The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-02-02
OUR STATE MILITIA.
interesting Items from the Adjutant
Generals Report.
What Lieutenant WoOley Thought of
the Brigade I'm Camp-Other I'M
portant Information.

The report OF Adjutant General
Dyer, presented to the Senate this
morning, covers 217 closely type
written pages and covers also the
reports of Brigadier General Kendall, Col
onel Warfield, Major Harcout, Lieutenant
Wooley and others. But a very small
portion was taken by General Dyer
and that chiefly with statistics.
The census of the militia and the
expenditure, were contained in the
Governors message. There is presented
table showing the relative comparison
between the population and strength of
the militia of the several States. From
it may be gained the following
regarding the New England States !:
Connecticut pop. 746,25s, militia 1857, per
cent. .0036; Massachusetts, pop. 2,23s ,9i3,
militia 2515, per cent. .00i2; cost per man
S4625; Maine pop. 661 ,0S6, militia 1114,
per cent. .0015; cost per man S3s.25;
Rhode Island population 3i5,506, militia
1435, per cent. .00.42; cost per man s1S.0i.
Only South Carolina, Oregon and Mon
tana have larger military force in pro-
portion to their population than
Rhode Island. The figures for New York
are: Population 5,997 ,S53; militia, 1859;
per cent, .002S; cost per man, s29.1s. The
average annual cost per man for the entire
company is s21 .6S.
Referring to the report of the inspector
OF rife practice, in which the condition of
the arms is severely criticized, the Adju-
tant General says:
IF there are men in the militia so
ignorant as to report at the rife range
with the hammers of their rifles missing
and not to know that it made any differ
ence, such men should not be permitted
to enter the military service of the State
and il the condition OF the rifles in
some companies is filthy and more
suggestive of what one would
expect to find in the hands of an armed
mob than in the possession OF disciplined
troops, and il the carbines of the cavalry
were filter for the junk shop than for
service at the butts, ] consider il TO be a
most humiliating and disgraceful state of
affairs, and should at once be made the
subject of searching investigation.
The expense OF rifle practice last year
outside of ammunition was s1022.95.
A good word is spoken for the men of
the Bristol Naval Reserve who on Aug.
"a displayed great gallantry in rescuing
persons in peril in the bay through the
disastrous storm raging at that time. Re-
garding Lieutenant Frederick Wooley,
u. s. A., who was detailed here at the re-
quest of Governor Brown, the adiutant
general says:
"Since Lieutenant Wooley has been in
Rhode Island he has made himself and his
mission most acceptable TO the militia,
and has rendered most valuable service"
Lieutenant Wooley inspected the last
encampment, and his report to the War
Department is made public for the first
time. II Is lengthy, exhaustive and full of
valuable suggestions. Here are some ex-
tracts that will be of interest to those
who came under his inspection. As to
the new camp ground he says:
"Too much credit cannot be given the
work of the commission in selecting such
an ideal place for a permanent camp
ground. No State can have more perfect
location for the desired purpose. There will
be no trouble in laying out target range
for all distances up to 1000 yards on the
grounds where it will not interfere at all
with drills. The soil is sandy loan
covered now by iuxuriant growth OF
grass, thus doing away with the annoy
ance of dust and mud"
''The different movements in battalion
and regimental drill were performed with
wonderful accuracy and precision, when
il is considered that this was the first
occasion since last cncampment when
these troops have had an opportunity OF
working together, and that great many
of the men had never even seen a battal-
ion movement before. The guides, OF
course, made mistakes, and company
officers also, but the movements were
generally repeated until they were per-
fcctly done.
"Guard duty the first'night in camp was
performed conscientiously and faithfully,
and while there were many errors, much
OF it was caused by the confusion arising
from using a new manual OF guard
drill for the first time. Lights
were extinguishcd promptly at taps.
During the whole cncampment there was
very little, IL any, disordcry conduct OF
any kind after taps or a. any other time,
fact due in a greet measure to the high
grade of the material of Inc rank and iilc
Of the brigade.
"rho policing was thoroughly done, and
the camp was at all times kept in excel
lent condition, tho brigade commander
makinga thorough inspection every day
and insisting that this work he thorough
ly done"
"At the first drills for the infantry the
step was a little unsteady and slow, but
after tho second day this was not noticeable
and steady and gratifying Improvement
in every way was manifested. During the
first regimental and battalion drills
distances were not generally we'll
maintained, and the dressing
was not prompt enough on account 81
the inexperience OF the guides. At the
ceremonies the distance between bat