The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-18

placed these with still other officers
and ordered several officers placed
under arrest.
At midnight, when the coIoneTs
frolic was at its height, General Berry,
having been informed of the sad state
moved Wilson and ordered him to
Blois. Major Thurston, who had been
in command of the first battalion, sue
ceeded Colonel Wilson.
Nights on the March.
The 130th then began it's famous
march, a seemingly endless succession
Of rainy nights on the road, and days
on the soggy ground in the woods in
pup tents. Most of the men were on
foot, carrying on their backs every
thing they possessed. The others were
drivers, managing two horses each.
Eight to ten animals were assigned to
each gun carriage. Very few enlisted
men had pTSSate mounts and these
men were usually couriers, first ser
geants or staff non-commissioned Of
ficers.
For nearly a month the regiment
constantly was within the shelled area.
maneuyering day and night on orders
which sifted down from army to corps
and from corps to divisional and bril-
gade headquarters. Darkness found
the regiment in readiness to take up
the line of march. Daybreak found
bivouacs of shelter tents dotting the
woods, with the tired horses picketed.
The monotoLy, the lack of sleep and
the steady downpour of rain from the
drab skies tested the spirit of the men
and broke the spirit of the animals.
Tortuous night after tortuous night
passed. Messeine, Tomblaine, Ludres,
Nancy, Toul, Void, Nancois-la-Petit,
Ligny-en-Barrois, Wel1eroncourt Law
| alec. Rembercourt-aux-Po and Rare
court-these are names stored up in
the memory of those who participated
| In this moving vigil.
The raincoats issued by the quarter
master corps were va1ueless. They
| absorbed rather than shed water. Il
| has been said that a fortune was made
in the manufacture of these garments.
Ten minutes of every hour during
| those long September night hikes were
| devoted to rest. At the given signal,
| the men leaned back on the piles of
rocks which everywhere dot the roads
of France. These stones were more
| comfortable to them than Pullman
cushions ever had been. Those on
horseback dismounted, but had to re-
main near their steeds to keep the
weary beasts from lying down in their
tracks. The only comfort was in
chewing tobacco, as smoking was pro-
hibited because of the ever present
I
lowering above, on the lookout for any
spark of light that would indicate that
human beings were below.
The hours dragged. Horses fell ex-
hausted by the roadside, and had to be
| shot. Others were left in the woods
and the meadows, their strength gone
and their only happiness in the pros
pect of an eternal rest in the happy
| grazing ground where all good horses
go.
/ The 10th should have been motor
drawn. The guns were too heavy for
animal power, and such horses as
the outfit had were the Ieftovers OF
the French army, tho stolid beasts OF
| the peasants field. 1t was with diff
Guilty that sufficient food was obtained
to feed them; certainly not in the
quantity necessary to keep them In
good condition for the heavy work
and continual hardships which they
like the men, were undergoing. MeI
risked court-martiaI to steal oats and
hay for the animals.
st. MihicI Offensive.
The night of September II was
typical of that gloomy period. Leav-
ing Tomblaine in a heavy rain, the
regiment hiked to Nancy. a few miles
away. In Nancy the cavalcade was
held up for three hours. in the mid.
die of the night, because of a trooI
down in torrents. The horses, SILVER
ing, nervous and worn, were quietet
only with the greatest difficulty. Once
in awhile a private would slip away
from the column, dart into a blaeE
hallway and enjoy the comfortable in
halation OF roll your own" These
little breaches of discipline were life
. narrow mind who say, even today