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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19910-8.txt b/19910-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..28d1de7 --- /dev/null +++ b/19910-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6479 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Boys' Book of Famous Soldiers, by J. Walker McSpadden + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Boys' Book of Famous Soldiers + +Author: J. Walker McSpadden + +Release Date: November 24, 2006 [EBook #19910] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOYS' BOOK OF FAMOUS SOLDIERS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +BOYS' BOOK + +OF + +FAMOUS SOLDIERS + + +BY + +J. WALKER McSPADDEN + + + + + +THE WORLD PUBLISHING CO. + +CLEVELAND, OHIO ---- NEW YORK, N. Y. + + + + +Copyright, MCMXIX + +by + +The World Syndicate Publishing Co. + + + +_Printed in the United States of America_ + + + + +PREFACE + +So much has been written about the great soldiers of the world, that it +is a matter of considerable hardihood to attempt to present another +volume on the subject in any sense "new." But the Great War has not +only brought to the center of the stage a new group of martial +figures--it has also intensified and revivified our interest in those +of a bygone day. The springs of history rise far back. We can the +better appreciate our leaders of today and their problems, by comparing +them with the leaders and problems of yesterday. Waterloo takes on a +new aspect when viewed from Vimy Ridge. + +The present book includes a round dozen of the great soldiers of +yesterday and today. The list is about equally divided among British, +French, and American leaders, and is confined to the last two +centuries. Each man selected is typical of a particular time and task. +His life story contains a message of definite interest and value. + +In telling these stories, however, in the limits of brief chapters, we +have carefully abstained from the writing of formal biographies. Such +a treatment would have resulted merely in a rehash of time-worn data +beginning "He was born," and ending "He died." + +The plan of these stories is to give a personal portrait of the man, +using the background of his early life--to trace his career up from +boyhood through the formative years. Such data serves to explain the +great soldier of later years. Every schoolboy knows, for example, what +Washington did after he was placed in command of the Colonial Army--but +what he did in the earlier years to _deserve_ this high command is a +story not so well known. Yet it is both interesting in itself, and +serves to humanize its subject. The stately Washington steps down off +his pedestal, and shoulders again his surveyor's tripod of boyhood +days, while he invites us to take a tramp through the Virginia wilds. + +The writing (and, we hope, the reading) of these life stories brings an +especial message. We discover that in each instance the famous soldier +was not a pet of Fortune, but was selected for his high and arduous +task, because of the training received in his formative years. His +peculiar gift of leadership was merely an expression of his indomitable +will to forge ahead. He exemplified in his life the Boy Scout motto, +"Be Prepared." + + + + +CONTENTS + + +WASHINGTON + +GRANT + +LEE + +NAPOLEON + +WELLINGTON + +GORDON + +ROBERTS + +KITCHENER + +HAIG + +JOFFRE + +FOCH + +PERSHING + + + + +BOYS' BOOK OF FAMOUS SOLDIERS + + +WASHINGTON + +THE YOUNG SURVEYOR + +"Turn your guns around on them! Stop them!" + +The command was given in peremptory tones to a demoralized group of +soldiers. Not waiting for them to carry out his orders, the young +officer who gave them leaped from his horse, and with his own hands +turned one of the guns upon the advancing foe. + +Had it been the Argonne Forest, and the year 1918, it would have been a +machine gun that the officer manned. But the time was over a century +and a half earlier than this--and the weapon a light brass field-piece, +which after being fired once, must be painfully reloaded. + +Meanwhile, the redskins came on. + +The young officer, whose name has come down to history as George +Washington, was trying to stem the tide of defeat. It was the fateful +day when old General Braddock of the British army received his first +and fatal lesson in Indian warfare. Says an old Pennsylvania ranger +who was also in the fray: + +"I saw Col. Washington spring from his panting horse, and seize a brass +field-piece as if it had been a stick. His look was terrible. He put +his right hand on the muzzle, his left hand on the breach; he pulled +with this, he pushed with that, and wheeled it round, as if it had been +a plaything. It furrowed the ground like a ploughshare. He tore the +sheet-lead from the touch-hole; then the powder-monkey rushed up with +the fire, when the cannon went off, making the bark fly from the trees, +and many an Indian send up his last yell and bite the dust." + +Yet this resourceful officer, fighting almost single-handed against +certain defeat, was then only a young man a few months past twenty-one. +He was displaying the same qualities which were later to make him the +commander-in-chief of a Revolution. + +George Washington was a typical example of the born leader. He had +received no set military training save that which the stern necessity +of frontier life forced upon him. Yet at nineteen we find him no less +courageous and active when facing the enemy. He had been reared as a +farmer boy, with no other intention at first than the successful +management of his father's estates in Virginia. But boys in those days +had to learn to handle the rifle as readily as the plow, and Washington +was no exception to this rule. + +Born in 1732 (every schoolboy knows the month and day) at Bridges +Creek, Virginia, his first home was a plain wooden farmhouse of +somewhat primitive pattern, with four rooms on the ground floor, and a +roomy attic covered by a long, sloping roof. But before he was more +than able to walk this house burned down, and the family removed to +another farm in what was later Stafford County--an attractive knoll +across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg. + +When George was eleven years old he lost his father, which threw him to +a great extent upon his own resources, so far as outdoor life was +concerned, although his education was still the care of his mother, who +is pictured as a gentlewoman of the old school--one born to command. +To her Washington owed many traits, among them his courtliness. In +those days, the gentle-bred boys always used very formal language when +addressing their elders. And so we find Washington writing to his +mother, even after he became of age, beginning his letter with, +"Honored Madam," and ending "Your dutiful son." + +After his father's death, George Washington made his home for four or +five years with his brother Augustine, who lived at the old homestead, +now rebuilt, at Bridges Creek; and near there he attended school. It +was in no sense a remarkable school, being kept by a Mr. Williams, but +it was thorough in the fundamentals, the "Three R's," without going in +much for the frills. Some of Washington's exercise books are still +preserved, showing in a good round hand a series of "Rules of Civility +and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation." + +Such things sound somewhat priggish today; but in those days they were +a necessary part of one's education. Washington was probably neither +better nor worse than the run of Virginia boys, of gentle stock, in +those days--just a good-natured, fun-loving youngster, not especially +bright as a scholar, but known as a plodder. One of his early +playmates was Richard Henry Lee, who also grew up to be a famous +Virginian; and between the two some droll schoolboy letters passed. + +Washington was to be, like his father, a Virginia planter; and this may +have had something to do with the sort of education he received, which +was not very extensive. But along with his early training for farm +life there were many echoes of the military, which must have had a +lasting influence on the growing lad. His brother, Lawrence, had been +a soldier in His Majesty's service, and his stories of campaign life so +fired George's imagination that he was for throwing his books away, at +fifteen, and going into the navy. He was too young for the army, but +Lawrence, who rather encouraged him, told him that he could get him a +berth as midshipman. + +It is related that the young middy's luggage was actually on board a +British man-of-war anchored in the Potomac, when Madam Washington, who +all along had been reluctant to give her consent, now withdrew it +altogether; and the "dutiful son" was saved from the navy for a larger +arena. + +The boy was then just turned fifteen, and seems to have rebelled from +the humdrum life of the plantation. He was at the restless age, and +his naturally adventurous disposition sought a more active outlet. +This proved to be surveying--a profession then greatly in demand. +There were great tracts of wilderness in Virginia still inhabited by +Indians and infested by wild animals, which had never heard the sound +of the woodman's axe. These tracts had been included in grants from +the King, but their boundaries had never been exactly determined. To +make such surveys was a task requiring both skill and courage. + +Washington was naturally an exact and painstaking boy. He now applied +himself to geometry and trigonometry; and at the ripe age of sixteen +was ready to sling his somewhat crude surveyor's instruments across his +shoulder and subdue the wilderness. It promised excitement and +adventure--and the work was well paid. + +Washington was even then a strapping big fellow, tall and muscular, and +nearly six feet in height. He afterwards exceeded this height, but at +sixteen there were naturally some hollows which remained to be filled +out. He is described as having a well-shaped, active figure, +symmetrical except for the unusual length of his arms, indicating great +strength. His light brown hair was drawn back from a broad forehead, +and grayish-blue eyes looked happily and perhaps soberly on the +pleasant Virginia hills and valleys. His face was open and manly, set +off by a square, massive jaw, and a general expression of calmness and +strength. "Fair and florid, big and strong, he was, take him for all +in all, as fine a specimen of his race as could be found in the English +colonies." + +It was at this turning point in his career that Washington was +fortunate in finding a friend and protector in Lord Fairfax, whose +daughter was the wife of Lawrence Washington. This distinguished old +veteran, a long-time friend of the Washington family, took a particular +fancy to the young man. They hunted the fox together, and hunted him +hard. In those days fox-hunting was no kid glove and pink tea affair. +It was one of many perilous outdoor sports that frontier Virginia could +afford; and as they hunted, the old English nobleman had opportunity to +learn what sort of stuff this young Virginian was made of. He saw that +here was a union of sturdy qualities upon which he could rely. + +Lord Fairfax then owned, by kingly grant, a vast estate stretching +across the Blue Ridge into the untrodden wilderness. Until the estate +was properly surveyed, it would be subject to endless lawsuits. We can +imagine the following conversation on one of their helter-skelter rides +together: + +"What are you studying now, George?" + +"Mathematics, sir." + +"Humph! Like it?" + +"In part--but some of it is stiff." + +"What are you going to do with it?" + +"Well, sir," hesitated George, "since my mother objects to my going +into the navy, I thought I would turn my hand at surveying. There's +lots to be done around here." + +"The very thing! I think I could use you, myself. When you are ready +let me know, and I'll send you over the hill yonder to mark out where +Fairfax starts, and where he ends. My cousin George will go with you." + +So, in some such fashion it was arranged, and in the spring of 1748, +George Fairfax and George Washington set forth on their adventures. +The Virginia mountains were just budding forth in the freshness of +spring when they started out by way of Ashby's Gap, in the Blue Ridge, +entering the valley of Virginia. Thence they worked through the +Shenandoah region, crossing the swollen Potomac and surveying the hilly +country of what is now Frederick County. + +It was a rough and hazardous trip lasting over a month, but one that +left them fit and seasoned woodsmen. They had learned what it was to +shift for themselves; to defend themselves against prowling beasts in +an untrodden wilderness; to swim swollen currents; to be wet and cold +and hungry; to come suddenly upon a war party of Indians, who would not +have scrupled to kill them, had the savages known that these two youths +were plotting and dividing up the hunting grounds which they claimed as +their own. + +That all these things were a part of their experience we note from +jottings made briefly but methodically by Washington in his diary of +the trip. As to the survey itself, a Virginia title attorney remarked, +many years afterward, that in clearing up old titles the lines surveyed +by Washington were more reliable than any others of their day. + +Lord Fairfax was so pleased with its results that he procured for his +protégé an appointment as public surveyor. It was his induction into +three years of hard frontier life, which was the finest possible +schooling to him, for his later career as soldier. We find him writing +to a friend: + +"Since you received my letter of October last, I have not slept above +three or four nights in a bed, but after walking a good deal all the +day, I have lain down before the fire upon a little hay, straw, fodder, +or a bearskin, whichever was to be had, with man, wife, and children, +like dogs and cats; and happy is he who gets the berth nearest the +fire. Nothing would make it pass off tolerably but a good reward. A +doubloon is my constant gain every day that the weather will permit of +my going out, and sometimes six pistoles." + +This would indicate that he was a thrifty lad, honestly pleased with +honest earnings--and no mere adventurer. + +About this time, a company was formed, called the Ohio Company, for the +purpose of opening a trade route through northern Virginia and +Maryland. George Washington's two elder brothers, Lawrence and +Augustine, were interested in the 'enterprise'; and they naturally +called in their young surveyor brother to consultation. The project +sounded fascinating, but presented many elements of danger. The French +were becoming more and more active, and making warlike preparations to +seize and hold all the western frontier. In order to develop and hold +this land against the French and their Indian allies, it was necessary +to place the work in the hands of a military leader. + +George Washington was at this time only nineteen years old, but fully +grown--a man of powerful physique, hardened and seasoned by his outdoor +life. Despite his youth and lack of military experience, the Ohio +Company secured for him the appointment of adjutant general of this +district. Washington at once placed himself under several military +officers of his acquaintance, among them a Major Muse, and soon +acquired at least the rudiments of warfare, the manual of arms. The +broader school of tactics he was to acquire for himself in the field of +experience. + +An interruption to his military career came in the illness of his +brother Lawrence. A voyage to the West Indies was determined upon, for +the invalid, and George accompanied him--on the young man's first sea +voyage, and of which he has left us entertaining glimpses in his +ever-faithful diary. But after a winter in the South Seas, Lawrence +grew worse and was brought home to die. George, though only twenty, +was made one of the executors to the estate, Mount Vernon, which became +henceforth his home. + +Shortly afterward, we find George Washington given still higher office, +but one which entailed heavy responsibilities. The newly appointed +governor of the state, Robert Dinwiddie, growing uneasy at the constant +reports of alliances between the French and Indians, determined to send +a commissioner to the French commander, to ask by what right he was +building forts in English dominions; and also to treat with the +Indians, in the way of counter proposals against the French. + +It was a hazardous mission, and one which also involved tact, +diplomacy, and a first-hand knowledge of the wilderness. But we are +not much surprised to find Washington, at twenty-one, given the +commission of major and sent on this undertaking. + +Leaving Williamsburg with a little company of six, he set out on a +cross-country trip by horseback, of more than a thousand miles. The +details of this adventurous journey make interesting reading, but +cannot find place in this necessarily brief story. They reached an +Indian village near where the city of Pittsburgh now stands, then +turned south to the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers +where dwelt a friendly tribe of Indians. Thence they went to Fort le +Boeuf, where the French commander received the Virginia major politely, +entertained him, but tried at the same time to win his Indian friends +away from him. + +The return journey was terrible. The horses had become so weak that +they were useless except as light pack animals. The little party +struggled along on foot. Washington with one companion went on ahead. +It was the dead of winter, but when they reached the Ohio River, they +found that instead of its being frozen solid, as they had hoped, it was +a turbulent mass of tossing cakes of ice. + +"There was no way of getting over," writes Washington in his journal, +"but on a raft, which we set about, with but one poor hatchet, and +finished just after sun-setting. This was a whole day's work; we next +got it launched, then went on board of it, and set off; but before we +were half-way over, we were jammed in the ice in such a manner that we +expected every moment our raft to sink and ourselves to perish. I put +out my setting-pole to try to stop the raft, that the ice might pass +by, when the rapidity of the stream threw it with so much violence +against the pole, that it jerked me out into ten feet of water; but I +fortunately saved myself by catching hold of one of the raft-logs. +Notwithstanding all our efforts, we could not get to either shore, but +were obliged, as we were near an island, to quit our raft and make to +it. The cold was so extremely severe that Mr. Gist had all his fingers +and some of his toes frozen, and the water was shut up so hard that we +found no difficulty in getting off the island on the ice in the +morning, and went to Mr. Frazier's." + +Here they succeeded in procuring horses, and in a few days more, Major +Washington handed in his report to the Governor at Williamsburg. + +This report stirred the Virginia House of Burgesses to action. It +showed that the whole western frontier was imperilled. One of +Washington's recommendations, that a fort be built at the fork of the +Ohio, was put into effect at once; and a Captain Trent was sent out +with some woodsmen to begin its construction. But before the fort was +completed a force of French descended upon it and captured it. Near +its site they themselves built a larger one, which they called Fort +Duquesne--the site of the later city of Pittsburgh. + +This action on the part of the French was equivalent to a declaration +of war. It was really the beginning of the Seven Years' War between +England and France, for the control of America--a drama in which +Washington was to have no little part. + +When news of the French move reached the Governor, he sent Washington, +with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and a small armed force against +the invaders. The men were mostly half-trained militia whom Washington +had been drilling for some such emergency. They were raw soldiers, but +hardy fellows, who thoroughly believed in their young commander. He +himself, although but twenty-two, was a seasoned campaigner of the +wilderness. Now he was essaying his first trial as a soldier. + +His men marched to a point about half-way to Fort Duquesne, blazing a +road for other troops to follow, and constructing a fort to serve as a +base of supplies. There he sent out scouts to reconnoitre. They +reported an advancing party of French who were ready to attack any +English whom they might encounter. Washington did not wait for them to +attack. He decided to attack first. Taking a force of about forty men +he made a night march in the pelting rain, to surprise the enemy. It +reminds us of his later famous exploit at Trenton. + +"The path," he wrote, "was hardly wide enough for one man. We often +lost it, and could not find it again for fifteen or twenty minutes, and +we often tumbled over each other in the dark." + +However, at daybreak on this May day of 1754, they reached the camp of +their Indian allies; who in turn took them with stealthy tread to the +hollow where lay the French--waiting to ambush the colonists. But it +was their turn to be surprised, and they quickly sprang to their feet +and grasped their weapons. + +Washington gave his men the order to fire--the first of many such +orders that were to come in the stormy days of two successive wars--and +in a sense this was the opening gun. A lively but brief skirmish +followed. The French lost their commander, Jumonville, and nine +others. The English lost only one man, killed, and two or three +wounded. The remainder of the French, twenty-two in number, were taken +prisoners. + +The affair made a great stir, and was the forerunner of extended +hostilities. Washington foresaw the results immediately, and set his +men to constructing a fort which was called Fort Necessity. He had won +his first battle and it greatly inspired his troops. Writing +afterwards to his brother, Lawrence, he said: "I heard the bullets +whistle; and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound." + +Their fort, however, was well-named. For presently the French and +Indians marched down upon them, nine hundred strong, and as Washington +had, all told, but three hundred poorly equipped men, they were +compelled to surrender. The terms of surrender were liberal enough, +permitting the English to return home with their light arms. + +Thus did Washington's first campaign come to a somewhat inglorious +close. He tendered his resignation, and may have felt humiliated over +his defeat; although the House of Burgesses passed a vote of thanks to +him and his staff, "for their bravery and gallant defense of their +country." But later when Governor Dinwiddie requested him to head +another regiment against Fort Duquesne, Washington politely declined. +He had not received sufficient support in the first venture to warrant +another such attempt. + +The next stage in the French and Indian War--and likewise in +Washington's military development--was the arrival of General Braddock +with two regiments of seasoned troops from England. Braddock was an +old campaigner of forty years' experience, who had long since learned +all that was to be taught about the art of warfare. + +"He'd teach those French a lesson--and as for the Indians--stuff and +nonsense!" + +Braddock's arrival made a great stir in the colonies. It was the first +sign of real help from the Mother Country. The governors of four or +five of the colonies met him at Alexandria. It was near Mount Vernon, +and the young retired officer watched the preparations with keenest +interest. He could not help contrasting this splendid equipment with +the scanty packs which his own men had carried. + +Much to his delight, he was invited by General Braddock to join his +staff as an aide-de-camp, a post which Washington joyfully accepted. +Braddock had heard something of the Virginia colonel even before +leaving England; and was not so much honoring this colonial officer, as +immeasurably strengthening his own good right arm--if he had only had +the discernment to know it. As results showed, Braddock did not need +his heavy cannon nearly so much as he needed an insight into wilderness +ways. + +Just before Braddock started west on his ill-fated expedition, he +conferred at Fredericktown, Maryland, with the Postmaster General of +Pennsylvania, a strong, practical man, who was to obtain some +greatly-needed horses and wagons for his artillery and supplies. This +man, a middle-aged and rather plain sort of fellow--and the youthful +Virginia colonel whom he may have met then for the first time--possibly +attracted very little attention in the gaudy military array. But +American history could ill have spared either Benjamin Franklin or +George Washington. + +We will not narrate again in detail here the oft-told story of +Braddock's Defeat--how he insisted on marching across the mountains and +valleys of Pennsylvania, as though on parade--with banners flying, +fifes shrilling, and drums beating. It was a brave display, and such +as the old General was accustomed to, in Europe. It would undoubtedly +put the French and their skulking allies to instant flight! + +Against such a method of warfare Washington raised his voice of +counsel, but in vain. The grizzled veteran brushed him aside. +Washington was for rapid marching, with scouting troops deployed on +ahead. + +"But this prospect," he writes, "was soon clouded, and my hopes brought +very low indeed, when I found that, instead of pushing on with vigor, +without regarding a little rough road, they were halting to level every +molehill, and to erect bridges over every brook, by which means we were +four days in getting twelve miles." + +A few days before Braddock reached the vicinity of Fort Duquesne, +Washington had fallen sick of a fever, and had barely recovered +strength enough to rejoin the command. But the slow progress to which +he refers, enabled him to do so before the attack--though he was still +far from well. + +As he rode up to meet the general, he could not help but admire the +beauty of the scene. The troops had crossed a ford on the Monongahela, +about fifteen miles from the fort, and now marched in close formation +along its winding bank, as though on dress parade. But his admiration +of the display only intensified his sense of danger--the sixth sense of +every woodsman. He begged his general to scatter his forces somewhat, +or at least send scouts ahead. But Braddock rebuked him angrily for +presuming to teach English regulars how to fight. + +Suddenly the sound of firing was heard at the front, although no +attacking party could be seen. The soldiers had marched straight into +an ambush, as Washington had feared. With whoops and yells the Indians +commanded by a few French were firing from behind every rock and tree. +The regulars were thrown into confusion. This type of warfare was new +to them. They did not know how to answer it. The front ranks recoiled +upon the others, throwing all into wild turmoil. + +Washington at once threw himself into the fight--counselling, +persuading, commanding. A company of Virginians, previously sneered at +as "raw militia," spread themselves out as a protecting party of +skirmishers. The English officers, also, be it said, displayed the +utmost bravery in trying to rally their men. The general, as though to +atone for his headstrong folly, seemed everywhere at once. He had two +horses shot from under him, before receiving wounds in his own body, +which were to prove mortal. + +It was all over in a comparatively short time. The troops which had so +proudly marched, with arms glittering in the sun, were put to rout by +an unseen foe. That they were not almost annihilated was due to the +presence of Washington and the Virginians. They fought the enemy in +kind, and protected the fugitives until some sort of order could be +restored. + +Washington it was who collected the troops and rescued the dying +general. He it was who led them back to meet the reinforcements under +Dunbar. And he it was who laid the remains of Braddock in the grave, +four days later, and read the burial service above him. + +Again had the young soldier to taste the bitter dregs of defeat--but it +was salutary, and a part of the iron discipline which was making him +into the future leader. + +That he had not lost any prestige by this experience, but rather gained +thereby, is shown by the call that came urgently to him, soon after, to +take command of all the forces of Virginia. He did not want the +command, but felt that after such a vote of confidence he could not +decline it. And so for three years more he struggled on, a general +without an army, to protect the western frontier of Virginia against +invasion. In April, 1757, he wrote: + +"I have been posted for more than twenty months past, upon our cold and +barren frontiers, to perform, I think I may say, impossibilities; that +is, to protect from the cruel incursions of a crafty, savage enemy a +line of inhabitants, of more than three hundred and fifty miles in +extent, with a force inadequate to the task." + +In the winter of 1758 his health broke down completely, and he feared +that it was permanently impaired. He resigned his commission and +retired to Mount Vernon for a much-needed rest. + +Thus closes the first and formative period of Washington's life--the +period with which the present brief sketch is chiefly concerned. As we +read of those years of adventure and hardship from an early age, we +realize that here was being hammered into shape upon the anvil of +circumstance a very special weapon for some great need. Washington was +not an accident. He was a fine example of what special training can do +for the boy who does his bit with all his might. And because he was +better fitted for the task than any other man in America, we find him, +a few years later, chosen to lead the colonist forces against mighty +England. A pen picture of him at the time, from the diary of James +Thacher, a surgeon in the Revolution, deserves repeating: + +"The personal appearance of our commander-in-chief is that of a perfect +gentleman and accomplished warrior. He is remarkably tall--full six +feet--erect and well-proportioned. The strength and proportion of his +joints and muscles appear to be commensurate with the pre-eminent +powers of his mind. The serenity of his countenance, and majestic +gracefulness of his deportment impart a strong impression of that +dignity and grandeur which are peculiar characteristics; and no one can +stand in his presence without feeling the ascendancy of his mind, and +associating with his countenance the idea of wisdom, philanthropy, +magnanimity, and patriotism. There is a fine symmetry in the features +of his face indicative of a benign and dignified spirit. His nose is +straight, and his eyes inclined to blue. He wears his hair in a +becoming cue, and from his forehead it is turned back, and powdered in +a manner which adds to the military air of his appearance. He displays +a native gravity, but devoid of all appearance of ostentation. His +uniform dress is a blue coat with two brilliant epaulets, buff-colored +underclothes, and a three-cornered hat with a black cockade. He is +constantly equipped with an elegant small-sword, boots and spurs, in +readiness to mount his noble charger." + +In this description, somewhat fulsome in its praise, we can read +between the lines the confidence and affection which inspired his +troops during all the trying days of the Revolution. + +Washington has suffered much at the hands of his biographers. They +have over-praised him, with the result that many readers of today have +come to regard him as scarcely human--a sort of demi-god. But one or +two more recent biographers have had the courage and conviction to tear +aside the mask, and we can, if we will, see Washington the +man--quick-tempered at times, perhaps profane in the heat of battle, +fond of display and good living in his hours of ease--but also a man to +be trusted in every crisis, cool, courageous, resourceful--a strategist +who made the ablest generals that England could send over against him, +suffer by comparison. + +And when the great fight was won, and the last of their proud generals, +Cornwallis, had grudgingly yielded up his sword--it is pleasant to +think of Washington writing about it to--whom do you think?--a +white-haired old man now ninety years of age, who had given the young +surveyor his first start in life. Lord Fairfax was an old Tory, an +unreconstructed English gentleman of the old school, who drank the +King's health religiously every day at dinner. It must have been with +mixed feelings, therefore, that he heard of Cornwallis's surrender. +But pride in his protégé must have conquered. We can imagine him as +lifting his glass with trembling fingers to another toast: + +"Here's to George Washington!" + +And to that toast grateful America will ever respond. + + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN WASHINGTON'S LIFE + + 1732. February 22. George Washington born. + 1747. Left school. + 1748. Became a surveyor. + 1753. Sent by Governor Dinwiddie on a mission to the French. + 1754. Appointed lieutenant-colonel and sent against the + French and Indians. + 1755. Joined General Braddock's staff with rank of colonel. + 1757. Resigned his army commission. + 1759. Married Martha Dandridge Custis. + 1775. Appointed commander-in-chief of American forces, + in Revolution. + 1781. Receives surrender of Cornwallis. + 1788. Became first President of the United States. + 1797. Ended second term as President. + 1799. December 14. Died at Mt. Vernon. + + + + +GRANT + +THE MAN WHO "CAME BACK" + +"Can a man 'come back'?" + +This is a question one frequently hears nowadays; and the answer is, +more often than not, a shrug of the shoulders. For the man who has +once failed--or even passed his first chance of success--is not +considered seriously in this busy day and time. He is a +"down-and-outer"; he cannot "come back." + +But there are exceptions to every rule, and one of the most striking +ones in all history, to the above adage, is furnished by the man who +led the Union forces to victory in the American Civil War, and later +achieved the presidency. + +Here was a man who, at forty, was generally regarded as a failure, a +ne'er-do-well. But for the accident of war he would in all likelihood +have ended his days "unwept, unhonored, and unsung." We have a picture +of this middle-aged man, clerking for his younger brothers in a country +store, at eight hundred dollars a year, and day by day sinking further +into the slough of despond. + +He was of little real value to the store, at even that meager salary. +He was no good at driving bargains or at palavering with the trade. He +tried to keep out of sight as much as possible among the boxes and +shelves. His clothing was poor and shabby, his hair and beard long and +unkempt. The brand of failure was stamped all over him. + +Yet this was the man who in five short years was to become the most +famous military leader of his day. + +The life story of Ulysses Simpson Grant abounds in strange paradoxes. +If ever a man was made the plaything of fate, it was he. His career +has even persuaded some writers into the belief that he was "the Man of +Mystery." + +His father, Jesse Grant, was a self-taught man, who is said to have +received but six months actual schooling in his life. He was all the +more determined that his son, Ulysses, should have the education that +he lacked. We find him intervening more than once to drive the boy +contrary to the latter's wishes--but to his later good. The father was +tall, about six feet, rugged and aggressive, making friends and enemies +with equal readiness. Ulysses' mother, however, was quiet, +self-possessed, and patient--qualities which she afterwards gave the +boy. Jesse Grant said of her in later years: "Her steadiness and +strength of character have been the stay of the family through life." + +At the time of Ulysses' birth (April 27, 1822) the family were living +at Point Pleasant, Claremont County, Ohio. But when he was still an +infant they removed to Georgetown, a few miles away, where the father +established a tannery. At this time the town was little more than a +clearing hewed out from the virgin forest. Wood was plentiful and +cheap, and for this reason, Mr. Grant bought a tract of land and set up +his tannery. + +Ulysses, or "Lys" as the neighbors called him, was the oldest of six +children--three boys and three girls. As soon as Ulysses was old +enough, his father started him to school. There were no public schools +in those days, so he went to a school maintained by private +subscription and taught by a man named John White. + +White had his own notions about a curriculum, and one of the most +important was discipline. On top of his desk always reposed a bundle +of good husky switches--except at frequently recurring times when they +were beating a tattoo on some hapless scholar's back. It was his boast +that he often used up a whole bunch in a single day. However, his +school was no different from many another of the time. Beatings were +taken as a matter of course. "Spare the rod and spoil the child!" + +Ulysses went to this school until he was fourteen, and mastered the +elementary studies. Between whiles he helped his father at the tannery +or on the farm. The tannery work he always hated. But outdoor work, +particularly with horses, he delighted in. At seven years of age he +drove a team with all the skill of a man; and it was said that when he +could scarcely walk he could ride horseback. The story is told of him +that at a county fair, where a prize of five dollars was offered to any +one who could stick on a trick pony, Ulysses won it after several other +boys had got thrown helter-skelter. He flung his arms around the +pony's fat neck, and stuck on, though as he afterward said: "That pony +was as round as an apple." + +He tells another amusing story of himself, in these early days. He +greatly coveted a young colt owned by a neighboring farmer, and after +teasing his father, the latter tried to buy it for him. But he offered +only twenty dollars for the colt, and the owner wanted twenty-five. +After some dickering without any result, the boy went to the owner with +this message, which he delivered all in a breath: + +"Father says I may offer you twenty dollars; and if you won't take +that, I am to offer you twenty-two and a half; and if you won't take +that for your colt, I am to pay you twenty-five dollars." + +"It would not take a Connecticut farmer to tell what was the price paid +for the colt," he added afterward when telling the story. + +This little incident, while amusing, reveals a trait in his character +which persisted all through life. He was the soul of candor. He +called a spade a spade. And he never could bargain. + +Another early trait revealing itself in later years was something that, +in his Memoirs, he calls a superstition. It was a dislike to turn back +when once started on a journey. If he found himself on the wrong road, +he would keep going until he came to some branching road rather than +turn aside. This habit was destined to make some of the generals on +the other side, in the Civil War, somewhat uncomfortable. They found +that he never quit. + +Thus grew up the boy, Ulysses Grant. He was not considered +particularly bright at school, but he was a plodder, going along +keeping his own counsel. He could not talk readily, even in a small +company, and was hopeless when it came to "speaking a piece" on Friday +at the school. But he was a sturdy, outdoor boy, by this time +remarkably proficient with horses. At the age of fifteen he had +explored the back country for miles roundabout. + +His father, however, had never lost sight of the fact that the boy was +to get a good schooling--and frequently brought up the subject, to +"Lys's" discomfort. The lad was not especially keen for any more +books. But the opportunity came--just as others were to come, to shape +the whole course of young Grant's life. + +The son of a neighbor had received an appointment to West Point, but +had failed to pass the entrance examinations. Jesse Grant immediately +wrote to the Congressman of the district, in behalf of Ulysses, +although the two men were on opposite political sides and had quarreled +bitterly: "If you have no other person in view and feel willing to +consent to the appointment of Ulysses, you will please signify that +consent to the Department." + +Ulysses got the appointment, despite the political feud, and it is +pleasant to note that the two men healed their differences and became +good friends again. + +The boy received news of his appointment without much enthusiasm. He +would much rather be a horse trader, he told his father. But the +latter was determined--and Ulysses went. + +Nor did his appointment please others in the village, who thought the +boy dull. One man meeting Mr. Grant in the street, said bluntly: "I +hear that your boy is going to West Point. Why didn't our +Representative pick some one that would be a credit to the district?" + +This ill-natured speech may have been inspired by the fact that +political feeling ran high at that time; and Jesse Grant as a staunch +Whig and Northerner had made a good many enemies. + +Ulysses was coached for West Point at an academy at Ripley, Ohio, +conducted by William Taylor, and passed his entrance examinations with +fair grades. His best study was mathematics. He entered at the age of +seventeen. + +It took young Grant many a long day to accustom himself to the Military +Academy. The hazing encountered by every Freshman he didn't seem to +mind, so the older men soon let him alone. But the drill and the +dress! To this farm lad it was deadly. These were the days of the +"ramrod" tactics of Winfield Scott--the starch and stock and buckram +days of the army. "Old Fuss and Feathers" his critics called him, but +with all his love of pomp and circumstance Scott was a splendid +soldier, whether on the drill ground, or in the face of the enemy. +Nevertheless, to Grant it was a constant trial, at first. He felt like +a fish out of water. General Charles King thus speaks of him: + +"Phlegmatic in temperament and long given to ease and deliberation in +all his movements at home, this springing to attention at the tap of +the drum, this snapping together of the heels at the sound of a +sergeant's voice, this sudden freezing to a rigid pose without the move +of a muscle, except at the word of command, was something almost beyond +him. It seemed utterly unnatural, if not utterly repugnant. +Accustomed to swinging along the winding banks of the White Oak, or the +cow-paths of the pasture lot, this moving only at a measured pace of +twenty-eight inches, and one hundred and ten to the minute, and all in +strict unison with the step of the guide on the marching flank or at +the head of column, came ten times harder than ever did the pages of +'analytical' or the calculus. + +"Grant had no sense of rhythm. He had no joy in martial music. The +thrill and inspiration of the drum and fife, or the beautiful harmonies +of the old Academy band were utterly lost on him. In all that class of +1843, it may well be doubted if there lived one solitary soul who found +there less to like or more to shrink from, than this seventeen-year-old +lad who, thanks to the opportunities and to the training there given +them, was in less than a quarter of a century to be hailed as the +foremost soldier of more than two millions of men in the Union blue." + +But this was only one of the Grant paradoxes--the contradictions which +were to mark his strange career. + +Life at West Point was not all hardship, however. In his quiet way +Grant made a few warm friends. On account of his initials he was +promptly nicknamed "Uncle Sam," which was soon shortened to "Sam." He +excelled in two widely different courses--mathematics and horsemanship. +We have already noticed his early skill with, and love for horses. Now +it was to stand him in good stead. He was assigned, during one year, +to a particularly intractable young horse--a big, raw-boned sorrel, +named York. One of York's tricks was to rear and throw himself +backward with his rider. But in Grant he found his master, and the +steed not only grew tractable, but developed under his rider's training +into a famous jumper. Horse and rider are vividly described by General +James B. Fry, in his Reminiscences: + +"The class, still mounted, was formed in line through the center of the +hall. The riding master placed the leaping bar higher than a man's +head and called out, 'Cadet Grant!' A clean-faced, slender, blue-eyed +young fellow, weighing about one hundred and twenty pounds, dashed from +the ranks on a powerfully built chestnut-sorrel horse, and galloped +down the opposite side of the hall. As he turned at the farther end +and came into the stretch at which the bar was placed, the horse +increased his pace and measuring his stride for the great leap before +him, bounded into the air and cleared the bar, carrying his rider as if +man and beast had been welded together. The spectators were +breathless." + +"Sam" Grant graduated from the Military Academy in July, 1843, one of +thirty-nine out of a class that had originally numbered one hundred. +Among his classmates were Sherman, Thomas, Meade, Reynolds, and other +soldiers later known to fame. It cannot be said, however, that his +entry into the army was auspicious. He was still by no means +reconciled to the idea of being a soldier. He had not received the +assignment he had coveted, the Dragoons; and moreover his health was +poor. He was troubled with a persistent cough which indicated weak +lungs--but thanks to his life in the open and horseback riding he +escaped a possible attack of consumption. + +After a three months' furlough visiting his father's home, now at +Bethel, Ohio, he reported for duty at the Jefferson Barracks, near St. +Louis, as a second lieutenant in the infantry. The best horseman in +his class had to walk! + +But there were compensations. Outside of duty, Grant could always +procure a mount; and about five miles away from the Barracks--just an +easy canter--was the home of his college chum and roommate, Lieut. +Frederick T. Dent. The Dents had a big, hospitable country place, and +they speedily made Fred's friend feel at home. One member of the +family who had heard much about "Sam" Grant from her brother's letters, +long before Grant appeared in person, was Julia Dent now a charming +girl of seventeen. It was not long before her friends began teasing +her about "the little lieutenant with the big epaulets"--and while she +laughed and blushed she didn't seem to mind. + +The little round of social gayeties, however, was of brief duration. +Trouble with Mexico was brewing, and in 1844 relations had become so +strained that an "Army of Observation," as it was called, was assembled +under General Zachary Taylor, old "Rough and Ready," on the border. +Grant's company was ordered to join this army, on the briefest notice. +The young lieutenant had time only for a brief leave-taking with the +Dents, and one member in particular, but her final message meant all +the world to him. + +In March of the next year, Congress sanctioned the annexation of Texas, +and trouble with Mexico began in earnest. History records the rapid +course of events which made up the Mexican War. We can only notice the +events which directly concern the career of Grant. His company was a +part of the expeditionary force of three thousand men destined to see +active service on the border. + +By the middle of March they had reached the Rio Grande, and pitched +camp opposite the city of Matamoras. Their army was far from its base +of supplies and in a country swarming with the enemy. Before war was +formally declared, two officers who were caught outside the camp were +killed, and two whole companies captured. + +There was no railroad, and General Taylor was compelled to send a +considerable force back twenty-five miles for supplies. On the third +of May the returning troops encountered a much larger force of +Mexicans. A battle followed which continued after sundown. During the +night the Mexicans retreated, but were found further on, in a much +stronger position. They awaited the Americans on the far side of a +pond, their position being further fortified by logs and branches of +trees. + +The captain of Grant's company was temporarily absent, and it fell to +Grant to lead their advance. By this time the bullets were humming +merrily, but he directed his men to deploy to one side and approach +through thicker woods. At last they reached a clearing near the head +of the pond, and he ordered a charge. They captured the position +immediately in front of them, and made a few prisoners, including one +colonel. The engagement all along the line had been too brisk for the +Mexicans, and they broke and ran, leaving a considerable quantity of +guns and ammunition. + +As for the little lieutenant, it was his first battle, and first +command of a company, and he had reason to feel satisfied with the +day's work. + +As one result of the engagement, the Americans now crossed the river, +and became an Army of Invasion. And now that war had actually begun, +volunteers began to flock to the standard. The ensuing months of that +year were packed with incident and no little danger. In August, Grant +was made quartermaster and commissary of the regiment--a position of +responsibility which he held until the army was withdrawn. + +Although Grant's duties were now such as to withdraw him from active +fighting, he was not the man to take advantage of the fact. The lively +battle at Monterey bears witness of this. After a hard encounter on +the outskirts of the city, the Americans stormed it from the north and +east, and began to drive the Mexicans out, street by street. But when +the citadel was in sight, the commanding officer, Colonel Garland, +found to his dismay that they were short of ammunition. + +"We must have ammunition at once," he announced to his men. "Who will +volunteer to ride back with the message? I do not wish to detail any +one, as it is extra hazardous." + +At once, Lieutenant Grant stepped forward and saluted. + +"I will go, Colonel," he said. + +"You are just the man. If anybody can ride through, you can. But +hurry." + +And Grant did. Crouching low on his mustang like an Indian, he dashed +down the bullet-swept streets, made the open, and delivered his message +to General Twigg. + +The Mexican War was marked by the political rivalry of two American +Generals, one of whom was destined to win the highest honors in the +gift of his country--General Zachary Taylor, old "Rough and Ready," and +General Winfield Scott, "Fuss and Feathers." Both were able leaders, +though totally unlike in their methods. Taylor cared nothing for +personal appearance or etiquette. He worked in close contact with his +men. Scott, on the contrary, was fond of display, and issued his +orders through his staff officers. + +Scott was now given supreme command of the Mexican campaign, and +summoned all the regular troops for an invasion by way of Vera +Cruz--the scene of a later landing, in very recent years. Taylor was +left with only the volunteers, but he utilized them at Buena Vista to +such good effect that at the next election old "Rough and Ready" became +President of the United States--the very thing that his political foes +at Washington had tried to prevent, by giving Scott the supreme command. + +Grant's company, with other regulars to the number of eight thousand +men, landed at Vera Cruz, and early in April began its perilous march +into the interior. Roads had to be built and bridges constructed, and +the army engineers toiled night and day. Among them were two young +West Pointers, George B. McClellan and Robert E. Lee. Thus it was that +Grant and Lee first came to know each other, in the wilds of Mexico. + +By the middle of May they had reached Puebla, which they captured +easily. But the army needed supplies, and Quartermaster Grant was sent +out with an escort of one thousand men to forage the surrounding +country. They filled their wagons and returned safely. This jaunt +delighted Grant's soul. It was far better than bringing up the rear on +a dusty line of march. In one of his letters home he writes: + +"I have been delighted with the Mexican birds. Their plumage is +superlatively splendid. They beat ours in show, but to my mind do not +equal them in harmony. I have written this letter with my sword +fastened to my side, my pistols within reach, not knowing but that the +next moment I may be called into battle." + +It is an odd coincidence, that at a later day we find another +soldier--destined to lead his country's armies to victory in a far +mightier conflict--using the soil of Mexico as a training ground. That +soldier was John J. Pershing. + +One other exploit of Grant's in the Mexican campaign must be mentioned, +as it was not only daring, but it also revealed his resourcefulness. + +During the attack upon Chapultepec, Grant noticed that one of the two +main routes, the San Cosme road, was flanked by a small mission church +surmounted by a belfry. He reasoned that if they could mount a +howitzer in the belfry, that section would be made mighty uncomfortable +for the Mexicans. He went at once to his superior officer, explained +his plan, and secured a detail of men with one gun. The gun had to be +taken to pieces, but with it in hand they compelled the priest to open +the church doors to them, mounted the steps to the belfry, reassembled +the gun, and it was soon beating a lively tattoo down upon the backs of +the astonished Mexicans. + +For this "gallant conduct at Chapultepec," as the official citation +read, Grant won his brevet of captain. + +With the signing of the treaty of peace, Grant came home on furlough, +and in August, 1848, was married to Julia Dent. He took his wife to +his father's home, and was made much of by his admiring townsmen. His +father was inordinately proud of "my Ulysses," now a captain and cited +for gallantry in action. In the darker days that were to follow, he +looked back to this time as the very pinnacle of his son's greatness. + +That there _were_ darker days, and many of them, must be chronicled in +any true sketch of Ulysses S. Grant. He was to taste the very dregs of +humiliation and despair. He was to see these same admiring friends +turn from him one by one, with a sneer, or reproachful shake of the +head. + +For days of peace were at hand--long days of barrack routine and +enforced idleness. To Captain Grant these days coming after the +excitement of Mexico were at first welcome, then speedily grew tedious. +He had always hated the humdrum life of the drill ground. Now he was +shifted, after a few months, to a camp at San Francisco. The distance +was so great, travelling as they did by way of the Isthmus of Panama +(this was long before the railroads), that he could not take his wife +with him. His slender pay also would not admit of it. + +Life in all the army camps was free and easy. Liquor flowed freely, +and drunkenness was unfortunately common. Grant like others, drank, +but not to excess. With him, however, one glass was sufficient to +flush his face and render his walk unsteady. It was not long before +the life at this far-removed western camp began to tell upon him. He +quarreled with his commanding officer, and finally resigned from the +service. + +He had to borrow money in order to return home, a long and painful +journey by way of New York, and it was a discouraged, broken-looking +man who greeted his wife and his parents. This was the summer of 1854. +Captain Grant was then only thirty-two, but it already seemed as though +the best and only valuable part of his life was behind him. The recent +conquering hero, with his dashing uniform and epaulets, had become a +somewhat seedy-looking individual with shoulders prematurely stooped, +and shuffling gait. + +The word speedily went round the village, with many a nod and wink: + +"Told you so! Went up like a rocket; came down like a stick." + +His wife, however, had not lost her confidence in him. Through all the +trying days that were to follow, she remained staunch and loyal. She +persuaded her father to let her have a sixty-acre tract of land, near +St. Louis. There she brought Ulysses and their children, and there he +began life anew, as a plain farmer. + +He built with his own hands a log house of four rooms, with chimneys at +each end, and wide fireplaces. With grim humor he called the place, +"Hard-scrabble." But he liked the place. He liked the freedom of it, +with his horses and other live stock. Despite its hardships he +welcomed it as an escape from the petty exactions of military life. + +Nevertheless, he could not make it pay. He did not have sufficient +capital or bodily strength to succeed. An attack of chills and fever, +in 1858, put the finishing touch to this episode, and he sold his stock +and farm the following spring. + +During the ensuing few months he moved from pillar to post, trying +various ventures and succeeding with none. The fates seemed against +him. In St. Louis, whither he had drifted, he was regarded with open +scorn as, what we would now designate, a "down-and-out." One reason +for his poor success lay in the fact that he was a Northerner, and the +city was seething with talk of secession. The clouds of Civil War were +already gathering, and men began to distrust each his neighbor. + +At this juncture his father, who seems rather to have turned against +him also, came to his relief. He offered Ulysses a position in his +leather business, now in charge of the younger boys. Ulysses +thankfully accepted, although the pay was only fifty dollars a month. +He brought his wife and boys to Galena, where at any rate he was sure +of having a roof over his head. + +"The brothers found him of no earthly account at driving bargains, or +tending store," says General Charles King. "He could keep books after +a fashion and do some of the heavy work in handling the miscellaneous +stock." + +Another soldier, who became his devoted follower in the later days, had +his first sight of Grant at this down-at-the-heels period. "I went +round to the store," he says; "it was a sharp winter morning, and there +wasn't a sign of a soldier or one that looked like a soldier about the +shop. But pretty soon a farmer drove up with a lot of hides on his +sleigh, and went inside to dicker, and presently a stoop-shouldered, +brownish-bearded fellow, with a slouch hat pulled down over his eyes, +who had been sitting whittling at the stove when I was inside, came +out, pulling on an old light-blue soldier's overcoat. He flung open +the doors leading down into the cellar, laid hold of the top hide, +frozen stiff it was, tugged it loose, towed it over, and slung it down +the chute. Then one by one, all by himself, he heaved off the rest of +them, a ten minutes' tough job in that weather, until he had got the +last of them down the cellar; then slouched back into the store again, +shed the blue coat, got some hot water off the stove and went and +washed his hands, using a cake of brown soap, then came back and went +to whittling again, and all without a word to anybody. That was my +first look at Grant, and look at him now!" + +But in all likelihood there would not have been another chance to +"look" at him, had not the great Civil War broken out. It was to prove +in his case that what seemed failure was merely lack of opportunity. + +When South Carolina seceded and the call for troops came, the +stoop-shouldered clerk in the hide store began to straighten up. The +call to arms put new life in his blood. He felt his old confidence +returning. He refused a local captaincy, after he had demonstrated +what he could do in drilling recruits, saying: "I have been in the +military service fourteen years, and think I am competent to command a +regiment." + +He went to Springfield, Illinois, and offered his services, and after +some delay was given a desk in the adjutant-general's office. It was +not long before he proved his efficiency, and his advice was sought +more and more by the Governor, in organizing the State Guards. When +the 21st regiment was mustered into service, he was made its colonel. +He had put his foot on the first rung of the ladder of success. + +The 21st, like other bodies of volunteers, was a loosely-knit, unruly +set of men. They took military life as a huge picnic, but speedily got +over that attitude--under Grant. On their first long hike, it is said +that their canteens were filled with whiskey, instead of water--until +Grant went through on a personal tour of inspection, and ordered every +canteen emptied out on the ground. The way he took hold of that +regiment and licked it into shape opened the eyes of Governor Yates and +his staff. In two months it was the best drilled regiment in the +State; and when President Lincoln wrote to the Governor asking +suggestions for promotions, Grant's name headed the list. He was made +a Brigadier-General. + +The story of the Civil War and Grant's great part therein belong to a +longer chronicle than this. Step by step this stern, quiet soldier +fought his way up, winning his country's battles and his own as well. +In the full tide of war he found himself--and better still his country +discovered him. He was never after to prove recreant to his trust. + +"We will fight it out along this line if it takes all summer," is one +of his typical remarks, and one most often quoted. It was toward the +last of the hard-fought war, when the Southern forces under Lee were +doing their utmost to fend off the inevitable. Grant, now the +commanding General of the Union forces, was still putting into practise +the quiet, bull-dog qualities that had led his armies to victory. + +Then came the final dramatic scene at the historic surrender at +Appomattox. Lee had come to discuss terms with him, and now stood +awaiting his arrival, erect, courtly, handsome--the typical Southern +gentleman that he was. Down the road came riding a gaunt-looking man, +with the familiar stoop-shoulders, and mud-bespattered trousers and +boots. It was the general-in-chief on his way to greet his beaten foe! + +The two men looked each other in the eye, then clasped hands like old +friends. Grant recalled the days of the Mexican campaign, and was +surprised that Lee knew so much about him in those days. He wanted to +talk old times, and Lee himself brought up the subject of surrender. + +Grant took his seat at a table and wrote out the simple and generous +terms which allowed officers and men to return to their homes, on +giving their word not to take up arms against the United States +government again. + +Lee's fine, dignified features softened as he read the terms--so much +more magnanimous than he had dared to hope. + +"My men are nearly starving," he began-- + +"What do you need?" interrupted Grant; and gave instant orders that the +defeated army should be supplied with rations. + +"Tell the boys to go home and go to work," he said. + +That was Grant. + + + + +IMPORTANT DATES IN GRANT'S LIFE + + 1822. April 27. Ulysses Simpson Grant born. + 1839. Received appointment to U. S. Military Academy, West Point. + 1843. Graduated. + 1845. Went as second-lieutenant to join Taylor's forces in Mexico. + 1848. Brevetted captain for gallantry. + 1848. Married Julia T. Dent. + 1854. Resigned his army commission. + 1861. Re-entered army at outbreak of Civil War. Commissioned + colonel, then brigadier-general. + 1863. Made major-general. + 1864. Given supreme command of the Union forces, with rank + of lieutenant-general. + 1866. The grade of general created for first time, and + conferred on him. + 1868. Elected President. + 1885. July 23. Died at Mt. McGregor, New York. + + + + +LEE + +THE LEADER OF A LOST CAUSE + +A gray-haired college president sat talking kindly with a young +sophomore who had fallen behind in his studies. + +"My boy," he said, "you must study if you would succeed. Only patience +and industry will prevent your failure here and your failure in after +life." + +"But, General, you failed," replied the sophomore with an amazing +impertinence. + +"I hope that you may be more fortunate than I," was the quiet answer. + +Literature contains nothing finer than that by way of the retort +courteous. + +The speaker was Robert E. Lee--the time not many months after the +surrender of the Southern army. Many were there to brand him as a +"failure," just as this thoughtless sophomore had done, and to all such +critics his reply was silence. In the seclusion of a small Virginia +college he lived and worked, keeping sedulously out of public affairs, +writing and saying nothing about his campaigns. He left to history the +final verdict, which has found him, not a failure, but one of the most +brilliant soldiers of this or any land. + +In Lee's early life and ancestry his nearest parallel is Washington. +These two greatest Virginians were born within a few miles of each +other, in Westmoreland County. Lee was born just seventy-five years +after Washington, (January 19, 1807) and like him was descended of +famous lineage. His father, Light Horse Harry Lee, fought by the side +of Washington in the Revolutionary War; and it was he who in a memorial +address on the great leader coined the immortal phrase: "First in war, +first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." + +Still another ancestor, Richard Henry Lee, had been born many years +earlier in the same old mansion where Robert Edward Lee first saw the +light of day. Richard Lee it was, who was a boyhood friend and +confidant of George Washington; and who later became one of the signers +of the Declaration of Independence. + +It is not strange, therefore, to find that the career of the first +great Virginian profoundly influenced the second. "One familiar with +the life of Lee," says Thomas Nelson Page, "cannot help noting the +strong resemblance of his character in its strength, its poise, its +rounded completeness, to that of Washington; or fail to mark what +influence the life of Washington had on the life of Lee. The stamp +appears upon it from his boyhood, and grows more plain as his years +progress." + +The old homestead in which Lee was born deserves some notice on its own +account. It was built by Thomas Lee, a grandson of Richard Lee, the +emigrant who came to Virginia about the time that Charles I was losing +both his crown and his head. While Charles II was still in exile, this +same Thomas Lee offered the king a haven in Virginia, which was not +accepted. + +The original brick structure was destroyed by fire, but the house was +rebuilt on the same site during the time of Queen Anne, and it is said +that she aided in its reconstruction. This was the ancestral home of +the Lees for several generations. + +Robert E. Lee, though naturally proud of his lineage, never showed +great interest in the family tree. He never had the time or the +inclination to study genealogy, and always said that he knew nothing of +it beyond the fact that Colonel Richard Lee had come to America during +the reign of Charles I. Upon having a family seal and crest made, he +apologized for the seeming parade by saying, "I have thought, perhaps +foolishly enough, that it might as well be right as wrong." Later, +however, when approached on the subject of publishing a family history, +he wrote: "I am very much obliged to Mr. ---- for the trouble he has +taken in relation to the Lee genealogy. I have no desire to have it +published, and do not think it would afford sufficient interest beyond +the immediate family to pay for the expense. I think the money had +better be appropriated to relieve the poor." + +Harry Lee, Robert's father, was not only a soldier, but also a man of +letters. He loved the classics, and has left memoirs written in +spirited vein. He had reached middle life, however, before Robert was +born, and passed away when the boy was eleven. It was the mother's +influence--and here again we have a parallel with Washington--which was +paramount in the early days. She was a Carter, of an equally old and +distinguished family, and is spoken of as an amiable and gracious lady. + +When Robert was still a child, his family moved to Alexandria, and very +shortly his father went away on a trip for his health, from which he +never returned. Between the boy and his mother the ties became very +close. He was devoted to her, and on her part she said, after he went +away to school, "You have been both son and daughter to me." + +Long afterward, Lee alludes to this period in a letter to his own son, +by way of counsel: "A young gentleman who has read Virgil must surely +be competent to take care of two ladies; for before I had advanced that +far I was my mother's outdoor agent and confidential messenger." + +Robert Lee obtained his first schooling at the old academy in +Alexandria, then taught by a Mr. Leary, who remained always his good +friend. Later he attended a better known school, conducted by a strict +Quaker, Benjamin Hallowell--Brimstone Castle, the boys called it, +solely on account of the color of the brick walls. Hallowell himself +was rarely if ever brimstone in character, though he could be stern +enough on occasion. He "thee'd" and "thou'd" in the most orthodox +style, and decried all warfare. Despite his pacifist teaching, +however, young Lee's earliest ambition was to become a soldier. It was +in his blood. + +He was fond of outdoor sports, especially hunting and horseback riding. +His lifelong fondness for horses brings to mind the same trait in +Grant, his later antagonist. In his older days Lee would tell with +enthusiasm how as a boy he had followed the hunt, not infrequently on +foot, for hours over hill and valley without tiring. Again he wrote: +"I know the pleasure of training a handsome horse. I enjoy it as much +as any one." His famous steed, "Traveller," was known throughout the +Army of Virginia, during the War, and the sight of him caused many an +eye to grow moist as he followed riderless the remains of his beloved +master to their last resting place. + +At the Hallowell school, Lee chiefly excelled in mathematics, a study +which was later to be of great value to him, in the engineers' corps of +the army. Hallowell paid a tribute to his pupil after the latter +became famous, saying: "He was a most exemplary student in every +respect." + +One could wish, however, that instead of such idle compliments, the +schoolmaster had really searched his memory and given us some personal +anecdotes of Lee at school. There is actually very little on record +about his early life. He seems to have grown into an attractive and +likeable boy, studious, somewhat reserved, and by no means remarkable. +One kinswoman writes: + +"I have often said since he entered on his brilliant career that, +although we all admired him for his remarkable beauty and attractive +manners, I did not see anything in him that prepared me for his so far +outstripping all his compeers." + +Lee's older brother, Sydney, had already entered the navy, and Lee +himself decided upon the army, as his choice of profession. At the age +of eighteen he applied for a cadetship at the Military Academy at West +Point, and received it direct from President Andrew Jackson himself. +There is a tradition that when Lee presented himself before the hero of +New Orleans, that doughty Tennessean looked him over from head to foot, +then passed him on with the terse comment, "You'll do!" + +And Robert Lee did. In college he made a record that shines to this +day. He was given the coveted cadet adjutancy of his corps. He +graduated second in a class of forty-six. And he did not receive a +single demerit during his entire college career--for rusty gun, or cap +on the floor, or late at drill, or twisted belt,--or any of the hundred +and one things that are the bane and stumbling block of the West +Pointer's existence. Such a record seems almost too good to be true, +and one is tempted to wish for at least one escapade to enliven the +narrative! + +Yet Lee was by no means a prig. Even his detractors of later years +never accused him of that. He was popular with his fellows and fond of +the give-and-take of the drill ground. His ability to make and hold +friends was one of the outstanding traits of his whole life. His men +who followed him through the "Lost Cause" fairly idolized him. + +General Joseph E. Johnson, another Southern leader, was a classmate of +his at West Point and gives us this description of him there. "We had +the same intimate associates, who thought, as I did, that no other +youth or man so united the qualities that win warm friendship and +command high respect. For he was full of sympathy and kindness, genial +and fond of gay conversation, and even of fun, while his correctness of +demeanor and attention to all duties, personal and official, and a +dignity as much a part of himself as the elegance of his person, gave +him a superiority that every one acknowledged in his heart. He was the +only one of all the men I have known that could laugh at the faults and +follies of his friends in such a manner as to make them ashamed without +touching their affection for him." + +Lee graduated from West Point with the Class of '29, and the rank of +second lieutenant of engineers. His first important move after leaving +school was to choose for wife Mary Custis, daughter of George +Washington Parke Custis of Arlington, the last branch of the Washington +family. Here again the fates linked up the names of Washington and +Lee. The two homes at Arlington and Mt. Vernon were only a few miles +apart on the Potomac, and as a final link in the chain we find, years +after, at the close of his life, Lee giving his last efforts to +building up Washington College, which was to be known thereafter as +Washington and Lee. + +When Mary Custis became Mrs. Robert E. Lee there was some disparity in +their fortunes. She was the heiress of the Custis estate, while he was +drawing only the meager pay of a second lieutenant. But such was her +pride and confidence in him, that she turned her back on money and +decided to live on her husband's income. It was harsh training for a +time, but it fitted her to become a real helpmeet for him; and in the +rigorous days of the Civil War she was glad that she had learned early +to "do without." + +One of Lieutenant Lee's first assignments in the engineering corps was +the construction of harbor defenses in Hampton Roads. As he labored to +make these as strong as possible, he little dreamed that it would be +his problem, a quarter of a century later, to study how he might +demolish them. + +From Hampton Roads he was transferred to Washington, and made assistant +to the chief engineer--an agreeable change as it brought him close to +his wife's home. Mounted on a favorite steed he could easily "commute" +back and forth between office and home. On one occasion it is related +that he invited a brother officer, Captain Macomb, out home for the +night, and as the latter had no mount, Lee took him up behind himself, +and down Pennsylvania Avenue they went, saluting other officers whom +they encountered, with great glee. That was one time when a +commutation ticket was good for two. + +Five years after graduation he had worked up to a first lieutenancy, +and two years more found him a captain. In 1835 he was appointed on a +commission to fix the boundary line between Michigan and Ohio. A few +months later he was detailed to make an important study of the +Mississippi River and Valley with a view to determining how to prevent +the annual overflows with their consequent damage to property. His +researches were chiefly along the upper river at Illinois. It is said +that while there he was struck with the enormous potential energy of +the current, and reported that if a dam were constructed at a certain +place, a great storehouse of power would be possible. This was long +before the day of the dynamo, by which such power could be harnessed. +Many years later, however, his dream came true, at the place he had +indicated,--the great power dam nearly a mile long blocking the "Father +of Waters" for the first time in his tumultuous career, at Keokuk, Iowa. + +Farther down stream, above St. Louis, he began a system of river +improvements which aroused no little opposition among property owners. +The dispute that arose was one of the first things which brought the +name of Robert E. Lee to public attention. But despite the +short-sighted protests of some citizens of St. Louis, Lee went quietly +ahead and carried the work through to the permanent betterment of the +city. "I was sent here to do certain work, and I shall do it," was his +terse comment. + +When he had completed his work on the Mississippi, he was sent to New +York to complete the harbor defenses at Fort Hamilton--down at the +gateway of the city. He had been made captain of engineers by this +time, and was looked upon as one of the ablest men in his line of work, +in the army. + +It was not long before his mettle was to be tested in actual warfare. +The trouble with Mexico which had been smouldering for several years at +length burst into flame. After the first victories along the border +under General Zach. Taylor, a campaign from the sea was undertaken, +under General Winfield Scott, who landed at Vera Cruz. The purpose was +to march overland to the capital, reducing the country as they went; +and to make this possible the army engineers were in demand. They +answered the call gladly, for the spirit of adventure ran high, and +every army officer welcomed the chance to see active service. + +In the corps of engineers we find several names destined to become +famous--Lee, Beauregard, McClellan, Foster, Tower, Stevens, Totten, and +others; while Grant was attached to the commissary of the same army. +It was in effect a training school for the great drama of a few short +years later. + +Captain Lee was placed on the personal staff of General Scott, and +given supervision of important road and bridge building. In a letter +to his wife, dated Rio Grande, October 11, 1846, he writes: "We have +met with no resistance yet. The Mexicans who were guarding the passage +retired on our approach. There has been a great whetting of knives, +grinding of swords, and sharpening of bayonets ever since we reached +the river." + +This was written while serving with General Wool in northern Mexico. +He took part in the battle of Buena Vista, his first engagement, and +was then summoned to Vera Cruz by Scott. That doughty old General and +former commandant at West Point had all along shown a great partiality +for Lee; and in the campaign which was to follow, we find him +constantly writing of his young staff officer in glowing terms. One +such incident is typical. + +Lee had undertaken alone an all-night exploration of a desolate, lava +tract called the Pedregal, which had been shunned by scouts and +troopers alike. It was treacherous country, difficult to traverse, and +possibly infested by the enemy. General Scott writes: "I had +despatched several staff officers who had, within the space of two +hours, returned and reported to me that each had found it impracticable +to penetrate far into the Pedregal during the dark. . . . Captain Lee, +having passed over the difficult ground by daylight, found it just +possible to return to San Augustin in the dark, the greatest feat of +physical and moral courage performed by any individual, in my +knowledge, pending the campaign." + +Another General, P. F. Smith, also bears tribute to this and other such +feats: "I wish partially to record my admiration of the conduct of +Captain Lee, of the Engineers. His reconnaissances, though pushed far +beyond the bounds of prudence, were conducted with so much skill that +their fruits were of the utmost value--the soundness of his judgment +and personal daring being equally conspicuous." + +At Vera Cruz Lee had the pleasure of meeting his older brother, from +whom he had long been separated. This was Lieutenant Sydney Smith Lee, +who had entered the Navy before Robert went to West Point. Now for the +first time the brothers, sailor and soldier, fought side by side. But +it was with mixed feelings that Robert Lee passed through this +experience. He was brave enough on his own account, but he constantly +trembled for Sydney! He had placed a battery in position to reduce the +town, and thus describes the ensuing action: + +"The first day this battery opened Smith served one of the guns. I had +constructed the battery, and was there to direct its fire. No matter +where I turned, my eyes reverted to him, and I stood by his gun +whenever I was not wanted elsewhere. Oh! I felt awfully, and am at a +loss what I should have done had he been cut down before me. I thank +God that he was saved. He preserved his usual cheerfulness, and I +could see his white teeth through all the smoke and din of the fire." + +When the soldiers moved inland, after capturing Vera Cruz, the sailors +were left behind, and Lee had to bid his brother farewell. + +The records of the six months' campaign in Mexico contain many +references to Lee's skill and bravery. He was then forty years old, in +the hey-dey of his vigor. He would remain in the saddle from dawn to +twilight, if necessary, and never shirked a duty. No wonder that Scott +was proud of him and came to rely upon him more and more. + +"At Chapultepec," he writes, "Captain Lee was constantly conspicuous, +bearing important orders till he fainted from a wound and the loss of +two nights' sleep at the batteries." + +The campaign certainly showed that Lee was a soldier and the son of a +soldier. He was repeatedly cited for meritorious conduct, and was +brevetted major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel in rapid succession. +This proved not merely his bravery, but his ability in planning +engagements and discovering the weak points of the enemy--features +which he was to turn to such remarkable account in many famous battles +of the Civil War. + +When peace with Mexico was declared, Lee was given a welcome furlough, +and went back to Arlington to visit his wife and children. He had been +so constantly away from home, that he failed to recognize his youngest +son, whom he had left an infant. And it is said that he himself was +first recognized by a faithful dog. + +His son and namesake, R. E. Lee, in his "Recollections," speaks of his +father's love for animals. He once rescued a dog that was near +drowning in the "Narrows," and it became his devoted follower through +life. In a letter home he writes (one of many such references), +"Cannot you cure poor Spec? (his dog). Cheer him up! Take him to walk +with you--tell the children to cheer him up." We have already spoken +of his favorite horse, "Traveller." After the great War, during which +horse and rider were inseparable, Lee wrote a description and tribute +to his equine friend which must appeal to every true lover of horses. + +Lee's two elder sons held true to the family traditions by both +entering West Point. Lee himself was presently sent there by the +government as Superintendent--just twenty-three years after he had +graduated. He served in this capacity for three years, then was given +an assignment to the cavalry, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. For +the next five years his duties took him into several states, chiefly in +the West and Southwest. It was an unsettled time on the Border, both +from the Mexicans at the South, and the Indians in the West, and +constant police duty was necessary. It was arduous and lacked the +thrill of a real campaign, but in any event, it kept Lee from growing +rusty as a soldier. Unconsciously to him and to his Government, it was +shaping him and fitting him for the great drama just ahead. + +For slowly but surely the North and the South were drifting apart. At +first the discussion had been political, but now it was growing more +and more personal and bitter. The disputed questions were slavery and +States' Rights. A preliminary cloud in the sky was the fanatical raid +of John Brown, who, in 1859, tried to stir up the negroes of northern +Virginia against their masters. This raid was promptly crushed at +Harper's Ferry, and Lee with his regiment of cavalry assisted in +restoring order, but though + + "John Brown's body lay a'mouldering in the grave. + His soul went marching on." + + +While many Southerners did not own slaves and did not believe in +slavery, the question of States' Rights found them with undivided +front. Had not this doctrine been expressly implied in the Federal +Constitution? Had not this right been invoked more than once in the +North--by the staunch State of Massachusetts, for example, as early as +1809, and as lately as 1842? Thus they reasoned, and when matters at +last reached a breaking point in 1861, the Southern States, following +South Carolina's lead one by one, felt that they were acting only +within their recognized rights. + +The actual call to arms brought a heart-breaking time to many homes. +In some it actually parted father and son, or brother and brother. +While it created no such chasm in the Lee family, it brought to Robert +E. Lee the bitterest and most trying decision of his whole life. + +Lee had loved his country. He had served her faithfully for thirty-two +years. His actions rather than his words had proved his entire +devotion, but the words too were not lacking, as references to his +letters will show. One such glimpse of his heart is seen in a letter +written from Texas, in 1856. In telling his wife about his Fourth of +July celebration, he says: "Mine was spent after a march of thirty +miles, on one of the branches of the Brazos, under my blanket, elevated +on four sticks driven in the ground, as a sunshade. The sun was fiery +hot, the atmosphere like a blast from a hot-air furnace, the water +salt, still my feelings for my country were as ardent, my faith in her +future as true, and my hope for her advancement as unabated, as they +would have been under better circumstances." + +When finally the choice had to be made, between State and Nation, Lee +was sore beset. He had no interest in the perpetuation of slavery. +His views all tended the other way. "In this enlightened age," he +wrote, "there are few, I believe, but will acknowledge that slavery as +an institution is a moral and political evil." He had already set free +his own slaves, and was in favor of freeing "all the slaves in the +South." + +But when it came a question of deserting his own State, his beloved +Virginia, the problem was far more difficult. "All night nearly he +paced his chamber," says Thomas Nelson Page, "often seeking on his +knees the guidance of the God he trusted in. But in the morning light +had come. His wife's family were strongly Union in their sentiments, +and the writer has heard that powerful family influences were exerted +to prevail on him to adhere to the Union side. 'My husband has wept +tears of blood,' wrote Mrs. Lee to his old commander, Scott, who did +him the justice to declare that he knew he acted under a compelling +sense of duty." + +Lee had no illusions as to the sternness of the contest, and the +sacrifices that he with all others would have to make. His own +beautiful home lay just across the river from Washington. He must have +seen with prophetic vision how it would be seized by the Federal +Government and held for other purposes--an act of confiscation that was +only partially atoned for half a century later. He knew also that +Virginia being a border State would bear the brunt of war. + +"I can contemplate no greater calamity for the country than a +dissolution of the Union," he wrote in January. And in April that +dissolution came. + +Nor did the fortunes of the War itself swerve him from the belief that +in serving his State, he was doing his highest duty. After it was over +and he had gone into the retirement of work in Washington College, we +find him writing to General Beauregard as follows: + +"I need not tell you that true patriotism sometimes requires men to act +exactly contrary at one period to that which it does at another--and +the motive which impels them--the desire to do right--is precisely the +same. History is full of illustrations of this. Washington himself is +an example." (Here he invokes the example that had been his guiding +star since early boyhood.) "He fought at one time against the French +under Braddock, in the service of the King of Great Britain. At +another he fought with the French at Yorktown, under the orders of the +Continental Congress, against him. He has not been branded by the +world with reproach for this; but his course has been applauded." + +While Lee was wrestling with his momentous decision, a further +temptation was placed in his path, which he thrust aside. He was +offered the high post of commander-in-chief of the Union forces. This +offer came at a suggestion from Scott that "Colonel Lee would be worth +fifty thousand troops to our side"; and although Lincoln had never met +him, he was glad to accede to the suggestion. Lee quietly remarked in +declining the honor, "I stated as candidly and courteously as I could, +that, though opposed to secession and deprecating war, I could take no +part in an invasion of the Southern States." + +Such was the manner of man who was soon chosen to lead the Confederate +armies. Let us pause for a final picture of the man himself, from a +composite by men who knew him. + +In physique Lee was every inch a man. He stood five feet eleven inches +in height, weighed 175 pounds, and there was not an ounce of +superfluous flesh on him. He was "as fine-looking a man as one would +wish to see," said General Hunt, "of perfect figure and strikingly +handsome." General Meigs added: "Lee was a man then in the vigor of +youthful strength, with a noble and commanding presence, and an +admirable, graceful, and athletic figure." General Preston remarked +that he had "a countenance which beamed with gentleness and +benevolence." J. S. Wise said, "I have seen all the great men of our +times, except Mr. Lincoln, and I have no hesitation in saying that +Robert E. Lee was incomparably the greatest looking of them all." And +Alexander H. Stephens, when he saw Lee for the first time, and talked +of the newly-born Confederacy, was moved in his enthusiasm to say: "As +he stood there, fresh and ruddy as a David from the sheepfold, in the +prime of manly beauty and the embodiment of a line of heroic and +patriotic fathers and worthy mothers, it was thus I first saw Robert E. +Lee. . . . I had before me the most manly and entire gentleman I ever +saw." + +Lee's fame as a general of the first rank has survived the +over-enthusiastic eulogies of his friends and the first caustic +comments of his foes. His strategy has come to be recognized as of the +highest order. To begin with, he had to build his army "from the +ground up," but ended by having one of the most perfect fighting +machines in the history of warfare. His men obeyed him with a devotion +that was almost idolatrous. He suggested the uniform of quiet gray on +account of its protective coloring and against all the army traditions +of ages, that an army should march into action in gaudy and glittering +attire. It was not until the great World War of a later century, that +wise military leaders followed his example and dressed their troops as +inconspicuously as possible. + +It is not the province of this short sketch to trace General Lee's +campaigns step by step to the final meeting with Grant at Appomattox. +Army after army was sent to meet him from the North's far greater +resources, only to be baffled or defeated in the South. And it was not +until he forsook his successful tactics of the defensive, and assumed +the offensive on his invasion of Pennsylvania, that he encountered +serious defeat at Gettysburg. + +But, after all, the great foe to whom his troops had finally to +succumb, was General Starvation. The resources of the South were +literally exhausted. + +"My men are starving," said Lee tersely to Grant; and back of them lay +a suffering land that had literally been "bled white." + +It was indeed a bitter lesson that the South had learned, but the +verdict of history is that it was salutary. The Union was greater than +any State or any group of States. It had required a War to rectify +that fatal flaw in the Constitution, but out of the fires of that +terrible conflict was fused a Union "strong and great," that should be +far better fitted to withstand the shock of Time. + +Since that bygone day when Lee laid aside his sword forever, and his +men went straggling back to their plowshares, America has become +engaged in two other wars. And among the first to respond to the bugle +call and line up behind "Old Glory" have been the sons and grandsons of +that staunch line of Gray--the men who followed Lee. + +If the souls of great soldiers ever come back to earth, we can imagine +no finer picture than the Leader of a Lost Cause again looking up to +the Stars and Stripes and pledging it his silent allegiance. We can +seem to see him on his familiar gray charger at the head of his forces, +fighting again for his beloved country. We can seem to hear his voice +ringing in command: + +"On, men of Virginia! On, men of the South! We are Americans all!" + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN LEE'S LIFE + + 1807. January 19. Robert Edward Lee born. + 1825. Entered West Point. + 1829. Graduated second in his class. Made second-lieutenant + in engineers. + 1831. Married Mary Custis. + 1838. Appointed captain. + 1845. Joined General Scott's staff in Mexico. + 1848. Made colonel for gallant conduct. + 1852. Appointed superintendent of West Point. + 1855. Appointed lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, in service + against Indians. + 1861. Made general in Confederate Army. + 1865. Surrendered to Grant. + 1865. Accepted presidency of Washington College, Virginia. + 1870. October 12. Died at this college. + + + + +NAPOLEON + +THE FRIENDLESS BOY WHO WAS TO SWAY MIGHTY ARMIES + +"Hayseed! hayseed!" + +Thus mocked a group of schoolboys of a mate who stood moodily by and +glowered upon them. + +Although their words were not English, "Hayseed!" was what they meant +by the punning French phrase. This boy from the South who did not +speak as they did, or act as they did, and wore cheaper clothes, was +the butt of their ridicule. + +"He calls himself 'Napoleone,'" they said. "He means 'La paille au +nez' (straw-nose)." + +And the way they rattled it off sounded like his name turned round. No +wonder the Southerner glared. + +How this moody and unpopular schoolboy grew from childhood without +intimate friends--without being understood--into a masterful leader of +men is one of the strange puzzles of history. It totally upsets that +other paradox, "The child is father of the man," for there was little +to indicate in the child Bonaparte, the man Napoleon. + +He was not even born on the land with which his name is forever +associated, France. He first saw the light of day upon the isle of +Corsica, a rocky point in the blue waters of the Mediterranean, some +fifty miles west of Italy. By treaty, this island passed from Genoese +into French control in 1769; and it will always be a disputed question +as to which flag Napoleon was born under. He always claimed the date +of August 15, 1769, as his natal day, which would make him nominally of +French birth. But the boy Napoleon spoke Italian. + +Charles Bonaparte, the future Emperor's father, was not a remarkable +man, although he stood well in his home town of Ajaccio. He practised +law, and must have worked early and late trying to provide for his +large family. His wife, Letitia, a woman of great personal beauty and +force of character, was the mother of thirteen children, Napoleon being +the fourth. + +In a family of this size, it was a case of every fellow shift for +himself, which rule Napoleon followed out with a vengeance. He himself +said in later years: "I was self-willed and obstinate, nothing awed me, +nothing disconcerted me. I was quarrelsome, exasperating; I feared no +one. I gave a blow here and a scratch there. Every one was afraid of +me. My brother Joseph was the one with whom I had the most to do. He +was beaten, bitten, scolded. I complained that he did not get over it +soon enough." + +His mother alone was able to manage him, but she had other things to do +as well; so it is not strange that he escaped from the leash. He +relates one amusing incident where he was caught red-handed. + +In the garden behind their house was a clump of fig trees, which +Napoleon was fond of climbing. His mother forbade him to do so, both +for fear of damage to himself and to the fruit, but the self-willed boy +persisted. "One day when I was idle, and at a loss for something to +do," he relates, "I took it in my head to long for some of those figs. +They were ripe; no one saw me, or could know anything of the matter. I +made my escape, ran to the tree, and gathered the whole. My appetite +being satisfied, I was providing for the future by filling my pockets, +when an unlucky gardener came in sight. I was half-dead with fear, and +remained fixed on the branch of the tree, where he had surprised me. +He wished to seize me and take me to my mother. Despair made me +eloquent; I represented my distress, promised to keep away from the +figs in future, and he seemed satisfied. I congratulated myself on +having come off so well, and fancied that the adventure would never be +known; but the traitor told all. The next day my mother wanted to go +and gather some figs. I had not left any, there was none to be found. +The gardener came, great reproaches followed, and an exposure." The +upshot of it was a sound thrashing! + +But despite all the trials that the boy gave his mother, there always +existed between them a strong affection. Napoleon never spoke of her +in after years, except in words of praise. "It is to my mother, to her +good precepts and upright example, that I owe my success and any great +thing I have accomplished." And again: "My mother was a superb woman, +a woman of ability and courage." + +The boy's first regular schooling was obtained at a small village +school kept by nuns. We have a picture of him there as a small thin +boy with a shock of unruly hair, a face not always clean, and +"stockings half off." But how many other boys have been guilty of such +conventional sins--only they do not get immortalized in the sober pages +of history! + +He next went to a more advanced day school, and then to a seminary +conducted by the Abbé Recco. While not a prize student, he was fond of +geography, history, and mathematics, and even as a lad his wonderful +memory for names and dates began to assert itself. He had what is +known as a photographic mind. When once it had received an impression, +the record was permanent. + +One other bent early asserted itself. It was for warlike scenes. The +boy not only read greedily of Caesar and Alexander and other great +conquerors of the past--he drew pictures on the walls, of regiments of +soldiers, which in fancy he commanded. + +His brother Joseph would jeer, and then there was more trouble. Joseph +generally got the worst of it both bodily and mentally. No sooner was +the fight over, than the conqueror made good his vantage. + +"I went to complain before he had time to recover from his confusion. +I had need to be on the alert. Our mother would have repressed my +warlike humor, she would not have put up with my caprices. Her +tenderness was allied with severity. She punished, rewarded all alike; +the good, the bad, nothing escaped her. My father, a man of sense, but +too fond of pleasure to pay much attention to our infancy, sometimes +attempted to excuse our faults. 'Let them alone,' she replied; 'it is +not your business, it is I who must look after them.'" + +The father, a man of happy-go-lucky disposition, would shrug his +shoulders and laugh. But when it came to choosing a profession for the +two boys, he did not hesitate. Joseph, the brow-beaten, should become +a priest, he said, while Napoleon must study soldiering--which decision +suited at least one of the boys to a T. + +Napoleon was only nine years old when this decision was made, but very +precocious. He talked and reasoned like a boy five years older. His +unruly disposition probably hastened the choice as well. His parents +felt that a school where there was stern discipline would be the best +thing for him. Accordingly his father obtained for him an appointment +to one of the royal military schools; and on April 23, 1779, he was +formally enrolled at Brienne, France, as a student. The die was cast. +He was to become a soldier. + +The next five years, however, were by no means a joyous period in his +life. In the first months he felt like "a fish out of water"; nor did +he try very hard to adapt himself to his environment. It was all +frightfully strange and different. From the sunny island in the +Mediterranean he found himself transported suddenly to the northern +gloom of the Champagne region. The very language was different. He +must unlearn Italian, and learn French. It always came hard to him. +To the end of his days he never could spell correctly--although he did +learn in time to express himself with clarity and precision. + +He found himself, also, thrown into contact with a group of youngsters +who were by no means disposed to put up with his overbearing ways. +Many of them were the sons of wealthy parents, while he at times was in +straitened circumstances. They were fastidious in dress, while he had +inclined to the slovenly. Small wonder that they derided him, or that +he withdrew within the shell of his pride--and stayed there. He had no +intimates. One schoolmate who perhaps came nearest to making a friend +of this stand-offish chap from the South, and who was to enjoy a large +measure of his confidence in after life was Bourrienne. The latter +wrote his famous "Memoirs of Napoleon," which give us many interesting +personal glimpses. Here is one of the earliest: + +"At Brienne, Bonaparte was remarkable for the dark color of his +complexion, which the climate of France afterwards very much changed, +as well as for his piercing and scrutinising glance, and for the style +of his conversation, both with his masters and companions. His +conversation almost always gave one the idea of ill-humor, and he was +certainly not very sociable. This, I think, may be attributed to the +misfortunes of his family during his childhood, and the impressions +made on his mind by the subjugation of his country." + +It is interesting to note that at this time the boy was still far from +reconciled to the idea of being French. He resented the fact that his +father's sword, at one time, had helped to further the conquest of +Corsica by France. It was to this fact, indeed, that Napoleon himself +owed his appointment to this military college. But the boy does not +let this consideration sway him. "I hope some time to be in a position +to restore her freedom to Corsica!" he exclaimed. + +Napoleon's isolation from his fellow cadets was not entirely to his +disadvantage. Brienne possessed a good library, and here day after day +the boy might be found poring over the stories of great exploits of the +past, and dreaming his own day dreams. But his sword was not for +France. He pictured himself as her conqueror! One of his favorite +books was Plutarch's "Lives of Illustrious Men." He devoured the +"Iliad" and the "Odyssey" whole. "With my sword by my side, and Homer +in my pocket, I hope to carve my way through the world," he wrote to +his mother. Another well-thumbed volume was Caesar's "Gallic Wars." + +We read of more than one instance of ill-will showing between Napoleon +and a clique of aristocratic classmates. But we do not find that he +was ever afraid of them or that he ever acted the sneak or the coward. +Morose he often was, and sullen, but it seemed born of the spirit of +misunderstanding which still lurked within his breast, against the +world at large. He had simply not found himself. + +One anecdote related of these school days reveals him as the potential +leader, and shows that the other boys, despite their ridicule, +recognized his ability. During one unusually severe winter a heavy +fall of snow visited the school. Napoleon suggested that they build a +fort, and drew up plans for a complete series of fortifications. The +others fell in with his scheme, and upon its completion a battle royal +ensued which lasted for several days and put more than one of the +participants into the hospital for repairs. In charge of one of the +two armies, now attacking the fort, and now playing the part of its +defenders, was Napoleon Bonaparte. He was in his element at last. + +By the time that he had completed his five years at Brienne, he was +made commander of a company of cadets. His first official report card +is worth reproducing: + +"_School of Brienne_: State of the King's scholars eligible from their +age to enter into the service or to pass to the school at Paris; to +wit, M. de Buonaparte (Napoleon) born the 15th August, 1769, in height +4 feet, 10 inches, 10 lines, has finished his fourth season; of good +constitution, health excellent; character submissive, honest and +grateful; conduct very regular; has always distinguished himself by his +application to mathematics; understands history and geography tolerably +well; is indifferently skilled in merely ornamental studies and in +Latin, in which he has only finished his fourth course; would make an +excellent sailor; deserves to be passed on to the school at Paris." + +Two points are especially interesting in this report--the first that +Napoleon had a "submissive character"; the second that he would make +"an excellent sailor." The following year when another inspector +visited the school, he added a note that was more accurate. "Character +masterful, impetuous and headstrong"; and he decided that Napoleon +should enter the Military School at Paris. + +Accordingly, in the Fall of 1784, he bade Brienne farewell without +regrets on either side, and turned his face toward the capital. No one +seeing this slender, almost dwarfed, figure with the thin face, high +cheekbones and sunken, inquiring eyes, would ever have imagined that +Paris was welcoming her future lord. History holds strange secrets +within her pages. + +At the Military School, he chose the artillery as his particular branch +of service. To what good use he put his study of the field guns, we +find evidence in his first appearance on the field of actual warfare. +At the outset he made few friends; it seemed to be the bitter +experience of Brienne all over again. The trouble was that he was one +of the students being educated at the State's expense--a perfectly +proper system, which we ourselves follow at West Point and Annapolis. +But many of these French students came of wealthy families and, like +young prigs, looked down upon the King's scholars as "charity +patients." Napoleon justly resented this; and even went so far as to +indite a memorial against this condition of affairs at Brienne--which +did not tend to enhance his popularity. + +However he did begin to find himself in a social way. With maturer +years and a broader outlook he began to emerge from his shell. He made +a few good friends, one or two being among the gentler sex. One lady +in particular, Madame de Colombier, took a fancy to this gawky country +lad and frequently invited him to her home in the country. Her +daughter, Caroline, was also a welcome friend, and the memory of those +simple but pleasant hours remained with him all his life as a ray of +sunshine among the all-too-gloomy days of youth. + +"We were the most innocent creatures imaginable," he says. "We +contrived little meetings together. I well remember one which took +place on a midsummer morning, just as daylight was beginning to dawn. +It will scarcely be believed that all our happiness consisted in eating +cherries together." + +The young artillery student--now a lieutenant--also visited the +Permons; and Madame Junot, then a little girl, gives a clever cartoon +of him as he appeared in full regimentals at the age of sixteen. + +"There was one part of his dress which had a very droll +appearance--that was his boots. They were so high and wide that his +thin little legs seemed buried in their amplitude. Young people are +always ready to observe anything ridiculous, and as soon as my sister +and I saw Napoleon enter the drawing-room, we burst into a loud fit of +laughter. Bonaparte could not relish a joke; and when he found himself +the object of merriment he grew angry. My sister, who was some years +older than I, told him that since he wore a sword he ought to be +gallant to ladies, and, instead of being angry, should be happy that +they joked with him. + +"'You are nothing but a child, a little school-girl,' said Napoleon, in +a tone of contempt. + +"Cecile, who was twelve or thirteen years of age, was highly indignant +at being called a child, and she hastily resented the affront by +replying to Bonaparte, 'And you are nothing but a Puss in Boots!'" + +Napoleon at this time was hard put to it to keep up appearances as an +officer, on his slender income. His father had passed away, and he +could not expect further help from home. He was now his mother's +oldest adviser, and we find him writing her sage letters which sound +like a man of forty. Indeed, his brain matured early. At fourteen he +wrote and spoke like a man. + +He was subject to fits of depression and melancholy, and even thoughts +of suicide--but these, fortunately, were passing whims, and gradually +the resolute nature he was to evince in later years began to assert +itself. A favorite motto with him, as a man, was: "The truest wisdom +is a resolute determination," and already he was putting it into +practice. + +Soon after obtaining his commission, he left school on his first +assignment of active duty. Some riots had broken out at Lyons, and his +regiment of artillery was sent there. But things speedily quieted +down, leaving to him the monotony of garrison life. In telling about +it afterward he remarked: + +"When I entered the service I found garrison life tedious. I began +reading novels, and that kind of reading proved interesting. I made an +attempt at writing some; this task gave range to my imagination. It +took hold of my knowledge of positive facts, and often I found +amusement in giving myself up to dreams in order to test them later by +the standard of my reasoning powers. I transported myself in thought +to an ideal world, and I sought to discover wherein lay the precise +difference between that and the world in which I lived." + +Thus we see in the young soldier the same recluse and dreamer of +Brienne. In boyhood parlance today, he "flocked by himself," building +air castles which in part were to become reality. + +As for his early attempts at authorship, he tried his hand with +indifferent success at fiction, essays, and history, but it is said +that he destroyed all this work, with the exception of a fragment, +"Letters on the History of Corsica," which was to have told the story +of his beloved island. + +He returned home on a visit not long after, to help his mother settle +up the family estate. Her means were very meagre, and her family +unusually large. In addition, his father's affairs had become +involved. He had been advanced some money by the French Government to +plant mulberry trees, in connection with the silk-worm industry, and a +part of this advance was as yet unpaid. + +On the score of ill health Napoleon prolonged his stay at Ajaccio for +some months, and did not rejoin his regiment until the spring of 1788. +He stayed on the island to aid the family from his own pay, and to get +a further advance on the mulberry grove; and also as a means of getting +away from other people. He was a pronounced recluse, indulging in long +rambles over the island, and finding his sole pleasure in authorship. +Upon the very threshold of his public career, he still appeared as the +most unlikely object upon which Fortune would bestow her favor. + +And as if there were not barriers enough to his success, he was still +an alien in heart, from France. He wore her uniform and served under +her flag, but he was Corsican through and through--still resenting with +a Southern impetuosity the means by which the French had conquered +Corsica. + +But unknown to him and many a wiser head, the hour of destiny was at +hand. The dark days of the French Revolution were rapidly approaching, +when it seemed as if the whole world would be engulfed in disaster. +With the fateful year of 1789, the hour struck--and Napoleon was then +just twenty years of age. + +On the first echoes of Revolution which reached Corsica, Napoleon was +on the alert. He thought he saw a golden opportunity to throw off the +shackles of the conqueror. But one of the first acts of the National +Assembly was to recognize the full rights of the island as a part of +the State of France; and Napoleon, who had already made an attempt to +organize a sort of Home Guard, felt himself disarmed. + +"France has opened her bosom to us," he said. "Henceforth we have the +same interests and the same solicitudes. It is the sea alone which +separates us." + +With but one lapse, he became a loyal son of France henceforth. The +Assembly, builded stronger than it knew, when it recognized Corsica! + +After the first mutterings of revolt France became comparatively quiet +for nearly two years. Napoleon joined his regiment in 1791, and was +promoted to first lieutenant, in the Fourth Artillery, stationed at +Valence. It was at this time that the ill-starred king, Louis XVI, +tried to flee from the country, but was seized and held a prisoner. +The National Assembly was in complete control, and Bonaparte with other +officers of the army subscribed to a new oath of allegiance. + +It was by no means a compulsory act on his part, but in tune with his +own active, impetuous spirit. He became secretary of a club called the +"Friends of the Constitution," and composed an Address to the National +Assembly. + +At the same time occurred an episode which reveals the duplicity of his +nature--for Napoleon could be unscrupulous when he had his own ends to +serve. Taking advantage of the general state of turmoil he obtained +another leave of absence, and returned to Corsica. There, although +wearing the French uniform, he again fomented trouble against the +authorities. He organized a company of Corsican Volunteers, with which +he was to make a bold stroke for liberty. But the movement failed +ingloriously, and ended only by getting him into disrepute with both +his Government and his neighbors. He saw that his future safety and +career lay with the army, so he deserted the popular cause. The +Corsicans were so incensed that they declared him an outlaw and his +family infamous. In June, 1793, the Bonapartes removed from the +island; and only a few short years found him its conqueror in the name +of France. The last spark of his Corsican spirit was extinguished. + +Only the outbreak of a war with Austria prevented the court-martial +which the recreant officer deserved. Instead, such was France's need +of trained men, that after a brief interval he was actually promoted to +a captaincy. As he himself said: "The beginning of a revolution was a +fine time for an enterprising young man!" + +His first actual taste of warfare occurred at Toulon, where his +regiment was now stationed. Many of the inhabitants of this Southern +port were royalists, and they sought to hold the city for the King. +The republican troops were ordered to capture the town, which they did +after a lively siege and assault. The commander of artillery having +been wounded, Napoleon was ordered to take his place. His skill, +coolness, and bravery during this engagement are well attested. A +soldier serving a gun near him was killed. At once Napoleon took his +place at the gun, and served until relieved. + +Aiding the royalists in the harbor was a fleet of ships under the +English and Spanish; and here it was that Napoleon was to strike his +first blow at his life-long antagonist, England. He submitted a plan +for the bombardment of the fleet, and the capture of a fort which they +had heavily fortified on shore, called, from its strength, "the little +Gibraltar." As a result of a spirited attack at dawn, the shore +batteries capitulated, and a few hours later the foreign ships sailed +away in haste. + +Napoleon's superior officer, Dugommier complimented him highly for his +share in the attack, and mentioned him in the official dispatches to +this effect: "Among those who distinguished themselves most, and who +most aided me to rally the troops and push them forward, are citizens +Buonaparte, commanding the artillery, Arena and Cerconi, +Adjutants-General." + +As a direct result of this first taste of battle, he became, in +February, 1794, a General of Brigade, with charge of the artillery and +stores of the "Army of Italy," as the southern expeditionary forces +were called. But his feet were by no means firmly fixed on the ladder +of fortune. These were the days of the Reign of Terror when no man's +life or liberty was assured. At one time, Napoleon was deprived of his +command, and was in imminent danger of losing his head. He had +incurred the suspicion of the Tribunal, as had many another +unfortunate; but he was finally pardoned, not because of any sentiment +or justice, but because of the "advantages which might be derived from +his military information and knowledge of localities, for the service +of the Republic." + +In the swift turn of events, it was not many months before this pardon +of convenience was actually turned to the advantage of the +Tribunal--and of Napoleon himself. A rival government called the +Central Committee was set up, and the streets of Paris were in uproar. +Something had to be done, and done quickly. Revolutions rise or fall +overnight. The command of Republican troops was entrusted to Paul +Barras, and one of his staff officers was Napoleon Bonaparte. Barras +had the foresight to bring up as much artillery as possible, as his men +were few. Napoleon saw that these guns were placed so as to enfilade +the principal streets. His experience at Toulon, as well as his +natural genius for strategy, stood him in good stead. The "whiff of +grape-shot" which he fired on that October day, in 1795, cleared the +streets of the opposition--and likewise cleared the pathway for him +leading eventually to a throne. + +The whole world knows of the later deeds of this slim figure who thus +steps masterfully forward to the center of the most troubled stage in +Europe. Days of conflict and turmoil were yet to follow for Napoleon, +but never days of uncertainty. He had found himself. In six short +years the brooding misanthrope, the gawky young man who shunned his +fellows, became the self-possessed leader of men, wielding a power of +personal magnetism that was almost uncanny. + +At twenty-six his larger career may be said to have begun. This slight +boyish figure takes command of the Army of Italy and leads that +memorable campaign to the conquest of Italy before he was thirty. +Promptly nicknamed "The Little Corporal" by his army, the term was +speedily turned from one of derision to positive affection. Napoleon +himself accepted it as a compliment. He learned to understand his men, +to fraternize with them, to bring out the best that was in them. + +This was one of the chief secrets of his marvellous career. He was an +able strategist, a skilled diplomatist, a man of vision and cunning. +But despite all these and other high qualities, he would have fallen +short of success if he had not possessed his ability to read and to +sway the hearts of men. Whence came this power to one who had been a +lonely and derided boy? It was as though a magician's wand had touched +him overnight. + +We have space to give only one picture from the crowded panorama of +this world-conqueror, emperor, and exile. It will serve to show the +powerful magnetism of his personality--perhaps serve to explain in some +slight degree the magic of the mere name of Napoleon, throughout the +ranks of his armies. + +Napoleon the mighty had fallen. He had been sent into exile on the +Isle of Elba, but had escaped, and now with a little army of a thousand +men was marching boldly north to reconquer France. The news spread +rapidly, and the King now on the throne sent Marshal Ney, a former +General under Napoleon, to capture him. Ney promised his King to bring +the fallen leader bound into his presence, and, determined to make his +promise good, set forth on the road to Marseilles. + +It was a gray day in early Spring. The sky looked forbidding, and a +chill of winter was in the air. As the King's army moved forward they +descried in the distance a smaller band approaching. At its head rode +a familiar figure, the Little Corporal, with shoulders stooped, as +though bending toward his horse's mane. He gave no orders to his men +who marched forward uncertainly. As the distance narrowed down to a +matter of yards, Napoleon seemed for the first time to note the +presence of the opposing troops. He saw at a glance that many of the +men now confronting him had formerly followed him. + +Dismounting, he walked rapidly toward them, tore open his great coat, +and offered his breast to their rifles. + +"Who among you would fire upon his Emperor?" he cried. + +Instantly the army, officers and men, lowered their weapons and tossed +their caps high in air. + +"Vive l'Empereur!" they shouted; and placing him at their head, they +turned and marched back upon Paris. + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN NAPOLEON'S LIFE + + 1769. August 15. Napoleon Bonaparte born. + 1779. Entered school at Brienne. + 1784. Entered military school at Paris. + 1786. Became junior lieutenant. + 1791. Made lieutenant. + 1792. Made captain. + 1794. Made general of brigade for services against English + at Toulon. + 1795. Cleared the streets of Paris with his artillery, and was + appointed to command of Army of Italy. + 1796. Married Josephine de Beauharnais. + 1797. Completed conquest of Italy. + 1798. Egyptian campaign. + 1799. Made First Consul of France. + 1804. Crowned Emperor. + 1807. Won Battle of Austerlitz. + 1813. Russian campaign. + 1814. Abdicated the throne, and was sent to Elba. + 1815. Returned to France. + 1815. Defeated at Waterloo, and sent to St. Helena. + 1821. May 5. Died at St. Helena. + + + + +WELLINGTON + +THE IRON DUKE + +Of all the curious parallels of history, none is stranger than that of +Napoleon and Wellington, who were to meet as rivals on the fatal field +of Waterloo. + +They were born in the same year, 1769, and in each case the exact date +is somewhat uncertain. Wellington in later life always celebrated the +first of May, but was not sure that it was his rightful birthday. Both +were born upon islands--the one in Corsica, the other in Ireland--which +islands, by the way, were constantly striving to achieve their +independence. + +Both were born into large families. Napoleon was a fourth child and +Wellington a fourth son. The father of each is described as an +easy-going, indulgent man, without force of character, while the mother +was the moving genius of the family. But between Napoleon and his +mother existed a lively affection; while Wellington's mother never +seemed to care for this child, and constantly spoke of him in terms of +reproach. + +Both boys attended military schools in France, far away from their own +home and friends, and consequently drew apart from their comrades, +lived their own lives, and carved out their own destinies. These are +but a few of the early parallels of two famous soldiers who were +afterward to decide the fate of Europe at the points of their swords. + +The family name of Wellington, before he received a dukedom, was Wesley +or Wellesley. As a boy he was known as Arthur Wellesley. His father +was the Earl of Mornington, his mother a daughter of Lord Dungannon. +The Earl is spoken of as a lover and composer of music. Arthur had +three brothers who were all destined to do noteworthy things. His +oldest brother, who bore the title of Lord Wellesley, aided him no +little in choosing his profession of soldier. + +The boy's birthplace was Dangon Castle, Dublin. Almost nothing is +known as to his earliest years, beyond the sorrowful fact that his +mother was not fond of him--almost had an aversion to him--and spoke of +him openly as "the fool of the family." From this we infer that Arthur +was a silent, reserved lad, who did not shine at his studies, but who +nevertheless did "a heap of thinking." Being misunderstood at home he +withdrew more and more into his shell--thus forming a crust of reserve +which was to be more or less a handicap to him all through life. For +the Iron Duke, as he came to be called, never threw off his diffidence +nor won the hearts of his soldiers, as did that other recluse, +Bonaparte. + +Arthur Wellesley's first school away from home was Eton, that great +"prep" school of so many English boys. The fact that he attended there +helped to give rise to the proverb that "Waterloo was won on the +cricket fields of Eton"--but as a matter of record the boy was not +interested in this sport. He preferred the fiddle to the racquet, as +he had inherited his father's love of music. + +"I was a player of the violin once myself, sir," he remarked in after +years to a friend; "but I soon found that fiddling and soldiering +didn't agree--so I gave it up, sir! I gave it up!" + +Only one other anecdote is recorded of his life at Eton, and this was a +fight! Nor was it a case of choose your weapons--it was plain fists. +He began with first principles. A fellow student, Robert Smith, who is +chiefly noted as having been the brother of Sydney Smith, the noted +essayist and preacher, was enjoying a swim in the river, near the +campus. Arthur could not resist the impulse to throw mud at his bare +back. + +"Stop that!" yelled Smith. + +"You make me!" taunted Wellesley. + +"You just wait till I come out," replied his victim. + +"Dare you to come," said Arthur. + +Bob promptly waded out, and they "mixed." Just which boy got the better +of it is not clear, but if justice ruled, the future conqueror of +Napoleon should have received his first trouncing. + +One other fight is recorded of his early schooldays--and this does not +mean that Arthur was naturally of a pugnacious disposition, for he +wasn't. It simply means that one's battles, little or big, are always +remembered, rather than the pleasant though colorless ways of peace. +On a visit home he got into an argument with a blacksmith's boy, named +Hughes. In this instance, might was right. The smith's muscles were +the brawnier, and the Etonian got soundly licked--that is, if we can +take the word of Hughes who was wont to boast in later years that he +beat the man who beat Napoleon! + +At Eton came the usual question which confronts every boy in his +teens--the choice of a business or profession. His mother did not +think he was good for anything. In writing of her children, about this +time, she says: + +"They are all, I think, endowed with excellent abilities, except +Arthur, and he would probably not be wanting, if only there was more +energy in his nature; but he is so wanting in this respect, that I +really do not know what to do with him." + +He took no interest in the law or the Church. He seems to have moped +along in a lackadaisical sort of way in the classroom. He had not +given an indication of "shining" in any direction. Consequently there +was nothing left for a gentleman's son--except the army! It was a +make-shift choice. + +Those were the days of the American Revolution. The progress of this +struggle must have appealed powerfully to the English boys; and the +final defeat of the trained British troops by the raw Colonials must +have been a bitter blow. There came an insistent demand for more and +better schools for the officers. England seems to have been poorly +equipped in this respect. Wellesley himself, like many another English +boy, was sent across the channel to France. The chosen school was at +Angers on the Maine, and was conducted by the Marquis of Pignerol, a +celebrated military engineer of the time. In connection with the +school was a fine riding academy. + +It was in 1785 that Arthur entered this school. He was then sixteen, a +thin gangly-looking boy, who perhaps because he had grown too rapidly +could not be persuaded to take much interest in anything. He felt out +of his element and ill at ease, although he was not the only English +lad here. He is described by General Mackenzie, who was a schoolmate, +as "not very attentive to his studies, and constantly occupied with a +little terrier called Vick, which followed him everywhere." + +This is about as definite a glimpse of him as we can get, but it does +enable us to picture him as idling about the streets of this +picturesque old town, or climbing the steep cliffs which rise from the +water's edge, at the confluence of the streams which flow by Angers. +At the top of the hill we can see him whistling to Vick, and tossing +down one of the gentler slopes a stone or stick for the faithful +terrier to retrieve. + +Did this idle schoolboy dream dreams of future greatness on the +battlefields of the land that was now teaching him to draw the sword? + +Who shall say. + +Although at Angers only a short time, about twelve months, it was by no +means time wasted. He perfected his French and learned many things +about manners and customs that were to be of good service. Likewise, +through his family's influence, he made the acquaintance of several +French noblemen, who must undoubtedly have given him a broader point of +view, and perchance some good advice on the subject of soldiering. + +His father had died in 1781, but his oldest brother, who had made his +mark as a soldier and man of letters, took a lively interest in him and +constantly urged him on. England is indebted no little to this brother +Richard, who, probably more than any other, was the guiding star in the +making of her great soldier. + +In the days just after the American War, the British army was not well +organized or officered. Instead of the fighting machine that it +afterward became, it was a sort of gentleman's training school, so far +as the officers were concerned. Any one who had good family +connections or money could get a commission. The skill and experience +were supposed to come later, on the field of action. + +This fact explains the early promotion of Arthur Wellesley. At the age +of seventeen, soon after leaving Angers, he was made an ensign in a +regiment of infantry, and within five years, by the time he was +twenty-two, he had been made a captain. Nor did his rapid advancement +end here. In 1793 he became a major, then a lieutenant colonel; and by +1796 he was a full-fledged colonel--at twenty-seven! The secret "power +at court" was his brother Richard, who was a secretary to Pitt, the +statesman. But another friend was Lord Westmoreland, Lord Lieutenant +of Ireland, who took a fancy to him and made him a staff officer. + +As one historian puts it, regarding army commissions: "Wealth and +interest were nearly all-powerful; it was the palmy day of purchase +which George the Third had tried and had failed to abolish, and, until +the Duke of York became commander-in-chief, infants of both sexes +figured in the army list as the holders of commissions." + +It is interesting to note--to resume our parallel--that this was the +stormy time of the French Revolution, when Napoleon was painfully +carving his way upward by the edge of the sword, and by push rather +than "pull" had achieved high command in early life. + +But we would do the young Wellington a grave injustice if we pictured +him as leading a life of inactivity, awaiting a promotion through +"pull." He had qualities which now began to assert themselves and were +to contribute to his larger fame. For one thing, he was something of a +diplomat. He remembered names and faces, and turned every acquaintance +to account. Later, he was credited with a marvellous memory--such as +also had his great French rival. + +These qualities, it is true, were slow in ripening. At the age of +twenty-one, he was elected to the Irish House of Commons, from his home +County. This was done in order to give him parliamentary training, and +such service was allowed without the necessity of relinquishing his +military rank or duties. It was merely an extra tail to his kite. He +is thus described by a colleague, Sir Jonah Barrington: + +"Wellesley was then ruddy-faced and juvenile in appearance, and popular +enough among the young men of his age and station. His address was +unpolished; he occasionally spoke in Parliament, but not successfully, +and never on important subjects; and evinced no promise of that +unparalleled celebrity and splendor which he has since reached, and +whereto intrepidity and decision, good luck, and great military science +have justly combined to elevate him." + +Although he made no great mark as a Parliamentarian, he did make +friends at this time, who were destined to influence his life. One was +the brilliant though somewhat unprincipled Lord Castlereagh, who was to +aid him to obtain the chief military command of the English army in +Spain. Another was a certain young lady, Charlotte Packenham, who +found his tongue more eloquent than did his colleagues in the House of +Commons. She was the daughter of Lord Longford, who was not so easily +won over to the young man's suit. In fact, the nobleman gave him a +curt "no." He was looking for a more brilliant match for his daughter +than a subaltern. + +So the young people had to give each other a sad farewell. But it was +not to be forever. Ten years later when the young soldier had won his +spurs, and had returned from his brilliant campaign in India, a Major +General, the parental gates were unbarred. The Lady Charlotte had +remained constant through all the years of waiting and separation, and +they were happily wedded. + +That Wellesley took more than a perfunctory interest in his military +duties is evident even during his earliest years of service. For +example, he wished to determine for himself just how much weight, in +the way of equipment, a soldier could carry in light marching order. + +"I wished," he says, "to have some measure of the power of the +individual man compared with the weight he was to carry, and the work +he was expected to do. I was not so young as not to know that since I +had undertaken a profession, I had better endeavor to understand it." +And he adds, "It must always be kept in mind that the power of the +greatest armies depends upon what the individual soldier is capable of +doing and bearing." It is but another way of saying, "A chain is no +stronger than its weakest link," or, as we put it today, "It depends +upon the man behind the gun." Thus Wellington early discovered and put +into practise that indefinable something we call "morale." + +As lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-Third Foot, he took up his work in +earnest, with the result that in a few months it was officially +declared to be the best drilled regiment in Ireland. + +But the young commander was not content with this. He did not want to +remain at home as a mere "drill sergeant" when affairs were so active +abroad. Due partly to the outbreak of the French Revolution, all +Europe seethed with war. France was in revolt against the world, and +all the neighboring powers were pitted against her. England had +maintained a strict neutrality at first, but when Belgium was overrun, +felt compelled to intervene, just as in the similar great war of +aggression begun by Germany in our own time. + +Naturally, young Wellesley wanted to be in it. He wrote to his brother +Richard importuning him to use his influence in this direction. "I +will serve as major to one of the flank corps," he wrote, as his own +regiment was "the last for service." The request was not granted, +however, and he had to wait until the Spring of 1794 for his chance to +see active service. + +It was a parlous time to go over. The French had defeated one army +after another, of the Allies, and were in the hey-dey of their first +success. The trouble seemed to be lack of unity of command, and lack +of able leadership. The Duke of York was in command of the British +army, but allowed himself to be out-maneuvered repeatedly. By the Fall +of that year, when Wellesley was with the army, the campaign resembled +a rout. + +During a series of rearguard actions in the retreat through Holland and +Flanders, Colonel Wellesley came first into official notice. It was at +the Meuse, a stream made forever memorable in the recent Great War. A +retreat had been ordered during the night, to avoid a superior force of +French. One regiment, however, had mistaken its orders and engaged the +enemy. The result was a hopeless tangle of infantry and cavalry, with +the enemy taking advantage of the confusion to press the attack. + +The Thirty-Third had been ordered to support the rear. Colonel +Wellesley, seeing the danger, ordered his regiment to halt in a field +alongside of the road, leaving the way clear for the retreat. As soon +as the stragglers had gotten by, he threw his regiment again in solid +formation across the road, and they advanced upon the charging French +with such coolness and precision that the attackers were forced to +halt. It was only an incident of warfare, but it showed his promptness +of decision, and the fruits of discipline in his regiment. + +All that ensuing winter the French harried their army. Wellesley was +stationed on the Waal, a branch of the Rhine; and he gives some idea of +their arduous life in a letter dated December 20, 1794: + +"At present the French keep us in a perpetual state of alarm. We turn +out once, sometimes twice, every night. The officers and men are +harassed to death, and if we are not relieved, I believe there will be +very few of the latter remaining shortly. I have not had the clothes +off my back for a long time, and generally spend the greatest part of +the night upon the bank of the river, notwithstanding which I have +entirely got rid of that disorder which was near killing me at the +close of the summer campaign. Although the French annoy us much at +night, they are very entertaining during the daytime. They are +perpetually chattering with our officers and soldiers, and dance the +_carmagnol_ upon the opposite bank whenever we desire them. But +occasionally the spectators on our side are interrupted in the middle +of a dance by a cannon ball, from theirs." + +In this somewhat humorous recital, Wellesley makes no mention of the +sufferings which they must have undergone from lack of food and +supplies of all kinds. He purposely puts the best face on it, and +bears his troubles stoically. But young as he was, he marvelled at the +inefficiency and lack of coordination of the high command. Once when a +despatch was received by the General during dinner, from their ally, +Austria, he tossed it aside unopened with the remark, "That will keep +till morning." + +During three months on the Waal, Wellesley declares that he was in +direct touch with headquarters only once, and adds: "We had letters +from England, and I declare that those letters told us more of what was +passing at headquarters than we learnt from the headquarters ourselves. +It has always been a marvel to me how any of us escaped." + +One result, nevertheless, of this isolation was to throw the young +colonel back upon his own resources. It was the finest possible +training for his later career. + +When Colonel Wellesley returned to England the next year, he thought +for a time of resigning his command. One reason was undoubtedly the +poor state of the army in equipment and discipline. Another was the +fact that he owed his brother money on account of promotions in the +service, and his officer's pay was not enough to repay it. He was +always scrupulous in matters of debt. + +His application for discharge, however, was not accepted. England had +need of all her trained men at this time. In addition to the trouble +in France, there were other affairs demanding attention in Spain and +India. The whole world seemed to need readjusting at once. + +Wellesley's next assignment was to accompany an expedition against the +French settlement in the West Indies, which set sail in October, 1795. +But when only two days out the ships encountered a terrible storm. One +ship sank with all on board, others were badly crippled, and hundreds +of sailors perished. The expedition put back to England. + +Although Wellesley escaped the full effects of this storm, the exposure +left his health undermined. His regiment was ordered abroad in the +Spring, this time to the East Indies, and when they set sail, in April, +he was too ill to accompany them. It was not until February, 1797, +that he joined them in Calcutta. + +Arthur Wellesley was now in his twenty-eighth year. All that had +passed hitherto might be regarded as his schooling. He had been an +obscure and "foolish" boy at school (to all appearance). He had failed +to make his mark as a military student on the Maine. He had been a +dilettante staff officer, and a reticent member of Parliament. Money +and family had apparently made him what he was--neither better nor +worse than many another young British officer. In his brief campaign +in France, he had conducted himself creditably, but had come away with +a distaste for the service, as it was then conducted. + +To revert to our former parallel--Napoleon at twenty-eight was on the +high road to world mastery. Wellington at twenty-eight had not yet +found himself. But now on his trip to India he was on the threshold of +his career. His deeds there and on other fields were to astonish the +world. Did they also astonish the silent officer himself? + +It would require a detailed account of the Indian campaign to trace +adequately the gradual rise of this officer in the service. For his +was not a meteoric or spectacular rise. It was by gradual steps--but +each step found him _fully prepared_. This, perhaps, is as near the +secret of the great soldier's success as we can get. He was never a +self-advertiser. He never talked much. But he was keenly observant, +and his wonderfully retentive memory aided him at every turn. He could +go through a countryside once, and then be able to map out an +attack--using every natural advantage to its utmost. + +And, best of all, his superiors were beginning to discover his merits. +They soon found, beneath his quiet exterior, a keen intellect and an +indomitable will. Within two months after reaching Calcutta he was +consulted by General St. Leger on a plan to establish artillery bases, +and was also nominated to command an expedition against the +Philippines, then under Spanish control, but preferred to remain and +fight it out in India. + +"I am determined that nothing shall induce me to desire to quit this +country, until its tranquillity is ensured," he said--which recalls to +mind the famous saying of Grant's: "We will fight it out along this +line, if it takes all summer." + +Wellesley's next appointment, was as Commander of the Mysore brigade. +His brother Richard, Marquis of Wellesley, had been appointed Governor +General of India, and the two men were destined to exercise a strong +influence on affairs in that disturbed country. While nominally in +control of the land, the English possessions actually included only the +narrow strip running along the various sea coasts; the interior being +overrun by unruly tribes of Sepoys under Tippoo Sahib. It required +careful planning and equipping of armies marching from opposite sides +of India to meet and crush this formidable rebellion. + +In all this strenuous work of field and garrison, Wellesley took an +active part. At one time, as Governor of Seringapatam; at another as +Brigadier General, personally directing assaults upon some native +fortress, and, after its capture, restoring order and discipline, and +thus ensuring the respect and confidence of the natives. + +"I have been like a man who fights with one hand and defends himself +with the other," he wrote at this period. "I have made some terrible +marches, but I have been remarkably fortunate; first, in stopping the +enemy when they intended to press to the southward; and afterwards, by +a rapid march to the northward, in stopping Sindhia." + +In 1803, he was made Major General, with the title of Sir Arthur +Wellesley; and two years later returned to England as one of her most +trusted and esteemed commanders. And England had need of just such men +as he. There were still more stirring years ahead in Spain and +elsewhere, until this strong silent man had emerged into the "Iron" +Duke of Wellington, who should meet that other Man of Destiny on the +plains of Waterloo. + +Wellington won his success by his infinite capacity for taking pains. +His life defies the biographer to analyze, whether through the medium +of a lengthy volume or a brief chapter--because it was made up of so +many little things. They were the duties of each day, but he not only +did them thoroughly, he also learned through them the larger grasp of +the next day's problems. + +A contemporary pen picture of "the Sepoy General," on his return to +England in 1805, will serve to show us what manner of man he appeared +to be, to his subordinates. Captain Sherer, who has left this +portrait, says: + +"General Wellesley was a little above the middle height, well limbed +and muscular; with little incumbrance of flesh beyond that which gives +shape and manliness to the outline of the figure; with a firm tread, an +erect carriage, a countenance strongly patrician, both in feature, +profile, and expression, and an appearance remarkable and +distinguished. Few could approach him on any duty, or, on any subject +requiring his serious attention, without being sensible of a something +strange and penetrating in his clear light eye. Nothing could be more +simple and straightforward than the matter of what he uttered; nor did +he ever in his life affect any peculiarity or pomp of manner, or rise +to any coarse, weak loudness in his tone of voice. It was not so that +he gave expression to excited feeling." + +His reputation as a great soldier will stand for all time, not because +he defeated Napoleon, but because his whole military career was built +upon duty. It was not ostentation but merit, that won him the supreme +command. His ideals were always high. + +"We must get the upper hand," he advised, "and if once we have that, we +shall keep it with ease, and shall certainly succeed." + + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN WELLINGTON'S LIFE + + 1769. May 1. Arthur Wellesley born. + 1785. Attended military school at Angers, France. + 1787. Entered British Army as ensign. + 1793. Became lieutenant-colonel. + 1794. Saw his first active service in Flanders. + 1796. Colonel. Sent to India. + 1803. Major-general. + 1805. Married Charlotte Packenham. + 1808. Made lieutenant-general, and sent to command Peninsular War. + 1814. Created Duke of Wellington. + 1815. Defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. + 1827. Prime minister. + 1852. September 14. Died. + + + + +GORDON + +THE MAN WHO "DISCOVERED" CHINA + +The name, Gordon, brings to mind the warrior--perchance the Highland +laddie who with bagpipes fiercely blowing charges down the rocky slope +against the enemy. + +"Chinese" Gordon, as one of this warlike clan will be known for all +time, came indeed of a race of warriors, and was born in martial +surroundings; but the man himself was far from being of that stern +stuff that glories in a fight. As boy and man, he was quiet, lovable, +and of intensely religious nature. + +Gordon means a "spear," and the name was probably given to the clan +several centuries ago. Its members had always been famous in battle. +Chinese Gordon's great-grandfather led a very eventful life. He was +taken prisoner in the battle of Prestonpans, and later went to Canada, +on the special expedition which wrested that Dominion from the French. +His son took part in many battles, and served with distinction. + +The next in line, the father of Chinese Gordon, was Lieutenant-General +Henry William Gordon, a soldier of the highest type. + +General Gordon lived at Woolwich, long noted for its arsenal. It is +only nine miles out from St. Paul's, and is an object of interest at +any time. But in times of war it fairly bristles with activity. Small +wonder, then, that a boy coming from such a line of ancestors and born, +almost, in a gun-carriage should have chosen to become a soldier. With +any other environment Chinese Gordon would have become a preacher. + +Of course, the name "Chinese," was not the way he was christened. +"Charles George" are his baptismal names--but few people know that fact +now. + +He was the youngest child in a large family, five sons and six +daughters. This calls to mind other large families from which sprang +famous soldiers--Napoleon, for example. Charles was born in 1833, +after his father had reached middle age, and had settled down in the +piping times of peace. The elder Gordon had won his spurs in the +Napoleonic Wars. + +We know very little of the boyhood of Charles Gordon, beyond the fact +that during the first ten years of his life he lived at the Pigeon +House Fort, in Dublin Bay, next in the Fort of Leith, and later on the +Island of Corfu. All these places are spots of great natural beauty--a +vista of stretching sea or mountain-top which the frowning fortress +only aided in romance and charm. Many a long ramble must the boy have +had, storing his memory with these quiet, sylvan pictures. + +Not far from Leith was the famous battlefield of Prestonpans, where, +nearly a century before, his great-grandfather had been taken prisoner. +From his father or brothers he must have heard many a wild tale of the +Highlanders and their exploits. + +As a child, however, this did not appeal to him. He loved nature in +her quiet moods best. He was timid and nervous, to such an extent that +the firing off of the cannon, when the colors were lowered at sundown, +would make him jump half out of his boots. It was only by the sternest +sort of self-control that he obtained the mastery of himself. + +Not that Charles Gordon was ever a coward. Morally he was +ever-unflinching. He abhorred a lie, and was always ready to stand up +for his convictions. But his physical frame was made of weaker +stuff--much to his own vexation. + +One of the few early stories related of him is that he had difficulty +in learning to swim. He could not get the stroke and he had a horror +of being in water over his head. So he made a practise of deliberately +throwing himself into deep water, when out with his mates, knowing that +it was "sink or swim," or a case of getting pulled out. He was then +only nine. + +A few years later, another instance reveals his determination. A great +circus was advertised in London, a novelty in those days, and the +Gordon boys had been promised the treat. But just before its arrival, +Charles fell into disgrace. He was charged with some fault which he +did not think should have been laid to his door. Later he was +forgiven, and told that he might attend the circus. But his pride was +aroused, and he refused to go. + +When he was ten, the first definite step toward making him a soldier +was taken--for of course, being a Gordon, he must be a soldier. He was +sent to school at Taunton, preparatory to entering, as a cadet, the +Royal Military Academy, at Woolwich. At that time, its commandant was +a veteran of Waterloo, a peppery old chap who had left one of his legs +on the soil of France, as a souvenir. He was a martinet as to +discipline, and Charles, who had become accustomed to doing a good deal +of thinking for himself, came into frequent clashes with him. + +One day, the old man said, "Gordon, I am tired of fooling with you. +You are incompetent; you will never make an officer." + +The young cadet, a boy of sixteen, gave him look for look, without +quailing--then by way of reply tore his epaulettes from his shoulders, +turned on his heel, and strode out of the room. + +Naturally, the guardhouse was next in order, where the culprit could +cool his heels and meditate upon the sinfulness of superior officers. +In this particular case he seems to have blamed it upon the missing +leg, for he remarked, long afterwards: "Never employ any one minus a +limb to be in authority over boys. They are apt to be irritable and +unjust." + +He remained in the Military Academy four years, having been put back +six months by way of discipline, and left it without any regrets. At +this time, indeed, he had a positive distaste for the army. It was all +drill and monotony. One day was too much like another. What was the +good of it all? Why did men have to learn to kill each other anyhow? +Were we not put on earth for a higher mission? + +Thus reasoned the young man, who, all his life, was subject to moods of +introspection and intense religious thought--surely strange material +out of which to build a soldier! He sensed this fact himself and was +not at all anxious to enter the army; and frequently in later life +expressed a lively dissatisfaction for the service. He was an +exemplification of the poet's line: + +"I feel two natures struggling within me." + +When he entered the service, as a second lieutenant of the Engineers, +at the age of nineteen, there was little to attract one in the army +life. The long peace of Europe, which had followed the defeat of +Napoleon, seemed likely to last forever. Except for a relatively small +outbreak in France, in 1848, all Europe was quiet. Consequently, the +army held little attraction to an active young man. It was all drill +and the petty details of garrison life. But underneath the placid +surface, the political pot of Europe was really boiling furiously--only +waiting a chance to bubble over. That chance soon came. + +Gordon's first assignment was to Pembroke, where plans were required +for the forts at Milford Haven. Here with other engineers he worked +for a few months, when he was ordered to the Island of Corfu. This was +not altogether to his liking. He had spent a part of his boyhood there +in the Ionian Islands, but felt that they were "off the map" so far as +real activity was concerned. + +Then the bubbling pot at last boiled over. Russia, impatient of +bounds, had begun her march southward, past the Black Sea, and toward +the coveted lands of Turkey. The "balance of power," that precarious +something that has always kept Europe on edge--and particularly in the +Balkans--was upset. Whether England wanted to or not, she must get +into the breach. + +Thus began the Crimean War, a desperate struggle that was to bear some +glorious pages in England's history, and some dark ones as well. It +was to see the "Charge of the Light Brigade"--splendid in itself, but +brought about because "some one had blundered." It was to produce a +Florence Nightingale--but also the hideous sufferings which she helped +to assuage. + +For England was unprepared. Her years of idleness had broken down her +military organization. Splendid fighting men she still had, but the +fighting machine itself was rusty. + +Young Gordon, perhaps through his father's influence, obtained a +transfer from Corfu to the Crimea. The father did not much like his +new billet. He may have sensed something of what was coming. But he +did not fear for his son. + +"Get him into real action, _I_ say," he would remark. "That will show +whether there's any stuff in him. I guess there is," he added grimly, +thinking of Charles's troubles in college. "All the time he was in the +Academy, I felt like I was sitting on a powder barrel." + +In mid-December, of 1854, Gordon set sail from England, on his first +real job as a soldier. He was going with the task of building some +wooden huts for the soldiers, and lumber was being shipped at the same +time. But the soldiers for whom these shelters were intended were even +then dying from exposure on the plains of Sebastopol. It was the first +lesson of unpreparedness. + +Of this, however, the young engineer was then ignorant. He was in high +spirits over the prospect of action and seeing the world. He arrived +at Marseilles "very tired," as he writes to his mother, but not too +tired to give her a detailed description of what he has seen thus +far--"the pretty towns and villages, vineyards and rivers, with +glimpses of snowy mountains beyond." + +On New Year's Day he reached his destination, Balaklava. It was the +depth of winter, and disaster stared the British in the face. The +Russians were having the best of it. They were out-generalling the +enemy at every turn. The British could do little more than dig in and +hang on, with the bull-dog stubbornness which has always marked them. + +At first, the young lieutenant heard little of this. His duties as +construction engineer kept him busy six miles back of the battle line. + +"I have not yet seen Sebastopol," he writes on January 3, "and do not +hear anything of the siege. We hear a gun now and then. No one seems +to interest himself about the siege, but all appear to be engaged in +foraging for grub." Two days later he writes: "We have only put up two +huts as yet, but hope to do better soon." + +The army was suffering from both cold and hunger, and was in pitiable +plight. Again he writes: "Lieutenant Daunt, Ninth Regiment, and +another officer of some Sixtieth Regiment, were frozen to death last +night, and two officers of the Ninety-Third Regiment were smothered by +charcoal. The streets of Balaklava are a sight, with swell English +cavalry and horse-artillery carrying rations, and officers in every +conceivable costume foraging for eatables." + +There was little military glamor in such sights as this. No wonder, +young Gordon felt sick of it all. But he never gave the slightest +indication of quitting. He only worked all the harder to help do his +bit. As Spring advanced, he had an opportunity to work closer to the +lines. He received orders to construct trenches and rifle pits, which +at times was extremely hazardous and brought him under fire. On one +occasion a Russian bullet missed his head by a scant inch. + +At last, in the month of June, came his first chance to do some real +fighting. Every branch of the service was marshalled by the commanding +general, Lord Raglan, for a massed attack. What happened can best be +described in Gordon's own words: + +"About three a. m. the French advanced on the Malakoff tower in three +columns, and ten minutes after this our signal was given. The Russians +then opened with a fire of grape that was terrific." And again: "They +mowed down our men in dozens, and the trenches, being confined, were +crowded with men who foolishly kept in them instead of rushing over the +parapet, and, by coming forward in a mass, trusting to some of them at +least being able to pass through untouched to the Redan, where, of +course, once they arrived, the artillery could not reach them, and +every yard nearer would have diminished the effect of the grape by +giving it less space for spreading. We could thus have moved up the +supports and carried the place. Unfortunately, however, our men +dribbled out of the ends of the trenches ten and twenty at a time, and +as soon as they appeared they were cleared away." + +Thus ended the first engagement in which Gordon took part. The Allies +suffered defeat, and Lord Raglan died a few days later of a broken +heart. It was not an auspicious baptism of fire. + +In August another assault was made, which also met defeat. Gordon ends +his account with the remark: "We should have carried everything before +us, if the men had only advanced." + +Perchance one reason why the men failed to advance was that their +morale had been lowered, by reason of the privations they had +undergone. This was before the days of the Red Cross, the army +canteen, or the Y. M. C. A. with its homely comfort. The men had had +to shift for themselves. Nursing the sick and wounded was almost +unknown, until the white-clad figure of Florence Nightingale showed the +world its dereliction. Listen to what this devoted pioneer among +nurses has to say: + +"Fancy working five nights out of seven in the trenches. Fancy being +thirty-six hours in them at a stretch, as they sometimes were, lying +down, or half-lying down often forty-eight hours with no food but raw +salt pork, sprinkled with sugar, rum, and biscuit; nothing hot, because +the exhausted soldier could not collect his own fuel, as he was +expected to do, to cook his own rations; and fancy through all this, +the army preserving their courage and patience, as they have done, and +being now eager (the old ones as well as the young ones) to be led into +the trenches. There was something sublime in the spectacle." + +Sublime? Granted. But no soldier fights well on an empty stomach. + +Despite their hardships and reverses, however, the Allies were at last +successful in the capture of Sebastopol. But it was a barren victory, +as the Russians had set fire to the town and destroyed practically +everything of value. The war soon afterwards ceased, and with it the +first hard lesson in Charles Gordon's military training. He had +entered it a somewhat careless youth. He came out of it a seasoned +veteran. + +That his government had learned to appreciate his services is shown by +the fact that he was soon afterward placed on a joint commission of the +English, French, Russians, and Austrians, to lay down a boundary line +between Russia and her neighbors at the southwest. It was only one of +many later attempts to define the Balkans. + +"The newly-ceded territory is in great disorder," writes Gordon. "The +inhabitants refuse to obey the Moldaves and own nobody's authority. +This is caused, I suspect, by Russian intrigues." + +Already cracks were beginning to show in the new boundary wall. + +After three years of steady but interesting work following up the +ravages of war, Gordon returned home. It was a rest well earned, and +likewise needed, for there were still more strenuous days ahead. Then +back he went, in the Spring of 1858, to complete his work in the +Caucasus. + +"I am pretty tired of my post as peacemaker," he writes; "for which I +am naturally not well adapted. . . . I am quite in the dark as to how +my mission has been fulfilled, but it is really immaterial to me, for I +will not accept other work of such an anomalous character." + +The "other work" that was being stored up for him was of quite +different nature. He might have called it "anomalous," but it was to +tax and bring out every resource in him. + +China, that land of distance and mystery, was undergoing a period of +upheaval. A usurper had tried to seize the reins of government, and +the French and British ships had been attacked. The British sent a +force of reprisal, somewhat like that sent against the Boxer rebellion +in recent years. This was in 1860; and Gordon was sent out with the +rank of captain. + +The first work of this expeditionary force was scarcely worthy of a +civilized country. They set fire to a summer palace and gardens of a +prince who had mistreated some English prisoners. It was a piece of +vandalism that went against the grain with Gordon. + +"You can scarcely imagine the beauty and magnificence of the palaces we +burnt," he writes. "It made one's heart sore to destroy them. It was +wretchedly demoralizing work." + +In the Spring of 1862, Gordon had become a major, and was ordered, with +a Lieutenant Carden, to explore the Great Wall of China. This was more +to his liking. The two men were congenial and well fitted by +temperament and experience for the task. They penetrated provinces in +the interior never before entered by a white man, and had a variety of +adventures, some amusing, others exciting. + +During the winter it grew extremely cold, high up in the mountains. He +relates that eggs were frozen as hard as if they had been boiled. At +another time they are caught in a terrific dust storm, which he thus +describes: + +"The sky was as dark as night; huge columns of dust came sweeping down, +and it blew a regular hurricane, the blue sky appearing now and then +through the breaks. The quantity of dust was indescribable. A canal, +about fifty miles long and eighteen feet wide, and seven deep, was +completely filled up." + +From these more or less peaceful incidents, Gordon was presently called +to more exciting events. The great Tai-ping rebellion had been raging +for some months. It was the work of a Chinese schoolmaster, who said +that Heaven had sent him to rescue China. He chose for title "The +Heavenly King," and with some thousands of fanatical followers, overran +a large part of the interior. His seat of government was in Nanking. + +In his first clashes with the small British army, in 1862, his troops +had the better of the argument. They spoke with open contempt of the +foreigners, and all English, whether soldiers or missionaries, were in +imminent danger. Things came to such a pass that an American, named +Ward, obtained permission to organize a band of volunteers for mutual +protection. This band did remarkable work, and soon grew from a force +of two hundred, to two thousand--every man of them ready to die in his +tracks. + +They met the fanatical followers of "The Heavenly King" more than +half-way, and gave them such thorough doses of hot shot and cold steel, +that the rebels finally ran at sight of them. It is said that Ward's +men fought seventy engagements in one year, and won every fight. The +Imperial Chinese Government was very grateful for their aid, and +conferred upon them a high-sounding name which meant, "Ever-Victorious +Army." + +Unluckily, Ward lost his life in leading an assault, and left his army +without a general. Li Hung Chang, the statesman, who was later known +as the Grand Old Man of China, came to the British commander General +Stavely, and asked him to appoint a British officer to lead the +Ever-Victorious Army. + +Stavely cast about him, and his eye fell upon Major Gordon, who was +then engaged upon a survey of the defenses of Shanghai. He had known +Gordon and admired him. He believed that here was the man for the task. + +"What he was before Sebastopol he has been since--faithful, trusty, and +successful," reasoned the General. "Before Pekin and Shanghai he has +evinced just the qualities that are needed now. Although he has never +been in command, he will rise to this occasion, to which he is more +fitted than any other man whom I know." + +Gordon at first declined the honor, perhaps through false modesty, and +the command was given to a Captain Holland, with bad results. Holland +traded too much on the invincibility of the Ever-Victorious Army, and +attacked a strongly fortified position at Taitsan. His forces were +driven off with a loss of three hundred men. It was a grievous loss, +but the moral loss was far deeper. His men lost spirit, while the +rebels were extravagant in their glee. + +Something had to be done at once. Again they came to Gordon with the +offer of leadership, and this time, he accepted--but not without some +misgiving. In a letter home, dated March 24, 1863, he writes: + +"I am afraid you will be much vexed at my having taken the command of +the Sung-kiang force, and that I am now a Mandarin. I have taken the +step on consideration. I think that any one who contributes to putting +down this rebellion fulfils a humane task, and I also think tends a +great deal to open China to civilization." + +Gordon soon proved that he had both courage and resourcefulness. He +did not risk another assault upon Taitsan, as the rebels expected, but +decided to attack them in another quarter. He took one thousand men by +river to an inland town, Chanzu. Here was a loyal Chinese garrison +which had been besieged by the rebels and was in sore straits. + +The coming of Gordon was a bold and unexpected move, as the rebels must +have outnumbered his force five to one. But Gordon had brought two +field pieces along, and at once opened fire. By night-fall the enemy +had enough of it, and retreated. The next morning the Ever-Victorious +Army marched triumphantly into Chanzu, where they received a great +welcome. Gordon thus received reinforcements not only from this +garrison, but also from some of the rebel forces who had begun to +"smell a mouse" and decided to come over while the coming was good. + +Gordon was much interested in some of these young rebel chiefs. He +says that they were very intelligent, and were splendidly dressed in +their silks, and had big pearls in their caps. The head man was about +thirty-five years old, and was ill and worn with anxiety. + +"He was so very glad to see me, and chin-chinned most violently, +regretting his inability to give me a present, which I told him was not +the custom of our people." + +This rapid victory was productive of several good results. It once +more put the rebels "on the run," it restored the morale of his troops +and gave them confidence in their new leader, and it brought him many +recruits. One especially gratifying result was that several British +officers asked leave to serve under him. + +Gordon had made a firm friend of Li Hung Chang, who aided him in every +possible way. He introduced much-needed discipline into his troops, +who had been at first mere adventurers, and also established regular +grades of pay. The Chinese Government was glad to assume these +payments; while the English authorities were well content with the +unique arrangement. Whether or not, Gordon would have called it +"anomalous"--it was working, and that was the main thing. + +Gordon saw to it that his men were well armed, well paid, well dressed, +and well fed. Always he had the horrible example of the Crimean +campaign before his eyes, and he was resolved that never again, if he +could help it, should such conditions recur. He was thus one of the +first of our generals to meet the need of a modern army in a modern +way. As he wrote, at the destruction of Sebastopol, "The old army is +dead." + +After Gordon had got his new army in readiness--and not until then--he +launched his systematic campaign against the rebels. First he moved +against Quinsan, an important stronghold. It was a large city, some +four or five miles in circumference, and clustered about a commanding +hill. This city and its approaches were held by a force of about +twelve thousand. Against them Gordon brought a force of two thousand +infantry and six hundred artillery. + +On the east side of the city was a considerable body of water, Lake +Yansing, and on the other side of the lake, the village of Soochow, +also occupied by the rebels. Gordon brought up his fleet of small +ships and one steamboat on which he had placed guns, and, running in +between the two towns, cut the enemy in two, throwing them into such +confusion that both towns were soon taken by assault. + +Gordon wrote home an amusing account of this battle. It seems that the +rebels inland were unused to steamboats, and when this vessel charged +up with whistle going, they thought it some sort of wrathful god or +demon. + +"The horror of the rebels at the steamer is very great. When she +whistles they cannot make it out," he says; and adds that because of +this victory he has been given the rank of Tsung-ping, or Red Button +Mandarin--about equivalent to brigadier general. + +These engagements were but the forerunner of many similar ones. His +army took town after town until order was once more restored, and +"broke the back of the rebellion." + +The grateful Chinese Government showered him with titles. He was made +a "Ti-tu," which gave him the highest rank in the Chinese army. The +Emperor himself commanded that he should be rewarded with "a yellow +riding jacket, to be worn on his person, and a peacock's feather to be +carried on his cap; also, that there be bestowed on him four suits of +the uniform proper to his rank of Ti-tu, in token of our favor and +desire to do him honor." + +It must not be inferred that Gordon came into his high honors in China +easily. He was constantly beset by difficulties. His own men on more +than one occasion tried to start a mutiny, and it was only by a display +of his highest and sternest qualities of leadership, that he restored +order. The Chinese officials, also, had to be handled with diplomacy. +They were accustomed to bargaining, and could not believe at first that +Gordon was not working for selfish ends. It was only when they +realized the true character of the man, that their esteem and affection +were fully enlisted. + +The Emperor wished to bestow on him a large sum of money, but this was +refused. The Chinese were nonplussed. Prince Kung reported to a +British official as follows: + +"We do not know what to do. He will not receive money from us, and we +have already given him every honor which it is in the power of the +Emperor to bestow. But as these can be of little value in his eyes, I +have brought you this letter, and ask you to give it to the Queen of +England, that she may bestow on him some reward which would be more +valuable in his eyes." + +The love of this strange race of people for a foreign officer was not +idly bestowed. They were the first to recognize his highest qualities, +and though he later won high rank under the Union Jack, it is as +Chinese Gordon that his name will most frequently appear in history. + +A fellow campaigner in China writes: "What is perhaps most striking in +Gordon's career in China, is the entire devotion with which the native +soldiers served him, and the implicit faith they had in the result of +operations in which he was personally present. In their eyes General +Gordon was literally a magician to whom all things were possible. They +believed him to bear a charmed life; and a short stick or rattan cane +which he invariably carried about, and with which he always pointed in +directing the fire of artillery or other operations, was firmly looked +on as a wand or talisman. These notions, especially the men's idea +that their general had a charmed existence, were substantially aided by +Gordon's constant habit, when the troops were under fire, of appearing +suddenly, usually unattended, and calmly standing in the very hottest +part of the fire." + +As to Gordon's personal appearance, a pen picture by a comrade-in-arms, +Colonel Butler, deserves place: + +"In figure Gordon, at forty years of age, stood somewhat under middle +height, slight but strong, active, and muscular. A profusion of thick +brown hair clustered above a broad open forehead. His features were +regular, his mouth firm, and his expression when silent had a certain +undertone of sadness, which instantly vanished when he spoke. But it +was the clear, blue-gray eye and the low, soft, and very distinct voice +that left the most lasting impression on the memory of the man who had +seen and spoken with Charles Gordon--an eye that seemed to have looked +at great distances and seen the load of life carried on many shoulders, +and a voice that, like the clear chime of some Flemish belfry, had in +it fresh music to welcome the newest hour, even though it had rung out +the note of many a vanished day." + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN GORDON'S LIFE + + 1833. January 28. Charles George Gordon born. + 1849. Entered Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. + 1852. Commissioned second lieutenant of engineers. + 1854. Sent to the Crimea, to construct huts and trenches. + 1862. Sent as major to explore Great Wall of China. + 1863. Took command of "Ever-Victorious Army" in China. + 1864. Crushed native rebellion and given highest rank in + Chinese army. + 1874. Sent on first expedition to Egypt and the Soudan, as colonel. + 1881. Made major-general. + 1884. Sent in command of expedition to the Soudan. + 1885. January 24. Lost his life in the massacre at Khartoum. + + + + +ROBERTS + +THE WEAK BOY WITH THE STRONG WILL + +When one is picking out soldiers, one usually chooses big men. You see a +strapping fellow going by in regimentals, and you say, "My, what a dandy +soldier!" + +Well, there have been some big men in stature who have been big +soldiers--such as Washington--but it is interesting to note that many of +our great generals have been undersized. Such were Grant, Wellington, +and Napoleon. Such was Lord Roberts who became Earl and Marshal, and was +one of the best-loved leaders that England has produced. He was +associated with two great campaigns to extend the British Empire--in +India and South Africa--and passed away in the midst of the great World +War, within a few months of Kitchener. + +And yet, as a boy, no one would have picked him out as destined to become +a famous soldier. One recent biographer (Wheeler) calls him "a weak boy +with a strong will," and we cannot do better than repeat this as giving +some sort of key to his career. Roberts himself has left an entertaining +story of his life in "Forty-One Years in India," which shows that a +soldier's life is not tinsel and parade, but is made up of infinite +hardship. The weak boy must indeed have to have a strong will in order +to pull through. + +Frederick Roberts was born in India at a time when his father, Abraham +Roberts, was lieutenant colonel of infantry at Cawnpore. This fine old +soldier gave a life-time of service to the crown, and was active in the +border raids in India. His son lived to complete the task which he +began, of helping to open India to the civilized world. For his +services, Abraham Roberts became a general and was knighted. The son, +who was destined to win still higher honors, began his career, September +30, 1832. + +Although the boy was born amid the smell of gunpowder, he must have been +a disappointment to his soldier father. He was puny and sickly, and for +a time it did not seem likely that he would live at all. So when he was +only a few months old, he was taken from the uncongenial air of India and +brought by his parents to England. Here he spent his boyhood, away from +the father and mother who were forced by official duties to return to the +East. + +His home was a charming country house at Clifton near Bristol, where for +the first years he had private tutors. One interesting experience was in +a small school at Carrickmacross in Ireland; then, at eleven, he attended +public school at Hampton. But almost nothing is set down in detail as to +these early years, which would show that besides being a weakling, he was +in no sense remarkable. He was merely another of those small, backward +urchins that one may see at any recess, on any public school playground. + +Still his father was set upon his receiving a military education. "It +will do no harm, anyway, and may straighten his shoulders a bit," he +doubtless said. And so at thirteen, young Roberts was entered at Eton, +that training ground of so many of England's soldiers. He made his first +mark in this famous school by winning a prize in mathematics. The +obscure lad was beginning to assert himself. + +To the end of his days, Roberts held a warm regard for Eton. Once when +at the end of a great campaign, he was presented with a sword of honor, +on this boyhood's drill ground, he said to a younger generation then +assembled: "To you boys who intend to enter the army, the studies and +sports of this place are your best training. England's greatest general, +himself an Etonian, is reported to have said that the battle of Waterloo +was won in the Eton playing-fields. In thus expressing himself, the Duke +(Wellington) meant that bodily vigor, power of endurance, courage, and +rapidity of decision are produced by the manly games which are fostered +here." + +Undoubtedly there was a personal touch to these remarks, as Roberts +recalled how he himself had begun to gain these sterling qualities on the +cricket field and gridiron. + +When fifteen, he entered the Military College at Sandhurst, but remained +there only two terms. By nature he was a studious chap, doing especially +well in German and mathematics. So easily did he solve problems in +algebra and geometry, that his mates promptly nicknamed him "Deductions." + +Leaving Sandhurst, he put in a few months at a preparatory military +school at Wimbledon, but his father's return to England, in 1849, marked +the first definite step in his plans. Colonel Roberts, after several +years away from his son, was delighted to see that the thin chest was +indeed filling out, and the shoulders throwing back. + +"Do you think you can stand India, now, my lad?" he asked. + +"Why not, sir?" replied the boy briefly. + +"Then I think that the East India Company's service is the place for you." + +Colonel Roberts himself had been connected with this great company, which +was the forerunner of the Government in India--and he was right in +thinking that its service offered many chances of advancement. + +Accordingly the boy was entered in the Company's own military school, at +Addiscombe; and in less than two years had become a second lieutenant in +the Bengal Artillery--a military company maintained as part of this huge +commercial enterprise. + +In 1852, in his twentieth year, he received his first marching orders. +They were to report for duty. He set sail by way of Suez, but there was +no canal in those days to make possible an all-water journey. Instead, +at Alexandria he changed to a small inland steamer going by canal and +river to Cairo. Thence a hot dusty trek across the desert was necessary, +in order to reach Suez. + +Once in Calcutta, the young subaltern lost no time in proving that he was +not a mollycoddle. He began by riding every horse in the battery, or +"troop," as it was called in those days. + +"Thus," he tells us, "I learned to understand the amount of nerve, +patience and skill necessary to the making of a good Horse Artillery +driver, with the additional advantage that I was brought into constant +contact with the men." + +Roberts was early learning the secret of more than one great general's +success--to know his men. In later life he could call many a man by +name, and knew just what each could do. While they responded with a +close affection and the nickname by which he will be known to +history--"Bobs." + +It is said that Napoleon expected his officers to know the names and +personal histories of every man in their command. As another result of +Roberts' fellowship with the rank and file he became a crack shot and +expert horseman. During the fighting in the mutiny of Indian sepoys, he +proved himself a good swordsman as well; and even when he became +Commander-in-chief, he would ride with a tent-pegging team of his own +staff. + +It was a long and thorough service that he was destined to receive. He +joined the Quartermaster-General's office before the mutiny broke out, +and remained in it for more than twenty years. During this period he +gradually worked his way up from one post of responsibility to another, +doing it so gradually that even he himself hardly noticed the advance. +On one occasion, for example, he superintended all the arrangements for +embarking the Bengal Division, which sailed from Calcutta to take part in +an expedition against Abyssinia. + +But how he must have chafed at the long delay in getting into the field. +He asked his father more than once to get him transferred to Burma, where +war had broken out and there was a chance for active service. The +transfer was not granted. + +The only thing that came to break up the humdrum of those first years was +a cyclone. It was actually welcomed; anything for a change! Roberts +gives a detailed account of it in his autobiography. He and a native +servant were caught out in the open, when the storm descended with little +warning. + +"I shouted to him (the servant) as loudly as I could," he relates, "but +the uproar was so terrific that he could not hear a word, and there was +nothing for it but to try and make my own way home. The darkness was +profound. As I was walking carefully along, I suddenly came in contact +with an object, which a timely flash of lightning showed me was a column, +standing in exactly the opposite direction from my own house. I could +now locate myself correctly, and the lightning becoming every moment more +vivid, I was enabled to grope my way by slow degrees to the mess, where I +expected to find some one to show me my way home; but the servants, who +knew from experience the probable effects of a cyclone, had already +closed the outside Venetian shutters and barred all the doors. In vain I +banged at the door and called at the top of my voice--they heard nothing." + +In desperation he had to make his way as best he could back to his own +bungalow, about half a mile away, only to find that also barred against +him. "I had to continue hammering for a long time before they heard and +admitted me, thankful to be comparatively safe inside a house." + +Another disappointment to Roberts lay in the fact that he was still away +from his father, who seemed destined all his life to remain a stranger to +him. The junior officer was stationed at Dum Dum, famous as the +birthplace of the soft-nosed bullets, now proscribed in civilized +warfare. His father had been appointed to the command of the troops at +Peshawar, and now wrote him a welcome note bidding him come to join him. + +This was easier said than done, but was finally accomplished after three +months of toilsome and dangerous travel. He used every sort of native +conveyance--barge, post-chaise, palanquin, pony, and "shank's mares"--but +it was interesting and full of novelty to the barracks-bound soldier. He +went by way of Benares, Allahabad, Cawnpore, and Meerut--places destined +to win unpleasant fame in the Mutiny. + +Peshawar, his destination, proved no less fascinating than the way +stations. It commanded the caravan route between India and Afghanistan, +and guarded the entrance to Khyber Pass. Lord Dalhousie described it as +"the outpost of the Indian Empire"--a very accurate title. + +At Peshawar at last Frederick Roberts became acquainted with his father, +who proved a good comrade. The junior officer served as aide-de-camp on +the general's staff, and went with him on several expeditions, outwardly +peaceful, but inwardly full of danger. India then was a seething caldron +of trouble. + +Nevertheless, this period with his father is described by Frederick +Roberts as "one of the brightest and happiest of my early life." +Unfortunately the senior officer's health showed signs of breaking--and +again father and son had to part. General Roberts resigned his command +and returned to England, at the end of the year 1853. + +Peshawar was a notoriously unhealthy station, and young Roberts also soon +began to feel the effects of the climate. He was still far from robust, +and traded continually on his will and nerve. The native fever sapped +his energy, and he was sent to recuperate, to Kashmir. He was +enthusiastic about the scenery here, and his tramping and shooting trips +in the bracing climate soon gave back his strength and vim. + +It was about this time that he realized his pet ambition of joining the +Horse Artillery. He also set himself with a will to the study of +Hindustani, as he realized that his usefulness in the +Quartermaster-General's office would be vastly increased if he could deal +directly with the natives. + +This was a turning point in Roberts' career. It was to be his first +stepping stone upward, and it illustrates the point that even though +Opportunity may knock at the door--one must be ready for her. That +Roberts finally won his larger success was due not so much to his genius +as to his industry. Edison says that genius is made up of two per cent +inspiration and ninety-eight per cent perspiration. + +The great Mutiny, in which Roberts and many another British soldier was +to be plunged, had its immediate cause in a strange thing--greased +cartridges! How so insignificant a thing could have started so great a +trouble is one of the strange, true stories of history. There were, of +course, other contributory factors, but this was the match that touched +off the magazine. + +At this time England employed a great many native troops. To be exact, +there were about 257,000; while the British regulars numbered only +36,000. The latter were outnumbered seven to one. + +The Ordnance Department adopted a new rifle, the Enfield, at this +juncture, and sent a consignment to India. The cartridges for the rifle +were greased, for easy loading, and were to be bitten by the soldiers. +This last act at once set the sepoy soldiers in an uproar. It was +against their religious scruples to touch meat of any kind, and they +heard it stated that the objectionable cartridges were greased with pig's +and cow's fat. + +As soon as the commanding officers saw the trouble, they ordered that the +cartridges be withdrawn--but the mischief was done. + +The Mutiny which flared up here among the native soldiers spread quickly +from city to city. Runners went from camp to camp, urging that they +throw off the hated British yoke. In some places no written or verbal +message was exchanged. A basket of unleavened cakes was brought in and +broken, by way of prearranged signal. + +After the first outbreaks, councils of war were hurriedly held on the +part of the British officers, and field expeditions organized. One of +the officers, Colonel Neville Chamberlain, was assigned to the command of +what was called the "Movable Column," or chief army of pursuit. + +Roberts was made one of his staff officers--"the most wonderful piece of +good fortune that could come to me," he says. Shortly afterward, +Chamberlain was made Adjutant General to the Army before Delhi, and then +came orders for all the artillery officers to join in this attack. +Roberts was to see active service at last. + +He found himself under fire at Delhi for the first time on June 30, 1857. +While it was only a skirmish it was a lively one while it lasted. + +With some 1,100 men and a dozen guns, Major Coke went on an expedition +against a troublesome group of rebels, and Roberts accompanied him as a +staff officer. When the enemy appeared the only way to reach them in +time was by crossing a swamp. Another troop of rebels unexpectedly +appeared in force, but were put to rout. + +A few days later, a similar skirmish occurred, which for a time looked +more serious. Roberts was posted across a road with a squad of men and +two guns. The enemy attacked them with a cross-fire. How he and his +band escaped is a mystery. + +During their enforced retreat, Roberts felt a stinging sensation in his +back, but managed to keep going. It was found afterwards that his life +had been saved by the slipping of his knapsack down from his shoulders. +This had been penetrated by a bullet, which had entered his body close to +his spine. Its force had been broken, but the wound was still so severe +as to lay him up for several weeks. + +The almost superhuman difficulties which lay in the path of this handful +of Englishmen scattered throughout India, are summed up in a letter by +another officer, Hodson, as follows: + +"The whole country is a steaming bog. I keep my health wonderfully, +thank God! in spite of heat, hard work and exposure; and the men bear up +like Britons. We all feel that the Government ought to allow every +officer and man before Delhi to count every month spent here as a year of +service in India. There is much that is disappointing and disgusting to +a man who feels that more might have been done, but I comfort myself with +the thought that history will do justice to the constancy and fortitude +of the handful of Englishmen who have for so many weeks--months, I may +say--of desperate weather, amid the greatest toil and hardship, resisted +and finally defeated the worst and most strenuous exertions of an entire +army and a whole nation in arms--an army trained by ourselves, and +supplied with all but exhaustless munitions of war, laid up by ourselves +for the maintenance of the Empire. I venture to aver that no other +nation in the world would have remained here, or have avoided defeat had +they attempted to do so." + +The story of the rise and fall of the Indian Mutiny is the story of the +life of Roberts--in so far as the rise is concerned. His was an +inconspicuous but well played part. Acting as staff officer and +lieutenant of a gunners' company by turns, he was always in the thick of +it. If it were the command of guns at a difficult salient before Delhi, +it was "Send Roberts." If it were an urgent message for more ammunition, +at Agra, "Send Roberts." If it were an escort for the rescued women and +children at the historic relief of Lucknow, "Send Roberts." + +This slender, undersized officer, in spite of his physique, seemed +indefatigable. He had several narrow escapes from death, in hand-to-hand +encounters with sepoys. Once, a mutineer fired point-blank at him at +twelve yards away, but for some providential reason Roberts' horse reared +just at the moment of firing and received the bullet in his own head. + +At another time, a fanatic danced out in front of his horse waving a +turban to frighten it, and at the same time whirling a wicked looking +scimitar around his head. Roberts drew his pistol but the weapon missed +fire. The fanatic sprang forward, and it is probable that the career of +a future Field Marshal would have ended then and there, had not a lancer +spurred his horse in between and run the fellow down. + +On still another occasion, his presence of mind saved the flag from +capture and brought him the first of his many honors, the Victoria Cross. +An assault had been made on the village of Khudaganj, and the pursuit was +being followed up in brave style, when some of the rebels suddenly faced +around and took steady aim at those who were charging them. Roberts was +of the party and had gone to the rescue of a man who was on the verge of +being run through by a bayonet, when he saw two sepoys running off with +the Union Jack. He spurred his horse in pursuit, and, leaning over, +wrenched the standard out of the hands of one of the men, at the same +time sabering him. The other sepoy took advantage of the opportunity to +take steady aim at Roberts, point-blank, but the weapon missed fire. +Roberts returned with the flag, and for reward of his gallant action was +given the V. C., that most coveted of British decorations. + +Another officer in writing of the event says: "Roberts is one of those +rare men who, to uncommon daring and bravery in the field, and +unflinching, hard-working discharge of duty in the camp, adds the charm +of cheery and unaffected kindness and hospitality in the tent, and his +acquaintance and friendship are high prizes to those who obtain them." + +With the end of the Mutiny, Roberts was sent to England on sick leave for +a much-needed rest. In April, 1858, exactly six years after his arrival +at Calcutta, he turned over his duties of Deputy-Assistant +Quartermaster-General to his successor--though much against his will. He +felt that again he was in danger of being put upon the shelf, and his +intensely active nature longed for still further field service. + +In a little over a year, however, he was recalled to India, and there +given a unique task. The first Viceroy to India, Canning, determined to +impress the natives by a pomp and display dear to their own hearts, and +show the majesty of England, by holding a series of Durbars, or triumphal +processions. These extended right across India, from city to city, for a +thousand miles. To Roberts was assigned the important task of arranging +all the details of the tour, and he did it with characteristic +thoroughness. It was like moving a mammoth circus, what with elephants, +tents, supplies of all kinds, and gorgeous trappings to be handled. + +These Durbars lasted for six months, and the Viceroy not only +complimented Roberts for his work, but gazetted him for the rank of +Brevet Major. + +The next few years were much of a piece--a routine of office and field +work which, if it brought nothing sensational to the conscientious young +officer, still kept his feet in the path of glory. It was not until the +year 1875, that he reached the goal for which he had long +striven--Quartermaster-General of the Army in India, which carried with +it the rank of Major General. + +With this title his larger work in India may be said to have fairly +begun. For nearly twenty years longer his military career was to be +continued there, and in the neighboring country of Afghanistan. It is +all recounted in his "Forty-One Years in India"--a recital of constant +adventure and interest. For his services, he was made a peer of England, +receiving the title of Baron Roberts of Kandahar. An address presented +to him by the native and English residents, on his leaving India, is +worth repeating. + +"The history of the British Empire in India has not, at least in the last +thirty years, produced a hero like Your Lordship, whose soldier-like +qualities are fully known to the world. The country which has been the +cradle of Indian invasions came to realize the extent of your power and +recognized your generalship. . . . The occupation of Kabul and the +glorious battle of Kandahar are amongst the brightest jewels in the +diadem of Your Lordship's Baronage. . . . Terrible in war and merciful +in peace, Your Excellency's name has become a dread to the enemies of +England and lovely to your friends." + +That last phrase, "lovely to your friends," is a true though Oriental +summing-up of one great secret of Roberts' renown. He has been called +the "best-loved soldier of England." And he possessed in an especial +degree the power of attracting and holding the love and respect of the +East Indians. They felt that he would always deal fairly by them. + +When he went to Mandalay, in 1886, he saw that if he wished to win the +confidence of the people of Upper Burmah, he must win over the Buddhist +priests. This he did, and even persuaded his Government to pension the +three head priests. + +"They showed their gratitude," he says, "by doing all they could to help +me, and when I was leaving the country, the old Thathana bain accompanied +me as far as Rangoon. We corresponded till his death, and I still hear +occasionally from one or other of my Phoonghi friends." + +As for his own soldiers, they came fairly to worship him. To them he was +not a Lord, or General, or Field Marshal, but just "Bobs" and "Our Bobs." +Wellington commanded the respect of his men, but Roberts their love. + +"Lord Roberts! Well, he's just a father," is the testimony of one gunner +in the South African War. "Often goes around hospital in Bloemfontein, +and it's 'Well, my lad, how are you today? Anything I can do for you? +Anything you want?'--and never forgets to see that the man has what he +asks for. Goes to the hospital train--'Are you comfortable? Are you +sure you're comfortable?' Then it's 'Buck up! Buck up!' to those who +need it. But when he sees a man dying, it's 'Can I pray with you, my +lad?' I've seen him many a time praying, with not a dry eye near--tears +in his eyes and ours. He is a lord!" + +A favorite story about him relates to an audience with Queen Victoria. +The famous veteran was then sixty-eight and for several years had been +living in retirement. Now his sovereign asked him to buckle on his sword +again, and go to retrieve the fallen British fortunes in South Africa. + +"You do not think that you are too old for this arduous task?" asked the +Queen. "You are not afraid of your health breaking down?" + +"I have kept myself fit," replied the old soldier, "for the past twenty +years, in the hope that I might command in such a campaign as this." + +The remark, "I have kept myself fit," is a keynote of his life. The puny +boy of the long ago was to survive this campaign with flying colors, and +to lend his counsel in the Great War of our own time. It was a long life +and full of service. In an address to a children's school, when a man of +eighty, he summed up his creed by saying: + +"In the first place, don't be slack in anything that you are doing. +Whether it be work or play, do it with all your might. You will find +that this great Empire can only be maintained by the exercise of +self-denial, by training, by discipline, and by courage." + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN ROBERTS'S LIFE + + 1832. September 30. Frederick Roberts born. + 1845. Entered Eton School. + 1847. Entered military college at Sandhurst. + 1852. Went as second-lieutenant of Bengal Artillery to India. + 1857. Fought in the Mutiny, and won Victoria Cross. + 1858. Returned to England on leave. + 1859. Sent back to India, major. + 1875. Quartermaster-general of Army of India. + 1885. Commander-in-chief in India. + 1891. Created a peer. + 1895. Created field marshal. + 1900. South African campaign. + 1901. Commander-in-chief of British army. + 1914. November 14. Died in France. + + + + +KITCHENER + +THE SOLDIER OF DEEDS--NOT WORDS + +When Chinese Gordon lost his life in Khartoum, Egypt, in 1884, because +the British relief force reached him two days too late, a young officer +accompanying the expedition was getting his first glimpse of a land +that was destined to make him famous. "Kitchener of Khartoum" was to +become as widely known in a later generation as Chinese Gordon was in +his own. Each won his spurs in a foreign land. + +Kitchener was then a cavalry officer of thirty-five, and did not seem +destined to get much higher in army circles. Yet he had never lost +faith in himself. After this first expedition to Egypt, when he was +still only a major, he remarked drolly to a fellow officer: + +"Never mind, my dear fellow, a few years hence you and I will be +generals, and these people who annoy us now (meaning the red-tape +departmental clerks) will be looking out of their club windows, with +all their teeth falling out of their heads!" + +During this same expedition, he spoke of the fact that their commanding +officer had missed the key-point, by saying: + +"It's the same with everybody. We must stop floundering, or people +will forget that Khartoum is our objective and always will be." + +Prophetic words for Kitchener of Khartoum. + +Who was this strong, stern, silent soldier whose career linked up past +wars with the great World War of our own day? + +Like Wellington and Roberts, Kitchener came of Irish stock. He was +born near Listowel, June 24, 1850, his father, Colonel Henry Kitchener, +having bought a considerable estate in the counties of Kerry and +Limerick. + +Colonel Kitchener had seen a good deal of active service himself, and +still more of garrison life. He determined to retire, and after buying +some 2,000 acres of land in Ireland, at a bankrupt sale, he built a +hunting lodge, called Gunsborough House. This was Herbert Horatio +Kitchener's birthplace. Whether the name of the house had anything to +do with his warlike career, history does not state. But certain it is, +that he was a born soldier--a man of iron almost from his boyhood. + +"Yes," said his old nurse, in talking about him only a few years ago, +"I know that he is a great man; and they tell me that he has no heart, +and that everybody is afraid of him; but they are wrong. He is really +one of the most tender-hearted men in the world; and whenever he comes +to see me, he is 'my boy' just as he was in the old days in Ireland, +when he used to run to me in all his troubles, and fling his arms +around me and hug me. Ah, there is nobody left who knows the real +Master Herbert as I know him." + +As a boy at school, Herbert Kitchener was not very brilliant. Like +Wellington, whose mother called him "the fool of the family," Kitchener +did too much day-dreaming to make much headway with his studies. His +first teacher was a governess, who gave him up in despair. Then he was +sent to a private school where he did not do any better. + +His father lost his patience. Just before an examination, he made a +dire threat. + +"Young man," said the Colonel, "if you fail I'll make you toe the mark. +I'll send you to a girl's school." + +Apparently the threat did not have the desired effect. He flunked and +was transferred to the other school. This time he was told that +failure meant that he would be taken out of school entirely and +apprenticed to a hatter. + +The warning had the desired effect. Herbert buckled down to work and +not only passed his examinations, but even began to show a decided +liking for mathematics--which study was to be of good service in later +life. + +By this time the family had moved into a more pretentious home, known +as the Crotta House. Little is related of his boyhood life there. It +was quiet and uneventful. The boy was of reserved nature, preferring +to sit quietly in the corner and listen while others did the talking. +Yet when drawn out, he could talk well, preferring to reason rather +than argue. His chief outdoor sport was swimming. The home was only a +few miles inland from the Atlantic coast, and he and his brothers often +rode over for a dip. + +His father was of industrious and thorough-going type. The family +motto was "Thorough," and the Colonel lived up to it. "K. of K." also +became a master of detail; and here on his father's estate he learned +his first lessons in it. Colonel Kitchener constantly preached the +value of time--and practised what he preached. Instead of settling +down to a life of ease, he was always at work on the estate. He +reclaimed large tracts of bogs, turning them into fertile land. He +raised breed horses and cattle. He set up his own factory for making +bricks, tiles, and drain-pipes. His own life of energy and +organization was the best possible example to his boys. That Herbert, +with all his apparent indolence, was profiting by it, became evident +years afterward. + +When the boy was fifteen, his father determined on a complete change of +environment for him. "I want you to see something else besides +Ireland," he said. Herbert was accordingly sent to Switzerland, to a +French school conducted by a Mr. Bennett. It was in Villeneuve, at the +eastern end of Lake Geneva. In this scenic spot of Europe he remained +for some four years, paying occasional visits home, but becoming more +and more a cosmopolitan, instead of merely a shy Irish lad. He learned +to speak French like a native, and got a start in German and Italian. +Languages always came easy to him. + +Meanwhile he trudged about the mountain country on many a long +excursion, with a camera slung across his shoulders, learning an art +that he was soon to put to good use. Thanks to this outdoor life he +grew up into a strong, well-built fellow, with a physique that was to +stand the test of many hard days to come. + +His father wanted him to follow in his own footsteps and become a +soldier. He used his influence to place him in the Royal Military +Academy, at Woolwich. Herbert entered there as a cadet, in his +nineteenth year. + +Two years later, while still a cadet, we find him getting his foretaste +of actual warfare. It was the summer of 1870. War had been declared +by France against Prussia--the short but terrible war so skilfully +engineered by Bismarck. Herbert Kitchener had gone to spend a summer +vacation with his father, at Dinan in the north of France, and promptly +got imbued with the war fever. He enlisted in a battalion, in the +Second Army of the Loire, commanded by General Chanzy. This army, like +other well-intentioned but poorly organized troops of the French, was +driven steadily back by the superior German forces, until the enemy +bombarded and captured Paris. + +It is interesting to note that Kitchener's first and last military +service was on behalf of the French against their hereditary +enemies--and that history came dangerously near to repeating itself in +the German drive of 1914 against Paris. That it did not do so, was due +in no small measure to the grim veteran who was now Secretary of War, +and to his wonderful army of volunteers, dubbed "Kitchener's Mob." + +Whether or not Kitchener did any actual close-up fighting in these +early days we do not know. One novel experience, however, is placed to +his credit. He made an ascent in an observation balloon, with two +French officers. In those days, the big bags were risky and unknown +quantities, and an ascent was something to talk about. + +The ill-starred war over, young Kitchener returned to Woolwich, and his +school duties as though nothing special had happened. + +"Why did you go off and join the French army?" he was asked by the +commandant. + +"Please, sir," came the straightforward answer, "I understood that I +should not be wanted for some time, and I could not be idle. I thought +I might learn something." + +He had indeed--if nothing more than the power of a thoroughly prepared +enemy against an unready land. + +The next stage in Kitchener's career was picturesque but full of +hardship. It was in connection with an exploring expedition to the +Holy Land. + +In 1865, a society called the Palestine Exploration Fund had been +founded, its object being to study the history and geography of the +country. Seven years later it had entered on the gigantic task of +surveying a tract of about 6,000 square miles, much of it desert or +mountainous country. + +Kitchener was just graduating from the Military Academy, with the usual +rank of lieutenant, and was casting about for active service. He could +not brook the idea of settling down to garrison life. The post of +assistant to the leader of this Palestine Expedition was offered him, +and he accepted with alacrity. While a private enterprise, it had the +sanction of the War Department, and promised to provide thrills as well +as work. The fact that it was the Holy Land of Bible story also +appealed to Kitchener. Witness one of the first entries in his Journal: + +"Looking down on the broad plain of Esdraelon . . . it is impossible +not to remember that this is the greatest battlefield of the world, +from the days of Joshua and the defeat of the mighty hosts of Sisera, +till, almost in our own days, Napoleon the Great fought the battle of +Mount Tabor; and here also is the ancient Megiddo, where the last great +battle of Armageddon is to be fought." + +Lieutenant Kitchener reported for duty in Palestine, in the Fall of +1874. The exploration party was then working in the hill country south +of Judah, which was still a sealed book to the rest of the world. +Their job was "to search in every hole and corner of the country and +see what is there, and classify everything in proper form"--to quote +the words of their prospectus. For this work they required both the +surveyor's instrument and the camera. + +In the use of the latter, Kitchener had shown aptitude at school; and +it is said that this fact had something to do with his appointment. It +is evident from the first official report that he "made good." His +chief, Lieutenant Conder, states that he succeeded in securing some +excellent photographs "under peculiarly unfavorable circumstances." + +The climate did not set well with him at first, and after two attacks +of fever he recovered his health sufficiently to take part in the Dead +Sea work of 1875. + +At Wady Seiyal, reports Conder, "we were caught in the most tremendous +gale which we have yet experienced in tents; and our next march of +nineteen miles in a perfect hurricane of bitter wind, with showers of +sleet and hail, necessitated by the fact that all our barley and other +stores were consumed, was the hardest bit of experience we have yet +encountered. Our dogs and two muleteers were unable to face the storm, +and took refuge in caves. Old Sheikh Hamzeh fell off his pony twice, +and had to be tied on. The brave beasts struggled for eleven hours, +and crossed more than one torrent of cold water up nearly to the +girths, but by eight at night they were in a warm stable, and we had +found refuge in Hebron in the house of a German Karaite Jew, whose +hospitality was as great as his subsequent charge was high." + +At times the ground was so uneven and devoid of trails, that they could +not march much faster than one mile an hour. The only human beings +they encountered were the Bedouin Arabs--sly, furtive fellows who were +always ready for a trade, but who would kill a man just as readily for +his shirt. + +The slow progress, however, did not worry Kitchener particularly. He +made good use of the time in photographing old walls, caves, and +natural strongholds. For instance, five days were spent in getting +data and records of the ruins of a fortress erected at Ascalon by +Richard Coeur-de-Lion, during his famous Crusade. + +Here it was that Kitchener's skill in swimming and presence of mind +were put to the test. Lieutenant Conder was swept off his horse while +fording the stream, and was in imminent danger of drowning, when +Kitchener sprang to his aid and towed him ashore. + +Despite the danger and hardships, Kitchener revelled in this wild life. +One of the party says of him: "He was as good company as a man could +wish to have, full of life and good spirits. We none of us thought +much about our toilets, and he least of all. Why, after a few months' +travelling about in Palestine, he looked more like a tramp than an +officer in Her Majesty's Army. His clothes wouldn't have fetched a +three penny-bit at any 'old do' shop in Whitechapel." + +It was in this first field service that he won a reputation which clung +to him through his whole career. They said that his chief amusement +was work, and his relaxation, more work. He was of seemingly tireless +energy, and never could understand the let-downs of others. The +boyhood trait of silence was also marked in the man. Although he +picked up languages easily, he used them sparingly. It was said of him +later that he could keep silent in ten languages. + +In a letter home, from Palestine, he throws a sidelight on this working +phase of his nature. "The non-commissioned officers," he says, "though +ready to go through any amount of work or danger, are much discouraged +at the prospect of an indefinite delay without employment, which, in my +opinion, is more trying in this climate than work." + +Not long after, the round of work and routine duty was varied by a +first-class fight. A Moslem sheikh had become so impertinent one day, +that Lieut. Conder ordered him out of his tent. The sheikh drew a +knife and was promptly disarmed and made prisoner by the British. +Instantly he lifted up his voice, calling for his men. The response +was prompt. They seemed to spring up out of the very rocks, and soon +there were two hundred of them howling and dancing around the handful +of Englishmen. Conder thus relates the happening: + +"Lieut. Kitchener and I were immediately surrounded. Three came to me +and asked me with curses what I was doing. An old man thrust his +battle-axe violently into my side, but I did not like to strike him, +though I had now a hunting-crop in my hand. I told them they were mad +and would be severely punished if they struck an Englishman. About +this time other members of the party saw a gun levelled at me five +yards off, but fortunately the man's hand was caught before he fired. +A man now came into the crowd which surrounded me, and dealt me a blow +on the head with a large club with great violence, causing two wounds +on the side of my head, covering my face with blood. A second blow, +directed with full force at the top of my head, must inevitably have +brained me, had I not put my head down to his chest. My servants gave +me up for dead. The blow fell on my neck, which ever since has been so +stiff and swollen that it is impossible to turn it round. The rest of +the party saw me fall. + +"As soon as I got up, I dealt this man a blow in the face with the +handle of my whip which staggered him, but my whip flew out of my hand +and left me entirely unarmed. I must inevitably have been murdered but +for the cool and prompt assistance of Lieut. Kitchener, who managed to +get to me and engaged one of the clubmen, covering my retreat. + +"A blow descending on the top of his head he parried with a cane, which +was broken by the force of the blow. A second wounded his arm. His +escape is unaccountable. Having retired a few paces from the thick of +the fray, I saw that the Moslems were gradually surrounding us, +stealing behind trees and through vineyards, and I well understood that +in such a case, unless the soldiers arrived at once, we must all die. +Many of the servants had indeed already given up hope, though no one +fled. I gave the order to leave the tents and fly round the hill. + +"Lieut. Kitchener was the last to obey this order, being engaged in +front. He retreated to his tent, and whilst running he was fired at, +and heard the bullet whistle by his head. He was also followed for +some short distance by a man with a huge scimitar, who subsequently +wounded with it more than one of our people." + +The timely arrival of the regular soldiers undoubtedly saved the little +party from massacre. + +Another enemy, the Eastern fever, was more successful in attack. Both +Conder and Kitchener had to return to England to recuperate. In 1877, +Kitchener went back, this time in command of the expedition, and by +midsummer had completed his survey of northern Palestine. He had +covered all told one thousand miles of country, making photographs and +maps which added immeasurably to the general knowledge. + +On his way back to England, Kitchener stopped in Turkey, which was then +at war with Bulgaria. His observations on the qualities of soldiers in +the two peoples, as recorded in an article written for _Blackwood's +Magazine_, are interesting in the light of later wars. + +The publication of the results of the Palestine exploration first +brought Kitchener to public notice. He was officially thanked and +began to be regarded as a marked man. He had won his first spurs. + +His next task was along similar lines. The Island of Cyprus occupied a +strategic position in the Mediterranean, and moreover had been the +scene of much turmoil. The British Government desired to set up a +stable regime there, and to this end decided to make a careful survey +of the Island and its resources. They naturally turned to Kitchener to +do the work. The satisfactory way in which he carried it through +earned for him the warm approval of Lord Derby, then Secretary of State +for the Colonies. One of his associates in Cyprus says of him there: +"We saw little of Kitchener at the club or anywhere else where +Englishmen mostly congregated, although he sometimes turned up at the +gymkhana meetings to contribute his share to their success. Kitchener +was always a hard worker, a gentleman with a long head who thought much +but said little. It is, of course, easy enough to prophesy when you +know, but honestly, to my mind, he looked a man who would go far if he +only had his chance." + +As an immediate result of this work, Kitchener was given the rank of +Major, and sent with Lord Wolseley's expedition into Egypt--then in the +throes of civil war. One reason for his promotion was his ability to +speak Arabic. His several years in the East had not only taught him +the languages, but valuable insight into manners and customs. + +The campaign was short and summary. The rebel forces were routed and +order established in northern Egypt. Kitchener's ability to organize, +and his knowledge of the people soon made him indispensable. His name +occurred so frequently in the official reports, that Lord Cromer, in +the home office, remarked: "This Kitchener seems to have a finger in +every pie. I must see him and find out what he is like." Later, after +seeing him, Cromer said: "That man's got a lot in him. He should prove +one of our best assets in Egypt." + +The next event--and a dramatic one--in Kitchener's life was concerned +with the attempted rescue of Gordon, some three years later. This +famous General had been sent to subdue the Soudan, which literally +means "Land of the Blacks," and had not received sufficient +reinforcements. It was a blunder on the part of the home Government +for which Gordon was to pay with his life. A relief force under +Wolseley was sent too late. + +Kitchener was fully alive to the peril of the situation, but being only +a subordinate could not do much to hasten affairs. He did know, +however, that a widespread conspiracy was being hatched which +threatened the safety of Wolseley's forces as well. How he got at the +bottom of this conspiracy is related by Charles Shaw, a Canadian +journalist who accompanied the expedition. + +A group of Arabs who had been in a brawl were lying tied hand and foot +in the guardhouse, when a tall man, also securely tied, was thrown in +with them. Although dressed like a native, Shaw relates, "he looked a +different brand of Arab than I had been accustomed to. He was +Kitchener. He was after the conspiracy. + +"I didn't know much Arabic in those days, but we could hear the +Dongolese talk and talk in excited tones the whole night, the tall man +occasionally saying a few words. + +"When we paraded before the large open-faced orderly tent next morning, +we were almost paralyzed to see Lord Wolseley himself seated at the +little table with Kitchener beside him, both in full staff uniform. A +tall, fine-looking Arab was being examined through the interpreter. He +didn't seem impressed by the glittering uniforms or the presence of the +Commander-in-chief, or embarrassed by their questions. Once or twice +an expression of surprise flitted over his face, but his eyes were +always fixed on Kitchener, who would now and again stoop and whisper +something in Lord Wolseley's ear. Once he raised his voice. The +prisoner heard its intonation and recognized him. With a fierce bound +the long, lithe Arab made a spring and was over the table, and had +seized Kitchener by the throat. There was a short, swift struggle, +Wolseley's eye glistened, and he half drew his sword. Kitchener, +athletic as he was, was being overpowered, and the Arab was throttling +him to death. + +"There was a rush of the guard--and within ten minutes a cordon of +sentries surrounded the Mudir of Dongola's tent. Within three days he +was a prisoner in his palace at Dongola, guarded by half a battalion of +British soldiers. The conspiracy was broken. + +"How widespread it was, only half a dozen white men knew at the +time. . . . To it the treachery of the Egyptian garrison at Khartoum +and the death of Gordon was due, and the preservation of the Desert +Column (the relief force), can be placed to its discovery." + +The next few years in Kitchener's life, which we can but summarize, +show him wielding a masterful hand in the pacification of Egypt. After +Gordon's death, the command was reorganized, and Kitchener became a +Lieutenant Colonel of Cavalry. His duties took him to the extreme +outposts. + +Halfway down the Red Sea, over against Mecca, is Suakim, the southern +outpost of Egypt. Suakim has the distinction of being one of the +hottest stations on earth, and one of the most desolate, comparable to +Central Arizona in the hot season. Here Kitchener served as Governor +from 1886 to 1888, with distinction. The following year found him +fighting on the frontier of the Soudan, the wild, vast back-country to +the south and west. + +From 1889 to 1892 he served as Adjutant-General of the Egyptian Army, +nominally as an officer of the Sultan's viceroy, the Khedive; but in +reality the visible presence of England's protecting power. He +received several high decorations, which would show that he won the +esteem and confidence of his Egyptian patrons. Finally in 1893 the +Khedive made him Sirdar, or Commander-in-chief. + +South of the Egyptian frontier, on the Upper Nile among the cataracts, +the three cities, Dongola, Berber, and Khartoum form a triangle of +trading centers. Kitchener saw that these were the strategic points in +the control of Upper Egypt, and in 1896 led an expedition thither. + +Ever since the death of Gordon, the country had been unsettled. It +remained to Kitchener to wield the avenging sword. He laid a light +railroad southward along the Nile, and marched swiftly, taking his +supplies with him. At Omdurman he finally met the enemy and inflicted +a crushing defeat. At Khartoum, where Gordon had been slain, he set up +a stable government. + +He came back to civilization a Major General in the British army, a +peer of England--and "Kitchener of Khartoum." This popular title was +speedily shortened to "K of K," and was as well known wherever English +Tommies assembled as "Bobs," the affectionate nickname of Lord Roberts. + +But Kitchener never won the deep affection of the rank and file, that +Roberts inspired. He was taciturn, aloof, and a stern disciplinarian. +His name evoked fear and respect, but never love. And yet, his men +would follow him through fire and water, for they had unbounded +confidence in his ability. It was his name that was placarded through +London, when the recruiting began for the Great War--and not the King's. + +"Will you serve with Kitchener?" the posters said. And they responded, +three million strong--"Kitchener's Mob," which was to become so soon a +skilled army under his guidance. + +They tell of him that when he took the post of Secretary of War, on his +first visit of inspection to the office he looked around and said, "Is +there a bed here?" When answered in the negative, he gave the brief +order, "Have one brought in." + +Thereafter for several weeks he literally lived in his office night and +day. He had at last found a job that measured up to his fullest +requirements for hard work, and he revelled in it. Incidentally, he +"delivered the goods"--but nobody marvelled at that; it was nothing +more than was expected of him! + +Says an anonymous writer in _The Living Age_: "England never fully +understood Lord Kitchener, and perhaps he never fully understood his +countrymen. They weaved innumerable myths around this shy and solitary +man, who revealed himself to few. To them his figure loomed gigantic +and mysterious through the sandstorms of African deserts and the mists +of the Himalayas. In their hour of trial he came among them for a +space, and then vanished forever in the wild Northern seas. He was a +good man to fight for or to fight against, and he found a worthy end." + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN KITCHENER'S LIFE + + 1850. June 24. Herbert Horatio Kitchener born. + 1865. Sent to Switzerland to school. + 1868. Entered Royal Military Academy, at Woolwich. + 1870. Volunteered in French army against Prussia. + 1874. Sent as second-lieutenant to Palestine, with exploration party. + 1878. Surveyed Island of Cyprus, for British Government. + 1885. Lieutenant-colonel of cavalry in Egypt. + 1893. Sirdar, or commander-in-chief, of Egyptian army. + 1898. Created a baron. + 1900. Chief of staff to Roberts in South Africa. + 1902. Made general, and commander-in-chief in India. + 1911. Consul-general in Egypt. + 1914. Secretary of War. Field marshal. + 1916. June 5. Lost his life at sea. + + + + +HAIG + +THE MAN WHO LED "THE CONTEMPTIBLES" + +"There goes young Haig. He says he intends to be a soldier." + +The speaker was a young student at Oxford University, as he jerked his +thumb in the direction of a slight but well-set-up fellow, a classmate, +who went cantering past. + +The chance remark, made more than once during the college days of Field +Marshal Haig, struck the keynote of his career. From early boyhood +Douglas Haig was going to be a soldier; and he stuck to his guns in a +quiet, systematic way until he won out. + +The story of Haig's life until the time of the Great War, was the +opposite of spectacular, and even in it, his personal prowess was kept +studiously in the background. With him it has always been: "My men did +thus and so." Yet in his quiet way he has always made his presence +felt with telling effect. He has been the man behind the man behind +the gun. + +By birth Haig was a "Fifer," which sounds military without being so. +He was a native of Cameronbridge, County of Fife, and came of the +strictest Presbyterian Scotch. If he had lived a few centuries back he +would have been a Covenanter--the kind that carried a Bible in one hand +and a gun in the other. He was born, June 19, 1861, the youngest son +of John Haig, a local Justice of the Peace. His mother was a Veitch of +Midlothian. + +The family, while not wealthy, was comfortably situated. The Haig +children grew up as countrywise rather than townbred, having many a +romp over the rolling country leading to the Highlands. But more than +once on such a jaunt would come the inquiry: "Where's Douglas?" (We +doubt whether they ever shortened it to "Doug," as they would have done +in America.) And back would come the answer: "Oh, he stayed by the +house, the morn. He got a new book frae the library, ye ken." + +Douglas was, indeed, bookish and was inclined to favor the inglenook +rather than the heather. As he grew older he discovered a strong +liking for books on theology. It was the old Presbyterian streak +cropping out. + +The last thing one would expect from such a boy, was to become a +soldier. A divinity student, yes,--perhaps a college professor--but a +soldier, never! Yet it was to soldiering that this quiet boy turned. + +The one thing which linked him up with the field was horsemanship. He +was always a devotee of riding, and soon learned to ride well, with a +natural ease and grace. + +He received a general education at Clifton, then entered Brasenose +College, Oxford, at the age of twenty. He was never a +"hail-fellow-well-met" sort of person. Reserve was his hallmark. But +the longer he stayed in college, the more of an outdoorsman he became. +Every afternoon would find him mounted on his big gray horse for a +gallop across the moors, or perhaps an exciting canter behind the +hounds on the scent of a fox. It was then that his habitual reserve +would melt away, and he would wave his hat and cheer like a high-school +boy. + +The record of his classes is in no sense remarkable. He turned in neat +and precise papers, without making shining marks in any particular +study. Literature and science were his best subjects. + +"Well, son, how goes it now?" his father would ask. "Ready to make a +lawyer out of yourself?" + +Douglas would shake his head. He could never share his father's +enthusiasm for the law. "I guess not, father," he would reply quietly. +"Somehow, I am not built that way. I want a try at soldier life." + +So his father let him follow his bent, and procured for him a position +in the Seventh Regiment of Hussars. His career as a soldier was +threatened at the outset by the refusal of the medical board to admit +him to the Staff College on the ground that he was color-blind; but +this decision was over-ruled by the Duke of Cambridge, then +commander-in-chief, who nominated him personally. This was in 1885. +England was then as nearly at peace as she ever became, and it seemed +that young Haig was destined to become a feather-bed soldier. + +But it was not for long. They presently began to stir up trouble down +in Egypt, and England found, as on many previous occasions, that she +didn't have half enough regulars for the job in hand. The revolt of +the Mahdi had occurred, Khartoum had fallen, and the brave Gordon had +lost his life. + +A relief expedition into the Soudan was organized under the command of +a tall, stern soldier named Kitchener, who began his first preparations +to march into the interior about the time that Haig was putting on his +first Hussar uniform. + +The campaign in Egypt dragged, despite the zeal of the leader. In +disgust, Kitchener returned to England to demand more men. The request +was at last granted, and by December, 1888, he was in command of a +force of over 4,000 troops, of which number 750 were British regulars! +Those were indeed the days of the "Little Contemptibles," but right +manfully they measured up to their tasks. And in the British force was +the Seventh Hussars, including Haig. He was about to achieve his +life's ambition, at last--to see real service as a British soldier. + +Haig was then a well-knit young man of twenty-seven. His outdoor +exercise had browned and hardened him, until he looked thoroughly fit +for the exacting job ahead. He was slightly under medium size, but +tough and wiry to the last degree. His shoulders were broad, his head +well set, and the bulging calves of his legs showed the born +cavalryman. He had fair, almost sandy hair, a close-cropped mustache, +and steel-blue eyes which met honestly and unflinchingly the gaze of +any with whom he talked. He looked then, as in later years, "every +inch a soldier," and speedily won the confidence of his superiors. + +The silent Kitchener, who was a keen judge of men, soon took a fancy to +this quiet young lieutenant. A friendship sprang up between them, that +was destined to bear far-reaching fruit. The two men were both +reserved in demeanor, but in a different sort of way. Kitchener was +taciturn and often inclined to growl. Haig was a man of few words and +no intimates, but greeted all with a pleasant smile. To this young +Scotsman Kitchener unbent more than was his wont, and was actually seen +shaking hands with him, at parting, on a later occasion; which all goes +to show that even commanding officers can be human. + +On the march into the Soudan, Kitchener was in command of the Egyptian +Cavalry also. The Khedive was exceedingly anxious that the rebellion +be crushed speedily, and had made Kitchener the "sirdar." One of the +first actions in this campaign was the Battle of Gemaizeh. Three +brigades were sent to storm the forts held by the dervishes, and a +heavy and sustained fire from three sides soon drove the enemy out in +disorder. Some 500 dervishes were slain, and the remainder numbering +several thousand fled across the desert toward Handub--closely pursued +by the British Hussars and the Egyptian cavalry. + +This was only the first of many such actions. Further and further +south the rebels were driven. Kitchener pushed a light railroad across +the desert as he advanced, so that he would not suffer from the same +mistake which had ended Gordon--getting cut off from his base of +supplies. + +And in the thick of it was Haig--learning the actual trade of war in +these frequent brushes on the desert--riding hard by day, sleeping the +sleep of exhaustion at night. On more than one occasion the Chief sent +him on a special quest with important messages, and always Haig got +through. He seemed to bear a charmed life. "Lucky Haig," the men +began to call him, and the title stuck. + +Entering the desert as a Lieutenant, he was promoted to Captain, then +brevetted a Major. He was mentioned in the despatches for bravery, and +won a medal from the Khedive. + +All this was not done in a few short months. The Egyptian campaign +stretched into years, and at times must have seemed fearfully +monotonous to these soldiers so far removed from home comforts. Here +is the way one writer describes the Soudan: + +"The scenery, it must be owned, was monotonous, and yet not without +haunting beauty. Mile on mile, hour on hour, we glided through sheer +desert. Yellow sand to right and left--now stretching away endlessly, +now a valley between small broken hills. Sometimes the hills sloped +away from us, then they closed in again. Now they were diaphanous blue +on the horizon, now soft purple as we ran under their flanks. But +always they were steeped through and through with sun--hazy, immobile, +silent." + +One of the culminating battles of the campaign was that of Atbara, +where the backbone of the dervish rebellion was broken. It is +estimated that here 8,000 dervishes were killed, 2,000 wounded, and +2,000 made prisoners. The battle began with a bombardment by the field +guns. Then came the British cavalry at a gallop--the Camerons in +front, and columns of Warwicks, Seaforths, and Lincolns behind. +Bugles, bagpipes, and the instruments of the native regiments made +strange music as the army pressed forward intent on reaching the river +bank. + +The native stockades were reinforced with thorn bushes, but these were +torn away by the men, with their bare hands, in their eagerness to +advance. Haig's regiment was one of the first to penetrate, but once +past the stockade they encountered many of the defenders who put up a +fierce fight. Several British officers lost their lives, and it was +due to Haig's agility and presence of mind that he was not at the least +severely wounded. Two dervishes attacked him at once from opposite +sides. One aimed a slashing blow at his head with a scimitar. Haig +quickly ducked and the scimitar went crashing against the weapon of the +other dervish. Haig's luck again! + +Others were not so fortunate. "Never mind me, lads, go on," said Major +Urquhart with his dying breath. "Go on, my company, and give it to +them," gasped Captain Findlay as he fell. At the head of the attacking +party strode Piper Stewart, playing "The March of the Cameron Men," +until five bullets laid him low. Truly the spirit of the fiery old +Covenanters was there! + +The final battle of the Soudanese campaign, Khartoum, put the finishing +touches to the rebellion, and gave to Kitchener the title "K. of +K."--Kitchener of Khartoum. This battle was noteworthy in employing +the cavalry in an open charge across the plains against the dervish +infantry. It was just such a charge as a skilled horseman such as Haig +would keenly enjoy, despite the danger. Winston Churchill, the British +Minister, thus describes it: + +"The heads of the squadrons wheeled slowly to the left, and the +Lancers, breaking into a trot, began to cross the dervish front in +column of troops. Thereupon and with one accord the blue-clad men +dropped on their knees, and there burst out a loud, crackling fire of +musketry. It was hardly possible to miss such a target at such a +range. Horses and men fell at once. The only course was plain and +welcome to all. The Colonel, nearer than his regiment, already saw +what lay behind the skirmishers. He ordered 'Right wheel into line' to +be sounded. The trumpet jerked out a shrill note, heard faintly above +the trampling of the horses and the noise of the rifles. On the +instant the troops swung round and locked up into a long, galloping +line. + +"Two hundred and fifty yards away, the dark blue men were firing madly +in a thin film of light-blue smoke. Their bullets struck the hard +gravel into the air, and the troopers, to shield their faces from the +stinging dust, bowed their helmets forward, like the Cuirassiers at +Waterloo. The pace was fast and the distance short. Yet before it was +half covered the whole aspect of the affair changed. A deep crease in +the ground--a dry watercourse, a _khor_--appeared where all had seemed +smooth, level plain; and from it there sprang, with the suddenness of a +pantomime effect and a high-pitched yell, a dense white mass of men +nearly as long as our front and about twelve deep. A score of horsemen +and a dozen bright flags rose as if by magic from the earth. The +Lancers acknowledged the apparition only by an increase of pace." + +In such a męlée as then followed, that trooper was lucky indeed who +escaped without a scratch. + +As a result of his bravery at Atbara and Khartoum, Haig's name was +mentioned in the official despatches. He returned to England wearing +the Khedive's medal and the honorary title of Major. + +It is probable, however, that little more would have been heard of him, +had not the South African War broken out, soon after. It is the lot of +military men to vegetate in days of peace. They live upon action. +Haig was no exception to this rule. He welcomed new fields. He went +to South Africa as aide and right-hand man to Sir John French--the +general whom he was to succeed in later years on the battlefields of +France. + +In this war, Haig is not credited with many personal exploits. His was +essentially a thinking part. Yet he served as chief of staff in a +series of minor but important operations about Colesburg, which +prepared the way for Roberts's advance. As usual Haig pinned his faith +upon the cavalry. All his life he had made a close study of this arm +of the service, and was of opinion that it was not utilized in modern +warfare nearly so much as it should be. He was a warm admirer of the +American officer, J. E. B. Stuart, the Confederate General whose +dashing tactics turned the scale in so many encounters. + +Now he tried the same strategy in the operations around Colesburg--and +paved the way for later victory. + +Haig somewhat resembled another Southern leader, Stonewall Jackson, in +his piety. It was not ostentatious, but simply part and parcel of the +man, due to his Presbyterian training. Haig did not swear or gamble or +dance all night. He was more apt to be found in his tent, when off +duty, either reading or writing. + +They tell of him that, one day at the officers' mess, after a +particularly lively brush with the Boers, the quartermaster asked him +if he had lost anything. + +"Yes," replied Haig solemnly, "my Bible!" + +Not once did his countenance relax its gravity, as he met the grinning +faces across the table. + +But despite their chaffing, there was not a man there who did not +respect the courage of his convictions, no less than the bravery of the +man himself. Almost daily he risked his life in these cavalry +operations--until the "Haig luck" became a watchword. + +The end of the South African War found Haig promoted to acting Adjutant +General of the Cavalry, and soon after his return home he was made +Lieutenant Colonel, in command of the Seventeenth Lancers. This was in +1901. + +About this time he paid a visit to Germany, then at peace and +professing a warm affection for England. One result of this visit was +a letter which showed him possessed with wonderful powers of analysis +and foresight. He practically predicted the war that was to come. He +summed up his observations in a long letter to a friend which, in the +light of events of the War, is little short of uncanny. It gave the +German plan with a mastery of detail, shrewd prophecy, and earnest +warning. The future commander-in-chief of the British armies in France +was convinced of the certainty of the conflict and besought the +authorities to make better preparation--but his warnings fell upon deaf +ears. + +It required thirteen years to demonstrate the truth of Haig's +predictions, and then the blow fell. The Kaiser viewed his strong +hosts and boasted that he would soon wipe out England's "contemptible +little army." He very nearly did so, and would certainly have +succeeded, had it not been for the fighting spirit of such men as Haig. + +During the intervening years since the South African campaign he had +risen by fairly rapid stages to Inspector-General of the Cavalry in +India--a situation which he handled with great skill for three +years--then Major General, and Lieutenant General. + +At the outbreak of the World War, he was hurriedly sent to France, +under the command of Sir John French, his old leader in Africa. French +was generosity itself in his praise of Haig in these early days of +disaster. + +In the retreat from Mons it was "the skilful manner in which Sir +Douglas Haig extricated his corps from an exceptionally difficult +position in the darkness of the night," that won his laudation. At the +Aisne, on September 14, 1914, "the action of the First Corps on this +day, under the direction and command of Sir Douglas Haig, was of so +skilful, bold, and decisive a character, that he gained positions which +alone have enabled me to maintain my position for more than three weeks +of very severe fighting on the north bank of the river." + +In the first battle of Ypres, the chief honors of victory were again +awarded to him: + +"Throughout this trying period, Sir Douglas Haig, aided by his +divisional commanders and his brigade commanders, held the line with +marvelous tenacity and undaunted courage." + +Again and again, the generous French pays tribute to his friend, which +while deserved reflects no less honor upon the speaker. He was big +enough to share honor. + +It is not strange, therefore, when French was superseded, for strategic +reasons, that Haig should have been given the chief command. The +appointment, however, left most of the world frankly amazed. Haig had +come forward so quietly that few save those in official circles knew +anything about him. It was nevertheless but a matter of weeks, +possibly days, before a quiet confidence born of the man himself was +manifest everywhere. + +One war correspondent who visited headquarters in the midst of the +War's turmoil, thus describes his visit: + +"The environment of the Commander-in-chief is strongly suggestive of +his conduct of the war. Before war became a thing of precise science, +the headquarters of an army head seethed with all the picturesque +details so common to pictures of martial life. Couriers mounted on +foam-flecked horses dashed to and fro. The air was vibrant with +action; the fate of battle showed on the face of the humblest orderly. +But today 'G. H. Q.'--as headquarters are familiarly known--are totally +different. Although army units have risen from thousands to millions +of men, and fields of operations stretch from sea to sea, and more +ammunition is expended in a single engagement than was employed in +entire wars of other days, absolute serenity prevails. It is only when +your imagination conjures up the picture of flame and fury that lies +beyond the horizon line that you get a thrill. + +"An occasional motorcar driven by a soldier-chauffeur chugs up the +gravel road to the chateau and from it emerge earnest-faced officers +whose visits are usually brief. Neither time nor words are wasted when +myriad lives hang in the balance and an empire is at stake. Inside and +out there is an atmosphere of quiet confidence, born of unobtrusive +efficiency." + +The same writer on meeting Haig says: "I found myself in a presence +that, even without the slightest clue to its profession, would have +unconsciously impressed itself as military. Dignity, distinction, and +a gracious reserve mingle in his bearing. I have rarely seen a +masculine face so handsome and yet so strong. His hair and mustache +are fair, and his clear, almost steely-blue eyes search you, but not +unkindly. His chest is broad and deep, yet scarcely broad enough for +the rows of service and order ribbons that plant a mass of color +against the background of khaki. . . . + +"Into every detail of daily life at General Headquarters the +Commander's character is impressed. After lunch, for example, he +spends an hour alone, and in this period of meditation the whole +fateful panorama of the war passes before him. When it is over the +wires splutter and the fierce life of the coming night--the Army does +not begin to fight until most people go to sleep--is ordained. + +"This finished, the brief period of respite begins. Rain or shine, his +favorite horse is brought up to the door, and he goes for a ride, +usually accompanied by one or two young staff-officers. I have seen +Sir Douglas Haig galloping along those smooth French roads, head up, +eyes ahead--a memorable figure of grace and motion. He rides like +those latter-day centaurs--the Australian ranger and the American +cowboy. He seems part of his horse." + +Such was the man who did his full share in turning the German tide. +Throughout the four long years of war, he faced the enemy with a calm +courage which if it ever wavered gave no outward sign. And that is one +reason why the Little Contemptibles grew and grew until they became a +mighty barrier stretching across the pathway of the invader from sea to +sea, and saying with their Allies: + +"You shall not pass!" + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN HAIG'S LIFE + + 1861. June 19. Douglas Haig born. + 1880. Entered Brasenose College, Oxford. + 1885. Joined 7th Hussars, British army. + 1898. Served in Soudan, mentioned in despatches, and + brevetted major. + 1899. Served in South Africa. D. A. A. G. for cavalry; + then staff officer to General French. + 1901. Lieutenant-colonel commanding 17th Lancers. + 1903. Inspector-general, cavalry, India. + 1904. Major-general. + 1910. Lieutenant-general. + 1914. General, commanding First Army in France. + 1915. Commander-in-chief of British forces. + 1917. Field marshal. + 1919. Created an earl. + 1928. January 30. Died in England. + + + + +JOFFRE + +THE COOPER'S SON WHO REMADE THE ARMIES OF FRANCE + +"Let's name him Joseph," said Gilles Joffre to his wife, as they viewed +their first child with much pride. + +"That doesn't seem to be enough," responded Mme. Joffre. So unusual a +baby deserved better treatment, she thought. + +"Then how about Joseph Jacques? That's a good, sensible sounding name." + +"That sounds well," she admitted, "but still it lacks something. I'll +tell you. Let's call him Joseph Jacques Césaire." + +"Sounds like a soldier," said the father. + +"Well, who knows? Perhaps he will be a general some day," Mme. Joffre +replied. + +So the infant who lay quietly blinking on his natal day, January 12, +1852, was to be known as Joseph to his friends; but tucked away in his +name for future reference was Césaire--as the French folk pronounced the +name of the great Roman conqueror. + +Truly there was nothing very auspicious in the start of Joseph Joffre. +His father was merely a cooper in a straggling hillside town of the +Pyrenees in Southern France, Rivesaltas--but he was a good cooper. His +neighbors had a saying that is preserved to this day: "Barrels as good as +those made by old Gilles Joffre." + +The town itself had some six thousand inhabitants, and was situated on +the River Agly, about nine miles from the city of Perpignan. The Joffre +home was a very plain and humble dwelling set alongside of the cooper +shop, and neither better nor worse than its neighbors--but the well-to-do +workman of today would turn up his nose at it. Nevertheless in this home +were born eleven children, the oldest of whom was the future Marshal of +France. And the father continued to live there for thirty years or more. + +It is related of him that even as a baby Joseph never cried, but endured +his various troubles with silent stoicism. As he grew older, this trait +of silence became ingrown; it was alluded to as "Joffre's taciturnity." +But as a matter of fact the gift of silence in him as both boy and man +did not indicate a sullen or unfriendly disposition. It was merely that +he had his head in the clouds. He made a life job of _thinking_--like +the seated statue by Rodin. + +As one result of this trait, little is reported concerning his childhood. +No anecdotes are related of him at all, except one doubtful story about a +fight which he had with a schoolmate. The latter wanted him to stop and +take part in some game. Joffre replied that he didn't have time. The +other fellow came back with a taunt--and then Joseph "waded in." + +He did not have any chums for the same reason, lack of time, and +doubtless he missed a great deal out of boyhood from this fact. It is +said that in the study hall he would erect a great pile of books between +himself and the next boy, so as not to be disturbed. Yet he didn't shine +particularly as a student. He was simply busy--thinking. + +It was not until he was sent to college at Perpignan, that he really +began to take an interest in books, and his favorites were the more solid +studies--algebra, descriptive geometry, surveying, and draftsmanship. +His bent even at this early day seemed to be civil engineering. + +The ambition of every middle-class French home, in those days, was to +send a son to the army--have him study to become an officer. Mamma +Joffre had not forgotten the Caesar in her oldest son's name; and in a +family conclave it was decided that he should be sent to Paris, to try +for the entrance examinations in the École Polytechnique. + +Gilles Joffre accompanied his son to the capital, and left him in a +private school. Like his son, the cooper was a man of few words; but +what he must have done at parting was to clap the boy on the shoulder, +and say: "Now, go to it!" + +Joseph Joffre did. When he returned to his boyhood's home, only four +years later, he was wearing the shoulder straps of a lieutenant, and had +seen active service. But this is getting ahead of our story. + +There was really nothing else for him to do but to "go to it" here in +Paris. He was a big, hulking lad of fifteen, with a bullet head set upon +a thick neck and broad shoulders--an awkward figure dressed in +ill-fitting clothes. All his life Joffre paid little attention to dress. +Here at the awkward age he looked out of place with the well-dressed city +boys. They tried to have fun at his expense, but he withdrew into his +shell more than ever, and they soon learned to let him alone. + +It must have been a lonely life that young Joffre led--but we have no +direct evidence that he ever felt lonely. His books and his day dreams +seem always to have made up for a lack of human companionship. The other +fellows contented themselves with saying of him: "He is too slow, and +methodical to amount to much." + +He did not, indeed, make a specially brilliant record in his entrance +examinations to the Polytechnique; but his stumbling block was not +mathematics or science, it was--German! He never could abide the +language! + +Joseph Joffre entered this famous military training school in 1869, at +the age of seventeen. Within a few months the school course was broken +up by the German invasion, and Joffre with other cadets promptly +volunteered for service. Much to the delight of his family, he was made +a second lieutenant, attached to the Engineering Corps. His first +practical field work was in throwing up fortifications in defence of +Paris. But the Germans were not to be stopped by Joffre in their march +on the French capital at this time. That was reserved for a later day +and another war. + +The short but terrible conflict of 1870 over, Joffre returned to college, +and graduated therefrom in 1872, with the rank of full lieutenant. One +of his classmates of this time was Ferdinand Foch, but if the two future +Marshals there became acquainted no story of their meeting has come down +to us. + +Joffre's first work at fort building had been so well done that +immediately upon graduation the government set him to work. The memory +of the stinging German defeat was with them stirring them to action. +They wanted defenses everywhere. Joffre was employed upon them at Paris, +Versailles, Montpellier, and even in faraway Brittany--until he was +disposed to grumble at his fate. + +"This is all very fine," he said; "but I don't want to spend the rest of +my days building forts. I want to command troops and see some real +fighting." + +It was the Caesar cropping up in him again. + +Without question he was a born builder of fortifications. One day the +great Marshal MacMahon came by on a tour of inspection, and was much +delighted with a series of defenses he had built near Paris. + +"I congratulate you, Monsieur le Capitaine!" he said. + +By one sentence he had promoted the young lieutenant to a captaincy. + +It was about this time that a fall from his horse very nearly cut short +his military career. He was so severely injured that the doctors feared +that his mind was affected, and he was sent home for a complete rest. + +At home he did not complain--that was not his nature--but he spent +several days pacing back and forth in his little upper room. Then came a +day when he burst in to the downstairs room where sat his parents, his +face beaming--showing the strain which he had overcome. + +"It's all right, mon pčre!" he cried joyfully. "I have solved it. I +will get well!" + +What he had been doing was to set himself an abstruse and difficult +problem in mathematics, in order to see if his brain would respond. It +did so, he solved it and thus had no more fears as to his own ultimate +recovery. + +Another story told by his sister, of these early army days, shows further +his power of mental abstraction. + +"My brother was always lost in thought," says Mme. Artus. "No matter +what he did, his thoughts never left him. Once they caused his arrest as +a spy." + +It seems that at Vauban, not far away from his home town of Rivesaltas, +they were constructing a fort. Joffre sauntered over to inspect it. He +was clad in civilian dress and he evinced so much interest in what was +going on that the commanding officer promptly seized him for a suspicious +character. + +"Did my brother protest? Not he. But when they brought him before the +military court, his Catalonian brogue was enough to convince anybody as +to where he was born. + +"'Why didn't you tell them who you were?' I asked him. + +"'Too busy thinking about the fort,' was his reply." + +One other anecdote of this time has come down to us and is worth +repeating. His father had bought a piece of farm land that was badly in +need of ditching, in order to drain it properly during the wet season, +and irrigate it during the dry. The son sketched out a scheme of cross +trenches, but his father demurred--then Joseph exploded: + +"Trenches! What the devil! I know all about trenches; trenches are my +specialty." + +The Great War of later years was to show whether or not this confidence +in his own abilities was misplaced. + +By the year 1884, his reputation as a builder of trenches and forts was +firmly established, although official promotion had come slowly. When +Admiral Courbet telegraphed to the Home Office from the Isle of Formosa +for a reliable officer to place in charge of this work, Joffre was sent. +He spent nearly a year there and it was a year of the hardest kind of +work. He could get only indifferent help, so he worked early and late to +make up the deficit. + +From there he was sent on similar work to the province of Tonkin, +Indo-China. Here he practically rebuilt the town of Hanoi, clearing and +guttering the streets, draining the neighboring marshes which had made +the settlement a pest-hole, and building permanent roads. The town of +Vietri was similarly cleaned up. + +For these important labors he received the first recognition in nearly +ten years. He was given official thanks, and decorated with the cross of +the Legion of Honor. + +A fellow officer who knew him at this time says: "Captain Joffre was a +solidly-built Pyrenean, calm and clear-headed, with a firm walk and a +hard blue eye. He seldom smiled and he spoke still more rarely. He +never punished except in extreme cases, and then hard. Natives feared +him for his silence, but loved him for his justice." + +This portrait of him about a quarter of a century before the Great War is +easily recognizable in the commander of the later day. + +In 1891 he paralleled the career of General Foch somewhat by taking a +professor's chair. He was appointed instructor in fortifications at the +Military School at Fontainebleau, where he remained for two years. The +work did not appeal to him particularly and he is spoken of there as a +thorough teacher, but not popular. He had not mingled enough with others +to get their point of view. + +A welcome change from this was a summons from headquarters to go to +Timbuctoo, and help suppress a native rebellion. It was all the more +welcome as here, for the first time, he was promised a chance to do some +real fighting. + +Timbuctoo was then being overrun by the Tuaregs, a tribe of terrible +brigands called "the veiled men" of Western Soudan. They had massacred +the European settlers, and ended by killing two French officers, Colonel +Bonnier and Lieutenant Boiteux, who had recently headed expeditions +against them. It was a wild and treacherous land, and the relief +expedition would scarcely have child's play of it. + +Joffre went at it without the slightest misgiving. Like many another +soldier he was a firm believer in "Luck," and here certainly the fates +were propitious. He set forth on his journey from Segou, on Christmas +Day, 1893, commanding a force of thirty French and three hundred natives. +They crossed deadly swamps and dry, trackless deserts. There were some +deaths by the wayside, but Joffre pushed on. His progress was slow, as +he stopped to make friends with native chiefs, and enlist their aid where +possible. + +At last they reached Timbuctoo, only to find orders awaiting them to +"prepare for evacuation," in the face of a threatening Tuareg army. +Joffre for once disobeyed orders, and decided, instead, to attack. He +did so, and administered a crushing defeat to the brigands. He followed +this up so thoroughly, that the whole district was restored to peace. + +Then the soldier gave place to the engineer. He cleaned up the town (in +another sense) and returned home. + +"Luck was on my side," he said briefly after receiving official +congratulations, and the rank of lieutenant colonel. "I might have met +the fate of Bonnier and Boiteux, had the Goddess of Good Fortune not +attended me." + +But those who knew him believed that it was something more than luck. + +That Joffre was a fatalist is evinced by another incident of this march +in Soudan. An insect's sting had poisoned his left eye so severely that +the sight was threatened. The doctor of the force advised him to wear a +bandage. Joffre would not agree. + +"I could not command my troops if I were blindfolded," he said. + +"Then it must be blue glasses," said the doctor. + +But eyeglass shops are not found in the desert, and Joffre went on +without protection. A few days later a soldier received a packet from +home and brought it to him. It was a pair of blue glasses! + +"I told you that I was in luck," said Joffre. + +However, he narrowly escaped blindness, and ever afterward a thin +veil-like film covered the injured eye. + +One result of the Timbuctoo campaign was an official report written by +Joffre, and afterwards published in book form under the title +(translated) "Operations of the Joffre Column before and after the +Capture of Timbuctoo." The story is a straightforward soldierly +narrative. One French critic recently said of it, apropos of Joffre's +election to the French Academy, a rather unique honor: "I defy anybody +who knows the pleasure which words can give us in evoking things, to deny +that this report is a piece of most effective writing. . . . With Joffre +who has no idea or desire to give us 'fine writing,' the effect produced +is that of reality itself. The names of the tribes he meets or describes +take on a strange virtue, as if we heard them on the spot. Even the +French officers' names scattered over a narrative from which all attempt +at picturesqueness is banished, produce picturesqueness. . . . On the +whole he is a primitive, and with all the primitive's simple charm and +power." + +After the Soudanese adventure, came a trip to Madagascar--this time, more +fort constructing, from which it seemed that he could never escape. The +problem down there was a vexatious one, due to a do-nothing policy of a +predecessor. Things were in bad shape. Joffre arrived, after a long sea +voyage, gave one look around, and then things began to happen. + +"If men are responsible for this disorder," he said sententiously, "it is +easy to suppose that men can restore the needed order." + +And the forts and barracks went up in record time. + +"We never expected to see that job done," reports one soldier. "The +thing was so old that it had cobwebs over it. When Joffre took hold it +went up by magic." + +They concocted another saying about him, down in that distant island, +which was: + +"There goes old man System!" + +At another time an officer remarked: "Joffre wants what he wants when he +wants it--and furthermore he knows why he wants it!" + +In 1901, at the century's turn, and when he was rounding out his half +century, his long-delayed promotions began to arrive. He was made +Brigadier General, and thenceforth began to forge rapidly to the front. +One reason for his slow advancement was that he was no politician or +time-server. He never pushed himself forward. And so much of his work +was done in remote provinces that the General Staff hardly knew him at +all. We remember, too, that he had made no friends at school, who would +follow his career, or speak a good word for him in official ears. + +When he did at last receive recognition it was upon absolute merit. But +when he reached the General Staff, the remark was frequently heard: "Who +is this Joffre? We never heard of him." + +It was not long, however, before he made his presence felt in Paris +official circles. They came to depend more and more upon this stocky, +hard-headed Gascon and his opinions. He never minced words and he went +to the root of the matter. + +In 1911, when the need was universally felt, of a thorough reorganization +of the French army--a much-needed house-cleaning--they cast about for +some man big enough for the job. In a conference General Pau, a warm +adherent of Joffre, shook his single good fist in the faces of the Staff +officers, and exclaimed: "There is only one man who can do the job!" + +So they sent for Joffre and made him chief of the General Staff, with +full power to reorganize. It was well for France that they did so, and +fortunate that he had three full years to work before the blow fell, and +the invaders were again at their gates. + +"No German could be more thorough than Joffre," said one officer. "For +him no lasting results can be obtained without the utmost care. He has +limitless patience, joined with a wonderful breadth of view. His methods +resemble the head of a great business." + +In his intricate work of reconstructing the army, he revealed another, +and surprising side to his nature. From being cold and aloof, he showed +a human sympathy for his men, down to the last private. It was as though +the man who had held himself aloof from intimates wanted to take the +whole French army into his heart. And the men responded with an +affection and a confidence which were later to produce the fine results +of leadership in the War. He was no longer "Joffre the Silent," but +"Papa Joffre." + +Says one writer: "Joffre is the soldier of democracy. That is why he +sets America aflame with enthusiasm, as he did France. His thickset +frame, firmly knit and vigorous, his clear eyes, which observe you from +beneath bushy eyebrows, his firm and kindly mouth, his bristling +mustache, the simplicity of his manners, his clean-cut, reserved +language,--all that goes to show that there is nothing in him of bluster +and affectation. He is truly 'Papa Joffre,' the father and even the +grandfather of the _poilus_. It is the _poilu_ himself beneath the white +_panache_ of this unique Marshal of France." + +When in 1914 the Germans struck, they anticipated an easy march upon +Paris--such as that of forty odd years before. But this time a different +Joffre stood in their path. In place of the young lieutenant not yet out +of his 'teens, they found a grizzled veteran who matched them with +methods as thorough-going as their own, but who preferred to control his +men by love rather than fear. + +"Your French soldiers are brave," said one German officer contemptuously, +"but as for discipline--bah! Our legions will brush you aside." + +"Our men may not have the machine-like discipline that you affect," was +the French officer's reply. "But we replace it with something far +better--a love of country that will cause us to sacrifice the last drop +of blood." + +"But your great Generals--where are they?" asked the other. + +"They will make themselves felt in due time. At their head stands one +who is yet to fight his first great battle--yet I advise you not to +arouse him!" + +The world knows the rest of the story of that mighty invasion--how the +black, invading line curved onward and inward until it threw its shadow +upon Paris. Then when the final blow was about to be struck--the +coup-de-grace as the Germans firmly believed--up from the South came the +army of Joffre. It had retreated and retreated, until the moment for its +counter-blow. + +Now with the precision of a sledge-hammer it struck, and struck +again--until the surprised enemy turned and fell back. Paris was saved. + +In the gallery of the world's great soldiers, the homely, kindly figure +of Joffre may well find place. He seems to occupy a niche quite by +himself. He is not spectacular, nor a "hero," but a simple man among +men, whose results are built upon a lifetime of patient endeavor. + +He is Rodin's statue of "The Thinker" come to life. + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN JOFFRE'S LIFE + + 1852. January 12. Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre born. + 1867. Entered preparatory military school, Paris. + 1869. Entered Polytechnic Academy. + 1870. Volunteered in army to defend Paris against Prussians. + 1870. Commissioned second-lieutenant. + 1876. Commissioned captain for work on fortifications. + 1884. Sent to Formosa to construct barracks and trenches. + 1885. Decorated, Legion of Honor, Tonkin. + 1891. Professor in military school, Fontainebleau. + 1893. Sent to Madagascar on construction work. + 1894. Headed expedition to Timbuctoo. + 1901. Brigadier-general. + 1911. Chief of general staff. + 1914. Commander-in-chief, French army. + 1916. Marshal of France. + + + + +FOCH + +THE SCHOOLMASTER IN WAR + +To wait until one is sixty-three years old before even smelling +powder--and then to find oneself in command of the greatest allied army +that the world has ever seen--such is the remarkable story of the +French General, Ferdinand Foch. His life, like that of more than one +famous soldier is a bundle of paradoxes, or contradictions, but prove +once again that "truth is stranger than fiction." + +Those of us who know and love Dumas's swashbuckling hero, D'Artagnan, +will remember that he was a Gascon and always spoiling for a fight. +Foch was another Gascon who passed threescore years of his life +peacefully enough--but when he did get into the fight at last, it was a +"corker"! + +The Gascony of France and Spain--for it is in the Pyrenees separating +the two countries--has produced some famous men, other than Foch--and +D'Artagnan. In the fighting days of the Republic and the First Empire, +it gave to France Murat, Marbot, and Bessičres. From Gascony at a +later day came "Papa" Joffre to do his sturdy bit in saving France. + +The ancestral home of the Foch family is on the Garonne River, among +the foothills of the Pyrenees. Here the river is hardly more than a +trout stream threading its way down the wooded slopes or murmuring +through the valleys. It is just such a spot as any boy would like to +call "home." + +The father of Ferdinand Foch had been born here during the days of the +First Empire, when the fame of the Corsican was ringing around the +world--and had consequently been christened Napoleon. He married the +daughter of one of Bonaparte's officers, Colonel Dupré, and the family +were naturally ardent loyalists. To Napoleon Foch and Sophie Dupré +were born four children, a daughter and three sons, and the second son +was christened Ferdinand. The father at this time had entered the +French civil service, and in 1851, when Ferdinand was born, was at +Tarbes in the Upper Pyrenees, as secretary of the prefecture. + +The family name of Foch does not sound French, and as pronounced in +Gascony with a hard guttural sound it is more like German. It would +seem to indicate that in an earlier day the ancestors had lived on the +Rhine. Up in northern France they have softened the name to sound like +"Fush." The meaning of the name is said to be "Fire"--and certainly +the Germans kindled a greater fire than they could quench, when their +invasion produced the quiet leader with this flaming name. + +Napoleon Foch did not rise very high in his official positions. His +work was chiefly clerical and caused him to remove from one town to +another. He did not want to lose sight of his boys, by placing them in +an academy, but kept them with him, placing them in first one public +school and then another, as he was compelled to move. The first school +that Ferdinand attended was the old college at Tarbes, where he +remained until ten or eleven years old. The family home at Valentine, +in the country, was always visited in the summer and other holiday +seasons, and here the youngsters had many a romp. Their father on his +infrequent visits home would enter into the sport like one of them. + +A favorite excursion was up one of the neighboring hills to a cliff +known as the Bout du Puig, which commanded a wonderful view up and down +the valley. Here they would take their lunch and feel like true +mountaineers. + +From Tarbes, the family moved to Polignac, where Napoleon Foch was +Public Treasurer. After Ferdinand and his brothers had attended the +school at this place for a time, they removed to the town of Rodez--and +another school. + +In these early days Foch was on a par with the average schoolboy, +neither better nor worse, if local records are to be believed. He did, +however, win an honorable mention at Tarbes for good work in the +general course, consisting of geography, history, Latin, and theology. + +At twelve he began to show a decided bent for mathematics, that _sine +qua non_ of the successful soldier. He had also developed into a great +reader, but preferred history to works of fiction. One of his chief +military heroes was, quite naturally, Napoleon, and he must have taken +part in imagination with the charge of the Old Guard at Waterloo, or +thrilled at the tale of Austerlitz. But never in the wildest flights +of his imagination could he have dreamed of commanding a far greater +army than was ever assembled under the eagles of Napoleon. + +In 1867, at the age of sixteen, another change came in his schooling. +His father was stationed at St. Étienne near Lyons, and Ferdinand was +entered at St. Michel, a Jesuit college near by. Here he studied for +his university examinations, and made his choice of a life +profession--and it is not strange to note that he decided to be a +soldier. The choice made, his future studies, as is the way in French +colleges, were planned to follow specialized lines. It was not alone +necessary to choose the army, for example,--one must select a certain +branch of the army. Foch's aptitude at mathematics led him to take up +the artillery. + +The principal school of this branch of the service was the École +Polytechnique, at Paris, but a stiff entrance examination was required +here. So Foch decided to do preliminary work at St. Clement's College, +Metz, a training school with a high reputation. + +In those days the city and fortress of Metz were on French soil. This +was just before the short but memorable Franco-Prussian War, but +already the air was rife with rumors of an impending conflict. The +French, however, were undisturbed. They thought, and expressed the +open opinion that it would be fought out on the other side of the +Rhine, and that the peace terms would be dictated in Berlin. + +Metz! How much history does the name suggest in the light of the Great +War! If the young artillery student could have foreseen the backward +and forward swing of the pendulum, as exemplified in that ancient city, +how his blood would have quickened! + +The summer of 1870 arrived. Ferdinand Foch, a well-grown lad of +nineteen, went home to St. Étienne on his first vacation. It had been +his first year away from home, and there must have been a joyful +reunion. But over the vacation season hung a war cloud. In the middle +of July, France was persuaded to declare war. Her first great clash +with Germany was on. + +The news, however, was not displeasing to Ferdinand. He had supreme +confidence in the ability of the trained French army to subdue the +"Prussian militia." All France had been soundly fooled as to the +extent of the German preparedness. Foch thought of Metz as the +starting point of the war which was to wage its victorious course +eastward. But the reverse soon proved to be the case. From Metz the +Germans drove westward into France. The school at St. Clement was +transformed into a military hospital. Ferdinand remained at home +watching the turn of events with surprised eyes. When the defeat at +Sedan came, in September, it seemed to him like the end of the world. + +Then came the frantic call from Paris for new troops. Young Foch was +one of the first to respond to this appeal. He could do his bit, at +any rate, and once the Second Army was assembled, the invader would +see! But alas! he was destined to do no fighting. For four months he +remained with his regiment, a high private in the rear ranks, doing +drill and garrison duty until peace was declared. + +The war was over. France had concluded a shameful peace but one that +was forced upon her. This sort of war had brought bitter +disillusionment to a host of French boys, and they always thought in +their hearts of the day of reckoning which must come later on--and +hoped that they would be alive to see it. Such must have been the +dream of Foch, the "sleeping firebrand." + +For the present, there was nothing for it, but to doff his uniform and +take up his studies again. The college of St. Clement had ceased to be +a hospital and was again full of classrooms. But over the old fort +floated a strange flag--the black, white and red emblem of Germany, and +German officers strutted everywhere on the streets. The French signs +over the shops and on the street corners were rapidly disappearing. +Soon came an official order from Berlin forbidding the teaching of +French in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The work of benevolent +assimilation was begun. + +Foch privately shook his fist at the broad backs of the swaggering +conquerors, and set to work at his studies with renewed vim. French or +German, the old Jesuit college was going to aid him in his task of +becoming a soldier--and then his country would have one more recruit at +any rate! + +We are not surprised to find, therefore, that he passed his entrance +examinations with flying colors, and in November, 1871, donned his +uniform as a cadet in the École Polytechnique. This building, like the +one at Metz, still bore evidences of the recent war. During the siege +of Paris it had been used as a hospital; and in the civil war which +followed the peace, when the Empire was overthrown, it had been through +severe fighting. Shell holes were still to be seen in its roofs and +walls. But such scars seemed to make it still more what it was in +name, a military school. Foch already felt like a soldier. + +Among Foch's fellow students were two others who were destined to play +a part in the World War. One was a cadet named Ruffey, who was +destined to become a General, in command of the Third Army of France, +during 1914. The other was a short, stocky fellow, who came from the +Gascon country near Foch's home, and who had been more fortunate than +he in seeing some actual fighting during the recent war. He had been +in command of a battery of guns during the siege of Paris, and had also +taken a physical part in the fighting. Foch looked at this strapping +cadet, and then at his own much slighter frame, and a feeling akin to +envy came over him, as he may have said to himself: + +"If only I could have got into it like that fellow Joffre!" + +During the second year of his work here, in 1873, it was announced +that, as the army was short of officers, the course would be shortened +for the more advanced students, so that they could receive their +commissions as soon as possible. Among the students who were granted +this honor were Joffre and Foch--the former choosing the engineers, and +the latter the artillery. As a special aid in completing his course, +Foch secured a transfer to the Artillery School at Fontainebleau. + +Here he felt more at home and in more congenial surroundings. He was +out of the city with its clamor and clang. Always a country boy at +heart, he recalled his beloved St. Étienne in these parks and hills. +He had always been fond of horseback riding, and now he had full +opportunity of perfecting himself in this art. The daily canters kept +his body sound, his brain clear. He came out third in his classes, a +highly creditable mark, and received his commission as a +sub-lieutenant. He was a soldier at last. + +As a reward for his scholarship he was informed that he might choose +any post where he would prefer to be stationed. He selected Tarbes, +his birthplace, and the town nearest his home. Truly, the fates were +kind! + +Two years were spent with the garrison at Tarbes, in a round of +regimental duties. Then the routine began to pall upon him. He wanted +something approaching active service. He had perfected himself in +artillery maneuvers; and during his four months as a volunteer in the +War, he had drilled in the infantry. So he now applied for transfer to +the third branch, the cavalry. His love of horses may also have +influenced this desire. + +He received the transfer and spent a year in the Cavalry School at +Saumur. On completing this course he was given a commission as +Captain, and placed in command of a field battery, in Brittany. This +transfer marked the beginning of a new era in his life. From being a +Gascon, he was now about to become a Breton. He spent so many years of +his life in Brittany, that in later years he called his soldiers "my +brother Bretons." + +Another reason for his change of sentiment was his fortunate marriage +to a lady whom he met at Rennes, where his regiment was +stationed--Mademoiselle Julie Bienvenue. Her name means "Welcome," and +to the lonely and possibly homesick soldier, her advent must have been +welcome indeed. + +He bought a home in Finisterre, that wild, rocky, well-wooded cape +which juts out into the Atlantic. It was an old manor house set in the +midst of an estate which from the outset spelled the word "home" for +him. There were long sloping meadow lands flanked by stately trees and +hills beyond. The old house itself with its somber gray walls and +quaint dormer windows seemed always to have nestled here. + +Such an idyllic setting, away out on the most sheltered spot of +France--far removed from the tramp of an invader, or the other changes +which came to the central provinces of France--while pleasant in the +extreme was hardly the fitting environment to produce a soldier, a real +fighting man. It might produce a fine preacher, or artist, or poet, or +farmer--but not likely a famous general. + +But Foch did not yield to the blandishments of his new home to the +extent of vegetating here. His active mind was looking continually +forward. He could not rest content with mediocrity, or a merely +comfortable living. "Do what you ought, come what may" was his guiding +motto. He applied for admission to the École de Guerre, a higher +school recently established for staff officers, but admission to its +walls came by favoritism or political pull, and it was many months +(1885) before he gained admission. + +The course which he took required two years to complete--years which +kept him away from home, but were worth while. He graduated as fourth +in a large class, and better still had made some valuable acquaintances +here. His professors and classmates soon recognized in this quiet, +studious Artillery Captain a man worth watching--one who would do in an +emergency. + +The next eight or ten years were filled with the usual routine of an +army officer in peace times. He was transferred from one post to +another for periods of two or three years, but always it was active +field service which he liked, rather than the routine of office duty. +He established a brilliant reputation for horsemanship and cavalry +tactics which later were to be of advantage. + +But still he had never seen actual warfare, nor heard the bullets whizz +about his head. He was an academic soldier, and seemed destined to +remain one for the rest of his natural life when, in 1895, he was +appointed Assistant Professor of Military History and Strategy, in the +École de Guerre, the college from which he had last graduated, a few +years before. The faculty had not forgotten him. It was an honor in a +way, but Foch doubtless debated long before he accepted it. It meant +the giving up of the freedom of his broad outdoors. + +He was a major by this time; and after a few years of lecturing, he was +made full professor, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The work in +his classes was highly important. This being a post-graduate school, +the men to whom he lectured were not cadets but trained soldiers, many +of them seasoned veterans. They would have instantly detected any flaw +in his teaching. The impress which this college professor then made +upon the future heads of the French army was destined to have a +profound and far-reaching effect. In the years to come, when France +and the civilized world was in search of a leader big enough to measure +up to the crisis--they turned to this quiet college professor! + +Foch won his position as "the most gifted and original of the +professors in the École de Guerre" by no trick or sensational methods. +He spoke in an even, almost monotonous voice, using few gestures. But +his speech was clear-cut and precise. He reminded his hearers of a +scientist dissecting a foreign body, as he expounded the clash of +armies or the turning points of battle. He had, in fact, precise +knowledge of an event in which he had never actually participated. He +had analyzed war and resolved it into its component parts, as though it +were heated in a test-tube. And how exact were his theories, later +events were to show. + +In 1901, Foch returned for a time to active service, being given +command of the 29th Regiment at Laon. After the classroom routine, the +change was indeed welcome. A few months later we find him stationed +again in his beloved Brittany, with the rank of Colonel. But promotion +had come slowly. During these years he prepared his class lectures for +book publication, forming two volumes, the first being his +since-celebrated "Principles of War," and the second "The Conduct of +War." In these books he proved himself a master of terse, epigrammatic +statement. There did not seem to be a superfluous word in them. They +were favorably received by military critics everywhere, and still +further established his reputation. + +But it was not until 1907, when Foch was fifty-six, that he at last +received the rank of Brigadier General, with an assignment to the +General Staff at Paris. With this belated appointment it seemed that +the tale of his military career was told. Fate had more than one +surprise in store, even then, however. + +The position as head or Director General of the École de Guerre was +vacant. A keen rivalry arose among several Generals for the +appointment, but Foch did not present his name. He belonged to the +wrong party, the Clerical, or Church Party, and the Anti-Clericals were +then in power. Clemenceau was Premier, this being his first term. + +One day Foch was surprised by being invited to dine with the Premier. +When he arrived he was still further surprised to note that he was the +only guest. The "Tiger" did not broach the subject of the invitation +until the coffee cups were cleared away. Then he said abruptly, and +apropos of nothing that had gone before: + +"I have some news for you, General. You are appointed Director of the +École de Guerre." + +"But I am not a candidate, sir," replied Foch, taken completely by +surprise. + +"Possibly not," replied the Premier drily, "but you are appointed +nevertheless, and I am sure you will do good work there." + +"I thank you for the honor," said Foch with some embarrassment, "but +aren't there--difficulties? I am a Churchman, you know." + +Clemenceau laughed. + +"Probably you are not aware," continued Foch, finding it difficult to +proceed, "that one of my brothers is a Jesuit." + +Clemenceau laughed again. + +"I know all about it, and I don't care a rap," he answered. "Mon +Général, or rather, Monsieur le Directeur, you may consider yourself +appointed, Jesuit or no Jesuit. We need men of your stamp to train up +officers in our army." + +Foch held this responsible position for several years just preceding +the Great War. Whether he saw it or not, lowering upon the horizon, he +bent every effort to making the command of the French army fit, ready +for any emergency. He had never forgotten the dreadful invasion of his +boyhood days. With him the teaching of preparedness was almost as +sacred as religion. + +And when the Great War at last descended, Foch was like a shining sword +in its path, one that had never been allowed to rust in its scabbard. +The story of his dogged perseverance and his brilliant strategy has +been fully told in the annals of war. Two or three strongly +characteristic points yet demand mention. He was a firm believer in +the element of surprise; he outguessed the enemy. And he never knew +when he was beaten. + +"The weaker we are, the more important it is for us to attack," is one +of his famous sayings. + +At the Battle of the Marne, when his corps was hard pressed at a +critical salient, he telegraphed Joffre: + +"My left flank has been driven in. My right flank has been driven in. +Consequently nothing remains but for me to attack with my center." + +And attack he did, hurling back the surprised Teutons and aiding Joffre +to turn the invader, and save Paris. + +Foch, in brief, is a soldier of the intellectual type. His +headquarters when at last he was made Marshal of France and +Generalissimo of the Allied forces, resembled a classroom more nearly +than the center of a vast and far-reaching activity. There was no +bustle, no confusion. Orderlies pored over papers and presented +reports quietly. The commander looked them over with keen appraising +glance, then issued orders without raising his voice. But that very +quietness and precision pronounced the doom of Germany. It was a +triumph of science over brute force. + +If in America we have had a "schoolmaster in politics," the French have +had a "schoolmaster in war"--one who taught the Hun a lesson! + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN FOCH'S LIFE + + 1851. October 2. Ferdinand Foch born. + 1862. Entered school, Tarbes, France. + 1867. Entered Jesuit College of St. Michel. + 1870. Volunteered in the Franco-Prussian War, but saw no service. + 1871. Entered the Polytechnic Academy. + 1873. Second-lieutenant in artillery. + 1878. Captain. Married Julie Bienvenue. + 1885. Entered École de Guerre, a college for staff officers. + 1891. Major in artillery. + 1900. Lieutenant-colonel. Professor in École de Guerre. + 1905. Director of École de Guerre. + 1914. General, in command 20th corps. + 1917. Chief of general staff. + 1918. Commander-in-chief of Allied forces. + 1918. Marshal of France. + + + + +PERSHING + +THE LEADER OF AMERICA'S BIGGEST ARMY + +It was a historic moment, on that June day, in the third year of the +World War. On the landing stage at the French harbor of Boulogne was +drawn up a company of French soldiers, who looked eagerly at the +approaching steamer. They were not dress parade soldiers nor smart +cadets--only battle-scarred veterans home from the trenches, with the +tired look of war in their eyes. For three years they had been hoping +and praying that the Americans would come--and here they were at last! + +As the steamer slowly approached the dock, a small group of officers +might be discerned, looking as eagerly landward as the men on shore had +sought them out. In the center of this group stood a man in the +uniform of a General in the United States Army. There was, however, +little to distinguish his dress from that of his staff, except the +marks of rank on his collar, and the service ribbons across his breast. +To those who could read the insignia, they spelled many days of arduous +duty in places far removed. America was sending a seasoned soldier, +one tried out as by fire. + +The man's face was seamed from exposure to the suns of the tropics and +the sands of the desert. But his dark eyes glowed with the untamable +fire of youth. He was full six feet in height, straight, +broad-shouldered, and muscular. The well-formed legs betrayed the +old-time calvalryman. The alert poise of the man showed a nature +constantly on guard against surprise--the typical soldier in action. + +Such was General Pershing when he set foot on foreign shore at the head +of an American army--the first time in history that our soldiers had +ever served on European soil. America was at last repaying to France +her debt of gratitude, for aid received nearly a century and a half +earlier. And it was an Alsatian by descent who could now say: + +"Lafayette, we come!" + +Who was this man who had been selected for so important a task? The +eyes of the whole world were upon him, when he reached France. His was +a task of tremendous difficulties, and a single slip on his part would +have brought shame upon his country, no less than upon himself. That +he was to succeed, and to win the official thanks of Congress are now +matters of history. The story of his wonderful campaign against the +best that Germany could send against him is also an oft-told story. +But the rise of the man himself to such commanding position is a tale +not so familiar, yet none the less interesting. + +The great-grandfather of General Pershing was an emigrant from +Alsace--fleeing as a boy from the military service of the Teutons. He +worked his way across to Baltimore, and not long thereafter volunteered +to fight in the American Revolution. His was the spirit of freedom. +He fled to escape a service that was hateful, because it represented +tyranny; but was glad to serve in the cause of liberty. + +The original family name was Pfirsching, but was soon shortened to its +present form. The Pershings got land grants in Pennsylvania, and began +to prosper. As the clan multiplied the sons and grandsons began to +scatter. They had the pioneer spirit of their ancestors. + +At length, John F. Pershing, a grandson of Daniel, the first immigrant, +went to the Middle West, to work on building railroads. These were the +days, just before the Civil War, when railroads were being thrown +forward everywhere. Young Pershing had early caught the fever, and had +worked with construction gangs in Kentucky and Tennessee. Now as the +railroads pushed still further West, he went with them as section +foreman--after first persuading an attractive Nashville girl, Ann +Thompson, to go with him as his wife. + +Their honeymoon was spent among the hardships of a construction camp in +Missouri; and here at Laclede, in a very primitive house, John Joseph +Pershing was born, September 13, 1860. + +The boy inherited a sturdy frame and a love of freedom from both sides +of the family. His mother had come of a race quite as good as that of +his father. They were honest, law-abiding, God-fearing people, who saw +to it that John and the other eight children who followed were reared +soberly and strictly. The Bible lay on the center table and the willow +switch hung conveniently behind the door. + +After the line of railroad was completed upon which the father had +worked, he came to Laclede and invested his savings in a small general +store. It proved a profitable venture. It was the only one in town, +and Pershing's reputation for square-dealing brought him many +customers. A neighbor pays him this tribute: + +"John F. Pershing was a man of commanding presence. He was a great +family man and loved his family devotedly. He was not lax, and ruled +his family well. + +"The Pershing family were zealous church people. John F. Pershing was +the Sunday School superintendent of the Methodist Church all the years +he lived here. Every Sunday you could see him making his way to church +with John on one side and Jim on the other, Mrs. Pershing and the girls +following along." + +John F. Pershing was a strong Union man, and although local feeling ran +high between the North and the South, he retained the esteem of his +neighbors. He had one or two close calls from the "bushwhackers," as +roving rangers were called, but his family escaped harm. + +At times during the War, he was entrusted with funds by various other +families, and acted as a sort of local bank. After the War he was +postmaster. + +The close of the War found the younger John a stocky boy of five. He +began to attend the village school and take an active part in the +boyish sports of a small town. There was always plenty to do, whether +of work or play. One of his boyhood chums writes: + +"John Pershing was a clean, straight, well-behaved young fellow. He +never was permitted to loaf around on the streets. Nobody jumped on +him, and he didn't jump on anybody. He attended strictly to his own +business. He had his lessons when he went to class. He was not a big +talker. He said a lot in a few words, and didn't try to cut any swell. +He was a hard student. He was not brilliant, but firm, solid, and +would hang on to the very last. We used to study our lessons together +evenings. About nine-thirty or ten o'clock, I'd say: + +"'John, how are you coming?' + +"'Pretty stubborn.' + +"'Better go to bed, hadn't we?' + +"'No, Charley, I'm going to work this out.'" + +Another schoolmate gives us a more human picture: + +"As a boy, Pershing was not unlike thousands of other boys of his age, +enjoying the same pleasures and games as his other boyhood companions. +He knew the best places to shoot squirrels or quail, and knew where to +find the hazel or hickory nuts. He knew, too, where the coolest and +deepest swimming pools in the Locust, Muddy, or Turkey creeks were. +Many a time we went swimming together in Pratt's Pond." + +About this time Pershing's father added to his other ventures the +purchase of a farm near Laclede, and the family moved out there. Then +there was indeed plenty of work to do. The chores often began before +sun-up, and lasted till after dark; and the children were lucky to find +time for schooling during the late Fall and Winter months. John, +however, kept doggedly at it, and managed to get a fair, common-school +education. + +When he was barely in his 'teens, his first set task was given him--to +teach in a negro school. This school had been established after the +War ended, but the teacher had gone, and no one else seemed available +for the job. John was sober and studious, and besides was so well +grown for his age that they banked on his ability to "lick" any negro +boy that got obstreperous. + +He succeeded sufficiently in this venture, to cause him to take up +teaching regularly, in white schools, with a view to paying for his +education. He wanted to study law, and his parents encouraged the +idea. His work in these country schools was invaluable to him in +teaching him how to govern others. A former pupil of his writes: + +"Though he never sought a quarrel, young Pershing was known as 'a game +fighter,' who never acknowledged defeat. One day, at Prairie Mound, at +the noon hour a big farmer with red sideburns rode up to the +schoolhouse with a revolver in his hand. Pershing had whipped one of +the farmer's children, and the enraged parent intended to give the +young schoolmaster a flogging. + +"I remember how he rode up cursing before all the children in the +schoolyard, and how another boy and I ran down a gully because we were +afraid. We peeked over the edge, though, and heard Pershing tell the +farmer to put up his gun, get down off his horse, and fight like a man. + +"The farmer got down and John stripped off his coat. He was only a boy +of seventeen or eighteen and slender, but he thrashed the old farmer +soundly. And I have hated red sideburns ever since." + +After several terms of country school teaching, young Pershing saved up +enough money to enter the State Normal School, at Kirksville, Mo. One +of his sisters went with him. He remained there for two terms, doing +his usual good steady work, but was still dissatisfied. He wanted to +get a better education. + +About this time he happened to notice an announcement of a competitive +examination in his district for an entrance to West Point. The +soldiering side did not appeal to him, but the school side did. + +"I wouldn't stay in the army," he remarked to a friend. "There won't +be a gun fired in the world for a hundred years, I guess. If there +isn't, I'll study law, but I want an education, and now I see how I can +get it." + +His mother was by no means "sold" on the idea of his becoming a soldier +either, and it was only when he assured her that there wouldn't be a +gun fired in a hundred years, that she finally consented. If she could +have looked ahead to his future career, and final part in the greatest +war the world has ever known--one wonders what her emotions would have +been! + +Pershing passed his entrance examination by a narrow margin, and then +entered a training school at Highland Falls, N. Y., for tutoring in +certain deficient branches. At last in June, 1882, when he was just +rounding his twenty-second year, he became a freshman in the great +Academy on the Hudson. + +The young plebe from the West speedily fell in love with the +institution and all that it represented. He found the soldier life +awakening in him, along with his desire for a good education. Four +happy years were spent there--and while he didn't shine, being number +thirty in a class of seventy-seven, his all-around qualities made him +many friends among both faculty and students. He was made ranking +cadet captain in his senior year, and chosen class president. + +Twenty-five years later, writing from clear around the world, at +Manila, to his class, at a reunion, he gives a long, breezy account of +his experience there, from which we have space to quote only a few +sentences: + +"This brings up a period of West Point life whose vivid impressions +will be the last to fade. Marching into camp, piling bedding, policing +company streets for logs or wood carelessly dropped by upper classmen, +pillow fights at tattoo with Marcus Miller, sabre drawn, marching up +and down superintending the plebe class, policing up feathers from the +general parade; light artillery drills, double-timing around old Fort +Clinton at morning squad drill; Wiley Bean and the sad fate of his +seersucker coat; midnight dragging, and the whole summer full of events +can only be mentioned in passing. + +"No one can ever forget his first guard tour with all its preparation +and perspiration. I got along all right during the day, but at night +on the color line my troubles began. Of course, I was scared beyond +the point of properly applying any of my orders. A few minutes after +taps, ghosts of all sorts began to appear from all directions. I +selected a particularly bold one and challenged according to orders: +'Halt, who comes there?' At that the ghost stood still in its tracks. +I then said: 'Halt, who stands there?' Whereupon the ghost, who was +carrying a chair, sat down. When I promptly said: 'Halt, who sits +there?' . . . + +"The career of '86 at West Point was in many respects remarkable. +There were no cliques, no dissensions, and personal prejudices or +selfishness, if any existed, never came to the surface. From the very +day we entered, the class as a unit has always stood for the very best +traditions of West Point." + +While Pershing was still in West Point, the Indian chief Geronimo was +making trouble in the Southwest. For several years he led a band of +outlaw braves, who terrorized the Southern border. General Crook was +sent in pursuit of him, and afterwards General Miles took up the chase. +Finally in August, 1886, the chief and his followers were rounded up. + +Pershing graduated in the spring of this year, with the usual rank +given to graduates, second lieutenant, and was immediately assigned to +duty under Miles. He had an inconspicuous part in the capture. But +the next year in the special maneuvers he was personally complimented +by the General for "marching his troops with a pack train of 140 mules +in 46 hours and bringing in every animal in good condition." Doubtless +his early experience with the Missouri brand of mule aided him. + +Thereafter, for the next five years, Pershing's life was that of a +plainsman. He was successively at Fort Bayard, Fort Stanton, and Fort +Wingate, all in New Mexico, in the center of troubled country. In 1890 +he was shifted north to take the field against the Sioux Indians, in +South Dakota, and in the Battle of Wounded Knee he had a considerable +taste of burnt powder, where the tribe that had massacred General +Custer and his band was practically wiped out. The next year he was +stationed at Fort Niobrara, in Nebraska, in command of the Sioux Indian +Scouts. + +This rapid summary of a busy and adventurous life on the plains does +not convey any idea of its many activities. But it was an exceedingly +valuable period of training to the young officer. He was finding +himself, and learning something of the inner art of military science +that he was later to put to such good use. + +Here is the opinion of an officer who was Pershing's senior in the +Sixth Cavalry by six years--all of them spent in the Apache country: + +"In those days, when a youngster joined a regiment, he was not expected +to express himself on military matters until he had some little +experience. But there was a certain something in Pershing's appearance +and manner which made him an exception to the rule. Within a very +short time after he came to the post, a senior officer would turn to +him, and say: 'Pershing, what do you think of this?' and his opinion +was such that we always listened to it. He was quiet, unobtrusive in +his opinions, but when asked he always went to the meat of a question +in a few words. From the first he had responsible duties thrown on +him. We all learned to respect and like him. He was genial and full +of fun. No matter what the work or what the play, he always took a +willing and leading part. He worked hard and he played hard; but +whenever he had work to do, he never let play interfere with it." + +His experiences in the Wild West (and it was the Wild West in those +days) cannot be passed over without relating one typical anecdote. +Three cattle rustlers, white men, had gotten into a fight with the Zuni +Indians, who caught them driving off some cattle. Three of the red men +were killed before the outlaws were finally surrounded in a lonely +cabin. + +Word was sent of their predicament to the nearest fort, and Lieutenant +Pershing was sent with a small detachment to their rescue. He rode +straight up to the Zuni chief, who was now on the warpath, and told him +he must call off his braves--that the United States Government would +punish these men. The chief finally grunted assent, and Pershing +strode forward alone into the clearing and approached the cabin. At +any time a shot might have come out, but disregarding his own danger he +went on, pushed open the door, and found himself looking into the +muzzles of three guns. + +A single false move on his part would probably have ended him, but he +did not waver. He folded his arms and said quietly: + +"Well, boys, I've come to get you." + +The outlaws laughed noisily and swore by way of reply. + +"You might as well come along," he went on, without raising his voice. +"My men are posted all around this cabin." + +More profanity, but the men at last consented to go, if they could +carry their guns. They wouldn't budge otherwise. + +"You'll come as I say, and you'll be quick about it," said Pershing, a +note of command coming into his voice. + +And they did. + +The next duty which fell to Lieutenant Pershing was quite different. +From chasing Indians and outlaws on the plains, he was assigned to the +task of putting some "half baked" cadets through their paces. In +September, 1891, he became Professor of Military Science and Tactics at +the University of Nebraska. + +The discipline at this school was of a piece with that of other State +colleges, where a certain amount of drilling was demanded, but beyond +this the students were allowed to go their own gait. At Nebraska it +had become pretty lax--but the arrival of the new instructor changed +all that. A student of this time, in a recent article in _The Red +Cross Magazine_, gives a humorous account of what happened. + +It was the general belief that the students in these Western colleges, +many of them farmers' sons, could never be taught the West Point idea. +"But the Lieutenant who had just arrived from Lincoln received an +impression startlingly in contrast to the general one. He looked over +the big crowd of powerful young men, and, himself a storehouse and +radiating center of energy and forcefulness, recognized the same +qualities when he saw them. + +"'By George! I've got the finest material in the world,'" he told the +Chancellor, his steel-like eyes alight with enthusiasm. 'You could do +anything with those boys. They've got the stuff in them! Watch me get +it out!' + +"And he proceeded to do so. + +"By the middle of the first winter the battalion was in shape to drill +together. Moreover, the boys had made a nickname for their leader, and +nicknames mean a great deal in student life. He was universally called +'the Lieut.' (pronounced 'Loot,' of course, in the real American +accent), as though there were but one lieutenant in the world. This he +was called behind his back, of course. To his face they called him +'sir,' a title of respect which they had never thought to give to any +man alive. + +"By the end of that first academic year every man under him would have +followed 'the Lieut.' straight into a prairie fire, and would have kept +step while doing it." + +As he gradually got his group of officers licked into shape, he found +less to do personally. So he promptly complained to the Chancellor, to +this effect, and asked, like Oliver Twist, for more. + +"After a moment's stupefaction (the Lieut. was then doing five times +the work that any officer before him had ever done) the Chancellor +burst into a great laugh and suggested that the Lieut. should take the +law course in the law school of the University. He added that if two +men's work was not enough for him, he might do three men's, and teach +some of the classes in the Department of Mathematics. Without changing +his stride in the least, the young officer swept these two occupations +along with him, bought some civilian clothes and a derby hat, and +became both professor and student in the University, where he was also +military attaché. + +"During the next two years he ate up the law course with a fiery haste +which raised the degree of class work to fever heat. Those who were +fellow students with him, _and survived_, found the experience +immensely stimulating." + +Of course he graduated, and was thus entitled to write another title +after his name--that of Bachelor of Arts. About this time, also, he +was promoted to a first lieutenancy, the first official recognition for +his many long months of work. Then he was sent back to the field +again, to join the Tenth Cavalry at Fort Assiniboine, Montana. + +Next came a welcome command to take the position of Assistant +Instructor of Tactics, at West Point. It was almost like getting back +home, to see these loved hills, the mighty river, and the familiar +barracks again. + +But after a few months here, the Spanish War broke out. Eager to get +into the action, he resigned his position at the Military Academy, and +was transferred to his former regiment, the Tenth Cavalry. This +regiment was sent immediately to Santiago, and took part in the short +but spirited fighting at El Caney and San Juan hill--where a certain +Colonel of the Rough Riders was in evidence. Side by side these two +crack regiments charged up the slope, dominated by the Spanish fort, +and here Roosevelt and Pershing first met. + +We would like to fancy these two intrepid soldiers as recognizing each +other here in the din of battle. But the truth is sometimes more +prosaic than fiction; and the truth compels us to reprint this little +anecdote from _The World's Work_. + +Five years after the Spanish War, when Roosevelt was President and +Pershing was a mere Captain, he was invited to luncheon at the White +House. + +"Captain Pershing," said the President, when the party was seated at +the table, "did I ever meet you in the Santiago campaign?" + +"Yes, Mr. President, just once." + +"When was that? What did I say?" + +"Since there are ladies here, I can't repeat just what you said, Mr. +President." + +There was a general laugh in which Roosevelt joined. + +"Tell me the circumstances, then." + +"Why, I had gone back with a mule team to Siboney, to get supplies for +the men. The night was pitch black and it was raining torrents. The +road was a streak of mud. On the way back to the front, I heard noise +and confusion ahead. I knew it was a mired mule team. An officer in +the uniform of a Rough Rider was trying to get the mules out of the +mud, and his remarks, as I said a moment ago, should not be quoted +before the ladies. I suggested that the best thing to do, was to take +my mules and pull your wagon out, and then get your mules out. This +was done, and we saluted and parted." + +"Well," said Roosevelt, "if there ever was a time when a man would be +justified in using bad language, it would be in the middle of a rainy +night, with his mules down in the mud and his wagon loaded with things +soldiers at the front needed." + +Pershing, as a result of the Cuban campaign, was twice recommended for +brevet commissions, for "personal bravery and untiring energy and +faithfulness." General Baldwin said of him: "Pershing is the coolest +man under fire I ever saw." + +But it was not until 1901 that he became Captain. He had now been +transferred at his own request to the Philippines. Whether or not he +won promotion through the slow-moving machinery of the war office, his +energetic spirit demanded action. + +"The soldier's duty is to go wherever there is fighting," he said, and +vigorously opposed the idea that he be given a swivel-chair job. + +His first term of service in the Philippines was from 1899 to 1903. In +the interval between his first and second assignments, the latter being +as Governor of the Moros, he returned to America to serve on the +General Staff, and also to act as special military observer in the +Russo-Japanese War. + +His duties during the years, while arduous and often filled with +danger, were not of the sort to bring him to public notice. But they +_were_ being followed by the authorities at Washington, who have a way +of ticketing every man in the service, as to his future value to the +army. And Pershing was "making good." He had turned forty, before he +was Captain. Out in the Philippines he worked up to a Major. Now +advancement was to follow with a startling jump. + +It all hinged upon that luncheon with Roosevelt, about which we have +already told, and the fact that Roosevelt had a characteristic way of +doing things. The step he now took was not a piece of favoritism +toward Pershing--it arose from a desire to have the most efficient men +at the head of the army. + +Pershing was nominated for Brigadier General, and the nomination was +confirmed. Of course it created a tremendous sensation in army +circles. The President, by his action, had "jumped" the new General +eight hundred and sixty-two orders. + +On his return to the Philippines, as Governor of the Moro Province, he +performed an invaluable service in bringing peace to this troubled +district. He accomplished this, partly by force of arms, partly by +persuasion. The little brown men found in this big Americano a man +with whom they could not trifle, and also one on whose word they could +rely. + +It was not until 1914 that he was recalled from the Philippines, and +then very shortly was sent across the Mexican border in the pursuit of +Villa. It would seem as though this strong soldier was to have no +rest--that his muscles were to be kept constantly inured to +hardship--so that, in the event of a greater call to arms, here would +be one commander trained to the minute. + +The Fates had indeed been shaping Pershing from boyhood for a supreme +task. Each step had been along the path to a definite goal. + +The punitive expedition into Mexico was a case in point. It was a +thankless job at best, and full of hardship and danger. A day's march +of thirty miles across an alkali desert, under a blazing sun, is hardly +a pleasure jaunt. And there were many such during those troubled +months of 1916. + +Then, one day, came a quiet message from Washington, asking General +Pershing to report to the President. The results of that interview +were momentous. The Great War in Europe was demanding the intervention +of America. Our troops were to be sent across the seas to Europe for +the first time in history. The Government needed a man upon whom it +could absolutely rely to be Commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary +Forces. Would General Pershing hold himself in readiness for this +supreme task? + +The veteran of thirty years of constant campaigning stiffened to +attention. The eager look of battle--battle for the right--shone in +his eye. Every line of his upstanding figure denoted confidence--a +confidence that was to inspire all America, and then the world itself, +in this choice of leader. He saluted. + +"I will do my duty, sir," he said. + + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN PERSHING'S LIFE + + 1860. September 13. John Joseph Pershing born. + 1881. Entered Highland Military Academy, New York. + 1882. Entered U. S. Military Academy, West Point. + 1886. Graduated from West Point, senior cadet captain. + Sent to southwest as second-lieutenant, 6th cavalry. + 1891. Professor, military tactics, University of Nebraska. + 1898. Took part in Spanish-American War. + 1901. Captain, 1st Cavalry, Philippines. + 1905. Married Frances Warren. + 1906. Brigadier-general. + 1914. Recalled from Philippines. + 1915. Lost his wife and three children in a fire. + 1915. Sent to Mexico in pursuit of Villa. + 1917. Sent to France as commander-in-chief of American + Expeditionary Force. + 1919. Appointment of general made permanent. + 1924. Retired from active service. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Boys' Book of Famous Soldiers, by +J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Boys' Book of Famous Soldiers + +Author: J. Walker McSpadden + +Release Date: November 24, 2006 [EBook #19910] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOYS' BOOK OF FAMOUS SOLDIERS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +BOYS' BOOK + +OF + +FAMOUS SOLDIERS + + +BY + +J. WALKER McSPADDEN + + + + + +THE WORLD PUBLISHING CO. + +CLEVELAND, OHIO ---- NEW YORK, N. Y. + + + + +Copyright, MCMXIX + +by + +The World Syndicate Publishing Co. + + + +_Printed in the United States of America_ + + + + +PREFACE + +So much has been written about the great soldiers of the world, that it +is a matter of considerable hardihood to attempt to present another +volume on the subject in any sense "new." But the Great War has not +only brought to the center of the stage a new group of martial +figures--it has also intensified and revivified our interest in those +of a bygone day. The springs of history rise far back. We can the +better appreciate our leaders of today and their problems, by comparing +them with the leaders and problems of yesterday. Waterloo takes on a +new aspect when viewed from Vimy Ridge. + +The present book includes a round dozen of the great soldiers of +yesterday and today. The list is about equally divided among British, +French, and American leaders, and is confined to the last two +centuries. Each man selected is typical of a particular time and task. +His life story contains a message of definite interest and value. + +In telling these stories, however, in the limits of brief chapters, we +have carefully abstained from the writing of formal biographies. Such +a treatment would have resulted merely in a rehash of time-worn data +beginning "He was born," and ending "He died." + +The plan of these stories is to give a personal portrait of the man, +using the background of his early life--to trace his career up from +boyhood through the formative years. Such data serves to explain the +great soldier of later years. Every schoolboy knows, for example, what +Washington did after he was placed in command of the Colonial Army--but +what he did in the earlier years to _deserve_ this high command is a +story not so well known. Yet it is both interesting in itself, and +serves to humanize its subject. The stately Washington steps down off +his pedestal, and shoulders again his surveyor's tripod of boyhood +days, while he invites us to take a tramp through the Virginia wilds. + +The writing (and, we hope, the reading) of these life stories brings an +especial message. We discover that in each instance the famous soldier +was not a pet of Fortune, but was selected for his high and arduous +task, because of the training received in his formative years. His +peculiar gift of leadership was merely an expression of his indomitable +will to forge ahead. He exemplified in his life the Boy Scout motto, +"Be Prepared." + + + + +CONTENTS + + +WASHINGTON + +GRANT + +LEE + +NAPOLEON + +WELLINGTON + +GORDON + +ROBERTS + +KITCHENER + +HAIG + +JOFFRE + +FOCH + +PERSHING + + + + +BOYS' BOOK OF FAMOUS SOLDIERS + + +WASHINGTON + +THE YOUNG SURVEYOR + +"Turn your guns around on them! Stop them!" + +The command was given in peremptory tones to a demoralized group of +soldiers. Not waiting for them to carry out his orders, the young +officer who gave them leaped from his horse, and with his own hands +turned one of the guns upon the advancing foe. + +Had it been the Argonne Forest, and the year 1918, it would have been a +machine gun that the officer manned. But the time was over a century +and a half earlier than this--and the weapon a light brass field-piece, +which after being fired once, must be painfully reloaded. + +Meanwhile, the redskins came on. + +The young officer, whose name has come down to history as George +Washington, was trying to stem the tide of defeat. It was the fateful +day when old General Braddock of the British army received his first +and fatal lesson in Indian warfare. Says an old Pennsylvania ranger +who was also in the fray: + +"I saw Col. Washington spring from his panting horse, and seize a brass +field-piece as if it had been a stick. His look was terrible. He put +his right hand on the muzzle, his left hand on the breach; he pulled +with this, he pushed with that, and wheeled it round, as if it had been +a plaything. It furrowed the ground like a ploughshare. He tore the +sheet-lead from the touch-hole; then the powder-monkey rushed up with +the fire, when the cannon went off, making the bark fly from the trees, +and many an Indian send up his last yell and bite the dust." + +Yet this resourceful officer, fighting almost single-handed against +certain defeat, was then only a young man a few months past twenty-one. +He was displaying the same qualities which were later to make him the +commander-in-chief of a Revolution. + +George Washington was a typical example of the born leader. He had +received no set military training save that which the stern necessity +of frontier life forced upon him. Yet at nineteen we find him no less +courageous and active when facing the enemy. He had been reared as a +farmer boy, with no other intention at first than the successful +management of his father's estates in Virginia. But boys in those days +had to learn to handle the rifle as readily as the plow, and Washington +was no exception to this rule. + +Born in 1732 (every schoolboy knows the month and day) at Bridges +Creek, Virginia, his first home was a plain wooden farmhouse of +somewhat primitive pattern, with four rooms on the ground floor, and a +roomy attic covered by a long, sloping roof. But before he was more +than able to walk this house burned down, and the family removed to +another farm in what was later Stafford County--an attractive knoll +across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg. + +When George was eleven years old he lost his father, which threw him to +a great extent upon his own resources, so far as outdoor life was +concerned, although his education was still the care of his mother, who +is pictured as a gentlewoman of the old school--one born to command. +To her Washington owed many traits, among them his courtliness. In +those days, the gentle-bred boys always used very formal language when +addressing their elders. And so we find Washington writing to his +mother, even after he became of age, beginning his letter with, +"Honored Madam," and ending "Your dutiful son." + +After his father's death, George Washington made his home for four or +five years with his brother Augustine, who lived at the old homestead, +now rebuilt, at Bridges Creek; and near there he attended school. It +was in no sense a remarkable school, being kept by a Mr. Williams, but +it was thorough in the fundamentals, the "Three R's," without going in +much for the frills. Some of Washington's exercise books are still +preserved, showing in a good round hand a series of "Rules of Civility +and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation." + +Such things sound somewhat priggish today; but in those days they were +a necessary part of one's education. Washington was probably neither +better nor worse than the run of Virginia boys, of gentle stock, in +those days--just a good-natured, fun-loving youngster, not especially +bright as a scholar, but known as a plodder. One of his early +playmates was Richard Henry Lee, who also grew up to be a famous +Virginian; and between the two some droll schoolboy letters passed. + +Washington was to be, like his father, a Virginia planter; and this may +have had something to do with the sort of education he received, which +was not very extensive. But along with his early training for farm +life there were many echoes of the military, which must have had a +lasting influence on the growing lad. His brother, Lawrence, had been +a soldier in His Majesty's service, and his stories of campaign life so +fired George's imagination that he was for throwing his books away, at +fifteen, and going into the navy. He was too young for the army, but +Lawrence, who rather encouraged him, told him that he could get him a +berth as midshipman. + +It is related that the young middy's luggage was actually on board a +British man-of-war anchored in the Potomac, when Madam Washington, who +all along had been reluctant to give her consent, now withdrew it +altogether; and the "dutiful son" was saved from the navy for a larger +arena. + +The boy was then just turned fifteen, and seems to have rebelled from +the humdrum life of the plantation. He was at the restless age, and +his naturally adventurous disposition sought a more active outlet. +This proved to be surveying--a profession then greatly in demand. +There were great tracts of wilderness in Virginia still inhabited by +Indians and infested by wild animals, which had never heard the sound +of the woodman's axe. These tracts had been included in grants from +the King, but their boundaries had never been exactly determined. To +make such surveys was a task requiring both skill and courage. + +Washington was naturally an exact and painstaking boy. He now applied +himself to geometry and trigonometry; and at the ripe age of sixteen +was ready to sling his somewhat crude surveyor's instruments across his +shoulder and subdue the wilderness. It promised excitement and +adventure--and the work was well paid. + +Washington was even then a strapping big fellow, tall and muscular, and +nearly six feet in height. He afterwards exceeded this height, but at +sixteen there were naturally some hollows which remained to be filled +out. He is described as having a well-shaped, active figure, +symmetrical except for the unusual length of his arms, indicating great +strength. His light brown hair was drawn back from a broad forehead, +and grayish-blue eyes looked happily and perhaps soberly on the +pleasant Virginia hills and valleys. His face was open and manly, set +off by a square, massive jaw, and a general expression of calmness and +strength. "Fair and florid, big and strong, he was, take him for all +in all, as fine a specimen of his race as could be found in the English +colonies." + +It was at this turning point in his career that Washington was +fortunate in finding a friend and protector in Lord Fairfax, whose +daughter was the wife of Lawrence Washington. This distinguished old +veteran, a long-time friend of the Washington family, took a particular +fancy to the young man. They hunted the fox together, and hunted him +hard. In those days fox-hunting was no kid glove and pink tea affair. +It was one of many perilous outdoor sports that frontier Virginia could +afford; and as they hunted, the old English nobleman had opportunity to +learn what sort of stuff this young Virginian was made of. He saw that +here was a union of sturdy qualities upon which he could rely. + +Lord Fairfax then owned, by kingly grant, a vast estate stretching +across the Blue Ridge into the untrodden wilderness. Until the estate +was properly surveyed, it would be subject to endless lawsuits. We can +imagine the following conversation on one of their helter-skelter rides +together: + +"What are you studying now, George?" + +"Mathematics, sir." + +"Humph! Like it?" + +"In part--but some of it is stiff." + +"What are you going to do with it?" + +"Well, sir," hesitated George, "since my mother objects to my going +into the navy, I thought I would turn my hand at surveying. There's +lots to be done around here." + +"The very thing! I think I could use you, myself. When you are ready +let me know, and I'll send you over the hill yonder to mark out where +Fairfax starts, and where he ends. My cousin George will go with you." + +So, in some such fashion it was arranged, and in the spring of 1748, +George Fairfax and George Washington set forth on their adventures. +The Virginia mountains were just budding forth in the freshness of +spring when they started out by way of Ashby's Gap, in the Blue Ridge, +entering the valley of Virginia. Thence they worked through the +Shenandoah region, crossing the swollen Potomac and surveying the hilly +country of what is now Frederick County. + +It was a rough and hazardous trip lasting over a month, but one that +left them fit and seasoned woodsmen. They had learned what it was to +shift for themselves; to defend themselves against prowling beasts in +an untrodden wilderness; to swim swollen currents; to be wet and cold +and hungry; to come suddenly upon a war party of Indians, who would not +have scrupled to kill them, had the savages known that these two youths +were plotting and dividing up the hunting grounds which they claimed as +their own. + +That all these things were a part of their experience we note from +jottings made briefly but methodically by Washington in his diary of +the trip. As to the survey itself, a Virginia title attorney remarked, +many years afterward, that in clearing up old titles the lines surveyed +by Washington were more reliable than any others of their day. + +Lord Fairfax was so pleased with its results that he procured for his +protege an appointment as public surveyor. It was his induction into +three years of hard frontier life, which was the finest possible +schooling to him, for his later career as soldier. We find him writing +to a friend: + +"Since you received my letter of October last, I have not slept above +three or four nights in a bed, but after walking a good deal all the +day, I have lain down before the fire upon a little hay, straw, fodder, +or a bearskin, whichever was to be had, with man, wife, and children, +like dogs and cats; and happy is he who gets the berth nearest the +fire. Nothing would make it pass off tolerably but a good reward. A +doubloon is my constant gain every day that the weather will permit of +my going out, and sometimes six pistoles." + +This would indicate that he was a thrifty lad, honestly pleased with +honest earnings--and no mere adventurer. + +About this time, a company was formed, called the Ohio Company, for the +purpose of opening a trade route through northern Virginia and +Maryland. George Washington's two elder brothers, Lawrence and +Augustine, were interested in the 'enterprise'; and they naturally +called in their young surveyor brother to consultation. The project +sounded fascinating, but presented many elements of danger. The French +were becoming more and more active, and making warlike preparations to +seize and hold all the western frontier. In order to develop and hold +this land against the French and their Indian allies, it was necessary +to place the work in the hands of a military leader. + +George Washington was at this time only nineteen years old, but fully +grown--a man of powerful physique, hardened and seasoned by his outdoor +life. Despite his youth and lack of military experience, the Ohio +Company secured for him the appointment of adjutant general of this +district. Washington at once placed himself under several military +officers of his acquaintance, among them a Major Muse, and soon +acquired at least the rudiments of warfare, the manual of arms. The +broader school of tactics he was to acquire for himself in the field of +experience. + +An interruption to his military career came in the illness of his +brother Lawrence. A voyage to the West Indies was determined upon, for +the invalid, and George accompanied him--on the young man's first sea +voyage, and of which he has left us entertaining glimpses in his +ever-faithful diary. But after a winter in the South Seas, Lawrence +grew worse and was brought home to die. George, though only twenty, +was made one of the executors to the estate, Mount Vernon, which became +henceforth his home. + +Shortly afterward, we find George Washington given still higher office, +but one which entailed heavy responsibilities. The newly appointed +governor of the state, Robert Dinwiddie, growing uneasy at the constant +reports of alliances between the French and Indians, determined to send +a commissioner to the French commander, to ask by what right he was +building forts in English dominions; and also to treat with the +Indians, in the way of counter proposals against the French. + +It was a hazardous mission, and one which also involved tact, +diplomacy, and a first-hand knowledge of the wilderness. But we are +not much surprised to find Washington, at twenty-one, given the +commission of major and sent on this undertaking. + +Leaving Williamsburg with a little company of six, he set out on a +cross-country trip by horseback, of more than a thousand miles. The +details of this adventurous journey make interesting reading, but +cannot find place in this necessarily brief story. They reached an +Indian village near where the city of Pittsburgh now stands, then +turned south to the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers +where dwelt a friendly tribe of Indians. Thence they went to Fort le +Boeuf, where the French commander received the Virginia major politely, +entertained him, but tried at the same time to win his Indian friends +away from him. + +The return journey was terrible. The horses had become so weak that +they were useless except as light pack animals. The little party +struggled along on foot. Washington with one companion went on ahead. +It was the dead of winter, but when they reached the Ohio River, they +found that instead of its being frozen solid, as they had hoped, it was +a turbulent mass of tossing cakes of ice. + +"There was no way of getting over," writes Washington in his journal, +"but on a raft, which we set about, with but one poor hatchet, and +finished just after sun-setting. This was a whole day's work; we next +got it launched, then went on board of it, and set off; but before we +were half-way over, we were jammed in the ice in such a manner that we +expected every moment our raft to sink and ourselves to perish. I put +out my setting-pole to try to stop the raft, that the ice might pass +by, when the rapidity of the stream threw it with so much violence +against the pole, that it jerked me out into ten feet of water; but I +fortunately saved myself by catching hold of one of the raft-logs. +Notwithstanding all our efforts, we could not get to either shore, but +were obliged, as we were near an island, to quit our raft and make to +it. The cold was so extremely severe that Mr. Gist had all his fingers +and some of his toes frozen, and the water was shut up so hard that we +found no difficulty in getting off the island on the ice in the +morning, and went to Mr. Frazier's." + +Here they succeeded in procuring horses, and in a few days more, Major +Washington handed in his report to the Governor at Williamsburg. + +This report stirred the Virginia House of Burgesses to action. It +showed that the whole western frontier was imperilled. One of +Washington's recommendations, that a fort be built at the fork of the +Ohio, was put into effect at once; and a Captain Trent was sent out +with some woodsmen to begin its construction. But before the fort was +completed a force of French descended upon it and captured it. Near +its site they themselves built a larger one, which they called Fort +Duquesne--the site of the later city of Pittsburgh. + +This action on the part of the French was equivalent to a declaration +of war. It was really the beginning of the Seven Years' War between +England and France, for the control of America--a drama in which +Washington was to have no little part. + +When news of the French move reached the Governor, he sent Washington, +with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and a small armed force against +the invaders. The men were mostly half-trained militia whom Washington +had been drilling for some such emergency. They were raw soldiers, but +hardy fellows, who thoroughly believed in their young commander. He +himself, although but twenty-two, was a seasoned campaigner of the +wilderness. Now he was essaying his first trial as a soldier. + +His men marched to a point about half-way to Fort Duquesne, blazing a +road for other troops to follow, and constructing a fort to serve as a +base of supplies. There he sent out scouts to reconnoitre. They +reported an advancing party of French who were ready to attack any +English whom they might encounter. Washington did not wait for them to +attack. He decided to attack first. Taking a force of about forty men +he made a night march in the pelting rain, to surprise the enemy. It +reminds us of his later famous exploit at Trenton. + +"The path," he wrote, "was hardly wide enough for one man. We often +lost it, and could not find it again for fifteen or twenty minutes, and +we often tumbled over each other in the dark." + +However, at daybreak on this May day of 1754, they reached the camp of +their Indian allies; who in turn took them with stealthy tread to the +hollow where lay the French--waiting to ambush the colonists. But it +was their turn to be surprised, and they quickly sprang to their feet +and grasped their weapons. + +Washington gave his men the order to fire--the first of many such +orders that were to come in the stormy days of two successive wars--and +in a sense this was the opening gun. A lively but brief skirmish +followed. The French lost their commander, Jumonville, and nine +others. The English lost only one man, killed, and two or three +wounded. The remainder of the French, twenty-two in number, were taken +prisoners. + +The affair made a great stir, and was the forerunner of extended +hostilities. Washington foresaw the results immediately, and set his +men to constructing a fort which was called Fort Necessity. He had won +his first battle and it greatly inspired his troops. Writing +afterwards to his brother, Lawrence, he said: "I heard the bullets +whistle; and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound." + +Their fort, however, was well-named. For presently the French and +Indians marched down upon them, nine hundred strong, and as Washington +had, all told, but three hundred poorly equipped men, they were +compelled to surrender. The terms of surrender were liberal enough, +permitting the English to return home with their light arms. + +Thus did Washington's first campaign come to a somewhat inglorious +close. He tendered his resignation, and may have felt humiliated over +his defeat; although the House of Burgesses passed a vote of thanks to +him and his staff, "for their bravery and gallant defense of their +country." But later when Governor Dinwiddie requested him to head +another regiment against Fort Duquesne, Washington politely declined. +He had not received sufficient support in the first venture to warrant +another such attempt. + +The next stage in the French and Indian War--and likewise in +Washington's military development--was the arrival of General Braddock +with two regiments of seasoned troops from England. Braddock was an +old campaigner of forty years' experience, who had long since learned +all that was to be taught about the art of warfare. + +"He'd teach those French a lesson--and as for the Indians--stuff and +nonsense!" + +Braddock's arrival made a great stir in the colonies. It was the first +sign of real help from the Mother Country. The governors of four or +five of the colonies met him at Alexandria. It was near Mount Vernon, +and the young retired officer watched the preparations with keenest +interest. He could not help contrasting this splendid equipment with +the scanty packs which his own men had carried. + +Much to his delight, he was invited by General Braddock to join his +staff as an aide-de-camp, a post which Washington joyfully accepted. +Braddock had heard something of the Virginia colonel even before +leaving England; and was not so much honoring this colonial officer, as +immeasurably strengthening his own good right arm--if he had only had +the discernment to know it. As results showed, Braddock did not need +his heavy cannon nearly so much as he needed an insight into wilderness +ways. + +Just before Braddock started west on his ill-fated expedition, he +conferred at Fredericktown, Maryland, with the Postmaster General of +Pennsylvania, a strong, practical man, who was to obtain some +greatly-needed horses and wagons for his artillery and supplies. This +man, a middle-aged and rather plain sort of fellow--and the youthful +Virginia colonel whom he may have met then for the first time--possibly +attracted very little attention in the gaudy military array. But +American history could ill have spared either Benjamin Franklin or +George Washington. + +We will not narrate again in detail here the oft-told story of +Braddock's Defeat--how he insisted on marching across the mountains and +valleys of Pennsylvania, as though on parade--with banners flying, +fifes shrilling, and drums beating. It was a brave display, and such +as the old General was accustomed to, in Europe. It would undoubtedly +put the French and their skulking allies to instant flight! + +Against such a method of warfare Washington raised his voice of +counsel, but in vain. The grizzled veteran brushed him aside. +Washington was for rapid marching, with scouting troops deployed on +ahead. + +"But this prospect," he writes, "was soon clouded, and my hopes brought +very low indeed, when I found that, instead of pushing on with vigor, +without regarding a little rough road, they were halting to level every +molehill, and to erect bridges over every brook, by which means we were +four days in getting twelve miles." + +A few days before Braddock reached the vicinity of Fort Duquesne, +Washington had fallen sick of a fever, and had barely recovered +strength enough to rejoin the command. But the slow progress to which +he refers, enabled him to do so before the attack--though he was still +far from well. + +As he rode up to meet the general, he could not help but admire the +beauty of the scene. The troops had crossed a ford on the Monongahela, +about fifteen miles from the fort, and now marched in close formation +along its winding bank, as though on dress parade. But his admiration +of the display only intensified his sense of danger--the sixth sense of +every woodsman. He begged his general to scatter his forces somewhat, +or at least send scouts ahead. But Braddock rebuked him angrily for +presuming to teach English regulars how to fight. + +Suddenly the sound of firing was heard at the front, although no +attacking party could be seen. The soldiers had marched straight into +an ambush, as Washington had feared. With whoops and yells the Indians +commanded by a few French were firing from behind every rock and tree. +The regulars were thrown into confusion. This type of warfare was new +to them. They did not know how to answer it. The front ranks recoiled +upon the others, throwing all into wild turmoil. + +Washington at once threw himself into the fight--counselling, +persuading, commanding. A company of Virginians, previously sneered at +as "raw militia," spread themselves out as a protecting party of +skirmishers. The English officers, also, be it said, displayed the +utmost bravery in trying to rally their men. The general, as though to +atone for his headstrong folly, seemed everywhere at once. He had two +horses shot from under him, before receiving wounds in his own body, +which were to prove mortal. + +It was all over in a comparatively short time. The troops which had so +proudly marched, with arms glittering in the sun, were put to rout by +an unseen foe. That they were not almost annihilated was due to the +presence of Washington and the Virginians. They fought the enemy in +kind, and protected the fugitives until some sort of order could be +restored. + +Washington it was who collected the troops and rescued the dying +general. He it was who led them back to meet the reinforcements under +Dunbar. And he it was who laid the remains of Braddock in the grave, +four days later, and read the burial service above him. + +Again had the young soldier to taste the bitter dregs of defeat--but it +was salutary, and a part of the iron discipline which was making him +into the future leader. + +That he had not lost any prestige by this experience, but rather gained +thereby, is shown by the call that came urgently to him, soon after, to +take command of all the forces of Virginia. He did not want the +command, but felt that after such a vote of confidence he could not +decline it. And so for three years more he struggled on, a general +without an army, to protect the western frontier of Virginia against +invasion. In April, 1757, he wrote: + +"I have been posted for more than twenty months past, upon our cold and +barren frontiers, to perform, I think I may say, impossibilities; that +is, to protect from the cruel incursions of a crafty, savage enemy a +line of inhabitants, of more than three hundred and fifty miles in +extent, with a force inadequate to the task." + +In the winter of 1758 his health broke down completely, and he feared +that it was permanently impaired. He resigned his commission and +retired to Mount Vernon for a much-needed rest. + +Thus closes the first and formative period of Washington's life--the +period with which the present brief sketch is chiefly concerned. As we +read of those years of adventure and hardship from an early age, we +realize that here was being hammered into shape upon the anvil of +circumstance a very special weapon for some great need. Washington was +not an accident. He was a fine example of what special training can do +for the boy who does his bit with all his might. And because he was +better fitted for the task than any other man in America, we find him, +a few years later, chosen to lead the colonist forces against mighty +England. A pen picture of him at the time, from the diary of James +Thacher, a surgeon in the Revolution, deserves repeating: + +"The personal appearance of our commander-in-chief is that of a perfect +gentleman and accomplished warrior. He is remarkably tall--full six +feet--erect and well-proportioned. The strength and proportion of his +joints and muscles appear to be commensurate with the pre-eminent +powers of his mind. The serenity of his countenance, and majestic +gracefulness of his deportment impart a strong impression of that +dignity and grandeur which are peculiar characteristics; and no one can +stand in his presence without feeling the ascendancy of his mind, and +associating with his countenance the idea of wisdom, philanthropy, +magnanimity, and patriotism. There is a fine symmetry in the features +of his face indicative of a benign and dignified spirit. His nose is +straight, and his eyes inclined to blue. He wears his hair in a +becoming cue, and from his forehead it is turned back, and powdered in +a manner which adds to the military air of his appearance. He displays +a native gravity, but devoid of all appearance of ostentation. His +uniform dress is a blue coat with two brilliant epaulets, buff-colored +underclothes, and a three-cornered hat with a black cockade. He is +constantly equipped with an elegant small-sword, boots and spurs, in +readiness to mount his noble charger." + +In this description, somewhat fulsome in its praise, we can read +between the lines the confidence and affection which inspired his +troops during all the trying days of the Revolution. + +Washington has suffered much at the hands of his biographers. They +have over-praised him, with the result that many readers of today have +come to regard him as scarcely human--a sort of demi-god. But one or +two more recent biographers have had the courage and conviction to tear +aside the mask, and we can, if we will, see Washington the +man--quick-tempered at times, perhaps profane in the heat of battle, +fond of display and good living in his hours of ease--but also a man to +be trusted in every crisis, cool, courageous, resourceful--a strategist +who made the ablest generals that England could send over against him, +suffer by comparison. + +And when the great fight was won, and the last of their proud generals, +Cornwallis, had grudgingly yielded up his sword--it is pleasant to +think of Washington writing about it to--whom do you think?--a +white-haired old man now ninety years of age, who had given the young +surveyor his first start in life. Lord Fairfax was an old Tory, an +unreconstructed English gentleman of the old school, who drank the +King's health religiously every day at dinner. It must have been with +mixed feelings, therefore, that he heard of Cornwallis's surrender. +But pride in his protege must have conquered. We can imagine him as +lifting his glass with trembling fingers to another toast: + +"Here's to George Washington!" + +And to that toast grateful America will ever respond. + + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN WASHINGTON'S LIFE + + 1732. February 22. George Washington born. + 1747. Left school. + 1748. Became a surveyor. + 1753. Sent by Governor Dinwiddie on a mission to the French. + 1754. Appointed lieutenant-colonel and sent against the + French and Indians. + 1755. Joined General Braddock's staff with rank of colonel. + 1757. Resigned his army commission. + 1759. Married Martha Dandridge Custis. + 1775. Appointed commander-in-chief of American forces, + in Revolution. + 1781. Receives surrender of Cornwallis. + 1788. Became first President of the United States. + 1797. Ended second term as President. + 1799. December 14. Died at Mt. Vernon. + + + + +GRANT + +THE MAN WHO "CAME BACK" + +"Can a man 'come back'?" + +This is a question one frequently hears nowadays; and the answer is, +more often than not, a shrug of the shoulders. For the man who has +once failed--or even passed his first chance of success--is not +considered seriously in this busy day and time. He is a +"down-and-outer"; he cannot "come back." + +But there are exceptions to every rule, and one of the most striking +ones in all history, to the above adage, is furnished by the man who +led the Union forces to victory in the American Civil War, and later +achieved the presidency. + +Here was a man who, at forty, was generally regarded as a failure, a +ne'er-do-well. But for the accident of war he would in all likelihood +have ended his days "unwept, unhonored, and unsung." We have a picture +of this middle-aged man, clerking for his younger brothers in a country +store, at eight hundred dollars a year, and day by day sinking further +into the slough of despond. + +He was of little real value to the store, at even that meager salary. +He was no good at driving bargains or at palavering with the trade. He +tried to keep out of sight as much as possible among the boxes and +shelves. His clothing was poor and shabby, his hair and beard long and +unkempt. The brand of failure was stamped all over him. + +Yet this was the man who in five short years was to become the most +famous military leader of his day. + +The life story of Ulysses Simpson Grant abounds in strange paradoxes. +If ever a man was made the plaything of fate, it was he. His career +has even persuaded some writers into the belief that he was "the Man of +Mystery." + +His father, Jesse Grant, was a self-taught man, who is said to have +received but six months actual schooling in his life. He was all the +more determined that his son, Ulysses, should have the education that +he lacked. We find him intervening more than once to drive the boy +contrary to the latter's wishes--but to his later good. The father was +tall, about six feet, rugged and aggressive, making friends and enemies +with equal readiness. Ulysses' mother, however, was quiet, +self-possessed, and patient--qualities which she afterwards gave the +boy. Jesse Grant said of her in later years: "Her steadiness and +strength of character have been the stay of the family through life." + +At the time of Ulysses' birth (April 27, 1822) the family were living +at Point Pleasant, Claremont County, Ohio. But when he was still an +infant they removed to Georgetown, a few miles away, where the father +established a tannery. At this time the town was little more than a +clearing hewed out from the virgin forest. Wood was plentiful and +cheap, and for this reason, Mr. Grant bought a tract of land and set up +his tannery. + +Ulysses, or "Lys" as the neighbors called him, was the oldest of six +children--three boys and three girls. As soon as Ulysses was old +enough, his father started him to school. There were no public schools +in those days, so he went to a school maintained by private +subscription and taught by a man named John White. + +White had his own notions about a curriculum, and one of the most +important was discipline. On top of his desk always reposed a bundle +of good husky switches--except at frequently recurring times when they +were beating a tattoo on some hapless scholar's back. It was his boast +that he often used up a whole bunch in a single day. However, his +school was no different from many another of the time. Beatings were +taken as a matter of course. "Spare the rod and spoil the child!" + +Ulysses went to this school until he was fourteen, and mastered the +elementary studies. Between whiles he helped his father at the tannery +or on the farm. The tannery work he always hated. But outdoor work, +particularly with horses, he delighted in. At seven years of age he +drove a team with all the skill of a man; and it was said that when he +could scarcely walk he could ride horseback. The story is told of him +that at a county fair, where a prize of five dollars was offered to any +one who could stick on a trick pony, Ulysses won it after several other +boys had got thrown helter-skelter. He flung his arms around the +pony's fat neck, and stuck on, though as he afterward said: "That pony +was as round as an apple." + +He tells another amusing story of himself, in these early days. He +greatly coveted a young colt owned by a neighboring farmer, and after +teasing his father, the latter tried to buy it for him. But he offered +only twenty dollars for the colt, and the owner wanted twenty-five. +After some dickering without any result, the boy went to the owner with +this message, which he delivered all in a breath: + +"Father says I may offer you twenty dollars; and if you won't take +that, I am to offer you twenty-two and a half; and if you won't take +that for your colt, I am to pay you twenty-five dollars." + +"It would not take a Connecticut farmer to tell what was the price paid +for the colt," he added afterward when telling the story. + +This little incident, while amusing, reveals a trait in his character +which persisted all through life. He was the soul of candor. He +called a spade a spade. And he never could bargain. + +Another early trait revealing itself in later years was something that, +in his Memoirs, he calls a superstition. It was a dislike to turn back +when once started on a journey. If he found himself on the wrong road, +he would keep going until he came to some branching road rather than +turn aside. This habit was destined to make some of the generals on +the other side, in the Civil War, somewhat uncomfortable. They found +that he never quit. + +Thus grew up the boy, Ulysses Grant. He was not considered +particularly bright at school, but he was a plodder, going along +keeping his own counsel. He could not talk readily, even in a small +company, and was hopeless when it came to "speaking a piece" on Friday +at the school. But he was a sturdy, outdoor boy, by this time +remarkably proficient with horses. At the age of fifteen he had +explored the back country for miles roundabout. + +His father, however, had never lost sight of the fact that the boy was +to get a good schooling--and frequently brought up the subject, to +"Lys's" discomfort. The lad was not especially keen for any more +books. But the opportunity came--just as others were to come, to shape +the whole course of young Grant's life. + +The son of a neighbor had received an appointment to West Point, but +had failed to pass the entrance examinations. Jesse Grant immediately +wrote to the Congressman of the district, in behalf of Ulysses, +although the two men were on opposite political sides and had quarreled +bitterly: "If you have no other person in view and feel willing to +consent to the appointment of Ulysses, you will please signify that +consent to the Department." + +Ulysses got the appointment, despite the political feud, and it is +pleasant to note that the two men healed their differences and became +good friends again. + +The boy received news of his appointment without much enthusiasm. He +would much rather be a horse trader, he told his father. But the +latter was determined--and Ulysses went. + +Nor did his appointment please others in the village, who thought the +boy dull. One man meeting Mr. Grant in the street, said bluntly: "I +hear that your boy is going to West Point. Why didn't our +Representative pick some one that would be a credit to the district?" + +This ill-natured speech may have been inspired by the fact that +political feeling ran high at that time; and Jesse Grant as a staunch +Whig and Northerner had made a good many enemies. + +Ulysses was coached for West Point at an academy at Ripley, Ohio, +conducted by William Taylor, and passed his entrance examinations with +fair grades. His best study was mathematics. He entered at the age of +seventeen. + +It took young Grant many a long day to accustom himself to the Military +Academy. The hazing encountered by every Freshman he didn't seem to +mind, so the older men soon let him alone. But the drill and the +dress! To this farm lad it was deadly. These were the days of the +"ramrod" tactics of Winfield Scott--the starch and stock and buckram +days of the army. "Old Fuss and Feathers" his critics called him, but +with all his love of pomp and circumstance Scott was a splendid +soldier, whether on the drill ground, or in the face of the enemy. +Nevertheless, to Grant it was a constant trial, at first. He felt like +a fish out of water. General Charles King thus speaks of him: + +"Phlegmatic in temperament and long given to ease and deliberation in +all his movements at home, this springing to attention at the tap of +the drum, this snapping together of the heels at the sound of a +sergeant's voice, this sudden freezing to a rigid pose without the move +of a muscle, except at the word of command, was something almost beyond +him. It seemed utterly unnatural, if not utterly repugnant. +Accustomed to swinging along the winding banks of the White Oak, or the +cow-paths of the pasture lot, this moving only at a measured pace of +twenty-eight inches, and one hundred and ten to the minute, and all in +strict unison with the step of the guide on the marching flank or at +the head of column, came ten times harder than ever did the pages of +'analytical' or the calculus. + +"Grant had no sense of rhythm. He had no joy in martial music. The +thrill and inspiration of the drum and fife, or the beautiful harmonies +of the old Academy band were utterly lost on him. In all that class of +1843, it may well be doubted if there lived one solitary soul who found +there less to like or more to shrink from, than this seventeen-year-old +lad who, thanks to the opportunities and to the training there given +them, was in less than a quarter of a century to be hailed as the +foremost soldier of more than two millions of men in the Union blue." + +But this was only one of the Grant paradoxes--the contradictions which +were to mark his strange career. + +Life at West Point was not all hardship, however. In his quiet way +Grant made a few warm friends. On account of his initials he was +promptly nicknamed "Uncle Sam," which was soon shortened to "Sam." He +excelled in two widely different courses--mathematics and horsemanship. +We have already noticed his early skill with, and love for horses. Now +it was to stand him in good stead. He was assigned, during one year, +to a particularly intractable young horse--a big, raw-boned sorrel, +named York. One of York's tricks was to rear and throw himself +backward with his rider. But in Grant he found his master, and the +steed not only grew tractable, but developed under his rider's training +into a famous jumper. Horse and rider are vividly described by General +James B. Fry, in his Reminiscences: + +"The class, still mounted, was formed in line through the center of the +hall. The riding master placed the leaping bar higher than a man's +head and called out, 'Cadet Grant!' A clean-faced, slender, blue-eyed +young fellow, weighing about one hundred and twenty pounds, dashed from +the ranks on a powerfully built chestnut-sorrel horse, and galloped +down the opposite side of the hall. As he turned at the farther end +and came into the stretch at which the bar was placed, the horse +increased his pace and measuring his stride for the great leap before +him, bounded into the air and cleared the bar, carrying his rider as if +man and beast had been welded together. The spectators were +breathless." + +"Sam" Grant graduated from the Military Academy in July, 1843, one of +thirty-nine out of a class that had originally numbered one hundred. +Among his classmates were Sherman, Thomas, Meade, Reynolds, and other +soldiers later known to fame. It cannot be said, however, that his +entry into the army was auspicious. He was still by no means +reconciled to the idea of being a soldier. He had not received the +assignment he had coveted, the Dragoons; and moreover his health was +poor. He was troubled with a persistent cough which indicated weak +lungs--but thanks to his life in the open and horseback riding he +escaped a possible attack of consumption. + +After a three months' furlough visiting his father's home, now at +Bethel, Ohio, he reported for duty at the Jefferson Barracks, near St. +Louis, as a second lieutenant in the infantry. The best horseman in +his class had to walk! + +But there were compensations. Outside of duty, Grant could always +procure a mount; and about five miles away from the Barracks--just an +easy canter--was the home of his college chum and roommate, Lieut. +Frederick T. Dent. The Dents had a big, hospitable country place, and +they speedily made Fred's friend feel at home. One member of the +family who had heard much about "Sam" Grant from her brother's letters, +long before Grant appeared in person, was Julia Dent now a charming +girl of seventeen. It was not long before her friends began teasing +her about "the little lieutenant with the big epaulets"--and while she +laughed and blushed she didn't seem to mind. + +The little round of social gayeties, however, was of brief duration. +Trouble with Mexico was brewing, and in 1844 relations had become so +strained that an "Army of Observation," as it was called, was assembled +under General Zachary Taylor, old "Rough and Ready," on the border. +Grant's company was ordered to join this army, on the briefest notice. +The young lieutenant had time only for a brief leave-taking with the +Dents, and one member in particular, but her final message meant all +the world to him. + +In March of the next year, Congress sanctioned the annexation of Texas, +and trouble with Mexico began in earnest. History records the rapid +course of events which made up the Mexican War. We can only notice the +events which directly concern the career of Grant. His company was a +part of the expeditionary force of three thousand men destined to see +active service on the border. + +By the middle of March they had reached the Rio Grande, and pitched +camp opposite the city of Matamoras. Their army was far from its base +of supplies and in a country swarming with the enemy. Before war was +formally declared, two officers who were caught outside the camp were +killed, and two whole companies captured. + +There was no railroad, and General Taylor was compelled to send a +considerable force back twenty-five miles for supplies. On the third +of May the returning troops encountered a much larger force of +Mexicans. A battle followed which continued after sundown. During the +night the Mexicans retreated, but were found further on, in a much +stronger position. They awaited the Americans on the far side of a +pond, their position being further fortified by logs and branches of +trees. + +The captain of Grant's company was temporarily absent, and it fell to +Grant to lead their advance. By this time the bullets were humming +merrily, but he directed his men to deploy to one side and approach +through thicker woods. At last they reached a clearing near the head +of the pond, and he ordered a charge. They captured the position +immediately in front of them, and made a few prisoners, including one +colonel. The engagement all along the line had been too brisk for the +Mexicans, and they broke and ran, leaving a considerable quantity of +guns and ammunition. + +As for the little lieutenant, it was his first battle, and first +command of a company, and he had reason to feel satisfied with the +day's work. + +As one result of the engagement, the Americans now crossed the river, +and became an Army of Invasion. And now that war had actually begun, +volunteers began to flock to the standard. The ensuing months of that +year were packed with incident and no little danger. In August, Grant +was made quartermaster and commissary of the regiment--a position of +responsibility which he held until the army was withdrawn. + +Although Grant's duties were now such as to withdraw him from active +fighting, he was not the man to take advantage of the fact. The lively +battle at Monterey bears witness of this. After a hard encounter on +the outskirts of the city, the Americans stormed it from the north and +east, and began to drive the Mexicans out, street by street. But when +the citadel was in sight, the commanding officer, Colonel Garland, +found to his dismay that they were short of ammunition. + +"We must have ammunition at once," he announced to his men. "Who will +volunteer to ride back with the message? I do not wish to detail any +one, as it is extra hazardous." + +At once, Lieutenant Grant stepped forward and saluted. + +"I will go, Colonel," he said. + +"You are just the man. If anybody can ride through, you can. But +hurry." + +And Grant did. Crouching low on his mustang like an Indian, he dashed +down the bullet-swept streets, made the open, and delivered his message +to General Twigg. + +The Mexican War was marked by the political rivalry of two American +Generals, one of whom was destined to win the highest honors in the +gift of his country--General Zachary Taylor, old "Rough and Ready," and +General Winfield Scott, "Fuss and Feathers." Both were able leaders, +though totally unlike in their methods. Taylor cared nothing for +personal appearance or etiquette. He worked in close contact with his +men. Scott, on the contrary, was fond of display, and issued his +orders through his staff officers. + +Scott was now given supreme command of the Mexican campaign, and +summoned all the regular troops for an invasion by way of Vera +Cruz--the scene of a later landing, in very recent years. Taylor was +left with only the volunteers, but he utilized them at Buena Vista to +such good effect that at the next election old "Rough and Ready" became +President of the United States--the very thing that his political foes +at Washington had tried to prevent, by giving Scott the supreme command. + +Grant's company, with other regulars to the number of eight thousand +men, landed at Vera Cruz, and early in April began its perilous march +into the interior. Roads had to be built and bridges constructed, and +the army engineers toiled night and day. Among them were two young +West Pointers, George B. McClellan and Robert E. Lee. Thus it was that +Grant and Lee first came to know each other, in the wilds of Mexico. + +By the middle of May they had reached Puebla, which they captured +easily. But the army needed supplies, and Quartermaster Grant was sent +out with an escort of one thousand men to forage the surrounding +country. They filled their wagons and returned safely. This jaunt +delighted Grant's soul. It was far better than bringing up the rear on +a dusty line of march. In one of his letters home he writes: + +"I have been delighted with the Mexican birds. Their plumage is +superlatively splendid. They beat ours in show, but to my mind do not +equal them in harmony. I have written this letter with my sword +fastened to my side, my pistols within reach, not knowing but that the +next moment I may be called into battle." + +It is an odd coincidence, that at a later day we find another +soldier--destined to lead his country's armies to victory in a far +mightier conflict--using the soil of Mexico as a training ground. That +soldier was John J. Pershing. + +One other exploit of Grant's in the Mexican campaign must be mentioned, +as it was not only daring, but it also revealed his resourcefulness. + +During the attack upon Chapultepec, Grant noticed that one of the two +main routes, the San Cosme road, was flanked by a small mission church +surmounted by a belfry. He reasoned that if they could mount a +howitzer in the belfry, that section would be made mighty uncomfortable +for the Mexicans. He went at once to his superior officer, explained +his plan, and secured a detail of men with one gun. The gun had to be +taken to pieces, but with it in hand they compelled the priest to open +the church doors to them, mounted the steps to the belfry, reassembled +the gun, and it was soon beating a lively tattoo down upon the backs of +the astonished Mexicans. + +For this "gallant conduct at Chapultepec," as the official citation +read, Grant won his brevet of captain. + +With the signing of the treaty of peace, Grant came home on furlough, +and in August, 1848, was married to Julia Dent. He took his wife to +his father's home, and was made much of by his admiring townsmen. His +father was inordinately proud of "my Ulysses," now a captain and cited +for gallantry in action. In the darker days that were to follow, he +looked back to this time as the very pinnacle of his son's greatness. + +That there _were_ darker days, and many of them, must be chronicled in +any true sketch of Ulysses S. Grant. He was to taste the very dregs of +humiliation and despair. He was to see these same admiring friends +turn from him one by one, with a sneer, or reproachful shake of the +head. + +For days of peace were at hand--long days of barrack routine and +enforced idleness. To Captain Grant these days coming after the +excitement of Mexico were at first welcome, then speedily grew tedious. +He had always hated the humdrum life of the drill ground. Now he was +shifted, after a few months, to a camp at San Francisco. The distance +was so great, travelling as they did by way of the Isthmus of Panama +(this was long before the railroads), that he could not take his wife +with him. His slender pay also would not admit of it. + +Life in all the army camps was free and easy. Liquor flowed freely, +and drunkenness was unfortunately common. Grant like others, drank, +but not to excess. With him, however, one glass was sufficient to +flush his face and render his walk unsteady. It was not long before +the life at this far-removed western camp began to tell upon him. He +quarreled with his commanding officer, and finally resigned from the +service. + +He had to borrow money in order to return home, a long and painful +journey by way of New York, and it was a discouraged, broken-looking +man who greeted his wife and his parents. This was the summer of 1854. +Captain Grant was then only thirty-two, but it already seemed as though +the best and only valuable part of his life was behind him. The recent +conquering hero, with his dashing uniform and epaulets, had become a +somewhat seedy-looking individual with shoulders prematurely stooped, +and shuffling gait. + +The word speedily went round the village, with many a nod and wink: + +"Told you so! Went up like a rocket; came down like a stick." + +His wife, however, had not lost her confidence in him. Through all the +trying days that were to follow, she remained staunch and loyal. She +persuaded her father to let her have a sixty-acre tract of land, near +St. Louis. There she brought Ulysses and their children, and there he +began life anew, as a plain farmer. + +He built with his own hands a log house of four rooms, with chimneys at +each end, and wide fireplaces. With grim humor he called the place, +"Hard-scrabble." But he liked the place. He liked the freedom of it, +with his horses and other live stock. Despite its hardships he +welcomed it as an escape from the petty exactions of military life. + +Nevertheless, he could not make it pay. He did not have sufficient +capital or bodily strength to succeed. An attack of chills and fever, +in 1858, put the finishing touch to this episode, and he sold his stock +and farm the following spring. + +During the ensuing few months he moved from pillar to post, trying +various ventures and succeeding with none. The fates seemed against +him. In St. Louis, whither he had drifted, he was regarded with open +scorn as, what we would now designate, a "down-and-out." One reason +for his poor success lay in the fact that he was a Northerner, and the +city was seething with talk of secession. The clouds of Civil War were +already gathering, and men began to distrust each his neighbor. + +At this juncture his father, who seems rather to have turned against +him also, came to his relief. He offered Ulysses a position in his +leather business, now in charge of the younger boys. Ulysses +thankfully accepted, although the pay was only fifty dollars a month. +He brought his wife and boys to Galena, where at any rate he was sure +of having a roof over his head. + +"The brothers found him of no earthly account at driving bargains, or +tending store," says General Charles King. "He could keep books after +a fashion and do some of the heavy work in handling the miscellaneous +stock." + +Another soldier, who became his devoted follower in the later days, had +his first sight of Grant at this down-at-the-heels period. "I went +round to the store," he says; "it was a sharp winter morning, and there +wasn't a sign of a soldier or one that looked like a soldier about the +shop. But pretty soon a farmer drove up with a lot of hides on his +sleigh, and went inside to dicker, and presently a stoop-shouldered, +brownish-bearded fellow, with a slouch hat pulled down over his eyes, +who had been sitting whittling at the stove when I was inside, came +out, pulling on an old light-blue soldier's overcoat. He flung open +the doors leading down into the cellar, laid hold of the top hide, +frozen stiff it was, tugged it loose, towed it over, and slung it down +the chute. Then one by one, all by himself, he heaved off the rest of +them, a ten minutes' tough job in that weather, until he had got the +last of them down the cellar; then slouched back into the store again, +shed the blue coat, got some hot water off the stove and went and +washed his hands, using a cake of brown soap, then came back and went +to whittling again, and all without a word to anybody. That was my +first look at Grant, and look at him now!" + +But in all likelihood there would not have been another chance to +"look" at him, had not the great Civil War broken out. It was to prove +in his case that what seemed failure was merely lack of opportunity. + +When South Carolina seceded and the call for troops came, the +stoop-shouldered clerk in the hide store began to straighten up. The +call to arms put new life in his blood. He felt his old confidence +returning. He refused a local captaincy, after he had demonstrated +what he could do in drilling recruits, saying: "I have been in the +military service fourteen years, and think I am competent to command a +regiment." + +He went to Springfield, Illinois, and offered his services, and after +some delay was given a desk in the adjutant-general's office. It was +not long before he proved his efficiency, and his advice was sought +more and more by the Governor, in organizing the State Guards. When +the 21st regiment was mustered into service, he was made its colonel. +He had put his foot on the first rung of the ladder of success. + +The 21st, like other bodies of volunteers, was a loosely-knit, unruly +set of men. They took military life as a huge picnic, but speedily got +over that attitude--under Grant. On their first long hike, it is said +that their canteens were filled with whiskey, instead of water--until +Grant went through on a personal tour of inspection, and ordered every +canteen emptied out on the ground. The way he took hold of that +regiment and licked it into shape opened the eyes of Governor Yates and +his staff. In two months it was the best drilled regiment in the +State; and when President Lincoln wrote to the Governor asking +suggestions for promotions, Grant's name headed the list. He was made +a Brigadier-General. + +The story of the Civil War and Grant's great part therein belong to a +longer chronicle than this. Step by step this stern, quiet soldier +fought his way up, winning his country's battles and his own as well. +In the full tide of war he found himself--and better still his country +discovered him. He was never after to prove recreant to his trust. + +"We will fight it out along this line if it takes all summer," is one +of his typical remarks, and one most often quoted. It was toward the +last of the hard-fought war, when the Southern forces under Lee were +doing their utmost to fend off the inevitable. Grant, now the +commanding General of the Union forces, was still putting into practise +the quiet, bull-dog qualities that had led his armies to victory. + +Then came the final dramatic scene at the historic surrender at +Appomattox. Lee had come to discuss terms with him, and now stood +awaiting his arrival, erect, courtly, handsome--the typical Southern +gentleman that he was. Down the road came riding a gaunt-looking man, +with the familiar stoop-shoulders, and mud-bespattered trousers and +boots. It was the general-in-chief on his way to greet his beaten foe! + +The two men looked each other in the eye, then clasped hands like old +friends. Grant recalled the days of the Mexican campaign, and was +surprised that Lee knew so much about him in those days. He wanted to +talk old times, and Lee himself brought up the subject of surrender. + +Grant took his seat at a table and wrote out the simple and generous +terms which allowed officers and men to return to their homes, on +giving their word not to take up arms against the United States +government again. + +Lee's fine, dignified features softened as he read the terms--so much +more magnanimous than he had dared to hope. + +"My men are nearly starving," he began-- + +"What do you need?" interrupted Grant; and gave instant orders that the +defeated army should be supplied with rations. + +"Tell the boys to go home and go to work," he said. + +That was Grant. + + + + +IMPORTANT DATES IN GRANT'S LIFE + + 1822. April 27. Ulysses Simpson Grant born. + 1839. Received appointment to U. S. Military Academy, West Point. + 1843. Graduated. + 1845. Went as second-lieutenant to join Taylor's forces in Mexico. + 1848. Brevetted captain for gallantry. + 1848. Married Julia T. Dent. + 1854. Resigned his army commission. + 1861. Re-entered army at outbreak of Civil War. Commissioned + colonel, then brigadier-general. + 1863. Made major-general. + 1864. Given supreme command of the Union forces, with rank + of lieutenant-general. + 1866. The grade of general created for first time, and + conferred on him. + 1868. Elected President. + 1885. July 23. Died at Mt. McGregor, New York. + + + + +LEE + +THE LEADER OF A LOST CAUSE + +A gray-haired college president sat talking kindly with a young +sophomore who had fallen behind in his studies. + +"My boy," he said, "you must study if you would succeed. Only patience +and industry will prevent your failure here and your failure in after +life." + +"But, General, you failed," replied the sophomore with an amazing +impertinence. + +"I hope that you may be more fortunate than I," was the quiet answer. + +Literature contains nothing finer than that by way of the retort +courteous. + +The speaker was Robert E. Lee--the time not many months after the +surrender of the Southern army. Many were there to brand him as a +"failure," just as this thoughtless sophomore had done, and to all such +critics his reply was silence. In the seclusion of a small Virginia +college he lived and worked, keeping sedulously out of public affairs, +writing and saying nothing about his campaigns. He left to history the +final verdict, which has found him, not a failure, but one of the most +brilliant soldiers of this or any land. + +In Lee's early life and ancestry his nearest parallel is Washington. +These two greatest Virginians were born within a few miles of each +other, in Westmoreland County. Lee was born just seventy-five years +after Washington, (January 19, 1807) and like him was descended of +famous lineage. His father, Light Horse Harry Lee, fought by the side +of Washington in the Revolutionary War; and it was he who in a memorial +address on the great leader coined the immortal phrase: "First in war, +first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." + +Still another ancestor, Richard Henry Lee, had been born many years +earlier in the same old mansion where Robert Edward Lee first saw the +light of day. Richard Lee it was, who was a boyhood friend and +confidant of George Washington; and who later became one of the signers +of the Declaration of Independence. + +It is not strange, therefore, to find that the career of the first +great Virginian profoundly influenced the second. "One familiar with +the life of Lee," says Thomas Nelson Page, "cannot help noting the +strong resemblance of his character in its strength, its poise, its +rounded completeness, to that of Washington; or fail to mark what +influence the life of Washington had on the life of Lee. The stamp +appears upon it from his boyhood, and grows more plain as his years +progress." + +The old homestead in which Lee was born deserves some notice on its own +account. It was built by Thomas Lee, a grandson of Richard Lee, the +emigrant who came to Virginia about the time that Charles I was losing +both his crown and his head. While Charles II was still in exile, this +same Thomas Lee offered the king a haven in Virginia, which was not +accepted. + +The original brick structure was destroyed by fire, but the house was +rebuilt on the same site during the time of Queen Anne, and it is said +that she aided in its reconstruction. This was the ancestral home of +the Lees for several generations. + +Robert E. Lee, though naturally proud of his lineage, never showed +great interest in the family tree. He never had the time or the +inclination to study genealogy, and always said that he knew nothing of +it beyond the fact that Colonel Richard Lee had come to America during +the reign of Charles I. Upon having a family seal and crest made, he +apologized for the seeming parade by saying, "I have thought, perhaps +foolishly enough, that it might as well be right as wrong." Later, +however, when approached on the subject of publishing a family history, +he wrote: "I am very much obliged to Mr. ---- for the trouble he has +taken in relation to the Lee genealogy. I have no desire to have it +published, and do not think it would afford sufficient interest beyond +the immediate family to pay for the expense. I think the money had +better be appropriated to relieve the poor." + +Harry Lee, Robert's father, was not only a soldier, but also a man of +letters. He loved the classics, and has left memoirs written in +spirited vein. He had reached middle life, however, before Robert was +born, and passed away when the boy was eleven. It was the mother's +influence--and here again we have a parallel with Washington--which was +paramount in the early days. She was a Carter, of an equally old and +distinguished family, and is spoken of as an amiable and gracious lady. + +When Robert was still a child, his family moved to Alexandria, and very +shortly his father went away on a trip for his health, from which he +never returned. Between the boy and his mother the ties became very +close. He was devoted to her, and on her part she said, after he went +away to school, "You have been both son and daughter to me." + +Long afterward, Lee alludes to this period in a letter to his own son, +by way of counsel: "A young gentleman who has read Virgil must surely +be competent to take care of two ladies; for before I had advanced that +far I was my mother's outdoor agent and confidential messenger." + +Robert Lee obtained his first schooling at the old academy in +Alexandria, then taught by a Mr. Leary, who remained always his good +friend. Later he attended a better known school, conducted by a strict +Quaker, Benjamin Hallowell--Brimstone Castle, the boys called it, +solely on account of the color of the brick walls. Hallowell himself +was rarely if ever brimstone in character, though he could be stern +enough on occasion. He "thee'd" and "thou'd" in the most orthodox +style, and decried all warfare. Despite his pacifist teaching, +however, young Lee's earliest ambition was to become a soldier. It was +in his blood. + +He was fond of outdoor sports, especially hunting and horseback riding. +His lifelong fondness for horses brings to mind the same trait in +Grant, his later antagonist. In his older days Lee would tell with +enthusiasm how as a boy he had followed the hunt, not infrequently on +foot, for hours over hill and valley without tiring. Again he wrote: +"I know the pleasure of training a handsome horse. I enjoy it as much +as any one." His famous steed, "Traveller," was known throughout the +Army of Virginia, during the War, and the sight of him caused many an +eye to grow moist as he followed riderless the remains of his beloved +master to their last resting place. + +At the Hallowell school, Lee chiefly excelled in mathematics, a study +which was later to be of great value to him, in the engineers' corps of +the army. Hallowell paid a tribute to his pupil after the latter +became famous, saying: "He was a most exemplary student in every +respect." + +One could wish, however, that instead of such idle compliments, the +schoolmaster had really searched his memory and given us some personal +anecdotes of Lee at school. There is actually very little on record +about his early life. He seems to have grown into an attractive and +likeable boy, studious, somewhat reserved, and by no means remarkable. +One kinswoman writes: + +"I have often said since he entered on his brilliant career that, +although we all admired him for his remarkable beauty and attractive +manners, I did not see anything in him that prepared me for his so far +outstripping all his compeers." + +Lee's older brother, Sydney, had already entered the navy, and Lee +himself decided upon the army, as his choice of profession. At the age +of eighteen he applied for a cadetship at the Military Academy at West +Point, and received it direct from President Andrew Jackson himself. +There is a tradition that when Lee presented himself before the hero of +New Orleans, that doughty Tennessean looked him over from head to foot, +then passed him on with the terse comment, "You'll do!" + +And Robert Lee did. In college he made a record that shines to this +day. He was given the coveted cadet adjutancy of his corps. He +graduated second in a class of forty-six. And he did not receive a +single demerit during his entire college career--for rusty gun, or cap +on the floor, or late at drill, or twisted belt,--or any of the hundred +and one things that are the bane and stumbling block of the West +Pointer's existence. Such a record seems almost too good to be true, +and one is tempted to wish for at least one escapade to enliven the +narrative! + +Yet Lee was by no means a prig. Even his detractors of later years +never accused him of that. He was popular with his fellows and fond of +the give-and-take of the drill ground. His ability to make and hold +friends was one of the outstanding traits of his whole life. His men +who followed him through the "Lost Cause" fairly idolized him. + +General Joseph E. Johnson, another Southern leader, was a classmate of +his at West Point and gives us this description of him there. "We had +the same intimate associates, who thought, as I did, that no other +youth or man so united the qualities that win warm friendship and +command high respect. For he was full of sympathy and kindness, genial +and fond of gay conversation, and even of fun, while his correctness of +demeanor and attention to all duties, personal and official, and a +dignity as much a part of himself as the elegance of his person, gave +him a superiority that every one acknowledged in his heart. He was the +only one of all the men I have known that could laugh at the faults and +follies of his friends in such a manner as to make them ashamed without +touching their affection for him." + +Lee graduated from West Point with the Class of '29, and the rank of +second lieutenant of engineers. His first important move after leaving +school was to choose for wife Mary Custis, daughter of George +Washington Parke Custis of Arlington, the last branch of the Washington +family. Here again the fates linked up the names of Washington and +Lee. The two homes at Arlington and Mt. Vernon were only a few miles +apart on the Potomac, and as a final link in the chain we find, years +after, at the close of his life, Lee giving his last efforts to +building up Washington College, which was to be known thereafter as +Washington and Lee. + +When Mary Custis became Mrs. Robert E. Lee there was some disparity in +their fortunes. She was the heiress of the Custis estate, while he was +drawing only the meager pay of a second lieutenant. But such was her +pride and confidence in him, that she turned her back on money and +decided to live on her husband's income. It was harsh training for a +time, but it fitted her to become a real helpmeet for him; and in the +rigorous days of the Civil War she was glad that she had learned early +to "do without." + +One of Lieutenant Lee's first assignments in the engineering corps was +the construction of harbor defenses in Hampton Roads. As he labored to +make these as strong as possible, he little dreamed that it would be +his problem, a quarter of a century later, to study how he might +demolish them. + +From Hampton Roads he was transferred to Washington, and made assistant +to the chief engineer--an agreeable change as it brought him close to +his wife's home. Mounted on a favorite steed he could easily "commute" +back and forth between office and home. On one occasion it is related +that he invited a brother officer, Captain Macomb, out home for the +night, and as the latter had no mount, Lee took him up behind himself, +and down Pennsylvania Avenue they went, saluting other officers whom +they encountered, with great glee. That was one time when a +commutation ticket was good for two. + +Five years after graduation he had worked up to a first lieutenancy, +and two years more found him a captain. In 1835 he was appointed on a +commission to fix the boundary line between Michigan and Ohio. A few +months later he was detailed to make an important study of the +Mississippi River and Valley with a view to determining how to prevent +the annual overflows with their consequent damage to property. His +researches were chiefly along the upper river at Illinois. It is said +that while there he was struck with the enormous potential energy of +the current, and reported that if a dam were constructed at a certain +place, a great storehouse of power would be possible. This was long +before the day of the dynamo, by which such power could be harnessed. +Many years later, however, his dream came true, at the place he had +indicated,--the great power dam nearly a mile long blocking the "Father +of Waters" for the first time in his tumultuous career, at Keokuk, Iowa. + +Farther down stream, above St. Louis, he began a system of river +improvements which aroused no little opposition among property owners. +The dispute that arose was one of the first things which brought the +name of Robert E. Lee to public attention. But despite the +short-sighted protests of some citizens of St. Louis, Lee went quietly +ahead and carried the work through to the permanent betterment of the +city. "I was sent here to do certain work, and I shall do it," was his +terse comment. + +When he had completed his work on the Mississippi, he was sent to New +York to complete the harbor defenses at Fort Hamilton--down at the +gateway of the city. He had been made captain of engineers by this +time, and was looked upon as one of the ablest men in his line of work, +in the army. + +It was not long before his mettle was to be tested in actual warfare. +The trouble with Mexico which had been smouldering for several years at +length burst into flame. After the first victories along the border +under General Zach. Taylor, a campaign from the sea was undertaken, +under General Winfield Scott, who landed at Vera Cruz. The purpose was +to march overland to the capital, reducing the country as they went; +and to make this possible the army engineers were in demand. They +answered the call gladly, for the spirit of adventure ran high, and +every army officer welcomed the chance to see active service. + +In the corps of engineers we find several names destined to become +famous--Lee, Beauregard, McClellan, Foster, Tower, Stevens, Totten, and +others; while Grant was attached to the commissary of the same army. +It was in effect a training school for the great drama of a few short +years later. + +Captain Lee was placed on the personal staff of General Scott, and +given supervision of important road and bridge building. In a letter +to his wife, dated Rio Grande, October 11, 1846, he writes: "We have +met with no resistance yet. The Mexicans who were guarding the passage +retired on our approach. There has been a great whetting of knives, +grinding of swords, and sharpening of bayonets ever since we reached +the river." + +This was written while serving with General Wool in northern Mexico. +He took part in the battle of Buena Vista, his first engagement, and +was then summoned to Vera Cruz by Scott. That doughty old General and +former commandant at West Point had all along shown a great partiality +for Lee; and in the campaign which was to follow, we find him +constantly writing of his young staff officer in glowing terms. One +such incident is typical. + +Lee had undertaken alone an all-night exploration of a desolate, lava +tract called the Pedregal, which had been shunned by scouts and +troopers alike. It was treacherous country, difficult to traverse, and +possibly infested by the enemy. General Scott writes: "I had +despatched several staff officers who had, within the space of two +hours, returned and reported to me that each had found it impracticable +to penetrate far into the Pedregal during the dark. . . . Captain Lee, +having passed over the difficult ground by daylight, found it just +possible to return to San Augustin in the dark, the greatest feat of +physical and moral courage performed by any individual, in my +knowledge, pending the campaign." + +Another General, P. F. Smith, also bears tribute to this and other such +feats: "I wish partially to record my admiration of the conduct of +Captain Lee, of the Engineers. His reconnaissances, though pushed far +beyond the bounds of prudence, were conducted with so much skill that +their fruits were of the utmost value--the soundness of his judgment +and personal daring being equally conspicuous." + +At Vera Cruz Lee had the pleasure of meeting his older brother, from +whom he had long been separated. This was Lieutenant Sydney Smith Lee, +who had entered the Navy before Robert went to West Point. Now for the +first time the brothers, sailor and soldier, fought side by side. But +it was with mixed feelings that Robert Lee passed through this +experience. He was brave enough on his own account, but he constantly +trembled for Sydney! He had placed a battery in position to reduce the +town, and thus describes the ensuing action: + +"The first day this battery opened Smith served one of the guns. I had +constructed the battery, and was there to direct its fire. No matter +where I turned, my eyes reverted to him, and I stood by his gun +whenever I was not wanted elsewhere. Oh! I felt awfully, and am at a +loss what I should have done had he been cut down before me. I thank +God that he was saved. He preserved his usual cheerfulness, and I +could see his white teeth through all the smoke and din of the fire." + +When the soldiers moved inland, after capturing Vera Cruz, the sailors +were left behind, and Lee had to bid his brother farewell. + +The records of the six months' campaign in Mexico contain many +references to Lee's skill and bravery. He was then forty years old, in +the hey-dey of his vigor. He would remain in the saddle from dawn to +twilight, if necessary, and never shirked a duty. No wonder that Scott +was proud of him and came to rely upon him more and more. + +"At Chapultepec," he writes, "Captain Lee was constantly conspicuous, +bearing important orders till he fainted from a wound and the loss of +two nights' sleep at the batteries." + +The campaign certainly showed that Lee was a soldier and the son of a +soldier. He was repeatedly cited for meritorious conduct, and was +brevetted major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel in rapid succession. +This proved not merely his bravery, but his ability in planning +engagements and discovering the weak points of the enemy--features +which he was to turn to such remarkable account in many famous battles +of the Civil War. + +When peace with Mexico was declared, Lee was given a welcome furlough, +and went back to Arlington to visit his wife and children. He had been +so constantly away from home, that he failed to recognize his youngest +son, whom he had left an infant. And it is said that he himself was +first recognized by a faithful dog. + +His son and namesake, R. E. Lee, in his "Recollections," speaks of his +father's love for animals. He once rescued a dog that was near +drowning in the "Narrows," and it became his devoted follower through +life. In a letter home he writes (one of many such references), +"Cannot you cure poor Spec? (his dog). Cheer him up! Take him to walk +with you--tell the children to cheer him up." We have already spoken +of his favorite horse, "Traveller." After the great War, during which +horse and rider were inseparable, Lee wrote a description and tribute +to his equine friend which must appeal to every true lover of horses. + +Lee's two elder sons held true to the family traditions by both +entering West Point. Lee himself was presently sent there by the +government as Superintendent--just twenty-three years after he had +graduated. He served in this capacity for three years, then was given +an assignment to the cavalry, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. For +the next five years his duties took him into several states, chiefly in +the West and Southwest. It was an unsettled time on the Border, both +from the Mexicans at the South, and the Indians in the West, and +constant police duty was necessary. It was arduous and lacked the +thrill of a real campaign, but in any event, it kept Lee from growing +rusty as a soldier. Unconsciously to him and to his Government, it was +shaping him and fitting him for the great drama just ahead. + +For slowly but surely the North and the South were drifting apart. At +first the discussion had been political, but now it was growing more +and more personal and bitter. The disputed questions were slavery and +States' Rights. A preliminary cloud in the sky was the fanatical raid +of John Brown, who, in 1859, tried to stir up the negroes of northern +Virginia against their masters. This raid was promptly crushed at +Harper's Ferry, and Lee with his regiment of cavalry assisted in +restoring order, but though + + "John Brown's body lay a'mouldering in the grave. + His soul went marching on." + + +While many Southerners did not own slaves and did not believe in +slavery, the question of States' Rights found them with undivided +front. Had not this doctrine been expressly implied in the Federal +Constitution? Had not this right been invoked more than once in the +North--by the staunch State of Massachusetts, for example, as early as +1809, and as lately as 1842? Thus they reasoned, and when matters at +last reached a breaking point in 1861, the Southern States, following +South Carolina's lead one by one, felt that they were acting only +within their recognized rights. + +The actual call to arms brought a heart-breaking time to many homes. +In some it actually parted father and son, or brother and brother. +While it created no such chasm in the Lee family, it brought to Robert +E. Lee the bitterest and most trying decision of his whole life. + +Lee had loved his country. He had served her faithfully for thirty-two +years. His actions rather than his words had proved his entire +devotion, but the words too were not lacking, as references to his +letters will show. One such glimpse of his heart is seen in a letter +written from Texas, in 1856. In telling his wife about his Fourth of +July celebration, he says: "Mine was spent after a march of thirty +miles, on one of the branches of the Brazos, under my blanket, elevated +on four sticks driven in the ground, as a sunshade. The sun was fiery +hot, the atmosphere like a blast from a hot-air furnace, the water +salt, still my feelings for my country were as ardent, my faith in her +future as true, and my hope for her advancement as unabated, as they +would have been under better circumstances." + +When finally the choice had to be made, between State and Nation, Lee +was sore beset. He had no interest in the perpetuation of slavery. +His views all tended the other way. "In this enlightened age," he +wrote, "there are few, I believe, but will acknowledge that slavery as +an institution is a moral and political evil." He had already set free +his own slaves, and was in favor of freeing "all the slaves in the +South." + +But when it came a question of deserting his own State, his beloved +Virginia, the problem was far more difficult. "All night nearly he +paced his chamber," says Thomas Nelson Page, "often seeking on his +knees the guidance of the God he trusted in. But in the morning light +had come. His wife's family were strongly Union in their sentiments, +and the writer has heard that powerful family influences were exerted +to prevail on him to adhere to the Union side. 'My husband has wept +tears of blood,' wrote Mrs. Lee to his old commander, Scott, who did +him the justice to declare that he knew he acted under a compelling +sense of duty." + +Lee had no illusions as to the sternness of the contest, and the +sacrifices that he with all others would have to make. His own +beautiful home lay just across the river from Washington. He must have +seen with prophetic vision how it would be seized by the Federal +Government and held for other purposes--an act of confiscation that was +only partially atoned for half a century later. He knew also that +Virginia being a border State would bear the brunt of war. + +"I can contemplate no greater calamity for the country than a +dissolution of the Union," he wrote in January. And in April that +dissolution came. + +Nor did the fortunes of the War itself swerve him from the belief that +in serving his State, he was doing his highest duty. After it was over +and he had gone into the retirement of work in Washington College, we +find him writing to General Beauregard as follows: + +"I need not tell you that true patriotism sometimes requires men to act +exactly contrary at one period to that which it does at another--and +the motive which impels them--the desire to do right--is precisely the +same. History is full of illustrations of this. Washington himself is +an example." (Here he invokes the example that had been his guiding +star since early boyhood.) "He fought at one time against the French +under Braddock, in the service of the King of Great Britain. At +another he fought with the French at Yorktown, under the orders of the +Continental Congress, against him. He has not been branded by the +world with reproach for this; but his course has been applauded." + +While Lee was wrestling with his momentous decision, a further +temptation was placed in his path, which he thrust aside. He was +offered the high post of commander-in-chief of the Union forces. This +offer came at a suggestion from Scott that "Colonel Lee would be worth +fifty thousand troops to our side"; and although Lincoln had never met +him, he was glad to accede to the suggestion. Lee quietly remarked in +declining the honor, "I stated as candidly and courteously as I could, +that, though opposed to secession and deprecating war, I could take no +part in an invasion of the Southern States." + +Such was the manner of man who was soon chosen to lead the Confederate +armies. Let us pause for a final picture of the man himself, from a +composite by men who knew him. + +In physique Lee was every inch a man. He stood five feet eleven inches +in height, weighed 175 pounds, and there was not an ounce of +superfluous flesh on him. He was "as fine-looking a man as one would +wish to see," said General Hunt, "of perfect figure and strikingly +handsome." General Meigs added: "Lee was a man then in the vigor of +youthful strength, with a noble and commanding presence, and an +admirable, graceful, and athletic figure." General Preston remarked +that he had "a countenance which beamed with gentleness and +benevolence." J. S. Wise said, "I have seen all the great men of our +times, except Mr. Lincoln, and I have no hesitation in saying that +Robert E. Lee was incomparably the greatest looking of them all." And +Alexander H. Stephens, when he saw Lee for the first time, and talked +of the newly-born Confederacy, was moved in his enthusiasm to say: "As +he stood there, fresh and ruddy as a David from the sheepfold, in the +prime of manly beauty and the embodiment of a line of heroic and +patriotic fathers and worthy mothers, it was thus I first saw Robert E. +Lee. . . . I had before me the most manly and entire gentleman I ever +saw." + +Lee's fame as a general of the first rank has survived the +over-enthusiastic eulogies of his friends and the first caustic +comments of his foes. His strategy has come to be recognized as of the +highest order. To begin with, he had to build his army "from the +ground up," but ended by having one of the most perfect fighting +machines in the history of warfare. His men obeyed him with a devotion +that was almost idolatrous. He suggested the uniform of quiet gray on +account of its protective coloring and against all the army traditions +of ages, that an army should march into action in gaudy and glittering +attire. It was not until the great World War of a later century, that +wise military leaders followed his example and dressed their troops as +inconspicuously as possible. + +It is not the province of this short sketch to trace General Lee's +campaigns step by step to the final meeting with Grant at Appomattox. +Army after army was sent to meet him from the North's far greater +resources, only to be baffled or defeated in the South. And it was not +until he forsook his successful tactics of the defensive, and assumed +the offensive on his invasion of Pennsylvania, that he encountered +serious defeat at Gettysburg. + +But, after all, the great foe to whom his troops had finally to +succumb, was General Starvation. The resources of the South were +literally exhausted. + +"My men are starving," said Lee tersely to Grant; and back of them lay +a suffering land that had literally been "bled white." + +It was indeed a bitter lesson that the South had learned, but the +verdict of history is that it was salutary. The Union was greater than +any State or any group of States. It had required a War to rectify +that fatal flaw in the Constitution, but out of the fires of that +terrible conflict was fused a Union "strong and great," that should be +far better fitted to withstand the shock of Time. + +Since that bygone day when Lee laid aside his sword forever, and his +men went straggling back to their plowshares, America has become +engaged in two other wars. And among the first to respond to the bugle +call and line up behind "Old Glory" have been the sons and grandsons of +that staunch line of Gray--the men who followed Lee. + +If the souls of great soldiers ever come back to earth, we can imagine +no finer picture than the Leader of a Lost Cause again looking up to +the Stars and Stripes and pledging it his silent allegiance. We can +seem to see him on his familiar gray charger at the head of his forces, +fighting again for his beloved country. We can seem to hear his voice +ringing in command: + +"On, men of Virginia! On, men of the South! We are Americans all!" + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN LEE'S LIFE + + 1807. January 19. Robert Edward Lee born. + 1825. Entered West Point. + 1829. Graduated second in his class. Made second-lieutenant + in engineers. + 1831. Married Mary Custis. + 1838. Appointed captain. + 1845. Joined General Scott's staff in Mexico. + 1848. Made colonel for gallant conduct. + 1852. Appointed superintendent of West Point. + 1855. Appointed lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, in service + against Indians. + 1861. Made general in Confederate Army. + 1865. Surrendered to Grant. + 1865. Accepted presidency of Washington College, Virginia. + 1870. October 12. Died at this college. + + + + +NAPOLEON + +THE FRIENDLESS BOY WHO WAS TO SWAY MIGHTY ARMIES + +"Hayseed! hayseed!" + +Thus mocked a group of schoolboys of a mate who stood moodily by and +glowered upon them. + +Although their words were not English, "Hayseed!" was what they meant +by the punning French phrase. This boy from the South who did not +speak as they did, or act as they did, and wore cheaper clothes, was +the butt of their ridicule. + +"He calls himself 'Napoleone,'" they said. "He means 'La paille au +nez' (straw-nose)." + +And the way they rattled it off sounded like his name turned round. No +wonder the Southerner glared. + +How this moody and unpopular schoolboy grew from childhood without +intimate friends--without being understood--into a masterful leader of +men is one of the strange puzzles of history. It totally upsets that +other paradox, "The child is father of the man," for there was little +to indicate in the child Bonaparte, the man Napoleon. + +He was not even born on the land with which his name is forever +associated, France. He first saw the light of day upon the isle of +Corsica, a rocky point in the blue waters of the Mediterranean, some +fifty miles west of Italy. By treaty, this island passed from Genoese +into French control in 1769; and it will always be a disputed question +as to which flag Napoleon was born under. He always claimed the date +of August 15, 1769, as his natal day, which would make him nominally of +French birth. But the boy Napoleon spoke Italian. + +Charles Bonaparte, the future Emperor's father, was not a remarkable +man, although he stood well in his home town of Ajaccio. He practised +law, and must have worked early and late trying to provide for his +large family. His wife, Letitia, a woman of great personal beauty and +force of character, was the mother of thirteen children, Napoleon being +the fourth. + +In a family of this size, it was a case of every fellow shift for +himself, which rule Napoleon followed out with a vengeance. He himself +said in later years: "I was self-willed and obstinate, nothing awed me, +nothing disconcerted me. I was quarrelsome, exasperating; I feared no +one. I gave a blow here and a scratch there. Every one was afraid of +me. My brother Joseph was the one with whom I had the most to do. He +was beaten, bitten, scolded. I complained that he did not get over it +soon enough." + +His mother alone was able to manage him, but she had other things to do +as well; so it is not strange that he escaped from the leash. He +relates one amusing incident where he was caught red-handed. + +In the garden behind their house was a clump of fig trees, which +Napoleon was fond of climbing. His mother forbade him to do so, both +for fear of damage to himself and to the fruit, but the self-willed boy +persisted. "One day when I was idle, and at a loss for something to +do," he relates, "I took it in my head to long for some of those figs. +They were ripe; no one saw me, or could know anything of the matter. I +made my escape, ran to the tree, and gathered the whole. My appetite +being satisfied, I was providing for the future by filling my pockets, +when an unlucky gardener came in sight. I was half-dead with fear, and +remained fixed on the branch of the tree, where he had surprised me. +He wished to seize me and take me to my mother. Despair made me +eloquent; I represented my distress, promised to keep away from the +figs in future, and he seemed satisfied. I congratulated myself on +having come off so well, and fancied that the adventure would never be +known; but the traitor told all. The next day my mother wanted to go +and gather some figs. I had not left any, there was none to be found. +The gardener came, great reproaches followed, and an exposure." The +upshot of it was a sound thrashing! + +But despite all the trials that the boy gave his mother, there always +existed between them a strong affection. Napoleon never spoke of her +in after years, except in words of praise. "It is to my mother, to her +good precepts and upright example, that I owe my success and any great +thing I have accomplished." And again: "My mother was a superb woman, +a woman of ability and courage." + +The boy's first regular schooling was obtained at a small village +school kept by nuns. We have a picture of him there as a small thin +boy with a shock of unruly hair, a face not always clean, and +"stockings half off." But how many other boys have been guilty of such +conventional sins--only they do not get immortalized in the sober pages +of history! + +He next went to a more advanced day school, and then to a seminary +conducted by the Abbe Recco. While not a prize student, he was fond of +geography, history, and mathematics, and even as a lad his wonderful +memory for names and dates began to assert itself. He had what is +known as a photographic mind. When once it had received an impression, +the record was permanent. + +One other bent early asserted itself. It was for warlike scenes. The +boy not only read greedily of Caesar and Alexander and other great +conquerors of the past--he drew pictures on the walls, of regiments of +soldiers, which in fancy he commanded. + +His brother Joseph would jeer, and then there was more trouble. Joseph +generally got the worst of it both bodily and mentally. No sooner was +the fight over, than the conqueror made good his vantage. + +"I went to complain before he had time to recover from his confusion. +I had need to be on the alert. Our mother would have repressed my +warlike humor, she would not have put up with my caprices. Her +tenderness was allied with severity. She punished, rewarded all alike; +the good, the bad, nothing escaped her. My father, a man of sense, but +too fond of pleasure to pay much attention to our infancy, sometimes +attempted to excuse our faults. 'Let them alone,' she replied; 'it is +not your business, it is I who must look after them.'" + +The father, a man of happy-go-lucky disposition, would shrug his +shoulders and laugh. But when it came to choosing a profession for the +two boys, he did not hesitate. Joseph, the brow-beaten, should become +a priest, he said, while Napoleon must study soldiering--which decision +suited at least one of the boys to a T. + +Napoleon was only nine years old when this decision was made, but very +precocious. He talked and reasoned like a boy five years older. His +unruly disposition probably hastened the choice as well. His parents +felt that a school where there was stern discipline would be the best +thing for him. Accordingly his father obtained for him an appointment +to one of the royal military schools; and on April 23, 1779, he was +formally enrolled at Brienne, France, as a student. The die was cast. +He was to become a soldier. + +The next five years, however, were by no means a joyous period in his +life. In the first months he felt like "a fish out of water"; nor did +he try very hard to adapt himself to his environment. It was all +frightfully strange and different. From the sunny island in the +Mediterranean he found himself transported suddenly to the northern +gloom of the Champagne region. The very language was different. He +must unlearn Italian, and learn French. It always came hard to him. +To the end of his days he never could spell correctly--although he did +learn in time to express himself with clarity and precision. + +He found himself, also, thrown into contact with a group of youngsters +who were by no means disposed to put up with his overbearing ways. +Many of them were the sons of wealthy parents, while he at times was in +straitened circumstances. They were fastidious in dress, while he had +inclined to the slovenly. Small wonder that they derided him, or that +he withdrew within the shell of his pride--and stayed there. He had no +intimates. One schoolmate who perhaps came nearest to making a friend +of this stand-offish chap from the South, and who was to enjoy a large +measure of his confidence in after life was Bourrienne. The latter +wrote his famous "Memoirs of Napoleon," which give us many interesting +personal glimpses. Here is one of the earliest: + +"At Brienne, Bonaparte was remarkable for the dark color of his +complexion, which the climate of France afterwards very much changed, +as well as for his piercing and scrutinising glance, and for the style +of his conversation, both with his masters and companions. His +conversation almost always gave one the idea of ill-humor, and he was +certainly not very sociable. This, I think, may be attributed to the +misfortunes of his family during his childhood, and the impressions +made on his mind by the subjugation of his country." + +It is interesting to note that at this time the boy was still far from +reconciled to the idea of being French. He resented the fact that his +father's sword, at one time, had helped to further the conquest of +Corsica by France. It was to this fact, indeed, that Napoleon himself +owed his appointment to this military college. But the boy does not +let this consideration sway him. "I hope some time to be in a position +to restore her freedom to Corsica!" he exclaimed. + +Napoleon's isolation from his fellow cadets was not entirely to his +disadvantage. Brienne possessed a good library, and here day after day +the boy might be found poring over the stories of great exploits of the +past, and dreaming his own day dreams. But his sword was not for +France. He pictured himself as her conqueror! One of his favorite +books was Plutarch's "Lives of Illustrious Men." He devoured the +"Iliad" and the "Odyssey" whole. "With my sword by my side, and Homer +in my pocket, I hope to carve my way through the world," he wrote to +his mother. Another well-thumbed volume was Caesar's "Gallic Wars." + +We read of more than one instance of ill-will showing between Napoleon +and a clique of aristocratic classmates. But we do not find that he +was ever afraid of them or that he ever acted the sneak or the coward. +Morose he often was, and sullen, but it seemed born of the spirit of +misunderstanding which still lurked within his breast, against the +world at large. He had simply not found himself. + +One anecdote related of these school days reveals him as the potential +leader, and shows that the other boys, despite their ridicule, +recognized his ability. During one unusually severe winter a heavy +fall of snow visited the school. Napoleon suggested that they build a +fort, and drew up plans for a complete series of fortifications. The +others fell in with his scheme, and upon its completion a battle royal +ensued which lasted for several days and put more than one of the +participants into the hospital for repairs. In charge of one of the +two armies, now attacking the fort, and now playing the part of its +defenders, was Napoleon Bonaparte. He was in his element at last. + +By the time that he had completed his five years at Brienne, he was +made commander of a company of cadets. His first official report card +is worth reproducing: + +"_School of Brienne_: State of the King's scholars eligible from their +age to enter into the service or to pass to the school at Paris; to +wit, M. de Buonaparte (Napoleon) born the 15th August, 1769, in height +4 feet, 10 inches, 10 lines, has finished his fourth season; of good +constitution, health excellent; character submissive, honest and +grateful; conduct very regular; has always distinguished himself by his +application to mathematics; understands history and geography tolerably +well; is indifferently skilled in merely ornamental studies and in +Latin, in which he has only finished his fourth course; would make an +excellent sailor; deserves to be passed on to the school at Paris." + +Two points are especially interesting in this report--the first that +Napoleon had a "submissive character"; the second that he would make +"an excellent sailor." The following year when another inspector +visited the school, he added a note that was more accurate. "Character +masterful, impetuous and headstrong"; and he decided that Napoleon +should enter the Military School at Paris. + +Accordingly, in the Fall of 1784, he bade Brienne farewell without +regrets on either side, and turned his face toward the capital. No one +seeing this slender, almost dwarfed, figure with the thin face, high +cheekbones and sunken, inquiring eyes, would ever have imagined that +Paris was welcoming her future lord. History holds strange secrets +within her pages. + +At the Military School, he chose the artillery as his particular branch +of service. To what good use he put his study of the field guns, we +find evidence in his first appearance on the field of actual warfare. +At the outset he made few friends; it seemed to be the bitter +experience of Brienne all over again. The trouble was that he was one +of the students being educated at the State's expense--a perfectly +proper system, which we ourselves follow at West Point and Annapolis. +But many of these French students came of wealthy families and, like +young prigs, looked down upon the King's scholars as "charity +patients." Napoleon justly resented this; and even went so far as to +indite a memorial against this condition of affairs at Brienne--which +did not tend to enhance his popularity. + +However he did begin to find himself in a social way. With maturer +years and a broader outlook he began to emerge from his shell. He made +a few good friends, one or two being among the gentler sex. One lady +in particular, Madame de Colombier, took a fancy to this gawky country +lad and frequently invited him to her home in the country. Her +daughter, Caroline, was also a welcome friend, and the memory of those +simple but pleasant hours remained with him all his life as a ray of +sunshine among the all-too-gloomy days of youth. + +"We were the most innocent creatures imaginable," he says. "We +contrived little meetings together. I well remember one which took +place on a midsummer morning, just as daylight was beginning to dawn. +It will scarcely be believed that all our happiness consisted in eating +cherries together." + +The young artillery student--now a lieutenant--also visited the +Permons; and Madame Junot, then a little girl, gives a clever cartoon +of him as he appeared in full regimentals at the age of sixteen. + +"There was one part of his dress which had a very droll +appearance--that was his boots. They were so high and wide that his +thin little legs seemed buried in their amplitude. Young people are +always ready to observe anything ridiculous, and as soon as my sister +and I saw Napoleon enter the drawing-room, we burst into a loud fit of +laughter. Bonaparte could not relish a joke; and when he found himself +the object of merriment he grew angry. My sister, who was some years +older than I, told him that since he wore a sword he ought to be +gallant to ladies, and, instead of being angry, should be happy that +they joked with him. + +"'You are nothing but a child, a little school-girl,' said Napoleon, in +a tone of contempt. + +"Cecile, who was twelve or thirteen years of age, was highly indignant +at being called a child, and she hastily resented the affront by +replying to Bonaparte, 'And you are nothing but a Puss in Boots!'" + +Napoleon at this time was hard put to it to keep up appearances as an +officer, on his slender income. His father had passed away, and he +could not expect further help from home. He was now his mother's +oldest adviser, and we find him writing her sage letters which sound +like a man of forty. Indeed, his brain matured early. At fourteen he +wrote and spoke like a man. + +He was subject to fits of depression and melancholy, and even thoughts +of suicide--but these, fortunately, were passing whims, and gradually +the resolute nature he was to evince in later years began to assert +itself. A favorite motto with him, as a man, was: "The truest wisdom +is a resolute determination," and already he was putting it into +practice. + +Soon after obtaining his commission, he left school on his first +assignment of active duty. Some riots had broken out at Lyons, and his +regiment of artillery was sent there. But things speedily quieted +down, leaving to him the monotony of garrison life. In telling about +it afterward he remarked: + +"When I entered the service I found garrison life tedious. I began +reading novels, and that kind of reading proved interesting. I made an +attempt at writing some; this task gave range to my imagination. It +took hold of my knowledge of positive facts, and often I found +amusement in giving myself up to dreams in order to test them later by +the standard of my reasoning powers. I transported myself in thought +to an ideal world, and I sought to discover wherein lay the precise +difference between that and the world in which I lived." + +Thus we see in the young soldier the same recluse and dreamer of +Brienne. In boyhood parlance today, he "flocked by himself," building +air castles which in part were to become reality. + +As for his early attempts at authorship, he tried his hand with +indifferent success at fiction, essays, and history, but it is said +that he destroyed all this work, with the exception of a fragment, +"Letters on the History of Corsica," which was to have told the story +of his beloved island. + +He returned home on a visit not long after, to help his mother settle +up the family estate. Her means were very meagre, and her family +unusually large. In addition, his father's affairs had become +involved. He had been advanced some money by the French Government to +plant mulberry trees, in connection with the silk-worm industry, and a +part of this advance was as yet unpaid. + +On the score of ill health Napoleon prolonged his stay at Ajaccio for +some months, and did not rejoin his regiment until the spring of 1788. +He stayed on the island to aid the family from his own pay, and to get +a further advance on the mulberry grove; and also as a means of getting +away from other people. He was a pronounced recluse, indulging in long +rambles over the island, and finding his sole pleasure in authorship. +Upon the very threshold of his public career, he still appeared as the +most unlikely object upon which Fortune would bestow her favor. + +And as if there were not barriers enough to his success, he was still +an alien in heart, from France. He wore her uniform and served under +her flag, but he was Corsican through and through--still resenting with +a Southern impetuosity the means by which the French had conquered +Corsica. + +But unknown to him and many a wiser head, the hour of destiny was at +hand. The dark days of the French Revolution were rapidly approaching, +when it seemed as if the whole world would be engulfed in disaster. +With the fateful year of 1789, the hour struck--and Napoleon was then +just twenty years of age. + +On the first echoes of Revolution which reached Corsica, Napoleon was +on the alert. He thought he saw a golden opportunity to throw off the +shackles of the conqueror. But one of the first acts of the National +Assembly was to recognize the full rights of the island as a part of +the State of France; and Napoleon, who had already made an attempt to +organize a sort of Home Guard, felt himself disarmed. + +"France has opened her bosom to us," he said. "Henceforth we have the +same interests and the same solicitudes. It is the sea alone which +separates us." + +With but one lapse, he became a loyal son of France henceforth. The +Assembly, builded stronger than it knew, when it recognized Corsica! + +After the first mutterings of revolt France became comparatively quiet +for nearly two years. Napoleon joined his regiment in 1791, and was +promoted to first lieutenant, in the Fourth Artillery, stationed at +Valence. It was at this time that the ill-starred king, Louis XVI, +tried to flee from the country, but was seized and held a prisoner. +The National Assembly was in complete control, and Bonaparte with other +officers of the army subscribed to a new oath of allegiance. + +It was by no means a compulsory act on his part, but in tune with his +own active, impetuous spirit. He became secretary of a club called the +"Friends of the Constitution," and composed an Address to the National +Assembly. + +At the same time occurred an episode which reveals the duplicity of his +nature--for Napoleon could be unscrupulous when he had his own ends to +serve. Taking advantage of the general state of turmoil he obtained +another leave of absence, and returned to Corsica. There, although +wearing the French uniform, he again fomented trouble against the +authorities. He organized a company of Corsican Volunteers, with which +he was to make a bold stroke for liberty. But the movement failed +ingloriously, and ended only by getting him into disrepute with both +his Government and his neighbors. He saw that his future safety and +career lay with the army, so he deserted the popular cause. The +Corsicans were so incensed that they declared him an outlaw and his +family infamous. In June, 1793, the Bonapartes removed from the +island; and only a few short years found him its conqueror in the name +of France. The last spark of his Corsican spirit was extinguished. + +Only the outbreak of a war with Austria prevented the court-martial +which the recreant officer deserved. Instead, such was France's need +of trained men, that after a brief interval he was actually promoted to +a captaincy. As he himself said: "The beginning of a revolution was a +fine time for an enterprising young man!" + +His first actual taste of warfare occurred at Toulon, where his +regiment was now stationed. Many of the inhabitants of this Southern +port were royalists, and they sought to hold the city for the King. +The republican troops were ordered to capture the town, which they did +after a lively siege and assault. The commander of artillery having +been wounded, Napoleon was ordered to take his place. His skill, +coolness, and bravery during this engagement are well attested. A +soldier serving a gun near him was killed. At once Napoleon took his +place at the gun, and served until relieved. + +Aiding the royalists in the harbor was a fleet of ships under the +English and Spanish; and here it was that Napoleon was to strike his +first blow at his life-long antagonist, England. He submitted a plan +for the bombardment of the fleet, and the capture of a fort which they +had heavily fortified on shore, called, from its strength, "the little +Gibraltar." As a result of a spirited attack at dawn, the shore +batteries capitulated, and a few hours later the foreign ships sailed +away in haste. + +Napoleon's superior officer, Dugommier complimented him highly for his +share in the attack, and mentioned him in the official dispatches to +this effect: "Among those who distinguished themselves most, and who +most aided me to rally the troops and push them forward, are citizens +Buonaparte, commanding the artillery, Arena and Cerconi, +Adjutants-General." + +As a direct result of this first taste of battle, he became, in +February, 1794, a General of Brigade, with charge of the artillery and +stores of the "Army of Italy," as the southern expeditionary forces +were called. But his feet were by no means firmly fixed on the ladder +of fortune. These were the days of the Reign of Terror when no man's +life or liberty was assured. At one time, Napoleon was deprived of his +command, and was in imminent danger of losing his head. He had +incurred the suspicion of the Tribunal, as had many another +unfortunate; but he was finally pardoned, not because of any sentiment +or justice, but because of the "advantages which might be derived from +his military information and knowledge of localities, for the service +of the Republic." + +In the swift turn of events, it was not many months before this pardon +of convenience was actually turned to the advantage of the +Tribunal--and of Napoleon himself. A rival government called the +Central Committee was set up, and the streets of Paris were in uproar. +Something had to be done, and done quickly. Revolutions rise or fall +overnight. The command of Republican troops was entrusted to Paul +Barras, and one of his staff officers was Napoleon Bonaparte. Barras +had the foresight to bring up as much artillery as possible, as his men +were few. Napoleon saw that these guns were placed so as to enfilade +the principal streets. His experience at Toulon, as well as his +natural genius for strategy, stood him in good stead. The "whiff of +grape-shot" which he fired on that October day, in 1795, cleared the +streets of the opposition--and likewise cleared the pathway for him +leading eventually to a throne. + +The whole world knows of the later deeds of this slim figure who thus +steps masterfully forward to the center of the most troubled stage in +Europe. Days of conflict and turmoil were yet to follow for Napoleon, +but never days of uncertainty. He had found himself. In six short +years the brooding misanthrope, the gawky young man who shunned his +fellows, became the self-possessed leader of men, wielding a power of +personal magnetism that was almost uncanny. + +At twenty-six his larger career may be said to have begun. This slight +boyish figure takes command of the Army of Italy and leads that +memorable campaign to the conquest of Italy before he was thirty. +Promptly nicknamed "The Little Corporal" by his army, the term was +speedily turned from one of derision to positive affection. Napoleon +himself accepted it as a compliment. He learned to understand his men, +to fraternize with them, to bring out the best that was in them. + +This was one of the chief secrets of his marvellous career. He was an +able strategist, a skilled diplomatist, a man of vision and cunning. +But despite all these and other high qualities, he would have fallen +short of success if he had not possessed his ability to read and to +sway the hearts of men. Whence came this power to one who had been a +lonely and derided boy? It was as though a magician's wand had touched +him overnight. + +We have space to give only one picture from the crowded panorama of +this world-conqueror, emperor, and exile. It will serve to show the +powerful magnetism of his personality--perhaps serve to explain in some +slight degree the magic of the mere name of Napoleon, throughout the +ranks of his armies. + +Napoleon the mighty had fallen. He had been sent into exile on the +Isle of Elba, but had escaped, and now with a little army of a thousand +men was marching boldly north to reconquer France. The news spread +rapidly, and the King now on the throne sent Marshal Ney, a former +General under Napoleon, to capture him. Ney promised his King to bring +the fallen leader bound into his presence, and, determined to make his +promise good, set forth on the road to Marseilles. + +It was a gray day in early Spring. The sky looked forbidding, and a +chill of winter was in the air. As the King's army moved forward they +descried in the distance a smaller band approaching. At its head rode +a familiar figure, the Little Corporal, with shoulders stooped, as +though bending toward his horse's mane. He gave no orders to his men +who marched forward uncertainly. As the distance narrowed down to a +matter of yards, Napoleon seemed for the first time to note the +presence of the opposing troops. He saw at a glance that many of the +men now confronting him had formerly followed him. + +Dismounting, he walked rapidly toward them, tore open his great coat, +and offered his breast to their rifles. + +"Who among you would fire upon his Emperor?" he cried. + +Instantly the army, officers and men, lowered their weapons and tossed +their caps high in air. + +"Vive l'Empereur!" they shouted; and placing him at their head, they +turned and marched back upon Paris. + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN NAPOLEON'S LIFE + + 1769. August 15. Napoleon Bonaparte born. + 1779. Entered school at Brienne. + 1784. Entered military school at Paris. + 1786. Became junior lieutenant. + 1791. Made lieutenant. + 1792. Made captain. + 1794. Made general of brigade for services against English + at Toulon. + 1795. Cleared the streets of Paris with his artillery, and was + appointed to command of Army of Italy. + 1796. Married Josephine de Beauharnais. + 1797. Completed conquest of Italy. + 1798. Egyptian campaign. + 1799. Made First Consul of France. + 1804. Crowned Emperor. + 1807. Won Battle of Austerlitz. + 1813. Russian campaign. + 1814. Abdicated the throne, and was sent to Elba. + 1815. Returned to France. + 1815. Defeated at Waterloo, and sent to St. Helena. + 1821. May 5. Died at St. Helena. + + + + +WELLINGTON + +THE IRON DUKE + +Of all the curious parallels of history, none is stranger than that of +Napoleon and Wellington, who were to meet as rivals on the fatal field +of Waterloo. + +They were born in the same year, 1769, and in each case the exact date +is somewhat uncertain. Wellington in later life always celebrated the +first of May, but was not sure that it was his rightful birthday. Both +were born upon islands--the one in Corsica, the other in Ireland--which +islands, by the way, were constantly striving to achieve their +independence. + +Both were born into large families. Napoleon was a fourth child and +Wellington a fourth son. The father of each is described as an +easy-going, indulgent man, without force of character, while the mother +was the moving genius of the family. But between Napoleon and his +mother existed a lively affection; while Wellington's mother never +seemed to care for this child, and constantly spoke of him in terms of +reproach. + +Both boys attended military schools in France, far away from their own +home and friends, and consequently drew apart from their comrades, +lived their own lives, and carved out their own destinies. These are +but a few of the early parallels of two famous soldiers who were +afterward to decide the fate of Europe at the points of their swords. + +The family name of Wellington, before he received a dukedom, was Wesley +or Wellesley. As a boy he was known as Arthur Wellesley. His father +was the Earl of Mornington, his mother a daughter of Lord Dungannon. +The Earl is spoken of as a lover and composer of music. Arthur had +three brothers who were all destined to do noteworthy things. His +oldest brother, who bore the title of Lord Wellesley, aided him no +little in choosing his profession of soldier. + +The boy's birthplace was Dangon Castle, Dublin. Almost nothing is +known as to his earliest years, beyond the sorrowful fact that his +mother was not fond of him--almost had an aversion to him--and spoke of +him openly as "the fool of the family." From this we infer that Arthur +was a silent, reserved lad, who did not shine at his studies, but who +nevertheless did "a heap of thinking." Being misunderstood at home he +withdrew more and more into his shell--thus forming a crust of reserve +which was to be more or less a handicap to him all through life. For +the Iron Duke, as he came to be called, never threw off his diffidence +nor won the hearts of his soldiers, as did that other recluse, +Bonaparte. + +Arthur Wellesley's first school away from home was Eton, that great +"prep" school of so many English boys. The fact that he attended there +helped to give rise to the proverb that "Waterloo was won on the +cricket fields of Eton"--but as a matter of record the boy was not +interested in this sport. He preferred the fiddle to the racquet, as +he had inherited his father's love of music. + +"I was a player of the violin once myself, sir," he remarked in after +years to a friend; "but I soon found that fiddling and soldiering +didn't agree--so I gave it up, sir! I gave it up!" + +Only one other anecdote is recorded of his life at Eton, and this was a +fight! Nor was it a case of choose your weapons--it was plain fists. +He began with first principles. A fellow student, Robert Smith, who is +chiefly noted as having been the brother of Sydney Smith, the noted +essayist and preacher, was enjoying a swim in the river, near the +campus. Arthur could not resist the impulse to throw mud at his bare +back. + +"Stop that!" yelled Smith. + +"You make me!" taunted Wellesley. + +"You just wait till I come out," replied his victim. + +"Dare you to come," said Arthur. + +Bob promptly waded out, and they "mixed." Just which boy got the better +of it is not clear, but if justice ruled, the future conqueror of +Napoleon should have received his first trouncing. + +One other fight is recorded of his early schooldays--and this does not +mean that Arthur was naturally of a pugnacious disposition, for he +wasn't. It simply means that one's battles, little or big, are always +remembered, rather than the pleasant though colorless ways of peace. +On a visit home he got into an argument with a blacksmith's boy, named +Hughes. In this instance, might was right. The smith's muscles were +the brawnier, and the Etonian got soundly licked--that is, if we can +take the word of Hughes who was wont to boast in later years that he +beat the man who beat Napoleon! + +At Eton came the usual question which confronts every boy in his +teens--the choice of a business or profession. His mother did not +think he was good for anything. In writing of her children, about this +time, she says: + +"They are all, I think, endowed with excellent abilities, except +Arthur, and he would probably not be wanting, if only there was more +energy in his nature; but he is so wanting in this respect, that I +really do not know what to do with him." + +He took no interest in the law or the Church. He seems to have moped +along in a lackadaisical sort of way in the classroom. He had not +given an indication of "shining" in any direction. Consequently there +was nothing left for a gentleman's son--except the army! It was a +make-shift choice. + +Those were the days of the American Revolution. The progress of this +struggle must have appealed powerfully to the English boys; and the +final defeat of the trained British troops by the raw Colonials must +have been a bitter blow. There came an insistent demand for more and +better schools for the officers. England seems to have been poorly +equipped in this respect. Wellesley himself, like many another English +boy, was sent across the channel to France. The chosen school was at +Angers on the Maine, and was conducted by the Marquis of Pignerol, a +celebrated military engineer of the time. In connection with the +school was a fine riding academy. + +It was in 1785 that Arthur entered this school. He was then sixteen, a +thin gangly-looking boy, who perhaps because he had grown too rapidly +could not be persuaded to take much interest in anything. He felt out +of his element and ill at ease, although he was not the only English +lad here. He is described by General Mackenzie, who was a schoolmate, +as "not very attentive to his studies, and constantly occupied with a +little terrier called Vick, which followed him everywhere." + +This is about as definite a glimpse of him as we can get, but it does +enable us to picture him as idling about the streets of this +picturesque old town, or climbing the steep cliffs which rise from the +water's edge, at the confluence of the streams which flow by Angers. +At the top of the hill we can see him whistling to Vick, and tossing +down one of the gentler slopes a stone or stick for the faithful +terrier to retrieve. + +Did this idle schoolboy dream dreams of future greatness on the +battlefields of the land that was now teaching him to draw the sword? + +Who shall say. + +Although at Angers only a short time, about twelve months, it was by no +means time wasted. He perfected his French and learned many things +about manners and customs that were to be of good service. Likewise, +through his family's influence, he made the acquaintance of several +French noblemen, who must undoubtedly have given him a broader point of +view, and perchance some good advice on the subject of soldiering. + +His father had died in 1781, but his oldest brother, who had made his +mark as a soldier and man of letters, took a lively interest in him and +constantly urged him on. England is indebted no little to this brother +Richard, who, probably more than any other, was the guiding star in the +making of her great soldier. + +In the days just after the American War, the British army was not well +organized or officered. Instead of the fighting machine that it +afterward became, it was a sort of gentleman's training school, so far +as the officers were concerned. Any one who had good family +connections or money could get a commission. The skill and experience +were supposed to come later, on the field of action. + +This fact explains the early promotion of Arthur Wellesley. At the age +of seventeen, soon after leaving Angers, he was made an ensign in a +regiment of infantry, and within five years, by the time he was +twenty-two, he had been made a captain. Nor did his rapid advancement +end here. In 1793 he became a major, then a lieutenant colonel; and by +1796 he was a full-fledged colonel--at twenty-seven! The secret "power +at court" was his brother Richard, who was a secretary to Pitt, the +statesman. But another friend was Lord Westmoreland, Lord Lieutenant +of Ireland, who took a fancy to him and made him a staff officer. + +As one historian puts it, regarding army commissions: "Wealth and +interest were nearly all-powerful; it was the palmy day of purchase +which George the Third had tried and had failed to abolish, and, until +the Duke of York became commander-in-chief, infants of both sexes +figured in the army list as the holders of commissions." + +It is interesting to note--to resume our parallel--that this was the +stormy time of the French Revolution, when Napoleon was painfully +carving his way upward by the edge of the sword, and by push rather +than "pull" had achieved high command in early life. + +But we would do the young Wellington a grave injustice if we pictured +him as leading a life of inactivity, awaiting a promotion through +"pull." He had qualities which now began to assert themselves and were +to contribute to his larger fame. For one thing, he was something of a +diplomat. He remembered names and faces, and turned every acquaintance +to account. Later, he was credited with a marvellous memory--such as +also had his great French rival. + +These qualities, it is true, were slow in ripening. At the age of +twenty-one, he was elected to the Irish House of Commons, from his home +County. This was done in order to give him parliamentary training, and +such service was allowed without the necessity of relinquishing his +military rank or duties. It was merely an extra tail to his kite. He +is thus described by a colleague, Sir Jonah Barrington: + +"Wellesley was then ruddy-faced and juvenile in appearance, and popular +enough among the young men of his age and station. His address was +unpolished; he occasionally spoke in Parliament, but not successfully, +and never on important subjects; and evinced no promise of that +unparalleled celebrity and splendor which he has since reached, and +whereto intrepidity and decision, good luck, and great military science +have justly combined to elevate him." + +Although he made no great mark as a Parliamentarian, he did make +friends at this time, who were destined to influence his life. One was +the brilliant though somewhat unprincipled Lord Castlereagh, who was to +aid him to obtain the chief military command of the English army in +Spain. Another was a certain young lady, Charlotte Packenham, who +found his tongue more eloquent than did his colleagues in the House of +Commons. She was the daughter of Lord Longford, who was not so easily +won over to the young man's suit. In fact, the nobleman gave him a +curt "no." He was looking for a more brilliant match for his daughter +than a subaltern. + +So the young people had to give each other a sad farewell. But it was +not to be forever. Ten years later when the young soldier had won his +spurs, and had returned from his brilliant campaign in India, a Major +General, the parental gates were unbarred. The Lady Charlotte had +remained constant through all the years of waiting and separation, and +they were happily wedded. + +That Wellesley took more than a perfunctory interest in his military +duties is evident even during his earliest years of service. For +example, he wished to determine for himself just how much weight, in +the way of equipment, a soldier could carry in light marching order. + +"I wished," he says, "to have some measure of the power of the +individual man compared with the weight he was to carry, and the work +he was expected to do. I was not so young as not to know that since I +had undertaken a profession, I had better endeavor to understand it." +And he adds, "It must always be kept in mind that the power of the +greatest armies depends upon what the individual soldier is capable of +doing and bearing." It is but another way of saying, "A chain is no +stronger than its weakest link," or, as we put it today, "It depends +upon the man behind the gun." Thus Wellington early discovered and put +into practise that indefinable something we call "morale." + +As lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-Third Foot, he took up his work in +earnest, with the result that in a few months it was officially +declared to be the best drilled regiment in Ireland. + +But the young commander was not content with this. He did not want to +remain at home as a mere "drill sergeant" when affairs were so active +abroad. Due partly to the outbreak of the French Revolution, all +Europe seethed with war. France was in revolt against the world, and +all the neighboring powers were pitted against her. England had +maintained a strict neutrality at first, but when Belgium was overrun, +felt compelled to intervene, just as in the similar great war of +aggression begun by Germany in our own time. + +Naturally, young Wellesley wanted to be in it. He wrote to his brother +Richard importuning him to use his influence in this direction. "I +will serve as major to one of the flank corps," he wrote, as his own +regiment was "the last for service." The request was not granted, +however, and he had to wait until the Spring of 1794 for his chance to +see active service. + +It was a parlous time to go over. The French had defeated one army +after another, of the Allies, and were in the hey-dey of their first +success. The trouble seemed to be lack of unity of command, and lack +of able leadership. The Duke of York was in command of the British +army, but allowed himself to be out-maneuvered repeatedly. By the Fall +of that year, when Wellesley was with the army, the campaign resembled +a rout. + +During a series of rearguard actions in the retreat through Holland and +Flanders, Colonel Wellesley came first into official notice. It was at +the Meuse, a stream made forever memorable in the recent Great War. A +retreat had been ordered during the night, to avoid a superior force of +French. One regiment, however, had mistaken its orders and engaged the +enemy. The result was a hopeless tangle of infantry and cavalry, with +the enemy taking advantage of the confusion to press the attack. + +The Thirty-Third had been ordered to support the rear. Colonel +Wellesley, seeing the danger, ordered his regiment to halt in a field +alongside of the road, leaving the way clear for the retreat. As soon +as the stragglers had gotten by, he threw his regiment again in solid +formation across the road, and they advanced upon the charging French +with such coolness and precision that the attackers were forced to +halt. It was only an incident of warfare, but it showed his promptness +of decision, and the fruits of discipline in his regiment. + +All that ensuing winter the French harried their army. Wellesley was +stationed on the Waal, a branch of the Rhine; and he gives some idea of +their arduous life in a letter dated December 20, 1794: + +"At present the French keep us in a perpetual state of alarm. We turn +out once, sometimes twice, every night. The officers and men are +harassed to death, and if we are not relieved, I believe there will be +very few of the latter remaining shortly. I have not had the clothes +off my back for a long time, and generally spend the greatest part of +the night upon the bank of the river, notwithstanding which I have +entirely got rid of that disorder which was near killing me at the +close of the summer campaign. Although the French annoy us much at +night, they are very entertaining during the daytime. They are +perpetually chattering with our officers and soldiers, and dance the +_carmagnol_ upon the opposite bank whenever we desire them. But +occasionally the spectators on our side are interrupted in the middle +of a dance by a cannon ball, from theirs." + +In this somewhat humorous recital, Wellesley makes no mention of the +sufferings which they must have undergone from lack of food and +supplies of all kinds. He purposely puts the best face on it, and +bears his troubles stoically. But young as he was, he marvelled at the +inefficiency and lack of coordination of the high command. Once when a +despatch was received by the General during dinner, from their ally, +Austria, he tossed it aside unopened with the remark, "That will keep +till morning." + +During three months on the Waal, Wellesley declares that he was in +direct touch with headquarters only once, and adds: "We had letters +from England, and I declare that those letters told us more of what was +passing at headquarters than we learnt from the headquarters ourselves. +It has always been a marvel to me how any of us escaped." + +One result, nevertheless, of this isolation was to throw the young +colonel back upon his own resources. It was the finest possible +training for his later career. + +When Colonel Wellesley returned to England the next year, he thought +for a time of resigning his command. One reason was undoubtedly the +poor state of the army in equipment and discipline. Another was the +fact that he owed his brother money on account of promotions in the +service, and his officer's pay was not enough to repay it. He was +always scrupulous in matters of debt. + +His application for discharge, however, was not accepted. England had +need of all her trained men at this time. In addition to the trouble +in France, there were other affairs demanding attention in Spain and +India. The whole world seemed to need readjusting at once. + +Wellesley's next assignment was to accompany an expedition against the +French settlement in the West Indies, which set sail in October, 1795. +But when only two days out the ships encountered a terrible storm. One +ship sank with all on board, others were badly crippled, and hundreds +of sailors perished. The expedition put back to England. + +Although Wellesley escaped the full effects of this storm, the exposure +left his health undermined. His regiment was ordered abroad in the +Spring, this time to the East Indies, and when they set sail, in April, +he was too ill to accompany them. It was not until February, 1797, +that he joined them in Calcutta. + +Arthur Wellesley was now in his twenty-eighth year. All that had +passed hitherto might be regarded as his schooling. He had been an +obscure and "foolish" boy at school (to all appearance). He had failed +to make his mark as a military student on the Maine. He had been a +dilettante staff officer, and a reticent member of Parliament. Money +and family had apparently made him what he was--neither better nor +worse than many another young British officer. In his brief campaign +in France, he had conducted himself creditably, but had come away with +a distaste for the service, as it was then conducted. + +To revert to our former parallel--Napoleon at twenty-eight was on the +high road to world mastery. Wellington at twenty-eight had not yet +found himself. But now on his trip to India he was on the threshold of +his career. His deeds there and on other fields were to astonish the +world. Did they also astonish the silent officer himself? + +It would require a detailed account of the Indian campaign to trace +adequately the gradual rise of this officer in the service. For his +was not a meteoric or spectacular rise. It was by gradual steps--but +each step found him _fully prepared_. This, perhaps, is as near the +secret of the great soldier's success as we can get. He was never a +self-advertiser. He never talked much. But he was keenly observant, +and his wonderfully retentive memory aided him at every turn. He could +go through a countryside once, and then be able to map out an +attack--using every natural advantage to its utmost. + +And, best of all, his superiors were beginning to discover his merits. +They soon found, beneath his quiet exterior, a keen intellect and an +indomitable will. Within two months after reaching Calcutta he was +consulted by General St. Leger on a plan to establish artillery bases, +and was also nominated to command an expedition against the +Philippines, then under Spanish control, but preferred to remain and +fight it out in India. + +"I am determined that nothing shall induce me to desire to quit this +country, until its tranquillity is ensured," he said--which recalls to +mind the famous saying of Grant's: "We will fight it out along this +line, if it takes all summer." + +Wellesley's next appointment, was as Commander of the Mysore brigade. +His brother Richard, Marquis of Wellesley, had been appointed Governor +General of India, and the two men were destined to exercise a strong +influence on affairs in that disturbed country. While nominally in +control of the land, the English possessions actually included only the +narrow strip running along the various sea coasts; the interior being +overrun by unruly tribes of Sepoys under Tippoo Sahib. It required +careful planning and equipping of armies marching from opposite sides +of India to meet and crush this formidable rebellion. + +In all this strenuous work of field and garrison, Wellesley took an +active part. At one time, as Governor of Seringapatam; at another as +Brigadier General, personally directing assaults upon some native +fortress, and, after its capture, restoring order and discipline, and +thus ensuring the respect and confidence of the natives. + +"I have been like a man who fights with one hand and defends himself +with the other," he wrote at this period. "I have made some terrible +marches, but I have been remarkably fortunate; first, in stopping the +enemy when they intended to press to the southward; and afterwards, by +a rapid march to the northward, in stopping Sindhia." + +In 1803, he was made Major General, with the title of Sir Arthur +Wellesley; and two years later returned to England as one of her most +trusted and esteemed commanders. And England had need of just such men +as he. There were still more stirring years ahead in Spain and +elsewhere, until this strong silent man had emerged into the "Iron" +Duke of Wellington, who should meet that other Man of Destiny on the +plains of Waterloo. + +Wellington won his success by his infinite capacity for taking pains. +His life defies the biographer to analyze, whether through the medium +of a lengthy volume or a brief chapter--because it was made up of so +many little things. They were the duties of each day, but he not only +did them thoroughly, he also learned through them the larger grasp of +the next day's problems. + +A contemporary pen picture of "the Sepoy General," on his return to +England in 1805, will serve to show us what manner of man he appeared +to be, to his subordinates. Captain Sherer, who has left this +portrait, says: + +"General Wellesley was a little above the middle height, well limbed +and muscular; with little incumbrance of flesh beyond that which gives +shape and manliness to the outline of the figure; with a firm tread, an +erect carriage, a countenance strongly patrician, both in feature, +profile, and expression, and an appearance remarkable and +distinguished. Few could approach him on any duty, or, on any subject +requiring his serious attention, without being sensible of a something +strange and penetrating in his clear light eye. Nothing could be more +simple and straightforward than the matter of what he uttered; nor did +he ever in his life affect any peculiarity or pomp of manner, or rise +to any coarse, weak loudness in his tone of voice. It was not so that +he gave expression to excited feeling." + +His reputation as a great soldier will stand for all time, not because +he defeated Napoleon, but because his whole military career was built +upon duty. It was not ostentation but merit, that won him the supreme +command. His ideals were always high. + +"We must get the upper hand," he advised, "and if once we have that, we +shall keep it with ease, and shall certainly succeed." + + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN WELLINGTON'S LIFE + + 1769. May 1. Arthur Wellesley born. + 1785. Attended military school at Angers, France. + 1787. Entered British Army as ensign. + 1793. Became lieutenant-colonel. + 1794. Saw his first active service in Flanders. + 1796. Colonel. Sent to India. + 1803. Major-general. + 1805. Married Charlotte Packenham. + 1808. Made lieutenant-general, and sent to command Peninsular War. + 1814. Created Duke of Wellington. + 1815. Defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. + 1827. Prime minister. + 1852. September 14. Died. + + + + +GORDON + +THE MAN WHO "DISCOVERED" CHINA + +The name, Gordon, brings to mind the warrior--perchance the Highland +laddie who with bagpipes fiercely blowing charges down the rocky slope +against the enemy. + +"Chinese" Gordon, as one of this warlike clan will be known for all +time, came indeed of a race of warriors, and was born in martial +surroundings; but the man himself was far from being of that stern +stuff that glories in a fight. As boy and man, he was quiet, lovable, +and of intensely religious nature. + +Gordon means a "spear," and the name was probably given to the clan +several centuries ago. Its members had always been famous in battle. +Chinese Gordon's great-grandfather led a very eventful life. He was +taken prisoner in the battle of Prestonpans, and later went to Canada, +on the special expedition which wrested that Dominion from the French. +His son took part in many battles, and served with distinction. + +The next in line, the father of Chinese Gordon, was Lieutenant-General +Henry William Gordon, a soldier of the highest type. + +General Gordon lived at Woolwich, long noted for its arsenal. It is +only nine miles out from St. Paul's, and is an object of interest at +any time. But in times of war it fairly bristles with activity. Small +wonder, then, that a boy coming from such a line of ancestors and born, +almost, in a gun-carriage should have chosen to become a soldier. With +any other environment Chinese Gordon would have become a preacher. + +Of course, the name "Chinese," was not the way he was christened. +"Charles George" are his baptismal names--but few people know that fact +now. + +He was the youngest child in a large family, five sons and six +daughters. This calls to mind other large families from which sprang +famous soldiers--Napoleon, for example. Charles was born in 1833, +after his father had reached middle age, and had settled down in the +piping times of peace. The elder Gordon had won his spurs in the +Napoleonic Wars. + +We know very little of the boyhood of Charles Gordon, beyond the fact +that during the first ten years of his life he lived at the Pigeon +House Fort, in Dublin Bay, next in the Fort of Leith, and later on the +Island of Corfu. All these places are spots of great natural beauty--a +vista of stretching sea or mountain-top which the frowning fortress +only aided in romance and charm. Many a long ramble must the boy have +had, storing his memory with these quiet, sylvan pictures. + +Not far from Leith was the famous battlefield of Prestonpans, where, +nearly a century before, his great-grandfather had been taken prisoner. +From his father or brothers he must have heard many a wild tale of the +Highlanders and their exploits. + +As a child, however, this did not appeal to him. He loved nature in +her quiet moods best. He was timid and nervous, to such an extent that +the firing off of the cannon, when the colors were lowered at sundown, +would make him jump half out of his boots. It was only by the sternest +sort of self-control that he obtained the mastery of himself. + +Not that Charles Gordon was ever a coward. Morally he was +ever-unflinching. He abhorred a lie, and was always ready to stand up +for his convictions. But his physical frame was made of weaker +stuff--much to his own vexation. + +One of the few early stories related of him is that he had difficulty +in learning to swim. He could not get the stroke and he had a horror +of being in water over his head. So he made a practise of deliberately +throwing himself into deep water, when out with his mates, knowing that +it was "sink or swim," or a case of getting pulled out. He was then +only nine. + +A few years later, another instance reveals his determination. A great +circus was advertised in London, a novelty in those days, and the +Gordon boys had been promised the treat. But just before its arrival, +Charles fell into disgrace. He was charged with some fault which he +did not think should have been laid to his door. Later he was +forgiven, and told that he might attend the circus. But his pride was +aroused, and he refused to go. + +When he was ten, the first definite step toward making him a soldier +was taken--for of course, being a Gordon, he must be a soldier. He was +sent to school at Taunton, preparatory to entering, as a cadet, the +Royal Military Academy, at Woolwich. At that time, its commandant was +a veteran of Waterloo, a peppery old chap who had left one of his legs +on the soil of France, as a souvenir. He was a martinet as to +discipline, and Charles, who had become accustomed to doing a good deal +of thinking for himself, came into frequent clashes with him. + +One day, the old man said, "Gordon, I am tired of fooling with you. +You are incompetent; you will never make an officer." + +The young cadet, a boy of sixteen, gave him look for look, without +quailing--then by way of reply tore his epaulettes from his shoulders, +turned on his heel, and strode out of the room. + +Naturally, the guardhouse was next in order, where the culprit could +cool his heels and meditate upon the sinfulness of superior officers. +In this particular case he seems to have blamed it upon the missing +leg, for he remarked, long afterwards: "Never employ any one minus a +limb to be in authority over boys. They are apt to be irritable and +unjust." + +He remained in the Military Academy four years, having been put back +six months by way of discipline, and left it without any regrets. At +this time, indeed, he had a positive distaste for the army. It was all +drill and monotony. One day was too much like another. What was the +good of it all? Why did men have to learn to kill each other anyhow? +Were we not put on earth for a higher mission? + +Thus reasoned the young man, who, all his life, was subject to moods of +introspection and intense religious thought--surely strange material +out of which to build a soldier! He sensed this fact himself and was +not at all anxious to enter the army; and frequently in later life +expressed a lively dissatisfaction for the service. He was an +exemplification of the poet's line: + +"I feel two natures struggling within me." + +When he entered the service, as a second lieutenant of the Engineers, +at the age of nineteen, there was little to attract one in the army +life. The long peace of Europe, which had followed the defeat of +Napoleon, seemed likely to last forever. Except for a relatively small +outbreak in France, in 1848, all Europe was quiet. Consequently, the +army held little attraction to an active young man. It was all drill +and the petty details of garrison life. But underneath the placid +surface, the political pot of Europe was really boiling furiously--only +waiting a chance to bubble over. That chance soon came. + +Gordon's first assignment was to Pembroke, where plans were required +for the forts at Milford Haven. Here with other engineers he worked +for a few months, when he was ordered to the Island of Corfu. This was +not altogether to his liking. He had spent a part of his boyhood there +in the Ionian Islands, but felt that they were "off the map" so far as +real activity was concerned. + +Then the bubbling pot at last boiled over. Russia, impatient of +bounds, had begun her march southward, past the Black Sea, and toward +the coveted lands of Turkey. The "balance of power," that precarious +something that has always kept Europe on edge--and particularly in the +Balkans--was upset. Whether England wanted to or not, she must get +into the breach. + +Thus began the Crimean War, a desperate struggle that was to bear some +glorious pages in England's history, and some dark ones as well. It +was to see the "Charge of the Light Brigade"--splendid in itself, but +brought about because "some one had blundered." It was to produce a +Florence Nightingale--but also the hideous sufferings which she helped +to assuage. + +For England was unprepared. Her years of idleness had broken down her +military organization. Splendid fighting men she still had, but the +fighting machine itself was rusty. + +Young Gordon, perhaps through his father's influence, obtained a +transfer from Corfu to the Crimea. The father did not much like his +new billet. He may have sensed something of what was coming. But he +did not fear for his son. + +"Get him into real action, _I_ say," he would remark. "That will show +whether there's any stuff in him. I guess there is," he added grimly, +thinking of Charles's troubles in college. "All the time he was in the +Academy, I felt like I was sitting on a powder barrel." + +In mid-December, of 1854, Gordon set sail from England, on his first +real job as a soldier. He was going with the task of building some +wooden huts for the soldiers, and lumber was being shipped at the same +time. But the soldiers for whom these shelters were intended were even +then dying from exposure on the plains of Sebastopol. It was the first +lesson of unpreparedness. + +Of this, however, the young engineer was then ignorant. He was in high +spirits over the prospect of action and seeing the world. He arrived +at Marseilles "very tired," as he writes to his mother, but not too +tired to give her a detailed description of what he has seen thus +far--"the pretty towns and villages, vineyards and rivers, with +glimpses of snowy mountains beyond." + +On New Year's Day he reached his destination, Balaklava. It was the +depth of winter, and disaster stared the British in the face. The +Russians were having the best of it. They were out-generalling the +enemy at every turn. The British could do little more than dig in and +hang on, with the bull-dog stubbornness which has always marked them. + +At first, the young lieutenant heard little of this. His duties as +construction engineer kept him busy six miles back of the battle line. + +"I have not yet seen Sebastopol," he writes on January 3, "and do not +hear anything of the siege. We hear a gun now and then. No one seems +to interest himself about the siege, but all appear to be engaged in +foraging for grub." Two days later he writes: "We have only put up two +huts as yet, but hope to do better soon." + +The army was suffering from both cold and hunger, and was in pitiable +plight. Again he writes: "Lieutenant Daunt, Ninth Regiment, and +another officer of some Sixtieth Regiment, were frozen to death last +night, and two officers of the Ninety-Third Regiment were smothered by +charcoal. The streets of Balaklava are a sight, with swell English +cavalry and horse-artillery carrying rations, and officers in every +conceivable costume foraging for eatables." + +There was little military glamor in such sights as this. No wonder, +young Gordon felt sick of it all. But he never gave the slightest +indication of quitting. He only worked all the harder to help do his +bit. As Spring advanced, he had an opportunity to work closer to the +lines. He received orders to construct trenches and rifle pits, which +at times was extremely hazardous and brought him under fire. On one +occasion a Russian bullet missed his head by a scant inch. + +At last, in the month of June, came his first chance to do some real +fighting. Every branch of the service was marshalled by the commanding +general, Lord Raglan, for a massed attack. What happened can best be +described in Gordon's own words: + +"About three a. m. the French advanced on the Malakoff tower in three +columns, and ten minutes after this our signal was given. The Russians +then opened with a fire of grape that was terrific." And again: "They +mowed down our men in dozens, and the trenches, being confined, were +crowded with men who foolishly kept in them instead of rushing over the +parapet, and, by coming forward in a mass, trusting to some of them at +least being able to pass through untouched to the Redan, where, of +course, once they arrived, the artillery could not reach them, and +every yard nearer would have diminished the effect of the grape by +giving it less space for spreading. We could thus have moved up the +supports and carried the place. Unfortunately, however, our men +dribbled out of the ends of the trenches ten and twenty at a time, and +as soon as they appeared they were cleared away." + +Thus ended the first engagement in which Gordon took part. The Allies +suffered defeat, and Lord Raglan died a few days later of a broken +heart. It was not an auspicious baptism of fire. + +In August another assault was made, which also met defeat. Gordon ends +his account with the remark: "We should have carried everything before +us, if the men had only advanced." + +Perchance one reason why the men failed to advance was that their +morale had been lowered, by reason of the privations they had +undergone. This was before the days of the Red Cross, the army +canteen, or the Y. M. C. A. with its homely comfort. The men had had +to shift for themselves. Nursing the sick and wounded was almost +unknown, until the white-clad figure of Florence Nightingale showed the +world its dereliction. Listen to what this devoted pioneer among +nurses has to say: + +"Fancy working five nights out of seven in the trenches. Fancy being +thirty-six hours in them at a stretch, as they sometimes were, lying +down, or half-lying down often forty-eight hours with no food but raw +salt pork, sprinkled with sugar, rum, and biscuit; nothing hot, because +the exhausted soldier could not collect his own fuel, as he was +expected to do, to cook his own rations; and fancy through all this, +the army preserving their courage and patience, as they have done, and +being now eager (the old ones as well as the young ones) to be led into +the trenches. There was something sublime in the spectacle." + +Sublime? Granted. But no soldier fights well on an empty stomach. + +Despite their hardships and reverses, however, the Allies were at last +successful in the capture of Sebastopol. But it was a barren victory, +as the Russians had set fire to the town and destroyed practically +everything of value. The war soon afterwards ceased, and with it the +first hard lesson in Charles Gordon's military training. He had +entered it a somewhat careless youth. He came out of it a seasoned +veteran. + +That his government had learned to appreciate his services is shown by +the fact that he was soon afterward placed on a joint commission of the +English, French, Russians, and Austrians, to lay down a boundary line +between Russia and her neighbors at the southwest. It was only one of +many later attempts to define the Balkans. + +"The newly-ceded territory is in great disorder," writes Gordon. "The +inhabitants refuse to obey the Moldaves and own nobody's authority. +This is caused, I suspect, by Russian intrigues." + +Already cracks were beginning to show in the new boundary wall. + +After three years of steady but interesting work following up the +ravages of war, Gordon returned home. It was a rest well earned, and +likewise needed, for there were still more strenuous days ahead. Then +back he went, in the Spring of 1858, to complete his work in the +Caucasus. + +"I am pretty tired of my post as peacemaker," he writes; "for which I +am naturally not well adapted. . . . I am quite in the dark as to how +my mission has been fulfilled, but it is really immaterial to me, for I +will not accept other work of such an anomalous character." + +The "other work" that was being stored up for him was of quite +different nature. He might have called it "anomalous," but it was to +tax and bring out every resource in him. + +China, that land of distance and mystery, was undergoing a period of +upheaval. A usurper had tried to seize the reins of government, and +the French and British ships had been attacked. The British sent a +force of reprisal, somewhat like that sent against the Boxer rebellion +in recent years. This was in 1860; and Gordon was sent out with the +rank of captain. + +The first work of this expeditionary force was scarcely worthy of a +civilized country. They set fire to a summer palace and gardens of a +prince who had mistreated some English prisoners. It was a piece of +vandalism that went against the grain with Gordon. + +"You can scarcely imagine the beauty and magnificence of the palaces we +burnt," he writes. "It made one's heart sore to destroy them. It was +wretchedly demoralizing work." + +In the Spring of 1862, Gordon had become a major, and was ordered, with +a Lieutenant Carden, to explore the Great Wall of China. This was more +to his liking. The two men were congenial and well fitted by +temperament and experience for the task. They penetrated provinces in +the interior never before entered by a white man, and had a variety of +adventures, some amusing, others exciting. + +During the winter it grew extremely cold, high up in the mountains. He +relates that eggs were frozen as hard as if they had been boiled. At +another time they are caught in a terrific dust storm, which he thus +describes: + +"The sky was as dark as night; huge columns of dust came sweeping down, +and it blew a regular hurricane, the blue sky appearing now and then +through the breaks. The quantity of dust was indescribable. A canal, +about fifty miles long and eighteen feet wide, and seven deep, was +completely filled up." + +From these more or less peaceful incidents, Gordon was presently called +to more exciting events. The great Tai-ping rebellion had been raging +for some months. It was the work of a Chinese schoolmaster, who said +that Heaven had sent him to rescue China. He chose for title "The +Heavenly King," and with some thousands of fanatical followers, overran +a large part of the interior. His seat of government was in Nanking. + +In his first clashes with the small British army, in 1862, his troops +had the better of the argument. They spoke with open contempt of the +foreigners, and all English, whether soldiers or missionaries, were in +imminent danger. Things came to such a pass that an American, named +Ward, obtained permission to organize a band of volunteers for mutual +protection. This band did remarkable work, and soon grew from a force +of two hundred, to two thousand--every man of them ready to die in his +tracks. + +They met the fanatical followers of "The Heavenly King" more than +half-way, and gave them such thorough doses of hot shot and cold steel, +that the rebels finally ran at sight of them. It is said that Ward's +men fought seventy engagements in one year, and won every fight. The +Imperial Chinese Government was very grateful for their aid, and +conferred upon them a high-sounding name which meant, "Ever-Victorious +Army." + +Unluckily, Ward lost his life in leading an assault, and left his army +without a general. Li Hung Chang, the statesman, who was later known +as the Grand Old Man of China, came to the British commander General +Stavely, and asked him to appoint a British officer to lead the +Ever-Victorious Army. + +Stavely cast about him, and his eye fell upon Major Gordon, who was +then engaged upon a survey of the defenses of Shanghai. He had known +Gordon and admired him. He believed that here was the man for the task. + +"What he was before Sebastopol he has been since--faithful, trusty, and +successful," reasoned the General. "Before Pekin and Shanghai he has +evinced just the qualities that are needed now. Although he has never +been in command, he will rise to this occasion, to which he is more +fitted than any other man whom I know." + +Gordon at first declined the honor, perhaps through false modesty, and +the command was given to a Captain Holland, with bad results. Holland +traded too much on the invincibility of the Ever-Victorious Army, and +attacked a strongly fortified position at Taitsan. His forces were +driven off with a loss of three hundred men. It was a grievous loss, +but the moral loss was far deeper. His men lost spirit, while the +rebels were extravagant in their glee. + +Something had to be done at once. Again they came to Gordon with the +offer of leadership, and this time, he accepted--but not without some +misgiving. In a letter home, dated March 24, 1863, he writes: + +"I am afraid you will be much vexed at my having taken the command of +the Sung-kiang force, and that I am now a Mandarin. I have taken the +step on consideration. I think that any one who contributes to putting +down this rebellion fulfils a humane task, and I also think tends a +great deal to open China to civilization." + +Gordon soon proved that he had both courage and resourcefulness. He +did not risk another assault upon Taitsan, as the rebels expected, but +decided to attack them in another quarter. He took one thousand men by +river to an inland town, Chanzu. Here was a loyal Chinese garrison +which had been besieged by the rebels and was in sore straits. + +The coming of Gordon was a bold and unexpected move, as the rebels must +have outnumbered his force five to one. But Gordon had brought two +field pieces along, and at once opened fire. By night-fall the enemy +had enough of it, and retreated. The next morning the Ever-Victorious +Army marched triumphantly into Chanzu, where they received a great +welcome. Gordon thus received reinforcements not only from this +garrison, but also from some of the rebel forces who had begun to +"smell a mouse" and decided to come over while the coming was good. + +Gordon was much interested in some of these young rebel chiefs. He +says that they were very intelligent, and were splendidly dressed in +their silks, and had big pearls in their caps. The head man was about +thirty-five years old, and was ill and worn with anxiety. + +"He was so very glad to see me, and chin-chinned most violently, +regretting his inability to give me a present, which I told him was not +the custom of our people." + +This rapid victory was productive of several good results. It once +more put the rebels "on the run," it restored the morale of his troops +and gave them confidence in their new leader, and it brought him many +recruits. One especially gratifying result was that several British +officers asked leave to serve under him. + +Gordon had made a firm friend of Li Hung Chang, who aided him in every +possible way. He introduced much-needed discipline into his troops, +who had been at first mere adventurers, and also established regular +grades of pay. The Chinese Government was glad to assume these +payments; while the English authorities were well content with the +unique arrangement. Whether or not, Gordon would have called it +"anomalous"--it was working, and that was the main thing. + +Gordon saw to it that his men were well armed, well paid, well dressed, +and well fed. Always he had the horrible example of the Crimean +campaign before his eyes, and he was resolved that never again, if he +could help it, should such conditions recur. He was thus one of the +first of our generals to meet the need of a modern army in a modern +way. As he wrote, at the destruction of Sebastopol, "The old army is +dead." + +After Gordon had got his new army in readiness--and not until then--he +launched his systematic campaign against the rebels. First he moved +against Quinsan, an important stronghold. It was a large city, some +four or five miles in circumference, and clustered about a commanding +hill. This city and its approaches were held by a force of about +twelve thousand. Against them Gordon brought a force of two thousand +infantry and six hundred artillery. + +On the east side of the city was a considerable body of water, Lake +Yansing, and on the other side of the lake, the village of Soochow, +also occupied by the rebels. Gordon brought up his fleet of small +ships and one steamboat on which he had placed guns, and, running in +between the two towns, cut the enemy in two, throwing them into such +confusion that both towns were soon taken by assault. + +Gordon wrote home an amusing account of this battle. It seems that the +rebels inland were unused to steamboats, and when this vessel charged +up with whistle going, they thought it some sort of wrathful god or +demon. + +"The horror of the rebels at the steamer is very great. When she +whistles they cannot make it out," he says; and adds that because of +this victory he has been given the rank of Tsung-ping, or Red Button +Mandarin--about equivalent to brigadier general. + +These engagements were but the forerunner of many similar ones. His +army took town after town until order was once more restored, and +"broke the back of the rebellion." + +The grateful Chinese Government showered him with titles. He was made +a "Ti-tu," which gave him the highest rank in the Chinese army. The +Emperor himself commanded that he should be rewarded with "a yellow +riding jacket, to be worn on his person, and a peacock's feather to be +carried on his cap; also, that there be bestowed on him four suits of +the uniform proper to his rank of Ti-tu, in token of our favor and +desire to do him honor." + +It must not be inferred that Gordon came into his high honors in China +easily. He was constantly beset by difficulties. His own men on more +than one occasion tried to start a mutiny, and it was only by a display +of his highest and sternest qualities of leadership, that he restored +order. The Chinese officials, also, had to be handled with diplomacy. +They were accustomed to bargaining, and could not believe at first that +Gordon was not working for selfish ends. It was only when they +realized the true character of the man, that their esteem and affection +were fully enlisted. + +The Emperor wished to bestow on him a large sum of money, but this was +refused. The Chinese were nonplussed. Prince Kung reported to a +British official as follows: + +"We do not know what to do. He will not receive money from us, and we +have already given him every honor which it is in the power of the +Emperor to bestow. But as these can be of little value in his eyes, I +have brought you this letter, and ask you to give it to the Queen of +England, that she may bestow on him some reward which would be more +valuable in his eyes." + +The love of this strange race of people for a foreign officer was not +idly bestowed. They were the first to recognize his highest qualities, +and though he later won high rank under the Union Jack, it is as +Chinese Gordon that his name will most frequently appear in history. + +A fellow campaigner in China writes: "What is perhaps most striking in +Gordon's career in China, is the entire devotion with which the native +soldiers served him, and the implicit faith they had in the result of +operations in which he was personally present. In their eyes General +Gordon was literally a magician to whom all things were possible. They +believed him to bear a charmed life; and a short stick or rattan cane +which he invariably carried about, and with which he always pointed in +directing the fire of artillery or other operations, was firmly looked +on as a wand or talisman. These notions, especially the men's idea +that their general had a charmed existence, were substantially aided by +Gordon's constant habit, when the troops were under fire, of appearing +suddenly, usually unattended, and calmly standing in the very hottest +part of the fire." + +As to Gordon's personal appearance, a pen picture by a comrade-in-arms, +Colonel Butler, deserves place: + +"In figure Gordon, at forty years of age, stood somewhat under middle +height, slight but strong, active, and muscular. A profusion of thick +brown hair clustered above a broad open forehead. His features were +regular, his mouth firm, and his expression when silent had a certain +undertone of sadness, which instantly vanished when he spoke. But it +was the clear, blue-gray eye and the low, soft, and very distinct voice +that left the most lasting impression on the memory of the man who had +seen and spoken with Charles Gordon--an eye that seemed to have looked +at great distances and seen the load of life carried on many shoulders, +and a voice that, like the clear chime of some Flemish belfry, had in +it fresh music to welcome the newest hour, even though it had rung out +the note of many a vanished day." + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN GORDON'S LIFE + + 1833. January 28. Charles George Gordon born. + 1849. Entered Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. + 1852. Commissioned second lieutenant of engineers. + 1854. Sent to the Crimea, to construct huts and trenches. + 1862. Sent as major to explore Great Wall of China. + 1863. Took command of "Ever-Victorious Army" in China. + 1864. Crushed native rebellion and given highest rank in + Chinese army. + 1874. Sent on first expedition to Egypt and the Soudan, as colonel. + 1881. Made major-general. + 1884. Sent in command of expedition to the Soudan. + 1885. January 24. Lost his life in the massacre at Khartoum. + + + + +ROBERTS + +THE WEAK BOY WITH THE STRONG WILL + +When one is picking out soldiers, one usually chooses big men. You see a +strapping fellow going by in regimentals, and you say, "My, what a dandy +soldier!" + +Well, there have been some big men in stature who have been big +soldiers--such as Washington--but it is interesting to note that many of +our great generals have been undersized. Such were Grant, Wellington, +and Napoleon. Such was Lord Roberts who became Earl and Marshal, and was +one of the best-loved leaders that England has produced. He was +associated with two great campaigns to extend the British Empire--in +India and South Africa--and passed away in the midst of the great World +War, within a few months of Kitchener. + +And yet, as a boy, no one would have picked him out as destined to become +a famous soldier. One recent biographer (Wheeler) calls him "a weak boy +with a strong will," and we cannot do better than repeat this as giving +some sort of key to his career. Roberts himself has left an entertaining +story of his life in "Forty-One Years in India," which shows that a +soldier's life is not tinsel and parade, but is made up of infinite +hardship. The weak boy must indeed have to have a strong will in order +to pull through. + +Frederick Roberts was born in India at a time when his father, Abraham +Roberts, was lieutenant colonel of infantry at Cawnpore. This fine old +soldier gave a life-time of service to the crown, and was active in the +border raids in India. His son lived to complete the task which he +began, of helping to open India to the civilized world. For his +services, Abraham Roberts became a general and was knighted. The son, +who was destined to win still higher honors, began his career, September +30, 1832. + +Although the boy was born amid the smell of gunpowder, he must have been +a disappointment to his soldier father. He was puny and sickly, and for +a time it did not seem likely that he would live at all. So when he was +only a few months old, he was taken from the uncongenial air of India and +brought by his parents to England. Here he spent his boyhood, away from +the father and mother who were forced by official duties to return to the +East. + +His home was a charming country house at Clifton near Bristol, where for +the first years he had private tutors. One interesting experience was in +a small school at Carrickmacross in Ireland; then, at eleven, he attended +public school at Hampton. But almost nothing is set down in detail as to +these early years, which would show that besides being a weakling, he was +in no sense remarkable. He was merely another of those small, backward +urchins that one may see at any recess, on any public school playground. + +Still his father was set upon his receiving a military education. "It +will do no harm, anyway, and may straighten his shoulders a bit," he +doubtless said. And so at thirteen, young Roberts was entered at Eton, +that training ground of so many of England's soldiers. He made his first +mark in this famous school by winning a prize in mathematics. The +obscure lad was beginning to assert himself. + +To the end of his days, Roberts held a warm regard for Eton. Once when +at the end of a great campaign, he was presented with a sword of honor, +on this boyhood's drill ground, he said to a younger generation then +assembled: "To you boys who intend to enter the army, the studies and +sports of this place are your best training. England's greatest general, +himself an Etonian, is reported to have said that the battle of Waterloo +was won in the Eton playing-fields. In thus expressing himself, the Duke +(Wellington) meant that bodily vigor, power of endurance, courage, and +rapidity of decision are produced by the manly games which are fostered +here." + +Undoubtedly there was a personal touch to these remarks, as Roberts +recalled how he himself had begun to gain these sterling qualities on the +cricket field and gridiron. + +When fifteen, he entered the Military College at Sandhurst, but remained +there only two terms. By nature he was a studious chap, doing especially +well in German and mathematics. So easily did he solve problems in +algebra and geometry, that his mates promptly nicknamed him "Deductions." + +Leaving Sandhurst, he put in a few months at a preparatory military +school at Wimbledon, but his father's return to England, in 1849, marked +the first definite step in his plans. Colonel Roberts, after several +years away from his son, was delighted to see that the thin chest was +indeed filling out, and the shoulders throwing back. + +"Do you think you can stand India, now, my lad?" he asked. + +"Why not, sir?" replied the boy briefly. + +"Then I think that the East India Company's service is the place for you." + +Colonel Roberts himself had been connected with this great company, which +was the forerunner of the Government in India--and he was right in +thinking that its service offered many chances of advancement. + +Accordingly the boy was entered in the Company's own military school, at +Addiscombe; and in less than two years had become a second lieutenant in +the Bengal Artillery--a military company maintained as part of this huge +commercial enterprise. + +In 1852, in his twentieth year, he received his first marching orders. +They were to report for duty. He set sail by way of Suez, but there was +no canal in those days to make possible an all-water journey. Instead, +at Alexandria he changed to a small inland steamer going by canal and +river to Cairo. Thence a hot dusty trek across the desert was necessary, +in order to reach Suez. + +Once in Calcutta, the young subaltern lost no time in proving that he was +not a mollycoddle. He began by riding every horse in the battery, or +"troop," as it was called in those days. + +"Thus," he tells us, "I learned to understand the amount of nerve, +patience and skill necessary to the making of a good Horse Artillery +driver, with the additional advantage that I was brought into constant +contact with the men." + +Roberts was early learning the secret of more than one great general's +success--to know his men. In later life he could call many a man by +name, and knew just what each could do. While they responded with a +close affection and the nickname by which he will be known to +history--"Bobs." + +It is said that Napoleon expected his officers to know the names and +personal histories of every man in their command. As another result of +Roberts' fellowship with the rank and file he became a crack shot and +expert horseman. During the fighting in the mutiny of Indian sepoys, he +proved himself a good swordsman as well; and even when he became +Commander-in-chief, he would ride with a tent-pegging team of his own +staff. + +It was a long and thorough service that he was destined to receive. He +joined the Quartermaster-General's office before the mutiny broke out, +and remained in it for more than twenty years. During this period he +gradually worked his way up from one post of responsibility to another, +doing it so gradually that even he himself hardly noticed the advance. +On one occasion, for example, he superintended all the arrangements for +embarking the Bengal Division, which sailed from Calcutta to take part in +an expedition against Abyssinia. + +But how he must have chafed at the long delay in getting into the field. +He asked his father more than once to get him transferred to Burma, where +war had broken out and there was a chance for active service. The +transfer was not granted. + +The only thing that came to break up the humdrum of those first years was +a cyclone. It was actually welcomed; anything for a change! Roberts +gives a detailed account of it in his autobiography. He and a native +servant were caught out in the open, when the storm descended with little +warning. + +"I shouted to him (the servant) as loudly as I could," he relates, "but +the uproar was so terrific that he could not hear a word, and there was +nothing for it but to try and make my own way home. The darkness was +profound. As I was walking carefully along, I suddenly came in contact +with an object, which a timely flash of lightning showed me was a column, +standing in exactly the opposite direction from my own house. I could +now locate myself correctly, and the lightning becoming every moment more +vivid, I was enabled to grope my way by slow degrees to the mess, where I +expected to find some one to show me my way home; but the servants, who +knew from experience the probable effects of a cyclone, had already +closed the outside Venetian shutters and barred all the doors. In vain I +banged at the door and called at the top of my voice--they heard nothing." + +In desperation he had to make his way as best he could back to his own +bungalow, about half a mile away, only to find that also barred against +him. "I had to continue hammering for a long time before they heard and +admitted me, thankful to be comparatively safe inside a house." + +Another disappointment to Roberts lay in the fact that he was still away +from his father, who seemed destined all his life to remain a stranger to +him. The junior officer was stationed at Dum Dum, famous as the +birthplace of the soft-nosed bullets, now proscribed in civilized +warfare. His father had been appointed to the command of the troops at +Peshawar, and now wrote him a welcome note bidding him come to join him. + +This was easier said than done, but was finally accomplished after three +months of toilsome and dangerous travel. He used every sort of native +conveyance--barge, post-chaise, palanquin, pony, and "shank's mares"--but +it was interesting and full of novelty to the barracks-bound soldier. He +went by way of Benares, Allahabad, Cawnpore, and Meerut--places destined +to win unpleasant fame in the Mutiny. + +Peshawar, his destination, proved no less fascinating than the way +stations. It commanded the caravan route between India and Afghanistan, +and guarded the entrance to Khyber Pass. Lord Dalhousie described it as +"the outpost of the Indian Empire"--a very accurate title. + +At Peshawar at last Frederick Roberts became acquainted with his father, +who proved a good comrade. The junior officer served as aide-de-camp on +the general's staff, and went with him on several expeditions, outwardly +peaceful, but inwardly full of danger. India then was a seething caldron +of trouble. + +Nevertheless, this period with his father is described by Frederick +Roberts as "one of the brightest and happiest of my early life." +Unfortunately the senior officer's health showed signs of breaking--and +again father and son had to part. General Roberts resigned his command +and returned to England, at the end of the year 1853. + +Peshawar was a notoriously unhealthy station, and young Roberts also soon +began to feel the effects of the climate. He was still far from robust, +and traded continually on his will and nerve. The native fever sapped +his energy, and he was sent to recuperate, to Kashmir. He was +enthusiastic about the scenery here, and his tramping and shooting trips +in the bracing climate soon gave back his strength and vim. + +It was about this time that he realized his pet ambition of joining the +Horse Artillery. He also set himself with a will to the study of +Hindustani, as he realized that his usefulness in the +Quartermaster-General's office would be vastly increased if he could deal +directly with the natives. + +This was a turning point in Roberts' career. It was to be his first +stepping stone upward, and it illustrates the point that even though +Opportunity may knock at the door--one must be ready for her. That +Roberts finally won his larger success was due not so much to his genius +as to his industry. Edison says that genius is made up of two per cent +inspiration and ninety-eight per cent perspiration. + +The great Mutiny, in which Roberts and many another British soldier was +to be plunged, had its immediate cause in a strange thing--greased +cartridges! How so insignificant a thing could have started so great a +trouble is one of the strange, true stories of history. There were, of +course, other contributory factors, but this was the match that touched +off the magazine. + +At this time England employed a great many native troops. To be exact, +there were about 257,000; while the British regulars numbered only +36,000. The latter were outnumbered seven to one. + +The Ordnance Department adopted a new rifle, the Enfield, at this +juncture, and sent a consignment to India. The cartridges for the rifle +were greased, for easy loading, and were to be bitten by the soldiers. +This last act at once set the sepoy soldiers in an uproar. It was +against their religious scruples to touch meat of any kind, and they +heard it stated that the objectionable cartridges were greased with pig's +and cow's fat. + +As soon as the commanding officers saw the trouble, they ordered that the +cartridges be withdrawn--but the mischief was done. + +The Mutiny which flared up here among the native soldiers spread quickly +from city to city. Runners went from camp to camp, urging that they +throw off the hated British yoke. In some places no written or verbal +message was exchanged. A basket of unleavened cakes was brought in and +broken, by way of prearranged signal. + +After the first outbreaks, councils of war were hurriedly held on the +part of the British officers, and field expeditions organized. One of +the officers, Colonel Neville Chamberlain, was assigned to the command of +what was called the "Movable Column," or chief army of pursuit. + +Roberts was made one of his staff officers--"the most wonderful piece of +good fortune that could come to me," he says. Shortly afterward, +Chamberlain was made Adjutant General to the Army before Delhi, and then +came orders for all the artillery officers to join in this attack. +Roberts was to see active service at last. + +He found himself under fire at Delhi for the first time on June 30, 1857. +While it was only a skirmish it was a lively one while it lasted. + +With some 1,100 men and a dozen guns, Major Coke went on an expedition +against a troublesome group of rebels, and Roberts accompanied him as a +staff officer. When the enemy appeared the only way to reach them in +time was by crossing a swamp. Another troop of rebels unexpectedly +appeared in force, but were put to rout. + +A few days later, a similar skirmish occurred, which for a time looked +more serious. Roberts was posted across a road with a squad of men and +two guns. The enemy attacked them with a cross-fire. How he and his +band escaped is a mystery. + +During their enforced retreat, Roberts felt a stinging sensation in his +back, but managed to keep going. It was found afterwards that his life +had been saved by the slipping of his knapsack down from his shoulders. +This had been penetrated by a bullet, which had entered his body close to +his spine. Its force had been broken, but the wound was still so severe +as to lay him up for several weeks. + +The almost superhuman difficulties which lay in the path of this handful +of Englishmen scattered throughout India, are summed up in a letter by +another officer, Hodson, as follows: + +"The whole country is a steaming bog. I keep my health wonderfully, +thank God! in spite of heat, hard work and exposure; and the men bear up +like Britons. We all feel that the Government ought to allow every +officer and man before Delhi to count every month spent here as a year of +service in India. There is much that is disappointing and disgusting to +a man who feels that more might have been done, but I comfort myself with +the thought that history will do justice to the constancy and fortitude +of the handful of Englishmen who have for so many weeks--months, I may +say--of desperate weather, amid the greatest toil and hardship, resisted +and finally defeated the worst and most strenuous exertions of an entire +army and a whole nation in arms--an army trained by ourselves, and +supplied with all but exhaustless munitions of war, laid up by ourselves +for the maintenance of the Empire. I venture to aver that no other +nation in the world would have remained here, or have avoided defeat had +they attempted to do so." + +The story of the rise and fall of the Indian Mutiny is the story of the +life of Roberts--in so far as the rise is concerned. His was an +inconspicuous but well played part. Acting as staff officer and +lieutenant of a gunners' company by turns, he was always in the thick of +it. If it were the command of guns at a difficult salient before Delhi, +it was "Send Roberts." If it were an urgent message for more ammunition, +at Agra, "Send Roberts." If it were an escort for the rescued women and +children at the historic relief of Lucknow, "Send Roberts." + +This slender, undersized officer, in spite of his physique, seemed +indefatigable. He had several narrow escapes from death, in hand-to-hand +encounters with sepoys. Once, a mutineer fired point-blank at him at +twelve yards away, but for some providential reason Roberts' horse reared +just at the moment of firing and received the bullet in his own head. + +At another time, a fanatic danced out in front of his horse waving a +turban to frighten it, and at the same time whirling a wicked looking +scimitar around his head. Roberts drew his pistol but the weapon missed +fire. The fanatic sprang forward, and it is probable that the career of +a future Field Marshal would have ended then and there, had not a lancer +spurred his horse in between and run the fellow down. + +On still another occasion, his presence of mind saved the flag from +capture and brought him the first of his many honors, the Victoria Cross. +An assault had been made on the village of Khudaganj, and the pursuit was +being followed up in brave style, when some of the rebels suddenly faced +around and took steady aim at those who were charging them. Roberts was +of the party and had gone to the rescue of a man who was on the verge of +being run through by a bayonet, when he saw two sepoys running off with +the Union Jack. He spurred his horse in pursuit, and, leaning over, +wrenched the standard out of the hands of one of the men, at the same +time sabering him. The other sepoy took advantage of the opportunity to +take steady aim at Roberts, point-blank, but the weapon missed fire. +Roberts returned with the flag, and for reward of his gallant action was +given the V. C., that most coveted of British decorations. + +Another officer in writing of the event says: "Roberts is one of those +rare men who, to uncommon daring and bravery in the field, and +unflinching, hard-working discharge of duty in the camp, adds the charm +of cheery and unaffected kindness and hospitality in the tent, and his +acquaintance and friendship are high prizes to those who obtain them." + +With the end of the Mutiny, Roberts was sent to England on sick leave for +a much-needed rest. In April, 1858, exactly six years after his arrival +at Calcutta, he turned over his duties of Deputy-Assistant +Quartermaster-General to his successor--though much against his will. He +felt that again he was in danger of being put upon the shelf, and his +intensely active nature longed for still further field service. + +In a little over a year, however, he was recalled to India, and there +given a unique task. The first Viceroy to India, Canning, determined to +impress the natives by a pomp and display dear to their own hearts, and +show the majesty of England, by holding a series of Durbars, or triumphal +processions. These extended right across India, from city to city, for a +thousand miles. To Roberts was assigned the important task of arranging +all the details of the tour, and he did it with characteristic +thoroughness. It was like moving a mammoth circus, what with elephants, +tents, supplies of all kinds, and gorgeous trappings to be handled. + +These Durbars lasted for six months, and the Viceroy not only +complimented Roberts for his work, but gazetted him for the rank of +Brevet Major. + +The next few years were much of a piece--a routine of office and field +work which, if it brought nothing sensational to the conscientious young +officer, still kept his feet in the path of glory. It was not until the +year 1875, that he reached the goal for which he had long +striven--Quartermaster-General of the Army in India, which carried with +it the rank of Major General. + +With this title his larger work in India may be said to have fairly +begun. For nearly twenty years longer his military career was to be +continued there, and in the neighboring country of Afghanistan. It is +all recounted in his "Forty-One Years in India"--a recital of constant +adventure and interest. For his services, he was made a peer of England, +receiving the title of Baron Roberts of Kandahar. An address presented +to him by the native and English residents, on his leaving India, is +worth repeating. + +"The history of the British Empire in India has not, at least in the last +thirty years, produced a hero like Your Lordship, whose soldier-like +qualities are fully known to the world. The country which has been the +cradle of Indian invasions came to realize the extent of your power and +recognized your generalship. . . . The occupation of Kabul and the +glorious battle of Kandahar are amongst the brightest jewels in the +diadem of Your Lordship's Baronage. . . . Terrible in war and merciful +in peace, Your Excellency's name has become a dread to the enemies of +England and lovely to your friends." + +That last phrase, "lovely to your friends," is a true though Oriental +summing-up of one great secret of Roberts' renown. He has been called +the "best-loved soldier of England." And he possessed in an especial +degree the power of attracting and holding the love and respect of the +East Indians. They felt that he would always deal fairly by them. + +When he went to Mandalay, in 1886, he saw that if he wished to win the +confidence of the people of Upper Burmah, he must win over the Buddhist +priests. This he did, and even persuaded his Government to pension the +three head priests. + +"They showed their gratitude," he says, "by doing all they could to help +me, and when I was leaving the country, the old Thathana bain accompanied +me as far as Rangoon. We corresponded till his death, and I still hear +occasionally from one or other of my Phoonghi friends." + +As for his own soldiers, they came fairly to worship him. To them he was +not a Lord, or General, or Field Marshal, but just "Bobs" and "Our Bobs." +Wellington commanded the respect of his men, but Roberts their love. + +"Lord Roberts! Well, he's just a father," is the testimony of one gunner +in the South African War. "Often goes around hospital in Bloemfontein, +and it's 'Well, my lad, how are you today? Anything I can do for you? +Anything you want?'--and never forgets to see that the man has what he +asks for. Goes to the hospital train--'Are you comfortable? Are you +sure you're comfortable?' Then it's 'Buck up! Buck up!' to those who +need it. But when he sees a man dying, it's 'Can I pray with you, my +lad?' I've seen him many a time praying, with not a dry eye near--tears +in his eyes and ours. He is a lord!" + +A favorite story about him relates to an audience with Queen Victoria. +The famous veteran was then sixty-eight and for several years had been +living in retirement. Now his sovereign asked him to buckle on his sword +again, and go to retrieve the fallen British fortunes in South Africa. + +"You do not think that you are too old for this arduous task?" asked the +Queen. "You are not afraid of your health breaking down?" + +"I have kept myself fit," replied the old soldier, "for the past twenty +years, in the hope that I might command in such a campaign as this." + +The remark, "I have kept myself fit," is a keynote of his life. The puny +boy of the long ago was to survive this campaign with flying colors, and +to lend his counsel in the Great War of our own time. It was a long life +and full of service. In an address to a children's school, when a man of +eighty, he summed up his creed by saying: + +"In the first place, don't be slack in anything that you are doing. +Whether it be work or play, do it with all your might. You will find +that this great Empire can only be maintained by the exercise of +self-denial, by training, by discipline, and by courage." + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN ROBERTS'S LIFE + + 1832. September 30. Frederick Roberts born. + 1845. Entered Eton School. + 1847. Entered military college at Sandhurst. + 1852. Went as second-lieutenant of Bengal Artillery to India. + 1857. Fought in the Mutiny, and won Victoria Cross. + 1858. Returned to England on leave. + 1859. Sent back to India, major. + 1875. Quartermaster-general of Army of India. + 1885. Commander-in-chief in India. + 1891. Created a peer. + 1895. Created field marshal. + 1900. South African campaign. + 1901. Commander-in-chief of British army. + 1914. November 14. Died in France. + + + + +KITCHENER + +THE SOLDIER OF DEEDS--NOT WORDS + +When Chinese Gordon lost his life in Khartoum, Egypt, in 1884, because +the British relief force reached him two days too late, a young officer +accompanying the expedition was getting his first glimpse of a land +that was destined to make him famous. "Kitchener of Khartoum" was to +become as widely known in a later generation as Chinese Gordon was in +his own. Each won his spurs in a foreign land. + +Kitchener was then a cavalry officer of thirty-five, and did not seem +destined to get much higher in army circles. Yet he had never lost +faith in himself. After this first expedition to Egypt, when he was +still only a major, he remarked drolly to a fellow officer: + +"Never mind, my dear fellow, a few years hence you and I will be +generals, and these people who annoy us now (meaning the red-tape +departmental clerks) will be looking out of their club windows, with +all their teeth falling out of their heads!" + +During this same expedition, he spoke of the fact that their commanding +officer had missed the key-point, by saying: + +"It's the same with everybody. We must stop floundering, or people +will forget that Khartoum is our objective and always will be." + +Prophetic words for Kitchener of Khartoum. + +Who was this strong, stern, silent soldier whose career linked up past +wars with the great World War of our own day? + +Like Wellington and Roberts, Kitchener came of Irish stock. He was +born near Listowel, June 24, 1850, his father, Colonel Henry Kitchener, +having bought a considerable estate in the counties of Kerry and +Limerick. + +Colonel Kitchener had seen a good deal of active service himself, and +still more of garrison life. He determined to retire, and after buying +some 2,000 acres of land in Ireland, at a bankrupt sale, he built a +hunting lodge, called Gunsborough House. This was Herbert Horatio +Kitchener's birthplace. Whether the name of the house had anything to +do with his warlike career, history does not state. But certain it is, +that he was a born soldier--a man of iron almost from his boyhood. + +"Yes," said his old nurse, in talking about him only a few years ago, +"I know that he is a great man; and they tell me that he has no heart, +and that everybody is afraid of him; but they are wrong. He is really +one of the most tender-hearted men in the world; and whenever he comes +to see me, he is 'my boy' just as he was in the old days in Ireland, +when he used to run to me in all his troubles, and fling his arms +around me and hug me. Ah, there is nobody left who knows the real +Master Herbert as I know him." + +As a boy at school, Herbert Kitchener was not very brilliant. Like +Wellington, whose mother called him "the fool of the family," Kitchener +did too much day-dreaming to make much headway with his studies. His +first teacher was a governess, who gave him up in despair. Then he was +sent to a private school where he did not do any better. + +His father lost his patience. Just before an examination, he made a +dire threat. + +"Young man," said the Colonel, "if you fail I'll make you toe the mark. +I'll send you to a girl's school." + +Apparently the threat did not have the desired effect. He flunked and +was transferred to the other school. This time he was told that +failure meant that he would be taken out of school entirely and +apprenticed to a hatter. + +The warning had the desired effect. Herbert buckled down to work and +not only passed his examinations, but even began to show a decided +liking for mathematics--which study was to be of good service in later +life. + +By this time the family had moved into a more pretentious home, known +as the Crotta House. Little is related of his boyhood life there. It +was quiet and uneventful. The boy was of reserved nature, preferring +to sit quietly in the corner and listen while others did the talking. +Yet when drawn out, he could talk well, preferring to reason rather +than argue. His chief outdoor sport was swimming. The home was only a +few miles inland from the Atlantic coast, and he and his brothers often +rode over for a dip. + +His father was of industrious and thorough-going type. The family +motto was "Thorough," and the Colonel lived up to it. "K. of K." also +became a master of detail; and here on his father's estate he learned +his first lessons in it. Colonel Kitchener constantly preached the +value of time--and practised what he preached. Instead of settling +down to a life of ease, he was always at work on the estate. He +reclaimed large tracts of bogs, turning them into fertile land. He +raised breed horses and cattle. He set up his own factory for making +bricks, tiles, and drain-pipes. His own life of energy and +organization was the best possible example to his boys. That Herbert, +with all his apparent indolence, was profiting by it, became evident +years afterward. + +When the boy was fifteen, his father determined on a complete change of +environment for him. "I want you to see something else besides +Ireland," he said. Herbert was accordingly sent to Switzerland, to a +French school conducted by a Mr. Bennett. It was in Villeneuve, at the +eastern end of Lake Geneva. In this scenic spot of Europe he remained +for some four years, paying occasional visits home, but becoming more +and more a cosmopolitan, instead of merely a shy Irish lad. He learned +to speak French like a native, and got a start in German and Italian. +Languages always came easy to him. + +Meanwhile he trudged about the mountain country on many a long +excursion, with a camera slung across his shoulders, learning an art +that he was soon to put to good use. Thanks to this outdoor life he +grew up into a strong, well-built fellow, with a physique that was to +stand the test of many hard days to come. + +His father wanted him to follow in his own footsteps and become a +soldier. He used his influence to place him in the Royal Military +Academy, at Woolwich. Herbert entered there as a cadet, in his +nineteenth year. + +Two years later, while still a cadet, we find him getting his foretaste +of actual warfare. It was the summer of 1870. War had been declared +by France against Prussia--the short but terrible war so skilfully +engineered by Bismarck. Herbert Kitchener had gone to spend a summer +vacation with his father, at Dinan in the north of France, and promptly +got imbued with the war fever. He enlisted in a battalion, in the +Second Army of the Loire, commanded by General Chanzy. This army, like +other well-intentioned but poorly organized troops of the French, was +driven steadily back by the superior German forces, until the enemy +bombarded and captured Paris. + +It is interesting to note that Kitchener's first and last military +service was on behalf of the French against their hereditary +enemies--and that history came dangerously near to repeating itself in +the German drive of 1914 against Paris. That it did not do so, was due +in no small measure to the grim veteran who was now Secretary of War, +and to his wonderful army of volunteers, dubbed "Kitchener's Mob." + +Whether or not Kitchener did any actual close-up fighting in these +early days we do not know. One novel experience, however, is placed to +his credit. He made an ascent in an observation balloon, with two +French officers. In those days, the big bags were risky and unknown +quantities, and an ascent was something to talk about. + +The ill-starred war over, young Kitchener returned to Woolwich, and his +school duties as though nothing special had happened. + +"Why did you go off and join the French army?" he was asked by the +commandant. + +"Please, sir," came the straightforward answer, "I understood that I +should not be wanted for some time, and I could not be idle. I thought +I might learn something." + +He had indeed--if nothing more than the power of a thoroughly prepared +enemy against an unready land. + +The next stage in Kitchener's career was picturesque but full of +hardship. It was in connection with an exploring expedition to the +Holy Land. + +In 1865, a society called the Palestine Exploration Fund had been +founded, its object being to study the history and geography of the +country. Seven years later it had entered on the gigantic task of +surveying a tract of about 6,000 square miles, much of it desert or +mountainous country. + +Kitchener was just graduating from the Military Academy, with the usual +rank of lieutenant, and was casting about for active service. He could +not brook the idea of settling down to garrison life. The post of +assistant to the leader of this Palestine Expedition was offered him, +and he accepted with alacrity. While a private enterprise, it had the +sanction of the War Department, and promised to provide thrills as well +as work. The fact that it was the Holy Land of Bible story also +appealed to Kitchener. Witness one of the first entries in his Journal: + +"Looking down on the broad plain of Esdraelon . . . it is impossible +not to remember that this is the greatest battlefield of the world, +from the days of Joshua and the defeat of the mighty hosts of Sisera, +till, almost in our own days, Napoleon the Great fought the battle of +Mount Tabor; and here also is the ancient Megiddo, where the last great +battle of Armageddon is to be fought." + +Lieutenant Kitchener reported for duty in Palestine, in the Fall of +1874. The exploration party was then working in the hill country south +of Judah, which was still a sealed book to the rest of the world. +Their job was "to search in every hole and corner of the country and +see what is there, and classify everything in proper form"--to quote +the words of their prospectus. For this work they required both the +surveyor's instrument and the camera. + +In the use of the latter, Kitchener had shown aptitude at school; and +it is said that this fact had something to do with his appointment. It +is evident from the first official report that he "made good." His +chief, Lieutenant Conder, states that he succeeded in securing some +excellent photographs "under peculiarly unfavorable circumstances." + +The climate did not set well with him at first, and after two attacks +of fever he recovered his health sufficiently to take part in the Dead +Sea work of 1875. + +At Wady Seiyal, reports Conder, "we were caught in the most tremendous +gale which we have yet experienced in tents; and our next march of +nineteen miles in a perfect hurricane of bitter wind, with showers of +sleet and hail, necessitated by the fact that all our barley and other +stores were consumed, was the hardest bit of experience we have yet +encountered. Our dogs and two muleteers were unable to face the storm, +and took refuge in caves. Old Sheikh Hamzeh fell off his pony twice, +and had to be tied on. The brave beasts struggled for eleven hours, +and crossed more than one torrent of cold water up nearly to the +girths, but by eight at night they were in a warm stable, and we had +found refuge in Hebron in the house of a German Karaite Jew, whose +hospitality was as great as his subsequent charge was high." + +At times the ground was so uneven and devoid of trails, that they could +not march much faster than one mile an hour. The only human beings +they encountered were the Bedouin Arabs--sly, furtive fellows who were +always ready for a trade, but who would kill a man just as readily for +his shirt. + +The slow progress, however, did not worry Kitchener particularly. He +made good use of the time in photographing old walls, caves, and +natural strongholds. For instance, five days were spent in getting +data and records of the ruins of a fortress erected at Ascalon by +Richard Coeur-de-Lion, during his famous Crusade. + +Here it was that Kitchener's skill in swimming and presence of mind +were put to the test. Lieutenant Conder was swept off his horse while +fording the stream, and was in imminent danger of drowning, when +Kitchener sprang to his aid and towed him ashore. + +Despite the danger and hardships, Kitchener revelled in this wild life. +One of the party says of him: "He was as good company as a man could +wish to have, full of life and good spirits. We none of us thought +much about our toilets, and he least of all. Why, after a few months' +travelling about in Palestine, he looked more like a tramp than an +officer in Her Majesty's Army. His clothes wouldn't have fetched a +three penny-bit at any 'old do' shop in Whitechapel." + +It was in this first field service that he won a reputation which clung +to him through his whole career. They said that his chief amusement +was work, and his relaxation, more work. He was of seemingly tireless +energy, and never could understand the let-downs of others. The +boyhood trait of silence was also marked in the man. Although he +picked up languages easily, he used them sparingly. It was said of him +later that he could keep silent in ten languages. + +In a letter home, from Palestine, he throws a sidelight on this working +phase of his nature. "The non-commissioned officers," he says, "though +ready to go through any amount of work or danger, are much discouraged +at the prospect of an indefinite delay without employment, which, in my +opinion, is more trying in this climate than work." + +Not long after, the round of work and routine duty was varied by a +first-class fight. A Moslem sheikh had become so impertinent one day, +that Lieut. Conder ordered him out of his tent. The sheikh drew a +knife and was promptly disarmed and made prisoner by the British. +Instantly he lifted up his voice, calling for his men. The response +was prompt. They seemed to spring up out of the very rocks, and soon +there were two hundred of them howling and dancing around the handful +of Englishmen. Conder thus relates the happening: + +"Lieut. Kitchener and I were immediately surrounded. Three came to me +and asked me with curses what I was doing. An old man thrust his +battle-axe violently into my side, but I did not like to strike him, +though I had now a hunting-crop in my hand. I told them they were mad +and would be severely punished if they struck an Englishman. About +this time other members of the party saw a gun levelled at me five +yards off, but fortunately the man's hand was caught before he fired. +A man now came into the crowd which surrounded me, and dealt me a blow +on the head with a large club with great violence, causing two wounds +on the side of my head, covering my face with blood. A second blow, +directed with full force at the top of my head, must inevitably have +brained me, had I not put my head down to his chest. My servants gave +me up for dead. The blow fell on my neck, which ever since has been so +stiff and swollen that it is impossible to turn it round. The rest of +the party saw me fall. + +"As soon as I got up, I dealt this man a blow in the face with the +handle of my whip which staggered him, but my whip flew out of my hand +and left me entirely unarmed. I must inevitably have been murdered but +for the cool and prompt assistance of Lieut. Kitchener, who managed to +get to me and engaged one of the clubmen, covering my retreat. + +"A blow descending on the top of his head he parried with a cane, which +was broken by the force of the blow. A second wounded his arm. His +escape is unaccountable. Having retired a few paces from the thick of +the fray, I saw that the Moslems were gradually surrounding us, +stealing behind trees and through vineyards, and I well understood that +in such a case, unless the soldiers arrived at once, we must all die. +Many of the servants had indeed already given up hope, though no one +fled. I gave the order to leave the tents and fly round the hill. + +"Lieut. Kitchener was the last to obey this order, being engaged in +front. He retreated to his tent, and whilst running he was fired at, +and heard the bullet whistle by his head. He was also followed for +some short distance by a man with a huge scimitar, who subsequently +wounded with it more than one of our people." + +The timely arrival of the regular soldiers undoubtedly saved the little +party from massacre. + +Another enemy, the Eastern fever, was more successful in attack. Both +Conder and Kitchener had to return to England to recuperate. In 1877, +Kitchener went back, this time in command of the expedition, and by +midsummer had completed his survey of northern Palestine. He had +covered all told one thousand miles of country, making photographs and +maps which added immeasurably to the general knowledge. + +On his way back to England, Kitchener stopped in Turkey, which was then +at war with Bulgaria. His observations on the qualities of soldiers in +the two peoples, as recorded in an article written for _Blackwood's +Magazine_, are interesting in the light of later wars. + +The publication of the results of the Palestine exploration first +brought Kitchener to public notice. He was officially thanked and +began to be regarded as a marked man. He had won his first spurs. + +His next task was along similar lines. The Island of Cyprus occupied a +strategic position in the Mediterranean, and moreover had been the +scene of much turmoil. The British Government desired to set up a +stable regime there, and to this end decided to make a careful survey +of the Island and its resources. They naturally turned to Kitchener to +do the work. The satisfactory way in which he carried it through +earned for him the warm approval of Lord Derby, then Secretary of State +for the Colonies. One of his associates in Cyprus says of him there: +"We saw little of Kitchener at the club or anywhere else where +Englishmen mostly congregated, although he sometimes turned up at the +gymkhana meetings to contribute his share to their success. Kitchener +was always a hard worker, a gentleman with a long head who thought much +but said little. It is, of course, easy enough to prophesy when you +know, but honestly, to my mind, he looked a man who would go far if he +only had his chance." + +As an immediate result of this work, Kitchener was given the rank of +Major, and sent with Lord Wolseley's expedition into Egypt--then in the +throes of civil war. One reason for his promotion was his ability to +speak Arabic. His several years in the East had not only taught him +the languages, but valuable insight into manners and customs. + +The campaign was short and summary. The rebel forces were routed and +order established in northern Egypt. Kitchener's ability to organize, +and his knowledge of the people soon made him indispensable. His name +occurred so frequently in the official reports, that Lord Cromer, in +the home office, remarked: "This Kitchener seems to have a finger in +every pie. I must see him and find out what he is like." Later, after +seeing him, Cromer said: "That man's got a lot in him. He should prove +one of our best assets in Egypt." + +The next event--and a dramatic one--in Kitchener's life was concerned +with the attempted rescue of Gordon, some three years later. This +famous General had been sent to subdue the Soudan, which literally +means "Land of the Blacks," and had not received sufficient +reinforcements. It was a blunder on the part of the home Government +for which Gordon was to pay with his life. A relief force under +Wolseley was sent too late. + +Kitchener was fully alive to the peril of the situation, but being only +a subordinate could not do much to hasten affairs. He did know, +however, that a widespread conspiracy was being hatched which +threatened the safety of Wolseley's forces as well. How he got at the +bottom of this conspiracy is related by Charles Shaw, a Canadian +journalist who accompanied the expedition. + +A group of Arabs who had been in a brawl were lying tied hand and foot +in the guardhouse, when a tall man, also securely tied, was thrown in +with them. Although dressed like a native, Shaw relates, "he looked a +different brand of Arab than I had been accustomed to. He was +Kitchener. He was after the conspiracy. + +"I didn't know much Arabic in those days, but we could hear the +Dongolese talk and talk in excited tones the whole night, the tall man +occasionally saying a few words. + +"When we paraded before the large open-faced orderly tent next morning, +we were almost paralyzed to see Lord Wolseley himself seated at the +little table with Kitchener beside him, both in full staff uniform. A +tall, fine-looking Arab was being examined through the interpreter. He +didn't seem impressed by the glittering uniforms or the presence of the +Commander-in-chief, or embarrassed by their questions. Once or twice +an expression of surprise flitted over his face, but his eyes were +always fixed on Kitchener, who would now and again stoop and whisper +something in Lord Wolseley's ear. Once he raised his voice. The +prisoner heard its intonation and recognized him. With a fierce bound +the long, lithe Arab made a spring and was over the table, and had +seized Kitchener by the throat. There was a short, swift struggle, +Wolseley's eye glistened, and he half drew his sword. Kitchener, +athletic as he was, was being overpowered, and the Arab was throttling +him to death. + +"There was a rush of the guard--and within ten minutes a cordon of +sentries surrounded the Mudir of Dongola's tent. Within three days he +was a prisoner in his palace at Dongola, guarded by half a battalion of +British soldiers. The conspiracy was broken. + +"How widespread it was, only half a dozen white men knew at the +time. . . . To it the treachery of the Egyptian garrison at Khartoum +and the death of Gordon was due, and the preservation of the Desert +Column (the relief force), can be placed to its discovery." + +The next few years in Kitchener's life, which we can but summarize, +show him wielding a masterful hand in the pacification of Egypt. After +Gordon's death, the command was reorganized, and Kitchener became a +Lieutenant Colonel of Cavalry. His duties took him to the extreme +outposts. + +Halfway down the Red Sea, over against Mecca, is Suakim, the southern +outpost of Egypt. Suakim has the distinction of being one of the +hottest stations on earth, and one of the most desolate, comparable to +Central Arizona in the hot season. Here Kitchener served as Governor +from 1886 to 1888, with distinction. The following year found him +fighting on the frontier of the Soudan, the wild, vast back-country to +the south and west. + +From 1889 to 1892 he served as Adjutant-General of the Egyptian Army, +nominally as an officer of the Sultan's viceroy, the Khedive; but in +reality the visible presence of England's protecting power. He +received several high decorations, which would show that he won the +esteem and confidence of his Egyptian patrons. Finally in 1893 the +Khedive made him Sirdar, or Commander-in-chief. + +South of the Egyptian frontier, on the Upper Nile among the cataracts, +the three cities, Dongola, Berber, and Khartoum form a triangle of +trading centers. Kitchener saw that these were the strategic points in +the control of Upper Egypt, and in 1896 led an expedition thither. + +Ever since the death of Gordon, the country had been unsettled. It +remained to Kitchener to wield the avenging sword. He laid a light +railroad southward along the Nile, and marched swiftly, taking his +supplies with him. At Omdurman he finally met the enemy and inflicted +a crushing defeat. At Khartoum, where Gordon had been slain, he set up +a stable government. + +He came back to civilization a Major General in the British army, a +peer of England--and "Kitchener of Khartoum." This popular title was +speedily shortened to "K of K," and was as well known wherever English +Tommies assembled as "Bobs," the affectionate nickname of Lord Roberts. + +But Kitchener never won the deep affection of the rank and file, that +Roberts inspired. He was taciturn, aloof, and a stern disciplinarian. +His name evoked fear and respect, but never love. And yet, his men +would follow him through fire and water, for they had unbounded +confidence in his ability. It was his name that was placarded through +London, when the recruiting began for the Great War--and not the King's. + +"Will you serve with Kitchener?" the posters said. And they responded, +three million strong--"Kitchener's Mob," which was to become so soon a +skilled army under his guidance. + +They tell of him that when he took the post of Secretary of War, on his +first visit of inspection to the office he looked around and said, "Is +there a bed here?" When answered in the negative, he gave the brief +order, "Have one brought in." + +Thereafter for several weeks he literally lived in his office night and +day. He had at last found a job that measured up to his fullest +requirements for hard work, and he revelled in it. Incidentally, he +"delivered the goods"--but nobody marvelled at that; it was nothing +more than was expected of him! + +Says an anonymous writer in _The Living Age_: "England never fully +understood Lord Kitchener, and perhaps he never fully understood his +countrymen. They weaved innumerable myths around this shy and solitary +man, who revealed himself to few. To them his figure loomed gigantic +and mysterious through the sandstorms of African deserts and the mists +of the Himalayas. In their hour of trial he came among them for a +space, and then vanished forever in the wild Northern seas. He was a +good man to fight for or to fight against, and he found a worthy end." + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN KITCHENER'S LIFE + + 1850. June 24. Herbert Horatio Kitchener born. + 1865. Sent to Switzerland to school. + 1868. Entered Royal Military Academy, at Woolwich. + 1870. Volunteered in French army against Prussia. + 1874. Sent as second-lieutenant to Palestine, with exploration party. + 1878. Surveyed Island of Cyprus, for British Government. + 1885. Lieutenant-colonel of cavalry in Egypt. + 1893. Sirdar, or commander-in-chief, of Egyptian army. + 1898. Created a baron. + 1900. Chief of staff to Roberts in South Africa. + 1902. Made general, and commander-in-chief in India. + 1911. Consul-general in Egypt. + 1914. Secretary of War. Field marshal. + 1916. June 5. Lost his life at sea. + + + + +HAIG + +THE MAN WHO LED "THE CONTEMPTIBLES" + +"There goes young Haig. He says he intends to be a soldier." + +The speaker was a young student at Oxford University, as he jerked his +thumb in the direction of a slight but well-set-up fellow, a classmate, +who went cantering past. + +The chance remark, made more than once during the college days of Field +Marshal Haig, struck the keynote of his career. From early boyhood +Douglas Haig was going to be a soldier; and he stuck to his guns in a +quiet, systematic way until he won out. + +The story of Haig's life until the time of the Great War, was the +opposite of spectacular, and even in it, his personal prowess was kept +studiously in the background. With him it has always been: "My men did +thus and so." Yet in his quiet way he has always made his presence +felt with telling effect. He has been the man behind the man behind +the gun. + +By birth Haig was a "Fifer," which sounds military without being so. +He was a native of Cameronbridge, County of Fife, and came of the +strictest Presbyterian Scotch. If he had lived a few centuries back he +would have been a Covenanter--the kind that carried a Bible in one hand +and a gun in the other. He was born, June 19, 1861, the youngest son +of John Haig, a local Justice of the Peace. His mother was a Veitch of +Midlothian. + +The family, while not wealthy, was comfortably situated. The Haig +children grew up as countrywise rather than townbred, having many a +romp over the rolling country leading to the Highlands. But more than +once on such a jaunt would come the inquiry: "Where's Douglas?" (We +doubt whether they ever shortened it to "Doug," as they would have done +in America.) And back would come the answer: "Oh, he stayed by the +house, the morn. He got a new book frae the library, ye ken." + +Douglas was, indeed, bookish and was inclined to favor the inglenook +rather than the heather. As he grew older he discovered a strong +liking for books on theology. It was the old Presbyterian streak +cropping out. + +The last thing one would expect from such a boy, was to become a +soldier. A divinity student, yes,--perhaps a college professor--but a +soldier, never! Yet it was to soldiering that this quiet boy turned. + +The one thing which linked him up with the field was horsemanship. He +was always a devotee of riding, and soon learned to ride well, with a +natural ease and grace. + +He received a general education at Clifton, then entered Brasenose +College, Oxford, at the age of twenty. He was never a +"hail-fellow-well-met" sort of person. Reserve was his hallmark. But +the longer he stayed in college, the more of an outdoorsman he became. +Every afternoon would find him mounted on his big gray horse for a +gallop across the moors, or perhaps an exciting canter behind the +hounds on the scent of a fox. It was then that his habitual reserve +would melt away, and he would wave his hat and cheer like a high-school +boy. + +The record of his classes is in no sense remarkable. He turned in neat +and precise papers, without making shining marks in any particular +study. Literature and science were his best subjects. + +"Well, son, how goes it now?" his father would ask. "Ready to make a +lawyer out of yourself?" + +Douglas would shake his head. He could never share his father's +enthusiasm for the law. "I guess not, father," he would reply quietly. +"Somehow, I am not built that way. I want a try at soldier life." + +So his father let him follow his bent, and procured for him a position +in the Seventh Regiment of Hussars. His career as a soldier was +threatened at the outset by the refusal of the medical board to admit +him to the Staff College on the ground that he was color-blind; but +this decision was over-ruled by the Duke of Cambridge, then +commander-in-chief, who nominated him personally. This was in 1885. +England was then as nearly at peace as she ever became, and it seemed +that young Haig was destined to become a feather-bed soldier. + +But it was not for long. They presently began to stir up trouble down +in Egypt, and England found, as on many previous occasions, that she +didn't have half enough regulars for the job in hand. The revolt of +the Mahdi had occurred, Khartoum had fallen, and the brave Gordon had +lost his life. + +A relief expedition into the Soudan was organized under the command of +a tall, stern soldier named Kitchener, who began his first preparations +to march into the interior about the time that Haig was putting on his +first Hussar uniform. + +The campaign in Egypt dragged, despite the zeal of the leader. In +disgust, Kitchener returned to England to demand more men. The request +was at last granted, and by December, 1888, he was in command of a +force of over 4,000 troops, of which number 750 were British regulars! +Those were indeed the days of the "Little Contemptibles," but right +manfully they measured up to their tasks. And in the British force was +the Seventh Hussars, including Haig. He was about to achieve his +life's ambition, at last--to see real service as a British soldier. + +Haig was then a well-knit young man of twenty-seven. His outdoor +exercise had browned and hardened him, until he looked thoroughly fit +for the exacting job ahead. He was slightly under medium size, but +tough and wiry to the last degree. His shoulders were broad, his head +well set, and the bulging calves of his legs showed the born +cavalryman. He had fair, almost sandy hair, a close-cropped mustache, +and steel-blue eyes which met honestly and unflinchingly the gaze of +any with whom he talked. He looked then, as in later years, "every +inch a soldier," and speedily won the confidence of his superiors. + +The silent Kitchener, who was a keen judge of men, soon took a fancy to +this quiet young lieutenant. A friendship sprang up between them, that +was destined to bear far-reaching fruit. The two men were both +reserved in demeanor, but in a different sort of way. Kitchener was +taciturn and often inclined to growl. Haig was a man of few words and +no intimates, but greeted all with a pleasant smile. To this young +Scotsman Kitchener unbent more than was his wont, and was actually seen +shaking hands with him, at parting, on a later occasion; which all goes +to show that even commanding officers can be human. + +On the march into the Soudan, Kitchener was in command of the Egyptian +Cavalry also. The Khedive was exceedingly anxious that the rebellion +be crushed speedily, and had made Kitchener the "sirdar." One of the +first actions in this campaign was the Battle of Gemaizeh. Three +brigades were sent to storm the forts held by the dervishes, and a +heavy and sustained fire from three sides soon drove the enemy out in +disorder. Some 500 dervishes were slain, and the remainder numbering +several thousand fled across the desert toward Handub--closely pursued +by the British Hussars and the Egyptian cavalry. + +This was only the first of many such actions. Further and further +south the rebels were driven. Kitchener pushed a light railroad across +the desert as he advanced, so that he would not suffer from the same +mistake which had ended Gordon--getting cut off from his base of +supplies. + +And in the thick of it was Haig--learning the actual trade of war in +these frequent brushes on the desert--riding hard by day, sleeping the +sleep of exhaustion at night. On more than one occasion the Chief sent +him on a special quest with important messages, and always Haig got +through. He seemed to bear a charmed life. "Lucky Haig," the men +began to call him, and the title stuck. + +Entering the desert as a Lieutenant, he was promoted to Captain, then +brevetted a Major. He was mentioned in the despatches for bravery, and +won a medal from the Khedive. + +All this was not done in a few short months. The Egyptian campaign +stretched into years, and at times must have seemed fearfully +monotonous to these soldiers so far removed from home comforts. Here +is the way one writer describes the Soudan: + +"The scenery, it must be owned, was monotonous, and yet not without +haunting beauty. Mile on mile, hour on hour, we glided through sheer +desert. Yellow sand to right and left--now stretching away endlessly, +now a valley between small broken hills. Sometimes the hills sloped +away from us, then they closed in again. Now they were diaphanous blue +on the horizon, now soft purple as we ran under their flanks. But +always they were steeped through and through with sun--hazy, immobile, +silent." + +One of the culminating battles of the campaign was that of Atbara, +where the backbone of the dervish rebellion was broken. It is +estimated that here 8,000 dervishes were killed, 2,000 wounded, and +2,000 made prisoners. The battle began with a bombardment by the field +guns. Then came the British cavalry at a gallop--the Camerons in +front, and columns of Warwicks, Seaforths, and Lincolns behind. +Bugles, bagpipes, and the instruments of the native regiments made +strange music as the army pressed forward intent on reaching the river +bank. + +The native stockades were reinforced with thorn bushes, but these were +torn away by the men, with their bare hands, in their eagerness to +advance. Haig's regiment was one of the first to penetrate, but once +past the stockade they encountered many of the defenders who put up a +fierce fight. Several British officers lost their lives, and it was +due to Haig's agility and presence of mind that he was not at the least +severely wounded. Two dervishes attacked him at once from opposite +sides. One aimed a slashing blow at his head with a scimitar. Haig +quickly ducked and the scimitar went crashing against the weapon of the +other dervish. Haig's luck again! + +Others were not so fortunate. "Never mind me, lads, go on," said Major +Urquhart with his dying breath. "Go on, my company, and give it to +them," gasped Captain Findlay as he fell. At the head of the attacking +party strode Piper Stewart, playing "The March of the Cameron Men," +until five bullets laid him low. Truly the spirit of the fiery old +Covenanters was there! + +The final battle of the Soudanese campaign, Khartoum, put the finishing +touches to the rebellion, and gave to Kitchener the title "K. of +K."--Kitchener of Khartoum. This battle was noteworthy in employing +the cavalry in an open charge across the plains against the dervish +infantry. It was just such a charge as a skilled horseman such as Haig +would keenly enjoy, despite the danger. Winston Churchill, the British +Minister, thus describes it: + +"The heads of the squadrons wheeled slowly to the left, and the +Lancers, breaking into a trot, began to cross the dervish front in +column of troops. Thereupon and with one accord the blue-clad men +dropped on their knees, and there burst out a loud, crackling fire of +musketry. It was hardly possible to miss such a target at such a +range. Horses and men fell at once. The only course was plain and +welcome to all. The Colonel, nearer than his regiment, already saw +what lay behind the skirmishers. He ordered 'Right wheel into line' to +be sounded. The trumpet jerked out a shrill note, heard faintly above +the trampling of the horses and the noise of the rifles. On the +instant the troops swung round and locked up into a long, galloping +line. + +"Two hundred and fifty yards away, the dark blue men were firing madly +in a thin film of light-blue smoke. Their bullets struck the hard +gravel into the air, and the troopers, to shield their faces from the +stinging dust, bowed their helmets forward, like the Cuirassiers at +Waterloo. The pace was fast and the distance short. Yet before it was +half covered the whole aspect of the affair changed. A deep crease in +the ground--a dry watercourse, a _khor_--appeared where all had seemed +smooth, level plain; and from it there sprang, with the suddenness of a +pantomime effect and a high-pitched yell, a dense white mass of men +nearly as long as our front and about twelve deep. A score of horsemen +and a dozen bright flags rose as if by magic from the earth. The +Lancers acknowledged the apparition only by an increase of pace." + +In such a melee as then followed, that trooper was lucky indeed who +escaped without a scratch. + +As a result of his bravery at Atbara and Khartoum, Haig's name was +mentioned in the official despatches. He returned to England wearing +the Khedive's medal and the honorary title of Major. + +It is probable, however, that little more would have been heard of him, +had not the South African War broken out, soon after. It is the lot of +military men to vegetate in days of peace. They live upon action. +Haig was no exception to this rule. He welcomed new fields. He went +to South Africa as aide and right-hand man to Sir John French--the +general whom he was to succeed in later years on the battlefields of +France. + +In this war, Haig is not credited with many personal exploits. His was +essentially a thinking part. Yet he served as chief of staff in a +series of minor but important operations about Colesburg, which +prepared the way for Roberts's advance. As usual Haig pinned his faith +upon the cavalry. All his life he had made a close study of this arm +of the service, and was of opinion that it was not utilized in modern +warfare nearly so much as it should be. He was a warm admirer of the +American officer, J. E. B. Stuart, the Confederate General whose +dashing tactics turned the scale in so many encounters. + +Now he tried the same strategy in the operations around Colesburg--and +paved the way for later victory. + +Haig somewhat resembled another Southern leader, Stonewall Jackson, in +his piety. It was not ostentatious, but simply part and parcel of the +man, due to his Presbyterian training. Haig did not swear or gamble or +dance all night. He was more apt to be found in his tent, when off +duty, either reading or writing. + +They tell of him that, one day at the officers' mess, after a +particularly lively brush with the Boers, the quartermaster asked him +if he had lost anything. + +"Yes," replied Haig solemnly, "my Bible!" + +Not once did his countenance relax its gravity, as he met the grinning +faces across the table. + +But despite their chaffing, there was not a man there who did not +respect the courage of his convictions, no less than the bravery of the +man himself. Almost daily he risked his life in these cavalry +operations--until the "Haig luck" became a watchword. + +The end of the South African War found Haig promoted to acting Adjutant +General of the Cavalry, and soon after his return home he was made +Lieutenant Colonel, in command of the Seventeenth Lancers. This was in +1901. + +About this time he paid a visit to Germany, then at peace and +professing a warm affection for England. One result of this visit was +a letter which showed him possessed with wonderful powers of analysis +and foresight. He practically predicted the war that was to come. He +summed up his observations in a long letter to a friend which, in the +light of events of the War, is little short of uncanny. It gave the +German plan with a mastery of detail, shrewd prophecy, and earnest +warning. The future commander-in-chief of the British armies in France +was convinced of the certainty of the conflict and besought the +authorities to make better preparation--but his warnings fell upon deaf +ears. + +It required thirteen years to demonstrate the truth of Haig's +predictions, and then the blow fell. The Kaiser viewed his strong +hosts and boasted that he would soon wipe out England's "contemptible +little army." He very nearly did so, and would certainly have +succeeded, had it not been for the fighting spirit of such men as Haig. + +During the intervening years since the South African campaign he had +risen by fairly rapid stages to Inspector-General of the Cavalry in +India--a situation which he handled with great skill for three +years--then Major General, and Lieutenant General. + +At the outbreak of the World War, he was hurriedly sent to France, +under the command of Sir John French, his old leader in Africa. French +was generosity itself in his praise of Haig in these early days of +disaster. + +In the retreat from Mons it was "the skilful manner in which Sir +Douglas Haig extricated his corps from an exceptionally difficult +position in the darkness of the night," that won his laudation. At the +Aisne, on September 14, 1914, "the action of the First Corps on this +day, under the direction and command of Sir Douglas Haig, was of so +skilful, bold, and decisive a character, that he gained positions which +alone have enabled me to maintain my position for more than three weeks +of very severe fighting on the north bank of the river." + +In the first battle of Ypres, the chief honors of victory were again +awarded to him: + +"Throughout this trying period, Sir Douglas Haig, aided by his +divisional commanders and his brigade commanders, held the line with +marvelous tenacity and undaunted courage." + +Again and again, the generous French pays tribute to his friend, which +while deserved reflects no less honor upon the speaker. He was big +enough to share honor. + +It is not strange, therefore, when French was superseded, for strategic +reasons, that Haig should have been given the chief command. The +appointment, however, left most of the world frankly amazed. Haig had +come forward so quietly that few save those in official circles knew +anything about him. It was nevertheless but a matter of weeks, +possibly days, before a quiet confidence born of the man himself was +manifest everywhere. + +One war correspondent who visited headquarters in the midst of the +War's turmoil, thus describes his visit: + +"The environment of the Commander-in-chief is strongly suggestive of +his conduct of the war. Before war became a thing of precise science, +the headquarters of an army head seethed with all the picturesque +details so common to pictures of martial life. Couriers mounted on +foam-flecked horses dashed to and fro. The air was vibrant with +action; the fate of battle showed on the face of the humblest orderly. +But today 'G. H. Q.'--as headquarters are familiarly known--are totally +different. Although army units have risen from thousands to millions +of men, and fields of operations stretch from sea to sea, and more +ammunition is expended in a single engagement than was employed in +entire wars of other days, absolute serenity prevails. It is only when +your imagination conjures up the picture of flame and fury that lies +beyond the horizon line that you get a thrill. + +"An occasional motorcar driven by a soldier-chauffeur chugs up the +gravel road to the chateau and from it emerge earnest-faced officers +whose visits are usually brief. Neither time nor words are wasted when +myriad lives hang in the balance and an empire is at stake. Inside and +out there is an atmosphere of quiet confidence, born of unobtrusive +efficiency." + +The same writer on meeting Haig says: "I found myself in a presence +that, even without the slightest clue to its profession, would have +unconsciously impressed itself as military. Dignity, distinction, and +a gracious reserve mingle in his bearing. I have rarely seen a +masculine face so handsome and yet so strong. His hair and mustache +are fair, and his clear, almost steely-blue eyes search you, but not +unkindly. His chest is broad and deep, yet scarcely broad enough for +the rows of service and order ribbons that plant a mass of color +against the background of khaki. . . . + +"Into every detail of daily life at General Headquarters the +Commander's character is impressed. After lunch, for example, he +spends an hour alone, and in this period of meditation the whole +fateful panorama of the war passes before him. When it is over the +wires splutter and the fierce life of the coming night--the Army does +not begin to fight until most people go to sleep--is ordained. + +"This finished, the brief period of respite begins. Rain or shine, his +favorite horse is brought up to the door, and he goes for a ride, +usually accompanied by one or two young staff-officers. I have seen +Sir Douglas Haig galloping along those smooth French roads, head up, +eyes ahead--a memorable figure of grace and motion. He rides like +those latter-day centaurs--the Australian ranger and the American +cowboy. He seems part of his horse." + +Such was the man who did his full share in turning the German tide. +Throughout the four long years of war, he faced the enemy with a calm +courage which if it ever wavered gave no outward sign. And that is one +reason why the Little Contemptibles grew and grew until they became a +mighty barrier stretching across the pathway of the invader from sea to +sea, and saying with their Allies: + +"You shall not pass!" + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN HAIG'S LIFE + + 1861. June 19. Douglas Haig born. + 1880. Entered Brasenose College, Oxford. + 1885. Joined 7th Hussars, British army. + 1898. Served in Soudan, mentioned in despatches, and + brevetted major. + 1899. Served in South Africa. D. A. A. G. for cavalry; + then staff officer to General French. + 1901. Lieutenant-colonel commanding 17th Lancers. + 1903. Inspector-general, cavalry, India. + 1904. Major-general. + 1910. Lieutenant-general. + 1914. General, commanding First Army in France. + 1915. Commander-in-chief of British forces. + 1917. Field marshal. + 1919. Created an earl. + 1928. January 30. Died in England. + + + + +JOFFRE + +THE COOPER'S SON WHO REMADE THE ARMIES OF FRANCE + +"Let's name him Joseph," said Gilles Joffre to his wife, as they viewed +their first child with much pride. + +"That doesn't seem to be enough," responded Mme. Joffre. So unusual a +baby deserved better treatment, she thought. + +"Then how about Joseph Jacques? That's a good, sensible sounding name." + +"That sounds well," she admitted, "but still it lacks something. I'll +tell you. Let's call him Joseph Jacques Cesaire." + +"Sounds like a soldier," said the father. + +"Well, who knows? Perhaps he will be a general some day," Mme. Joffre +replied. + +So the infant who lay quietly blinking on his natal day, January 12, +1852, was to be known as Joseph to his friends; but tucked away in his +name for future reference was Cesaire--as the French folk pronounced the +name of the great Roman conqueror. + +Truly there was nothing very auspicious in the start of Joseph Joffre. +His father was merely a cooper in a straggling hillside town of the +Pyrenees in Southern France, Rivesaltas--but he was a good cooper. His +neighbors had a saying that is preserved to this day: "Barrels as good as +those made by old Gilles Joffre." + +The town itself had some six thousand inhabitants, and was situated on +the River Agly, about nine miles from the city of Perpignan. The Joffre +home was a very plain and humble dwelling set alongside of the cooper +shop, and neither better nor worse than its neighbors--but the well-to-do +workman of today would turn up his nose at it. Nevertheless in this home +were born eleven children, the oldest of whom was the future Marshal of +France. And the father continued to live there for thirty years or more. + +It is related of him that even as a baby Joseph never cried, but endured +his various troubles with silent stoicism. As he grew older, this trait +of silence became ingrown; it was alluded to as "Joffre's taciturnity." +But as a matter of fact the gift of silence in him as both boy and man +did not indicate a sullen or unfriendly disposition. It was merely that +he had his head in the clouds. He made a life job of _thinking_--like +the seated statue by Rodin. + +As one result of this trait, little is reported concerning his childhood. +No anecdotes are related of him at all, except one doubtful story about a +fight which he had with a schoolmate. The latter wanted him to stop and +take part in some game. Joffre replied that he didn't have time. The +other fellow came back with a taunt--and then Joseph "waded in." + +He did not have any chums for the same reason, lack of time, and +doubtless he missed a great deal out of boyhood from this fact. It is +said that in the study hall he would erect a great pile of books between +himself and the next boy, so as not to be disturbed. Yet he didn't shine +particularly as a student. He was simply busy--thinking. + +It was not until he was sent to college at Perpignan, that he really +began to take an interest in books, and his favorites were the more solid +studies--algebra, descriptive geometry, surveying, and draftsmanship. +His bent even at this early day seemed to be civil engineering. + +The ambition of every middle-class French home, in those days, was to +send a son to the army--have him study to become an officer. Mamma +Joffre had not forgotten the Caesar in her oldest son's name; and in a +family conclave it was decided that he should be sent to Paris, to try +for the entrance examinations in the Ecole Polytechnique. + +Gilles Joffre accompanied his son to the capital, and left him in a +private school. Like his son, the cooper was a man of few words; but +what he must have done at parting was to clap the boy on the shoulder, +and say: "Now, go to it!" + +Joseph Joffre did. When he returned to his boyhood's home, only four +years later, he was wearing the shoulder straps of a lieutenant, and had +seen active service. But this is getting ahead of our story. + +There was really nothing else for him to do but to "go to it" here in +Paris. He was a big, hulking lad of fifteen, with a bullet head set upon +a thick neck and broad shoulders--an awkward figure dressed in +ill-fitting clothes. All his life Joffre paid little attention to dress. +Here at the awkward age he looked out of place with the well-dressed city +boys. They tried to have fun at his expense, but he withdrew into his +shell more than ever, and they soon learned to let him alone. + +It must have been a lonely life that young Joffre led--but we have no +direct evidence that he ever felt lonely. His books and his day dreams +seem always to have made up for a lack of human companionship. The other +fellows contented themselves with saying of him: "He is too slow, and +methodical to amount to much." + +He did not, indeed, make a specially brilliant record in his entrance +examinations to the Polytechnique; but his stumbling block was not +mathematics or science, it was--German! He never could abide the +language! + +Joseph Joffre entered this famous military training school in 1869, at +the age of seventeen. Within a few months the school course was broken +up by the German invasion, and Joffre with other cadets promptly +volunteered for service. Much to the delight of his family, he was made +a second lieutenant, attached to the Engineering Corps. His first +practical field work was in throwing up fortifications in defence of +Paris. But the Germans were not to be stopped by Joffre in their march +on the French capital at this time. That was reserved for a later day +and another war. + +The short but terrible conflict of 1870 over, Joffre returned to college, +and graduated therefrom in 1872, with the rank of full lieutenant. One +of his classmates of this time was Ferdinand Foch, but if the two future +Marshals there became acquainted no story of their meeting has come down +to us. + +Joffre's first work at fort building had been so well done that +immediately upon graduation the government set him to work. The memory +of the stinging German defeat was with them stirring them to action. +They wanted defenses everywhere. Joffre was employed upon them at Paris, +Versailles, Montpellier, and even in faraway Brittany--until he was +disposed to grumble at his fate. + +"This is all very fine," he said; "but I don't want to spend the rest of +my days building forts. I want to command troops and see some real +fighting." + +It was the Caesar cropping up in him again. + +Without question he was a born builder of fortifications. One day the +great Marshal MacMahon came by on a tour of inspection, and was much +delighted with a series of defenses he had built near Paris. + +"I congratulate you, Monsieur le Capitaine!" he said. + +By one sentence he had promoted the young lieutenant to a captaincy. + +It was about this time that a fall from his horse very nearly cut short +his military career. He was so severely injured that the doctors feared +that his mind was affected, and he was sent home for a complete rest. + +At home he did not complain--that was not his nature--but he spent +several days pacing back and forth in his little upper room. Then came a +day when he burst in to the downstairs room where sat his parents, his +face beaming--showing the strain which he had overcome. + +"It's all right, mon pere!" he cried joyfully. "I have solved it. I +will get well!" + +What he had been doing was to set himself an abstruse and difficult +problem in mathematics, in order to see if his brain would respond. It +did so, he solved it and thus had no more fears as to his own ultimate +recovery. + +Another story told by his sister, of these early army days, shows further +his power of mental abstraction. + +"My brother was always lost in thought," says Mme. Artus. "No matter +what he did, his thoughts never left him. Once they caused his arrest as +a spy." + +It seems that at Vauban, not far away from his home town of Rivesaltas, +they were constructing a fort. Joffre sauntered over to inspect it. He +was clad in civilian dress and he evinced so much interest in what was +going on that the commanding officer promptly seized him for a suspicious +character. + +"Did my brother protest? Not he. But when they brought him before the +military court, his Catalonian brogue was enough to convince anybody as +to where he was born. + +"'Why didn't you tell them who you were?' I asked him. + +"'Too busy thinking about the fort,' was his reply." + +One other anecdote of this time has come down to us and is worth +repeating. His father had bought a piece of farm land that was badly in +need of ditching, in order to drain it properly during the wet season, +and irrigate it during the dry. The son sketched out a scheme of cross +trenches, but his father demurred--then Joseph exploded: + +"Trenches! What the devil! I know all about trenches; trenches are my +specialty." + +The Great War of later years was to show whether or not this confidence +in his own abilities was misplaced. + +By the year 1884, his reputation as a builder of trenches and forts was +firmly established, although official promotion had come slowly. When +Admiral Courbet telegraphed to the Home Office from the Isle of Formosa +for a reliable officer to place in charge of this work, Joffre was sent. +He spent nearly a year there and it was a year of the hardest kind of +work. He could get only indifferent help, so he worked early and late to +make up the deficit. + +From there he was sent on similar work to the province of Tonkin, +Indo-China. Here he practically rebuilt the town of Hanoi, clearing and +guttering the streets, draining the neighboring marshes which had made +the settlement a pest-hole, and building permanent roads. The town of +Vietri was similarly cleaned up. + +For these important labors he received the first recognition in nearly +ten years. He was given official thanks, and decorated with the cross of +the Legion of Honor. + +A fellow officer who knew him at this time says: "Captain Joffre was a +solidly-built Pyrenean, calm and clear-headed, with a firm walk and a +hard blue eye. He seldom smiled and he spoke still more rarely. He +never punished except in extreme cases, and then hard. Natives feared +him for his silence, but loved him for his justice." + +This portrait of him about a quarter of a century before the Great War is +easily recognizable in the commander of the later day. + +In 1891 he paralleled the career of General Foch somewhat by taking a +professor's chair. He was appointed instructor in fortifications at the +Military School at Fontainebleau, where he remained for two years. The +work did not appeal to him particularly and he is spoken of there as a +thorough teacher, but not popular. He had not mingled enough with others +to get their point of view. + +A welcome change from this was a summons from headquarters to go to +Timbuctoo, and help suppress a native rebellion. It was all the more +welcome as here, for the first time, he was promised a chance to do some +real fighting. + +Timbuctoo was then being overrun by the Tuaregs, a tribe of terrible +brigands called "the veiled men" of Western Soudan. They had massacred +the European settlers, and ended by killing two French officers, Colonel +Bonnier and Lieutenant Boiteux, who had recently headed expeditions +against them. It was a wild and treacherous land, and the relief +expedition would scarcely have child's play of it. + +Joffre went at it without the slightest misgiving. Like many another +soldier he was a firm believer in "Luck," and here certainly the fates +were propitious. He set forth on his journey from Segou, on Christmas +Day, 1893, commanding a force of thirty French and three hundred natives. +They crossed deadly swamps and dry, trackless deserts. There were some +deaths by the wayside, but Joffre pushed on. His progress was slow, as +he stopped to make friends with native chiefs, and enlist their aid where +possible. + +At last they reached Timbuctoo, only to find orders awaiting them to +"prepare for evacuation," in the face of a threatening Tuareg army. +Joffre for once disobeyed orders, and decided, instead, to attack. He +did so, and administered a crushing defeat to the brigands. He followed +this up so thoroughly, that the whole district was restored to peace. + +Then the soldier gave place to the engineer. He cleaned up the town (in +another sense) and returned home. + +"Luck was on my side," he said briefly after receiving official +congratulations, and the rank of lieutenant colonel. "I might have met +the fate of Bonnier and Boiteux, had the Goddess of Good Fortune not +attended me." + +But those who knew him believed that it was something more than luck. + +That Joffre was a fatalist is evinced by another incident of this march +in Soudan. An insect's sting had poisoned his left eye so severely that +the sight was threatened. The doctor of the force advised him to wear a +bandage. Joffre would not agree. + +"I could not command my troops if I were blindfolded," he said. + +"Then it must be blue glasses," said the doctor. + +But eyeglass shops are not found in the desert, and Joffre went on +without protection. A few days later a soldier received a packet from +home and brought it to him. It was a pair of blue glasses! + +"I told you that I was in luck," said Joffre. + +However, he narrowly escaped blindness, and ever afterward a thin +veil-like film covered the injured eye. + +One result of the Timbuctoo campaign was an official report written by +Joffre, and afterwards published in book form under the title +(translated) "Operations of the Joffre Column before and after the +Capture of Timbuctoo." The story is a straightforward soldierly +narrative. One French critic recently said of it, apropos of Joffre's +election to the French Academy, a rather unique honor: "I defy anybody +who knows the pleasure which words can give us in evoking things, to deny +that this report is a piece of most effective writing. . . . With Joffre +who has no idea or desire to give us 'fine writing,' the effect produced +is that of reality itself. The names of the tribes he meets or describes +take on a strange virtue, as if we heard them on the spot. Even the +French officers' names scattered over a narrative from which all attempt +at picturesqueness is banished, produce picturesqueness. . . . On the +whole he is a primitive, and with all the primitive's simple charm and +power." + +After the Soudanese adventure, came a trip to Madagascar--this time, more +fort constructing, from which it seemed that he could never escape. The +problem down there was a vexatious one, due to a do-nothing policy of a +predecessor. Things were in bad shape. Joffre arrived, after a long sea +voyage, gave one look around, and then things began to happen. + +"If men are responsible for this disorder," he said sententiously, "it is +easy to suppose that men can restore the needed order." + +And the forts and barracks went up in record time. + +"We never expected to see that job done," reports one soldier. "The +thing was so old that it had cobwebs over it. When Joffre took hold it +went up by magic." + +They concocted another saying about him, down in that distant island, +which was: + +"There goes old man System!" + +At another time an officer remarked: "Joffre wants what he wants when he +wants it--and furthermore he knows why he wants it!" + +In 1901, at the century's turn, and when he was rounding out his half +century, his long-delayed promotions began to arrive. He was made +Brigadier General, and thenceforth began to forge rapidly to the front. +One reason for his slow advancement was that he was no politician or +time-server. He never pushed himself forward. And so much of his work +was done in remote provinces that the General Staff hardly knew him at +all. We remember, too, that he had made no friends at school, who would +follow his career, or speak a good word for him in official ears. + +When he did at last receive recognition it was upon absolute merit. But +when he reached the General Staff, the remark was frequently heard: "Who +is this Joffre? We never heard of him." + +It was not long, however, before he made his presence felt in Paris +official circles. They came to depend more and more upon this stocky, +hard-headed Gascon and his opinions. He never minced words and he went +to the root of the matter. + +In 1911, when the need was universally felt, of a thorough reorganization +of the French army--a much-needed house-cleaning--they cast about for +some man big enough for the job. In a conference General Pau, a warm +adherent of Joffre, shook his single good fist in the faces of the Staff +officers, and exclaimed: "There is only one man who can do the job!" + +So they sent for Joffre and made him chief of the General Staff, with +full power to reorganize. It was well for France that they did so, and +fortunate that he had three full years to work before the blow fell, and +the invaders were again at their gates. + +"No German could be more thorough than Joffre," said one officer. "For +him no lasting results can be obtained without the utmost care. He has +limitless patience, joined with a wonderful breadth of view. His methods +resemble the head of a great business." + +In his intricate work of reconstructing the army, he revealed another, +and surprising side to his nature. From being cold and aloof, he showed +a human sympathy for his men, down to the last private. It was as though +the man who had held himself aloof from intimates wanted to take the +whole French army into his heart. And the men responded with an +affection and a confidence which were later to produce the fine results +of leadership in the War. He was no longer "Joffre the Silent," but +"Papa Joffre." + +Says one writer: "Joffre is the soldier of democracy. That is why he +sets America aflame with enthusiasm, as he did France. His thickset +frame, firmly knit and vigorous, his clear eyes, which observe you from +beneath bushy eyebrows, his firm and kindly mouth, his bristling +mustache, the simplicity of his manners, his clean-cut, reserved +language,--all that goes to show that there is nothing in him of bluster +and affectation. He is truly 'Papa Joffre,' the father and even the +grandfather of the _poilus_. It is the _poilu_ himself beneath the white +_panache_ of this unique Marshal of France." + +When in 1914 the Germans struck, they anticipated an easy march upon +Paris--such as that of forty odd years before. But this time a different +Joffre stood in their path. In place of the young lieutenant not yet out +of his 'teens, they found a grizzled veteran who matched them with +methods as thorough-going as their own, but who preferred to control his +men by love rather than fear. + +"Your French soldiers are brave," said one German officer contemptuously, +"but as for discipline--bah! Our legions will brush you aside." + +"Our men may not have the machine-like discipline that you affect," was +the French officer's reply. "But we replace it with something far +better--a love of country that will cause us to sacrifice the last drop +of blood." + +"But your great Generals--where are they?" asked the other. + +"They will make themselves felt in due time. At their head stands one +who is yet to fight his first great battle--yet I advise you not to +arouse him!" + +The world knows the rest of the story of that mighty invasion--how the +black, invading line curved onward and inward until it threw its shadow +upon Paris. Then when the final blow was about to be struck--the +coup-de-grace as the Germans firmly believed--up from the South came the +army of Joffre. It had retreated and retreated, until the moment for its +counter-blow. + +Now with the precision of a sledge-hammer it struck, and struck +again--until the surprised enemy turned and fell back. Paris was saved. + +In the gallery of the world's great soldiers, the homely, kindly figure +of Joffre may well find place. He seems to occupy a niche quite by +himself. He is not spectacular, nor a "hero," but a simple man among +men, whose results are built upon a lifetime of patient endeavor. + +He is Rodin's statue of "The Thinker" come to life. + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN JOFFRE'S LIFE + + 1852. January 12. Joseph Jacques Cesaire Joffre born. + 1867. Entered preparatory military school, Paris. + 1869. Entered Polytechnic Academy. + 1870. Volunteered in army to defend Paris against Prussians. + 1870. Commissioned second-lieutenant. + 1876. Commissioned captain for work on fortifications. + 1884. Sent to Formosa to construct barracks and trenches. + 1885. Decorated, Legion of Honor, Tonkin. + 1891. Professor in military school, Fontainebleau. + 1893. Sent to Madagascar on construction work. + 1894. Headed expedition to Timbuctoo. + 1901. Brigadier-general. + 1911. Chief of general staff. + 1914. Commander-in-chief, French army. + 1916. Marshal of France. + + + + +FOCH + +THE SCHOOLMASTER IN WAR + +To wait until one is sixty-three years old before even smelling +powder--and then to find oneself in command of the greatest allied army +that the world has ever seen--such is the remarkable story of the +French General, Ferdinand Foch. His life, like that of more than one +famous soldier is a bundle of paradoxes, or contradictions, but prove +once again that "truth is stranger than fiction." + +Those of us who know and love Dumas's swashbuckling hero, D'Artagnan, +will remember that he was a Gascon and always spoiling for a fight. +Foch was another Gascon who passed threescore years of his life +peacefully enough--but when he did get into the fight at last, it was a +"corker"! + +The Gascony of France and Spain--for it is in the Pyrenees separating +the two countries--has produced some famous men, other than Foch--and +D'Artagnan. In the fighting days of the Republic and the First Empire, +it gave to France Murat, Marbot, and Bessieres. From Gascony at a +later day came "Papa" Joffre to do his sturdy bit in saving France. + +The ancestral home of the Foch family is on the Garonne River, among +the foothills of the Pyrenees. Here the river is hardly more than a +trout stream threading its way down the wooded slopes or murmuring +through the valleys. It is just such a spot as any boy would like to +call "home." + +The father of Ferdinand Foch had been born here during the days of the +First Empire, when the fame of the Corsican was ringing around the +world--and had consequently been christened Napoleon. He married the +daughter of one of Bonaparte's officers, Colonel Dupre, and the family +were naturally ardent loyalists. To Napoleon Foch and Sophie Dupre +were born four children, a daughter and three sons, and the second son +was christened Ferdinand. The father at this time had entered the +French civil service, and in 1851, when Ferdinand was born, was at +Tarbes in the Upper Pyrenees, as secretary of the prefecture. + +The family name of Foch does not sound French, and as pronounced in +Gascony with a hard guttural sound it is more like German. It would +seem to indicate that in an earlier day the ancestors had lived on the +Rhine. Up in northern France they have softened the name to sound like +"Fush." The meaning of the name is said to be "Fire"--and certainly +the Germans kindled a greater fire than they could quench, when their +invasion produced the quiet leader with this flaming name. + +Napoleon Foch did not rise very high in his official positions. His +work was chiefly clerical and caused him to remove from one town to +another. He did not want to lose sight of his boys, by placing them in +an academy, but kept them with him, placing them in first one public +school and then another, as he was compelled to move. The first school +that Ferdinand attended was the old college at Tarbes, where he +remained until ten or eleven years old. The family home at Valentine, +in the country, was always visited in the summer and other holiday +seasons, and here the youngsters had many a romp. Their father on his +infrequent visits home would enter into the sport like one of them. + +A favorite excursion was up one of the neighboring hills to a cliff +known as the Bout du Puig, which commanded a wonderful view up and down +the valley. Here they would take their lunch and feel like true +mountaineers. + +From Tarbes, the family moved to Polignac, where Napoleon Foch was +Public Treasurer. After Ferdinand and his brothers had attended the +school at this place for a time, they removed to the town of Rodez--and +another school. + +In these early days Foch was on a par with the average schoolboy, +neither better nor worse, if local records are to be believed. He did, +however, win an honorable mention at Tarbes for good work in the +general course, consisting of geography, history, Latin, and theology. + +At twelve he began to show a decided bent for mathematics, that _sine +qua non_ of the successful soldier. He had also developed into a great +reader, but preferred history to works of fiction. One of his chief +military heroes was, quite naturally, Napoleon, and he must have taken +part in imagination with the charge of the Old Guard at Waterloo, or +thrilled at the tale of Austerlitz. But never in the wildest flights +of his imagination could he have dreamed of commanding a far greater +army than was ever assembled under the eagles of Napoleon. + +In 1867, at the age of sixteen, another change came in his schooling. +His father was stationed at St. Etienne near Lyons, and Ferdinand was +entered at St. Michel, a Jesuit college near by. Here he studied for +his university examinations, and made his choice of a life +profession--and it is not strange to note that he decided to be a +soldier. The choice made, his future studies, as is the way in French +colleges, were planned to follow specialized lines. It was not alone +necessary to choose the army, for example,--one must select a certain +branch of the army. Foch's aptitude at mathematics led him to take up +the artillery. + +The principal school of this branch of the service was the Ecole +Polytechnique, at Paris, but a stiff entrance examination was required +here. So Foch decided to do preliminary work at St. Clement's College, +Metz, a training school with a high reputation. + +In those days the city and fortress of Metz were on French soil. This +was just before the short but memorable Franco-Prussian War, but +already the air was rife with rumors of an impending conflict. The +French, however, were undisturbed. They thought, and expressed the +open opinion that it would be fought out on the other side of the +Rhine, and that the peace terms would be dictated in Berlin. + +Metz! How much history does the name suggest in the light of the Great +War! If the young artillery student could have foreseen the backward +and forward swing of the pendulum, as exemplified in that ancient city, +how his blood would have quickened! + +The summer of 1870 arrived. Ferdinand Foch, a well-grown lad of +nineteen, went home to St. Etienne on his first vacation. It had been +his first year away from home, and there must have been a joyful +reunion. But over the vacation season hung a war cloud. In the middle +of July, France was persuaded to declare war. Her first great clash +with Germany was on. + +The news, however, was not displeasing to Ferdinand. He had supreme +confidence in the ability of the trained French army to subdue the +"Prussian militia." All France had been soundly fooled as to the +extent of the German preparedness. Foch thought of Metz as the +starting point of the war which was to wage its victorious course +eastward. But the reverse soon proved to be the case. From Metz the +Germans drove westward into France. The school at St. Clement was +transformed into a military hospital. Ferdinand remained at home +watching the turn of events with surprised eyes. When the defeat at +Sedan came, in September, it seemed to him like the end of the world. + +Then came the frantic call from Paris for new troops. Young Foch was +one of the first to respond to this appeal. He could do his bit, at +any rate, and once the Second Army was assembled, the invader would +see! But alas! he was destined to do no fighting. For four months he +remained with his regiment, a high private in the rear ranks, doing +drill and garrison duty until peace was declared. + +The war was over. France had concluded a shameful peace but one that +was forced upon her. This sort of war had brought bitter +disillusionment to a host of French boys, and they always thought in +their hearts of the day of reckoning which must come later on--and +hoped that they would be alive to see it. Such must have been the +dream of Foch, the "sleeping firebrand." + +For the present, there was nothing for it, but to doff his uniform and +take up his studies again. The college of St. Clement had ceased to be +a hospital and was again full of classrooms. But over the old fort +floated a strange flag--the black, white and red emblem of Germany, and +German officers strutted everywhere on the streets. The French signs +over the shops and on the street corners were rapidly disappearing. +Soon came an official order from Berlin forbidding the teaching of +French in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The work of benevolent +assimilation was begun. + +Foch privately shook his fist at the broad backs of the swaggering +conquerors, and set to work at his studies with renewed vim. French or +German, the old Jesuit college was going to aid him in his task of +becoming a soldier--and then his country would have one more recruit at +any rate! + +We are not surprised to find, therefore, that he passed his entrance +examinations with flying colors, and in November, 1871, donned his +uniform as a cadet in the Ecole Polytechnique. This building, like the +one at Metz, still bore evidences of the recent war. During the siege +of Paris it had been used as a hospital; and in the civil war which +followed the peace, when the Empire was overthrown, it had been through +severe fighting. Shell holes were still to be seen in its roofs and +walls. But such scars seemed to make it still more what it was in +name, a military school. Foch already felt like a soldier. + +Among Foch's fellow students were two others who were destined to play +a part in the World War. One was a cadet named Ruffey, who was +destined to become a General, in command of the Third Army of France, +during 1914. The other was a short, stocky fellow, who came from the +Gascon country near Foch's home, and who had been more fortunate than +he in seeing some actual fighting during the recent war. He had been +in command of a battery of guns during the siege of Paris, and had also +taken a physical part in the fighting. Foch looked at this strapping +cadet, and then at his own much slighter frame, and a feeling akin to +envy came over him, as he may have said to himself: + +"If only I could have got into it like that fellow Joffre!" + +During the second year of his work here, in 1873, it was announced +that, as the army was short of officers, the course would be shortened +for the more advanced students, so that they could receive their +commissions as soon as possible. Among the students who were granted +this honor were Joffre and Foch--the former choosing the engineers, and +the latter the artillery. As a special aid in completing his course, +Foch secured a transfer to the Artillery School at Fontainebleau. + +Here he felt more at home and in more congenial surroundings. He was +out of the city with its clamor and clang. Always a country boy at +heart, he recalled his beloved St. Etienne in these parks and hills. +He had always been fond of horseback riding, and now he had full +opportunity of perfecting himself in this art. The daily canters kept +his body sound, his brain clear. He came out third in his classes, a +highly creditable mark, and received his commission as a +sub-lieutenant. He was a soldier at last. + +As a reward for his scholarship he was informed that he might choose +any post where he would prefer to be stationed. He selected Tarbes, +his birthplace, and the town nearest his home. Truly, the fates were +kind! + +Two years were spent with the garrison at Tarbes, in a round of +regimental duties. Then the routine began to pall upon him. He wanted +something approaching active service. He had perfected himself in +artillery maneuvers; and during his four months as a volunteer in the +War, he had drilled in the infantry. So he now applied for transfer to +the third branch, the cavalry. His love of horses may also have +influenced this desire. + +He received the transfer and spent a year in the Cavalry School at +Saumur. On completing this course he was given a commission as +Captain, and placed in command of a field battery, in Brittany. This +transfer marked the beginning of a new era in his life. From being a +Gascon, he was now about to become a Breton. He spent so many years of +his life in Brittany, that in later years he called his soldiers "my +brother Bretons." + +Another reason for his change of sentiment was his fortunate marriage +to a lady whom he met at Rennes, where his regiment was +stationed--Mademoiselle Julie Bienvenue. Her name means "Welcome," and +to the lonely and possibly homesick soldier, her advent must have been +welcome indeed. + +He bought a home in Finisterre, that wild, rocky, well-wooded cape +which juts out into the Atlantic. It was an old manor house set in the +midst of an estate which from the outset spelled the word "home" for +him. There were long sloping meadow lands flanked by stately trees and +hills beyond. The old house itself with its somber gray walls and +quaint dormer windows seemed always to have nestled here. + +Such an idyllic setting, away out on the most sheltered spot of +France--far removed from the tramp of an invader, or the other changes +which came to the central provinces of France--while pleasant in the +extreme was hardly the fitting environment to produce a soldier, a real +fighting man. It might produce a fine preacher, or artist, or poet, or +farmer--but not likely a famous general. + +But Foch did not yield to the blandishments of his new home to the +extent of vegetating here. His active mind was looking continually +forward. He could not rest content with mediocrity, or a merely +comfortable living. "Do what you ought, come what may" was his guiding +motto. He applied for admission to the Ecole de Guerre, a higher +school recently established for staff officers, but admission to its +walls came by favoritism or political pull, and it was many months +(1885) before he gained admission. + +The course which he took required two years to complete--years which +kept him away from home, but were worth while. He graduated as fourth +in a large class, and better still had made some valuable acquaintances +here. His professors and classmates soon recognized in this quiet, +studious Artillery Captain a man worth watching--one who would do in an +emergency. + +The next eight or ten years were filled with the usual routine of an +army officer in peace times. He was transferred from one post to +another for periods of two or three years, but always it was active +field service which he liked, rather than the routine of office duty. +He established a brilliant reputation for horsemanship and cavalry +tactics which later were to be of advantage. + +But still he had never seen actual warfare, nor heard the bullets whizz +about his head. He was an academic soldier, and seemed destined to +remain one for the rest of his natural life when, in 1895, he was +appointed Assistant Professor of Military History and Strategy, in the +Ecole de Guerre, the college from which he had last graduated, a few +years before. The faculty had not forgotten him. It was an honor in a +way, but Foch doubtless debated long before he accepted it. It meant +the giving up of the freedom of his broad outdoors. + +He was a major by this time; and after a few years of lecturing, he was +made full professor, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The work in +his classes was highly important. This being a post-graduate school, +the men to whom he lectured were not cadets but trained soldiers, many +of them seasoned veterans. They would have instantly detected any flaw +in his teaching. The impress which this college professor then made +upon the future heads of the French army was destined to have a +profound and far-reaching effect. In the years to come, when France +and the civilized world was in search of a leader big enough to measure +up to the crisis--they turned to this quiet college professor! + +Foch won his position as "the most gifted and original of the +professors in the Ecole de Guerre" by no trick or sensational methods. +He spoke in an even, almost monotonous voice, using few gestures. But +his speech was clear-cut and precise. He reminded his hearers of a +scientist dissecting a foreign body, as he expounded the clash of +armies or the turning points of battle. He had, in fact, precise +knowledge of an event in which he had never actually participated. He +had analyzed war and resolved it into its component parts, as though it +were heated in a test-tube. And how exact were his theories, later +events were to show. + +In 1901, Foch returned for a time to active service, being given +command of the 29th Regiment at Laon. After the classroom routine, the +change was indeed welcome. A few months later we find him stationed +again in his beloved Brittany, with the rank of Colonel. But promotion +had come slowly. During these years he prepared his class lectures for +book publication, forming two volumes, the first being his +since-celebrated "Principles of War," and the second "The Conduct of +War." In these books he proved himself a master of terse, epigrammatic +statement. There did not seem to be a superfluous word in them. They +were favorably received by military critics everywhere, and still +further established his reputation. + +But it was not until 1907, when Foch was fifty-six, that he at last +received the rank of Brigadier General, with an assignment to the +General Staff at Paris. With this belated appointment it seemed that +the tale of his military career was told. Fate had more than one +surprise in store, even then, however. + +The position as head or Director General of the Ecole de Guerre was +vacant. A keen rivalry arose among several Generals for the +appointment, but Foch did not present his name. He belonged to the +wrong party, the Clerical, or Church Party, and the Anti-Clericals were +then in power. Clemenceau was Premier, this being his first term. + +One day Foch was surprised by being invited to dine with the Premier. +When he arrived he was still further surprised to note that he was the +only guest. The "Tiger" did not broach the subject of the invitation +until the coffee cups were cleared away. Then he said abruptly, and +apropos of nothing that had gone before: + +"I have some news for you, General. You are appointed Director of the +Ecole de Guerre." + +"But I am not a candidate, sir," replied Foch, taken completely by +surprise. + +"Possibly not," replied the Premier drily, "but you are appointed +nevertheless, and I am sure you will do good work there." + +"I thank you for the honor," said Foch with some embarrassment, "but +aren't there--difficulties? I am a Churchman, you know." + +Clemenceau laughed. + +"Probably you are not aware," continued Foch, finding it difficult to +proceed, "that one of my brothers is a Jesuit." + +Clemenceau laughed again. + +"I know all about it, and I don't care a rap," he answered. "Mon +General, or rather, Monsieur le Directeur, you may consider yourself +appointed, Jesuit or no Jesuit. We need men of your stamp to train up +officers in our army." + +Foch held this responsible position for several years just preceding +the Great War. Whether he saw it or not, lowering upon the horizon, he +bent every effort to making the command of the French army fit, ready +for any emergency. He had never forgotten the dreadful invasion of his +boyhood days. With him the teaching of preparedness was almost as +sacred as religion. + +And when the Great War at last descended, Foch was like a shining sword +in its path, one that had never been allowed to rust in its scabbard. +The story of his dogged perseverance and his brilliant strategy has +been fully told in the annals of war. Two or three strongly +characteristic points yet demand mention. He was a firm believer in +the element of surprise; he outguessed the enemy. And he never knew +when he was beaten. + +"The weaker we are, the more important it is for us to attack," is one +of his famous sayings. + +At the Battle of the Marne, when his corps was hard pressed at a +critical salient, he telegraphed Joffre: + +"My left flank has been driven in. My right flank has been driven in. +Consequently nothing remains but for me to attack with my center." + +And attack he did, hurling back the surprised Teutons and aiding Joffre +to turn the invader, and save Paris. + +Foch, in brief, is a soldier of the intellectual type. His +headquarters when at last he was made Marshal of France and +Generalissimo of the Allied forces, resembled a classroom more nearly +than the center of a vast and far-reaching activity. There was no +bustle, no confusion. Orderlies pored over papers and presented +reports quietly. The commander looked them over with keen appraising +glance, then issued orders without raising his voice. But that very +quietness and precision pronounced the doom of Germany. It was a +triumph of science over brute force. + +If in America we have had a "schoolmaster in politics," the French have +had a "schoolmaster in war"--one who taught the Hun a lesson! + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN FOCH'S LIFE + + 1851. October 2. Ferdinand Foch born. + 1862. Entered school, Tarbes, France. + 1867. Entered Jesuit College of St. Michel. + 1870. Volunteered in the Franco-Prussian War, but saw no service. + 1871. Entered the Polytechnic Academy. + 1873. Second-lieutenant in artillery. + 1878. Captain. Married Julie Bienvenue. + 1885. Entered Ecole de Guerre, a college for staff officers. + 1891. Major in artillery. + 1900. Lieutenant-colonel. Professor in Ecole de Guerre. + 1905. Director of Ecole de Guerre. + 1914. General, in command 20th corps. + 1917. Chief of general staff. + 1918. Commander-in-chief of Allied forces. + 1918. Marshal of France. + + + + +PERSHING + +THE LEADER OF AMERICA'S BIGGEST ARMY + +It was a historic moment, on that June day, in the third year of the +World War. On the landing stage at the French harbor of Boulogne was +drawn up a company of French soldiers, who looked eagerly at the +approaching steamer. They were not dress parade soldiers nor smart +cadets--only battle-scarred veterans home from the trenches, with the +tired look of war in their eyes. For three years they had been hoping +and praying that the Americans would come--and here they were at last! + +As the steamer slowly approached the dock, a small group of officers +might be discerned, looking as eagerly landward as the men on shore had +sought them out. In the center of this group stood a man in the +uniform of a General in the United States Army. There was, however, +little to distinguish his dress from that of his staff, except the +marks of rank on his collar, and the service ribbons across his breast. +To those who could read the insignia, they spelled many days of arduous +duty in places far removed. America was sending a seasoned soldier, +one tried out as by fire. + +The man's face was seamed from exposure to the suns of the tropics and +the sands of the desert. But his dark eyes glowed with the untamable +fire of youth. He was full six feet in height, straight, +broad-shouldered, and muscular. The well-formed legs betrayed the +old-time calvalryman. The alert poise of the man showed a nature +constantly on guard against surprise--the typical soldier in action. + +Such was General Pershing when he set foot on foreign shore at the head +of an American army--the first time in history that our soldiers had +ever served on European soil. America was at last repaying to France +her debt of gratitude, for aid received nearly a century and a half +earlier. And it was an Alsatian by descent who could now say: + +"Lafayette, we come!" + +Who was this man who had been selected for so important a task? The +eyes of the whole world were upon him, when he reached France. His was +a task of tremendous difficulties, and a single slip on his part would +have brought shame upon his country, no less than upon himself. That +he was to succeed, and to win the official thanks of Congress are now +matters of history. The story of his wonderful campaign against the +best that Germany could send against him is also an oft-told story. +But the rise of the man himself to such commanding position is a tale +not so familiar, yet none the less interesting. + +The great-grandfather of General Pershing was an emigrant from +Alsace--fleeing as a boy from the military service of the Teutons. He +worked his way across to Baltimore, and not long thereafter volunteered +to fight in the American Revolution. His was the spirit of freedom. +He fled to escape a service that was hateful, because it represented +tyranny; but was glad to serve in the cause of liberty. + +The original family name was Pfirsching, but was soon shortened to its +present form. The Pershings got land grants in Pennsylvania, and began +to prosper. As the clan multiplied the sons and grandsons began to +scatter. They had the pioneer spirit of their ancestors. + +At length, John F. Pershing, a grandson of Daniel, the first immigrant, +went to the Middle West, to work on building railroads. These were the +days, just before the Civil War, when railroads were being thrown +forward everywhere. Young Pershing had early caught the fever, and had +worked with construction gangs in Kentucky and Tennessee. Now as the +railroads pushed still further West, he went with them as section +foreman--after first persuading an attractive Nashville girl, Ann +Thompson, to go with him as his wife. + +Their honeymoon was spent among the hardships of a construction camp in +Missouri; and here at Laclede, in a very primitive house, John Joseph +Pershing was born, September 13, 1860. + +The boy inherited a sturdy frame and a love of freedom from both sides +of the family. His mother had come of a race quite as good as that of +his father. They were honest, law-abiding, God-fearing people, who saw +to it that John and the other eight children who followed were reared +soberly and strictly. The Bible lay on the center table and the willow +switch hung conveniently behind the door. + +After the line of railroad was completed upon which the father had +worked, he came to Laclede and invested his savings in a small general +store. It proved a profitable venture. It was the only one in town, +and Pershing's reputation for square-dealing brought him many +customers. A neighbor pays him this tribute: + +"John F. Pershing was a man of commanding presence. He was a great +family man and loved his family devotedly. He was not lax, and ruled +his family well. + +"The Pershing family were zealous church people. John F. Pershing was +the Sunday School superintendent of the Methodist Church all the years +he lived here. Every Sunday you could see him making his way to church +with John on one side and Jim on the other, Mrs. Pershing and the girls +following along." + +John F. Pershing was a strong Union man, and although local feeling ran +high between the North and the South, he retained the esteem of his +neighbors. He had one or two close calls from the "bushwhackers," as +roving rangers were called, but his family escaped harm. + +At times during the War, he was entrusted with funds by various other +families, and acted as a sort of local bank. After the War he was +postmaster. + +The close of the War found the younger John a stocky boy of five. He +began to attend the village school and take an active part in the +boyish sports of a small town. There was always plenty to do, whether +of work or play. One of his boyhood chums writes: + +"John Pershing was a clean, straight, well-behaved young fellow. He +never was permitted to loaf around on the streets. Nobody jumped on +him, and he didn't jump on anybody. He attended strictly to his own +business. He had his lessons when he went to class. He was not a big +talker. He said a lot in a few words, and didn't try to cut any swell. +He was a hard student. He was not brilliant, but firm, solid, and +would hang on to the very last. We used to study our lessons together +evenings. About nine-thirty or ten o'clock, I'd say: + +"'John, how are you coming?' + +"'Pretty stubborn.' + +"'Better go to bed, hadn't we?' + +"'No, Charley, I'm going to work this out.'" + +Another schoolmate gives us a more human picture: + +"As a boy, Pershing was not unlike thousands of other boys of his age, +enjoying the same pleasures and games as his other boyhood companions. +He knew the best places to shoot squirrels or quail, and knew where to +find the hazel or hickory nuts. He knew, too, where the coolest and +deepest swimming pools in the Locust, Muddy, or Turkey creeks were. +Many a time we went swimming together in Pratt's Pond." + +About this time Pershing's father added to his other ventures the +purchase of a farm near Laclede, and the family moved out there. Then +there was indeed plenty of work to do. The chores often began before +sun-up, and lasted till after dark; and the children were lucky to find +time for schooling during the late Fall and Winter months. John, +however, kept doggedly at it, and managed to get a fair, common-school +education. + +When he was barely in his 'teens, his first set task was given him--to +teach in a negro school. This school had been established after the +War ended, but the teacher had gone, and no one else seemed available +for the job. John was sober and studious, and besides was so well +grown for his age that they banked on his ability to "lick" any negro +boy that got obstreperous. + +He succeeded sufficiently in this venture, to cause him to take up +teaching regularly, in white schools, with a view to paying for his +education. He wanted to study law, and his parents encouraged the +idea. His work in these country schools was invaluable to him in +teaching him how to govern others. A former pupil of his writes: + +"Though he never sought a quarrel, young Pershing was known as 'a game +fighter,' who never acknowledged defeat. One day, at Prairie Mound, at +the noon hour a big farmer with red sideburns rode up to the +schoolhouse with a revolver in his hand. Pershing had whipped one of +the farmer's children, and the enraged parent intended to give the +young schoolmaster a flogging. + +"I remember how he rode up cursing before all the children in the +schoolyard, and how another boy and I ran down a gully because we were +afraid. We peeked over the edge, though, and heard Pershing tell the +farmer to put up his gun, get down off his horse, and fight like a man. + +"The farmer got down and John stripped off his coat. He was only a boy +of seventeen or eighteen and slender, but he thrashed the old farmer +soundly. And I have hated red sideburns ever since." + +After several terms of country school teaching, young Pershing saved up +enough money to enter the State Normal School, at Kirksville, Mo. One +of his sisters went with him. He remained there for two terms, doing +his usual good steady work, but was still dissatisfied. He wanted to +get a better education. + +About this time he happened to notice an announcement of a competitive +examination in his district for an entrance to West Point. The +soldiering side did not appeal to him, but the school side did. + +"I wouldn't stay in the army," he remarked to a friend. "There won't +be a gun fired in the world for a hundred years, I guess. If there +isn't, I'll study law, but I want an education, and now I see how I can +get it." + +His mother was by no means "sold" on the idea of his becoming a soldier +either, and it was only when he assured her that there wouldn't be a +gun fired in a hundred years, that she finally consented. If she could +have looked ahead to his future career, and final part in the greatest +war the world has ever known--one wonders what her emotions would have +been! + +Pershing passed his entrance examination by a narrow margin, and then +entered a training school at Highland Falls, N. Y., for tutoring in +certain deficient branches. At last in June, 1882, when he was just +rounding his twenty-second year, he became a freshman in the great +Academy on the Hudson. + +The young plebe from the West speedily fell in love with the +institution and all that it represented. He found the soldier life +awakening in him, along with his desire for a good education. Four +happy years were spent there--and while he didn't shine, being number +thirty in a class of seventy-seven, his all-around qualities made him +many friends among both faculty and students. He was made ranking +cadet captain in his senior year, and chosen class president. + +Twenty-five years later, writing from clear around the world, at +Manila, to his class, at a reunion, he gives a long, breezy account of +his experience there, from which we have space to quote only a few +sentences: + +"This brings up a period of West Point life whose vivid impressions +will be the last to fade. Marching into camp, piling bedding, policing +company streets for logs or wood carelessly dropped by upper classmen, +pillow fights at tattoo with Marcus Miller, sabre drawn, marching up +and down superintending the plebe class, policing up feathers from the +general parade; light artillery drills, double-timing around old Fort +Clinton at morning squad drill; Wiley Bean and the sad fate of his +seersucker coat; midnight dragging, and the whole summer full of events +can only be mentioned in passing. + +"No one can ever forget his first guard tour with all its preparation +and perspiration. I got along all right during the day, but at night +on the color line my troubles began. Of course, I was scared beyond +the point of properly applying any of my orders. A few minutes after +taps, ghosts of all sorts began to appear from all directions. I +selected a particularly bold one and challenged according to orders: +'Halt, who comes there?' At that the ghost stood still in its tracks. +I then said: 'Halt, who stands there?' Whereupon the ghost, who was +carrying a chair, sat down. When I promptly said: 'Halt, who sits +there?' . . . + +"The career of '86 at West Point was in many respects remarkable. +There were no cliques, no dissensions, and personal prejudices or +selfishness, if any existed, never came to the surface. From the very +day we entered, the class as a unit has always stood for the very best +traditions of West Point." + +While Pershing was still in West Point, the Indian chief Geronimo was +making trouble in the Southwest. For several years he led a band of +outlaw braves, who terrorized the Southern border. General Crook was +sent in pursuit of him, and afterwards General Miles took up the chase. +Finally in August, 1886, the chief and his followers were rounded up. + +Pershing graduated in the spring of this year, with the usual rank +given to graduates, second lieutenant, and was immediately assigned to +duty under Miles. He had an inconspicuous part in the capture. But +the next year in the special maneuvers he was personally complimented +by the General for "marching his troops with a pack train of 140 mules +in 46 hours and bringing in every animal in good condition." Doubtless +his early experience with the Missouri brand of mule aided him. + +Thereafter, for the next five years, Pershing's life was that of a +plainsman. He was successively at Fort Bayard, Fort Stanton, and Fort +Wingate, all in New Mexico, in the center of troubled country. In 1890 +he was shifted north to take the field against the Sioux Indians, in +South Dakota, and in the Battle of Wounded Knee he had a considerable +taste of burnt powder, where the tribe that had massacred General +Custer and his band was practically wiped out. The next year he was +stationed at Fort Niobrara, in Nebraska, in command of the Sioux Indian +Scouts. + +This rapid summary of a busy and adventurous life on the plains does +not convey any idea of its many activities. But it was an exceedingly +valuable period of training to the young officer. He was finding +himself, and learning something of the inner art of military science +that he was later to put to such good use. + +Here is the opinion of an officer who was Pershing's senior in the +Sixth Cavalry by six years--all of them spent in the Apache country: + +"In those days, when a youngster joined a regiment, he was not expected +to express himself on military matters until he had some little +experience. But there was a certain something in Pershing's appearance +and manner which made him an exception to the rule. Within a very +short time after he came to the post, a senior officer would turn to +him, and say: 'Pershing, what do you think of this?' and his opinion +was such that we always listened to it. He was quiet, unobtrusive in +his opinions, but when asked he always went to the meat of a question +in a few words. From the first he had responsible duties thrown on +him. We all learned to respect and like him. He was genial and full +of fun. No matter what the work or what the play, he always took a +willing and leading part. He worked hard and he played hard; but +whenever he had work to do, he never let play interfere with it." + +His experiences in the Wild West (and it was the Wild West in those +days) cannot be passed over without relating one typical anecdote. +Three cattle rustlers, white men, had gotten into a fight with the Zuni +Indians, who caught them driving off some cattle. Three of the red men +were killed before the outlaws were finally surrounded in a lonely +cabin. + +Word was sent of their predicament to the nearest fort, and Lieutenant +Pershing was sent with a small detachment to their rescue. He rode +straight up to the Zuni chief, who was now on the warpath, and told him +he must call off his braves--that the United States Government would +punish these men. The chief finally grunted assent, and Pershing +strode forward alone into the clearing and approached the cabin. At +any time a shot might have come out, but disregarding his own danger he +went on, pushed open the door, and found himself looking into the +muzzles of three guns. + +A single false move on his part would probably have ended him, but he +did not waver. He folded his arms and said quietly: + +"Well, boys, I've come to get you." + +The outlaws laughed noisily and swore by way of reply. + +"You might as well come along," he went on, without raising his voice. +"My men are posted all around this cabin." + +More profanity, but the men at last consented to go, if they could +carry their guns. They wouldn't budge otherwise. + +"You'll come as I say, and you'll be quick about it," said Pershing, a +note of command coming into his voice. + +And they did. + +The next duty which fell to Lieutenant Pershing was quite different. +From chasing Indians and outlaws on the plains, he was assigned to the +task of putting some "half baked" cadets through their paces. In +September, 1891, he became Professor of Military Science and Tactics at +the University of Nebraska. + +The discipline at this school was of a piece with that of other State +colleges, where a certain amount of drilling was demanded, but beyond +this the students were allowed to go their own gait. At Nebraska it +had become pretty lax--but the arrival of the new instructor changed +all that. A student of this time, in a recent article in _The Red +Cross Magazine_, gives a humorous account of what happened. + +It was the general belief that the students in these Western colleges, +many of them farmers' sons, could never be taught the West Point idea. +"But the Lieutenant who had just arrived from Lincoln received an +impression startlingly in contrast to the general one. He looked over +the big crowd of powerful young men, and, himself a storehouse and +radiating center of energy and forcefulness, recognized the same +qualities when he saw them. + +"'By George! I've got the finest material in the world,'" he told the +Chancellor, his steel-like eyes alight with enthusiasm. 'You could do +anything with those boys. They've got the stuff in them! Watch me get +it out!' + +"And he proceeded to do so. + +"By the middle of the first winter the battalion was in shape to drill +together. Moreover, the boys had made a nickname for their leader, and +nicknames mean a great deal in student life. He was universally called +'the Lieut.' (pronounced 'Loot,' of course, in the real American +accent), as though there were but one lieutenant in the world. This he +was called behind his back, of course. To his face they called him +'sir,' a title of respect which they had never thought to give to any +man alive. + +"By the end of that first academic year every man under him would have +followed 'the Lieut.' straight into a prairie fire, and would have kept +step while doing it." + +As he gradually got his group of officers licked into shape, he found +less to do personally. So he promptly complained to the Chancellor, to +this effect, and asked, like Oliver Twist, for more. + +"After a moment's stupefaction (the Lieut. was then doing five times +the work that any officer before him had ever done) the Chancellor +burst into a great laugh and suggested that the Lieut. should take the +law course in the law school of the University. He added that if two +men's work was not enough for him, he might do three men's, and teach +some of the classes in the Department of Mathematics. Without changing +his stride in the least, the young officer swept these two occupations +along with him, bought some civilian clothes and a derby hat, and +became both professor and student in the University, where he was also +military attache. + +"During the next two years he ate up the law course with a fiery haste +which raised the degree of class work to fever heat. Those who were +fellow students with him, _and survived_, found the experience +immensely stimulating." + +Of course he graduated, and was thus entitled to write another title +after his name--that of Bachelor of Arts. About this time, also, he +was promoted to a first lieutenancy, the first official recognition for +his many long months of work. Then he was sent back to the field +again, to join the Tenth Cavalry at Fort Assiniboine, Montana. + +Next came a welcome command to take the position of Assistant +Instructor of Tactics, at West Point. It was almost like getting back +home, to see these loved hills, the mighty river, and the familiar +barracks again. + +But after a few months here, the Spanish War broke out. Eager to get +into the action, he resigned his position at the Military Academy, and +was transferred to his former regiment, the Tenth Cavalry. This +regiment was sent immediately to Santiago, and took part in the short +but spirited fighting at El Caney and San Juan hill--where a certain +Colonel of the Rough Riders was in evidence. Side by side these two +crack regiments charged up the slope, dominated by the Spanish fort, +and here Roosevelt and Pershing first met. + +We would like to fancy these two intrepid soldiers as recognizing each +other here in the din of battle. But the truth is sometimes more +prosaic than fiction; and the truth compels us to reprint this little +anecdote from _The World's Work_. + +Five years after the Spanish War, when Roosevelt was President and +Pershing was a mere Captain, he was invited to luncheon at the White +House. + +"Captain Pershing," said the President, when the party was seated at +the table, "did I ever meet you in the Santiago campaign?" + +"Yes, Mr. President, just once." + +"When was that? What did I say?" + +"Since there are ladies here, I can't repeat just what you said, Mr. +President." + +There was a general laugh in which Roosevelt joined. + +"Tell me the circumstances, then." + +"Why, I had gone back with a mule team to Siboney, to get supplies for +the men. The night was pitch black and it was raining torrents. The +road was a streak of mud. On the way back to the front, I heard noise +and confusion ahead. I knew it was a mired mule team. An officer in +the uniform of a Rough Rider was trying to get the mules out of the +mud, and his remarks, as I said a moment ago, should not be quoted +before the ladies. I suggested that the best thing to do, was to take +my mules and pull your wagon out, and then get your mules out. This +was done, and we saluted and parted." + +"Well," said Roosevelt, "if there ever was a time when a man would be +justified in using bad language, it would be in the middle of a rainy +night, with his mules down in the mud and his wagon loaded with things +soldiers at the front needed." + +Pershing, as a result of the Cuban campaign, was twice recommended for +brevet commissions, for "personal bravery and untiring energy and +faithfulness." General Baldwin said of him: "Pershing is the coolest +man under fire I ever saw." + +But it was not until 1901 that he became Captain. He had now been +transferred at his own request to the Philippines. Whether or not he +won promotion through the slow-moving machinery of the war office, his +energetic spirit demanded action. + +"The soldier's duty is to go wherever there is fighting," he said, and +vigorously opposed the idea that he be given a swivel-chair job. + +His first term of service in the Philippines was from 1899 to 1903. In +the interval between his first and second assignments, the latter being +as Governor of the Moros, he returned to America to serve on the +General Staff, and also to act as special military observer in the +Russo-Japanese War. + +His duties during the years, while arduous and often filled with +danger, were not of the sort to bring him to public notice. But they +_were_ being followed by the authorities at Washington, who have a way +of ticketing every man in the service, as to his future value to the +army. And Pershing was "making good." He had turned forty, before he +was Captain. Out in the Philippines he worked up to a Major. Now +advancement was to follow with a startling jump. + +It all hinged upon that luncheon with Roosevelt, about which we have +already told, and the fact that Roosevelt had a characteristic way of +doing things. The step he now took was not a piece of favoritism +toward Pershing--it arose from a desire to have the most efficient men +at the head of the army. + +Pershing was nominated for Brigadier General, and the nomination was +confirmed. Of course it created a tremendous sensation in army +circles. The President, by his action, had "jumped" the new General +eight hundred and sixty-two orders. + +On his return to the Philippines, as Governor of the Moro Province, he +performed an invaluable service in bringing peace to this troubled +district. He accomplished this, partly by force of arms, partly by +persuasion. The little brown men found in this big Americano a man +with whom they could not trifle, and also one on whose word they could +rely. + +It was not until 1914 that he was recalled from the Philippines, and +then very shortly was sent across the Mexican border in the pursuit of +Villa. It would seem as though this strong soldier was to have no +rest--that his muscles were to be kept constantly inured to +hardship--so that, in the event of a greater call to arms, here would +be one commander trained to the minute. + +The Fates had indeed been shaping Pershing from boyhood for a supreme +task. Each step had been along the path to a definite goal. + +The punitive expedition into Mexico was a case in point. It was a +thankless job at best, and full of hardship and danger. A day's march +of thirty miles across an alkali desert, under a blazing sun, is hardly +a pleasure jaunt. And there were many such during those troubled +months of 1916. + +Then, one day, came a quiet message from Washington, asking General +Pershing to report to the President. The results of that interview +were momentous. The Great War in Europe was demanding the intervention +of America. Our troops were to be sent across the seas to Europe for +the first time in history. The Government needed a man upon whom it +could absolutely rely to be Commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary +Forces. Would General Pershing hold himself in readiness for this +supreme task? + +The veteran of thirty years of constant campaigning stiffened to +attention. The eager look of battle--battle for the right--shone in +his eye. Every line of his upstanding figure denoted confidence--a +confidence that was to inspire all America, and then the world itself, +in this choice of leader. He saluted. + +"I will do my duty, sir," he said. + + + + IMPORTANT DATES IN PERSHING'S LIFE + + 1860. September 13. John Joseph Pershing born. + 1881. Entered Highland Military Academy, New York. + 1882. Entered U. S. Military Academy, West Point. + 1886. Graduated from West Point, senior cadet captain. + Sent to southwest as second-lieutenant, 6th cavalry. + 1891. Professor, military tactics, University of Nebraska. + 1898. Took part in Spanish-American War. + 1901. Captain, 1st Cavalry, Philippines. + 1905. Married Frances Warren. + 1906. Brigadier-general. + 1914. Recalled from Philippines. + 1915. Lost his wife and three children in a fire. + 1915. Sent to Mexico in pursuit of Villa. + 1917. Sent to France as commander-in-chief of American + Expeditionary Force. + 1919. Appointment of general made permanent. + 1924. Retired from active service. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Boys' Book of Famous Soldiers, by +J. 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