The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-09-28

Leroy Bowen, son of Mr.. and Mrs.
John r. Bowen of this city, wrote the
following letter to State Auditor ].
A. o. Preus, and the latter very kind
ly sent it to The Free Press, know
ing that Mankato people would be
interested:
Seventeenth Field Artillery, Camp
Robinson, Wis, September s, 1871
Hon. j. A. o. Preus, State Auditor,
Saint Paul, Mimi. Dear Mr.. Preus:
l am taking advantage of a rainy
Sunday morning to write few let
tiers and am going TO punish you
along with the rest
when we got down here there was
one second lieutenant in charge Of
the battery to which three of us from
Smelling are attached. There were
about ten or twelve officers in the
regiment and the twentyone of us
who came to this regiment are max
! ing up the shortage. / expected that
we would have few days to look
around, but not so-the next day aft
er our arrival we went to work, and
! / was assigned the job of senior first
/ lieutenant. So far / have been able
to get away with it. We al have
plenty of work, but of course, don't
mind that The regiment is nearing
! war strength, with recruits coming
every day. In our battery we have
enc re-enlisted man and the rest are
recruits or serving their first enlist
ment. There is one advantage in
that condition, in that none of the
men knows more than the shavetails.
"Our colonel, A. j. Bowley, who is
also camp commander of the three
and one-half regiments here, is a
splendid man. With him the service
is first, but he also is strong for the
social side There is something go
ing on every night or so in camp in
the way Of entertainment. Last We'd
nesday afternoon, which was holi-
day, the officers went to La Crosse
to a party at the Country club, the
purpose being primarily to have a
good time and secondarily to procure
ladies for the first Of our bi-weekly
Saturday night dances to be held at
Sparta, commencing last night. l had
n splendid time on both occasions.
Last nights party was quite an at
fair, with a big gang of high brows
imported from La Crosse. l believe
another dance is scheduled at La
Crosse next Saturday with our Sec
ond regular affair the following week
at Sparta | have met some fine peo-
rle and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Perhaps the young men of La Crosse
are not overly enthusiastic about us
young officers-and the older ones,
too-for robbiGg them of their ladies
once or twice a week--their'S is the
loss and ours the gain.
"Then too. we do little work now
and then. My battery is about thirty
men short and the same number of
horses. We have real work on our
hands, for both men and horses are
green and must be trained. The
guns of this regiment are At, and
quite different in some respects from
I the three inch rifles we had at
Smelling. However, we are learning
the ropes and will have them whip
ped into shape by the time we go
across. 1t is not at all likely that
we will be here during the winter
the buildings are not built to with
stand the rigors of Wisconsin win
ters-they are the wooden canton
ments, and while our quarters are
very comfortable, they will not do for
the winter The general opinion
seems to be that we will go south in
i about a month. There is so much that
I could tell you that could run on
indefinitely, but L know. how much
time you have for reading stuff like
this. I'm glad landed in the regu-
lar army and hope they let me stay.
With an ever present appreciation OF
the many, many kindnesses you have.
shown me, am, very sincerely, Lee
Roy Bowen"