The Savannah morning news., 1904-09-18

maneuvers have been given by Majs.
Elliott and Coney.
Maj. Elliott, of the First Battalion,
gives the following details of the
operations of the First Battalion:
The First Battalion of the Second
Provisional Regiment of Infantry,
composed of Company A, the Savan-
nah Cadets, Company B, the German
Volunteers, Company c, the Emmett
Rifles, Company D, the Irish Jasper
Greens, accompanied by Lieut.. Col.
Grayson and staff in command of a
detachment of the regiment left Sa-
vannah on the morning of Saturday,
Sept. 8, 1904, for tour of duty at
Maneuver Camp No. 2, Thoroughfare,
Va.
The trip was made without incident
except for the numerous delays caus-
ed by the congestion of traffic, and
the battalion arrived at it's camp at
dusk on Sunday afternoon instead of
al midday.
The camp was on a low, level plain
with high growth of grass. The
command detrained and unloaded its
GdSSdSG III d SLOLlGI lIlllG ILldl dIly
command up to that time had done.
The camp was laid out according to
the new regulations adopted by the
general staff of the army.
Later in the evening, the Second
Battalion under command of Maj.
Coney and the Third Battalion un-
der command of Maj. Pomeroy, ac-
companied by Col. Anderson and staff
arrived and bivouaced for the night.
fv7o INi,.cA Dot
talon was taken out for outpost work
under the instruction of Lieut.. Evans
of the Ninth Infantry; the Greens were
stationed at one ford on Broad Run
and the Emmets and the Germans at
another ford and the Cadets were
POSTED on a hill. behind supposed en-
trenchments with an outpost. Capt.
Leonard of the Emmets, in addition
to his ordered sentinel, put men in
trees, which was complimented by the
lieutenant in charge and subsequent
ly adopted by him. The Germans did
effective work, as patrols. The out
post of the Cadets under Lieut.. Hardy
captured a detachment of the Ninth
United States Infantry, who had been
instructed to make an effort to pass
the outpost without being captured.
Early the next morning, in company
with the other battalions, the regi-
part of the line to protect Thorough
fare Gap, which the Blue forces were
trying to take. The battalion was
stationed upon the Warrenton Pike in
reserve and ouuposts were detailed
with direction to watch the road. No
incident of Importance took place ex-
cept the passage of a. wagon with
some of the Blues in it, which, under
the direction of the commanding Off
cer was NOT 20 rRfI1rad hlIf 711aralv 70
ported.
Later in the morning the First Bat
talon was ordered to report to Gen.
Berry at Haymarket, which it did, and
was ordered by him to report to the
Third Brigade, in command of Col
Regan; in proceeding along the Caro-
lima road the firing was continuous
and very near; before long an order
was received from Gen. Bell, the di-
vision commander, to report to a house
known as "Belcher House" which was
expected to be the point of general
attack. This proved correct and from
then until the conclusion of the ex-
ercises the attack upon this house and
its surroundings was very active; upon
arriving at the "Belcher House the
Greens were put in the firing line and
entered two engagements in which
very effective work was done. The
umpire announced that in the first
enga cement the percentage of loss was
only per cent, and in the second the
loss was none. The rest of the bat
talon was held in reserve and support
in readiness to be put in the firing line
at any moment.
At the conclusion of the battle ex-
ercises on that day orders were re-
ceived from Gen. Barry to return to
the original position in reserve. Thus
on this day the battalion was march
ed from the extreme right of the Sec
ond Brigade under command of Gen.
Barry to the extreme left of the Third
Brigade under Col. Regan, then re-
turned to it's position on the extreme
right of the Second Brigade. The day
began at 1890 in the morning and last
ed until after II at night. The bat
TALON began again at O'Clock, took
position in reserve until nearly mid
day, when an order was received for
the regiment to proceed to Thorough
fare, as that point was threatened.
The battalion proceeded and arrived
with the other battalions at Thorough
fare just as Gen. Bell did.
Gen. Bell rode up and down the line
complimenting the men on the march
they had made and declaring that I'VE
won by marching" In conversations
with the commanding officer of the
regiment and also with others, Gen.
Bell complimented the marching of the
Georgia men. Notwithstanding the
forced march to which the men were
put, at the end of the march there
were no stragglers.
On the next morning. the first bat
talon joined the other members of the
Second Brigade marching through
Gainesville by Gen. Corbin's head
quarters to participate in the attack
on Gen. Grants forces. The battalion
was held in reserve and at night
bivouaced with the other battalions Of
the regiment.
Next morning the march began soon
after l o'clock. This continued over
historic ground until after broad day.
light when the colonel was directed
to order the first battalion to turn 10
the right to be prepared to attack the
enemy. The battalion proceeded to do
this and formed a line TO the left for
the purpose Of ascertaining the
whereabouts OF the enemy.
AS the enemy was not where sus-
pected, the battalion proceeded to the
firing line.
The battalion then went on the FIR
ing line where Il did effective work,
its share in the days work being TO
attack the enemy In front while
successful turning movement Of the en-
emy's right flank was in progress.
Notwithstanding the long forced
march and the fact that the last mile
was done practically al double time,
the entire battalion remained together
and al the end Of the fight was intact
which could be said OF very few bat