The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-06
SEEMSLIKE REAL WAR
State Guards and Regulars
Have a Great Day.

| CAthT 10y MI WEST POINT, XIV,
oct. 5.-In heavy rain storm and
over ground that was in places almost
| a quagmire, the most important of anv
| VI the engagements thus far in the war
| game was fought today Taken as
whole the conditions more nearly ap-
proached actual warfare than ANYTHING
yet seen In this country in time of
peace. The programme of the chief
| umpire, Col Wagner, called for an at
tack by the advance guard of the bIne
army on rear outpost of the brown
army. Nearly 5000 state guards and
| regulars participated, the forces being
almost evenly matched as regards
numerical strength but with a Slight
preponderance in favor of the blues,
| due to the strong cavalry force which
was about offset by the brown rear
guard having a chosen position and
| operating on inner lines.
Inc brown forces marched out from
camp sunday evening and spent dis
| maj, sodden night under the tents. Ear
| ly this morning they took position
along the roads, the contour of which
| was somewhat like an inverted capi-
tai letter A, the point being their rear
| lne or communication with their main
| BODY Imaginary eight miles away.
| Their reserve force consisting of the
Fourth brigade, Second and Third Ken
lucky infantry and two field pieces
from the Twenty-first artillery, lay at
the point of the letter A. The right
prong OF the A was occupied by the
Ihlrd brigade (FirSt, Second and Third
Mlchlgan) and the left prong was held
by the Second brigade First. Second
and Third Indiana infantry and the
FIRST battery Indiana field artillery.
| Inc broad open space between the
pfongs was covered by a first line of
] cavalry Videttes and a second line of
Ojnly nfc,
guard was composed of thirteen troops
Oh cavalry from the Fourth, Seventh
ana Eighth cavalry, the. First brigade.
First wisconsin and seven battalions
representing the First, Third and
twentieth regular infantry, Eighth
Ohio, detached Michigan battalion and
battalion of Kentucky light artillery.
The blues advanced slowly, and be-
yond Few exchanges between pickets
did not get into touch with the browns
until o'clock. After having marched
along nearly the entire front of the
brown position which was very
| strong one, Brig. Gen. Kobbe, COM
mandlng the blues, directed his attack
at the brown right center. The blow
Tell on the center of the Michigan
| brigade. The Michigan men were so
Wen posted that they partially sur
pf1sed the blue advance party and put
Two companies of infantry out of ac-
| ton with few well directed volleys.
Gen. Kobbe, however, persisted in
hammering this point, and bringing I'D
| his support poured hot infantry fire
into the Michigan brigade. The brown
line gave but little under the attack,
and only two companies were adjudg-
ed to have suffered severely. Gen. Bliss.
however, brought up the Third Ken
lucky from his reserve and put it into
actlon at the Michigan brigade. He also
brought his two pieces of artillery into
play to prevent the blues from swing
ing still further to the right. Superior
weight OF the blue artillery fire COM
PEELED the brown field pieces to retreat
after having partially accomplished
their purpose. The brown right held
fairly well under the heavy attack. and
after two hours Of fighting accom-
panied by only moderate losses on each
side, the encounter ended in pouring
rain.
AS the object of the brown rear
guard was to hold four roads and play
for more time in which to allow their
main body Imaginary to retire, they
were evidently the winners, as the close
OF the engagement found the KEY of
their line of retreat and command of
the roads centering on their position
still in their grasp. The heavy rain and
damp atmosphere materially Iessened
the ability to detect scouting parties.
and even strong skirmish lines moving
| through the well-wooded country un-
til they opened fire were not detected.
Firing once commenced, however. it
became apparent that the powder used
by the army is not entirely Smoke
less The little blue puffs would hang
for several seconds and indicate the
position of a line of concealed Skin
mishers half a mile away. When the
artillery got to work the positions of
the guns were marked by clouds of
considerable density hanging over
them. The Michigan brigade and a
part of the Kentucky troops were prac-
tically all Of the browns engaged. The
Indiana brigade did not get into the
main action at all, being posted on the
left, which was not even threatened by
the blues.
Gov. Durbin and his personal aids
spent the afternoon watching the at
tack from point near the Michigan
brigade.
One of the features of the day was
performed by the signal corps men Of
the brown army. Two men strung two
miles of wire along the brown inner
line, connecting the three positions and
had sent a message by both telephone
and telegraph In twenty minutes.