Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1899-08-17
AMERICAN SIGNAL GUNS.
NOW HEARD EVERY NIGHT AL
OVER THE EARTH.
II Person in Porto I,ico Could Hear she
Evening Gun ip Manila Would
Awaken Him just Before Hi. own
Signal Gun Doomed.

Evening Gun ip Manila Would !
Awaken Him just Before His own
Signal Gun Boomed.
Webster's 3 allusion to Great Britain
as "a power which has dotted over
the whole globe with her possessions |
and military posts, whose morning |
drum beat, following the sun aud .
keeping company with the hours, cir :
cles the earth with one continuous and .
unbroken strain Of the martial airs of
England" may not have been an orig
innl idea with him. Captain John +
Smith in some of his writings aludes !
10 the Spanish soldier who brags that |
the sun never sets on Spanish domin-
ions, but lever ,ehineth on enc part or |
other" while both Schiller and Wal
ter Scott put similar ideas in the
mouths of their Spanish characters
But our late war with the dons has
stripped the Spaniard of large part
Of his lraggadocio so tina, it no longer
takes Old Sol long time to traverse
the dominions of Spain
But the decrease IN time Of the sun S
traversing the dominion of The don re-
suited In an increase in the time OF its
wandering over the domain Of the
Yankee. Previously the first army
gun fired to salute the rising of the
sun was in Fort Preble, Maine, and
the last at the Preside, San Francisco.
Now q dozen salutes to the sun are
fired III advance Of that at Fort Preble
the guns at posts III Porto Rico. and
4 number after those at the Preside
at Dyea, Honolulu and in the Philip
pines.
The custom Of firing these guns Is
observed in camps in the field as well
as at posts and garrisons. because it
is one Of the institutions Of the army
commanded by the army regulations.
and is as much matter of law as the
mastering in of troops Or the rules Of
discipline This institution of salnting
the coming and going OF the sun has
existed from time emembered. 1t
IS the practice not only IN America
but in the leading nations of the world.
Our army regulations require that the
reveille (mornlng) gun be fired at
time no earlier than $50 a. In. in sum
mer nor 6. 30 q. III. in winter and the
evening gun at sunset Local and
not standard time is followed. The
ceremony is in charge of the officer of
the day who details sergeant and two
enlisted men to fire the gun These
sergeants generally go by their own
watches and any available proprietary
| medicine almanac will do to determine
the hour of sunset. There is, never
theless a reasonable degree of regu-
larity and simultaneousness through
out the country since these almanacs
are made from the ephemera published
| by the naval observatory.
1t costs Uncle Sam to maintain this
custom about S15, 600 year, about the
same amount as it costs to fire a few
thirteen-inch guns. Cheap grades Of
powder, costing about fifteen cents a
pound. are used. These two signal
shots each day have the effect of mill
cary order to all the men at the post.
garrison or camp. The evening gun
s the concluding ceremony of the day
and is fred with the last note Of the
bugle sounding the retreat, when the
| flag is lowered, no honors are shown to
any one, and all sentinels understand
hat they are to challenge friend
or foe until the morning gun nshers in
the break of day. Even if the Presl-
dent or the commander-in-ch chief of the
army were to appear after sunset a
salute would not be fred In his honor
Ihe bigges: guns used in giving the sc
| signals are the eight-inch rifles on
Governor Island, which are fired
with great regularity and preciseness,
and as their boom sounds throughout
the vicinity Of New York City and
Brooklyn every vessel of whatever m.
ture in port has TO Immediately dis
play its lights for the night,
There are 144 military posts o.
Uncle Sam that are under these regQ
lations.
The first shot fred at sunrise come.
from the garrison on the island o
Nieaues, east Of Porto Rice. In it
westward journey the sun is salute
almost In constant succession unit
the shot at Aguidilla, on the extreu'
west coast of Porto Rico. is fired
Approximately seventeen minutes al
ter this Porto Rican gun is sounded
the cannon a; Fort Preb.e, In Por;lant
harbor, Maine, booms. Tnesucces
sion continues Ia the United State
until Fort Meyer. across the Potoms
River, is reached inst a the Fox
Meyer gun sounds. the Fifth Intantr,
al Santiago hears the daily gun 4.
the sun travels II the heavens sim al
taneous shots are fired III Cuba al,
the United States After the Pima
del Rio sho. IS heard, the line OF fr
returns 10 the mainland and move
westward through the various n.litar
posts scattered over our b,y countr,
uu.il j. reaches the Preside a. Sa
Francisco Fo-:v minutes after h
| Presidlo's sho. cones IRE .ro1 70.
Wrancei. and twenty minutes ST
later the gun 8. Dvea, Alaska.
heard. Al hourAfter the Dyea gu
the sun calls upon the gunner a