The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-10-09
BROWN AND BLUE
 HAVE A DOG FALL
Beautiful Mimic Battle Fought
 in Kentucky Hills
BROWNS LOST MOST MEN
They Made Up for the Loss, However, By Taking Advantage of Techni- cal Positions-FIring Was
 Heaviest of Maneuvers.

7eaNleSL or ManeuVerS.
 Camp Young, West Point, Ky, October S.-More spectacular and hotly contested. but lacking one or two of the finer points brought out in the previous maneu- vers, was the engagement participated in today by practically the entire number of regular soldiers and militiamen in camp. When recall was sounded after two hours of hot fighting, the result was prac- the heavier loss, as tailed by the um- pires, but the browns largely making up for this by greater readiness to seize tac- teal advantages of position The firing was the heaviest yet witnessed by the ob- servers here. Carloads of blank cart ridges were expended by infantry, cav airy and artillery, and from the time the opposing forces appeared until the game was over, the hills reverberated to pound- ing cannon and the clattering roll of the Krags frequently rose to the crash of heavy volley firing.
 Problem Was Broad.
 The problem for the day was laid down by Colonel Wagner, who gave the com manders of the blue and brown armies wide latitude. There was no specifica- tion as to position or as to which should act on the defensive, as in the maneuvers hitherto planned and executed. A division of blues and a division of browns were simply set in motion from points ten miles apart, each acting on orders to att tack immediately on contact with the 'enemy." Each division contained about 4500 fighting men. The blue division, com manded by Colonel Anderson of the Eighth cavalry, was composed of the First brigade( seven battalions represent ing the First, Third and Twentieth Uni ted States infantry and the First Wiscon- sin regimenD; Second brigade (First, Second and Third Indiana infantry); the Seventh cavalry two squadrons), and the Fourteenth battery, field artillery. | The brown division, commanded by Brigadier General Bliss, U. s. A, was composed of the Third brigade (First, Sec ond and Third Mchjgan), Fourth brigade (Second and Third Kentucky, Eighth Ohio and Kentucky light artillery bat talion, used as infantry); seven troops of cavalry, the Twenty-first battery field ar- tillery, First battery, Indiana field artil- lery.
 Battle in the Hills.
 The battle was precipitated at the en- | trance to a long and tortuous defile in the hills, two guns from the twenty-frst battery, and two troops of cavalry being sent on thl run to take and hold be- bod however already gained a position from which they could turn the defile so this brown force was compelled to retire. This | move on the part of the brown comman- | der threw the original plans of the blues | into confusion, and forced them to strike at the browns left and left center. Ac- eordngly the Indiana brigade delivered | a hard blow for the bIues. the firing dur ing their attack on the brown left wing being the hottest of the day. The Indi- ana guardsmen who have already gained an enviable record, enhanced it still fur ther by capturing three companies of the eighth Ohio and inflicting losses on the | third Kentucky and eighth Ohio, esti- mated by the umpires at 120 killed. ]" l This, of course, caused the brown left wing to fall back for some distance. The Indiana brigade was, however, unable to successfully turn the left flank of the | DTOWu, anu lDe TedSOn TOT IL was that some of their Hooser brethren, working on the other, got into the game. The 1 Indiana field artillery, part of the brown forces, came to the rescue and by smart | work that won them praise from experts, | prevented the blue artillery and cavalry from following up the advantage the in- fanty had gained.
 Batteries in Good Position.
 The Indiana battery, although using | horses which had never seen a cannon | until the maneuvers began, managed to l take good position and fire dozen shots before the fourteenth battery (regulars) could take a good position for the blues. The result was that the blue advance on l the left was checked.
 Meantime the first brigade of blues had begun a hot action with the Michigan brigade forming the brown center. Here | the artillery again saved the day for the browns, the twenty-first battery com | ing up at the nick of time to give their side the preponderance and cause the temporary retirement of the first line of | the blue brigade, composed largely of regulars nearly whole company of the | latter being captured by Michigan regi- ment. This advantage at the center was partly offset by poor counter attack de- l livered by the first Michigan, working | largely in the open, in the face of a heavy l fire by the second Indiana. The umpires | adJudged the first Michigan to have lost | a sufficient number to cause their tenn porary retirement.
 Some of the Troops Did Bad Work.
 That part of the brown left, composed of the Eighth Ohio and the Second Ken l lucky, did poor work. The men of these commands revealed their position by firing before their opponents were in view | or range later on the cover taken by them was poor and some of them were surprised with the results given above. The Indiana artillery probably saved them from even greater loss
 The principal feature of the work of the brown army was the effective use of the artillery Great mobility was shown and the pieces were worked all over the field. l always arriving at threatened point in time.
 For the blue army the best work was done by the Indiana brigade battalion of the Twentieth infantry and squadron 1 of the Seventh cavalry. The blue artil- lery was of little effect
 The recall was sounded just as Colonel Anderson, commanding the blues, was abandoning the attack on the brown left and left center, and was making a neat l pivotal movement to turn the brown l right, which had been rather weakened to I meet the first and second attacks. wheth- CT this turning movement would have proven successful, was beyond prophecy, as the browns working on the shorter l inner lines, and the Indiana battery had taken position and opened with two guns i on inc new alignmaut when tba aff air