The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-11-06
UNCLE SANS SOLDIERS,
A GLIMPSE or LIFE IN THE BEaU-
LAR ARMY.
A soldiers Privations and Discom-
forta-ROutine work at the From
tier POsts-IgOmrS FOR ReInNnfiOn.

at Fort Nlo0rara, Nebraska, says in the
course of long letter to the Chicago
Tribune
What do we do from morning until
night every day in the army2 Lots of
things and if you think it is dull and
idle to be at frontier post just come
and let me put you on duty for day or
two. Take a private soldier IN the
army, subject to all the rules
and regulations of a military post. Just
at day break and when he wants most to
sleep the earth seems to be split open by
a mighty boom from the great gun on
the parade ground, aud the bugles call
out merrily, "Get up. soldier get up,
soldier" and get up he must, and be
lively about it, too, or the sergeant will
help him out of bed. 1t is not yet 6
o'clock, and to give him good appetite
for his breakfast the sergeant will drill
him for an hour. At $3.50 comes the
regular assembly, when you fall in and
answer to your name at roll call. At G :35
sick call will go, and if you feel very
bad and wish yourself at home with your
mother you can go up to the hospital
and the doctor will give you a pill.
After that you can get some
breakfast At 7:45 fatigue call
will be sounded, and you will be
turned out to work. At $50 there is a
guard mounting. If you are not for
guard you can keep on working until
11:45, when recall will sound and you
can then come in to dinner. One hour
and fifteen minutes is allowed for dinner
and rest. At p. NJ. fatigue call will
sound again, and you will 90 out for an
uft 60
drills. At recall will go, and if you
are a cavalryman you must go down to
stables and feed and groom your horse
for an hour. At you will get your sup.
per. At sunset you will fall in for re reat
and answer roll-call again. You will
probably be drilled for half an hour at
the manual of arms, or attend a dress
parade and be run about to try your
wind. After that you can attend school
for half an hour to an hour, and then
reflect on home and all its pleasures
until ., when tattoo will sound and you
will be turned out for another roll call
At 0: 30 taps will sound, and you must
then be in bed, whether YOU are
sleepy or not Not light is allowed in
quarters after taps, and no talking or
moving about. If you are not sleepy
you can count over in your mind l 900
two or three times until you fall asleep,
or you may reflect silently on the great
ness of your government. Next morning
you will again be awakened suddenly
out of your sleep by the great gun, to go
through the same thing as the day
before
The variations in your life will be
when you are detained in the quarter
masters department to drive team of
six unruly mules after night. No matter
if you do not know anything about
driving team; you must learn it. By
and-b by you will be detained company
cook and made to cook for fifty or sixty
men: then you will be put in the bake
house and made to learn bread making.
If YOU are handy with an AK you will be
sent out to cut saw logs, or wood, or
attend at the sawmill Should Won have
an aptness for tools, the quartermaster
will have you detailed as a carpenter,
and you must build houses, stables, lay
sidewalks, mend wagons, and do what
ever you are set to a. If you do not do
it well, or grumblc, they will arrest you
put you in the guard house, prefer
charges against you for conduct to the
prejudice of good order and military dis
cipline, and Il cOurt-martial will sit on
} GU, stop your pay for a month, and
order you to be worked under guard for
month or two. If you are very eff
cient, in year or two you may get to be
corporal, and the last year osTour five
1ars' enlistment sergeant, but this will
not help you much for you have all the
more to do and the captain will be after
you constantly. You will have to be
constantly on the alert and efficient by
day and by night, or you will be reduced
TO the ranks.
But the ot1iccrs-I hear you say-they
have a good easy time of it, with nothing
to do but draw their pay. An officer is
constantly on duty with his men, and
that is sufficient answer. have officers
who 90 out as soon as they get their
break fasts and are on the 90 all day long.
! They have hardly time to eat their meals.
Take, for example, the target-range Off.
Ger. Shooting begins as soon as it is
| light enough to see a bull's-eye at hun
bred yards, and continues until night
! shuts out the bull's-eye from sight. The
! company officer for each company. As
! llcte are ScucIdllS Only tNO OllCcIs, anu
often only one, for duty with the com
pany, you can readily see they have no
sinecure. They must attend all drills,
stables, roll-calls and parades. Add to
this boards of survey, courts martial,
officer of the day, and other duties, and
they are kept constantly on the go. All
hay, wood, oats and stores are received
at posts by boards of officers.
know very generally citizens think
| soldiers have an easy time of it in the
army, but this arises from an ignorance
of the service and its duties. Ihave been
school-teacher, farmer, lawyer, editor
and various other things in my time, and
! | can say sincerely l never worked so
/ hard as | have had to do in the army.
When one gets up to be field officer it
is not so hard, but even then there is a
great deal to do, and for the captains,
lieutenants and privates the work of "A
soldiers life is simply prodigious. Pro
motion is very slow, and of all the young
men who enter the army as officers only
about one in ten ever becomes field