Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1898-08-19
CAMP LEE.

A Description of the Soldier Boys Home
or Tented Village
Camp Cuba Libre, Jacksonville, Fla,
Aug. l7.-Dear Friends one reads
the papers and magazines the imagina-
tion is drawn upon and mind picture
is cast of how camp looks and the
beauties connected with it. But if the
real camp could be seen by you all
after this picture is painted what a dis
appointment would be the change.
When camp is layed out, regiments
are place in such way that all the
companies will face the same and the
ends will be uniform. 1t is an easy
matter to figure how much space it Will
take. There are five men in a tent,
and one for the first sergeant making %
tents, | | on each side facing each other
with space about 80 feet wide be.
tween the two rows Cf tents called
company street. A street runs along
the end crossing all the company
streets called officers street. The regi.
mental colors and the national flag are
| always stationed in front of the
coloners headquarters which is at the
head of this street. At the end of the
company streets where they cross the
officers street the captain and the lieu
tenants tents are located. So it is seen
that the soldier village is small town
in itself.
The seventh army corps is situated
near Jacksonville in what is called
Springfield and Panama. Nine regI-
ments are in division and three divi-
sions in corps. A guard line is sta
toned around the camp and at two
hour intervals the guards are changed.
There are three reliefs so a soldier on
guard does duty hours out of 24. A
| certain number of guards are detailed
from each regiment every morning
and at nine o'clock they are called to-
gether for guard mount, which is moth
ing more than relieving the men that
have been on guard the 24 hours previ-
Gus. 1t would take too long to de-
| scribe the duty Of guard and the man
ner in posting the relief.
Each regiment has a hospital and
surgeon with nurses and each division
has hospital for them al. If soldier
is only suffering from light fever he
is left in the regimental hospital, but If
| he does not recover in IS hours he is
transferred to the division hospital
where the finest surgeons and medical
men in the country have charge. The
hospital tents are arranged so that
they meet at the center and run in
various directions.
Patio beach, twelve miles east of
Jacksonville, has been fitted out for a
recuperating hospital and as fast as the
men recover enough so they can be
transferred they are sent to the beach.
The drill ground of this camp is one
of the finest in the United States and
on Friday when there is a division re-
view, it is one of the grandest sights to
be seen for a civilian, and many come
out to take advantage. The men are
marched by the reviewing stand in
platoons, and pistol ball would cut
the nose of every man in lihe. they
march SO straight.
AS you look over the camp from the
top of hill and see the 1000 small
tents and as many large ones one can
hardly think that the number of hcmes
is larger than that of Ft. Wayne, and
occupying less space than the north
Side in Plymouth.
The health here is generally good and
everyone seems in good spirits
Respectfully,
CHAS. BROWN.