The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-08

} FORT INFER, VA.
Noted Cavalry Post of the U. s. Army.
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 BY ETHEL ARMIES.

teHies. The trace of the work was ex-
 actly symmetrical line passing through
 the center of the fort and the rear cur
 tains, cutting 1t into two equal parts
 On the exposed fronts the parapets were l fifteen feet thick the plane of their
 crests rising toward the front. so as to
 defilade the work from the higher ground l in advance of Forts Cass and Craig i There were magazines and filling rooms so
 arranged as to form traverses for the lateral faces exposed to enfiladlng fire, and
 long line of bomb proofs placed parallel
 with the front curtain covering from curved fire the greater portion of the in 1 terior space. All ths interior construction
 was of timber framework.
 l The slopes of the ground to the right and the road were occupied by rifle
 trenches and by strong batteries defladed l by traverses from the hills in front of Fort Cass. The batteries swept the ra- vines between Forts Cass and Woodbury not seen from those forts. Thus Fort
 Whipple with its auxiliary defences and batteries added greatly to the line strength of the line of defences extending
 below Alexandria to the Aqueduet Bridge
 Fort Myer was first designated Whipple
 in honor of Brevet Major General Amiel w. Whippe of the Engineering Corps, who was killed in the battle at Chancel- 1 lorsvlle.
 In 1872 the School of Instruction for Officers and Men in the Signal Service was established by General Myer. It became to the signal service what West
 Point is to the engineers, with the one difference, teaching men who were to serve without commissions, as well as officers In 1881. soon after the death of General Myer, the name of the post was named for him. Six years later it was made a cavalry station, and the school discon-
 tinued under act of Congress Upon the
 outbreak of the Spanish war, however, it's
 old vocation was revived, and that DOT l tion of the garrison now occupied by the Signal Corps School, new dormitories and
 other buildings is one of the most inter- esting institutions around Washington. The name of Myer, to the army man
 recalls thousand memories. Like that of that interchangeable worker. courag-
 eous and efficient officer Quartermaster General Meigs, Myers name. too, Is carved deep on the foundation stones of the things that have survived.
 Brigadier General Albert J. Myer, chief signal officer. U. s, A., and founder of
 the signal service corps and the signal
 service, entered the army in 1S54 as a surgeon
 He studied and labored over various systems of signals for the eommunica-
 tions of intelligence in the field, and just S signal officer, the one signal officer In
 the entire army.
 Appointed to the staff of General Me Dowell. he assisted in planning the de- l lenses of Washington. During the chaos
 of 6l. he organized the signal service, in
 structed his men individually, fused his
 own spirit into them, and they forged
 ahead. He supervised the corps and con-
 ducted its operations in the armies of the
 east and west
 The value and importance of his opera tions have been sufficiently proven. He introduced signal studies at West Point
 after the war and in the seventies con
 ducted his campaign westward. In the
 year 1877, 3200 miles of teleggaphic lines
 were constructed. operated and main
 tained by the signal service. under Gen
 eral Myers direction, through Texas, New 1 Mexico and Arizona.
 The work now being carried on in the 1 Philippines by the signal corps points to the crowning development of General Myers conception and labors.
 Thus Fort Myer serves, with the suc- l cess of the signal corps, to perpetuate their generals name.
 l It Is, in a word, his monument-a monu- | ment upon whose base stand troops of cavalry with drawn sabres and far on the topmost height a solitary bugler. his trumpet raised-no not taps, but reveille