The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1916-11-09
WITH TIMMONSvILLE GUARDS
On Hike of One Hundred and
Seven Miles, Round Trip.
Eiitcr County Record:

LliltI SUuHlS tNNSol u.
On Sunday, October I, the Tenth
Division, under Brig Gen Morton.
left Camp Owen Bierne, El Paso,
for a test march of 107 miles round
trip. The column was nine miles
long, including South Carolina. Ohio.
Michigan, Kentucky, Massachusetts,
infantry, cavalry, artillery, signal
corps. engineering corps and hos
pital corps.
Leaving camp at 7:30 a. m. we
marched through El Paso, going
twelve miles the first day. stopping
twenty minutes for dinner. At 4:30
p. m. we reached Camp Courchesne.
Our camping ground was covered
with bushes, and each company had
to clear their own ground before
pitching tents. The dog tents con-
sist of two shelter halves, one half
carried in the blanket rolls of each.
The front and rear rank men pitch
tents together. The company is
first formed. then given right or
left face, as the case may be, then
take intervals until the whole COM
pany is formed with the men four
PAGES apart. Then the bayonet is
stuck in the ground at the right
heel. The halves are buttoned to-
gether. and one gun is used for the
pole in front, and the bayonet used
in the back. We then place our
ponchos on the ground, two blankets
on top of it, then we have two to
cover with, and our bed for the
night is complete. When a man
marches all day, he will rest as we'll
in the little tent as he would on a
feather bed. The boys were all very
dusty and thirsty. and as soon as
tents pitched and their thirst quench-
ed from the water wagon, they all
rushed for the Rio Grande, and in a
few minutes several thousand were
seen in the river. They kept COM
ing and going until call to quarters
that night. On the first days
march we carried only our fighting
packs, until we were within mile
of the camp. then we were halted
until the wagon train caught up and
unloaded our blanket rolls which we
had to carry on into camp. Blank
ammunition was issued to US before
leaving camp, in order to have
sham battle on our trip. During
the night the boys from different
companies fired several shots, and
the officers never did catch any Of
them. But the next morning all
the companies were formed, and
each man made to show the clips
that were given him. This was
done to catch those who fired the
shots the night before.
We left camp about 10 a. M,
marched about a mile, were halted
in a sand bed. where we remained
until z p. M, and only had one quart
of water to last US all day and had to
90 easy on H20, which was very hard
for US to do, it being about 80 de-
grees in the shade, and there is
none in Texas. We continued the
march on to Montoya. which we
reached about 4:30 p. M. covering
the distance of six miles. We pitch
ed our dog tents upon grass, which
was about one foot high. This was
the best camp ground we had on our
entire trip.
Tuesday morning, the 3rd, we left
camp at 1890 a. M, marching a
distance of fourteen miles through
the dust and heat. Some of the
boys seemed to be under the impress
sion that they could get more water
than their daily allowance, and sew
eral hours before we reached camp,
a great many of their canteens were
empt, and cries for H20 could be