Omaha daily bee., 1889-08-28
MANOEUERES AT CAMP CROOK
Remarkable sEficiency Displayed In
the. Brigade Drill.
THE ooLoRep TROOPS DID NosLY
Colonel TiifSrd's Command Dis
tinguished ny the Spirit and Skill
of Its Movements-Visits BY
.the Indians.
The aiimicry of War.

paAkauS uIiii, bu0 uTsb WnlOu iiuuf Va buo VI
ficers present have witnessed since the days
of the war, took place yesterday morning.
The sound OF first calln In five camps, a
hurrying Of mounted aides and grouping of
general officers on the brigade line marked
its commencement. A few minutes later
$500 men swung into line and marched Into
the open field and the manBuvres began.
Colonels Kautz Wheaton and Blunt COM
manded the infantry, Colonel Tilford the
cavalry and Captain Kinzie the artillery.
To the bystander the evolutions differ ed
little, except in the masses of troops en-
gagged. from those of battalion drill There
were the same quick changes. Of alignment
and front the metamorphosis Of small
squares of blue coats. into larger ones,
of columns into skirmish line, Of skirmishers
into flankers, bugle calls shrilly sounding,
followed by simultaneous or successive
movements of both legs, arms and rifles,
positions secured and released, guidons ad-
vancing and retreatlng and color lines
kaieidescopically minglng amid the compo-
nent parts Of a machine, all apparently di-
rected from a little group Of men ON horse
back.
To the educated soldier, however, It
meant much more. 1t was the inception of
grand tactics and the fire commands ma
into execution precisely the movements
which they might be called upon to execute
for the defense of the country and IN the
face of an enemy. They. were performing
exactly the tactics which the veteran
colonels directing the Inan@uvres had had
occasion TO use twenty-five years ago, when
their heads were not so gray as they are at
present, and when promotion on the field
took the place of files gained by the opera
tion Of the sixty-four year law.
The Ninth cavalry. forming a senarate
command under Colonel Tilford, operated in
the northwestern part OF the valley. Those
who doubt the ability of the colored troopers
to drill should have witnessed the excellent
work done by the colored cavalrymen. 1t
evidenced q familiarity with tactics on the
part of officers and men and discipline and
vigor which would surprise ary and all
doubters. The dash and nerve and good
horsemanshlp displayed were noticea BILE.
AS the present encampment is the first op-
portunty afforded the regiment for united
drill since Its organization, the fewness of
mistakes made and the general precision of
the movements, speaks volumes for it's NOR
| ale and reflects great credit upon the fidelity
| of its officers and the hard work Of its men.
Colonel Edward Hatch, recently deceased,
was the colonel of the Ninth horse from its
organization until his death last spring, and
| took during his entire connection with 1t,
| great pride in maintaining its high standard.
| His successor, Colonel Tilford, lately of the
Seventh cavalry, has also taken up the work
| of sustaining the proof that the colored man
can soldier IN garrison and camp and on the
field, side by side with the other twenty
eight regiments Of white cavalry and IN
| fantry. - g
The artillery command is small one, con-
slsting of single battery of guns from Fort
| Kinzie, of the Fifth artillery but it Is as
automatic in the pre6ision of its movements
as Jurgenson,o wgtch and as rapid in its
evolutions as troop of cavalry on the
charge 1t adds life and color to the mimic
| engagement taking place in the valley of
| Soldier creek and completes the command of
| General Brooke by giving him all arms of
the service for use in the campaigns.
With brigade manOenvres commences the
instruction in grand tactics, to which last
weeks work has led up. Many Of the old
veterans who command companies still,
instead Of regiments as they would under
IN the evolutions. They went through them
years ago on the Tennessee, the Mississippi,
the Cumberland and the Potomac They
took part in such exercises then with regi-
commands and with brigades, any one of
which If armed with the present breech
loading Springfield, could have wiped Camp
Crook out like chalk mark on a billiard
table. But few of the first and second lieu
tenants have ever man9uvred with such
large commands or tented on such an ex
tended field. There is to such feature of
novelty which does not obtain in the cases
of others, and which increases the interest
in the hard WORK in which all are called upon
to participate
The new arrival from West Point may
compare unfavorably the drill of some com
panies with that of the corps of cadets. He
may laugh in his sleeves at the occasional
mistakes of company or troop commanders,
or criticise the evolutions Of the battalion,
but he knows after all, that Camp George
Crook, like its namesake, has
little 2f the chrome spectacular ana
nf hnc lnh
around its surroundings. Tramping
over dusty hummacks. climbing up butte
slopes, swinging into column of fours with
the right resting in ravine and the left on
a knoll, is very different from marching On
the smooth level of a parade groudd. Ef-
iciency, not grace, IS the object to be at
tained and which is beng attained under
General Bruoke's orders in the camp of mill
tary instruction which he is commanding.
1t would be unfair not to say that he is being
most cheerfully supported by every brigade,
regimental, company and troop commanders,
and that there Is everywhere manifested an
earnest desire to mako the first great sum,
mer camp OF the army such an unquestloned
snccess that it may have many successors in
the department of the Platte in the years to
come.
There IS not regiment on the field here
today which mas not seen long and active
campaigning among the Indians since the
war. Several have fought oyer the very
ground where the camp is situated. The
Visit yesterday Of large pand OF Ogallala
Sioux under Young Man -Afraid-of- His
Horses later the arrival OF NUMBER
of lodges of Cheyennes under Vel
low Hair was NOT devoid Of interest:
Scarcely mile from the white tents of
Camp Crook the coffee colored teepees of the
Indians are strung along the White river, on
soil where twenty years ago the
Sioux and Cheyennes held undispu-
ted possession. Groups of miser-
able looking squaWs are gathering
6rewood on the knoll where Sioux chief,
American Horse, boltify cut down the flag
staff of an Indian agency. Old and wrinkied
| bucks are pegging within pistol shot of the
| camp where the Fourth cavalry plckets ex
changed daily shots with skullfing redskins
and in sight of the Valley of Sorrow, where
more than hundred desperate Cheyennes
escaped from the guard house and fought to
the death in the snow pf the winter of 1879.
| One can almost imagine himself back among
the stirring days Of ts7f, SO well remembered
| by many an infantry officer present, when a
larger gathering Of ,harf-fed troops assem-
bled among these very. Duttes, spread along
this lovely valley, and the Rosebud and Gus
Of Till Of Of sraoe s ssse isss
| Young -Man-Afraid remembers 1T well, so
| does Old Tom and the score of bucks now
| squatting and begging on the ground where
| Red Clouds ponies were seized by General
| Grook nreyantin0 the ORallala Sioux from