The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-04
OUT CAMP WIKOFF.
THINGS BESIDES WIGWAGGIN9 4
SIGNAL CORPS HAS TO DO.

SIGNAL ORP HAS TO DO.
Cant. Higgins and His Men, After LAYING
1t Out, Put VI Telephone and Telegraph
Lines Throughout tho CRmp-Tho Ar
rival of Transports siEnnlled in Advance.
CANT wRoFF. MoSTAuK POINT. Aug. 81
It takes a great many kinds OF men 10 make n
military encampment such as this. Most OF
these kinds are comprised In the Signal Corps.
which lays the foundations and practically
erects tho imaginary framework for the whole
camp,t the framework being filled In later by the
regiments as they arrive. Anybody who sup
poses that the entire duty Of a Signal Corps
man is to stand on a hill and make graceful
motions with an ornamented flag is laboring
under a delusion which would be swiftly dis
PEELED by n days experience with the corps,
The Signal Corps man is expected to be able to
do pretty much anything. He Is even more
OF n blooming cosmopolouse" than Mr..
Kipling's her Maiesty's Jolly soldier an sail
or, too" Not only is he n soldier. but he is for
NIL practical purposes as many kinds Of n civil
AN as you can count on your fingers. In the
regular army he is 30 highly thought Of that
until recently every Signal Corps enlisted man
has: had the rank Of Sergeant. and though
that has been done away with, the corps men
are generally regarded as high privates."
To tho Fifteenth United States Volunteer
Signal Corps was intrusted the work OF lay
ing out Camp WikofT. The officers OF the corps
IRE Cart. Ambrose Higgins. Junior Capt. Pei
lew. and Lieuts. Cannon; Colt and Lansing.
There are ninety-one men. mostly from Penn
e~ylvania and Ohio. in the corps. They have
been here for more than three weeks. and dur
ing that timo their work has been Of such an
order that Col. Hecker Of the Quartermasters
Department. on his recent return to Washing
ton. said.
Whatever may be said Of the other depart
ments at Camp Wikoff. the work Of the Signal
Corps is beyond criticism"
ORIGINALLY the Fifteenth men wore to go from
washiN gton barracks. where they had been
practicthg and drilling. to Chickamauga, and
were under travelling orders on Aug. 2. On
that very day the orders we're countermanded
and Capt. Higgins was directed to proceed at
once to Montauk Point, where Gen. Young was
stationed In command Of a non-existent camp
and without assistants. On Aug. 3 Capt. Hig-
gins. reported to Gen. Young for staff duty Of
any and all kinds. His equipment was not
elaborate. It consisted In a pencil and a pad
OF telegraph blanks. With this outfit he began
his work BY sending of some forty-odd tele-
grams to various officers and officials. The
telegraph operators at the Montauk Point sta
ton had had no experience with Government
business. and failed to appreciate the vital
necessity Of haste. After a brief conversation
with Capt. Higgins. whose remarks were verv
much to the point. they decided to acoommo-
date the Government as much as possible. but
explained that 1T would take considerable
time" 10. In that case. said the officer.
he would help them out. and seating him
Eelf at an instrument, he began transmit
ting messages. Thereafter the Governments
business went on swiftly.
After Gen. Young and Capt. Higgins had
m the site selected for the camp. the
Signal Corps officer borrowed some surveying
instruments from the railroad people and re-
turned 10 Gen. Young's headquarters, where
they spent the evening talking the matter
over. On Saturday morning there arrived
from Camp Black. Lieut.. Weigel Of the Elev-
enth Infantry. whom Capt. Higgins describes
as "a born hustler" They persuaded one of
the earliest corners among the newspaper
men that he could be of great service to his
country by carrying the lead plummet, and by
the time It was dark those three had staked
out the infantry camp on the Great Plain
southeast Of Fort Pond. FOR the ~accommoda-
ton Of three briRades Of three regiments each.
n very commendable achievement. as the line
Of each company street in every regiment
was exactly determined and designated. In
the evening there was another consultation.
and 1t was decided that the general hospital
should be mapped out on Sunday.
There Is plenty OF room here" said Capt.
Higgins. and It Is much better to arrange for
too large a hospital than too small a one"
This was agreed to. and what was then a
calculation entirely disproportionate to the
reckoningof the medical authorities was used
as n basis. To this foresight Is due the fact
that the imperfect accommodations OF the
hospitals have not been much worse, for that
reckoning was more than sufficient for the
possibilities Of tent erection when the hos
pital came to be put up. All day Sunday was
,sad nm In atruavfnD and ARRANGING fha
ground plans. Then began to come orders
and counter-orders for various camps: plans
were arranged and rearranged. and what was
designated as the site for the cavalry camp
one day was likely:to be the detention hospital
on the next day and nothing at all on the third.
With line and compass and tripod the little
force worked as best Il could, planning
gins was. attending to Gen, Young's tele-
graph business in addition to. the other work.
morning. bringing with them al! their equip,
ments. There, were linemen. inside wire"
elect:ridRi s9ss'fis sre eisSsres"i from U11A tsescshnSi~c sI'f fnsti-
tutes and colleges telegraph operators. ttele-
surveyors. civil engineers. fagmen, carpen-
ters and general workers; every man OF Them 19em
SSrdsars sIaed wi fRld tRem anq baf G soFS wasons. T Wifs
wagons. lance wagons, all kinds OF wires. com
plete, telegraph and telephone outfits. photo,
dag. lantern and Photograph outflts, and. in fact.
everything necessary to their multtorm duties.
From the moment they got, here they spun out
Their wagons. going across. the point from
the station to, Gen. YounG's headquarters.
lated wire. to which operators attached switch
boards and licked of messages 70 those who
were left behind at the station. II they did not
put a girdie round the earth in forty minutes"
they at least followed the methods Of the sprite
who did. for on the following morning, they
had telephone connections from their head
quarters. established behind the Dutch Plain
Iifa Saving station on the Bea6hOr6, TO Gen,
Young's headquarters at the Third House. 70
the railroad station. to the Quartet,naster.s
Sntin 20 station on the Sound.
Meantime the camp was filling up. and
there, we're constantly new calls TOT wi %ifbe res N
be lifted and galvanized iron wire strung on
lances eighteen feet high. AS they, were hus-
sIns A. nan OF me nnrns did moi gel oYer-