The National tribune., 1904-02-11

.
The camp Of the 20Oth Ind, near Ra-
leigh, N. G., was, the acme of soldierly
ingenuity, industry, neatness and comfort.
While wallowing through the Carolina
Winter storms and mud-when a couple
of rails for "A bed Were JOY, and dry
clothes rare luxury, the boys could hardly
by the widest stretch of imagination, have
looked forward to such a blissful haven of
rest as this they had made for themselves
i'll the pleasant valley of the Neuse, nigh
the historic capital of North Carolina
The camp was well-chosen on q breezy
sunny upland, just rolling enough to give
| good drainage A clear, cold mountain
stream, tumblng and brawling along over
white stones. to join the Neuse, ran con-
venient, and gave abundance of water,
while thick old woods surrounding the
| camp furnished all the timber and wood
needed, and grateful shade in which the
| boys could loll at MONDAY, mend their
clothes, read, write letters and. play cards.
A broad parade ground, level as = floor,
and without a stump, stub, or stone the
| size OF tchild's fist, spread in the center
| OF the camp, and from tall symmetrical
| flagstaff, upon which the boys had spent
a world of pains and time, flew a beau
| tiful flag, new in its issue from the Quar-
termaster, new in its triumphant glory over
every other flag that waved between the
Atlantic and Pacific. Its, stripes were as
vivid in their loneliness. as the crimson and
| white of the flowers blooming in profusion
| on the hillsides and in the yalieys, and its
field was as blue as the sky. fecked by the
| lazy white clouds of North Carolina May.
| Maj. Bowersox commanded the shrunken
| regiment. lie could not get promotion be-
cause it mustered below the minimum. but
his headquarters, built by the willing
| hands of his admirng men, were sump-
| tuous to the last degree.
The War Department might not reward
| his constant, gallant service as it should by
/ replacing the strawberry leaves in his
shonlder-straps with a Coloners silver
eagle, but his men, who knew, far better
| than the War Department, how well he
/ deserved this recognition, could at least
give him the finest headquarters of any
regimental commander in the army.
| just as soon as it seemed likely that
| the regiment would remain in that camp
| for sometime, the boys turned the restless
| energy which had carried them resistIessly
| over all obstacles in their six-montlls'
march from far-away Atlanta to making
| a camp which would be the envy and adj
mration OF oil the other regiments. The
other regiments were animated by the
same desire. and the country roundabout
was ransacked for materials. Private prop
erty had long BEFORE lost its sacredness,
L
| had to be nailed down very tightly, or else
guarded by Altman, with a gun.
The first thought after laying ont the
camp. settinEi7 the company lines. and
clearing off the tpurade was for a flagstaff,
and the woods were searched for the
tallest. slimniest.rand straightest hickory
they could furnishs Everybody lent hand
toward peelink, smoothing and raising it.
and when thAf flag swept out ma estically
| the SO stars upon it. while the brigade
battery fired n shot for each State. with 4
double one fdf tile baby State OF Nevada.
to which. the Boys responded by roll of
cheers and Tiger.
well. the American Eagle hain't lost
nary nm aig ont Of the nest in this hurri-
tclne.' remarked SOD. Haym5fe, the, wag
Tor the regiment after he had carefully
counted the stars "Instid, she's laid three
more since the old 2OOth Injianny came
out. Three cheers for our bully selves"
The next thing after the flag wa; the
Majors headquarters. Sandy Baker, whose
| ingenuity and resourcefulness had gained
him the greatest credit in the regiment.
worked ont a new idea. as he usually did,
when any important thing was on hand.
| Sandy was intensely American, and in
| the course Of his reading had come across
| the assertion that our native woods, flow
| ers. leaves. shrubs, etc., were finer ertis-
ticaliy than anything in any other coGAtry.
| He had read of Jefferson's c0rn-stalk col
| umns in the National Capitol, and become
an enthusiastic devotee Of the idea of
| strictly American art and decoration. He
had gone into raptures over the beauty of
| a thick-growing grove of young tulip trees
| near the camp. They were as exactly
| symmetrical in their slender, graceful
| hight as il they had grown to an archi-
tect's plummet lines. No columns ever
fashioned by the hand Of man surpassed
| their fawless lines. Their bark was
| smooth, soft, gray as lichen-covered gran
| ite. and beautifully marked by the white
pits, or 'ienticels," as the bOtanists term
them. which are characteristic of the
| tulip tree. misnamed poplar" in the West
and South. The surface looked like the
| finest work of what the mason calls
"trammeled' stone.
| Sandy selected such trees as suited his
design, and his eager coadjutors quickly
felled them. sawed them into the right
lengths, and neatly chamfercd the ends
to represent the 'quoins' in the stylish
walls Sandy proposed to build. They
| were next loaded onto wagons, very
bark and blemish the appearance
Of solid gray stone Sandy was
anxious to secure. They were so neatly
| .'cornered' that when built mp each one
lay for its whole length on the next one
below making only as thin a line of
| ''chiHking" necessary as would represent
| the joint between two stones. Before the
house was a portieo, in the Greek temple
style of architecture then prevalent, with
the columns finely represented by selected
portions Of the trunks Of the tulip-trees
Puncheons were hewed out smoothly for
the floors, and the roof made of clap
boards" rived with froe from sections of
older trees. These shone with dazzling
Wilderness in, the strong sunlight and the
effect was that of temple built of ribbed
granite and rooted with marble. In con-
ception and execution SO much originality
and skill had been shown that the head
quarters We've deAceded to be easily the
finest in thesEonps, il not in oil the ar
mics campedsaround Raleigh. Inside the
house every comfort and convenience were
placed, and s.l edfnestly did the men work
that it. was all dime inside very few days
1t was all In the nature of grateful
change aud relaxation. There were skill
full carpenters in ethe regiment, who had
not touched n plane or saw since their
enlistment, ard tthey were glad to get
hold OF their familiar tools once more, find
ont for themselves what they could do
| with than al tchnxv fhaiw cnr,.a 1a~ II