Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-03-10

III SaITlsOH uuI1uR nluW1uter SOLDIERS
and men manage to make life bearable in
more ways than one. Reveille is sounded
some hours before daylight during the
cold months, and with the first sound of
the bugle the soldier must be out of bed
and slipping into his trousers with all dis
patch. At the assembly, about ten min
utes later, the companies fall in on their
respective parade grounds, roll is called,
and the result reported by the First Ser
geant to the Officer of the Day, who is
standing in the centre of the parade ready
to receive it. If cavalry, stable call is
blown Immediately after reveille, when
the trooper proceeds to give his steed a
little attention and oats before taking
breakfast himself. Fatigue call is sounded
about 1880, when those not on other
duty are detailed to perform any work
required about the garrison, and
guard-mounting is at 9 o'clock. This
is the beginning of the official day and
lasts just twenty-four hours. The old
guard is relieved, new guard marches on,
new Officer of the Day relieves the old
one, and both officers at the conclusion of
officer in his office for orders The guard
is divided into three reliefs-frst, second
and third. Each man has two hours on
post and four hours off. For instance,
suppose there are three posts to walk, Just
as there are here. No. / is at the guard
house, No. , at the Cornmissary and Quar-
termaster's storehouses and No. 3 at the
haystacks. The cavalry take care of their
own stock and guard their own stables.
The first relief consisting of as many SEN
tinelS as there are posts to guard) goes on
duty at o'clock and comes off at H. Sec
ond relief is on post from II to !, and the
third relief from l to 5. BY this time the
first relief has had four hours rest, and
commences sentry duty again at o'clock
P. NJ, being succeeded at o'clock by sec
ond relief, which has had four hours rest,
and it in turn is succeeded at o'clock by
the third relief. which has been taking it
easy for the previous four hours. In this
manner the duty is fairly equalized, Civ
ing each man of the guard eight hours on
post and sixteen hours rest The tour of
guard duty here comes to each enlisted
man about once in every six days, or from
four to five times month. So much for
the guard. Those not on guard duty have
other things to look after
Drill call is sounded at half-past 9
promptly and precisely according to order,
no matter if it be raining pitchforks or
blowing howitzers at the time This pleas
ant pastime is kept up within doors, for
sixty minutes. Of course, no movements
can be performed in the limited space of
the squad-room; simply the manual of
arms, bayonet drill and the like receive
the strictest attention from all hands. A
commissioned officer is the instructor at
drills.
Retreat call is at sunset, tattoo about
$50 o'clock, and taps to extinguish the
lights about fifteen minutes later
WINTER ADJUSTMENTS.
For amusements the officers have a club
room, and so have the soldiers, too, for that
matter The post trader supplies the
luxuries, and inreturn for his generosity (?)
has the monopoly of what trade there is
in it. At the billiard or pool-tables of
some of our frontier posts may be seen
men who are truly experts with the cue.
The band is for the benefit of officers and
enlisted men alike. After many years
service in some particular regiment the
esprit de corps feeling comes over one, as
1t will anywhere else, and he takes a GER
tain pride in his profession and what he is
about. Thousands of the military service,
with hardly an exception, are fine bodies
of musicians, and capable of holding their
own against all corners in or out of the
army. At an isolated frontier post this
luxury is most thoroughly appreciated.
Hops, concerts, dances, card parties, din
ners, theatricals and various other amuse-
ments are the order when we are cut off
from the outside world and the balance of
civilization by the icy letters of winter
When thrown upon ourselves and limited
resources for amusement, You may be sure
we get the most out of little or nothing.
A visitor is made much of He or she is
dined, feted and danced. In summer the
guest is driven or ridden across the country
to the Indian camp, over the bluffs, or
along the river bank, back and forth, here
and there and everywhere, TO his or her
hearts content. In winter, on hobs and
behind merry set of jingling sleigh-bells,
away we go spinning over the prairie, in
and out among the sage brush, getting as
much enjoyment out of the square inch as
the air, country and surroundings are
capable of offering. This is very nice
picture to contemplate, but all these pleas
ant little diversions are dearly bought
Isolated, in a wild, partly settled country,
no theaters, no operas, no shopping, no or
binary enjoyments that city people con-
slder part and parcel of their existence.
FINE MARKMANsHIP
In fair weather great attention is given
to target practice. | remember the lime
when the average soldier of the line could
not hit a flock OF barns, although he might
have been armed with a double-barreled
repeating shotgun. 1t used to be said, too,
that during the late war a man with gun
would have to shoot away his own weight
in lead before he could hit anybody. All
that is changed now. 1t would surprise
people to know to what a degree of fine
Workmanship the soldier has been brought
by the most excellent system of rifle in
struction now in vogue. At fixed dis
tances, or rather with single shots at an
object, the soldiers Of our line can more
than hold their own against the line of any
other army on earth to-day. | have seen
craftsmanship efforts of the best European
armies, and know that our soldiers can dis
count any of them. But, as remarked a
little further back, the tendency of mod
Cih AstlO ID ~ nS51lb ilO sOllu
brigade, regimental or battalion front, but
as skirmishers, with intervals of from one
to FIVE yards between individuals, and
backed up by artillery in galore. Were
the late war to be fought over, with all the
late improvements, there would be no four
or five years of long drawn out conflict
The unpleasantness would be settled in less
than twelvemonth. a skirmish line of
any of our regiments to-day would do
twenty times the execution of similar
line of twenty-five years ago. Reason:
The soldier is taught as his first duty how
to handle and get the most out of his
piece. A visit to any one of the annual
rifle competitions held at various points
throughout the United States would con-
vince the most skeptical, beyond all ques-
ton or doubt, that we have now an army
of marksmen aud sharpshooters instead OF
a mob of raw, undisciplined, verdant re-
cruits.
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