Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1885-10-01

better report of the encampment tina,
those of any other town or city in th'
territory The governor was present th'
tive last days of the encampment and re-
viewed the two regiments which con
tanned about 500 men each.
The Argus prize Of 900 for the first and
$40 tor the second was awarded respect,
lively to the Yankton company and the
Fargo Rifles. The judges by whom the
award was made wele E. F. Townsend,
Lieut.. Col. 1lth InfdntIy; p. w. McCau-
lev, lst Lieut.. M4. Corps; II O. s.
Heisted, I'd Lieut.. Nth Infantry, all OF
the regular army.
There was considerable kicking Friday
evening when the a1aFd was made pub
lie and the great number of military
critics who differedin opinion with the
awarding committed was the wonder of
the few who were On the grounds that
did not pretend to know more about mil
itary tactics than th1 regular army officers
above mentioned. TIE jamestown Light
Guards executed thef orders perfectly in
the drill and would have won the first
prize but for mistake lin giving the orders
by its officers which Fut down the mark.
ing to fourth on thelist. The talk about
the award to South Dakota being 8 "sell
out" or "put up Eiob' by those lop.
sided in partiallty for the jamestown
Light Guards is the heerest nonsense and
has had only the effft of bringing 1ldl-
culc upon the company. The regular
army officers appointed by the war de-
partment for the purpose no doubt de.
clded the question b the rigid military
rules Of the regular drmy without regard
10 any consideration OF location. 1t is
hardly to be presumd ID that the war de-
partment at WashinEt Eton would lend it.
self to scheme for downing" one little
militia company ou in Dakota territory.
1t is hard on the boys to lose the prize on
account Of their Officers not beng up to
the scratch in the manual of arms but it
cannot be helped.
The judges IN the band contest for
prize of $25 provided by county treasurer
Burke, of Cass county, were Prof. 5. T.
Church, $. F. Crockett and brigade chap
lain Rev. j. H. Hartman. The prize was
awarded to the Redteld band
One of the novelties of the encampment
was the maiden drum corps of Canton
consisting of eight girls about sixteen
years Of age. On Friday the jamestown
drum corps capturei the far "sweet six.
teens and entertained them at dinner
which was considered the best strategic
movement OF the encampment as the
Sioux Falls company had prepared to do
the samc thing. The yo:,gg lad,ea wore
very nearly Of one Size, dressed exactly
alike and were the observed of all OBJ
servers in that department of music. But
as manlpulstor of the drum sticks Maj.
T. h. Mckee, the famous "Shiloh drum
mer boy" who was present at the en-
campment, totally eclipsed all others.
He IS himself whole drum corps, which,
added to his w.r fame, made him prom
inent attraction. In the parades there
was quite display of epaulets and burn
ished military toggery, in which those
who looked for the governor didn't see
him. Though commander In chief he
was dressed in plain citlzen's suit while
many OF the subordinate officers were ar
rayed in all the gorgeous parsphernalla
Of the way-ups of regular army and mill
tary dude display. Some of the old vets
of the rebellion remarked that they saw
more brass at the Dakota military en-
of thousand men than they
did IN all of their three years service in
the war of the rebellion.
Gen. Dennis congratulated the militia
and officers upon the proficiency to which
they attained in so short time as we'll as
upon their soldierly appearance and gen.
eral good behavior.
At half past SIX Saturday morning the
order was given to strike tents which was
obeyed with the heart a. we'll as with the
hand, and the nrst tram out in every d.
rection carried the citizen soldlery of Da-
kota to their respective homes to which
they proceeded with fully as much pleas
ure and happy anti;ipations as they
went into camp on the Monday before.