The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-04-20
READY FOR THE FRAY.
District Guard Rapidly Getting Into
Shape for War.

shape Tor War.
81 don't care if we never come back
is the burden of the NOS; popular song
with the members of the National Guard.
They want to fight. Monday nights as
sembly demonstrated to the uninitiated
the CELEBRITY with which the District sol
der boys get under arms. They had not
been together since December and yet
they stood like veterans through the try
ing ordeal of inspection, after which many
companies marched out on the street
and drilled for an hour or more. The
inspecting officers say nothing that is
not complimentary OF the men they ex-
amined, which is remarkatJe, Ina,m;leh
as some of the men had never marched
with d military company pefo~e. and TO
all of them inspection in heavy march
ing order was new. Heretofore the mem
bers of the Guard have Been rolling their
blankets and strappfffg them to the cor
ner of the blanket bags 1t WAS not az
c1-dirS tC regulations h,Esl Was the rcs'.iT
of long usage. The general commanding
however, has decidedathat the regulations
have been ignored too long and the Off
GERS were told 10 have the blankets pack
ed in the bags and the opercoats strapped
to the cone.
The surgeons have had busy time
this week. The offices of the battalion
medicos have been crowded every even
ing. Drs. Pool and Sprigg, of the Fourth
and Fifth Battaliohs, are by far the
busiest men in the Guard at present.
The First Separate Battalion is show
ing up in fine shape. The old stereotyped
phrase. and the colored troops fought
nobly," will once more play an important
part in the official reports of the future
if the expectations of the colored contin-
gent of the local brigade do ali they say
they intend to. Major Brooks's command
has always been in the front rank of Ma
tional Guard companies, both as to gen
eral utility and efficiency.
The men of this battalion have been ex-
amined and an unusually large percentage
have qualified. They always make a good
showing, and the ranks are better filed
than most of the white companies
The Second Battalion is recruiting
slowly They are not quite up TO the
standard set by the Second Regiment bat
talions, still they are filling out the COM
panies in a very satisfactory manner.
Company c, the Fencibles, is in the van
as far numbers go.
Capt. Domer is going to make a bat
TALON out of his command, to be known
as the Third Battalion. as soon as the
requisite number of recruits are enlisted.
A number of men have signified their in
tention of entering such an organization.
The Corcoran Cadets are increasing
rapidly: they keep Capt. Edwards very
busy looking UP enlistment papers and
issuing cards for physical examinations.
The new Sixth battalion men are do
ing very well for infants They have
| hardly got Strengthened out since their
transfer and are very busy at the Arm
DRY putting things to rights. Company y
| is fast becoming the banner company OF
| the brigade as far as recruiting is con-
| cerned. Capt. Glen B. Young enlisted
| forty men in the last two days and says
they are still coming" Capt. Young is
| practicing physician and has been au-
| thorized to examine his own men before
| enlisting them. This entails double work
i Capt Young is at the Armory all day
| from about 10 o'clock in the morning
till lights out" 1890 p. m.
| The Light Battery is coming to the
! front with 100 men, the result of two
| weeks careful work on the part of Lieut.
| Griffith and his assistants. They have
not received their armament as yet and
| all drills have TO be gone through with
| in a sort of pantomime. Only the Hotch-
| kiss guns used by the battery as a foot
company are used. A number who left
the command when it was dismounted
! are coming back again. Lieut.. Griffith
|
| $50 men. in a few days
| The officers generally are very much in
| tereSted in the bill presented to Congress
| yesterday by the Secretary of War. Each
| man who has been approached on the sub
ject has been favorabIy impressed with
| the measure. One gentleman who served
| in the Regular Army during the civil
war in speaking of the bill said:
| 1T is undoubtedly the best military bill
| ever put before Congress There is one
! provision in particular that you fellows
| overlook, and that is that no new regi-
| ments are TO be accented in the service
| from States which already have a num-
| Der Of commands which are not recruited
up TO their full strength In other words,
they can't send a new company in the
| field when they have organizations al
ready there that need men If such a
| law as that had been in effect during the
| late war there would not have been Sc
| many generals, colonels. mai OrS etc.
walking around town. You see then.
| whenever a call came for more men new
| commands were formed instead of filling
| the old ones up, consequently the army
| was full of officers who had no com
mands. In some cases good men who de-
| served promotion were kept down because
| there were not enough men in their com
mands to justify commissioning them
| The regulating of the size and rank of the
staff of the various general officers is also
a move in the right direction. If that
bill goes through you won't see so many
of these top-heavy, gold-laced staffs that
now circulate around the headquarters OF
every brigade in the country. Altogeth-
| er, the measure is a good one and [ hone
it viii pass"
Several officers were seen, and while
they all were heartily in favor of the
bill, they did not want to talk for publ,
cation.
Gen. Hugh j. Campbell Dead.