Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1905-10-11

But while the roads and flats were
quagmires, up along the wooded
heights the ground was fairly dry and
well drained, and there the four regi-
ments, three of which had drilled
through August on the broad, level
plateau Of Kalorama, and much of tbs
early fall about Chain Bridge, were
now kept from morn till night busily
at their soldier task. The general held
that the less time soldiers had to kill
the happier and heartier they were,
and determined was he that the splen-
did material confided to his charge
should be nodded into equally SPLEEN
did, soldierly shape-that the one ex-
clusively western brigade of the now
well-organized army should be second
to none in point of instruction, disci-
pine and efficiency. To this end, drills
by squad, company and battalion, all
three, were of daily occurrence, fol-
lowed by dress parade at shutdown,
and all this supplemented by long,
searching inspections every Sunday
morning. Presently, too, he was able,
by mile march through the woods, to
reach an open plain out toward Balls
cross roads, and there have brigade
evolutions twice a week. Then the full
uniform of the regulars had been
drawn for the entire command, the In
diana boys shedding the semi-Zouave
garb of gray in favor of the army
blue, as had certain of their Wiscon-
sin comrades at Chain Bridge as early
as September. One Badger regiment,
the Second, whose men lorded it some
what over their fellows because they
had been all through Bull Run and
despite fairly heavy losses, retired in
good order-had even obtained the
quaint, stiff. Kossuth hat, looped up on
one side and garnished with cord and
brasses and feathers--the headgear of
the regulars at the time-and were
dubbed the BLACK Hats" by envious
comrades of other commands. Their
original field officers had disappeared
| somewhere about the time of that mi
| tial battle, and in their place had come
a stocky little black-bearded West
| Pointer as colonel with a most SOL
| dierly ex-captain of state militia as
| his second, and then the whole brigade
| had to be fitted out with white gloves,
and some nearby regulars were de-
| tailed to show them how best to polish
| their belts and boxes, and great was
| the competition among the four regi-
ments to win the honor of headquar-
tiers guard and orderlies.
Then, as freezing weather set in with
December and it became possible for
carriages to come humping and sway
ing over the icy powders and ridges
into which the almost liquid mud had
been transformed, many generals of
rank, and statesmen by the score, and
even the president himself, began pay
ing visits to Arlington and bringing
curious and distinguished foreigners
with them.
There was one visitor who could not
come too often. He came, however,
only twice or thrice. He never left
his carriage, but Sat there lounging
comfortably on the back seat, usually
with Secretary Seward by his side, just
as he used to come to nearer Kalo-
rama, and. after he had chatted with
the general while, he would drive
through the regimental camps to re-
ceive the tumultuous greeting of "the
boys" to wave his hat and smile at
them, and sometimes, when they