The daily Alaskan., 1909-12-24
CAVALRY0N THE MOVE
They Usually Travel at a Walk
 While on a March.
CAREFUL OF THEIR HORSES.


 The Wagons and supPlies-GOing In-
 to Camp at Night.
 People unfamiliar with the marching of troops frequently have the impress. sion that mounted troops usually tray el at a trot or g0Iop while on march In the cavalry, however, the gait Is usually a walk
 There are reasons why it is not ad- visable for cavalry to trot or gallop on It's road marches. The trooper Is re- oulred to carry his three weapons rifle. pistol and saber-oyer a hundred rounds of ball ammunition, his blan- ket. shelter tent, canteen, extra horse shoes and sundry other articles, all of which add considerable weight to that of the trooper,
 This weight Is more or less concen- trated at comparatively few points in- stead of being uniformly distributed over the horses back, so that at a trot, in spite of all that may be done to avoid lt, the conCUssiOu at certain points is considerable and if kept up tends Co develop bIIsters and sores on the horses back, which may increase until the animal is no longer tit to use.
 As the supply department furnishes but one horse to each trooper, dider- ing in this respect from the mounts of the cowboy. who has as many as he wants. a constant vigilance is required on the part of the captain while on a long march in order to keep bis horses serviceable and prevent his troopers from becoming dismounted.
 This he accomplishes in part by marching at a walk whenever the cir cumstanccs will admit it By means of the walk we make four miles an hour, says Captain William r. Flynn, U. s. A.. in Forest and Stream, and as twen- ty-dve miles Is considered a fair days march it is thus made in about seven hours, considering the necessary halts. The wagons carrying our supplies can go no faster than that, and there is rarely any advantage in reaching ones camping ground very much iu advance of the wagons.
 It Is customary with individual tour ists and campers upon making camp to turn their horses loose and either to watch them or else trust to luck in the matter of finding them again. We are not permitted to do this in tho army. We always mean to provide ! grain for our animals on the march, and when We are unable Co buy hay en route and thus have 10 rely upon grazing we put each horse out on a rope fastened to a picket pin driven in the ground
 On the march each mounted man carries bis lariat anu gin attached to bis saddle and as soon as he Unsaddles seeks a good grazing place for bis horse and drives bis pin in the ground, The horse thus gets a limited area upon which to graze. The pins are l changed once or twice during the even 1 ing. and as the horse stays all night on bis rope be gets a pretty fair chance at the grass, after all, aud when we want him in the morning we can find him.
 The horses having been unsaddled and disposed of, the men then put up ] their shelter tents. A shelter tent is convenient little affair made in two halves to accommodate nicely two sol dlers. Each soldier carries his half and bis pole with him on his blanket roll attached to bis saddle, so as soon as be unsuddles he can select his "bunkie" aud put up bis tent. The of- ! dcers' tents are wall tents, carried in the wagons and cannot be put up till the wagons come in.
 As soon as that takes place details of men put up the officers tents, get wood and water for the cooks, and the latter build their Gre and at once set about getting supper. Soldiers like to have their food well cooked; but, bet ter stll, they appear to like it prompt ! ly cooked. and that camp cook IS al- ways popular who yells Come and get itm Just a little sooner than 1t is ! expected.
 On the march we eat but two meals a day. After breakfast the cooks give each man a liberal sandwich of bacon aud bread. This the man iucloses in bis meat can and when he gets hun ! gry eats 1t. This constitutes his mid day meal.
 Supper over, a guard is posted to look out for the safety of the camp, and the other men usually collect fuel, build a rousiug fire. gather round 1t and amuse themselves by singing, tell Ing yarns and cracking jokes upon each other ull bedtime, which comes pretty early with men on the march. The officers on in the time iu about the same manner.
 On the march one always has to rise early. There are so many things to be done in order to get the cavalcade fair ly on the road that early rising is es- sentlal. The guard rouses the cooks long before daylight, and by the time l the horses are fed and brushed of Che cook announces breakfast. After breakfast the tents are taken down, ! wagons packed, the horses saddled, and