Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-02-25
GENERAL WAsHINGToN's LIFE
GUARD.

One morning early in March of the
great year 1776, there was issued by
the commander-in-chief, then making
his headquarters at Cambridge, Mass,
brief but very interesting military
order.
1t was an order that would have
made all of the young soldiers in the
American army sit up and take no.
tice" If they only had happened to
know about it. You might have found
many young men excitedly meas
urfng themselves off against ...e.r
tent-faps. to show how tall thn'. wcra,
or squaring their shoulders and MAX
to show that they We're well built or
hastily giving an extra brush to their
un orms anu an extra prlnk TO their
toilets, to show how Immediately neat
they We're, for the order read this
way:
Headquarters, Mch., IL, 1776.
The general Is DESTROYS of selecting
particular number of men as q
guard for himself and baggage. - =
His excellency depends upon his col
! onels Tor good men, such as they can
recommend for their sobriety, honesty,
and good behavior. He wishes them to
be- from feet inches to S feet 10
inches, handsomely and well made;
and as there is nothing in his eyes
more desirable than cleanliness in a
soldier. he desires that particular at
tention may be made IN the choice of
such men as are clean and spruce.
The general neither wants them with
uniforms nor arms, nor does he de-
sire any man that is not perfectly
willing Or DESTROYS of being of this
guard. They should be drilled men"
Fancy the dismay of the American
soldier-boy who was handsomely and
we'll made, but had not been careful
to be "clean and spruce" and imagine
the pride of the young soldier who was
not only feet 10 inches tall, but had
kept himself sober and honest be-
sides!
Evidently the colonies did not need
very long to pick the right men, for
at noon on the following day fifty
splendid fellows were summoned and
we're formed into the personal body
guard or life-guard of the great gener-
al upon whose safety SO much depend
ed. They were formally named "The
commander-in-Chief's Guard. Caleb
t1Dbs OF Massachusetts, was commits
Toned their captain, and George
Lewis, Washington's nephew, was
made lieutenant, The men were all
fitted out with unusually rich and
elaborate uniforms, similar in design
to his excellency's own, SO that they
might be distinguished as members of
his military household: and the de-
scription OF their attire fairly beggars
most Of the feminine fashion-sheet eff
fusions of the present day. The scanty
records do not state Just what the
style was at the time the guard was
formed, but it was probably practically
The same that 1t was three years later,
i p 1873, when the uniform is described
thus:
A dark-blue coat, collared, faced.
cuffed and lined with buff: the bottom
cut square and full behind with fold
on each back skirt. Pocket flap on
either side at the waist line; 10 large
gilt buttons on each lapel, 4 on each
:uff, and below each pocket flap. to
)utton or hook as low as the fourth
,utton on the breast, and to be flaunt.
I'd at the bottom. Vest red, high cut.
fingle- breasted with IL small gilt but
ms and pocket flaps with similar
lttons below each. BuckslSin breaches