Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-04-28
ANTIPODEAN ECHOES
Our Morning and Evening Guns in
Both Hemisphere.
An IMMBMORIAL MILITARY USAGE
To the East and West Our Lon
gitude Increases.
EFFECT OF THESE SIGNALS

| sentence about the English drumbeat he
| little dreamed that the day might come
| even before the end of the century. when
| our own salute to the flag would be heard
| echoing around the globe
| Webster alluded to Great Britain as "a
| power which has dotted over the surface
| Of the whole globe with her possessions and
| military posts, whose morning drumheat,
| following the sun and keeping company
with the hours, circles the earth with one
continuous and unbroken strain of the mar
! tial airs of England
This thought occurred to him. he said.
many years before while standing on the
| ramparts at Montreal TO watch the sun
| rise. Although the idea was original UNI
| doubtedly with Webster, as with everything
| else under the sun. there Were others be-
fore him who thought of it, Cant John
Smith in some of his writings aludes to
| the Spanish soldier who brags that the sun
never sets on the Spanish dominionS. but
lever shineth on one part or other" Schil-
| Ter in Don Carlos makes his hero say. The
! sun in my dominion never sets Walter
| Scott in his life of Napoleon quotes Charles
as saying, Remainder the sun never
| sets on the immense empire Of Charles V"
Some Changes.
The war Of ours with Spain has stripped
| the Spanish soldier somewhat of his brag-
gadocio. 1t doesn't take the sun a great
while now to traverse his Spanish majestys
empire. But with ourselves there has come
| a change. Not only has our longitude been
extended across the Pacific to the Philip
pines, but 1t has widenad a little bit to the
| eastward. For instance, the sunset gun at
Fort Preble. Me, has Away been the most
eaSterly shot of the many that are Sue
cessveIy fired by American soldiers at the
doing down Of the god of day" as he
sweeps on westward to the Pacific Now
a dozen different army posts fire their even
| ing gun before Preble's is heard. The last
| shot to be fired in the farewell salute to
the sun has usually been at the Preside,
San Francisco. This, however, is now far
away to the east of the posts at Honolulu
and in Alaska.
This institution of the morning and even
ing gun in the army is an interesting one.
It has existed from time immemorial, not
only in our own military establishment but
in those of Great Britain and of the other
leading nations of Europe. The firing of
these guns morning and night is one of
the important orders of the day. 1t is never
omitted at any army post or garrison in
time of peace. nor in time of war when
the post or garrison is not in the presence
of the enemy.
In time of war the firing of morning and
sunset guns is omitted for varioas reasons.
For one thing, thy might reveal the pres
ence of our troops to the enemy. Trey
might also occasion alarm and confusion
within own lines from the supposition
that an attack had been begun by the en-
envy.
A Matter of Law.
The custom of firing these guns is OBJ
| served in camps in the field as well as at
posts and garrisons, because 1t is one of
| the institutions of the army commanded by
The army regulations, and is as much
tier of law the mastering in of
troops or the rules of discipline
The morning and sunset guns are called
fer by section pos of the army regulations.
in the following language: AT posts sup
piled with ordnance and with ammunition
for the purpose morning and evening gun
Will be fired daily at revelle and retreat"
BY section 3S5 of the regulations it is pro-
Tded that the commanding officer at a
post or garrison shall fix the time for the
reVeille gun. but the regula atoms require
that 1t shall be fired at time not earlier
than $50 am. in summer, or $50 am in
winter. Section 1856 fixes the time for firing
the evening gun al sunset.
As time regulator the morning and
evening guns would not be regarded en-
tirely trustworthy. The ceremony is in
charge of the officer of the day. who usu-
ally details a sergeant and two enlisted
men to fire the gun. The sergeant's watch
ana any available patent medicine almanac
are depended upon for the precise moment
when the shot is to be fired As all these
amanacs are made up from the ephemerae
published by the naval Observatory. there
Is a reasonable degree of regularity and
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES throughout the military
establishment 1t is almost needless TO saw
that local and not standard time is follow
ed. as a rule in firing the morning and
evening guns. There have been a few az,
ceptlons, and they led to much confusion
The cost to Uncle Sam of firing the morn
ing and evening guns in a year amounts IN
something over $1,000. A cheap kind of
powder Is used, worth about - cents a
pound, and blank cartridges are emDIoyed
which take, for three-inch guns, a pouad
OF powder; for three and two-tenths-inch
guns. a pound and half. and for twelve
Founders, one and three-quarter pounds of
powder.
New YOrk's Big Gun
me evening gun at Governors Island is
fired with great accuracy at sunset There
an elght-inch is used, with several pounds
OF powder in the charge, so that the report
may be heard throughout all the waters
surrounding New York as a signal to all
the night. "
AS matter of usage these two signal
shots each day have the effect of a military
order TO all men at the post garrison or
camp. AT night the evening or retreat gun
Is usually the concluding ceremony of roll
call and dress parade. 1t is fred at the last
note OF the buGle sounding the retreat and
as IL Is fired the flag is lowered for the
night, and all sentinels understand that
they are to challenge friend or foe until the
X.
sunset gun no honors are paid to any Of
nicer or official y salute would rot be fired
even for the general of the army or the
president of the United States after sunset
Inc morning gun, with the roll call which
tolloWs, begins, the evening gun, with
the roll call and tattoo by drums and bu-
gles closes the day.
There are IA garrison posts where now
the morning and evening guns are fired in
the United States army. The first gun to
be fired in our military establishment is en-
the island of Vieques, east of Porto Rico
where Company l of the 18th Infantry is
stationed. This island is about twenty
miles long, and our headquarters there are
in longitude 60 degrees 30 miutes. The next
shot is heard at Humacoa. on the extreme
eastern coast of Porto Rico, where Com
pany X of the 11th Infantry is stationed
Then successfully at Yauco, Utuadao San
German, Sauterce, Coamo, Las Marias, Ma
natl, Bayamon, Cayey, Arecibo, Adjuntas,
Aibonita, and finally at Aguidilla, on the
west coast of Porto Rico, the shots are fired
that mark the passage Of the sun west
ward.
In the United States Again.
Several minutes-seventeen approximately
-elapse before the gun that marks the ar
rival of the sun ct Fort Preble, in Portland
harbor, Maine, is fired. Then come one