Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-05-20
Southern Competitive Drills.
nm the New YORK; Times

The tournaments which have Just been held
| at Mobile and New Orleans illustrate the extra
| ordinary popularity which this form of mill
| tary competition has achieved at the south dur
ing the last ten years. After the close of the wal
| q reaction naturally set in there as elsewhere
against martial pursuits; with the horrors OF
| the battlefield fresh in memory there was little
relish for mock maneuyers. But when at length
the Importance of militia training reasserted
itself it CHANGED to largely develop In the direc
ton of prize drills for superiority in the manual
| OF arms and company maneuverS.
| These competitions have come to rank among
! the foremost of festivities at the south. They
often form the leading side show at county OF
state fairs while every spring there are two
| successive grand tournaments at which only
| the crack companies venture to compete. Com.
| pared with these gatherings the fall meeting at
CreedmoOr is q meager spectacle and the sum
! mer camp at Peekskill tame. From all parts OF
| the south, and even from some parts of the west
| picked companies are sent to these contests. In
! deed, of late years several of them have been
| held in the northwest. Thus the tournament
| of 1882 at Louisville was few days afterward
| followed by one at Indianapolis and that OF
1854 at Houston by one at Dubuque, as well as
| by third in August at Louisville. Usually
| however, both of the annual competitions take
| New Orleans and Nashville and those of the
! present year at Mobile and New Orleans. Vast
| throngs attend them. The excitement over the
relative chances of the aspirants is as intense as
| at great race meetings. The names of the fore
most of them, or of the winners of past years
Tie CIliCkaSaV SuuTuS, Oh MemPnlS; the CreS-
| cent Rifles. OF New Orleans; the Tredway Rifles
| of st. Louis; the Houston Light Guard, the
Montgomery Grays, and SO on-are widely
known as those of renowned ball clubs or boat
crews at the north.
| But there are more substantial rewards than
mere fame for the visitors. A single prize for
| infantry at Mobile 81 900, and Others
brought the infantry total to $3.50. The ar
| tillery and ZOuave prizes made up an aggregate
| of nearly S12,O 900. At Houston last year the
prizes We're almost as great. At New Orleans
the first prize included So 900 in cash and tn rec
gold medals, of which one was studded with
diamonds. Other rewards comprised SO, OOO
in cash, besides gold medals, colors and Iniscel
| laneOus gifts. AS the Houston Light Guard
won the first prize both at Mobile aud New Or
it must have carried off within little more than
a twelvemOnth $4,000 in cash, besides gold
and jeweled medals.
1t has been urged that regular drill tOurna.
ments should be established at the north and
east, as we'll as at the south. This, however
petitions were in great favor here generation
ago, but at q time when the practical training
of the militia was less thorough than now
They were gradually dropped because expert
ence showed that the time they absorbed could
be used to better advantage. They are doing q
good work at the south by the emulation they
excite; but in the great northern Cities where
whole regiments are found it would be blum.
der to transfer regimental esprit de corps to
company competitions Besides the scope OF
hardly repays the pains taken to acquire it,
The principle of emulation is sound. Even the
regular army recognizes il in it's elaborate
annual contests for the championship OF rifle
practice. This, too, is the form of competition
which the national guard of the north and east
owned, without much aid from that popular
enthusiasm which is called forth at the south.