The San Francisco call., 1908-10-06
Fifth Regiment Holds First
Guard Mount Under Critical
Eyes of Regulars
Famous JackasS Battery Is the
Spectacular Feature of An
other March on ENEMY"
By Harry Davids
,IAT, DISPAnCH no THE CALI


tinct and without a quaver. and 1t came
from the tents Of the national guards
men, who arrived In camp today. From
b the artillery lines there came the fall
setto blare which is toned to speak its
message over the rumble and.drum Of
batteries IN action. The cavalry lines
took Up the refrain, and in a few sec
onds the whole camp was echoing TO
the call The regular soldiers. sitting
under the oak trees. Ioafng around
camp, paid little heed. Suddenly into
the throaty chorus came the bugles Of
the Fifth national guard. It fioated
across the still lazy afternoon and
forced attention. The regulars sat up
and listened and nodded to each other
with approval They can blow some,
Quoth one. and so saying lifted himself
from his seat and wandered to the
brow OF the hill to watch the ceremony
OF guard mount The drill took place
on the plain in full view of the entire
camp. Half a mile below the tiny dots
OF khaki, knowing they were observed,
stood up and drilled for the honor of
the regiment. They marched out, trim
and straight The band swung out with
a popular chorus and the men Of the
Fifth were in the midst of their first
guard mount in camp this year.
FIFTH MAKES IMPRESSION
The drill Of the men was in keeping
with the call of the bugles. Where
hesitancy and mistakes were expected
there was perfection. Behind each
marching man could be seen a steady,
systematic coaching In drill-halls per
haps, but none the less effective.
sion all around, the regulars, officers and
men met the men half way, and what
ever sense Of loneliness or diffidence
caused by the new surroundings eX-
listed was eliminated by the cordiality
Of Colonel Marion P. Maus and his
men, Within an hour both branches
of the services were fraternizing. The
national guard marched into q deserted
camp. While they were being disem-
barked at Atascadero station the reg
uiar troops were preparing for the
maneuver. which called for e concerted
action Of the troops. An advance
guard, consisting of Company F, Twen-
tistn infantry. the "jackass' battery
and a detail Of engineers, was thrown
out toward Santa Margarita, from
which direction arr imaginary enemy
was advancing. The little column
picked its way gingerly along the
county roads for about seven miles.
and then, receiving Information that the
scouts had come into contact with the
enemy, swung out into a defensive po-
sition, and TO await the arrival OF the
main division.
"JSCEKASS~ BATTERY'S WORK
The jaekass" battery, under Captain
John Henry Parker. split into three
sections, the main one making for a
steep, woody Hill 10 the left. The bat
tery took the hill with a whirl. smash
Ing through the trees and Jumping the
rocks The performance was as spec
tacuiar one as has taken place during
me encamDment- The men hanging on
70 stirrup, leather and pannier. pushed.
fought and hauled their way to the
crest They needed not hanging
branches, rocks or ravines. They sim
ply smashed forward. A plunging.
kicking mule would pitch itself into a
thicket, the spur would dig into ribs
and the obstacle would be cleared. The
Jaclzass" battery does not go out of
The way It's business is to reach its
destination in the shortest possible
tille Nothing else counts
In this instance, when the first pant
ing infantrymen threw himself over
the top of the hill 10 minutes later
ne found the Jaci1asses quietly grazing.
The guns trained and pointed and the
men calm and collected. From this
TIME on every move. every action was
without moments hesitation. The
long. Uolling, dusty columns plodding
through the dust spread out and
moved forward with startling rapiditv.
a mile across the valley a body of in
fantrymen dipped IN and out through
foliage and then sank out Of sight
Another line found itself on a. low
lying hillock, took up positions and
could not be seen. The artillery thun-
oered up the county road swung sharu
10 the left and came into position AT
The foot of the hill. on the crest of
which were stationed the 5ackass bat
ferles. The signal corps appeared. and
atter few minutes tinkerinz lien
tenant Paul ". Beck, in charge turned
10 Captain Parker. You're connected
with the commanding officer and with
your other sections" said he. His men.
painting, tired and smiling, threw them
selves back in the shade and gave nm
Drloieo comment on some individual
who, thinking that the army might
trip over wires laid by them tnat day.
had the great presence of mind to
cut II and laid the ends neatly on each
side Of the road. The break was dis
covered IN three minutes and repaired
IN four. But the signal corps Ionged
Tor the blood Of the individual.
ARTILLERY CLEARS TREES
Battery commanders followed tbe
signal corps to the top OF the hin
using its crest as an observation STA
tion. tree stood in the way of one
He growled twice. and artillervmen
smashed down the interfering branches
The data We're telephoned to the guns
below. which, in the meantime had
artistically stripped trees of branches
and hid themselves. In the distance
they appeared like clumps of bushes
Then a silence fell over the lighting
ground, broken finally by the voice of
a battery commander. Great cats AZ
we could only drop a few across that
plain" said he. If those guns had
opened fire they would have swent
every living thing on the plains in 10
minutes"
The first sight national guardsmen
had Of the regulars was when the
columns were returning to camp in
the afternoon.
The first regiment to arrive TODAY
was the Second from Sacramento. The
boys. tired as they were after the train
journey, sprang to their feet with
cheers as the tent dotted plains came
into view. The enthusiasm the entire
command Of 1000 men displayed was
infectious and Travelled into the lines
of the regulars. General Waotowslr;