The Afro-American advance. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1899-19??, 1899-07-01
ARTILLERY TACTICS
Still Pursued by Two Farm Horses
That Were In the War.
rhsy Are "Bat,ery Brokss $50 Per-
sist in Gofng AoeordinR to rHiIt-
tapy Instructions In
Their work

Horses In the artillery are required
to know just three things. When they
know those three pieces Of information
theyare called battery broke, and they
are relieved from ali obligation 10 know
another thing during their careers.
The first item In the education of the
artillery horse is that when he Is stand
ing still he il 10 stand still, regardless
Of everything, until he gets the next or
der. The next point IL that when he IL
ordered TO go, then 60 he shall for all
there Ia In him. The third point Is, that
when halted he shall swing around In
the direction from which he has come
and stand stock still, anathat he Is the
prettiest OF all, for II goes 10 the tune of
battery front into action" When
horse in the artillery knows those
three things he's battery broke" and
he never needs to know any more. II
there IL need OF few other bits OF mis-
cellaneous information the horse looks
to the artilleryman 20 know them.
The simplicity Of all this IL what
raised hob on the farm. The command
ing officer of the farm had bought
=
sale. Fine, big, heavy beasts they were,
and there IL seldom too much the mat
ter with the horse when the army comes
| 10 sell him, NO there il many good bar
| gain TO be had In that way SO long as
one doesn't mind the III. g." and the
condemned brand on his bit OF stock
| This farmer maybe didn't know the
difference, or perhaps he forgot 20
| make sure, and there was nobody at the
sale to tell him that these were battery
broke" horses that knew only three
things and would never know more nor
| less.
| The farmer had out his pair inn mig
field. where he was busy about s6asc 81
the tasks which keep farmers busy at
this time Of year. They were hitched
up to q good big farm wagon, which
took up about ns much room as the
calsson and timber did In the light bat
terry in which these horses had served.
but II dldn't begin to weigh anything
like as much, and II was Just easy for
those two horses. All went well, 30
long as II was u question of using the
first idea those horses had. The field
was big one. and they were stopped ut
one end OF H. There they stood. The
farmer ohirruped NJ them to follow him
along the row he was setting out When
that was without result he yelled get
upl" with trimmings The order was
not military, but the trimmings seemed
natural; they reminded the horses of
the artillery. Still the order for the for
ward march had not come and the
horses were too well trained 20 bulge.
At last the farmer came running up
with whole lot of almost genuine ar
tillery language and grabbed the whip
and lashed the horses. lie did not hurt
them-they were too tough for that
but he did convey the impression that
the time had come 20 bring their second
Idea into play. They started for the
other end OF the field full tilt, Us they
had been taught TO go under all circum.
stances. and with the fine scorn OF what
may be IN the way which characteriges
the artillery. Along toward the other
end OF the field II seemed 10 strike them
that things were not altogether as they
used 70 be In the old battery, there
were no drivers to keep the pace up and
TO use language. But they found
farm road which worked them around
the field nearly 20 where they started.
This brought them back 10 the farmer,
and the way In which he was swearing
made them feel natural once more.
Therefore when he 10, close enough 10
them TO enforce his order. although
"whoal" was not quite the same thing
rs halt" they wound up In fine shape;
they swung the farm wagon clear
around with gooh imitation Of battery
front into action. hut the wagon was
80 much lighter than the piece TO which
they we're used that damage resulted.
The contents Of the wagon were shot
out upon the advancing farmer and left
him buried under heap, Tho wagon
body was hurled far away through she
air and came to grief by striking the
trunk ~ . tree, the wheels went of ON
independent careers. and most af the
harness came 10 grief Hut the horses
stood shock still awaiting the next or.
der They had run through the list OF
their small Accomplishments and they
wer content. for they were "hattery
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