The National tribune., 1902-04-10
GETTING READY FOR THE CAMPAIGN.

quired notions it has taken millions OF
dollars and the lives of great many men
to beat out of their heads.
GETTING READY FOR THE CAMPAIGN.
The work of getting the army into
shape for active campaigning was begun
by Gen. Anderson as soon as its feet
touched shore at Cayite. The brigade
was composed of two National Guard regi-
ments, one from Oregon and one from Cal
ifornia, q battery of heavy artillery, with
out guns, however, of the California Ma
tional Guard, and one battalion of the l4th
| Regulars. The National Guard regiments
were both commanded by officers Of long
! experience in that service and as good as
the country could produce outside the
ranks of the Regular Army, but the men
| in the ranks We're in a large measure un-
trained and undisciplined. The regiments
had been called into service but a few
days prior to osailing on the expedition, and
| their ranks had been recruited materially
during the month prior to the breaking
out of the war in anticipation of call
TO service. In my own company fully 40
per cent. were men of less than Il months
enlistment at the time of call, while fully
| 20 per cent. were absolutely new men,
taken in at the time Of muster. As we
sailed within 10 days from muster, and in
the meantime We're transported from Port
land to San Francisco, there was little
opportunity given for licking these new
men into shape or for giving the older men
the field drill they needed. On board the
transport, where the men were crowded
! ike sheep i'll q pen, there was little op-
portunity for drill outside the setting-up
exercises and the manual of arms.
During the month we were afloat two
daily schools were maintained i'll the sa-
loon of the ship, one for non-commissoned
officers III drill regulations and guard duty,
and another for officers in drill regula-
tiOns, troops in campaign, army regula-
tions, and psner work-not the newspaper
work some officers indulge in and get rep
rimanded for-Gen. Anderson himself act
ing as instructor in the latter school a pOr-
tion of the time. The good effects Of this
work were very apparent in the higher
theoretical knowledge Of their duties by
both rank and file. Yet, practical appli-
cation of what had been learned was re-
stricted, and the very morning after the
troops landed Gen. Anderson set them at
work drilling, with special attention paid
to extended order, so far as it was practi-
cable i'll the cramped and broken territory
available. AS TO discipline, that took
some steady hammering. An incident of
the first day gave Gen. Anderson an OPP
pOrtunity to give the army a lesson i'll
discipline that had good effect in that
direction, while its i'll effects were OBJ
seryable in another.
The Oregon regiment, as has been
stated, was assigned TO the abandoned and
Shiny ancient barracks, never intended tC
accommodate half its numbers. On com
ing ashore the afternoon of its landing
Admiral Dewey saw its sad plight and
suggested to Col. Summers that he move
one Of his battalions into the large official
building in Fort San Felipe, then unoc
cupied, and as Dewey was the supreme
commander at Manila, both by rank and
! because Cavite, having been captured by
the navy, was under its authority, he
: moved the first battalion into the sug
: gested quarters. The next morning Gen
Anderson came ashore, and when h'
| learned what had been done without hi.
authority he was wroth. He severely rep
rimanded Col. Summers and ordered hin
J to move his battalion back again into th'
old barracks, which was accomplished
/, after a great deal of squeezing. In Othe
5 ways he put the screws down extra hare
on the Oregon regiment, certainly witt
good results so far as discipline was con
+. cerned, but with very bad results as t
4 the health of the men. -.
Having come ashore. first he Oregon
5 boys skirmished through the entire build
4 ings in search of bamboo cots, with tn,
4 result that the Californians who landed
I the following day, could find none at all
3. This was another piece of lawlessness OF
a the part of the Oreg0nans that called fo
2 restrictive measures and severe discipline
f Many Of the cots We're taken away an,
: given to the other troops, notwithstand
S ing the fact that the others had dry floor
t to sleep upon, and the Oregonians had t,
: lie on the wet and Shiny bricks or mu,
e floors of the abandoned buildings. The,
: made the best shift they could by putting
= two men on a cot. who had to spoon il
= order TO remain there at all, and spoon
a ing" in any sense is warm and uncom
n Portable task in such a ,torrid climate
: Through this transaction the regimen