciously
and the health of the men began to improve forthwith. Soon five
hundred more arrived, sent by a patriotic citizen of Philadelphia.
These were also distributed. Ladies of Brooklyn forwarded peaches and
vegetables, and supplies of all sorts now were coming in abundance.
Our men improved so rapidly as to be the occasion of remark by
correspondents of the press. They were spoken of as being apparently
in good condition. While engaged in the work of supplying their
physical wants the chaplain was taken to task by a correspondent of
Leslie's for being too much concerned in getting a carload of
watermelons for his regiment, to go over to a graveyard and pray over
the dead. The next day the chaplain made haste to go over to that
particular graveyard to relieve the country from the crying shame that
the correspondent had pointed out, only to find two men already there
armed with prayer-books and one of them especially so fearful that he
would not get a chance to read a prayer over a dead sol