Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 106, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1904 — MIMIC WAR AT BULL RUN. [ARTICLE]

MIMIC WAR AT BULL RUN.

Nearly $1,000,000 to Be Spent in Teaching 25,000 Soldiers. Prince William county of Virginia, the scene of many bloody’ battles in the Civil War, has been selected as the site where nearly a million dollars will be spent this fall in teaching 25,000 soldiers something about the art of war. The maneuvers that have been planned for the week from Sept. 5 to Sept. 12, inclusive, will be the most extensive in the history of this country. Nearly twice the number of men and horses that participated in the West Point and Fort Riley maneuvers will bq present, and the sham battles have been planned on a scale that will causerthem to resemble the evolutions of an army belonging to one of the military nations of old Europe. Sixty-five thousand acres of farming land, extending over an area ten miles long and, five miles wide in the ijprthern part of Prince William county, Va.. every foot of which was fought over time and gain during the Civil War, has been leased from the owners for maneuver purposes. The Southern Railroad marks a straight line through the center of the strip, which begins at Manassas and extends in a northwesterly direction to the little town of Thoroughfare. Several miles of tho Warrenton turnpike are included in the strip. TUe .17,000 militiamen, together with their baggage and equipment, will pour in from a dozen States at once on Sept. 2 and the day following. They will be met at the station by specially detailed officers who will assign them to their positions on the field. Four hundred wagons of the quartermasters’ department will be on hand to carry away the tents and baggage as fast as they can be taken out of the cars. Within six hours after arriving at their destination, be it Thoroughfare or Manassas, the militiamen will be under canvas ready for the work of the week.

Sunday, Sept. 4. will be a day of rest, but. over night will come a transformation. The two peaceful tented cities, lying some ten miles apart, will change into hostile camps, hourly expecting the attack of an enemy. Picket lines will be established, fires will be covered, the men will speak in whispers and all will be on vivo, awaiting the appearance of the foe. The following day will occur the mimic war.