The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-10
ARTILLERY IN THE FIELD.
FEARFUI DAMAGE WROUGHT BIZ 1T
WHEN PROPERLY USED.

1ANhasu AoECO HouIu ne lhbhubEou
Helpless by 1.-THE Eject of s~hraPnel.
From ne 81 Louis G~IOo.-DsnoeroL
The marvellous rapidity with which an enc
my can be annihilated by modern field artillery
when properly handled is being illustrated at
Port Tampa every morning. The evolutions
and man@uvres are most interesting. for they
show how perfectly helpless a massed force
would be within two or three minutes after an
artillery command caught sight OF them or
even suspected their whereabouts.
There are ten batteries OF light artillery and o
siege train OF heavy guns with the army there.
Their drills are held very early In the morning
too early. In fact, for the best Photographic
results-for the days become 80 terribly hot
after the sun gets we'll up that itwould be sheer
cruelty to work either horses or men unless alb
solutely necessary.
At 1850 the pealing notes Of an artillery trum-
pet stirred the camp into bustling activity. Can
noneers darted out Of their tents and rushed to
the pieces and c~aissons. Horses, apparently
awaiting the call. ready harnessed. trotted
around toward their places as well as the
trained horses Of q FIRE department In O city
could do It and a great deal better than
many OF them do. They were quickly
hooked up, the limbers wero brought to
place and the trail-piece Of the field rife
coupled on. Meantime the Captain had
mounted his horse. held by q mounted orderly.
and had ridden to the front Of his battery. The
orderly snatched the little red flag, or Ruidon,
from It's place in front Of the Captains quar-
ters, and. af1xinR the lower end OF It's staff in a
thimble on his stirrup. darted after his COM
mander. Lieut.. Conklin looked after some Of
the minor details In a few seconds. and assigned
me to a comfortable seat on one Of the cais-
sons. Capt. Grimes raised his gauntlet, and
Cha kN1t ~ nnko oN,,nInI tD-ooAso a. o.,-k %
The cannoneers sprang In between the wheels
Of the gun carriages, limbers. and c~aissons, one
on the right, one on the left, and the third on
the right Of the rear. The two first in posi-
ton grasped hands. and when the call Of
mount" was sounded spranR nimbly into their
seats on the broad lid Of the ammunition box
in front Of me. In a second the entire battery.
with its hundred or more horses and scores Of
brightly uniformed men, who seemed as II they
must get In each others way. but never did,
was on the march. taking up its way toward a
broad. level plat about a mile from the camp,
and Just opposite the inlet that separates the
camping ground from Port Tampa piers. The
and the commander called a halt to ad..
StseF a p SSsfte IN Of ne q G Nate BeRR flSsSSd a ndi tS %s
Iasts q sF SISb / iva Ess t I az shS Il. ! sS SSsltG set ! : ut 1t.i :
foot high and sometimes It seemed several
yards, 1t might be stated that the country
plant. which is a dwaried tree with limbs about
as asa large as q in m iinSs arms arm co Sreseps all 3yer the
It's spreading. fan; like leaves. They may have
been invisible to sight, but the wheels Of that
SSis a Su fSpea OF ey9 5yyis 9ne t IF them To- t ! ltthO ought
that ride while I was up. but when I came
down they were all jolted out Of my
hadn't had a tenderfoot out, for a ride in a long
time, but they were TOO well disciplined to say
taRH syt t Wsr about fUtt II: Il ! l bad Gnl sh1 Fn . s thSf
non.e1plosion was due to the fact that they
pleasanter time. while | was up. but I would
have tried 70 alight Q little easier. A caisson
R ins 4 rRi In Sddi frseR a a lsG s ysnFs q ag the S f4as@ SToss,
Amid o Wild yhirl Of sand and dust the big
company with my c%aIsson., It was smoother
q riding al ast e. b s6Ht' I fP sni u q FsRlsHh s to ri tSs ffa sPs { (
was fun. / believe he thinks l lied.
m &s s and { x Sio Fss ffiRr sHio1i Ihs fa" for foF d hal6 E
know anything about those ,shrapnel under my
I'D. Suddenly the Captain signallsd. an order to
Ihiinse' EHSlape'9f'' anu '"0' s0unu'u' Nsh''n'0
The black-muzzlcd steel rifles dropped from
iIhe Hm's wRip pp up and passed nae 't throash a tRe
wheeling line OF gums until their proper posi-
lions In the rear were reached.
"IOadp' rang out the Captains clear voice.
and the gqnners swqmed about their piece;
like bees. The breech, bolts were drawn. the
snnnsr at e %S1g pleee cessna had PhPf s; e egs r an z 'iif sld the
Che sights, awaiting further orders. N
with hT fse s shs5 mG distPR ES%!s9 .s05 s ya4ssfh cr 9es
away the guns were irownlng at the peqceeble
any "& Sf'ey " viii 70 strike !" T ~ he asked of the
little a6aft ,midship. sir, replied the man.
ma oE EfSrEE XII goo &C 6ob place" n sSi ID Capt; Grimes.
No. Z had his eye On nth the e" gu ia teraeeSS' or
where the quarterback would have been 1.-THE
vessel had been q man -of-war; No. 3 had an
other vital part 9th ship spotted, and so had
fhad just ranged my camera in position to
catch the firing when the order rang out to fire
0y.P aS {. arow
There are other things besides buzz-saws
g%uainted with: and a neld. ride Is one q them.
tthe gun es any artist win care to stand f9r some
s soaTsely In ap TStsfIiHPij one %Inte a 2 The the S SItRe Eun at
belched forth their great volumes OF smoke
T Hdfsio 2 a %s9it @ore F Getting EF b1t there By his e sSSb i 3
cloud Of smoke that photoGraphing is out Of
After a few minutes of this hot work I wit
that are a part Of the modern ar~tilleryman's
daily experience. A battery was seen coming
through the woods. about a mile away. toward
the arili ground; orou omou, 49,
distance. 1000 yards. Load-shrapnell'
The battery had to be, wheeled entirely
TO dash to It's new position, There was a
non, until Z seemed to me they @ could never neS fu Be
pntangled, But every horse and every man
1t. l timed the man9uvre, and in forty-six
seconds after the new command had been given,
the first shower of shrapnel went hurting
course blank ammunition was used. Tor il
the real thing had been substituted there
would be one battery less in Uncle Sans
service. Detachments OF cayalry were
battery was an imaginary target for, them. In
}S1sn;d iG mn tMe w whIdS great sncb d arda6 Gr oE b6t y q chess
myaPder makes his moves; They are not made
every move has a well-defned meaning.
Every body OF troops that showed up any
where within. two miles was shelled, every
transport at the Port TAMPA piers became q