Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1911-06-15

IN Inc AhDt " N~N~ ~ -77IT
about the history Of the famous
twentieth Kansas regiment. the
following d from the first articleD
Warm weather had already set IN
in Kansas and winter clothing had
been packed AWAY in moth balls. 50.
instructions were issued for all o.
the men not provided with national
guard uniforms to leave their homes
with clothing that they would be
willing to throw away in q couple
of weeks. The result was that about
seven hundred men of my regiment
reached Topeka clad in fearful ana
wonderful aggregation Of seersucker
coats, linen busters and ice cream"
trousers and for weeks they shivered
in these garments on the fog-drench-
ed and wind swept sand lots OF San
Francisco.
1t was not long after my arrival
that those Of the men of the regiment
who had not uniforms were able to
discard the fearful and wonderful
assortment of old summer clothing
that they had brought from Kansas
and appear in something that was
at least warmer.
|
We were established at Camp Mer-
rift, a place of sand and wind, ana
there came the gruelling process Of
"breaking in" the men. Flowers
were often sent to us and these did
not harm except on one occasion.
was going the rounds of the camp
to see If the sentries were on the
alert, when to my horror espied
one of them, Private John M. Steele,
calmly walking his post with his
blouse decorated by bouquet that
would not have shamed debuntante
| at her coming out ball. At the
same time l saw General King COM
ling from the opposite direction and
at such a distance that we would
certainly meet opposite the flower
decked sentry. Regulating my voice
so that the sentry would hear me
and the general would not, ! called
ont frantically. Steele, take that
damned thing off. Take IL Of,
say" repeating the command wits
appropriate trimmings several ttEeJ
The ratified Steele jumped about, ap'
parently uncertain whether ] want
ed him to take off his blouse or his
trousers and finally wound up bS
coming to present arms" to General
King and myself alternately. The
general passed on with look more
of sorrow than of anger and In
flew moments the floral decorations
were scattered ON the sidewalk.
In time most of the regiments al
| Camp Merritt had sailed for tht
Philippines, and our brigade wal
moved to a much more. desirable
camp sight on the Preside reserva'
ton. On August 5 General kine
himself sailed for the Philippines
and /, ranking by few days the
commanders OF the other two regi'
ments, succeeded to the command
Of the brigade, but at the same time
retaining command Of my own regi'
ment. At the Preside we had target
practice and many battle exercises
with blank ammunition, and the mer
began to get mild foretaste o.
what a battle Is like, as the ad
vancing companies rushed forward
throwing themselves prone at ever
halt, their front thick with smoke
while the roar Of the old Spring
Fields drowned all commands, ant
could scarcely be pierced by thu
,shrill notes Of the bugles. FINALLY
lcame the news that the Spanish wa
was over. 1t seemed that all oui
work had been for naught, and ex
cept that we entertained a vagu'
hope that we might have short tou
Of garrison duty in either Hawai-
or the Philippines, 1t looked as !
we might as well be mustered out
Under the circumstances It was n,
E easy matter to keep up interest Il
e the daily round Of drills and in
}, struction. But 1t was all to be 70
I the best, for when the regimen
b finally saw service In different wa
than the one for which II had BEEF
: enrolled, the long, dreary month
!. of training counted, and 1t knew It
: business.
October came. and found US stil
q at the Preside going through tn
! daily grind of drills. Hope Of goin
9 to the Philippines or anywhere els
i had practically been abandoned, an
: we were expecting the order to n
. turn to Kansas for muster out, whe
: we we're electrified BY the order I