Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1898-08-04
Army, Navy, Battleships and Soldiers.

''' NEWPORT NEWS, VA. July 80. 1898.
Much interest centers here just now own
IL 10 the number Of troops arriving and lea
Ing for Porto Rico. As the city is approach
be ed from Richmond the first warlike spe
tacle met with is camp Of negro troops O
a the side OF the railroad. AS we passed "
saw squads of these drilling. They seen
cd to be raw squads and some were not i
- uniforms. AS we drew nearer this poiI
the 1act that we have war was made NOR
IT, apparent, and on the suburbs of the cit
the camp itself flashed on US. 1t was stretcl
10 ed for mile or more and the tents wer
D. pitched with military precision, the horse
were In drOves about the artillery and wae
b. ons, the men with guns were doing guar
If duty. and the others were about in group
and squads or singly and to one who 'neve
, saw an army camp 1t would prove in
tensely interesting. The LIST Kentucky hat
. just arrived and had not yet gotten thei
tents up. In the town soldiers and sailors
II were everywhere and in the harbor the grea
u transports lay ready to take on their vas
cargos OF human freight and war munitions
i Close by them lay the ram Katahdin, and 9
IS little further over was the battleship Min
neap0liS. In the dry DICK was the Yosemite
s "hlcn before the war was the Ell Sud.
e talked to several of the members of heI
crew. The Yosemite was in the naval bat
Tie OF Santiago and made many narrow es-
capes. Some of her crew told me that the
spanish gunnery directed against her from
tne forts was magnificent, and it Is remark
able she escaped. The first shot fired at her
they say only missed her by few feet, and
the distance at that time was such that the
Yosemite could not reply. On one occasion
they say that their ship was so close up under
the guns OF the forts that she would certain
~ have been sunk but for rain that fell
Just then aud she was able to pull out of
danger. The handling of the ship by her
Capt. Emery was described as superb.
when it was seen the Spaniards had got the
range he would squirt her, then slow down.
ana SO on thus by the bes of luck escaped
SO that she was not hit 1t is the impress
sion Of these men that if Cervera had come
out and fought he would have done orr
fieet great damage, for an unarmored cruis.
er like the Yosimite could have been sunk
with one shot from their three inch guns.
About 5000 troops under General Brooke
nave gone and there will be about 5000 men
here by tomorrow probably 1000 are here
now. These men begin to fear that the war
Will end before they get there. The be-
havior OF these troops has been remarkable.
not single complaint having come to nv |
ears against them and talked to manv citi-
zens of Newport Naws.
Tlo hOfa1S n ro f lod NTH
In uniform cavalrymen parade the streets
on horseback, the bright red trimmed uni.
forms OF the artillery are seen everywhere
and 1t all presented gay scene. The men
are robust and we'll Drowned but not brown
ike the sailors. There were dozen of the
foslmite crew at the Warwick to dinner
Friday and the sun brown on them is driven
IN as 1t were. The Capt. VIM. Emery is
curiosity, one of the chief officers is John
Eustis. grandson and heir of much of the
Corcoran estate at Washington.
The LIST Kentucky Is commanded by Col.
Oastieman OF near Louisville, superb
horseman, and during the civil war a CAP
tain under John Morgan. He is also cele.
DRAFTED as the father of the beautiful Miss
Castleman. OF whom we have heard 80
much recently. He came to the Warwick
accompanied by little boy, who is one of
MS aids, and courier. The child as he looks
IS not over IL years of age, and is son of the
Leut-CoI. Belknap, and grandson of Sec.
retary BeIknap OF General Grants Cabinet
and a grandson also Of Gen. Simon Bolivar
oucKner OF kentucky, who was candidate
[or Vlce-president on the gold ticket in the
last campaign. Outside the colored groom
leId their horses, two magnificent ones. ALL
'er leaving the hotel they rode over the e
own. and back to camp. 1t would have n
urned many of our boys green with envy t,
o nave seen this little soldier about to start Y
INTO real warfare "
Ihere Is little Spanish boy. son Of an Of O
lcef, who was killed on Cervera's fleet. who d
vas captured by our troops and brought to al
'Io foint, the little fellow can speak only 1
spanish but he was pet amongst the sail Il
rs ana ne soon got on terms with them. He b
about six years of age and very dark. He g,
now at the Hampton Normal school. H
We will now 20 back to ouri
Aentucky cousins. The regimentl
Fhich is 1850 strong is oftieered o,
y Col. Castleman. Lieut. Col. Belknap and OIL
aaJ. Crump. Belknap is worth several mil
Ion dollars. Maj. Crump, whom we visited re-
company with Mr.. Powell. superintendent fl
L the public schools of Newport News, and til
II. Epps, the Principal. was very courteous. ~
daj. Crump is V. M. 1. man, native of fu
'ulpeper, and graduated in the same kl
lass with Mr.. W. P. Tams and Mr.. ~,
Ilenard +. Bell OF our city, and was for gr
time on the engineer corps OF the Valley al
abroad when it was building In his en- u
ineer corps on the Valley Ry. he told US an
here were tie Hon. Jacob Yost and Mr.. 70
liller Williams. Right close to Mai.
'rump's tent was the tent of Gen. Fred. ID ca ca
rant, who Is in command of this brigade. ia
len. Grant is the image of his distinguish wi
d father, except that he seems taller. With IN
I'm was his wife who is sister of the in
eautirul Mrs. Potter Palmer, and a son
bout II. Mrs. Grant is also a beautiful We
oman. We waited at Maj. Crump's inyi- II,
'tlon Tor the dress parade. Just previous ra
this we had witnessed the artillery drill or
the two Pennsylvania companies here.
mich was intensely interesting. They ei
RED their guns during the drill and to us be
mo had heard little at least of this kind
music during the late war; it had
ocular effect. One of these companies is
crack" company, equipped largely by
ohm Wanamaker. In it are millionaires.
'ot and base ball players and other per-
ms OF renown. Until this war began. no so
rivate soldiers were allowed in the hotels pc
this quarter, but now all the first sp
lass hotels are open to them, and the din III
lg rooms and Hobbies are crowded with ce
lem, and their fathers, mothers, sisters LEI
I'D friends, and when the dancing begins VI
he priYate's Cuban uniform which is a sort OF
yellow or brown canvas, is seen eyery- SV
here of