Omaha daily bee., 1889-09-23
CLOSE OF The ENCAMpMENT
The Bluecoats Gladly DESERVING
Camp George Crook.
THEY ALL LeARNE D SOMETHING
A Few Mild Criticisms-Some Useless
Drills and Military absurdities
Newspaper Correspondents
Were Down on Their Luck.
Striking Camp.

composed it, gathered from three states and
territories, are rapidly and gladly moving
homewards, and pv the time this letter Is
put into type Camp George Crook Will be
thing of the past The plain, for month
white with tents, will again be grazing
ground for cavalry horses; the valley of Sol
dier Creek, which has echoed with trumpet
calls and the hoarse orders of drilling battal-
IONS, brigades and divisions, will lapse into
its accustomed quetude, and the old
buttes, which for long centuries
have calmly looked down on the
slopes of the ever flowing river,
will once more stolidly survey peaceful
stretch Of country where for weeks gone by
clouds of dust have rolled from beneath the
feet of half a thousand horses and the dry
turfs been tramped by the tread of four
times that number of men.
all of the commands with one exception
have left for their former station, glad to re-
linquish the tent and the drill ground for
the comfortable quarters and grassy parade.
The Seventh infantry alone will return home
to pack up for a transfer. The historic old
garrison of Fort Laramie, for more than
forty years an outpost of civilization, is to
be abandoned and Colonel Merria m
and his command will exchange the
sage brush of Wyoming for the
bracing air and the more congenial surround
ings of Fort Logan, near Denver.
The last two weeks of the encampment
were fully occupied in grand strategy in the
field and a concluding series of division
drills OF the grand strategy in the field
there Is little to be said. Both officers and
men are reticent over the trip to the Hat
creek divide and Sowbelly canyon. A mis-
take was made in the start and the retreat
ing force under General Kautz, which was
down on the programme for easy capture,
upset the plans by refusing to be taken
into camp as antlclpated. But all
reached home safely after a five days
campaign in rocky canyons, where
couple of modern rapid firing guns
would have knocked the command into
smihtereens while the old fashioned guns of
the artillery were unimbering to go into ac-
ton. The soldiers learned something of
campaigning, the staff officers something of
riding and the dIsmounted officers something
of profanity. So, altogether, something was
learned and that was the object of the ma
noeuvres. .a'
Now. that the camp is over it may be well
to hurriedly glance at its objects, at how
we'll those objects have been attained aud to
note in what respects results have fallen
short of anticipations. AS said before, the
camp was admirably located, excellently and
thoughtfully planned for health and con-
venience and well administered from purely
military standpoint. General Brooke acted
as if he meant business and not play.
He was general commanding in fact
as well as in name. No officer
stuck more rigldly to the hot and dusty val
Law If. did I.t,.
than the department commander or busted
himself more earnestly about details. He
was sincerely anxious to make the first large
summers encampment of the United States
army a success, and much of the success at
tanned must be credited to bis endeavors.
There was a daily increasing proficiency in
drill by battaions and brigades not to be Sc
cured, of course, except where brlgades and
battalions could be brought together There
was unquestionably much new information
acquired by recruits who had never been in
the field before and knew nothing of the
minutiae of pitching and striking camp, OF
loading and unloading wagons, of acting as
skrmishers and fiankers on march and of
the details Of camp life as day by day they
developed.
Unfortunately the instructions ceased at
this point.
The practical experience gained by officers
for whose benefit more than that of the men
the camp was instituted, was largely nil.
Why
Because of 176 officers supposed to be at
tached to hfty-eight troops and companies,
only seventy-slX were present for duty with
their companies. In the entire command,
nineteen CAPTAINS, ffty-one first lieutenants
and twenty-nine second lieutenants were
either absent on leave, on detached service
or serving on staff in the camp OF these
in the camp itself and seventy-six
were absent outside the camp or department
limits. Two captains OF the Eighth Infantry,
four of the Seventh, two of the Second, four
of the Seventeenth, one of the Sixteenth and
five of the Twenty first infantry failed TO
put III an appearance. Six first lIeutenants of
theNinth cavalry, seven of the Eighth infantry
two OF the Seventh, three of the Second, six
of the Seventeenth. TWO of the Sixteenth and
five of the Twenty first were wanted else
VIII ere, and an equal proportion of second
lleutenants found other occupation. There
were number of companies, five in all,
which had no officer OF their company pres.
ent for duty. Forty-eight company officers
We're absent on detached service, fifteen
on sick leave and thirteen absent on leave.
II was current comment In the camp
and in the army papers that there
was too much staff, Offering
soft berths for youngsters who above all
needed the instruction and hard work of
field duty. While old gray headed captains
who had fought through the battles of the
war and the Indian campaigns subsequent
did company duty, twenty young company
officers were comfortably enjoying life on
horseback or In the tent NJ the time when
their seniors were marching on foot, attend
ing roll calls or drilling in the broiling sun.
For many of the details outside of camp
there was excuse. Each regiment had its
detail of recruiting officers of officers at
LeaVenworth, of officers selected for work
as college instructors. In addition, officers
were necessarily left at the posts temper
arily deserted, some not so necessarily. The
pardonable absenteeism was large enough
TO have caused rigid drawing
of the lines IN other cases, and should have
induced a pairing down of the various STATS,
al the expense of display and easy berths
and to the credit of hard work and instruc-
tion where both were most needed.
There was much quiet criticism among all
grades of officers over the excessive amount
of needless drills ordered under an August
sun A large portion of the movements exc
cuted will shortly be swiped from tactics.
The movements in masses have almost disap-
peared from modern tactics, shot 10 pieces
by the long range rifle and Improved artl-
lery. Whether officers or men become thor
oughly conyersanc or not with eyo-
lutions which would be useless in
case of actual warfare, is really
of no importance while tactical board il
sitting at the national capital TO revise the
military ideas of Frederick the Great into
some approach 10 conformity with changed
conditions II was pltiful commentary on
the subservlency of our army stan organiza-
tion TO exploded traditions 10 see officers and
men sWelterin in the san as they DainfullV