New York To Know War Danger To-day.

New York Times 100 years ago today, August 17, 1912:
Safety or Peril of the City Is Expected to be Demonstrated Before Noon.
ALL THE TROOPS IN ACTION
Last Day of the Bloodless Campaign for Possession of Manhattan — Fighters Will Disperse Sunday.
Special to The New York Times.
    NEWTOWN, Conn., Aug. 16.— Despite the fact that to-day was to have been the beginning of the big two-day battle on the issue of which depends the theoretical safety of New York City, the battle was not begun, and when the sun went down at the end of a perfect day, so far as make-believe fighting is concerned the only fighting that had occurred was a brief engagement during which Newtown was captured and then evacuated by a column of Blue cavalry.
    To-morrow, however, it is promised that the real battle will take place which will bring into action all of the regular and National Guard troops now encamped in the hills and along the banks of the streams in Southwestern Connecticut.
    Early this morning. Brig. Gen. Albert L. Mills, the Blue commander, whose problem is to save New York and drive the Red invaders back upon their base at New London, issued orders to Col. Parker of the Eleventh United States Cavalry, his cavalry commander, which gave Col. Parker the right to operate independently. Col. Parker immediately began an advance on this beautiful little Connecticut village, and by noon the inhabitants found themselves in possession of the defending army. The occupation, however, was of brief duration. Within an hour the enemy was again in possession of the town.
    The battle of Newtown was fought between the New York cavalrymen under Col. Parker and part of the First Brigade of Infantry from Massachusetts. It was a hard-fought skirmish while it lasted, , and the several thousand persons who journeyed into the Newtown country expecting to see a tussle that would bring all the troops into action made the best of their disappointment and professed afterward to have enjoyed thoroughly the fracas while it lasted.
    Another skirmish occurred about six miles distant from this place, near a little settlement known as Sandy Hook, which, it may be mentioned in passing, is no relation to the great army post which guards the Atlantic approach to New York Harbor. The folk who live in this Sandy Hook country had never before seen even a little battle, and they had the time of their lives watching the progress of the noisy and smoky, yet bloodless, conflict.
    The battle of Sandy Hook was fought by the troopers of the Tenth United States Cavalry, representing the Red army, and the First and Second Regiments of New York cavalry for the Blue forces. All morning long the battle lasted, and there was never a let up. The enthusiasm of the contending forces was high tension, and not a soldier found out that he was in the least fatigued until Newtown had been captured by the Blues and then evacuated, and the engagement was over.
    There were also several tilts between outposts of the two armies. In one such conflict Lieut. Richards, at the head of a column of Blue troopers, fought a stubborn little engagement, at the end of which Richards captured a Colonel and two other officers, in addition to a dozen or more Massachusetts Red men.
    Although the war up to this time has not brought out the thrilling contacts that characterized the Massachusetts campaign, it has nevertheless been a more successful manoeuvre from all standpoints than was the one fought in Massachusetts. The weather is better, the troops have been better cared for, there has been little sickness, and the guardsmen have never had greater opportunity to learn how to care for themselves as well as to fight. As a rule, the soldiers have also been a well-behaved lot. Those whose deportment has not been of the best are a very small minority.
    Another distinctive feature of this campaign which has been a great success has been the work of the aviation section of the United States Signal Corps. Never before have aeroplanes figured in manoeuvres in this country, and the experiment has proved a splendid success. This afternoon Lieuts. Foulois, Milling, and Arnold were in the air several times, and all of them negotiated splendid flights. Foulois was in the air once for more than half an hour, during which time he located camps of both armies and was able, while operating his machine, to map correctly the positions of the troops in question.
    To-morrow is the last fighting day or the campaign. The battle will begin about 7 o'clock, and, if all goes well, New York should be either safe or in grave danger by noon, which is the hour the battle is expected to end, one way or the other. On Sunday the troops will entrain and depart for their various home stations.