Omaha daily bee., 1896-08-15
UNCLE SANS DOG SOLDIERS
CANNES Of High Degree and Intellectual
Parts in the Army.
PET DOGS IN EVERY REGIMENT
TheIr Contribution TO Fame nnd
Pleasures of Army Life-Brceds
Affected nnd Protected by Sew
crnI REGIMENTS.

Nowhere in the geography Of infnity has
a bourne been set aside for that nobler anil
NAL, the dog. Is II that he has his paradise
here on earth. II fortunate enough to be-
come OF the elect? That paradise he has
to a certainty for the term Of his life,
whether of low or high degree, II he attach
himself to the United States army. Nowhere
does a dog fare better than in the army,
relates the Chicago Times-Herald, and mo-
where, according to population, not excepting
Constantinople, are there as many dogs.
They are Of all sizes, degrees and breeds.
and the veriest cur is no more c%urtailed
of privileges than the best pedigreed dog
Of a garrison.
Ever company has it's pet dogs, and regi-
ments are famed for special breeds, which
have lost their breed designation by being
denominated "the Fifth's dogs or the like.
Most affected and lovingly protected by the
line of the army, the infantry, artillery and
cavalry regiments are possessed of fame for
a special kind or breed of dogs, though
sometimes they are mixed.
The infantry takes to settlers and pointers
mostly, though at times this arm of the
service, or some regiments of 1t, has had
famous kennels OF greyhounds, The artil-
lery's favorite is the bulldog, while, of
course, the cavalry sets great value upon
stag and greyhounds. Primarily, the OBJ
ject OF possessing a dog in the army, or
that portion of 1t on the frontier, is to use
him in sport. The infantry with settlers
and pointers hunt over the stubble fields
of the west afoot after quail, chicken and
grouse. The cavalry dogs, greyhounds and
staghounds. are for the more exciting pastime
of coursing the jack rabbit and chasing an
telope and deer. while the bulldog of the
artillery-almost invariably stationed in or
near a city-is merely the watchdog of
battery and stable.
Officers and men alike own these dogs, and
they become as much regimcntal and com
pany property as the colors'' and camp
kettles OF a mess.
DOGS ON THE PLAINS
1t Is odd, in many instances, how a regi-
ment has become famous for its particular
breed of dog. When the Seventh cavalry
and the Fifth infantry encountered each
other on the plains in 1S67-the latter en-
route to the states from New Mexico-the
Seventh cavalry officers declared they had
to ride through three miles of dogs before
reaching the infantry camp. These dogs,
mostly greyhourds and settlers, with here
and there a wolish looking Mexican dog in
the pack, were acquired by the Fifth. or
their predecessors, out in Utah in 1854 dur
ing the Mormon war. At that time a mighty
English Nimrod. Lord George Gore. visited
this country on a hunting tour. He shot
chickens over the prairies of Illinois, ducks
In the swamps of Missouri, and then he
took to the plains to chase the buffalo. No
hunter of modern tines came to the hunt
so well equipped, on so grand a scale, as
Lord George Gore, He had a large retinue
of servants, mounts innumerable, cobs and
hunters, and his train of wagons was the
best that ever crossed the plains. Following
him were packs of dogs, settlers and grey
\ hounds. numbering not less than 100.
Arriving at Camp Floyd, the camp of the
army of occupation in Utah, under command
OF General Albert Sidney Johnston. the
British nabob became the guest of the Fifth
infantry. 1t is a tradition in the Fifth that
the mighty hunter became enamored OF a
Mormon maiden, and fingered long in camp
to win her. Tho church interviewed and she
was spirited away, and the Englishman, be-
coming disheartened, abandoned his chase
around the world. In acknowledgment of
hospitality, he distributed the plumber of his
camp, provender, guns and ammunition,
wagons and horses and dogs. among the
Fifth infantry. The regiment then went to
breeding dogs, with two kennels of the finest
imported dogs ever brought to this country.
No one took such interest in the kennels as
Captain James Archer. He constituted him
self master of the hounds. He aggregated
more of, both breeds than any other officer of
the regiment. The dogs he became pos
sessed of were numerous-in fact, became
an aggregation, as this ancedote illustrates:
Transferred to New Mexico, marching
over the mountains, in 1860, Captain Archer
took station along with his dogs in Albu-
querque. One day, while the captain was
INDUCING In a social game of poker at DR..
Strachn's sutler store. his STRIKER" or
soldier servant, rushed in unceremoniously
and, half out OF breath, stammered:
Captain, my captain, a Texas steer has
broken into your corral and killed all your
dogs-except thirty"
This calamity made the captain Law down
a royal flush and quit the game.
GENERAL MILES JACK"
Among these dogs, or a descendant of
them, was one that fell to the possession OF
General Nelson A. Miles when he became
colonel Of the regiment. He went by the
ny,,Al. D,A ~ AV..I. - -.
ON call as quickly as a hungry infantryman
could Roast Beef" the summons to din
ner, bugled or sounded by fife and drum.
Jack was a liver-spotted setter, the marks
well distributed over a coat of white. He
had a tail bushy, we'll feathered and SYM
metrically curved, and an eye deep. brown
and intelligent, with the glance of a~nticipa-
tion in every twinkle. His head was the
very acme in shape of dog intelligence.
Indeed, from nose to tip OF his tail he was a
perfect dog, and none could ever have
served Landseer in his great paintings
better as a model. He was not only an
intelligent dog, in whom instinct had ad-
vanced to a higher plane than that of the
brute creation, but he was absolutely
human, or human in his reasoning powers.
There was q heavy downfall of rain, a de-
layed April shower, on a May day at Fort
Harker, Kan, when the Fifth infantry had
Its headquarters at that post, The unex-
pected precipitation" as the weather
bureau calls such a visitation from above,
was grateful, as II refreshed the atmosphere,
and soon the skies cleared on, the whole
country was radiant, in the moist tempered
air Jack came trotting along quite as Joy
Gus as any mortal In the garrison. He got
in front of Colonel Joe G. Tilford's quarters
and there came to a halt with front feet
spread out like a cavalry troop horse on
the edge OF a prceipice. He was attracted,
startled and halted by a hen and brood of
chickens on the porch OF Colonel Tilford's
quarters, the hen cluttering and futterlng,
the little brood peeping and c%hirping. and
Jack. looking around, perceived that one
of the chicks had fallen OFF the porch into a
half-full butt under a still dripping water.
spout. He grasped the situation with u
coup d'oeil, TO use a military term, and,
gravely walking over, opened his mouth,
sunk his Jaws around the drowning chicken
and. lifting 1t out, trotted over into the sun
shine and dropped 1t on the sidewalk. He
stopped for a moment looked at the chick
and then wagging his tail started away
with a look on his face as clearly spoken
as II said in words; That's the kind of a
dog | am, | know no difference in the
animal kingdom as long as any one of 'em
is In peril"
A CANINE HlTCHING POST.
Captain Martin Mullins had another one
OF these Lord George Gore dogs in his