The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-18
REGULAR SOLDIERS LIFE
DAILY ROUTINE IN A WESTERN FORT
OFFERS VARIETY ENOUGH.
Duties and Diversion OF the Enlisted
men and Commissioned Officers
Not an Easy Life.

Pomona (Cal) Letter in Boston Transcript.
A soldiers life in the army fort on a from
tier in the Indian country is not so easy and
indolent these days as many Eastern people
imagine 1t is a pleasant and somewhat ex-
citing experience, and for some soldiers it
is very happy life. For the last thirty
years military fort in tine West. in the
| fullest sense of the word. is really no fort
| at all 1t is merely collection of low.
| strong-built and homely buildings, houses
| arranged in any form most pleasing to the
| commanding officers Some of the struc-
lures at the forts look as if they had been
| dropped down on the prairie hap-hazard
the purpose being to have one military
station located far from another that
mutual communication can be had in a
days ride with horse. There is not the
least semblance of fertilization about the
frontier forts parapets, buttresses, bas-
| tons or cannon projecting through en-
| brasures-so common in military poems and
stories
The cost of all the buildings at a typical
army fort out in this region is usually not
over $4,000. There are some that would be
dear at $500. The structures are always
arranged so that officers quarters are
| separated from the barracks of enlisted
men, and the parade or drill ground in a
| rectangle or square between the officers
| quarters and the barracks, stables, guard
| house and hospital. The stars and stripes
float from a huge pole In the middle of
| the parade ground. For sairmish drills. Of
which there are many in modern military
tactics the prairie outside of the garrison
limits, stretching away in all directions for
hundreds of miles, is chosen. Sometimes
there may be a company of people in a
frontier fort who please their aesthetic
| tastes by cultivating flower gardens within
the garrison. and few forts nave native
vines covering the wooden walls with BIOS
SONS and green foliage, but such features
| are not common.
Frontier forts are Of various sizes. They
run all the way from ne-company posts to
| twelve OF fourteen. There are in this fort
| Twelve companies of infantry and one troop
OF cavalry Wherever there is a military
headquarters q regimentai band is sta
TONED. A regiment of cavalry under the
present organization of the United States
army, consists of twelve companies and
| pand the officers are one colonel one lieu
tenant colonel three majors, twelve cap
| talnS, fourteen first lieutenants and ten sec
ond lieutenants. The two extra first lieu.
tenants In each organization are the regi-
mental adJutant and the quartermaster The
! aaJutant is a sort of chief clerk of the con-
Germ. lie does or manages all the clerical
| work, receives and answers all communion
tlons; for 1t would be a breach of etiquette
10 ADDRESS communication direct to the
commanding officer. Everything should be
done through the adjutant. The quarter
| master must be genuine hustler to keep
pace with his business. He has an exceed
| lngly difficult position to fill acceptably for
| mat ofncer as rlle, is the most roundly
| abused OF all in the military service and
| N nine cases out OF ten the fault does not
lie at his door. A company organization Is
one captain, one first lieutenant and one
second lieutenant. Seldom is it that a. COM
| pany is completely Differed. If the captain
| be present he will command in person but
his lteutenantS are detached for one thing
| or another-they are away from post on spe-
! clal duty at colleges or at West Point re-
crulting service from sickness, a vacancy
| IN the company, or from q hundred other
| causes or, if present at the post they are
| temporarily detached especially to perform
such duties as those of post adjutants. post
| quartermasters, post commissaries, instruc-
| tors OF rifle practice, ordnance officers pro-
| vost marshals, or they are off in the field
| surveying, escorting postmasters, chasing In
dams and the like. The duties of all officers
ana soldiers are calculated to teach any
tenderfoot on short notice that the military
servants of Uncle Sam away out here on
| the frontier completely and thoroughly earn
every cent they get by the grace of Con-
| gress.
ISN'T 1T THREE YEARS?
A soldier is enlisted for five years. Why
any man voluntarily comes into the service
it is hard to say. There are various rea-
| sons, and, a rule, the personnel of the
enlisted line is very fair. indeed, and they
are quite a credit to themselves as well as
to the flag they represent. The pay is small
| the duty neither hard nor laborious, and
the discipline strict. In the ranks of the
army to-day there are as bright talent and
| as well-read and educated men as can be
| found in any other profession or trade on
| earth. Some of the finest oficers who to-
gay wear the shoulder straps or high COM
missions nave arisen from the ranks by
1 nylA 1Nrr 49, 4 8
under hard trials and tribulations of
] course, 1t is easier serving the United States
| island and elsewhere in the East than it is
| far out here in the high Northwest, under
the ye shadoW of the giant Rockies.
| crease of 81 for the third year, 81 for the
| fourth and 50 for the fifth; also additional
| remuneration if promoted corporal SER
geant or artifcer Besides this. if worked
| as carpenter, plasterer or mechanic of any
| KIND, he receives what is called extra duty
| pay; then must be included board, lodging
| clothing, schooling, medical attendance and
various other perquisites. Uncle Sans
army catches all sorts Of material for SOL
Gers-men OF all natlonalities and all chimes.
They come as bright as meteors and as YER
| dant as unripe cucumbers, but no matter
| how ignorant or green recruit may be at
| the time of joining. he usually leaves the
army we'll satisfied with his five years dis
| clpllne and experience, and also a fine
!, In summer it is pretty plain sailing, al
| though at some of the forts distributed
| diohS MlSSOuEI river 1t Is not safe or
| comfortable for the soldier or officer either
| TO attempt to do guard duty or other work
| at the height of the warm season unless
| well protected by head nets and castiron
| gloves, on account of the ways of the mos
| quitoes. These insects are prepared for
| business in this latitude They come In
| SWarmS and are so numerous and so per-
| sistent that 1t Is not exaggeration to say
| that life is positively burden for a few
| weeks in each year Mules. ponies horses
| and cattle all suffer terribly from these
| pests, while man would also find existence
| next to unbearable should he not be able to
! provide himself with adequate protection i'm
| the way of head nets and long-arTed
| gauntlets. In summer the inmates Of the
| fort have had the temperature as high as
| 123 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade In jan
! uary and February the mercury at this
] point has sometimes sunk to the awful
| temperature OF As degrees below zero. Put
| ting the two together we get a range of 1853
| degrees as the difference between the ex-
| tremes, which is hard for any other spot
| on the known globe to equal In the win
| ter the snow may reach. a level in the
| Northwest, anywhere from six inches 10
four or five feet. The average, however is
| not much more than fourteen inches all
| around; but even this depth on a level, un-
| broken stretch of prairie makes campaign
| ing on foot not the pleasantest occupation
| one could find When the winds blow and
| the billiards. fly and the snow begins TO