Evening star., 1936-05-17


M can Revolution issued one
" half pound of -four daily
for mixing batch Of pan
cakes by their campfires after hard
days battling?
Not at all. 1t was issued because
they were required by regulations to
pursue or flee from the British with
their hair well foured, after the mode
Of the moment.
Katharine H. Wootten, librarian at
the Army War College, has been an
swering questions like these for IS
years and has become an authority on
old Army regulations and customs.
Although the collection Is primarily
a technical military library for the use
OF the War Department and officers
attending the school, Miss Wootten
says she particularly enjoys unearth-
ing the minor foibles Of other days
from the ranks Of the stern-looking
volumes on the library shelves.
Why should the man who knows his
Army life lift scornful eyebrow when a
novice Infantry officer of Mexican War
times twirls his mustachios beside a
cactus plant?
Because he knows only Cavalry off,
GERS were permitted to grow them at
that time, according to Miss Wootten.
Boards were all right for the dough-
boys of the day, but both the Infantry
and Artillery upper lip must be clean.
That the War Department might
have anticipated trouble enforcing the
rule is suggested by the wording of the
regulation: The hair to be short, or
what is generally termed cropped; the
whiskers not to extend below the lower
tip OF the ear, and line thence with
the curve of the mouth; mustaches
will not be worn Except by Cavalry
regiments) by officers or men on any
pretense whatever"
WHY Is second lieutenant called
W "shavetail?" Is a question Miss
Wootten frequently is asked. Newly
commissioned officers in unaccustomed
uniform, brass glittering and leather
unseasoned, must have reminded some
one Of Army mules. who, when freshly
groomed, had their tails shaved, in
compliance with regulations governing
mules, the War College library has de-
cided.
Citizens refuse to believe that JET
ferson Davis, as Secretary of War. i'm
ported camels from the Far East for
military use on Americas own West
ern front, Miss Wootten says. They
write and telephone and are told that
he did. Reports still filter in from
New Mexico that travellers on the des-
ert have seen a camel chewing his cud
at safe distance from service stations,
one of the supposed descendants of re-
tired military live stock.
Miss Wootten claSsifies these rumors
as Army folk tales. like the recurrent
one of the child at the military funeral
exclaiming, They've shot grandpa!"
when the final volleys were fired and
grandma tainted. This one cropped
up all over Washington q few months
ago.
More than II books bearing sixteenth
century dates are in the library, ac-
cording to Col. Charles w. Thomas,
military librarian, and one incuna-
bula printed in l4e4, two years after
the discovery Of America. The volume
is in Latin, "Epitome of Military In
struction," by Vegetius. The first reg
ulations used by the newborn American
Army during the Revolution are there,
written by q German, Baron Won Steu-
ben, whose statue stands today in
jackson Square.
1t is the foremost military library
in the country, rich in early Govern
ment documents, periodical files ard
original editions relating to the Revo.
luton, the War Of 1912 and the War
with Mexico. It contains documents
and books not available anywhere in
the world, including the Congressional
Library.
THE War College Library was start
ed In 1894, when the seat Of the
Government was in Philadelphia, and
was the second originated by Gov
ernment department. preceded only by
the library of the State Department.
Where some of the valuable editions
came from Is unknown, the present
| library having been consolidated in
1910 from the war office, war ntelli-
gence and War College libraries. 1t Is
known that no funds have ever been
available for buying rare books, and
it is supposed that they may have been
willed to the library by Army people,
who traditionaly leave military books
to the War College. The library. in
various locations, has been rescued
from three fires, some of the books
showing signs Of scorching.
Because the collection Is unique, his
small staff never knows what strange
problems will arise when the day
starts, according to Col. Thomas. But
Sergt. Robert c. Green, who assists
Miss wootter, is expert at digging up
information ranging from the exact
number Of buttons on the uniform Of
the Virginia militia in 1777, to whether
tomahawks were used by the old
Indian fighters In their conquest Of
the Red Men. Sergt. Green discovered
the interesting fact that the War De-
partment once seriously considered
doing q bit Of retaNatory scalping,
but dropped the idea in favor Of the
more conservative gunpowder.
Motion picture companies some
times tap the resources Of the library,
particularly On costume details. sup