The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-08-18

easily stand inside of our lines and
watch the regulars" drill-not at
their artillery drill, but out on the
field drilling as infantry. 1t was
profitable and a pleasure to see them
for they worked with the precision of
machinery which was good to look at,
while at the same time it created
desire on our part to so improve our
selves as to be able to do likewise.
1t was stimulus to US which had good
results, for while we never did attain
the proficiency of the regulars" we
did make great improvement. | said
we were not allowed to intermingle,
and as rule that was the law, but to
this general rule there was one ex-
ception, the why and wherefore
of which | do not recall, if l ever
knew. There was one of the "regu-
lars" who "was not quite right in the
head" and was the driver of the gar
bage cart of Lucas Battalion, and
never took part in any drills, guard
duty or anything else, but just drove
that cart and hauled what he was
told to load with. When not at work
he wandered into our camps without
hindrance. In fact our boys used to
like to have him come over so that
they could tease him. Although
light-witted, he sometimes made a
point that turned the laugh on the
other fellow. His name was Jackson,
rather big, rawbony, redfaced, good
natured fellow. In memory's mirror
| can see him now. One day he wan
dered over into our quarters and one
of the boys q assure you dear read
er it was not u said to him, "Hello
Jackson! Are you a regular" To
which he promptly replied, eyes, reg
ular damnfool like you" Just like
that, and don't you know the rest of
our boys raised whoop and yaw,
yaw, to beat the band and Jackson
joined in with just an 'I've eaten the
canary grin.
dirt, turf and sand-bag battery on
Goat Island, small island separated
from Coles Island by small creek,
and when completed and the guns
mounted and munitions stored in the
magazines, it had to be manned, and
as the regulars" could not spare
the men from their garrison. Col.
Hagood determined to detail COM
pany from our regiment to take
charge of it. He chose the Edisto
Rifles. So our company moved its
camp to suitable point near the bat
| terry and then had to learn the heavy
artillery drill, but it did not take us
| long to do it, and we rather felt a lit
| tie pride in having been selected. Of
course in practicing to make ourselves
as efficient as possible we had to
| practice firing the pieces at target
that was set afoat out in the bay.
Maj. Lucas or one of his officers took
| charge of our training until we got
the thing pretty well in hand, and
when we got so that we hit the target
oftener than the regulars, we won
their praise and admiration. One day
! while at target practice one of the
guns bursted, demolishing the carriage
and scattering a thousand fragments,
large and small, in every direction and
though every man of the squad work
ing the piece was in his proper po-
sition and a number of lookers-on
standing in the battery watching the
pdactice, it is strange to say no one
was hurt except Sergeant Ben P. L.
lar, who was struck by two frag-
ments-one in the face and one in
the left leg. Ben was unfortunate.
He was wounded three times after
that in three different battles, and
the last time it was wound which
came near proving fatal.
/ must stop now, as no doubt you
and your readers too are tired of
my rambling talks-indeed both you
and they may hope that / will not
write any more numbers. If you do,
just drop me hint and will be
down and out like a shot out of a
shovel. IL I do write any others l
shall not follow up our movements in
chronological order, but will just Sc
lect episodes and incidents here and
there, that / think might interest your
readers-just pick them up here and
there without regard to the time they
occurred. Laurie T. Izlar.