Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-29
OFF FOR GETTYSBURG.
Departure Of Troop K Of the Ninth
o. s. Cavalry.
TO CAMP FOR A WEEK.
Loading Their Horses and Equipments on
the Carr Was Quite an Event at the b.
and O. Depot and Looked Like War
Time-The Canine Pets.


morning. Cars were being loaded with horses,
and men in uniform were hustling about get
ting things in shape for a railroad journey.
There was the jangling Of spurs and sabers,
and duskv-hued troopers were saying farewell
to the girls they were leaving behind them.
The occasion for all this military maneuver-
ing was the departure Of OK troop of the
ninth cavalry for a weeks encampment at
Gettysburg, in connection with the exercises
there next week. The troop, under command
OF Capt NJ. B. Hughes and Lieut.. A. w.
Perry, came over from Fort Myer this morning
and marched down Pennsylvania avenue, attract
ing considerable attention by their soldierly
appearance. Behind the troop came two big
white wagons loaded down with commissary
supplies. Altogether there we're fifty-two men
in the command, and they carried with them
full equipments and supplies sufficient for a
weeks stay. They will live in tents while they
are gone, all their camp equipment having
gone up ahead and been put in place by this
time.
The troops marched along to a side track in
the yard back of the station, where the train
was waiting for them. There we're four cars
for the horses. two passenger cars, freight car
and q baggage CIR. When the train was reached
the order to dismount was given and the
men at once proceeded to unsaddle
their horses and to put their sad
dies, brides, overcoats and belongings Of
that sort into big gunny sacks for transporta-
ton in the baggage car. While this was going
on the small boys began to gather and watch
the proceedings with undisguised interest.
They were there by the score, and the comments
they passed on the troopers and their methods
were unique and interesting in the extreme To
the small boy trooper and a cowboy have q
close race for popular favor.
COWBOYS AND TROOPERS.
ats curious" said Lieu. Perry to The STAR
are connected in the minds of the people gen.
orally. In fact, it would seem as though many
persons could not keep them separate at all.
The cowboys of the good old days are dis
appearing rapidly; that is, the cowboys as Rem
ington and Zogbaum have drawn them. The
railroad is driving them off just as it did the
buffalo and is now doing with the big cattle
herds.
81 have Just come back from Virginia. where
went on a recruiting trip. 1 only had four
men with me and they wore the broad-brimmed
drab campaign hats. The number of ways in
which trooper can twist the brim of that hat
around lie something remarkable, aud
the result is that no two hats
There 60 the cowboys In point of fact there
Is very little similarity between the two sets of
men. The cowboy is rapidly getting to be a
thing OF the past, and l suppose that we will
then come In for all of the popularity that q
small boy loves to shower on his hero''
While this conversation was going on the
men were busy loading their horses into the
cars Thirteen horses were put into each car,
and with only one or two exceptions the
animals went in over the plank In a steady and
soldierly way. There was a platform on a
level With the cars, so that the work was COM
paratively easy. One or two horses objected
to going into evils that they knew not
of, and it took the efforts Of several brawny
troopers with their shoulders at the stern end
Of these horses to get them to cross the plank.
This Ii Q better way Of loading than we used
to have out west" said one of the sergeants.
against car, and it would be work, I tell you,
to get the critters to scramble up"
THE CANINE PETS
Beside the horses there were the dogs. K
troop wouldn't think Of going anywhere with
out their canine pets. There was Pluck. a
brindle bull terrier that is q beauty-of his
kind. And . fighter? Well, rather. colored
trooper who was standing beside the wagon to
which Pluck was tied was Dragging to an ad-
miring group standing about why, that
there dog is the mos fightenest dog you ever
see. mere ain no oog around these parts as
can tech that animal. Oh. he's butte"
Then there was Shakespeare. Well. Shake
speare is a different kind OF a dog altogether
He is the mascot Of the troop, but this is not
because of his fine points. He hasn't any He's
what is generally called lies a plain yaller
dawg" He is about one part Scotch terrier
and the other nine parts a cross between a cur
and a mongreL Pluck has to do all his fight
ing for him.
1t took over an hour to load the cars The
small boys stayed until the end. The troopers
had with them about everything they could
need There was even a wagon load Of fire.
wood that they took along with them to Gettys-
burg in the baggage car. As soon as every
thing was ready, nearly noon, the word was
given, and the train. which was run as a
special, pulled out on its run to Gettys-
burg, q run that will probably take
about six hours. The young colored ladies
waited until the train was out Of sight and
then they turned away regretfully as though
they were thinking of the lonesome week they
would have to live through before their brave
boys in blue come back again. The bows
whistled THE Girl Left Behind Me-" The
girls are tuning up to sing "When Johnnie
Comes Marching Home"
The light battery from the barracks also left
for Gettysburg this morning. They went by
way Of the Pennsylvania road and will also be