The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-30
CHICKAMAUek'S HUGE CAMP
1qIF. SPOT AN IDEAL PLACE FOR
TRAINING AN ARMY.


Dress Parade-CoI. Colts Crack
regiment and His Patriotic Sons.
soldier sympathy for the sick.
CAiczamauga Park, Ca, May IL
Chickamauga Park, where more than 40
90 volunteers are now located, is an ideal
spot for a monster military camp.
There are more than $500 acres in the
government reservation.
The land is rolling and a large portion of
it covered with trees which furnish shade
for the countless tents pitched beneath
item.
The park is traversed In every direction
Uy macadamzed roadways. splendidly
adapted for movements of troops, bicycling
or driving.
The landscape on every side is dotted
with monuments, bronze tablets which
mark the site OF historic incidents in the
fighting on these felds, and batteries of
cannon which stand on the identical spots
occupied by the batteries of the contend
ing armies in the late war.
The climatic conditions are those which
nave made North Georgia and contiguous
states famous.
Water for The troops is furnished by in
Vulnerable driven wells. In addition, to
guard against a threatened scarcity. the
government has just completed a system
of works capable of furnishing a daily
supply more than sufficient for an army
of 100000 men. Until the putting in of the
system there was grave danger of a wa
ter famine. A guard of two soldiers armed
with suns was posted at each well and
civilians were refused permission to use
any Of the water for themselves or their
horses. A creek running through one por-
ton Of the park affords the men an op-
porjunity for bathing.
Scattered over the park are immense
open fields, which afford excellent drm
grounds. From early morning until late
in the afternoon they are filled with men
drilling in squads, companies, battallons
and regiments. 1t is common sight 10
see 5000 or 4O00 men on the larger of
these fields at the same time. Reglmental
dress parades are held every night Usu.
ally two or three are in progress stimuli
taneOusly. Many of the regiments have
excellent bands whose music lends in
spiration to the pretty picture of moving
men, glistening guns and futtering flags
+
Ohio commanded by Col. Colt, who gain
ed notoriety on account of the fatal vol
ley fired into a mob storming a jail with
the intention of lynching a prisoner. Col.
Colt has a couple of patriotic sons too
small to carry guns, but old enough TO get
into the busle corps of his regiment. They
are to be seen al dress parade every night
stretching their little legs to the fullest
to keep in line with the other members OF
their corps. The march past the colonei
by the Fourth Ohio is so PRETTY done as
to invariably draw applause from the
spectators.
The park is about nine miles from Chat
tanooga. 1t can be reached by the Chat
tanooga, Rome and Southern Railway to
Lyle, Ga, or by driving out over a. ma
cadamized road which is now enveloped
in a cloud OF dust from end to end. The
latter is the Dleasauter way of going be-
cause it affords an opportunity of driv-
ing over the park. Owing to the extent
of the camp, walking through it would
prove a most tiTesome undertaking. The
station at Lyle is just outside the park
boundary line and there are no convey
anCes to carry you thence over the en-
c1mpment. When regiments were arriving
in large numbers every day travel on the
railway to Lyle became so congested that
many commands Were compelled to leave
their trains and march in heavy march
ing order under hot sun several miles
of camp.
Before the troops came to Chickama uga
the population of Lyle was so small that
II would have required a monster magni-
flying glass to discover that it had any
population at ALL 1t had a country store,
blacksmith shop and a postotflce. Now
Lyle Is tire Midway Plaisance of the en-
campment. Here the government has a
corral in which there are from 1,500 to 1000
mules 1t is a monster enclosure and the
n o on
in circles. or from one part of the corral
TO another. The animals are fine speci-
mems of their species and in this one
branch at least the contractors do not
appear to have palmed off on the govern
ment inferior goods. Nearly all are from
Missouri and Minnesota.
At Lyle too are unloaded vast quaint
ties of stores for the camp, and heavy
army wagons are here by scores all day
loading and carting them away. Most OF
the wagons are drawn by four mules, and
many of them have one or two armed sol
dlers aboard as guards
lnnumerable small shanties have sprung
up here where vendors display cheap
wares, food, liquids and gimcracks TO
Wheedle the soldier out of his money.
IL is Coney Island and wild and woolly
west all in one A cheap theater is in full
swing and a gambling house Is in full
biast day and night. 1t is a hot bed of
capitalization and Gen, Brooke has de-
cided TO put a stop to it. by having the
land condemned and taking possession of
IL IN fhe name of the government.
several newspapers have tents
here as headquarters post office
mas been located, and an express
Office established, all under tents.
The postoffice is equipped with a money
order department, and Is handling an inn
mense amount of mail matter Fifty thou
sand letters came in one day and twice
as many newspapers. The mail is assert
ed by regiments and the captains of the
various companies see to its distribution
among the men.
Inc camps of the various regiments are
scattered all over the park, some of them
several miles apart. Most of the COM
mands have full supply of the regulation
tents, but many of the regiments have
most of their men under small shelter
tents. They dot the landscape by thous-
ands and make a most picturesque specta-
c'e In some instances the colored blan-
hets and other equipments hanging on
Iimbs among the tents give the scene the
appearance OF a vast encampment Of gyp-
sizes
Six men sleep In each of the regulation