The Saint Paul globe., 1903-11-08
soME EXPERIENCES OF THE TWENTYFRsT INFANTRY

surrounded by those of his official and
personal staff. Nearby were quartered
| the umpires. Another street was de-
| voted to the attaches Of the various
states; another to the foreign attaches,
| and last, but not least, one devoted to
the press An immense circus tent was
used for mess purposes, and in the
evening was utilized as an auditorium,
where lectures on military subjects
were given by some, of the cleyerest
| officers of the army. This tent was
brilliantly lighted by electricity fur
nished by our signal corps.
The most spectacular feature of the
maneuvers was the great review OF the
entire division, which occurred on Sat
urday, Oct. "a. ReYeille was sounded
at go a. m. After breakfast the troops
crossed the Republican river on the
pontoon bridge and formed a line in
masses on the Smoky Hill flats. The
battalion of engineers and the signal
corps was to the extreme right. Then
came our brigade, the Second, Twelfth
and Twenty first infantry regiments,
commanded by Cen Jacob Kline; the
Second brigade, consisting of the Sixth,
Twenty fifth and Iowa infantry regi-
ments, commanded by Gen. j. Frank
lin Bell; the Third brigade, comprising
the Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and Mis-
souri, national guard, commanded by
Gen. Hughes.
Big Body of Artillery.
Then came seven batteries Of field
artillery and one mountain battery, the
largest body of artillery assembled in
this country. since the Civil war, and
on the left the cavalry division, con-
sisting of the Fourth, Eighth and Nine
teenth regiments.
After the completion Of the forma-
lon BOT a
staff, appeared on the plain, attention
was sounded, and starting at the right
the general and staff rode brislkly down
the line, the trumpeters Of each organ
| ization sounding the "Flourishes to
| Major General" and the bands playing
| 'Hail to the Chief or some other ap
propriate tune as they passed their re-
spectiye organizations. Returning IN
rear of the column they took their po-
sition on the Mornon Trail at the foot
of Grant Ridges, the Forward" was
sounded and this magnificent body OF
| troops, headed by our own Twenty
| first infantry band, began the march
toward the reviewing stand.
Gen. Grant, WHO commanded the di-
vision, took his position at the head OF
| the column andSto the music OF the
army's best lands, flourish of trumpets
and the dipping of .colorS this fine body
of men marched past the reviewing
officer, his staff, the foreign observers,
| the umpires and a large portion of the
population of Kansas. This function
consumed five hours, and the troops
were as much fatigued at the close as
| they would have been by hard days
| march.
Texas Troops the Limit.
Of the state troops think that Iowa
made the best showing. Texas was the
| limit. 1t was evident that the majority
of their men enlisted solely for an ex-
cursion to Kansas. AS / was passing
! through their streets one day l heard
| first sergeant detail a. man for guard.
The man said; He'd be ID if he
sergeant ,replied -.
"A1I right, goI durn you, I'll get
somebody else. ~,
Our men all say that they will never
again criticise the Minnesota guard.
There were no state troops at the ma
neuvers that compared with Mime
sota's in drill, equipment, discipline
department or knowledge of the game.
The officers and women of the Fort
Riley garrison entertained our officers
at three delightful z hops. 1T was
planned by our officers. to serect re-
| freshment pavilion and entertain the
Riley garrison on our last night In
i camp, but some more Kansas weather
made this impossible. The bands of all
| the regular infantry were massed and
rehearsed for this purpose, and they
gave ,rag-time and Sousa all they
| needed.
| We broke camp under exactly the
| same conditions that we made it, and
on Sunday morning were entrained,
| two very muddy, bedraggled battal-
ions, happy in the thought that we
would soon be back In old Fort Smell
ing. The sun showed itself when we
arrived in Northern. Iowa, and we got
home in time to get small share OF
your delightful Indian summer. The
most popular phrase in our regiment
is Little old Minnesota is good enough
for me-" -Non-Com.