The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1908-11-21

Chesapeake Bay-and is quite a wa
tering place for the effete East. Right
in plain sight is the water where the
old frigate Cumberland was sunk
her crew working the guns until they
disappeared beneath the waves-and
the Monitor and Merrimac engaged in
the first iron-clad battle of the world.
McClellan's army of one hundred and
sixty thousand men once camped here,
while only a few miles away is his
toric old Yorktown-the scene of the
final surrender of the British army
under Lord CORVALLIS.
Aside from its history this country
is nice to look at One of the most
beautiful places is the Soldiers Home,
where thousands of the grizzled vet
Grams shirt wringers would
call them-are leading out their lives
in peace and quiet.
But the greatest sight on Old Point
is historic old Fortress Monroe. This
is the largest enclosed fertilization in
the United States, containing about
sixty acres completely surrounded by
a massive stone wall and a moat not
unlike the old Notifications around
Manila. 1t was built in 1912 and has
always been highly important as it
guards the only entrance by which a
hostile fleet could advance on Wash
ington. Its walls rise forty feet above
the water and are banked up by
earth to total thickness of more than
thirty feet. The interior grounds are
beautifully laid out with trees and fine
buildings and the eight hundred SOL
dlers stationed here have a pleasant
home. War trophies such as captur-
ed British cannon adorn the grounds
while room under the old parapet is
pointed out as the place where jeff
Davis was once held a prisoner.
l CHANGED to be here on the day that
they were holding their semi-annual
target practice and so had the privi-
iege OF seeing one of the ten-inch guns
in action. 1t was a monstruos ma
chine forty feet long, firing a thous-
and pound shot with three hundred
pounds of powder. Twenty soldiers
loaded it with much running and
shouting as it crouched down behind
the parapet. Then at a sharp gcom-
mand, one soldier sprang on top of ii
as 1t lurched upward and forward and
looked over the parapet We saw the
soldiers clap their hands to their ears
and rise on tiptoe and just had time
to do likewise when an officer shout
ed "Fire!"
A soldier pulled the string and a
terrific roar shook the ground while
a cloud of smoke shot out, hiding the
front from view. However, the smoke
soon cleared and we fixed our eyes on
the target-a small black speck four
miles out on the bosom of the Ches-
lapeake. For some seconds we watch
ed while the whirring of the great
shell was plainly audible as it flew
through the air. Then, suddenly
right beside the target, a great column
of water rose like a geyser hundred
feet in the air and an instant later
another column rose a mile farther
on as the thousand pound pebble wen
skipping along.
1t was good shot; and, in fact, al
the succeeding ones were, the fact tina
number of vessels were moving
: about the bay did not deter the artil
lerymen in the least. We learned tina
with their accurate instruments, the.
can land their shots with such pre-
cision that ship a hundred yard
from the target is perfectly safe l
, would seem that the harbor is vel
protected; still we cannot forget tina