The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-02-01
the man, alphabetically. after ] had
run a mile or two I got careless and
looked back
Duu Uniform Due to Lee


looked back"
Dull Uniform Due to Lee
General Robert e. Lee was tns
first man who discovered that all
armies were improperly uniformed,
observed a well-known army officer
land he was so strongly convinced
that he was right that he abolished
the blue uniforms worn by the cadets
at West Point and substituted gray,
which has been worn ever since in It's
place. General Lee was in command
Of the military academy at West
Point some years before the Civil War,
and it was here he put his ideas and
reforms into operation. He was, ac-
cording to the records. the first officer
in any army who favored inconspicu-
Gus uniforms.
THE khakis. drab and blue, which
are universally used by the armies
of the world to-day as campaign uni
forms, are the direct results Of his
original thought and consideration
Other officers may have thought along
the same lines with him, but he was
the first to start the reform. OF course
he met with violent opposition, for
soldier people as a rule are in favor
of as much display as possible, but hs
never let up. The first organization
that adopted his suggestion was the
famous Seventh Regiment of New
York City, and which has worn gray
ever since, followed soon by the
equally famous Fifth Regiment Of
Baltimore, Maryland's National Guard
Others soon fell into line.
Only recently. in studying over the
reports on this subject on file in the
War Department at Washington, I
ran across the reports OF the then
Major Lee. His only fault in the
matter, like those OF all pioneers, was
that he was fifty years ahead of his
times, which always has been and I
presume always will be an unpardon-
able sin. In these reports Major Lee
not only urged the abolition Of con-
spicuous uniforms for campaigns, but
he went even further in recommend
ing that arms, accoutrements, cannon
and all the things used in the bust
ness of war should be without polish
or glisten.
His idea has been universally
adopted by all the armies of the
world, and to-day 1t would be vio-
lation OIL all rules for a soldier in =
campaign TO have anything abous
him, even to a button on his cloth
ing, which has even the slightest pol
ish or even susceptible of polish. For
play soldiers and dress parade fancy
colors, polish and glisten will do well
enough, but for campaigns it is a
thing of the past Had the armies of
Europe discovered this years before
they did their lists of killed and
wounded would have been consider
ably less than what they were.
''Nine-tenths of the people Of the
North and the South think that gray
had some connection with the South
on its own account, never dreaming
that gray was first worn in the North
| by the cadets at West Point, where
it is still used as a dress uniform, and
| by the leading military organizations
of the North, notably fin New York
and Boston. General Lee when called
upon to organize the army OF the
South put into practical operation the
ideas he had formed long before he
had even dreamed Of the Civil War.
This explains also the reason why he
was less strict in having the soldiers
of the Confederate army wear their
pretty clothes during the war He
had found out by his study and OBJ
servation that the less show and dis
play meant the less casualties and he
sought the latter. The campaign
uniform of to-day the world over is
his ideal and he did all he could to
carry it into effect."-New Orleans
Times Democrat.