West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1899-01-05
"Ths Gallant First"
Our Boys In the Cora Cracker Stat,


the cotton ant sweet potato nv.d,
kaown under the military name of
Camp Caspar IA Courul. Columbus. Ga.
IN nice wctther, this chap ts very
nice lecatioq indeed The sand bee
comes backed, aAkinS vory nice ooa-
pany streets. bat ~aea it rains. wh.ch
IL occasionally GA does, o Lord | de-
liver US There laay DO other troub-
les, .ord. bat aone like sand mixed
up To a composition OF Il )ur and paste.
The happy ppssessar OF a pair OF gnn
boots at these times when tho heavens
open, tho floods deccndsd. AMI the
winds blew and our fonts fell. for thav
were teg -ej In sasl. This isan ola
parable, plrol,el ANA brought MP tn
date and many and mInya soldier boy
will see the truth of the Illustration.
On tho third night after our arrival
we had an illustration OF Georgia
wind storm turned loose and started
out over the "cotton fields ami sandy
bottoms" 1t probably nad an eve on
che main chance To see whcther the
boys IN our own aad only" had
learned the knack of holding on to
guys yet or not. Some few of the
company tents were blown down, but
most of the boys proceeded to hang
themselves onto a corner rope and
thus prevent an unadvcrtised balloon
ascension, Delaney style, as we know
the city people would not appreciate
one so early in tho morning, IT. being
then tho early hour of "a. IN. The
privatss were not the only onss that
agarsd in this sport There were
others
No damage OF any Importance ex.
cept the West Virginia Hospital, which
was blown IA II itas our pocket book
after being trod ON by an elephant
| There were no paticAts in IL AT that
time, but what we objected To was
getting mp out of "A comfortable bunk"
and trotting out in ruiu storm with
tho wind blowing SO hard that IL blew
the cracks out of the fence. From
what we could see we were not the
only one out studying astronomy that
night The "hoosiers' and Corn
tuckiaus" seemed to be havisg
troubles OF their own. "Alps we'll
that ends we'll aud the next day
everybody put dVNu double row of
stakes, nn probably th0re won't be
another sucn Texas cyclone for siX
months. We hops there won't be, at
le"st. II there .is, and Rev. lrl r..
Hicks will Aindly look the matter up
and lot Us know beforehand, We will
proceed TO dig burrow like western
coyote. A lttlle OF some things is u
pleuty aud THE - one oil the things.
Another word about tho weather
ana We viii turn the bureau over To
Peter K. Smith and give il up for Il
Oad jOD IL invariably rains three
days out OF the week, turning cold on
the fourth day and winding up with
two Or three warm, huuHy days Al
least THIS is about the program. a
private recently facetiously remarked
that the bureau was run by Non
Com" which accounted for so much
rainy weather A private never loses
an opportunity To pun "non-Com,"
just ike IA freshmen ia college never
forgets to give ''soph' the worst of
il IL the chance presents itself
Several companies have been out at
rifle practice and the First is sus.
tanning the reputation made at Chick
amauga for accurate shooting. The
rifle raRge here is prsnounced To be
the best constructed kind in use. The
best score so far as we have heard is
forty eight out Of possibly fifty At
three hundred yards. The rife prac-
tice is to use up the old Springfield
cartridges, as the brigade - being
issued new guns.
The First w Va. have been issued
their new Krag-J orgensen rifles.
Without doubt they are far superior
10 the old Springfield, for field service
at least. The new gun is 80 calibsr,
while tho old was 20. thus reducing the
resistance Of the air one third The
new bullet is lead incased in steel,
Thus greatly incrsasip & It's penetration.
/ The Krsg--Jorgensen is either single
shot or magazine. at will. They are
gauged TO 1000 yards effective shooting
and for long range are an albright
enough gun. They require more care
90 keep clean, being considerably coW-
Plicated, and are soiae what heuv .er
ia the stock than the Springfield.
The West Virginia regiment has
been furnishing pro, ost guards for tine
city for several Gays Formcr provost
guards were not any bstUf liked W
the soldiers tfan tho Lord would let
'em. Captain GaiHcs OF the provost
guard. may be the best like rnau that
ever came up the pike then agaia he
may not Just why ail this whyness
and wbcrefore IT. is hard TO say. The
soliicrs thought the guards toO strict.
and so it started.
The loot bail tsatn is lying low. rest
ing ON hOaors already won. For sev.
sral days efforts nave bssn iaade 70
get the team, of tne First W. Va. and
Third kentucky TO meet On the grid.
iron. but all efforts have proved usels IS
thus far. 'rse team Of the First is u
cr.cker-iack any old way yoo look ai
them and arc only toe anxious to nect
I tlts snpe Of Old fglusvraas nj, a.. e44