Charleston Daily Gazette
Second Regiment.
Commissions Made Out For The Regimental Officers.
Sixty Men Recruited Here - The Charleston Company Will Be Mustered In Today - Camp Atkinson
and Kanawha City - The Colored Company.
June 24, 1898
The Governor and adjutant general were yesterday very busy men. They are again in the midst of the complications resulting from the mobilization of another regiment. What may be termed the first actual official step in the formation of this regiment was taken yesterday when, it is understood, commissions for all the regimental officers were made out and signed by the Governor. These, however, will not be delivered for several days.
It is also understood that only two majors will be mustered in at present, as required by the call, but there is no doubt that the third major will also be mustered in, though probably not until the rest of the regiment has been disposed of. The State law requires three majors to a regiment, and, as was proven in the case of the first regiment, readily granted the Governor's request for a third major. Not only this, but a bill is now pending in Congress specifically covering this point, and providing for three majors. This measure will probably become a law before the work of mustering here is completed.
Chief Regimental Surgeon Dr. Henshaw, of Martinsburg, and Assistant Surgeons Drs. Kaldaugh, of Piedmont, and Dailey, of Terra Alta, were examined yesterday by the special board appointed for the purpose, and duly passed. Adjutant R. C. Archer, has arrived from Huntington, as well as a number of others.
The work of mustering in the Charleston company will begin today and may be completed by tonight, certainly by tomorrow. The recruiting was begun yesterday in the department building on Capitol street, and in a short time sixty men had enlisted. These were given a preliminary physical examination by Drs. Thomas and Champ. They will be examined by the new regimental surgeons tomorrow before being mustered. Of the sixty men recruited yesterday, thirty came from Spencer in charge of J. E. Schilling. Among the number is H. B. Crow, son of the county clerk of Jackson county. He will be one of the corporals. O. A. Riley, son of the president of the Valley Bank of Jackson, enlisted as a private and will be given a place as musician or bugler.
Captain Avis, who was considering the advisability of remaining in Kanawha during the political campaign, in preference to going to the front, has discovered that his love for William Seymour Edwards and the Republican party is not as great as his desire to serve the country as captain of the Charleston company. He will therefore go to the front with his company, which decision is pleasing to every one except a few of the more selfish politicians, for Captain Avis is known to be one of the best officers designated for the second regiment.
First Lieutenant Henry Fry has worked very faithfully and intelligently in raising this company and much of the burden of its formation has fallen upon his shoulders. His assistance to Captain Avis has been invaluable and is duly appreciated.
Clarence Burdette, who was an aspirant for the position of second lieutenant in this company, which place he did not get, will go any way. He will probably be made first sergeant.
It is understood that the Hinton company will be the second to be mustered in. This company will probably report Monday though it may reach here sooner if the tents arrive, and everything is in readiness for it.
The citizens are glad to know that the camp will be pitched just below the city, over Elk, instead of Kanawha City. Good order is promised, and there will be no repetition of the disgraceful scenes which characterized the first day at Camp Lee. The authorities have learned many valuable lessons from the experience they acquired in mobilizing and mustering in the first regiment, and the work this time will proceed with much less friction, delay and expense than was the case at Camp Lee.
It was at first thought that barracks of some kind would have to be erected for the soldiers at Camp Atkinson, but the adjutant general yesterday announced that he had succeeded in making arrangements for tents. A requisition for these as well as blankets, cooking utensils, and the like, was made on the quartermaster general, some days ago, and the supplies asked for are now on their way here. They are expected to arrive today.
Captain Burns, the mustering officer, yesterday received a dispatch from the ordnance department, saying that arms and accoutrements would be here by the time the regiment was mustered.
General Appleton, speaking of the decision to locate the camp below the city, said he was phoned to by a citizen of Kanawha City who asked if the regiment would be encamped there. He hoped it would not, as he had just begun to get his garden stuff, and moreover, had a new lot of chickens. Later in the day some one else telephoned that a delegation of Kanawha City ladies were coming down to see the general to ask him not to locate the camp at that place. The general, much perturbed, replied hastily, imploring the delegation to remain safely at home, and giving his assurance that the new regiment would not be sent to Kanawha City.
It is understood that Prof. John Hill, principal of the colored institute at Farm, will be first lieutenant of the colored company from this end of the State. E. E. Hood, who is expected to captain the company, wired yesterday to S. R. Hanen, president of the board of regents of that institution, asking if Prof. Hill might be permitted to go with the assurance that he would have his position when he returned. Mr. Hanen wired back: "Yes, let Hill serve his country." Prof. Hill served six years in the regular army.