The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1898-06-24
MINNESOTA PATRIOTISM.
Southern Comment on Minnesota and
Her Soldier Boys.

her SOlulSI DUys'
The Chattanooga Sunday Times, OF
June 5th, in writing up the soldier
news at Chickamauga Park, has the
following regarding Minnesota pa
triotism. and also some notes on the
Twelfth regiment from this state:
patriotism is rife in Minnesota.
There seems to be more men ready to
come to the front than the govern
ment calls. And they are Of the true
ring, too, not seeking simply prefer
ence in official positions, nor clamor'
ing for fat" places. The surplus
is among the privates particularly.
When the Twelfth regiment was or
dered to moSolize at Camp Ramsey
near St. Paul, some thirteen or Jour-
teen hundred men responded. The
regiment was allowed only 1903. Out
of the thirteen or fourteen hundred
responding, eleven hundred ana
twenty-eight passed the physical ex-
animation, and so ninety-tiVe had to
be left behind because there was no
place for them. Even with the Sec
ond call there will not be enough
room for all able and willing to CO.
So some anxious to be in regiments
belonging to their own state, yet,
rather than not 60 at all, have gone
over into other states to get In, II
they can, under the second call.
The Twelfth Minnesota was the
very first regiment mustered into the
United States volunteer service, May
9Th being the date OF the muster.
They came IN so rapidly that they
were mustered in company after
company, and were not received un-
til the full regiment was made. Inc
Thirteenth regiment was mustered
in the next day MAY y and the Four
teenth the day after that, which was
Sunday, and at half past nine at
night, the men coming in and filling
up this last regiment as fast as they
could be handled.
As an evidence of individual pa
triotism, the first sergeant OF the
light battery A came down to this
camp on his own expense in order to
enlist in company L, which is COM
posed wholly of the sons of old veter-
ans in the civil war.
Col. Bobleter, Of the Twelfth, ranks
from May 4. every colonel OF volun-
teers in camp at the park. Lieut.
Col. Mccoy ranks, from May 5th, ev-
cry lieutenant-colonel of volunteers
on the camp grounds.
Majs. Mead, Wright and Whitney
rank all the majors of volunteers on
the grounds.
All the field officers of this regi-
ment have had an experience of from
twelve to eighteen years in the ma,
tional guard. They maintain dis
cipline in their camp that is unex-
celled by any and equaled by few. 1t
is fully up to the regular army stand
ard. When the taps for lights to go
UuU dIc given ~ LuCoAS oopS, oAA oaS
lights 60.
The camp of this regiment is an
exemplary one. Not only is it thor
oughlY cleared of every sort Of trash,
but the orderliness, the exactness OF
military arrangement strikes one as
he passes through the different COM
pany streets-the guns stacked in
perfect line, the accoutrements for
the march arranged in orderly piles
at the door of each tent. the sys-
tematic order5 maintained at each
company kitchen all give evidence OF
painstaking, systematic discipline un-
der most approved military and SAN
itary regulations.
Chaplain E. G. Clemens belongs to
the Methodist denomination. He is
hard working, painstaking preach
er, broad in his ideas, and popular
with the regiment. Besides being
chaplain, he performs the enormous
duties of being postmaster to the
regiment, caterer to the mess Of the
field staff and regimental historian.
He has with him little organ, and
at evening the soldiers gather around
his tent and sing appropriate mixture
of patriotic and Sunday-school songs.