The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-15
PASSING OF CAMP MOUNT
STIRRING DAYS THAT WILL LONG BE
REMEMBERED BY THE BOYS.
A Resume Of the Principal Events in
the Life of This Rendezvous
First Days.

Few people realize the Importance of the
ancampment of the Indiana troops at Camp
Mount, for the reason that the greatest of
events are seldom appreciated until term
of discussion and consideration has caused
them to be presented in all their different
sides ard lights. 1t is only those who have
a deep interest in things military and who,
IN this time Of war. stop and think Of the
future influence, the significance of the call
for troops, the gathering, the mastering
OF them into the federal service, and, final
~. their rendezvousing at some point from
which they may be hurled at the enemy
on the shortest possible notice, that APP
preciate how, in after years, the experience
of the boys at Camp Mount and similar
camps all over the country will make a
mark in their lives which will only be
equaled by that made by their first battle.
April % President Mckinley issued a call
for volunteers, and the quota assigned to
Indiana to furnish was four regiments of
infantry and two batteries of artillery.
Within the space of a few hours after Gov.
Mount had issued his. call troops began to
arrive from all parts of the State and TO
gather at Camp Mount. The commssary
department was wholly unprepared TO care
were making demands on it for food. The
instructions of the Governor to bring one
days rations were either not received in
many instances, or were not fully appre-
ciated, and brought out only light lunch,
which sufficed for but one meal. The re-
suit was that the boys began to suffer from
hunger and exposure. They were from COM
Portable homes, where they had been used
to sitting down to a well-covered table three
times day, and going to sleep in soft,
familiar bed. The first night the boys of
the Second Regiment spent in the buildings
which they have since occupied, and though
the night was an unpleasant one to them,
It was doubIy so to the boys of the other
regiments coming in late, getting a scant
supper Of bread and pickles and a can of
baked beans TO a company. and then lying
down on the damp ground, most of them
with not even a tent above them, to wake
up in the morning stiff and cold and find no
breakfast and stimulating coffee. For two
days this state of affairs continued, and
then the commissary department got on its
feet and began supplying the boys with
food of excellent camp quality.
The novelty of the thing at first stood off,
to some extent, the hardship. but after a
few days the tables turned. Drills were
begun and the clock-work regularity of the
camp began. So things ran along until the
first Sunday when the boys had had a sur
felt Of being glorified by the camp visitors,
for the excursions brought to the camp
their fathers, mothers. brothers, sisters and
sweethearts, bringing with them home
dainties, spending the day in conversation
and leaving at night with tears. 1t was the
effect of this Sunday that some of the au-
fhorities of the camp had foreseen. Allow
ing the camp to be open to visitors de-
Veloped the cases of homesickness which,
in some cases, were irresistible. The day
came for the captains of the companies to
tell those who had no idea of going to the
front to at once make known their inten-
ton and return home. There were a thou
sand and one reasons why squad after
squad left quarters, braved the gauntlet of
their old comrades jeering epithets of con-
tempt, and went to their homes. Some of
them could not break, for even so short a
time as had elapsed. the ties of home. Some
of them were called by business or family
conditions which they felt were all-power-
ful; others had come to the camp aroused
by the enthusiasm of the home people when
the call came. which resolve faded when
they faced weeks of camp life and after
wards a trip of indefinite length to the
South and the service in Cuba. Few were
the towards that their old comrades ac-
cused them OF being.
The few who have appreciated the power
ful influence Of the camp are the men who
served in the civil war and went through,
when the war opened, the same experience
as the volunteers at Camp Mount.
me day the troops at Camp Mount were
mustered, the visitors gave the applause
that they thought was due the boys al the
crowning act which showed them to be
ready to defend their country. The deeper
significance was shown in the few in
stances similar to the one now described.
An old man stood behind the ranks of one
Of the companies as it was being mustered
in, with severai of his friends. His son was
in the file which crossed in front of him.
as the boys raised their hands to, receive
Strengthened and he said, half to himself
No nd Ike to do 1t again, did it in 81
lips of the company the old man ran for
ward, put one arm around his boys Shout
ders and, with an exultant laugh which
him. At the captains sharp command "for-
ward march" the old man loosed his son
and as he marched back to quarters the
fathers shoulders sank again and he turned
to go home
The ceremony of the muster. of course
had different effects on the different dispo-
sitions of the boys. Those who had come
from the farms or from manual labor in the
towns said to each other, We'll, we are in
the FEDERAL service now Kind of a funny
feelin', amt 1t? It's a kind of a bracer y
Those who had come from the higher pur-
suits of life who were cultured, whose SEN
sibilities We're finer, said but little and
thought great deal. To them it was a mos
serious matter. The strange, intangible
force behind the whole affair could not be
grasped-the spirit of the Constitution.
1t is stated that a new state militia is tc
De organized. and there is no doubt that
when the troops return, unless the wal
should be unexpectedly long and disastrous
many of them will again become members
OF the National Guard, and though they
may be swallowed up in that body the boys
that camped at Camp Mount will be remem.
bered for years TO come.