The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-03

Maj. Walter E. Coney, Georgia's rep
resentative at the army maneuvers at
Fort Riley, returned to Savannah yes
terday. He will submit his formal
report later on.
"One of the most pleasing features
of the maneuvers to me-" said Maj
Coney, twas the appreciation of the
work of the militia. A high author
ity stated that the Fifty-fifth Iowa
Regiment made the finest appearance
upon the review of any of the troops,
regular or militia, and the work of the
militia in the field was equally we'll
spoken of. Lieut. Col. Birkbeck
English army, and Col. de Monteverde,
Spanish attache, told me that they
thought the militia looked about the
same as the regulars. The regulars
also spoke we'll of the militia, al
though condemning several little acts
of boyishness. The Fifth-fifth Iowa
at Fort Riley and the First Wisconsin
at the West Point maneuvers will
stand as models for the militia until
the next maneuvers."
Against Large Attendance.
1.-THE season of the year seems to
have been unsuited to almost all of the
militia" Maj. Coney said, land al
though they carried good numbers,
some of the regiments had considerable
trouble in getting the men off. There
were about $500 men at Fort Riley,
equally divided between the regulars
and militia. Many of the regular regi-
ments, having comparatively small
numbers. Most of the troops suffered
some from the cold at night, although
they had tent stoves, they would go
to sleep with the stove red hot and
after few hours the tent would get
Icy. they told me.
The favorite tent with the regulars
Is the drab conical wall tent, which will
accommodate about twelve men with
out cots. The Georgia troops will soon
have these. The signal corps did
splendid work. 1t installed an electric
plant which furnished lights for di-
vision headquarters, and laid many
miles of temporary telegraph and tele-
phone wire. When entertainments were
established, they connected different
portions by telephone, and greatly ia
cilitated the transmission of informa-
ton thereby. On one occasion they
installed central office with a COM
plete switchboard. The work of the
signal corps in the Philippines is very
highly praised by army officers. Capt.
Mitchell, who had charge of much of
the signal corps work, was a lieutenant
at Savannah in 49,"
The Field ManeuVers
Maj Coney did not see the mega
phone used, although there were sew
eral instances, he said, where it was
badly needed and could have been
used to good advantage. One of the
most interesting problems, said Mai.
Coney, was the next to the last. 1t
consisted of an attack on a convoy"
One hundred and thirty-five wagons,
with an escort of about 1000 men, of
all arms, were sent on a twelve mile
march, and were to be attacked by a
force of cavalry and artillery. The
cavalry was expected to make a sem
sational charge on the flank of the
wagon train, but it was doubtless too
well protected, and the attack was
made on the wagons with artillery as
they came down a hill, resulting in
lots of them being ordered out of the
game by the umpires. Most of the
escort to the wagon train had some
very difficult marching, and were al
most worn out, but were relieved by
being carried back to camp in the wag-