Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1916-10-18
BOYS IN WORK OF CHARITY
OUR SOLDIERS FEED POOR IN
CAPITAL OF, TEXAS
End of the Long March-Some Pleas
ant Experiences Commended
for Thoughtful Charity
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, oct. G.

Il
FRIEND MuNSON:-Thanks to good
weather, roads and condition of the
men we finished the Austin nike as
planned The last three nights were
very cold, or seemed cold in contrast
to the hot days. We kept huge bon
fires going all night long and were
comfortable. Ga the latter part of
the march the band was relieved from
the packs and carried their band in
struments, playing out of camp and
through the towns. BY order of Gen.
Greene we played a concert at San
Marcos to a very large and enthusiast
tic audience.
We were camped out about six miles
on the Blanco river and made the trip
in one of the army trucks that had
seen service in Mexico.
Our arrival at Camp Wilson was a
scene of great rejoicing Larry had
gone on ahead and with the assistance
of Sergeant Heinz. Orderlies Rabbit,
and Hetlaud, BandSmen Lee and Nor
ris, had prepared feast that made
us forget all about the little pleasure
| launt of the morning The following
day we participated in one of the
greatest military parades ever shown
in this country, marching from our
camp through San Antonio and back.
The distance was about ten miles.
The line was over five hours in pass
| ing one point The city was-.beauti-
| fully decorated and the reception Civ
en- all the troops very gratifying. 1t
was estimated there were over 100000
visitors ia the city. AS we rounded
the corner from the Plaza, little old
Confederate soldier joined our band.
The evening paper had the following
to say about the incident which was
not entirely correct as he was a real
Louisiana Tiger and was waiting for
our band, having remembered us from
Austin. He remarked at the first halt,
81 knew you bows would pIayiny time"
He marched with US as as long as he
could keep up.
Somewhere up on Alamo street a
Wisconsin band had picked up little
old man in q gray uniform, wearing
cap of the style worn in the civil war
and carrying a banner with the letter,
IS. of G " lSons of the Confeder-
ate Veterans. He was placed in the
front rank, with the drum major, and
the band playing Dixie marched
along Commerce street while cheers
and the shriller .'Rebel veil" resound-
ed y
Our band, assisted by the bugle corps
and Company +. of EauClaire, played
marches, sang son Wisconsin" gave
the Wisconsin yell and cut up coatin-
ually,
We just received notice from Aus
tin, showing the result of a move
ment started In our Company 10 save
the food which would have been de-
stroyed, owing to the fact OF our not
| having any place 10 Garry the extra
accumulation during our stay In Aus
| tin. We were allowed so many rations
each day and the fact of so many
! boys dining out and the extras bought
created a surplus We gathered over
three large wagon loads of bread, POI
tatoes, soap hard tack, beans. rice
and canned goods They certainly
have this end Of the city work well
cared for in Austin, as one hour after
we called the city hall, they had three
autos and one wagon on the grounds
10 assist Ia getting the different ar
tieles. Extract from letter written
Bandmaster Brown by the president
and secretary Of the united charities
Of Austin:
II Pm sure you will be interested to
know how we disposed Of the left-oyers
from your camp. After we had sup
piled the various small Institutions
with bread and potatoes, we divided
up small lots for our needy families,
and then placed the remainder of the
bread on a wagon and sent it out for
general distribution so that none of
| IL would be lost.
am sure that thoughtful act
of yours was a means of helping quite
a number of persons, and We thank
YOU Ia their names O. G. b.