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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1913)
The Omaha Sunday Bee PART TWO EDITOEIAL PAGES ONE TO EIGHT PART TWO SOCIETY PAGES ONE TO EIGHT VOL. XLllI NO. 10. Battle of Elkhorn Bridge and Nebraska National Guard EE those fellnwR fltrht! Thn mllltlnmpn SI of Nebraska are real soldiers," qrled I Adjutant General Phil L. Hall as he waicaea i.zuu rsaiionai uuarasmen of Nebraska charge Into the Biilphur smoke of a practice battle at Water loo. "Ninety miles they've marched through dust and beat and now, with the sweat pouring down their dirty faces, they're fighting as coolly and as methodically and as bravely as veter ans of real war." And General Hall voiced the rea eon back of the maneuvering which sent 1,1200 of the citizen soldiery of Nebraska through dust and heat to a mimic battle and hard drill in a well policed camp. It was a little Corsican, in his time the glory and 'Jim terror of all Europe, who sagely said 'that his "battles all were won before his armies answered the bugle's call and fell in line for the fight. In war the theory still holds that victory on the battle field is won around the spluttering campfire, over the battle maps spread on officers' tables, and In the days of hard training and long marching and mimic battles. Believing in this theory the militia men of the state, fresh from farm and office and factory, kept enthusiastically and unwaveringly to the march to Waterloo and pitched their drab tents In the low, green valley by the Elkhorn with a fer vor to make their officers proud. v Lone Hours in Drilling. Through the days of gruelling drill on the Water loo camp ground the soft young soldiers hardened Into veterans. "Give us more drill," they pleaded with their officers, and company captains gathered at brigade headquarters to gladly present the pri vates' requests. Some of the grizzled veterans of late wars, now officers in the National Guard, OMAHA, grinned broadly and with pleasuro and put the young men through the paces from 5:15 o'clock In the morning until C o'clock at night. Out when reveille' sounded the sergeants dotallcd to yank the sleepy out of their blanketahad nothing to do but witness the quickness with which the guardsmen rolled out, took their morning plunge in the -river and with voracious appetite devour tho rough break fast fare. "American soldiers cannot stand tho rigors of war like the Japanese, for example, because they refuse to deny themselves," said Mayor C. W. Wal den, head of the medical corps at Waterloo. "That is the old contention, but when I seo these young bucks come in from a ton-mllo hike and fight all day without a bite to cat, at once I realize there's nothing of the old contention. They always want to eat, but that's because they are more energetic, use more steam and need more fuel." Over at the field hospital, prepared to core for fifty guardsmen If need be, Major J. M. Spealman and his staff lounged in the shade, smoked good cigars, bandaged a blistered heel or smeared some cooling stuff on a sunburned face and thanked the state for their vacation. Healthy and Hungry. "Healthiest gang I ever saw," said Major Speal man. "Nothing tho matter with them. They can eat anything on earth, do any amount of -work and feel like fighting when tho day Is over." Colonel A. 1). Fetterman, stata Inspector general who was the little father to the two regiments and provided them with food and saw that the camp was properly sanitated, declared the resources of the region around Waterloo wero practically consumed by the hungry twelve hundred. Colonel H. J. Paul of the Fifth regiment, known as the Reds in these SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 24, maneuvers, who attacked Omaha and-was met by Colonel G, A. Eberly's Fourth rcgimont of Blues at the Elkhorn river bridge where a draw battle was fought, agreed with Colonol Fetterman that tho appetites of the young men w.ere spmethlng to mar vol at, but pointed out that the officers ate oven . more- proportionately. Feeding twelvo' hundred men hurriedly gathored at a little town Is a man's slzo job, according to Colonel Fetterman, and the practice in securing and dispensing rations alone justified tho manuevers. While on the march tho captains of companies sent out their foraging parties and procured "grub" well within the apportionment by the state for the purpose Food tho Least Problem. Food was, however, but one of a score of prob lems facod by the guardsmen on tho march and In practice camp. The privates rapidly learned to roll their tents Into the neatest roll for carrying, how to pitch their tents and where, how to stack armB, to dress hurriedly, drink sparingly of water after a long, hot march, conserve their strength In march ing and how to sleep at night. Although many of tho companies wero marched ten miles without a halt In a glaring sun, there was no complaint. When tho two armies met early In the afternoon of a hot day for the battle at the bridge tho men had been marched eleven miles, and yet they upproached the bridge, where the advance guards were fighting, at a dog trot, and all afternoon charged and retreated and carried out their battle maneuvers as vigorously as though they wore Just beginnlug the work, Four regular army officers Colonel Westcott, Lieutenant Colonel Waldo E. Ayer, Captain Walter C. Babcock and Lieutenant Forrest E. Overholzcr, 1913. with General IIoll as chief acted as umpires of tho battle. All of them bad seen actlvo servico and all ungrudgingly gave the young sodlera credit for efficient work. Bishop George A, Beechor, chap lain of tho Fifth regiment, and Captain Fletcher N. Slsson, chaplain of tho Fourth, who wero on tho field of battle all day, wero profuse in thoir praise of tho spirit with which tho men entered into the mimic war. ( Spectacular Signal Corps. To the thousands who watched tho battJo and later witnessed tho brigad6, battalion and company drills the work of the signal corps undor Captain H. A. Jess was a source of unfailing Interest, for Captain Jess, a baker by trade, has bocomo himself an expert signal man and boasts that many of his company could qualify for service with regulars. The signal corps worked at night with lanterns and in tho day with wig-wagging flags and the heliograph. Major J, M, Birkner, oldest man in point of service in the Nebraska National Guard, said ho had not attended a camp which was so thoroughly military as Camp Waterloo. Tho maneuvers on the Elkhorn wero not only tho most comprehensive over attempted by the state, but wero more war like said Major Birkner, than any attempted during the twenty-seven years which ho has spent In the service of tho state militia. Whllo Camp Waterloo was a war-Uko place, liko SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS. T the truo Anglo-Saxon .whoso blood is warmed by play as well as by wars and tho rumors of wars, tho militia wore given -wide and diversified means o2 amusemont Swimming contests were, held in tho Elkhorn river. Base ball games wore played and soveral wrestling matches withsatate champions ad contestants were staged in a big tent erected espe cially for amusements. Governor John H. Morehead, his staff and family and Mayor James C. Dahlman of Omaha wero amou the spectators at tho big battle over the Elkhorn bridge. They wero surprised at the magnitude and tho completeness of tho maneuvers. "I thought there would bo, a Uttlo skirmish and company firing," said Mayor1-Dahlman, "but tho battle was made strikingly real by both regiments coming to gether at. closd rango and by tho heavy artillery firing," Governor Morehead was much pleased with what he;sa.w..of the. battle and camp life. ItOfSter of Staff and Officers. The general staff of Governor Morehead, as oia. (Continued on Pago Eight)