Arizona republican., 1899-02-21

only saw a few sunny days in the
 Sunny South the weather being
 moist and rains frequent. Not only
 that, the climate was extremely cold
 and it gave us an opportunity of con-
 trasting other climatic resorts with
 Arizona.
 Our company, A, was the historical
 company of the regiment. having been
 mustered in on the Fourth of July and
 it was mustered out February 15, the
 anniversary of the blowing up of the
 Maine. We were the only company in
 the service mustered in on Indepen-
 dence Day and were the first company
 in the regiment. We arrived at Fort
 Whipple soon after, remaining there
 over three months. This was the camp where we were initiated into the service and it was Imaginable, the pie
 ture presented in cur dress parade without uniforms and guns. The boys wore different colored shirts and some of them had no shirts, while their shoes were worn so badly that they had tci hop about at the command or about face Their trousers also dis played a big variety. After we were there 8 shCrt time we received an -n- stallments of shoes from the Red Cross society, for which the society is deserv- ing of great credit. Before leaving that camp the battalion was presented with a bear cub by Robert Brow, which served thereafter as our mascot. The young bear was christened 'YaV- aEai Meg and seemed to entertain a great deal of antipathy toward the officers of the regiment, at one time taking occasion to tear the blouse of Col Mitchell
 ''On our way to Lexington the train stopped for few moments at St. Louis Just before starting the boys made target of the upper windows of the de- pot Their maneuver was not with bad intention and before they realized what they had done they were ap- prfsed that the damage done by them would cost the company nearly SlO,- 0OO Some police officers were attract ed to the scene by the sound of shoot ing, and drawing their pistols made a charge at the cars. Major Russell, | who stood on the platform serenely gazing at the scene, told several of the police who demanded admittance into 1 the cars and who threatened to shoot i in case of refusal that We eat these i things, referring to the pistols, every ! morning before breakfast in Arizona This put a quietus to their raid and i the train moved off without dnterter- | ence..
 @We soon arrived in Lexington and l the next day pitched our tents at Camp Hamilton, a few miles from the | city That camp was a miserable | place, situated in the blue grass soil, | and when it rained the ground was ] muddy for days afterward From this not little malarial fever resulted We were forced to pitch a new camp near by but on high en- thence and better suited for sanitary purposes. The people about Camp Hamilton thought by CUT advance rep utation that we were an Indian regi- ment and for a long time we were known by that name There was a company there partly of Cherokee In iians and the sight-seers frequently passed by them in order to see real Indians, coming to our tents to satisfy their curiosity
 '"The Twelfth New York regiment was also stationed at that place. It was principally made up of tough boys from the BCwery and they at irst took every possible opportunity, to oully the Arizona boys. The first hing they knew they encountered several severe lickings and they soon earned to pay due respect and defer snce to the members of the 'Indl2n 'egiment.'
 At Camp Churchman near Albany he Arizona contingent was the life of he camp. Prior to their arrival the people reported everything to be dead, put when we pitched our tents there vas a continued yell at that place for hree days. |
 After. receiving orders to be mus cred cut and seventeen days before he actual muster out the soldiers had l 7ery little to do and celebrated each sunset in a unique manner. On 9 ong board they numbered the ceven- cen days of remaining service. Each night about 200 of them assembled and the burial ceremony. The ,orticn of the board containing one of he numbers was sawed eff and in erred in a previously dug grave while he buglers present impressively sounded taps They refused to bury number 13 until the next day when .wo numbers were buried at the same ime. During the last day the boys were in too much of a hurry to form a funeral cortege and the remaining numbered block did not receive a de- ,ent burial"
 --:O:-
 TWO GOOD RACES.