Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-03


above the fray?"
H1 HE first of June! All the long
day and night before an army
- was concentrating. The distant
rumble of artillery coming along dusty
roads; neighing of horses; calls from
artillery trumpets and infantry bu-
giles; teamsters addressing mules in
language favored so much with theo-
logical adjectives as to be unfit for
publication and other sights and
sounds common to such momentous
occasions.
Night came; artillery was parked in
valleys, cavalry horses tethered, sen
tries posted, campfres allowed to die
out, tired infantry, tired to the verge
of death, slept rolled in blankets, line
after line, awaiting the call to arms.
In the black night, before the first
glmmer of dawn, far away at division
headquarters bugle broke the silence
and sang to the Slumherlng oattallohS
the reveille:
81 can't get 'em up, can't get 'em
up in the morning'-another bugle a
mile away takes up the answering
strain, then another and soon a nun
dred bugles and trumpets sing in uni
son as the strident melody seems to
penetrate the blue ether beyond the
stars, now beginning to pale.
A movement sounding like great
groan. from thousands of men
stretched behind lines of stacked mus
kets, stiff and sore from the forced
march of the previous day; haggard
forms in the dim light OF replenlsheu
camp fires, the odor of bacon and COZ
fee. the subdued sound of artillery
and cavalry horses munching FODDER
came upon the cool morning breeze
scented with clover from the Virginia
hills, purpling with the dawn.
A drummer's call and screaming nIe
are heard from an infantry regiment
which came in at midnight with orders
to go to the front. The adjutant,
mere youth, is tired and sleepy, there
Is a smell of sweaty bodies and leather
accoutrements as the worn-out men
and company officers are WIN uilil,
Guilty got upon their feet. 1t is pltllui
to look upon their drawn anu '.d,,, 49,
faces as they march past salulths
comrades, to take station leading the
advance. Striding past regiment OIL
infantry drawn up to receive tne,ii,
Private Mulligan of company A OF lne
saluting regiment, unhappny In stase
whisper, observes: - -, 10
"Some o. the loikes o thln IL pe
crows meat" 1900.
"Button up that spud trap o yours,
va tunnel-mouthed babboon, says the
first sergeant, with some asperlty.
sYis sor," replies Mulligan, with the
look of a martyr. e..
These little amenities were soon Ior-
gotten as other regiments came up
@Roots and saddles" sounded for the
cavalry, and Saddle up" rang out
from the trumpets of the artillery. Ihe
army was in motion!
Notwithstanding days of hard march-
ing and fighting the First United states
cavalry looked trim and tidy on that
eventful morning. 1t was historic
regiment formerly the First Dragoons)'
being we'll known as first in discipline
and courage, and with its smart Of
ficers and we'll groomed horses swept
by at a trot, in contrast with the dust,
covered and toiling infantry. Gold ana
blue. blue and gold Jingling scap-
bards and sabers of bright steel flash
ing in the morning sun; guidons nut
tering gaily from lances and sturdy
troopers sitting their steeds like CEN
taurs. The angry little battle flag with
it's heavy fringe of gold, torn by bull
lets and carefully mended, its stan
adorned with two silver ferules showed
hot work in the past. None OF the
captains was 80 years of age, and all
the young officers rode as if on springs
and the broad yellow stripes down
shapely legs as well as a certain "set
up" and elan, proclaimed them verit-
able sons of Mars.
Organized in 1888, the regiment had