After commenting that the chaplain's church sent him into the Army to look after the spiritual, moral, and intellectual interests of the soldiers, he said that he could not understand why any chaplain would spend "all those hours tied to a place and position" which kept him away from "planning and doing those very things" which would be "a real help to his men and a consolation to himself."

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Like some other chaplains, Arnold also served as a defense counsel and defended more than 80 men. One of his clients had been working on the parade ground at Corregidor with a fatigue detail. While the detail was taking an authorized 10 minute rest period, an officer rode by and upbraided the men for not working. Predictably, one man said, “The sonofabitch," and the officer overheard him. The officer therefore preferred charges against the man, and his case went to trial. Knowing that the officer was unpopular, Arnold questioned the sergeant in charge of the detail, "Did you hear this man say 'sonofabitch"?"

"Yes, sir, the sergeant said.

"Did you see him look at anyone in particular when he said it?” Arnold inquired.

"No, sir," replied the sergeant.

"Then how did you know he addressed this officer?" Arnold asked. "Because, sir," said the sergeant, "he was the only sonofabitch present."

At that point the president of the court dismissed the case.

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Most often, the chaplains confined themselves to visiting the prisoners in the guardhouse, counseling them, and providing spiritual ministrations. Waring believed that the guardhouse was "a splendid place for a chaplain to accomplish much good," and he spent a considerable amount of time working with prisoners at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Governor's Island, New York. Apparently, he was quite successful in the prison ministry. He said that prisoners can "oftentimes be completely reformed if the chaplain will only have a private talk with them and give them a pledge or whatever help they may need to make a fresh and better start," whether for the remainder of their enlistment or in civilian life. On some occasions, if they were discharged from the Army, he even rendered financial assistance or went to the trouble of finding them employment. Remembering that many of them were being returned to “civil society severely handicapped by their former training from competing with others for a livelihood," he said that "whatever a

chaplain does to make their future lot more tolerable is indeed a Christ-like charity.

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Following the infamous Brownsville incident of 13 August 1906, Theophilus G. Steward went from Fort McIntosh, Texas, near Laredo, to visit 12 black infantrymen from the 25th Infantry Regiment, who were incarcerated at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. They were alleged to have been responsible for a shooting spree in Brownsville, Texas, which resulted in the death of a bartender and the wounding of a police lieutenant. Steward conversed with them and later reported that they were in "excellent health and spirits, manifesting no signs of consciousness of evil-doing," and they appeared "entirely confident as to the issue" and made "no complaint whatever of their lot." Being personally acquainted with the men and knowing their "good reputations," he felt "very strongly" that they were "victims of Texas hate" and "not likely to be found guilty"; the men felt the same way.' Nevertheless, without any sort of public hearing, President Roosevelt ordered them summarily "discharged without honor" along with 155 others from three companies of the First Battalion. None of the men was ever brought to trial on specific charges or, with the assistance of an attorney, given an opportunity to confront and cross-examine his accusers. Not until 1972, when 165 of the men were dead, was that injustice corrected. Acknowledging that it could never really be redressed, Secretary of the Army Robert F. Froehlke changed 167 discharges, which read "discharged without honor," to "honorably discharged." Looking back at 1906, one of the two survivors, Edward Warfield, fondly remembered his chaplain; he said that Steward visited and assisted him following the incident at Brownsville.12

In foreign assignments, chaplains generally discovered that their duties were not unlike those in the states. Upon arriving with the 15th Infantry Regiment at Tientsin, China-a "lonesome land of a thousand new temptations"-Joseph Clemens superintended the garrison school for more than 100 enlisted men and operated the library. To make the books available and encourage the men to read, he established small libraries of 150 to 250 books in the barracks at Tientsin and the five out-posts "along the railroad," and sent his assistant to the hospital twice each week to furnish the patients with books and periodicals.

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Clemens generally reported that 50 to 60 persons attended his Sunday evening services. On Sunday mornings, sometimes with his

wife, he visited the hospital wards; there he held 15-minute services that usually consisted of a few familiar hymns, a prayer, and a meditation from the Bible or Thomas à Kempis, or "a little story with a religious application." Afterward, he frequently prayed or counseled with individual patients. If he found time, he also visited the prisoners; otherwise, he went to the guard house on Saturday or Monday evenings. Other activities in his religious program included temperance meetings, Bible classes, prayer meetings, religious instructions, and men's meetings. His services and ministrations at the five outposts varied, depending on the circumstances. To serve the spiritual needs of the Catholics, he arranged for the assistance of a civilian priest to hear confessions and celebrate Mass.11

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Aside from his traditional duties, Chaplain Clemens also provided or arranged for special educational and entertainment activities throughout the regiment. He organized a debating society and presented illustrated lectures, which drew audiences of 75 to 85 persons. On one occasion, he invited a Catholic missionary, who had served as an interpreter during the Boxer Rebellion, to speak before an audience of 250. He generally showed movies twice each week, visited the hospital wards, and told "humorous or semi-humorous stories" with curious titles: "Helen's Babies," "Sky Pilot," "Black Rock," "Mrs. Wiggs," "Lovely Mary," and "Bonnie Briar Bush." 75

The stories that Clemens related to the patients suggest a hint of his personal style. Moreover he was not reluctant to make a spectacle or fool of himself for Christ's sake. Sometimes, when "Church Call" sounded and people were within hearing distance, he would loudly sing to the tune of the call:

Come to church, come away;

Come to church, don't delay;

Oh! come in to sing and come in to pray;

Hear what the Scripture has to say;

Think of the loved ones far away;

And of the better land.

He acknowledged that such an invitation was "not very dignified," but he was convinced that putting the personal touch into "Church Call" helped to persuade the hearers that they would "not be bored" in church.76

In addition to China and the insular territories, some chaplains went into Mexico with their regiments. The years between November

1910 and February 1917 were ones of revolution within Mexico and of unconventional United States diplomacy toward Mexico." They were also years in which the Army became deeply engaged as an enforcer of that diplomacy. It maneuvered and patrolled along the Mexican border, helped occupy the port of Veracruz for seven months in 1914, and chased Francisco "Pancho" Villa and his band for 11 months in 1916 and 1917.

More than 3,200 Army troops from the 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division were ordered to sail from Galveston, Texas, in April 1914 to reinforce the Marines in Veracruz as an occupation force. The ministrations of the chaplains accompanying the expedition were much like those offered in stateside camps. They conducted services aboard ship on the voyage to Mexico, and upon arrival held several services ashore each week, visited the hospitals, and counseled men who sought advice. Since all chaplains of the 5th Brigade did not accompany the expedition, those who did covered other units as well as their own. Francis P. Joyce, apparently the only Army Catholic chaplain in Veracruz, went from unit to unit to celebrate Mass. Robert R. Fleming and Stanley L. Ramsden held joint Sunday services in the Olympia Theatre, and Ramsden conducted other services in a tent. James L. Griffes organized a Christian Endeavor Society in his regiment. Ramsden and Joyce blessed some marriages between soldiers and their Mexican brides; Ramsden performed the marriage of two German refugees. Unfortunately, there were also funerals for a few enlisted men who died by drowning or from "alcoholic poisoning." Aside from his duties with troops, Griffes assisted a native Presbyterian Church that had no pastor or missionary oversight, and reported 40 adult conversions and accessions. For his charitable work "of all kinds," Joyce was commended by his commander.78

To counter the "strain of long patient waiting" and the "restlessness under the necessary restraints in camp," the chaplains arranged for places of relaxation and amusement. Griffes furnished thousands of envelopes and stationery to the troops and assisted with the mailing of their letters. Ramsden pitched a large recreation tent for reading, letter writing, and games; showed movies almost nightly; and arranged tours of the San Juan prison. Both the officers and men appreciated his efforts, and after acknowledging Ramsden's use of his personal funds to provide desirable entertainment, his commander wrote that he accomplished much in Veracruz.” 79

While the Mexican revolution was in progress, thousands of refugees loyal to the Mexican federal government fled into the United States. About 5,200 were detained at Fort Bliss, Texas, where a refugee camp was established and the United States government provided them with food, shelter, and medical care. It remained for Chaplain John T. Axton to provide for other needs. Granted permission by his military superiors, he published appeals for clothing in both an Army and a religious periodical, and he soon began to receive tons of underwear, stockings, shoes, and sweaters. To promote personal cleanliness and sanitation throughout the camp, he distributed the clothing only to those who were clean.

Axton also established a shop within the camp, where the refugees could purchase small, inexpensive necessities; he used the profits to supplement whatever funds he received from charitable sources. There were about 500 children in the camp; he purchased milk for the youngest ones, and school supplies for those who attended a school he had started. He saw to it that electric lights and wooden flooring were installed in the hospital, and that baseball equipment and tool kits were secured for the men. The men used the kits in an industrial plant which Axton had established, and where they received wages for their labor. The plant contained carpentry, paint, shoe, and jewelry shops.

After visiting the refugee camp for several days and being particularly struck by Axton's ministry to the refugees, Charles Stelzle-a "consulting sociologist," publicist, and Presbyterian minister-wrote to the Secretary of War that Axton was doing "an excellent piece of work in a thorough-going human fashion," and that he possessed "more red blood than most men have, to say nothing about preachers in general.' The refugees apparently agreed, for Stelzle also wrote a magazine article in which he said that little girls called Axton "padrecito," mothers smiled appreciatively as he passed their tents on his daily round, small boys saluted him in true military style, and the men respected him. He also emphasized that refugee work was not part of Axton's "regular job❞— "ministering to the physical, social and religious needs of a thousand American soldiers”—which he was doing at the same time.0

Chaplain Axton's military superiors concurred with Stelzle and the refugees; they held Axton in such high esteem that they enthusiastically recommended him for promotion to major. His regimental commander wrote that Axton stood alone among chaplains in obtaining results, and to make his point, he cited his Sunday open-air services. The services included singing, vocal talent from El Paso, and a "brief but always prac