Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-17

departure of the troops from Washington.
The first camp was made by the officers
themselves, their shelter tents were pitched
and their horses were groenaed. 1t Is sell
dom that an officer will be called upon to
DO either of these things, but he is sup
posed to know how to do them, and Gen.
Harries required practical demonstration
OF TINS knowledge by all of those who ac-
companied him to Gainesville. The first
AFTERNOON in camp was spent in putting the
camp In order. but on Monday the officers
were started to work. Each was given an
assignment by the commanding general
and each was sent off to visit the various
camps. with instructions to inspect the
regimental camps and report thereon by
1870 Monday night.
Tuesday they were detailed to accompany
certain brigades into the field for the first
problem of the maneuvers. and these as
signments held with little change through
out the week. When it is considered that
Camp No. / was eight miles and Camp No
= six miles from the District camp. and
that the officers were often required to ride
farther than this distance to join the COM
mands to which they were assigned. cou-
pied with the embarraSSments they suf-
Tered In the blue army with their brown
uniforms, just an inkling of the kind of
work they performed can be obtained.
There was little daylight wasted by the To-
cal officers, for they were up with the sun
and, in the field almost until shutdown.
They saw about everything one person
could see and understand, and came away
with fairly good estimate of what the
militia and regular army. individually and
collectively, can do in the field, and just
how the work of each compares with that
of the District militia.
Local Brigade Leads Militia.
at can be said without fear of contradic-
ton that there was militia regiment In
the field during the maneuver period that
could teach the District guardsmen any
thing of the duties of the soldier" declared
x,,I1 An
but who is in no way connected with the
army or National Guard. There were
twenty thousand militiamen there alto
gether, representing seventeen states,
some of which lavish hundreds of thou
sands of dollars annually on their citizen
soldiery, and yet there was not one regi-
ment in that bunch which appeared to the
officers of the local brigade to have gone
as far in its lessons in military science or
to have learned them half so well as the
District brigade has learned it's lessons.
In few of the things that go to make up
the perfect soldier In the field did any OF
these regiments approach anywhere near
the point the local brigade has reached,
and in some very essential particulars
were woefully lacking. The regular camps
looked more like the camps of the District
guardsmcn than any of the other camps
seen at either Thoroughfare or Manassas,
and the regular troops in the field acted
more like District guardsmen than any or
the troops from the states. The Dfstrict
in the regular camps, and they took in all
there was to see. There were some of the
militia camps which were In excellent
shape and others that were poor. One or
two of the camps of militia were better In
appearance than those of the regulars, but
the conduct of the camp was not so good,
nor was the discipline of the troops what
it should have been To and from the field
during the various maneuyers the militia
| men expended a great deal of blank ammu-
milton simply for the purpose of making
noise This was noticed throughout the
week. and seemed to increase instead or
decrease Altogether, it Is believed that
| the District officers who went to Gaines
Vile found many things they could avoid
| doing in their inspection of the camps and
| troops, and came away well satisfied with
| their own commands.
Separated From the Service.
The following named enlisted men have
been honorably discharged from the Ma
tional Guard on their own application:
Privates Gustavus A. Kaiser. Company b,
| LIST Regiment Andrew E. Summers. Com
| pany B. 1st Regiment; George A Wesch-
| Ter. Company b. LIST Regiment; John r.
| Weschler Company B, LIST Regiment; FIRST
| Sergeant Harry w Benson, Company ii,
| III Regiment; Private Cleveland ShaHer'
| Company H, I'd Regiment