The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1899-01-24
THE THIRDS TERRIBLE MARCH.
An Old Regulars kecoiIcctions of Army
Life Back I'm 1878.


Talking of soldiers having tough
time" said an ex-private Of the old
Third United States Infantry. 81
have my doubts if any in the United
States military service ever had
tougher time than the Third Infantry
had In the winter of 1S7S-unless it
might have been tho Continental army
at Valley Forge. / was member of
the Third Infantry in 1878. We had
been stationed at New Orleans for
several years, but during the strike
riots in Pennsylvania in the summer
of 1877 we were ordered to that State.
Soon afterward we were sent West to
assist in subduiug Chief Joseph and
his band of Nez Perccs hostiles.
When the regiment arrived III Mon
tana we were ordered to Helena This
required a tramp of more than 600
miles. By reason of our long resi-
dence in the South we were in no con.
dition, either physically or by equip
ment, for winter in the Rocky Noun
tains, and our suffepiags were terri
BILE.
During n largo portion of the long
march we were exposed to most vio-
lent snowstorms, with the Their
mometer never less than fifteen de-
grees below zero. Not an officer or
private in the regiment was provided
with overshoes or gloves. Many of
us were nearly barefoot, and, added
to the agony of freezing feet, was the
additional torture of being forced to
grip the cold steel of our muskets with
naked hands day after day. When
the regiment left New Orleans there
was not So in the possession OF officers
aud men. The women and children
belonging to the command, including
the wives aud families of the officers,
numbered thirty-two, aud transporta-
tion for these, of course, had to be
secured at individual expense. But
for the timely aid of friends, who un-
derstood the utterly impecunious con-
ditiou of the rank aud file and adj.
vanced sufficient funds, these depen-
dent and destitute followers of the
camp would have suffered abandon
ment in their time of greatest need
and peril. On the march north to
Corinne several of the women md
children fell sick under the terrible
exposure, and how they ever man
aged to survive at all is to me to this
day som ething to marvel at. The
transportation outfit allowed to the
command was limited to three ambu.
lances. Az there was not dollar in
the regiment, the simplest wants OF
the sufferers could'not be eratilied, az
the isolated ranchmen and hunters in
that then desolate region would not
part with anything when they found
that cash for it would not be forth
coming.
cat last, when the regiment was
nearing the end of it's march, aragged,
penniless, freezing, half-starving body
of men, some of the officers induced
ranchmen to buy their pay rolls Mt a
discount of twenty-five per cent. on
the dollar, and used the proceeds in
supplying the wants of the sick and
most needy. When we at last reached
post quarters we would have been al
easy mark for an enemy il one had
confronted us, for n dozen Indians
could have got away with the whole
command, so utterly exhausted and
physically incapacitated was every
man of us. Soldiers on the frontier
have had some terrible experiences.
but | doubt il any OF them can paral-
lei that awful march of the Third In
fantry through the wintry wilds Of
Montana. New York Sun.