USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 2 > Part 18
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In the report of the Inspector-General for 1905 it is stated : " This discipline of the various commands of the division, with few exceptions, is reported as exceptionally good." This was not only an exceptional year for discipline as " exceptionally good." but everywhere superiority was potently the vogue. At the annual inspection of 1903 there was no general average in all the fourteen regiments below 90, the lowest. in fact, was the Sixth Regiment. 91.25. There were five besides the Eighth and First above 95. the Sixteenth, 96.62: Tenth. 96.11; Ninth, 95.92: Fourth. 95.46; Fourteenth. 95.31: the Fifth followed with 94.58: Thirteenth, 94.79: Third. 94.37: Second, 92.85; Twelfth. 92.33: Eighteenth, 91.87.
On other lines, there were clear indications that 1905 stood as an exceptional year in the line of National Guard encamp- ments; the Medical Department, through its veteran chief. Col.
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
Joseph K. Weaver. Surgeon-General, expressed its exceeding gratification upon the subject of sanitation. Colonel Weaver said .
The general sanitary condition of all the brigades was noticeably im- proved from previous years. There was more interest upon the part of medical officer -. a greater co-operation upon the part of commanding officer- with the Medical Department, and more attention given to the duties of " personal and camp hygiene. The company streets were well policed : company quarters well aired and orderly: mess tent- clean and used only for me -- purposes ; kitchens were well placed. clean and neat : cooks neat and cleanly : drainage from -pigots was good and the general air of order and neatness in rear of regimental camps was better than ever before. Crude oil and lime were used for deodorizing and disinfecting and served an excellent purpose.
There is a reason for great encouragement along sanitary lines. The medical officers are greatly interested. familiar with their duties, and anxious to excel in all -anitary matters. Hospital corps were composed of intelligent. good looking. soldierly men. were well drilled and familiar with their duties.
Maj. Thaddeus W. Jones, Thirteenth United States Cavalry. detailed by the War Department to attend the encampment of the First Brigade, closely observant and exhaustively critical. in his report submitted in accordance with the Act of Congress in one of its paragraphs said :
The commissioned personnel of the brigade is of the very best material. It is composed generally of men of high intelligence and education. of nearly all professions and lines of business in civil life. The most punctilious courtesy was observed among the officers. The brigade commander is a veteran of the Civil War. in which he held the rank of colonel and com- manded a brigade. He held the same rank and exercised the same command in the troops organized for the Spanish-American War. He has balance. quick and accurate judgment. and commands smoothly and well. His staff was evidently chosen among other things for capacity for and willingness to work. One of his aides has had regular service. There are several other veterans of the Civil War in the organized militia of the State. some of them high in rank, and to them and repeated tours of field servier I believe is due the somewhat distinctive air of business in contradistinction to show, observable in the military force. The conduct of the enlisted men was good. . . .
The careful and correct observance by most of the enlisted men of the forms of courtesy showed that instruction in the matter had been given. Nearly all the enlisted men are young and judging only from their appearance and the test of endurance given them in camp. they are physically qualified for service. The minimum age limit authorized for enlistment is eighteen years.
A tribute of recognition and acknowledgment of appreciation came unexpectedly to the First Regiment when it was announced
1905
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MIT. GRETNA CONTESTS
that the Trustees and Faculty of the Pennsylvania Military Col- lege of Chester. Pennsylvania, had conferred upon it the dis- tinetive honor of specially designating June 16. the day that had theretofore been known as " Military Day," as " First Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania. Day," and the Board of Officers at its monthly meeting. August 7. 1905. directed that so much of the report of Col. C. E. Hyatt. President of Pennsylvania Military College, of the forty-third session of that institution as related to that fact be spread upon the minutes :
Military Day, Friday. June 16, was specially designated First Regiment. National Guard Pennsylvania Day, because of the desire to recognize. in a formal and appropriate way, a military organization that honors both the city of Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania. On this occasion were present Col. W. P. Bowman, accompanied by Major A. L. Williams, Surgeon C. S. Turnbull. Regimental-Adjutant F. T. Pusey. Chaplain F. W. Tomkins. Quartermaster H. Nuss. Jr .. Captains G. B. Zane. Jr .. C. P. Hunt, C. Moore, Assistant Surgeon S. M'Clure. and Battalion Adjutants G. H. Howell. W. F. Eidell. The programme included inspection of cadet quarters, review. con- ferring of military medals, drill in infantry, cavalry and artillery tactics and signalling. Conferring the medals. Colonel Bowman addressed the corps in eloquent and patriotic words.
The Regimental Match, the first of the important matches of the State contests at Mount Gretna in the season of 1905. shot on the morning of August S, was won by the First Regiment with a grand total of 364, as against the next highest score. the Fourteenth Regiment's 362. Of the individual scores Captain Harry J. Mehard's grand total was 96: Private Theo. F. Shonert. C, SS; Private Robert Gamble. C. 93; and Private Albert I. Dunn. Jr .. C. 57. The present cup had now been won twice by the First Regiment and once by the Sixth.
The Rapid Fire Match, shot on the afternoon of Angust S. which was the first contest for this trophy, was won by the First Regiment with a grand total of 393. with the Fourteenth Regi- ment next with a grand total of 850. The team's individual grand totals were: Private Gamble. S6: Private Dunn, S4 : Private Shonert. 76: Chief Musician William E. Chapin. 76: and Captain Mehard. 71.
The Brigade Match was shot on the morning of August 10, with the First Brigade the winner with the grand total of 1482. Of the First Regiment men on this team. Private Du's total
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1900
was 133, Private Gamble's 130, Captain Mehard's 127. Private Shonert's 126, and Chief Musician Chapin's 123.
The Trexler 1000 yard match was shot on the following day, August 11, with the First Brigade again and finally the winner with the score of 133. The team of four was made up of three from the First Regiment and one from the Third, Major Kemp, whose total was 42. Private Gamble's total was 33, Private Dunn's 31, and Captain Mehard's 27.
The General Inspector of Ritle Practice reports the winning of the Champion Shot Medal by Private Gamble, as follows :
A new winner of the Champion Shot Medal appeared this year in the person of Private Robert Gamble, of the First Infantry, whose aggregate was 672. Private Gamble is not a new man in the contests but has fought and worked for years to attain the distinction of winning the Governor's medal.
The National Trophy Match was shot at Sea Girt, New Jersey, August 29-31, 1905, with the Pennsylvania State Team in the ninth place out of a field of thirty-seven teams. Of the twelve on the team. the First Regiment supplied two, Private Robert Gamble, Company C, whose grand total, 347, gave him fifth place, and Private Albert Dunn, Jr., Company C, with a grand total of 344, which gave him eighth place. The grand total of the Pennsylvania team was 4220 against New York's winning score of 4528.
The year 1906 opened with the announcement in Regimental General Orders of January 15. allotting the drill nights in February to the spring inspections by company. An order from Headquarters, Military Division of the Atlantic, Governor's Island. New York, detailed to assist Maj. Charles H. Wormnan, the Brigade Inspector. Maj. Edward E. Gayle, Artillery Corps, of Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont, and assigned him to inspect Com- panies K, D. F and G, First Infantry, and Captain W. Dean, Fifteenth United States Cavalry, also of Fort Ethan Allen, Ver- mont, assigning him to the Field and Staff, Hospital Corps, Band, and Companies H. C. L. E. B. I. and A of the First Infantry.
A special injunction in the Regimental General Order an- nouncing this inspection dirceted the attention of commissioned and non-commissioned officers to the fact that they would be examined as to their general efficiency and knowledge of their duties whenever in the judgment of the inspecting officer it should
553
NEW KHAKI UNIFORM
1900
be deemed necessary, and if found deficient, incompetent. in- attentive or negligent their names should be reported, where the circumstances warranted it, for discharge from the service.
An opening paragraph of Major Worman's official report as brigade inspector of the result of these company inspections reads as follows :
In submitting my report of the recent inspections of the several companies of this brigade. I do so with satisfaction and pleasure at the general improve- ment noticeable. The attendance was remarkably good throughout. a majority of the companies being paraded in good strength. and a number attained the rating for minimum strength present. Company I, Third Regiment, has the proud distinction of parading their entire strength, 3 officers and 61 enlisted men. Company M of the First Regiment is a elose second, present- ing 3 officers and 59 enlisted men out of an aggregate of 3 officers and 62 enlisted men.
The following are the tabulated results under the three sub- divisions of percentage of attendance, general average and figure of efficiency :
Co. A Co. B Co. C Co. D Co. E Co. F Co. G Co. H Co. I Co. K Co. L. Co. M Per. of Attend .. 100 100 87.93 81.66 100 100
100 100 85.71 83.92 91.07 100 Gen'l Average .. 96.62 96.12 95.57 95.50 98.12 94.25 96.12 96.00 94.62 97.25 96.12 96.25 Fig. of Effic'y ... 97.63 97.28 93.48 91.34 98.65 95.97 97.28 97.20 91.94 93.25 94.60 97 37
In accordance with the action of the State Military Board as announced from the Adjutant-General's office, Harrisburg, in Gen- eral Orders No. 4, on March 10. 1906, the several organizations of the National Guard were to be furnished with the United States standard Khaki uniform, consisting of blouse and brecehes (not trousers), and in compliance therewith, on March 19. 1906, the company commanders of the First Regiment were directed from Regimental Headquarter- to make requisitions therefor on or before May 15, 1906, as it had been determined that the Guard should appear in -nch uniforms at the coming annual encamp- ment.
The American Philosophical Society had invited the First Regiment to participate in its parade and other ceremonies in- cident to the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Benjamin Franklin on the afternoon of the 19th of April. 1906, so when the regiment left the armory at 3.45 o'clock on that day under command of Colonel Bowman accompanied by the Veteran Corps with Colonel Wiedersheim in command. the
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1906
invitation having been accepted, it had the honor " of participating in this historical event in conjunction with the celebration of its own forty-fifth anniversary."
At the conclusion of the parade at Fifth and Arch Streets, where the Franklin commemorative ceremonies were held, the regiment marched over its accustomed route. Walut Street to - Broad Street. and from the porch of the Union League with the Veteran Corps was reviewed by Brig .- Gen. Theodore J. Wint. United States Army, a gallant and distinguished soldier from the State of Pennsylvania. then commanding the Department of Mis- souri. First Lieutenant Charles C. Allen, United States Army, a son of the First Regiment's own son, Col. William W. Allen, at that time a staff officer of General Wint, accompanied his chief.
As the event was one of such a distinctive significance. a paragraph in the General Order announcing the forty-fifth an- niversary parade made special appeal that its import might be appreciatively remembered in words as follows: " The spirit and patriotism of the rank and file are appealed to in order that the citizens of Philadelphia may have a demonstration of the activity and public spirit of the First Regiment."
General Wint was the chief guest at the annual dinner of the Veteran Corps at the Union League in the evening.
Battalion commanders with their battalion adjutants and ser- geant-majors were specifically assigned to drill the several com- panies of their respective battalions in the school of the battalion in a tour of duty beginning May 9 and continuing until July 13. 1906.
The regiment in full dress uniform. accompanied by the Veteran Corps, attended Memorial Day services conducted under the auspices of the Chaplain and Rector. Rev. Floyd Williams Tomkins, at his Holy Trinity Church on the afternoon of Sunday, May 27. 1906.
Maj. William S. Allen, as announced in Regimental General Orders, "after nearly twenty-one years' efficient and continuous service in this regiment. advancing from the ranks as a private to the high and responsible position of a Field Officer." on May 14. 1906, resigned his majority. Major Allen had been major of the First Pennsylvania Volunteers from the date of its muster into the United States service. May 11, 159%, until its muster out
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RESIGNATIONS AND PROMOTIONS
October 26, 1-95. He had enlisted in Company B. First Regi- ment. National Guard, as a private June 24. 1885, corporal. sergeant, first lieutenant. captain. his service with Company B was without interruption until he was elected major January 3. 1-98, and rocket January 8. 1903. Maj. George B. Zane, Jr. who from a private in Company G. February 24, 1885, in unin- terrupted sequence broken only by service as captain and first lieutenant in Spanish-American War, had been corporal, sergeant, battalion adjutant, first lieutenant, captain Company G. was on May 30, 1906, elected in Major Allen's place and stead.
On July 10. 1906. Captain William B. Johnston was elected captain of Company G rice Zane. promoted. Captain Johnston was first sergeant and then second and first lieutenant of Com- pany G, while it was in the service of the United States as the First Pennsylvania Volunteers. May 10. 1598. to October 26. 1898. He had previously been a private, State Fencibles Bat- talion. February 20. 1571, sergeant. first sergeant, Company A. Artillery Corps, Washington Grays. transferred Company G. First Regiment, then first sergeant. December 24. 1898. first lieuten- ant, July 11. 1899: re-elected July 12. 1594: captain July 10. 1906.
On July 19, 1906. First Lieutenant and Assistant-Surgeon Wilfrid Bernard Fetterman, was promoted to be captain and assistant surgeon. His assignment to the First Regiment still continued.
The commission of Captain Cornelius Moore. Company I. was vacated July 2. 1906. The vacaney was filled July 12. 1906, by the election of Captain Thomas F. Mechan, all the while with Company I, who on April 26, 1906, had been made first lieuten- ant, followed his first sergeanter of February 27. 1905, to which he had succeeded from an enlistment as private in Company I on March 25. 1901. first passing through the grades of corporal. June 22. 1909, and sergeant. March 23. 1904.
Captain Artemas W. Deane resigned his captainey of Com- pany D June 29. 1906. Captain Homer E. Smith, private Com- pany D. October 13. 1599 : corporal July 22. 1904 ; sergeant July 7. 1905; second lieutenant June 1. 1906, was on July 27, 1906, elected to succeed him.
After a military service of some thirteen year-, six months of
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1900
HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
it war, Captain Charles S. Wood resigned his captainey of Com- pany B July 17. 1906. First Lieutenant and Battalion Adjutant William F. Eidell. after his three years of staff duty, was recalled by his old company and elected to the captainey July 15, 1900, rice Wood, resigned. Though at that time a vacancy in the field of the First Regiment seemed a most unlikely happening, still Cap- tain Eidell was unconsciously forging his way to future advance- ment.
Second Lieutenant John MacPherson, of Company H, died . on November 14. 1904. and First Lieutenant Benton Murdock Spruance, of Company D, died on June 27, 1906. Both were soldiers through the Spanish-American War and both in com- mission in their respective companies at the time of their decease. Each occasion, both officers being fittingly and appropriately re- ferred to as honorable and faithful. of the youngest and of the best. was made the subject of a regimental General Order.
Since the creation of the Summary Court and fixing the limits of its jurisdiction as provided for by the terms of the sixty- sixth and seventieth sections of the Act approved April 28, 1599, jurisprudence in the regiment had kept vigilant pace with the punishment of delinquents. Consisting as the court did, of but a single field officer. generally the one who from frequent detail had been made the more familiar with its procedure. with its proceedings conducted with order and decorum. the prosecution sustained by proof. and the prisoner heard in his own defence ; the minor offences and abuses over which its jurisdiction ex- tended disposed of by such punishments as dishonorable discharge, reduction to the ranks. of the non-commissioned officer: forfeiture of pay and allowances; the imposition of fines not exceeding twenty dollars with five days' imprisonment if not paid, the proceedings, findings, and sentences all spread upon the record and published to the regiment, had had a deterrent effect. Offences were lessened in number and minimized in degree and in a measure limited to those who had not yet been made to know what it was to be disciplined.
On March 21. 1906. Maj .- Gen. Charles Miller, commanding Division of the National Guard, was at his own request relieved from active service and placed on the retired list. And on April 3. 1906, Brig .- Gen. John P. S. Gobin. the veteran soldier of two
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CAMP ROBERT M. HENDERSON
1906
wars, a general officer in both, was promoted to be a major-general and assigned to the command of the division cice Miller, retired.
The announcement of the annual encampment from Head- quarters of the National Guard followed on April 20. 1906, with no material changes in the usual pre-announced preliminaries : the Division of the National Guard in conformity with the re- quirements of the thirty-second section of the Aet approved April 28, 1599, was directed to eneamp at Gettysburg from July 21 to July 25 inclusive. The encampment was to be known, as announced from Division Headquarters in the order published for its government and regulation, as Camp Brigadier-General Robert M. Henderson, a distinguished general officer of the Pennsylvania Reserve Division and one of the State's eminent jurists recently deceased.
A " camp of concentration and instruction " for troops of the permanent establishment had been opened at Mount Gretna. En route for this encampment, the Headquarters and Second Squad- ron. Thirteenth United States Cavalry, consisting of Troops, E, F. G, and HI, Col. Charles A. P. Hatfield commanding, were halted by orders from the War Department and directed to remain at Gettysburg during the week of the National Guard encampment.
The grounds of the encampment, the same that had been in part heretofore used. including drill ground and that occupied by the United States Cavalry, the open and undulating fields south- west of Gettysburg between the Union and Confederate lines of battle of July 2 and 3, 1863, covered " in all about 65134 acres." Bath-houses and sinks, their construction awarded by contract, had been erected prior to the arrival of the advance details. Gasoline torches is-ned at the rate of six lamps to a regiment. three lamps on the headquarters line and three on the sink line. were used for the first time and, a complete snecess. they proved of great service. Inadequate facilities, an insufficient number of cars and other hindrances caused frequent delays to over and complaints to follow, involving more the railways than the quarter- master's management.
Gettysburg as a battlefield will never be an old story. Its encampments grow familiar. Each has, however, some new foa- tures, remembered by the participant, not always accessible to the
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
1906
chronieler, and even if they were, perhaps of no special historie value. It is the same journey over the same route, when there is neither accident nor casualty to mar it or incident to freshen it. Its hindrances from the delays, the apparent unavoidable essen- tial to a congested trattie, will ever be with it. Ceremonies, in- spections, manoeuvres do not materially change, except as execu- tion is bettered by practice or tactical improvement is furthered by experience. There was this, however, about this encampment of 1906 that, so far as the First Regiment, at least, was con- cerned, gave it special remembrance. Colonel Bowman was ap- proaching the close of his twenty years' service as a regimental commander and this was to be his last division encampment as the colonel of the First Regiment of Infantry. He was to leave it, too, with but a year intervening, in a year of well-remembered field prestige, such as had never yet been equalled. The regiment was again to lead the column of regiments with a gen- eral average of distinctive significance, followed by the other thirteen, all graded higher than, as a whole, the Guard had ever been previously rated. The First Regiment had the right with 98.21, and the Eighteenth the left with 94.56.
The eamp detail had preceded it and the regiment was away from its home rendezvous by the Reading at S.45 on the evening of Friday, July 20, and was in Gettysburg, the first section of its train, headquarters and six companies, at 5.25, and the second section, six companies. at 3.53 on the morning of the 21st. The detraining quickly done, the regiment had well adjusted itself to its canvas quarters, a well-pitched camp on a westerly slope north of the Peach Orchard, and was ready to be assembled. as were all the troops of the division, when the firing of a national salute, playing of the national airs by the combined bands and raising of the flag at 10 o'clock at general headquarters announced the formal opening of camp Brigadier-General Robert M. Hender- son. It was an impressive ceremony, as was remarked by one of the inspecting officers, and must have had a good influence on the mind of the young soldier.
Of two important functions of the Pennsylvania National Guard encampment Maj. Joseph T. Dickman, of the General Staff, one of the officers of the Army detailed by the War Depart- ment for duty with this encampment, speaks as follows:
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1906
RESULT OF INSPECTION
The two most important military functions, however, were the annual inspection and muster and the review of the entire division. The inspection was by regiment. Four days in succession the Governor of the State, the Adjutant-General, the inspector General, and other officers mate a critical and laborions examination of the officers, men and equipment. Every soldier had an opportunity to see his commander -in-chief. the Governor, at close range and to receive from him a word of commendation. This is one of the small things which heighten the spirit of a bedy of troops and stimulate it "to a voluntary endurance of hardship."
The annual muster and inspection of the First Regiment. as were those of the others, was conducted by the several staff officers of the Commander-in-Chief as designated for their re- speetive duties, arms and equipment falling to the lot of the inspector-general. He reported subsequently that after a critical examination they were found, with few exceptions, to be in ex- eellent condition, with evidence also. " in the more than forty-five hundred rifles " he had handled, of "exceptional attention to the care of the piece-a result not to be lightly regarded."
" At the review," said the Inspector-General, " which preceded the inspection, the several regimental organizations were satis- factorily handled by their respective commandants, while the regiments manœuvred in a manner altogether creditable."
The result of the inspection. already incidentally referred to, was as follows: The First Regiment's general average, 98.21, the highest, gave it first place. Its regimental ratings were: Guard duty. 96: ceremonies, 99: discipline, 97: personal ap- pcarance. 99.60 : condition of arms. 9.30: condition of elothing. 100; condition of books and papers. 99.07: condition of camp. 97. There were four heads under which the several companies were assigned a separate rating: the others were solely a regi- mental calculation.
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