Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1903 — BUILD A MODEL POST. [ARTICLE]

BUILD A MODEL POST.

Government Expending a Million Dollars on New Fort Thomas. The government of the United States is expending $1,000,000 in the erection of a military post, to he called Fort George H. Thomas, on a tr-aqt of 900 acres of land adjoining the National Military I’urk of the battlefield of Chickamauga, nine miles from Chattanooga. The work of construction is notv making rapid progress under the direction of Captain U. J. Slocum of the Seventh cavalry. The foundations of th? principal buildings are laid; the land is being cleared, drained and graded, and before next winter some of the quarters will be ready tp occupy. It is to he the model military post of the world, capable of taking care of a fill! regiment of cavalry, with detachments of infantry nnd artillery. The location and the topography are especially favorable. The climate is mild in winter and not too hot in the summer. The atmosphere is pure and the water supply is abundant. Only, the other day an artesian well was borpd, which is now flowing with a tremendous pressure, furnishing a supply of water sufficient for the whole camp?' Fort George--H. Thomas- is- to be-the-rendezvous of the militia of the South, which, under the new law enacted at the last session of Congress, Is to be mobilized annually ih camps't>f instruction, nnd participate io maneuvers. The convenience of Chattanooga for this purpose was one reason for the selection of the present rite for tht neW .post. And it is expected that 10,000 members of the National Guard from Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Arkansas, will gather here every fall for drill and maneuvers under the command of officers of the geenral staff of the regular army. Several similar rendezvous will be established at other points convenient for railroad transportation. There wiil.be one near Chicago for the annual maneuvers of the National Guard of the surrounding States. The famous Seventh cavalry, Gen.

Custer’s regiment, now under command of Col- Baldwin, li cUekxhpthLiwCßattanooga Military Park, and is making itself comfortable in tents and other temporary structures until the now -barracks are completed. The famous Grimes Battery of artillery, which had a conspicuous part in the battles around Santiago, is also here under the command of Capt. Hoyle. Tbe officers and their families arc living in shacks, part tent and part cottage, but an making themselves very comfortable and cosy.