New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1891-07-15
HERE'S TO COL. CHANTLER.
Capt. Steinhauser Reads Him a Few
Pointers on Tactics.

| with private of Company Al may
throw discredit on the young man and
raise questions as 20 his ability as SOL
der, 1 feel called upon and consider
it my duty to ask for a little space
in you paper to present his side of the
case.
In matter of this kind the question
will naturally present itself: "Did the
sentinel know his duties and did he ex-
ercise them properly? According to
Kennon, our authority on guard duty,
"a sentinel at night is..to exercise the
greatest vigilance. After retreat, or the
hour appointed BY the commanding Of
ficer, until broad daylight, he is to chal-
lenge all parties seen on or near his post,
and allow no person to pass without
proper authority The sentinel re-
ferred to must have exercised the great
est vigilance or else he would not have
discovered the reporter who throws
shadow of o2siderable length, but of
very little width.
What does Col. Chantler, the Dis
patch reporter, understand by broad
daylight? hope he does not serious
lY mean that 4:30 in the morning, when
the sun has not yet appeared above the
horizon is broad daylight. Where was
the Sentinel in fault for challenging
him? Kennon's Manual, sec. 215 of
page So plescribes that the sentinel
takes the position of sport arms when
he challenges. From the manner in
which the Dispatch reporter wrote up
his adventure, the impression might be
conveyed to those not posted on tactics,
that the sentinel was improperly at
'port arms.'' The sentinel whose post
was No Seven and not Two, as Incorrect
]y reported, can be only blamed and
criticised for not calling for the Corpor-
al of the Guard sooner than he did and
for nothing more.
Now that we have correctly stated
the duties of the sentinel and how he
performed them, let US return to Col.
Chantler and see whether he is altogeth-
er free from blame. The Col. who has
been in the military service for quite a
number of years, must know or ought
to know that sentinels challenge till
reveille which is a. m. Furthermore
the Col. must have known that the
proper place to be passed across the
line is at the guardhouse, and it was
there that he ought to have resorted to
in the first place and where he ultimate
ly landed to judge from his own story.
All those who are acquainted with tho
private, who worried the Col. on that
memorable Tuesday morning. and who
was so influential in making the report
er use his legs more freely and for a
purpose on his trip to Lake City, know
that he does not speak broken Eng
lish.
If the Col. is under the impression
that he said something very funny when
he penned that article, or that he
cracked huge joke, it will be some
thing of relief probably if we inform
him that he signally failed, and advise
him to restore his mind to it's normal
stale by banishing THAT thought.
Laying aside all prejudices and view
ing the whole matter from an impartial
standpoint, admitting even for the sake
of argument thai the sentinel knew
nothing about his duties, Col. Chantler
would have been in bad grace to pub.
lish the article he did, thereby making
the sentinel the butt of ridicule and low
ering him in the estimation of his fell
low-citizens. He must know that the
National Guard goes to camp to learn.
An attack, therefore, on sentinel who
from the reporters own story was very
willing to learn, is not only outrageous,
but also disreputable.
Very respectfully yours,
Albert Steinhauser, Capt
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