Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-07-08

instructors.
Contrasting the post-Civil war army
and the new peacetime army, MAYOR
General James G. Hartford. who re-
Gently returned from an allied ms
sion to Armenia to command the Sec
ond division at Camp Travis, IeNas'
has written an article for the recruit
ing service, describing the changes IN
the army since he enlisted thirty years
ago. Permission to print the art'c'e
by Pershing's chief of staff ana or
ganiZer and commander of the service
of supply in the American expedition
AIRY forces has been given by the gen
eral recruiting service.
y Joined the old army" General
Hartford writes, "as recruit AT Ola
Fort Spokane In the then territor!
of Washington In January. 1889. inc
last sixty-five miles Of my journey
were made In sled drawn by horses.
Instead of being met and conducted
TO the barracks that were to be my
home, the sled stopped In front OF
the post traders store and depoSite"
me and my scanty baggage In the
snow. A few soldiers stood around
the front of the suffers establishment
hut no reception committee appeared
Next morning l went on duty as
kitchen police before | had drawn
my uniform. The services of re-
cruit to do permanent kitchen police
were so priced that progress win
his recruit drill was impeded instead
OF facilitated, in order that, for
longer time, he might be available
to monopolize that unpopular duty.
Our commanding officer was one of
the old school, who believed that
garrison should be awake a consider
able time before the daylight AZ
4 o'clock those winter mornings, he.
fore streak of dawn redeemed in the
east The company turned out in the
darkness for reveille roll call AS
kitchen police, n recruit had to he mp
some time before that in order that
breakfast could be ready Immediately
after reveille.
Those early hours were enforced
nj time when the snow was five
feet deep on the parade ground, and
il was impossible to move off the
beaten track. No drills We're con
duc!ed during that winter, except for
my bene6t in short intervals of the
forenoon when my duty as Kitchen
police did not occupy my time. |
was kitchen police for month with.
out interruption.
Gambled for Socks.
Drawing clothing was great event
I'm the life of a recruit. 1t was the
old blue. beloved of Civil war memory.
and much Of II was old stock left
over and still uneXhausted, though
twenty five years had elapsed since that
conflict. The shoes were of the type
known rs brogans. The trousers were
short men and short for long ones.
The cap was the old chasseur type, the
fat top of which made the old army
baldhcaded. The blouse was dark
hlue, but Of indefinite size, which
nigh, or might not fit.
"'Dinw day. when the whole COM
pany drew clothing, was the occasion
for gambling, and the stakes were
reckoned In terms of socks or white
gloves. | have seen soldier get up
from small poker game on the eve
ming Of 'draw-day' with twelve dozen
pairs of socks, but every one else In
the squadroom was sockless."
60, ia, 1.,xr
.'very simple" General Hartford re-
calls. Breakfast and supper were
generally different varieties of what
soldiers call "slum."
"Fourth Of July, st. Patrick's day,
II the sergeant We're Irish. Thanksgiv-
ing and Christmas, there was feast
OF good soldier fare, and everybody
gorged themselves and talked about
1t until the next holiday.
1.-The company commanders were
generally veterans Of the Civil war
who had many of them, held higher
rank during the war and had never
accepted philosophically the peace
time reduction In grade which fol-
lowed war. The colonel had been a
major general and a division COM
mander. He was always addressed as
general, and had sworn never to at
tend a formation of anything so low
as the regiment of which he was col
onel. There were no examinations for
promotion of officers and no process
of elimination of deadwood except by
disability or court-martial.
'"The post school was generally I'M
der the chaplain, If there was one at
the post. Attendance upon 1t was
voluntary, but sometimes disciplinary.
Usually the teacher was an old SOL
def unable to do other duty, or some
young man studying for commission
who sought the detail because 1t gave
him control Of practically all Of his
time. paid him 30 cents extra q dav.
and excused him from roll calls. 1t
amounted to nothing as far as offering
an opportunity for an education to
the young soldier. and the words voca-
tional training had not yet appeared
I'm the military vocabulary. At the
post nf five companies where served,
there was but n single typewriter,
which no one bat myself could use.
had partly paid my way through
college by cataloguing a library and
had learned to use the machine.
Furloughs Were Rare.
Enlistment was for five years, and
furleughs were rare. Once In the