The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-05-15
RECRUITS WON'T STICK
TWO INCOMPLETE COMPANIES
HAVE DISBANDED.
ONLY ONE BATTALION MUSTERED IN
Another New Company Arrived Yesterday
The Murphey Company Coming
Tuesday--Maior Dixon has
Taken the Oath.
Taken the Oath.

1t is now beginning to look as if the
Second North Carolina Volunteer regt
ment will never be completed. Nearly
one month ago (April 23) the President
issued his call for troops and up to to-
day North Carolina has furnished only
one regiment and one battalion of white
troops, with one negro battalion ofzzzz
troops, with one negro battalion of tire,
companies waiting to be sworn in.
Volunteering in it goes on ut snail's
pace. There are plenty men volunteering
to raise companies but few have bees
able to get the full number required be-
fore they can be mustered in.
The first regiment was raised and
modified with little trouble. This was
composed entirely of State Guard com
panies recruited up. When the Second
regiment was called for there We're
not enough State Guard companies, will
ing to volunteer, to make it up and
there was great rush of outsiders,
anxious to raise companies and get i'll.
These were accepted, the acceptance
conditioned on their getting the re-
quired eighty good men by certain
time. This they claimed to have done,
but when ordered here they came-some
with 40 men, some 60, and some 100. not
so of whom could stand the physical ex-
animation. Result: They fail to ind
the recruits they expected here; there
is delay owing to the fact that nothing
less than a complete company can be
mustered In the men, growing tired of
waiting and sick of camp life are de-
sorting before they can be mustered in.
Thus the thing has gone on for Il week.
One day, for instance, the captain VIII
send his lieutenants out all over the
country for recruits and by dint OF
hard work. great expense and much per-
suasion he will find ninety men in his
camp He will go to bed that night with
the understanding that next morning the
company is to be examined and mustered
in. He wakes up however to find that
all have deserted except perhaps sixty,
and his last state is worse than his first.
This has happened with several of the
new companies and with one or two OF
the State Guard companies as well.
Thursday the Washington company
disbanded because Captain Foreman
could not get his so men and yesterday
the Burlington company Went the same
way.
When the Washington company gave
up the ghost Captain Holt, of the Bur
lington company. proposed to take in
enough of its men to fill out his com
pany, giving the Washington men, in
consideration of their enlisting in his
ranks, the first lieutenant the first and
fourth sergeants. the quartermaster
sergeant and four cOrporals.
So far all seemed to be going well, but
when the time came to be mustered III
thirteen of the Burlington men refused
to take the oath, assigning as reason
that the Washington company had the
lions share Of the officers and that they
volunteered to go only under their own
officers.
discouraged over this, Captain Holt
threw up the sponge and declared he
would go home and that the men might
do the same. Later the men went to him
and begged him not to do that. but 30
make further effort to recruit mp to so
men; that they would follow him and
home officers anywhere. On this assur-
ance he consented to try again, and no
and Captain Gray. of the Greensboro
company, who is helping him. left last
night to get UP the forty recruits still
Colonel Burgwyn has given the com
pany four days more time. though Cap
tain Gresham. the mastering officer, adj
yised that it be dismissed at once.
The companies now mustered in are
as follows, forming one battalion:
Greensboro. Captain Gray; Wilmington,
Captain MacRae; Nantahala, Captain
Gibson: Gastonia, Captain Durham.
Oxford now has a full company, and
expects to be examined and mustered i'm
today. as does also Rutherfordton. which
last night lacked only two men. Captain
Gotten. of Tarboro, also hopes to com
plete his company today.
Only one field officer has yet been mus
tered in for the Second regiment That
is Major Dixon. No other major can be
mustered in till there is another battal-
ion. When the regiment is complete, Col.
Burgwyn will take the oath.
FOrty-four men from Burke county,
under First Lieutenant A. c. Avery,
Jr., arrived yesterday afternoon. Last
night fiftysix men from Caldwell coun-
ty, under Captain Edmund Jones. Joined
them. They expect to be examined and
mustered in tomorrow. Tuesday the
Murphy company, under Captain J. w.
Cooper. is expected.
If the Burlington company does not
ut once ercruit mp its place will be given
to another AsheviIIe company. under
Captain John Wagner, Jr. He has the
full number and is now under waiting
orders.
The First regiment. barring guns and
uniforms, is now ready to leave to move
TO the front. In numbers it is complete.
the officers have all reported for duty
and the men have been industriously
drilling for two weeks.
But as yet no information has been
received as to when the troops will leave
camp. Tampa has been named as the
place and the men are anxious to start,
but there seems to be a hitch some
where with the department at Washing
ton.
1t is pretty certain though from or
ders so far received, that the day Of
their departure from Camp Bryan
Grimes is not far distant. Dispatches
= from Washington say that the general