Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-06
Bull Run.

,rbe autuun maneuvers have begun and
the third hattie" of Bull Run is imminent.
These field operations IN mimicry of war
have been preceded by months of prepara-
tion-conferences with farmers whose landS
tie troops will invade. topographic surveys.
wel!-drilling. pipe-laying, cistern-puliulhs
and camp plating Then came mobilization
and the consequent increase of pressure
upon the quartermaster. commissary ana
other departments of the army.
Great interest in the rlaneuvers has been
aroused throughout the states not only by
reason of the fact that nearly thirty thou-
sand regulars and National Guardsmen are
to be put through their PAGES, but also p9
reason of the field chosen for the opera
tions-a field fraught with bloody ana ne
role memories. Already the dispatches from
the front are full of references to such his
toric places as Manassas GAINESVILLE
Groveton sudley, Thoroughfare Gap and the
Warrenton pike, and as the felgned hShtlhs
progresses the country will probably hear
much of Centervile. the stone brldee'
Henry hill. Youngs branch, Catharpin run,
Peach Tree tarm, the railroad cut ana other
famous and familiar points in that olden
fighting ground. There is no doubt that as
the Noops move over the country we will
again hear the names of the wartime land
owners and farmers. such for instance as
Henry. Dogan Chinn, Matthews, Robinson.
Van, Pelt, Cole and Wheeler, for many or
TIE old people and their children still Gull
'tivate the land. The dispatches certainly
carry the mind back to the Gays of 81 and
. go One is tempted to wonder If the ghosts
of the men of Mcdowell, Beauregard and
Johnston. Pope Jackson and Longstreet
who fell there may not be looking out upon
that field, grimly and critically watching
the young Americans now engaged there.
The troops today will see many war re-
minders. There is the red stone monument
In the little vii ge cemetery at Manassas.
the marble shaft at Groveton. which stands
above confederate bones eXhumed from the
trench graves made after tie second battle
and THE rude little monuments erected by
Ufion survivors in 1865 on the Henry place
and at the railroad cut back of Groveton.
They will come upon sign boards in the
woods and clearings bearing such legends
as Gen. Bee killed here. Gen. Barlow
killed here Col Cameron killed here"
Gen. Wilcox wounded here" Kirby Smith
wounded here etc. etc.
Next to real war these maneuvers should
be the greatest aid TO efficiency of tho
troops. If we are to have troops. let them
be of the most effective kind. officers will
get the benefit of that experience which
comes from handling large masAes of men
over a big stretch of varied country and
men will get the benefit of the hardening
influence of actual campaigning. They will
get the greater benefit of learning how to
lake !care of themselves in the field The
Subsistence, transportation and medical de-
partments will see just low theories work
GU when put to practice. Weak points will
be exposed and remedies applied
Regular troops and National Guardsmen
VIII nave the mutual advantage of COM
radeship. The guardsman will learn from
the regular and the regular will become
better acquainted with the merits of the
guardsman.
Another wholesome feature about the ma
htuNers Is that troops from divergent sec
IONS VIII be associated. Regiments from
massachusetts and South Carolina Texas
ana Connecticut, Virginia and New York
VIII be brigaded together.