The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-09-14
Vermont National Guard
Given Their Choice
DECIDED NOT TO MARCH
Company E Boys Came Back Last Night
in Excellent Physical Condition.
Had a Hard Experience.

Baked brown as a coffee berry, muscle
hardened and in generally excellent
physical condition, the members Of Com
pany f, 1st Regiment Vermont National
Guard, returned to Barre last evening
after five days Of the stiifest war expert
ence they ever had. They are back from
the war manoeuvers held on the old bat
tle-grounds in Virginia and participated
in by the national guards Of the various
states and the regular army. The ma
noeuvers were held to give the men ex-
perience. They got experience and incl
dentally blistered feet Yet the men
say that after a little rest they would be
willing to 90 back and try it over.
The members Of the local company are
all in sound physical condition, and there
has scarcely been sick man in the com.
pany during their stay in the South. One
man, Private Carter, got a sun-stroke
about the first day there. He was laid
mp for three days but came around all
right. In spite Of their hard experience
some of the men took on weight.
Hard" declared one, You fellers
ought to 90 through It. I bet yer we
.hilSed' it over 200 miles They said we
linked it SO miles the last day, but
guess 'twant but twenty-five"
Il amt had but three hours sleep since
/ left Barre" said another Wed no
more than get settled before they'd call
us out again, twelve o'clock midnight,
too" he added.
And it was hard time for the men
unused to the heavy marching they were
put through. There was little play
about this practice although it was called
a 'shanln battle. One Of the bows de-
elared that regulars would have been
worn to tatters in two weeks with such
service The Company E members would
have been better off if they had not par
taken Of lot Of sour beans. Hereafter
sour beans viii be stricken off their
menu. They have taken solemn oath
TO cut them out.
at Brattleboro, on the way to Virgin
la, they We're all provided with heavy
lTusset shoes, and there starts tale Of
woe. Those russet shoes would have
been Just the thing if they had been
broken in, but they weren't. The result
was that every man in the regiment had
blisters on his feet anywhere from the
| size Of q pin-head to q small sized melon.
The skin came off in strips so the boys
aver. Those bhsters We're the cause OF
the refusal Of the regiment to partiei-
pate in the grand review Saturday, the
story Of which, printed in the Boston
Globe, was reprinted IN this paper. The
members have a different story to tell of
that occurrence, however, than has yet
appeared They say that they were not
ordered to participate and disobeyed.
On the contrary they declare that the op-
tion was left with the men, considering
the blistered condition of their feet,
whether they would participate. When
the choice was put to them they decided
not to take part. Col Estey gave them
the right to decide.
The marching was difficult owing to
the sharp stones which projected from
the red earth, which was itself baked to
almost the hardness Of stone. The
rtIsset shoes were good for this kind Of
marching. as the shoes which the men
wore away from Barre would have been
cut into shreds with the first days bat
tie. But the conditions were better than
they would have been had it been rainy
in the latter case their feet would have
been like lead The temperature was
hot all the time.
The Vermont regiment left the
grounds Monday morning at six o'clock
and reached here at six o'clock last even
ing. They We're away thirteen days.
There was one death in the Vermont
regiment during its stay, Private ". H.
Chalmers 0f Co G dying Monday night
while coming home. He died on the
boat The cause Of death was acute
gastro-enteritis He was sick all the
time in camp and was unable to do any
duty. His sickness was not the result
Of military duty. The body has been
sent to his home.
Private Chalmers was one of the larg-
est lumber dealers in northern Vermont
and for l6 years held the Office Of second
lieutenant in his company. He resigned
q short time ago, but with his son and
family physician, DR.. j Al. Dow, enlisted
to 60 to the manoeuyres at Manassas
with Co. G of Bradford.
He leaves three sons and nine daught-
ers, who reside at West Topsham. The
body will be shipped home as soon as ar
rangements can be made