Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-08

| viii consist Of about six long wagons.
1 drawn By four horses and known as escort
| Of the personal baggage as the men are per-
mftted to take in the field the tentage and
personal baggage Of the officers and extra
pieces Of equipment. The wagons also con-
tain ratfons for the men, picket lines. camp
Kitchens, etc. In the present state Of per-
lection of equipment there IL hardly any
reason for man not being as comfortable
| In the field as he Is IN his quarters In the
garrison.
Start From Leesburg.
The equipment Of the men Of Troops H
and e of the I'd Cavalry was much like that
described above. They left Leesburg about
| IL O'Clock in the morning The weather
was bad 1t had rained during the night.
and for two days before, and the roads
were muddy and slippery. drizxle of rain
was railing as a command filed out of the
| camp Enclosure, and before 1t had pro-
ceeded a mile the drizzie turned into a
| steady downpour that made things very
uncomfortable. Some of the men had rain
| coats or ponchos and some did not. Those
who did not got gloriously wet. The pace
was walk throughout the march. but
Major BlOckson. who led the column had
an extra fast walking horse and the rear
OF the column was put to its best to keep
up with the commanding oficer without
taking the trot. The objective point Satur-
day was Dranesville. where camp was to
be made for the night. 1t was to be field
| camp throughout. Each man carried a
| shelter tent half. as has been explained.
! and two men button their halves together
to make a whole tent, capable of accommo-
dating the two men.
The first stop was made as soon as the
rain Stacked little, and the horses were
carefully examined to see that they were
| In good condition and that the saddles
were not chatting them. The cavalryman's
q n h Ia fnr ly
life depends on the animals condition and
intelligence. AS soon as the horses and
men were rested the command was mount
| ed again. and but one more stop was made
before Dranesville was reached. Major
Blockson estimated the distance to be
about twelve miles from Leesburg and the
| horses made it in about three hours. The
| people who live in the vicinity call 1t If
teen miles.
The Camp at Dranesville.
The commanding officer selected the
camp site, on the left of the road, and the
| two troops were marched in. the column
being drawn up in a line, squadron front.
near where the picket line was to be es-
| tablished. Without waiting for the wag-
| ons to come up the men Immediately set
| to work to put their shelter tents in place.
AS soon as the wagons arrived the long
| troop picket lines were unloaded and the
horses were made comfortable. detail
tents for the officers, and within less than
an hour after the command arrived at
Dranesville camp was in order and pip
| ing hot dinner was on the fire for the men.
At this camp the tents of the men were
| pitched in one long line, with an interval
| of about ten yards between the two troops.
| The picket line for the horses was opposite
| the troop to which each line belonged with
| an interval Of fifteen yards between the
| line of tents and the picket line.
| The ground from the tents sloped down
| to little ravine, and the picket line was
on the other side Of the ravine on the ris-
ing slope. Higher up this side. fifteen
yards or more from the picket line were
| the troop kitchens.
| The troop officers tents were pitched
| about thirty yards behind and In the center
| Of the line of the mems tents. The tents
| for the field officers, i.e., the major, ad-
| 5utant and surgeon, were pitched on Lille
| thirty yards from and at right angle to. the
extreme right of the line of mems tents
| This Is the habitual method Of camping for
| squadron cavalry. That Is the general
| principles are the same. There are several
| methods of pitching such camp, the one
| most used permitting the tents of the field
! officers to be pitched in the rear of the
| troop officers tents and the troop kitchens
| to be placed between the line of mems
| tents and the picket lines, with intervals
! of fifteen yards, If possible. greater dis
| lance. Wherever camp is pitched the
| ground is selected which has a slope, and
| tho picket lines are placed at the bottom OF
! the slope with the tents for the men, &C..
| In regular rows higher up.
Last Stage Of Journey.
Reveille sounded at 4:30 o'clock in the
| morning and at the first call the men fed
their horses. Then they started grooming
| and after the animals were thoroughly
| cleaned and made comfortable, went to
breakfast. After breakfast camp was struck
| and the command was on the road again by
8 o'clock. The march on Sunday was much
| better than 1t had been on the day before.
There was no rain. although the roads were
| all wet as they could be and were very
| slippery. The roads improved slightly on
| the way to Fort Myer, however, and were
very good through Alexandria county.
Three or four stops Of ten minutes each
| were made along the road between Dranes-
Vile and Fort Myer. one Of which was for
| the purpose Of watering the horses. The
command was drawn up in front OF the
administration building at Fort Myer short
| ly before IL o'clock and Major Blockson re-
ported his return to Col. Edgerly, post
commandant. Col. Edgerly. with his ad-
jutant, Capt. Thomas J. Lewis then in
| spected the troops and the squadron was
dismissed. The march through from Lees
| burg had been made without incident OR
| accident. and when the command arrived at
| Fort Myer it was in such good condition
| that it could have continued on the road
! for another four hours without injury to
either horses or men and could have been
| kept in the field. If need be. for an indef-
mite time. Despite the fact that the squad
ron had been away from Fort Myer al
| most month, there was not a horse in the
outfit that needed the care of veterinar-
| ian. Some of the troops will probably re-
| turn to Leesburg within the course of the
| next few weeks to complete the target prac-
| tice begun at Ordway earlier in the sum-
| mer.
Miss Roosevelt's Visit.
| Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
NEWPORT. r. l.. August Z. 1903.
Newport at last has a start on which to
focus the public eye-Miss Alice Roosevelt.