Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-01-17
Eutrtttsy Gfrat

enter the State service calls 10 min
that just one hundred. years ago
Harrisburg a similar discussion wa
under way as result OF the conclu
sion of the War of 1912, which ma
officially ended some four years pet
fore, but whose effects were still fel
tits interesting to note that the Jour
nails Nof the Legislature and hles
old Harrisburg newspapers rete
time and again to the importance
universal military training for Penn
sylvanians. Soi of the memoria
presented to til Eegislatures ma
cate that the sirit pf 1TL6 whlc
made Pennsyl>nia be keysto9|
State, and who; soil san lmportal
battles was abiad in thd land mY
than ever as te result o. the cq
| clusion of thesecond warNw with vi
British kingdn, and that It's sfs
| did not intendo be caught gain
| is very apparel that Pennsy Vanps
| felt keenly til unprepared ituqh
| which confroted the countrG y ven
the War of 112 began. Thi; cGl-
ton was relarkably epitsm Izq py
| William II. aft in a speech h hue (
at Gettysbug in 1909 iT dedidY ing
! the monumnt to the legularslNHo
fell in thatgreat struggle on Key |
stone Stateground. 4 small regu-
lar army, ell armed prepared and
| drilled, sal Mr.. Taft could have in
vaded Cahda in 1H2 at the very
start andended the war in u few
months. In a coNersation here a
flew year later Nr. Taft said the
War of 112 afforded remarkable op-
portunits for s prepared nation,
land expressed his well-known views
on merbeing Interested in national
defense
A cntury Ago the discussion of I
militi; measufes was a big theme in
the alnual sessions of the Legisla-
ture in Harrisburg, and it was to
find expression a few years later in
the esnactmtnt of a State law Great F
ingdozens of regiments on territorial
.lins. Virtually every man was in
clided in these regiments, a plan
witch survives in the solemn making
u of the military rolf under the
auspices of the county commission
ds in each county and the periodi- /
.al publication of statistics showing
men capable of bearing arms"
Just how long the majority of theseI
freemen could stand up before AMI
army medical officer or the medical
of q local draft board to-day
is matter of conjecture. But theI
plan was an excellent one, from ALL
accounts that have come down to us,
and the men were summoned to AMI
annual muster day. knowledge of
firearms was general in those days,
and while there may have been someI
incongruities in the matter of rifles
1F in II q
there were plenty of steady hands
and good eyes. Dauphin county had
been noted as a fighting community
from the days of the French and
Indian war, and had been one of theI
early communities in Pennsylvania
to send a company of men to Wash |
ington at Cambridge, men who leftI
their bones from Quebec to York
town, and in the War of 1912 it had
sent a regiment to help eXpel the|
British from Maryland. Hence, it il
not surprising to find that its terri1
tory included no less than three regi1
ments.
Customs of muster day" havd
come down to us in many story and
legend, and the assembling of thd
Harrisburg "enrolled militia" must
have been some occasion. 1t is to bd
noted that muster day" was somd
time in May, always close to the first
and the militia generally met at 4
tavern. Newspapers of the spring Of
1919 refer to calls for meetings oI
men interested in militia before thu
Nav training" An advertiseme
was shown a few days ago to somi
men interested in military matteri
here. and it tells it's own story of thu
way Harrisburg militiamen ATTENDED
to business in those far-off times
This advertisement appeared in ONT
of Harrisburg S four weekly newspaI
pers in April, 1920. 1t is dated thi
twenty fourth and summons the an
cestors of the City Grays in thiI
| fashion:
HARRISBURG GUARDS
Parade in full uniform (summer|
between the markethouses on MonI
| day, the 1st day of May, next, at
o'clock P. NJ. Roll will be called pre-
cisely at half past1 o'clock Pr M.
| By order,
JOHN M. FORSTER,
| Orderly Sergeant.
The next year the First companH
| Union Infantry, was added to tai
military establishment in Harris
burg. Every year thereafter tnI
militiamen were summoned to mus.
ter day, generally in Market Square
hut more often at Nagle's tavern q
some other place of entertainment
The notices are particular as to th|
time that the roll was to be called
and along about 1929 the advertise
ments began to announce that an
meals would be held immediatel|
after the meeting. This has a rathe|
familiar sound to us of this day wheI
we have just gone through the OF
Grafton of the draft and we cal
imagine the Captains Harm and BaY
lev of the Pennsylvania Militia q
ninety years ago scoWling at somI
citizen who wanted to be exenpteI
from military service. From al trd
ditions, it was not pleasant Ter IN
man who wanted to get off tie IL
for service, and man who mad
claim for exemption or "dderreI
classification" probably endured Id
of 'joshing" like that which ised
fall upon irregular attendants at til
drills of the Harrisburg Reserves
the summer evenings of 19H wheI
the home defense organization start
ed it's training on the island
,, In 1929 there were the HTrisbur|
Grays, the Pennsylvania Guards, an
the Dauphin cavalry, join c. MD
Alister, captain. The Grays and tn
Guards had a series of captainI
among them Finley and Amor.
was the custom for the oherly SCI
geants to sign the calls fG the Ma
muster and the Fourth o July pd
rades, and among the top SCI
peants" whose names appear bS