Barracks

“ On the western side of the fortification was a row of barracks, extending from the northern part of the works to about half the length of the fort. On the northern end was another block of barracks which reached nearly across the fort from east to west. In front of these was a large square two story house, for the accommodation of the officers of the garrison; neither this house nor the barracks were of much use at this time, for it was as much as a man's life was worth to enter them, the enemy often directing their shot at them in particular. ”

“ Across the river a regiment of red-legged infantry marched, drums and bugles sounding.
"All that territory over there," said De Barsac, "is given up to barracks. It is an entire quarter of the city, occupied almost exclusively by the military. There the streets run between miles of monotonous barracks, through miles of arid parade grounds, where all day long the piou-pious drill in the dust; where the cavalry exercise; where the field-artillery go clanking along the dreary streets toward their own exercise ground beyond the Usine de Gaz. ”

“ I have driven all about this post, looked into the barracks, which are as yet mere huts of cottonwood posts, with dirt floors and dirt roofs, but will soon be replaced by good frame barracks and quarters. The stores of all kinds on hand are abundant and good, so that no apprehension is felt on account of the enemy or severity of the winter. Six small companies of infantry are here, two more are on the way, and four are mounted on captured ponies and are out on a scout. The Seventh Cavalry are also near here, scouting to the north, but discover no marks of an enemy. ”

“ Since the English barracks have been burnt, the troops have been stationed out of town in preference, from apprehension of the yellow fever. There is a large wooden barracks built in a healthy situation, on an eminence two miles from town on the road to the Barrancas, for the troops. These barracks in the phrase of this service are called cantonments, this one, after the colonel, is named cantonment Clinch. It consists of ten log-houses built in a row, under one roof. Each house is for a company, and contains two rooms. Before this long range of barracks, is a large parade, with a flag staff. ”

“ In every French garrison town, a quarter of an hour before soldiers have to be in barracks, the trumpeters, and, if there is an infantry regiment in the place, the buglers and drummers, assemble in the principal square and thence march back to barracks playing the retraite. We hurried over our coffee and returned to barracks. For fear of being late we walked as fast as we could, but one or two of us got entangled in our spurs or fell head over heels over our swords. ”

“ The barracks present an air of subdued excitement. Men stand about in groups discussing soberly the prospect of active service, each wondering in his innermost soul how he will acquit himself in the unknown trials that are before him. After all, England is a comfortable place. Life proceeds quietly and peacefully in spite of the bugle calls, the shouts of N.C.Os., the almost inhuman activity of the "physical jerks expert," and the endless exhortations of the officers. ”

“ The Battalion was housed in the local cavalry barracks, and every one will remember the splendid comradeship of the artillerymen stationed there, who did all they could to attend to the needs of the soaked Battalion. The riding school was full of tired Londoners, but how they welcomed those steaming “dixies” of tea prepared by the barracks cooks. Tiredness soon disappeared, and fraternising was the “order of the night”; officers to the officers’ mess, sergeants to the sergeants’ mess, and men to the canteen. ”

“ The barracks are always surrounded by a high wall like a prison, and have iron gates at which an officer and the guard always stand. No one goes in or out without 228a permit. When the wives of married soldiers bring their food (the Mexican soldier feeds himself) all the baskets are searched by the officer for prohibited articles. ”

“ The officers’ messes have splendid public rooms, but the officers’ quarters are not so large as in military barracks, though no doubt spacious to the naval officer, accustomed as he is to a small cabin. Married quarters for the men are not provided except in connexion with coastguard stations.
Other Countries.—A great number of the German and French barracks are erected in the form of a large block of three or four storeys containing all the accommodation and accessories for officers, married and single non-commissioned officers and men, of a complete battalion or regiment in one building. ”

“ These barracks had been occupied by many American boys who had gone before us. We saw thousands of American names written on the walls, and occasionally we would run across one that we knew. And, like the other, we too wrote our names, for the boys who followed to read and comment upon.
Our meal for the first night at the barracks consisted of the rations we had been given upon leaving the ship—bully beef, sour bread and cheese. Our cooks got their fires started and gave us some coffee, which stimulated us after our long and tiresome march. ”

“ Beyond this brightly lighted building, and about in the rear of the infantry barracks at the westward end, was the slide into the creek valley, whereat so many of the officers' children had been coasting early in the evening, and where now—nearly [Pg 132] eleven o'clock—half a hundred young people of both sexes, wives and daughters of quartermaster's employees and of the elder sergeants, attended by their gallants from the garrison, were having a merry time of it. The moon shone in brilliance. The night air, frosty and still, was full of exhilaration. ”

“ They are to be placed in two rows in the center of the barracks. Nothing shall be hung on the walls, or the beams and supports. No partitions or corners will be allowed. The barracks is to be kept bare, so that the inmates can be seen at any hour of the night. The electric light is to be kept burning all night and must not be obscured in any way. ”

“ We had pork and beans, coffee and baker’s bread, good enough for any one.
As I was disabled by being caught in the quicksand, and was still very lame, the guard allowed me to go all over the barracks. I had to see the Dr. often, so I had a very pleasant time going around. Dr. had given me a pass, also, to go any where inside the barracks. The barracks was a Park of 3 or 4 acres and was said to contain 10,000 men. Rebels and Yankees together. ”

“ The armoury is situated near the artillery barrack, in another part of the town. About ten thousand stand of arms are kept in it, arranged in a similar manner with the arms in the Tower of London, but, if possible, with greater neatness and more fancy.
The artillery barracks are capable of containing about five hundred men, but the principal barracks are calculated to contain a much larger number; they stand in the market place, not far distant from the square in which the chateau is situated, but more in the heart of the town. ”

“ When a young fellow enlists he is sent to one of several naval training-stations. Here they are quartered in barracks—well-aired, well-lighted, well-heated buildings. At one place, where the climate is mild, the boys sleep in barracks in bungalows with upper sides of canvas, which are rolled down to let in sun and air in fine weather and laced up against bad weather. ”

“ Tame as stories of barrack life must seem when we are thrilling with the great events for which that life furnishes the substratum, it is worth our while, for the sake of this lesson, to give them also their page upon the record, to spread these neutral tints in due proportion upon the broad canvas. It is partly for this reason that I turn back to sketch the trivial and monotonous scenes of a winter in barracks. It is well to remind you, dear young friends, feminine and otherwise, at home, that a great many days and nights of patient labor go to one brilliant battle. ”

“ With horrible and careless crudity, the French or English construct barbarous barracks; pitiless toward the earth they disfigure, concerned only with their expansion, seizing upon all possible space with their eyes, if not with their hands. ”

“ All day long whenever they were in the barracks, you could hear the rattle of the dice, and the familiar call of “Phoebe,” “Big Dick,” “Big Nick,” and “Little Joe.” When they were not on drill the 176 men would infest the barracks for hours at a time, gathered in crouching groups about the dice, the air thick and blue with cigarette smoke; while others had nothing better to do than to sprawl on their cots and talk; and from their talk Cameron often turned away nauseated. ”

“ The barracks are arranged usually on the separate block system, and centre round a post-exchange or soldiers’ club, which is a combined recreation establishment, gymnasium and sergeants’ mess, with bath-house attached. ”

“ ENLISTED MEN’S BARRACKS. Inside and parallel to the left flank are the ruins of an enlisted men’s barracks. This building, three stories high, rose slightly above the fort walls. The first floor contained the kitchen and mess facilities, with sleeping quarters on the two upper floors. Another barracks for enlisted men, identical to this one, was located on the right flank.
4. OFFICERS’ QUARTERS. Along the gorge (or back wall) was another 3-story brick building, the officers’ quarters. ”

“ On their arrival the men are quartered in barracks, and the officers and married non-commissioned officers find houses at a moderate rent close by. The barracks consist not of single buildings but of many separate ones, so that the different races among the native troops may be kept distinct. ”

“ The barrack should at least be on a par with the workhouse.
The high rate of mortality in the army is not to be attributed to the bad arrangements of barracks alone; the important elements of exercise and food have to be considered, and in both the infantry are in an inferior position to the artisan.
“Perhaps,” says Colonel Lindsay, “no living individual suffers more than the soldier from ennui. ”

“ Modern British Barracks.—A description of a modern barrack for a battalion of infantry will give an idea of the standard of accommodation which is now authorized, and to which older barracks are gradually remodelled as funds permit. The unmarried soldiers are quartered in barrack-rooms usually planned to contain twelve men in each ”

“ B——, whose baby was dying. I never witnessed such a scene—a perfect barrack—every room was filled with six or eight ladies; beds all round, and perhaps a dining-table laid for dinner in the centre—servants thick in all the verandahs—numbers of the 32nd soldiers and their officers; and underneath all, the women and children of the 32nd barracks—such a hubbub and commotion! It is an upper storeyed house, but the upper storey is not nearly so large as the under one, and yet in that, including servants and children, there are ninety-six people living! ”

“ No soldier will be allowed to leave barracks, except on duty, until 4 p.m. Sergeants must be posted at the gates to see that no one goes out improperly dressed. Belts must be pipeclayed. Tattoo will be sounded at 8 p.m., and patrols sent out until all men are brought to barracks. Passes are not to be given for any hour later than 10 p.m., and very sparingly. In the event of any drunkenness or outrage or breaking into houses being reported, the regiment complained of will be immediately marched two miles outside the town to Abrasia, and there quartered as long as the Army is at Cairo. ”

“ Our barracks, one of many built on the same pattern, was a long, low wooden building, weather-stained without and whitewashed within. It had accommodation for about forty beds. One end of the room was very manifestly American. There was a phonograph on the table, baseball equipment piled in one corner, and the walls were covered with cartoons and pictures clipped from American periodicals. The other end was as evidently French, in the [13] frugality and the neatness of its furnishings. The American end of the room looked more homelike, but the French end more military. ”

“ And then he spends the rest of the afternoon trying to get the soap off. The more lather a chap makes the better washerman he is, from all appearances.
The rear of the barracks on a Saturday afternoon looks like a string of tenement house backyards, with flapping garments hanging from everything, including the electric light wires, and men in various degrees of attirement stand around waiting for the garments to get dry. Oh, you daren’t leave them and go off on some other mission while the wind does its duty. ”

“ One half of the circle thus enclosed was occupied by five huge barracks, each capable of holding more than 1,000 men, with their airing grounds and shelters for bad weather, their inner ends converging on a large open space, where was held the market. ”

“ Surrounded as it was by hills characteristic of that part of France, and isolated from the other units of its command, A Company developed its community along lines approved by itself. The barracks, of which there were four on the east side of the road and one on the opposite side, all of that temporary type of structure manufactured in sections and reared without much attempt at making them comfortable, were connected with wide stone walks. ”

“ First to the prisoners' barracks, which stand on an area of about three acres, surrounded by a lofty wall. A road runs between this wall and the sea. The barracks are three storeys high, and hold seven hundred and ninety men (let me remark here that there are more than two thousand men on the island) . There are twenty-two wards in this place. Each ward runs the depth of the building, viz., eighteen feet, and in consequence is simply a funnel for hot or cold air to blow through. When the ward is filled, the men's heads lie under the windows. ”