USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 2 > Part 5
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This was the year for the separate brigade encampments. This fact was made known and the dates named for each encamp- ment in one of the early publications of the adjutant-general under the new administration. Appointed adjutant-general of the State by Governor Hastings, January 15, 1895, with already a quarter of a century of soldier experiences to his credit, Brig. Gen. Thomas 1. Stewart began his long career of invaluable service to the National Guard of Pennsylvania.
The camp of the First Brigade, named in honor of its recently deceased distinguished commander " Camp Robert P. Dechert,' was located at Sanatoga, three miles south of Pottstown on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. and about 37 miles from Philadelphia. It was mostly on high ground, open to sun and air. about a mile from the Schuylkill River, and well supplied with good water. The weather was dry and part of the drill-ground proved unserviceable on account of dust, but all the command-
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had good camp grounds, and on the whole the site was well chosen. And General Schall coneludes a paragraph in his official report with this comment: " The encampment proved very satisfactory and I desire to express my approbation and thanks to the brigade for the willingness and cheerful manner in which all duties were performed."
Col. Edward Morrell, of the Third Regiment, was the newly appointed inspector-general. "He had won distinction," said General Stewart in his annual report. " and attracted attention by the efficient manner in which he had advanced the morale and the efficiency of the Third Regiment. Called to its command from civil life, he infused into the officers and men of that command the energy and devotion to the interests of the National Guard that have characterized thus far the very successful and marked performance of his duty as inspector-general."
The annual inspection was conducted on new lines and new plans. The rating for " general appearance " was given by the adjutant-general. The companies throughout the entire division, to secure uniformity, received their other ratings each from the same inspector. A notable change was the parading of the com- mand in light marching order and conducting the inspection of arms, equipment, clothing, etc., in the company streets, thus " relieving the men of a great deal of unnecessary fatigue."
Of these changes it was stated officially by the adjutant-general that " From personal observation as well as inquiry made I can safely say that the new method of inspection met with approval of both officers and men." And General Snowden in his report adds, following the critical comment he gives the subject in detail, " The adjutant-general and inspector-general may be congratulated on the result of the change of methods, and no doubt upon im- provements hereafter, as use and familiarity will correct details and shorten the time required."
Following its advance construction party of Thursday, July 18, the regiment entrained at Broad and Callowhill Streets on the morning of Saturday the 20th, at half-past seven o'clock. The thirty-seven miles soon covered. three hours found the command in full occupancy of its well-appointed canvas home. Details, drills, and duties but repeat themselves with each succeeding year, and their story retold loses interest and becomes but wearisome
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repetition. Neither was there change of note or moment from within. What change there was in method had come altogether from without. It proved, too. as the result demonstrated. but a stronger proof and firmer test of the regiment's well-grounded training. The regiment still maintained its high standard of excellence. While it fell off slightly in its figure of efficiency it lost nothing of its well-established prestige and still kept the lead. Its percentage of attendance was 100. Its aggregate was 628, 42 commissioned officers and 586 enlisted men, with a general average of 93.20 and a like figure for its efficiency. The Thirteenth was next, with 37 commissioned officers, 445 enlisted men, a total of 482, and all present; its percentage of attendance was the possible: its general average was 92.81, and so, too, was its figure of efficiency.
" In future," said the inspector-general in his report, " inspec- tions will be held as far as possible during the last days of the camp rather than the opening ones, as the interest in the drills will thereby be kept up, much better perfection arrived at, and fewer requests made for leave." But the First Regiment had to look to the future for this coveted opportunity, for it fell to its lot to answer to the requirements of the annual muster and inspection on what was practically the first working day of the encampment, Monday, July 22. If there was anything in delay, it was cer- tainly to the advantage of its elose competitor, for the Thirteenth. its brigade encampment covering the same dates with the First, was not inspected until three days later-Thursday the 25th.
The battalion drill of the regiment ordered for four o'clock on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 23, was suspended, and at that hour the brigade was reviewed by the governor and commander- in-chief. Though General Hastings's former acquaintance with the Guard had made him quite familiar with conducting a review. this was the first time that, conducted by some one else, it was his privilege as commander-in-chief to receive one. There were no other ceremonies out of the ordinary, and after the few days of hard work yet remaining the camp was broken on the day fixed and the regiments expeditionsly returned to their rendezvous.
The following extracts are observations made by the inspecting officer for the First and Third Brigades detailed by the War De-
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ORDER NO. 33
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partment. Lieut .- Col. William J. Lyster, Twenty-first United States Infantry :
In camp the work was thorough and very effective; guard mounting and morning drill, afternoon drill and dress parade. Almost all the infantry drills were battalion or extended order, as the company drills can be had at home.
I witnessed some dre-s parades. all very good. The regiments in the First Brigade had guards mounted in the morning. The ceremony was well conducted, showing a thorough knowledge of their duties by the adjutants, sergeants-major, and first sergeant ..
The men are generally young and many appear not to have yet reached their full stature in the city regiments: those from the mining and farming sections are larger and heavier men: all are active and look healthy. The discipline is good. . . The men almost invariably saluted an officer when meeting one or addressed by one, but seldom arose and stood to attention when approached in the vicinity of their tents. .
Much attention was paid to guard duty in camp; all the ceremonies of guard mounting that I saw were well performed. Some were excellent. but the sentinels and non-commissioned officers posting reliefs still require instruc- tion. The sentinels were well instructed in saluting officers passing.
To the story of the First Regiment's part in the rifle practice season of 1595, so well told in Colonel Bowman's Order No. 33, of December 10, 1895, there needs only to be added the fact that the First Regiment was second, with a score of 333, but one short of the 334 of the Thirteenth Regiment, the winner of the regi- mental match. and the further fact that Sergeant-Major H. J. Mchard had the top score in the brigade match, won by the First Brigade with a score of 1000. The order is as follows :
The annexed carefully prepared and able report of Captain Thomas H. P. Todd, acting regimental inspector of rifle practice for the season of 1895, is published for the thoughtful con-ideration of this regiment.
It demonstrates that the officers and men have performed their duty most faithfully and efficiently. For the fourth consecutive year every member for the active roll at the close of the rifle practice season has qualified as a marksman or sharpshooter. The record shows that 662 officers and men qualified during the season of 1895, of whom 105 are sharpshooters and 557 are marksmen. being an increase of eight sharp-hooters.
It also shows that every man practised most faithfully and never relaxed his energies at the firing point.
Sergeant-Major II. J. Mchard is entitled to honorable mention for having distinguished himself six consecutive years by qualifying with a elean score.
The colonel commanding also makes special mention of the meritorious and distinguished records achieved by Captain William Brod, Captain Walter E. Torr, Lieutenant Charles F. Hess, Lieutenant Frank H. Pierce. First Sergeant William S. Walker, Sergeant Charles E. Slough and Private Charles Woehr. Jr., they having won Veteran gold badges for having qualified ten consecutive years as marksmen or sharpshooters.
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The officers and men thus distinguished have not only honored themselves but the regiment and the service, and are entitled to the highest consideration for long and faithful attention to duty.
The regimental team at Mt. Gretna again honored the regiment by their skilful and efficient work, thus meriting the distinction of having four of their number selected to serve with the Pennsylvania State team in the Inter- State and Hilton Trophy matches at Sea Gitt, N. J. The men who thus honored the regiment were Sergeant-Major H. J. Mehard. First Sergeant H. L. Cooper, Company C, Sergeant H. S. Lewars, Company E. and Private T. F. Shonert, Company If. To Private T. F. Shonert is due the distinction of having made the top seore (96) of the team in the Hilton Trophy contest. whilst Sergeant H. L. Cooper is distinguished by making top -core (ST) of the team in the Inter-State match.
The men composing the team from this regiment-Sergeant- Major H. JJ. Mehard, Private T. F. Shonert, Il, First Sergeant H. L. Cooper. C, Private James Stewart, E-in the first-class regimental contest between teams from the organizations of this brigade, are likewise entitled to the distinction of having won the " Morrell Cup" for the first time with the creditable score of 346.
The colonel commanding recognizes the patriotic liberality of Messrs. William H. Mears and John Wiseman, as manifested by their presentation to the regiment of two valuable trophies and three sets of medals to be competed for by teams from each company. The competitions for these medals will unquestionably increase the practice of the men and thus be a great benefit to the service.
The record thus made for the year 1895 is replete with faithful attention to duty and work well done. The standard of the regiment has been advanced and all honor is due to every officer and man who participated therein, and special eredit is due to Captain Thomas H. P. Todd for his valuable, soldierly, and earnest work as acting regimental inspector of rifle practice.
The introduction in regular sequence, beginning with the present administration, of the reports of regimental commanders in the annual report of the adjutant-general gives to the regimen- tal current even not only pronounced official recognition, but as well appreciably increases its historie value.
The events of the year 1896 group well together. The weekly drills, practice on the range, battalion manoeuvres, were of the routine work, indispensable for the better retention of what had been taught and the readier acquisition of what was to be. While some of the events were recurrences of former years, others, of themselves significant, were of a special prominence.
On the invitation of the Joint Committee of Select and Com- mon Councils on Saturday, February 1. the regiment in service uniform, light marching order, with overcoats in conjunction with the brigade, paraded as escort to the Liberty Bell on its return from the Atlanta exposition.
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PARADES AND CEREMONIES
1896
On Saturday, March 21, again on a like duty, the regiment escorted the Second Regiment Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania, from its old armory. Broad and Race Streets, to its new armory, Broad and Diamond Streets, on the occasion of its dedication.
On Saturday, April 18, with the Veteran Corps, there was the usual street parade over a route determined by the Board of Officers-Broad to Loeust, to 18th, to Chestnut, to 6th, to Walnut. to 12th, to Locust, to Broad, to armory, in commemoration of the thirty-fifth anniversary. The column was reviewed at the Union League by Lieut .- Gen. Nelson A. Miles, U. S. A.
On Thursday, May 14, the regiment was assembled in full- dress uniform at the regimental armory on the occasion of the presentation of the trophies and medals won by the several teams in the brigade and regimental matches during the season of 1895. Following which the active command presented to the Board of Officers an oil painting of Captain James Muldoon, the senior captain of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, and the cere- monies coneluded with a reception to the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States in annual session in Philadelphia, who were present in a body. In attendance on this occasion be- sides a goodly gathering of the public generally, there were the governor and commander-in-chief and his staff, Major-General Snowden and his staff, and Brigadier-General Schall and his.
On Saturday, May 30, Memorial Day, the regiment partici- pated in the ceremonies incident to the unveiling of the Garfield monument in Fairmount Park in the early morning, and in the afternoon Company K acted as an escort to Gen. George G. Meade Post No. 1, G. A. R., and Company C to Cavalry Post No. 33, G. A. R., in their observance of the day.
Pursuant to an invitation of City Councils, the regiment in conjunction with the brigade participated in the ceremonies and observances incident to the celebration of the one hundred and twentieth anniversary of American independence on the fourth day of July, at Fairmount Park. General Schall, to combine practical instruction with the spectacular feature of the day, exercised the troops-all arms of the service, artillery, cavalry, and infantry- in some quite extensive and comprehensive field mandenvres illus- trative of an actual engagement.
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
The several companies were inspected by the regimental commander. commeneing on March 6 and concluding on March 12. two companies being inspected on each night. The regiment was also inspected by the brigade inspector. Major Frank G. Sweeney, commeneing March 28 and ending on April 10.
First Lieutenant and Adjutant Robert G. Stinson had seen sixteen years of faithful and honorable service, all the while in the First Regiment: private Company C, October 6. 1580; cor- poral, November 22. 1852 ; first sergeant, April 3, 1884; first lieu- tenant, June 4, 1855 : re-elected June 5, 1890; appointed adjutant July 1, 1592. On June 15, 1896. he resigned, and on July 15. 1896, advanced from his battalion adjutaney, Fred. Taylor Pusey was made first lieutenant and regimental adjutant to succeed him. John B. Maull was named as regimental sergeant-major June 1. 1896, in place of Harry J. Mehard, who at his own request, on April 22, 1896, had been returned to the ranks as a private in · Company C.
The time for the annual encampment this year, to be of the division entire, was announced from the adjutant-general's office at Harrisburg as early as February 27, for the week Saturday to Saturday, July 15 to 25 inclusive. The location was subsequently fixed at Lewistown. Mifflin County, and the camp was to be known as " Camp John Gibbon," in honor of a gallant and dis- tinguished general officer of the regular army, eminent in war and famous on the battle-field, a native of Pennsylvania recently deceased. The grounds were admirably chosen. The natural features and general form of the tract crescent-shaped, having a bend of the Juniata River on one side and the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad on the other, nearly three thousand yards in length, made the site attractive and well fitted for the purposes of a large encampment. In this unbroken level stretch of over 240 acres the grounds were superior to any that the division had heretofore encamped upon, and " the only one that ever afforded a sufficient area to admit of manœuvres by the division as a whole." One rainfall. however .- the weather was otherwise propitious .- of moderate severity, but of eight or nine hours' duration, rendered the grounds so impassable that it forced the abandonment of the ceremonies of the review set apart for the day of its occurrence, Friday the 24th. These grounds were furnished and an ample
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supply of pure mountain spring-water obtained for the troops and piped into the camp through the generosity of the citizens of Lewistown and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
There was no variance in details. What had been done before was done over again, with the betterments that came from experi- once and the improvements that followed opportunity. Follow- ing its camping party, detailed as for several years in obedience to instructions from division headquarters, the regiment left its home station on the evening of Saturday, July 17. Arriving at its camp destination at daylight the next morning. Sunday, where it found that as drills and exercises had been suspended in accord- ance with time-honored usage, it was called upon only for divine service, guard mount, and dress parade.
A proper recognition of Sunday had also been specially en- joined. In General Orders No. 4, from division headquarters, General Snowden, to better secure a consistent observance of the day, forcefully insisted upon a general suspension of all traffie in the town. " In order to observe," so his order reads, " as far as possible the sanctity of Sunday, it is dirceted that no supplies whatsoever be purchased in Lewistown on Sunday the 19th inst. by the various departments or by any officers of the division." It further provided that whatever was needed must be bought on Saturday; that the plea of necessity for a purchase on Sunday would be considered as improvidently made and treated as of no effect.
The opportunity for a later date for the annual muster and inspection did not seem to fall to the lot of the First Regiment, but it was again fixed for the first working day of the encamp- ment. The paragraph in regimental Order No. 24, of July 20, announcing the time. read as follows: " The companies of the regiment will be inspected by the inspector-general this A.M. First call at 2.45 A.M., assembly at 9.55." The order also provided that books and papers should be sent at once to brigade headquar- ters, as the officer charged with that duty was now there ready to inspect them.
The better to supply the more accurate response should inquiry follow the disappointment incident to the unexpected puncture of a rating that had been previously well maintained. Colonel Morrell had directed that " inspectors will in future keep accurate
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HISTORY OF THE FIRST REGIMENT, N. G. P.
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notes of the defects which have caused a rating to be lowered, and information in regard to the same will be furnished by this depart- ment upon application being made through regular channels."
In the official report of Colonel Bowman for the year 1896. it is stated that : " During this tour of duty [ the encampment ] the regiment had 619 officers and men present. with three officers absent with leave and eight enlisted men on furlough, making the aggre- gate strength of the command 630." But on the day of the annual muster and inspection every officer and man had been sum- moned to the colors save one enlisted man, so that out of its aggre- gate of 630 there was but this single absentee. He was from Company D, whose aggregate of 59. thus reduced to a present of 58, brought its percentage of attendance to 98.30, and the regi- ment's consequently fell to 99.84. This year there was no column for figure of efficiency, and " its general average. 93.14, did not secure for the First Regiment first place." The Thirteenth led with 95.65. the Tenth followed with 95.14, and the First was third. As indicative that the Pennsylvania Guard was " pro- gressively better," it is of interest to note that of its fifteen regimen- tal organizations, eight had " general averages " of 90 or upwards. In addition to those previously named the general average of the Eighth was 92.73, the Fifteenth 92.64, the Eighteenth 91.89, the Fourth 90.36, and the Third 90.28. In the First Brigade the Second Regiment was but a shade off. with 89.80, while the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry passed ahead with 94.75, as did the State Fencibles with 91.41.
For the first time [said Major-General Snowden in his official report] in the history of the division there was room for field exercises. . Bri- gades were in line of regiments. in columns of battalions, at a suitable dis. tance. The drill consisted in formation in line, two changes of front on the centre, right brigade forward march in line, and ploying into columns of companies, and occupied less than two hours. Change of front to ninety de- grees was made in less than twenty minutes, which, considering that not since the War of the Rebellion, and seldom then, had such a movement been executed, and that a very few of the officers had ever seen or taken part in the manœuvre before, may be regarded by the division with some degree of satisfaction. A protracted rain on Thursday night and Friday pre- vented a repetition of like exercises as well as other movements, such as marching in the enemy's country, the convoy of trains, etc .. which will be illustrated by the brigades in camp the coming year.
A force of regulars, two troops. E and F. of the Sixth Car- alry, from Fort Meyer, under the command of Major Lebo, and
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Battery C of the Third Artillery, from Washington Barracks, under command of Captain Lancaster. were encamped near divis- ion headquarters. They took a conspicuous and admirable part in the review, alike were under close observation by the soldiers of the Guard as they were the delight of " crowds of sightseeing spectators." Captain Leyden. one of the inspecting officers from the army, in his report referring to their presence, said : " From the repeated expressions of approval by civilians and marked interest of the Guardsmen I am convinced of the wisdom of the department in ordering these joint encampments."
Thursday afternoon, July 24, was the day set apart for the review by the governor and commander-in-chief. The review was conducted by the division, his brigade and subordinate com- manders " in a prompt and skilful manner creditable to them and their forces." A goodly number from the countryside occupied available sites from which could be obtained a satisfactory view. Lieut .- Gen. Nelson A. Miles. commanding the Army of the United States, had honored the encampment with his presence. The bad weather made summary disposition of Friday's review, pre- viously announced as especially for him, and it was necessarily off. He had opportunity, however, to ride through the camps, and in the First Regiment instructions from regimental headquarters re- quired that the men should stand at attention in front of their tents at once upon his arrival. Governor Lowndes, of Maryland. another visitor of prominence, also favored the encampment with his presence.
Some preparation had been made in the regiment for departure on the evening of the 24th, but an order from superior head- quarters determined otherwise. The return journey did not be- gin until six o'clock on the evening of the 25th. It was intended, too, to break camp by having the tents fall together. but the wet canvas forbade it. Philadelphia was reached at 2:30 o'clock on Sunday morning: the regiment was marched to the armory and formally dismissed for the rest of the summer.
This encampment bore fruit in official comment and criticism highly in its favor. In some instances it was noted as of especial excellence. The following is a brief extract from the official report of Brig .- Gen. John W. Schall, commanding the First Brigade:
The brigade went into camp at Lewistown. Mifflin County, with the other brigades of the division, July IS to 25, in compliance with General Orders
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No. 9, Headquarters National Guard of Pennsylvania, and General Orders No. 2, Headquarters of the Division, National Guard of Pennsylvania. This tour of duty has probably marked in the eyes of all intelligent observers the highest degree of success in military attainment ever accomplished by the National Guard of this State. . . The discipline of this brigade had probably never been more satisfactorily shown. and great credit is due to the officers and men for the zeal and intelligence with which all their duties were performed.
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