The National tribune., 1900-06-21
A FAMOUS POST.
The Jefferson Barracks of the old-Time and
Now.

NOW.
jefferson Barracks is more picturesque
than any Army Post in the country, and
is as full-freightcd with history and ro-
nance as the great river over which it
still mounts guard, says correspondent
of the Washington Post. Nearly 4 cen
tury old, SCARED like a veteran who has
spent his life i'll field service, it stands
now at parade rest, eyes to the front, high
on that commanding site on the MisS.s-
sippi bluffs 20 miles below st. Louis.
The old barracks are about to be torn
down, and modern brick quarters erected.
By the end OF August the last taps viii
sound over the picturesque fragments OF
10 years ago.
There is scarcely an officer in the Reg
ular Army who has not at some time or
other been stationed ut Jefferson Bar
racks. and does not know the Oil ram
shackles from their top-heavy chimneys
clear to the foundation stones, who has
not felt the were in Missouri atm0s-
phcrc. which is parallel TO down in Nir-
ginia,' only more so. Bat gurris0u duty
anywhere is down in Nirrinuy' pace
and if jefferson Barracks maintains 4
parade rest and seems elect for the re
tired list. it is in harmony with its age.
1t has been something of q soldier of
fortune itself, this old Army post, doing
tickle allegiance to various sOvercigns
from Indian Chieftains and French and
Spanish Kings to Presidents 1t has
passed through many stages, and is now
ready to be retired with hOnors," to make
its bow and step down into the dust, that
the new Jefferson Barracks may ascend.
When De Soto. his priests and cavaliers.
tramped along Mississippi banks; where
Sieur de la Sale ascended the waters;
when Father Marquette planted his cross
on the wooded shores, the site of JEFF
fersOn Barracks stood forth q barricadc
of bluffs, with only regiments of thick
trees in garrison. When the Thirteen Col
oInes pressed the Indians Westward the
Eastern tribes trod in the footsteps of
their Western brothers, and the site of
Jefferson Barracks grew criss-cross with
wigwam poles. With the Spanish dicta
of Il take possession" it, too, passed
under the Crown of CASTLE with all the
other new discovered land. Then becom-
ing Louisiana, 2 little mite of the great
new France, it bent the knee to Louis,
and from the Bourbons turned to Bona
parte, and being sold by Bonaparte, took
on its name of Jefferson in honor of its
President. When st. Louis, Cape Girar-
deau and Carondelet were founded Jeffer-
son Barracks was a part of CarOndelet,
'the commons" The early historians Of
Missouri mention an Indian massacre oc-
curing on these commons, "a noted land
mark of the Mississippi
In Adams's Administration, soon after
the Erie Canal was opened, and in the
year the first railroad in the United States
was completed, 1926, the first new school
of instruction for the training of soldiers"
was established. This was at Jefferson
Barracks. The old village of Carondelet
leased its commons to the Government
the site having been selected by Gen. ia
cantonment in the whole country. Gray
limestone barracks for - companies were
built up under direction of Gen. Atkin-
son, inclosing three sides of the parade
ground and leaving the front open to the
river. -Four blocks of officers quarters,
dropping with double porches, sloping
roofs and big stumps of chimneys, were
completed, and the 9Th U. S. Inf took
up its quarters.
On the Sth of January, 1927, the 1st
Regiment ball was given. This was as
great an event in the early social annals of
st. Louis as the famous Adams ball of
Washington. Candles placed in bayonets
ranged in company front" on all sides of
the ballroom, the old French fiddlers came
from st. Louis and all the pretty girls
from Louisville and st. Louis curtsied
their first greeting to the new post. That
was night that never was forgotten by
Jefferson Barracks.
But waltz melodies and beautiful wom-
en- did not intoXicate the young post
long. The Sac and Foxes We're on the
warpath. In 1881 Gen. II. 2. Gaines, with
six companies of infantry, started in hot
pursuit of Black Hawk, and the follow
ing year the old Chief was brought back
a prisoner to the very spot which had
once been one of his hunting grounds.
In 1888 the 1st Regiment of Dragons
was organized here under Col. Henry
Dodge, with jefferson Davis, Stephen
Kearney, Sumner and Boone as subordi-
nate officers. In 1886 Col D. E. Twiggs