The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-27
MAJOR CHARLTON PROMOTED
NOW SURGEON OF THE SECOND d.
VISION, FIRST ARMY CORPS.
Battery Men Commended by a Japa-
nese Expert-Camp Alger Incidents
Colonel Barnett's Regiment.

Staff Correspondence of the Journal.
in camp to-day for the first time and a
cooler air the Indiana soldiers were in a
better mood. and the surgeons reported a
gratifying decrease in hospital cases as well
as marked improvement of those under
care. The old Second Regiment was in
spected for new guns, General Breckenridge
old models will be thrown out and rs per
cent. of Colonel Smiths men will get new
Springfields. A requisition was also made
out for new uniforms. The water problem
has not yet been satisfactorily solved. Col.
Smiths twelve teams hauled forty-eight
barrels from a faraway stream to-day. Pri-
vate Grooms, of Company H, was given
twenty days punishment by Captain Tarlton
for absenting himself fifty hours from camp.
Colonel Gunder's regiment has been
ordered out for war. maneuvers tomorrow
and it is supposed this means that they
will participate in another mock battle The
boys of the Anderson company have gath
cred half barrel of relics from the bat
tie field and will send them home to be sold,
the fund to go to the company. Captain
Burr's fine sword, presented by an Anderson
club. has reached here. A flve-foot mottled
snake was killed near the quarters to-day. A
pump in the regimental lines win be COM
pleted tomorrow and this regiment will ex-
perience little difficulty hereafter
The Indiana batteries drew their first
camp rations to-day, a supply till June l.
A Japanese artillery major inspected Capt
kf,i-
clean The fine appearance of the men sur
prised him, he said. The field pieces are ex-
pected tomorrow.
Like the news from Manila and,
indeed like the news from all mpor-
tant battles, that from the battle of
Snodgrass Hill and McFarland's Gap,
valiantly fought yesterday, must reach
the public in dribs. This war is one
of extraordinary happenings, noteworthy
among these being Dewey's fight, where
not an American was lost, and the battle of
yesterday was no less remarkable in this
respect. Nine thousand men went into the
fray, and, were it. not for the Sixth Illinois,
whose disappearance In the woods lost the
day to one of the forces, the nine thousand
men would have followed the maneuvers of
that great strategic general of the middle
ages the King of France, whose march up
the hill will for aye rebound to his credit in
nursery doggerel.
The gossip of the camps last night failed
to settle who was really the conspicuous
survivor of this memorable battle of yester-
day, unless it were John Jacob Astor, owner
of New York millions and inspector on one
of the general staffs But Colonel Astor's
daring and recklessness were so pronounced
that, by all the written or unwritten law of
sham battles. he must be considered a fig
urant in shadow land. However, the bat
tie gave the first opportunity to observe the
mettle in the Indiana militiaman under the
excitement and dash of rapid maneuvering,
where 1t is no mean test Of endurance to
run up and down mountain sides. Chamber
through thorny spice bushes and over
sharp-edged rock for a matter of ten or
twelve miles, the hot sun shining all the
while in a torrid way unknown to Hoosiers,
and the double-quick order being given with
distressing frequency Colonel Studebaker
had his men up before daylight, and before
the sun was we'll up the horizon they were
tramping through the woods to their posi-
tion. They entered into the clash with men
from other States without the slightest
hesitancy and in some of these scrimmages
there was a slight element of danger. After
the recall the Hoosiers returned compara-
lively fresh
Colonel Studebaker had an opportunity to
find how his magnificent chestnut horse
would stand fire, and the animal admirably
responded to every demand made on him.
This mount is one of the prettiest in Camp
Thomas. Colonel Gunder also has a fine
war horse, whose grandsire was a Ham,
bletonian. Colonel Smith has a Kentucky
thoroughbred, while Lieutenant Colonel
Thayer has a horse that everybody else in
the camp is afraid to ride. Major Charlton
has the prize animal. 1t is an easy rider
with ginger in it, and is controlled almost
by the tone of its riders voice. A touch on
the foreleg will set the horse to marching
in a circus caper, and a wave OF the hand
to the right or left will control the gait
The new horses in Battery A have over
joyed the heart Of Captain Curtis. They
are a fine lot, and, as before stated, came
from Indianapolis. OF the forty that came,
Captain Curtis divided the lot with the Fort
Wayne men. Two of the officers have their
eyes on two pretty blacks that came with
the consignment, hoping to have them as
saddlers The artillerymen would hardly
be recognized now on their native heath
They are wearing their new uniforms of
butternut brown, made of a canyaslike
material, and the shade of the garment does
not set off the boys like their old uniforms
of blue. The rations are still holding out.
with extras now and then The dish wash
ing detail is one of the unhappiest sights
about the camp, but all the men must take
it in their turn. Privates Ed Gates and
Griffiths were on this duty yesterday, and
nobly stood up to the scullion lay
The various batteries had a little collision
with the Fourth Ohio yesterday just before
the sham battle. The infantrymen came