The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1898-09-24
THE q, s. SIGNAL CORPS.
A MILITARY BRANCH OFTEN CALLED
AN ARMY'S NERVOUS SYSTEM.
The Work Is Frequently the Most Dam
gerous the Life of a Soldier Affords
In Times OF Peace Recruits Are Al
ways Taken From the Ranks.

gerous the Life of Soldier Affords
/ In Times OF Peace Recruits Are Al
ways Taken From the Ranks.
When an infantryman, an artillery
man or cavalryman by his own choice
becomes, at the end of his enlistment,
q member of the United States Signal
Corps, he lays down his gun and
ceases to be counted among the often
sive elements which comprise the
army. He has not, however, chosen
q lighter berth, nor one fraught with
less danger and hardship. On the
contrary, his new place is oftener
than not the most dangerous one that
the life of a soldier affords, and GER
tainly always one of the most import
ant in modern scientific warfare.
A signal man is, by preference OF
The War Department, chosen from the
ranks of the army and his officers from
the army line. Long service alone
does not make competent signal man
of a soldier. Like therecruit in oil OF
the other branches, the new signal
man must go to school. A year OF
hard work in the Government school
at one Of the army posts fits him fairly
we'll for his new place.
He begins by learning what can be
done with the signal flag, the simplest
instrument in the hands of the corps.
The Myer system, by which motion
of the flag to the right means one, to
the left two, and in front three, is
simple; but to become familiar with
the code, which gives q meaning to
the dips Of the flag, is q matter OF a
month or two. Once it is learned,
however. the student needs only to
practice it few hours to become an
expert with the Photograph. The we'll
fitted signal man is student OF topog-
raphy and draughting. photographer,
an electrician, telegraph operator
and handy man at carrying the sur
veyo1's chain, digging pole holes or
climbing the poles after they are set.
The art of handling balloon aud OF
operating it are also taught him. Ii
he has come to the Signal Corps from
the infantry he learns, besides all
other things, to .cIde horse, and in
practice usually has assigned to him
the toughest. kind of horse, in order
that he may in the end become proof
against the ordinary injuries incident
to the widest sort OF riding, over oil
sorts of countries, under circum-
stances which would render any other
uniformed man hors &c combat then
and there.
He works that others may fight with
the best results, and even when there
is fighting his work goes on, within
the lines If necessity demands it, no
matter how thick the bullets fly. AS
an officer expressed it: 'The Signal
Corps is the nervous system OF the
army--its eyes and ears and tongue.
With wagons and horses the corps
starts out in advance of an invading
army, trailing a wire behind it, and 81
almost every instant it reports to the
commanding officer all that is heard
and seen. As the wire unwinds from
the reel q small detachment fastens i
to the trunks of trees, if there are an!
within reach, or sets it up on poles
carried along for the purpose If thu
country be bare. Another detach
ment with field glasses and photo
graph instruments rides ahead, takini
shap shots and sending back b.
couriers information as to the countr
and the Photographic plates. i
wagons fitted with draughting board
and dark rooms are men who develo
the mates nv a rapid process, and a
hastily as possible make from ther
blue prints. The man at the boar
notes the observations of the scouts
and with point and scale hastily draw
a Typographical map of the countr,
This is no rough guess work, for wit
the scouts goes the skilled surveye
with his instruments. His glass an
compass tell him directions and plane
but for distances he depends upon 81
other glass which, by the system upe
which the artilleryman's rangennd'
operates, tells him the miles.
Thus he learns how far o range
mountains is away from him, and no
high it is. If a river crosses the i
tended route, it takes him but M
ment to find how far away it may b
and over the wire back to camp go
the word that the engineer corps mu
be hurried forward to build bridl
for the passage of the army. ~
courier who takes the maps to Il
camp also carries the blue prints, OIL
the commander is thus enabled
formulate his plans upon certa
knowledge
Should the camp be moved d
tachment of the corps follows in t
rear. taking up the lines which ha
been laid. If the advance of an ener
from the rear is expected the cor
STAYS behind as an outpost. Ii
country through which the army
moving be infested by. the enem,
guard must stay behind to protect {
telegraph wire.
Distance hampers this method
communication, but by means OF rel
stations if the country happens to
n hilly one, at intervals OF hfte
miles as the greatest distance by
cipher code, and the one, two. TIL
system the observations with inst
ments can go on without intern
tion. while the map-making is done
camp. The disadvantages OF a pa
fiat country are set at naught by
war-balloon.
Varied and numerous as the du'
of the signal men are, so compact
h;s numerous instruments, that 81
man can carry with comparative e
i. i, In small bQy {