The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-05-18
BLOODLESS BATTLE
ON THE DUNES,
B Company of the First
Regiment in Active
Work.
TACTICS DEMONSTRATED
Problems of a Minor Order
Worked Out by the Mill
tiamen.
IN ACTION FOR FIVE HOURS.
First Serious Operations of the Newly
Reorganized Guard in San
Francisco.
IN ACTION FOR FIVE HOURS.

Call it the battle of Ingleside," some
body suggested after band of miIitiamen
had skirmished over the sanddunes and
scrubby hills out near the Ocean House
yesterday.
the spectator.
Nowhere" it was called, though a
brave fight was made and the brawny Young
fighters had been in action for FIVE long
hours or more. Some of the hours were
long, indeed, but one was very short, when
the bugle called all to hearty lunch I'M
der clump of trees. The neutral ground
presented quite another kind of battle. No
sham, no blank cartridges. Simply a
wagonful OF tempting food and 100 hungry
young fellows attacking it from all direc-
tons and mainly in open order. The lun-
cheon was an important feature of the
event. for the boys had been put through
good hard service, and a taste of rough
campaigning was not mere play.
1t was the first serious active movement
since the National Guard was recognized
in San Francisco and showed that the men
in command meant business.
The City Guard, B Company, First In
fantry Regiment, N. G. c., formerly B
and D companies, was the fighting force,
divided against itself and one-half using
all its cunning and military skill to gain
advantage over the other part, which in
turn fell back on its knowledge of tactics
and Its cleverness to win. They plodded
and marched, crawled and rolled counter
marched and tented among villainous
collection of hills, hollows, dunes, this
ties, prickly shrubs and more or less
stunted trees. And all this to fight on
one side for blue flag and on the other
for red one. Judges of tactics declared
it very creditable and satisfactory dis
play; and as for the enthusiastic soldiers
themselves, they held it was the proper
thing, even if it did prove a strain on
their energies. More than one of them
remarked if that were to be the system
under the new order of things California
was going to have a crack National Guard
B Company received orders at the
armory early in the morning dividing it
into two equal parts for the purpose of
making a small demonstration of prob
lens in minor tactics. Each party had
written and sealed orders to report at a
selected station at a certain time. One
section was given a red flag and marched
by itself TO place OF hiding in the hills,
unknown to the blue-fag men. Each had
a guide in the secret, and when the COM
batants had reached their positions Lieu
tenant B. B. StIrdevant took command of
the reds and Lieutenant A. f. Ramm of
the blues. Then scouts were sent out by
each to find the enemy. These scouts
went by devious ways, lest the location of
their own forces should be discovered.
They in turn gave way TO reconnoiterers,
who were deployed as matters began to
appear interesting.
The scouts were sharpshooters and oc-
casionally would take pop at an enemy.
Firing became more frequent as the skirm-
ishers bobbed up from behind dunes of
sand or clumps of brush. The effect was
realistic and much enjoyed by the spec
tators. Meanwhile the reserve of each
party was in hiding until the proper time
TO move appeared at hand for either one.
The scheme was to get position and
thereby gain advantage over the enemy,
and in attempting these maneuvers
marching and thanking were done. The
opposing forces were 5000 yards apart at
the start and could not see each other
until they advanced quite long distance.
Once they drew near firing changed from
desultorv shots to volleys, and the melee
was suggestive OF genuine, bloody battle.
Major l. B. Cook who was judge of the
tactics, declared that neither side got an
advantage, though the work of both was
satisfactory. The efforts to keep out of
sight were commended.
A rest well earned was taken for lunch
con, after which the company fired in vol