The Washington herald., 1912-08-25
sREDS" DEFEAT
THE BLUE" ARMY
In MANBU YERS
War Problem At Harpers Ferry
Solved by Forces Under
Col. Harvey.
GUARDsMEN ENGAGE
IN MIMIC WARFARE
Big Crowd Is Expected at Camp
0rdway To-day-Hacks
Are Cheaper.
By STAFF CORRESPONDENT.


Camp ordway, Bolivar Heights. W..
Va. Aug. 3.-Fighting like soldiers and
as IL every paper bullet had been a
leaden one. the men OF the Red" army,
commanded ~ Col William Z. Harvey.
Second Infantry, N. G. d. c., to-day
held in check large force Of Blues"
led by Col Charles II. Ourand, First In
fsntry, N. G., d. c. Although the Blue
army inflicted terrific punishment on
the Reds. the engineers OF the scarlet
banded forces tore up in theory rail-
read six miles west Of Harpers Ferry
and utterly destroyed the Blues line Of
communication. That was the problem,
and the Reds solved 1t.
The men marched out OF camp before
1:30 o'clock this morning and disposed
themselves along the two ridges which
rise UP one after the other between the
Potomac and the Shenandoah. Col.
Ourands Blue Army consisted OF the
First Infantry, commanded by Maj. Nc
Cathran: the First Separate Battalion:
Battery <, Third Field Artillery. under
Capt. Fred Austin: Signal Corps Com
pany. commanded by. Lieut.. MacLennan.
and the ambulance company, under
Lieut. William B. Hudson. Col Harvey
had the Second Infantry, First Battery.
Field Artillery. N. G. d. c.. and Troop
B, Fifteenth United States Cavalry.
In Hostile Country.
The Blue army was supposed to be In
hostile country, had captured the Bal
timore and Ohio Railroad. had 1t guard
ed at various places, and was using II
freely as their line Of communication.
The Blue main army was supposed to
be about 100 miles west of Harpers
Ferry. The Reds wanted the railroad
back, and for the purposes of the prob
lem to-day. the Red cavalry was re-
ported to be near the railroad. in the
rear of the Blues.
At o'clock this morning a detach-
ment OF Reds was supposed to be at
work destroying the bridge, aud the
Blues. under Col Ourand. We're hus-
Ting to get at the Reds and drive
them of. Col. Harvey's command was
to hold Col. Ourand back and give the
men at the bridge a chance to blow IL
y. Col. Harvey's men were told to b,
near crossroads, near the Ryder
Farm. Their orders were to hold the
advance Of the Blues one hour.
FOL. Harvey used the cavalry OF TrooI
as n patrol to watch all approache:
to the ridge over which the Blues mus
pass to get to the bridge In the short
est order. An advance guard OF the
Blues was discovered near Ryder's farm
house shortly after S O'Clock, and the
cavalry troops began firing on IT. The
Blue advance guard became alarmed
and deployed. giving a hot battle for a
few moments. The cavalry of the Blues
pread out and fired necessarily from be-
hind rocks and fences, and two bat
talions OF the Blue army were deployed
but by this delay the battle was lost
IN thA fnr he =.
stead of clearing the front, the Blues
stopped to fight the handful Of cavalry.
men, who. when they had done their
part and had tangled up the advance
guard. rode of and were utilized later
to attack the Blues on another side
Battery on Ridge.
Capt. J. Harry Shannon had placed his
battery upon a high ridge overlooking the
rolling meadows, in which the infantry
fight was taking place, and he fired sew
eral shells into the Blue column under
McCathran. The Blue artillery was seen
by the cavalry and its position reported
to Col Harvey. The Blue artillery COM
manded by Capt. Fred Austin, switched
of to the right shortly after the rifle
skirmish of the advance guard, and got
in a position on a ridge about mile and
half opposite the place from which
the Red artillery was firing. Although
the cavalry scouts had spotted the artil-
lery. Capt. Shannon did not fire upon It.
as he evidently did not lind it himself
and received no orders to shell 1t.
Meantime the Blue army was stretch
ing cut across an open meadow. and the
Red artillery opened fire on 1t. The ad-
vance was not checked by the umpires
and Capt. Austin began throwing shells
into the Red battery. Meantime the First
Separate Battalion made a charge upon
the Reds right. and would have had a
chance to turn the hank had not the Red
reserves fired on them from a higher
ridge, overcoming the First Separate by
superiority of fire.
The Blues were making a desperate
effort to get through and began a quick
advance iup the ridge. A terrific volley
fire followed. but the umpires decided
that the Blues had been held back and
that the problem was solved.
Wireless station Collapses.
After the engagement the umpires were
called together, along with all the officers
in the entire fight, and a talk over vari-
Gus phases of the maneuver followed. The
men marched back to camp In time for
dinner. and after mess watched guard