The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1889-10-01
BRAVE BOYS In BLUE.
Duties and Pastimes Of the Ma
tion's Paid Defenders
Much Moving Among the Officers-Soms
Erroneous Impressions Corrected-The
Daily Routine-Always Ready For
Their Little Joke.

Garrison life on the frontier is no
sinecure. The soldier earns every
cent of his small pay (s13 per monthly.
and even of this 12k cents is deducted
each pay day. twelve times year, for
the support of the Soldiers Home at
Washington.
A fort on the frontier is no fort at
all. simply q connection of houses and
barracks thrown down on the prairie
anywhere. and here soon begin to
gather all the elements of humanity
which sooner or later go to make
SIP the typical Western town. A
fort is usually laid out in diamond
shape, with the officers quarters oc-
cupying two sides of the angle. and the
mems barracks the remaining half.
The center is the parade ground,
whereon are performed all military
ceremonies. such as drills. parades.
musters. inspections. etc. In one
corner is a flag staff. and from this
soats 365 days in the year the stars
and strips of our country. Back of
the officers and mems quarters are
the stables. warehouses, shops and
stores.
The commanding officer, of course,
occupies the choicest set of quarters in
the garrison, and the other officers
select their domiciles according to
their rank. Suppose every set of
20 h4 id
and a new officer should come
along to take station at the post. He
can not select to the prejudice of those
above him but he can step in exactly
where he ranks, choose a house. and
that officer must give way to him. 1t
is not uncommon for the next one who
has "been bounced" so to speak, to
take the best place he is entitled to.
and the result is all the Junior offers
go down like row of bricks. The
Last in rank have to double up and
share one house or set of rooms
between them. In my own experience
/ have seen seven families move in one
day. and all caused by an officer COM
they had.
Each company is differed by one
captain, one first lieutenant and one
second lieutenant, but seldom is it
that the complement is present, for as
a rule one of them is absent, and not
seldom is it that even two are away
from their proper stations. This is
caused by various reasons, as great
deal of the detached service and staff
duty is performed by officers of the
line. The general impression is that
our regular army officers are gradu-
ates of West Point. This is not true.
Take the infantry branch of the SER
vice. This contains % regiments of 10
companies each, with three field off,
GERS TO each regiment. $50 captains,
800 first lieutenants and $50 second
Eeutenants. This makes S75 officers,
all told. S6S of which are graduates of
West Point, and 5l2 are from the army,
the ranks and civil life. I'm some of
the regiments there is not captain
who came from West Point. OF the 10
colonies of cavalry. only four are
graduates of the Point. and of the %
infantry colonies IL are graduates.
There are 170 officers i'm the cavalry
arm above the grade of lieutenant
colonies, observation-disclosures, majors
and captains. and Sc only are grad
yates, the balance. ia, having risen
from the ranks or come from civil life.
Thirty-four of the artillery officers,
above lieutenant, out of IS, are gradu-
ates, and OF the S25 infantry officers
above lieutenant, only So are from
West Point. The truth about the mat
ter is that most of our older officers are
from the war. having obtained their
commissions at the close of the rebel
lion, and since then they have slowly
very slowly indeed. been climbing
step by step the ladder of promotion.
The term of service in the army !!
Is only five years, and at the end
of this there awaits the private 8
soldier good round sum in hard
cash for retained pay, clothing. money. !
etc, which is handed over the day of
his discharge. Again, supposing a
man enlists in New York and is sent
70 regiment in Oregon. When his