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Show piTfiir Iff flJLOHl Wis Sent Members of Former t alt Lake Crack Military Company. I IONIZATION THE NUCLEUS TATI0NAL GUARD OF UTAH r. J ill Be Twenty Years This eptember Since Company i Was Organized. J rcnlv years ago this coming Sep-l Sep-l ier the' Dcnhalter -Rifles were or-' or-' Eod in Salt Lnkc. and to the end lj fthc anniversary may be properly jrated, A. P. Taylor, formerly of $ jLake and now a resident of Hou-i Hou-i r, has sent a call to former mem- ?bf the Dcnhalters, requesting that Imion be held this fall. The Den- !IBj firs were, in reality, the nucleus of j present L'tah National Guard. Lr. Vs call, addressed to TCalph Shar-ino Shar-ino of f he organizers of the Rifles, o Capt. Webb, instructor of the school cadets., follows: )wlng the school election af August, when liberal school representatives elected to office, the campaign of b.eral party was taken up In earnest y .September of that year the po-campnlgn po-campnlgn which resulted in the m of George M. Scott for mayor. He entire Iilbcral ticket, on Febru-tlO," Febru-tlO," 1800. That was the campaign h was encineennl hy .1udg O. AV. sra. Various political marchinp clubs Organized to participate in the cam-ii,nnd. cam-ii,nnd. fired by the activity, several snts of the St. Mark's (ICplseopal) V1 school, conceived the Idea of a fitry company. In a few weeks the jgr men found that the project was; hie, and in September Albert K. fas. Rulph Sharkey and .Albert P. or visited Fort Douglas and court cou-rt with Corporal Kvans of Corr,5any Ixteenth United States infantry ns ip prospect of obtaining an Instrue-Iri Instrue-Iri military tactics. Corporal Evans .willing to help the young men.' They net to town and In a short time iitlmn a acore of young men gave no-that no-that they were desirous of joining the wed military company, eh came the matter of uniforms, Jand general equipment. The boys f unnblc to meet the expense and V. when detailing- their difficulties to 'Dcnhalter, head of the Dcnhalter II It Water works, who then conducted Hgwlncss on West Third South street, ufcenlor member of that firm took an ilMo Interest and said he would be glad Jhther the project to the extent of iiilshing the rifles and many other ' ,Vof tlso paraphernalia. In the high ;l-of St Mark's, on East First South 't; opposite the old city hall, the wilr the 'organization of the "Den- fcr. Rifles" were perfected, by-laws ,JPnl up and In a short time the per-W per-W il of officers and non-commlssloncd srs made public and drills were com-1' com-1' led. with Corporal Kvans as Instnic-U Instnic-U Measurements of the youthful foI- jtfor uniforms were taken by Prl-u Prl-u jMoulton. tailor of the G company. cnlh Infantry, and the orders for slx- Jlunlforms sent on to X. C. Lllley Ji p., Columbus, Ohio. The uniforms , SBln due time, regulation blue army rms, with a general's white stripe " ie trousers. In due time, also, came Hprlnsfield rifles. The first "guns" r. ftw.OTH of wood, fashioned by one of II Lake's wood turners. Drills wore ' ;held In St. Mark's chapel, angment-H angment-H iy. drills in the streets at night and rious open lots. Corporal Evans in Splendid work, and In time the al-f al-f on of olhfM regular armv officers attracted to the "Dcnhalters.' nnd tenant Wright, first lieutenant of G , winy, showed his interest bv offer--r his services as drill Instructor, and ; Jfeccond Lieutenant John Greeg, the il -Srummer' of the army, became dclitionnl instructor. T- f Pride of Salt Lakers. der the direction of these army of-tii of-tii the "Dcnhalter Rifles" became an .,(, ilzrttlnn wiilch displayed unusual tal-snd tal-snd became an object of Interest to " &ers T,HJ! RIflcs Participated in l Ubllc parades, was one of the honor J when President Harrison visited IF ?ml 'v''hen General P. E. Connor 1 "buried In dead of winter. J were many competitive drills for nd silver medals, offered by Mr. in?.r 'Hcnce in the manual ii t. ,B.1(I ,la! was first won Marks hall, with Lieutenant (now u right as referee. The medal ! n by the undersigned, who held It Ra years, when it was won bv Prl- 1 f?,vi a1'1ter'vard8 Captnin Grow, xjonlialters were prominent in the lira Irs of that time, and thev gave balls and hops at the old Salt ni01"' tlle 9- A- R- haJ! ad other ana were always acceptable, pars' par-s' In uniform, at Innumerable so-nctlons so-nctlons In time rumors came of - fci-nfn Z.a,l,? f ,thc Ut,l National ji &,ftnd the Denhaltor Rifles went Into fir L"3 CoVinHn.v A and time t,i . mcPb0" became Identified ffifW1 i a",fI B- w,,ich became r, Manila, where Captains Webb urow. as I remember the accounts $-,1Bas!7c',nts ,n wlch the Utah if tis, nart,c,Iated. made enviable fl voimtnlUcra, ii''?ame Ponular .with itrinni i?.llon was orprnnizod. with Mr. J h i J1Jm,t?,r .as mnJor. and the undcr-kov undcr-kov mn'111!11; Cantain Ralph R. a,lci raptaln Wi Jam B. Smod-lommanded Smod-lommanded tSie two companies. Later rI?'BB .n ,f)I?llt nncl 'he Dyer Rifles 2rSh.V.lzf.11. ln ""Position to the T)en-PKpfri.V'1,5 T)en-PKpfri.V'1,5 opposition, far from be- Vthn m,enta1' was helpful u stimu- Ku- ho,ttor efforts, resulting' In drills llrmv'W ,h0, opinion of thS reg -lMnl? ZQ? '"stnictlng both the Became Part of State Guard. JftTtab tvS?icaV,. the organisation of InLi il (I ro"Bt Just the vcar). nnd Peters went into the First rcgi- ' LBlhVKa l ltB former men - W into the batter es which achieved tlaT,ln th0 Philippine" ac,1,evcd Kn?rtlr!l?By2uns n,0V Uo camc lnt0 teBt iHno ZH ro,9T1lla 1,fllJ not the A of . nf '""'tnry Hfe. Today rtfi th, finest officers who served A AffXf ,,n .the dcnhalters IDf fanlln Lanl Ken'lce In the batteries Elbli for r?.T,0nff. those who are ro-A ro-A n tL n the esprit de corps provail- ?n ,c 1 tal1 National Guard. KJnE m Papers I came across the teiVllh,,i dhalterRine5! H. i" )0 u,p names of thoso tni, nfort,nately. is undated, but is Witt .lennlngF, Forgcant; Robert Ste- :WllnW:uP,wlrd RcC3ft' ser- ihur S' ' iTseant. Privates. fSlnelinrn 1Iftrrv B'ton. Alma tt?EHwi 1U8f,l Connor. Will Cul-ilKi Cul-ilKi i a!n Carlson. Clarence Drakr. rf B WlSSS?' r,R,0berL Harkness E.rns WkS Cnn"1 H0Tfty' Frft(1 -fackman, P.oy ! .Srbflph hucS' .Frfld Leslie. Otto VaSS jEylor? 8n- ' 0n,erly "rBeantAl- fctprvro&nn:::v,or ,no f lw ,,2r,, vSan de o? h Ay tht , "en ha Iters R r ft or1,;ho changes in the pcr- yW f the rifles, various committees comprising the following names' General committee Captain W. B. Smedley. Sergeant Ser-geant R. B. Stevenson. Corporal A. Lyon, Corporal W. G. Williams. Reception First Lieutenant R. Sharkey, First Jsr-gcant Jsr-gcant A. Taylor. Sergeant C. Smith. Sergeant Ser-geant F. Groesbcck, Private I. Hampton. Hamp-ton. Floor Private .T. S. Taylor, Private Pri-vate J. P. Morris. Private C. B. DIohl, Private D. Robblns. Supper Second Lieutenant Lieu-tenant A. Kneass, Corporal E. Reese, Corporal D. Jennings, Private D. Ostler, Private F. Stockdale. The Dcnhalter rifles at one. time possessed pos-sessed one of the finest silk flags ever borne by a. military organization ln Utah. It was mnde by the teachers and girl students of Rowland hall and presented to the rifles in public. The flag wa.i loaned on many occasions, and on one occasion disappeared and has never been traced, although it Is believed to be ln the possession of some one in Salt Lake City. Occasion for This History, The occasion for my compiling the above somewhat disconnected history of the Dcnhalter rifles has for Its object the desire for a reunion of tho rifles some time this fall at any time after September Septem-ber for I believe it was In September that tho Dcnhalter rifles were formally organized and instruction commenced under the direction of regular army officers offi-cers of the Sixteenth United States infantry. in-fantry. I am far from Salt Lake two thousand miles out In tho middle of the Pacific ocean and T do not believe I can attend a reunion on this the twentieth anniversary of the organization of the rifles. As the first orderly sergeant of the Dcnhalters and one of the three organizers, or-ganizers, two of whom are still In Salt Lake Messrs. Ralph Sharkey and Albert Kneass I have therefore decided to Issue a call for such a reunion, leaving It to those membors now in Utah to carry out the project. There are many members in Salt Lake. Captain Webb, I understand, commands the High School cadet battalion: Captain Grow, I believe. Is commander of a company com-pany of the Utah national guard: Ralph Sharkey. Judge C. V. Dichl. Dr. Hampton, Alma Cunningham. Richard Woolley. Robert Hnrkness and Will Culmer are, I believe, in Salt Ixike. Some have passed to the great beyond Edward Reese and William Smcdloy among others. Corporal Cor-poral Jennings Is achieving laurels upon the stage; Robert Stevenson, when last I heard of him, was prominent in tho smelter business in Omaha. Of the regular army officers who took a deep interest In tho welfare of the Den-haltenj. Den-haltenj. Captain Richards of G company, Sixteenth infantry, is dead; Lieutenant (now Major) W. K. Wright Is ln the quartermaster's department. U. S. A.; Lioutennnt John Gregg lost his life in the Philippines, after being transferred from the- Sixteenth to the Fourth Infantry. Lieutenant Gregg gave much of his time to the Instruction of the Dcnhalters. Corporal Cor-poral Evans, who In' IS89 and 1S90 was one of the crack marksmen of the army, loft the army ln 1802 or 1803 nncl assimilated assimi-lated with the civilians of Salt Luke. Private Moultoh. who measured the young riflemen for thel'r uniforms, has also passed to the great beyond. I therefore ask of the present officers and enlisted men of the Utah national guard that they Identify themselves with the proposed reunion, and that In the national na-tional guard armory the former Dcnhalters Dcnhal-ters celebrate the twentieth anniversary; that the roll be called, and the former Denhalters fall into line, I have tho honor to remain, with the Aloha nul of Hawaii ncl, sincerely. A. P. TATLOR, Former Orderly Sergeant. Honolulu, July 27. 1009. |
