The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-07
AT THE CAMPS
COL. sTUDEBAKER's MEN NOW WELL
SETTLED AT PORT TAMPA.
i'm Command of the Brigade of
which the HOosiers Form Part.
PROVIDERS ABOUT THE TENTS
DIVISION SURGEON IRELAND, ONCE
WELL KNOWN IN INDIANAPOLIS.
Belated Narrative of Incidents of the
Journey to Florida and scenes on
Arrival at the New Camp.
INDIANlANS At CHICKAMH UGA
GOSSIP ABOUT LIGHT ARTILLERY
MEN AND INFANTRYMEN.
Battery Now Supplied with Guns
Col. Smiths Visitors from Indi-
anapOlis-A Quiet Sunday.
INDIANIANS At CHICKAMHUGA
GOSSIP ABOUT LIGHT ARTILLERY.
MEN AND INFANTRYMEN.
Battery A Now Supplied with Gums
Col. Smiths visitors from Indi-
anapOlis-A Quiet Sunday.
Special to the indianapolis Journal.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
TAMPA, Fla, June e-To-night the guard
| line around Colonel Studebaker's camp is
supplied with ammunition, and if another
suspicious prowler creeps through the palms
! he will meet his end Early this morning
one was detected by a guard near the water
pipe leading to the camp. command to
halt put the interloper to flight and Wagon
er Currer chased him. firing five shots. The
| guards had no cartridges. This, coupled
| with a mysterious pine tree fire started
near the camp on Sunday afternoon, led
] Colonel Studebaker to take extra precau-
| tions. Tampa is proving to be fine camp
| ing ground. Surgeon Ireland, in charge of
| the division hospital. is an old Indianap
| oils man. General Hall, of Fort Sheridan
| trial fame, is in command of the brigade
now,
Not since the Indiana soldiers Travelled to
! Mexico, generations ago, has a body of war
! rors from that State taken trip full of
novelties as the one which landed the One
| acknowledgements Indiana in Port
Tampa last Friday. That night the Hoosier
lads rested their tired bones in a dry swamp
where there is not level foot of ground.
| The dwarf palms grow so thickly in this
| spot that the fat. shaggy roots run along
|
| it difficult to pitch even a shelter tent.
What little pretense to shade there is comes
| from the bushy tops of the pine trees, a
| hundred feet more up in the air, and too
near the sky to throw good shadow on the
| ground. Acres of live fans" as a Steuben
| county man calls them, extend away in
| every direction, but to the west a thin line
| of deep blue-green separates the palms from
| the azure heaven, and this green-blue line
| is the sea. The travel-worn men from the
| North spied 1t as soon as the train stopped
| and smiles came over their begrimed faces
| as they thought of the delights of surf bath
| ing. The camping site pointed out to the
| officers was in the direction of the salt
| water, and when the soldiers, with their
| neavy knapsacks and blankets packed on
| their shoulders. trudged away from the hot
| railroad station, they almost counted the
| steps in their anxiety to reach the water
| which would mean so much refreshment to
them. The Ohio men who had preceded the
| Indiana lads, threw up their dog tents close
| to the beach, and Immediately behind them
! the Hoosiers established their regimental
| lines, Colonel Studebaker and his staff fix
ing headquarters near clump of the tall
est pines.
A RUSH TO THE SURF.
Break ranksv' came the sharp command,
repeated down the column. and then came
a rush which would have carried a Spanish
brigade before it had the enemy then been
| in sight 1t was a rush to the salt water.
| Dozens of the men, in their Impotence to
| reach the cooling waves, merely threw on
| their knapsacks and coats and thus dressed
| splashed across the little lagoon and long
strip of white sand which was between
them and the sea. Thousands Of soldier
/ crabs were lined up on the beach, and they
| went madly scampering in all directions be-
| fore the wild charge of the human soldiers.
| Soft shell crabs and other varieties of sea
| 'varmints' were disporting themselves on
| the beach, but the warm HooSierS had no
| time to gather trophies. For many of the
| men it had been week or two since the
| luxury of a bath was enjoyed. In JlIIy
| hundreds of Uncle Sans blue uniforms
| were lying in piles on the sand ana nude
| forms in a countless wavering line buried
under the warm arm h water m t dmf
| gradually till chin depth is reached half
mile. from, dry land. Presently bobblng
| heads could be seen far out towards the
| horizon, where the more venturesome had
gone to try their skill and endurance IN
Indiana and Ohio fraternized to such an
| extent 1t was difficult to tell where the SOL
| diers of one State left off and the other be-
| gan At Camp Thomas the sons of the two
| States had been thrown together and in the
| first hazardous movements OF the war their
! fortunes were allied in the same brigade
| AS thew looked out to sea and saw, three
| quarters of mile away, the dozen or more
| ships at anchor they speculated on their
| Joint destiny in this war and commented on
/ The early march aboard the dark-huled
| craft 1t would not do to tell all they SAD
| for although a soldier may talk among MS
| mates of what he sees and what ne nears,
| n would go hard with the correspondent
| who would do likewise with his mate-the
public. o,a r,,rd % MORT
| 7,amna was practically devoid of incident
| in the regiment itself, though TO the Volun-
| teers every mile. brought unusual sights
/ and gave the young fellows glimpses into
| a life entirely foreign to them. Beginning
| back at the hour of departure from camp
| Thomas really ancient history, there could
| he innumerable stories told for the beneht
| of the anxious ones at home, but each day
| so rapidly brings shifting scenes and leaves
| those of few days before forgotten or
| remembered family as a panorama past: II
was one of the seasoning marches that
| brought the regiment to Ringgold' over as
/ picturesque a mountain road as may be
| found in all the eastern country. The pike
| wound about, up long grades and down into
cooler valleys. where sparkling streams
| rushed under the thick shade. and gladdened
| the heart of the tired marchers at resting
time. The Ohio commander had set pace
| of 100 steps a minute for his regiment till
| an army officer overhauled him and ainti
| mated that he was killing his soldiers The
| effect of such a Notwithstanding gait was
| only too well shown when the Buckeyes
| struggled over the last crest that disclosed
| TO them the sight of famous kinggoid nest
| ling AT the base OF Taylor ridge, where
| the Confederates had made one of their
| last stands of the war. One battalion of
| the First Ohio came i'm with only seventy
five men, others having a proportionate
representation that testified to the hard
ships of the tramp.
| LONG, WEARY WAIT
OF the One-hundred- acknowledgements In
diana there is a different tale to tell. Set
| ting out with a swinging step. and guided
| in their march by Lieut.. Col May, whose
regular army experience has taught him
the economy of energy on just such jaunts
they made the distance in so much faster
/, time than the vanguard regiment that they
overhauled the rear of the Ohioans and
| trudged into Ringgold with the band play
! ing patriotic airs and the boys cheering.