Courage, either in the Army or civil life, is a cheap commodity. Almost
every soldier should and does possess it to a certain degree. All
combative animals have it more or less. It certainly is not a rare
virtue in our service. The man who does not possess it is an exception
to the rule-- The point is, however, whether he has that amount of
physical and moral courage to a degree which, without common sense and
the military spirit--would make his acts a military success. The writer
thinks not-- Too much stress has been laid on the mere physical brute
courage of the soldier. Without it is combined with good military
sense--it is doubtful if possessing courage alone could ever make a
success of anything in which any of the military elements cited enter as
a factor. Nothing so surprises a man of mediocre caliber--one who has
been mistakenly or wrongfully steered into a military career without
there being the slightest evidence of his fitness for it--one who has
been stuffed full of the theory of war and of battle conditions, as
to--suddenly butt up against the real article--a genuine wild-cat battle
with all of its quickly varying conditions and phases. And by such a
battle I do not mean one afar off; at some observation or listening post
within sound of the guns--or in some bomb proof or sheltered dug
out--where he can talk over the telephone; or look upon it as he would a
moving picture--but directly on, or right in rear of an infantry
battle-line under direct rifle, shrapnel, canister, or machine-gun
fire--a bullet-swept field--such as many of us Civil War men saw on the
battle-field of Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13-14, 1862. One hundred and
fifty yards from the "Sunken Road"--at the foot of "Maryes Heights".
With no cover except the shell-mangled, disemboweled bodies which we
rolled up in front of us and used for breast works, behind which we
sought the only shelter we had for 30 long winter hours in the half
frozen mud--the plane of fire just grazing our heads on that
bullet-swept terrain--and the bodies being whipped, frazzled and torn to
pieces in front of our noses by terrific rifle and shrapnel fire as we
vainly endeavored to relieve our weary frames by turning over from right
to left or on our backs and stomachs.
That was a battle-field where the soldier not only had to use his
courage, his wits and common sense, but all of his resources. He will
doubtless discover in a few minutes that this situation and this crisis
was not included in what he has studied and booked up as theoretical
battle knowledge and does not apply or fit in to any battle scheme that
has been--without consulting him--staged on his front--and particularly
to such a frightful and perilous situation. Right here will come in his
aptitude and true merit as a soldier--and his real practical test out.
It applies to any other military problem where the element of common
sense must enter as a determining factor. It enters into all walks of
business where business sense is so absolutely necessary. It entered
into this problem of the pursuit of deserters. All of our varied
campaign and battle service, and experience and knowledge gained during
that great Civil War--and our practical activities in scouting and
campaigning after wild, hostile Indians subsequent to that war entered
into this chase and capture, as _Military factors_--without which we
would have been as helpless as two children.
Who could look ahead into that long, trackless, desolate hundred miles
of thinly settled country--almost a wilderness--with small towns more
than 40 miles apart--in the midst of a bitter cold tempest of rain,
snow, sleet and ice--and rely upon any Service School scheme of study,
or War College papers and compositions upon obsolete campaigns and
battles--or any extended use of war games--annual maneuvers or sham
battles, etc., things that many of our young officers have been fed upon
for years to fit them for great wars, emergencies, crises, etc.--and
predicted any success for either Lawton or the writer? Any experience
(?) gained in such theoretical military knowledge as would fit into such
a case--would have been about as effective for Lawton and myself as our
study of the Sanskrit and Chinese languages.
It was a problem based purely upon military experience gained by hard
knocks and campaigns and in battles--seasoned up with plenty of good,
sound horse sense--combined with our battle discipline and morale;
courage, resourcefulness and powers of endurance entered, of course, as
factors. These were our guides. One's complete education, and years of
the most violent intensive training ever devised by any military machine
of West Point Manufacture would have accomplished absolutely nothing
along the lines we worked to secure the unqualified success--that was
expected and demanded of us by such an exacting soldier as Mackenzie.
There was nothing the writer had so laboriously studied and learned in
his course at West Point that could by any construction or stretch of
the imagination, have fitted in, or been of the slightest use in this
problem. No Mathematics--No Algebra with its "Binomial Theorem;" no
plane Geometry with its fascinating "Pons Asinorum"; No Trigonometry
with its sines and co-sines; no Descriptive or Analytical Geometry with
planes of reference, etc. No Calculus with its integrations and
differentiations; or equations "A" and "B". No Spherical Astronomy with
its "Polaris"--or projections of the Eclipse; No Optics or Acoustics. No
spectral Analysis. No trays of Minerals--with the blow pipe and testing
acids to determine "Fools Gold" or Iron Pyrites from the real article,
would have fitted one for the real acid test when the most critical
stage of the game--confronted him. Neither would the perfect tactical
drills--magnificent parades and inspections which have so delighted
foreign visitors and the American people who have a right to be so
proud--as the writer is himself--of our great National Military
Academy--probably the finest Academy in the world-- But--and here comes
the crux of one's best endeavors along military lines where complete
success is the goal--the education the writer gained during that Civil
War--the daily experience--the frequent campaign and battle tests--the
self control--the patience--the confidence--the discipline and morale,
tried out as in a crucible--the strength, steadiness and tenacity of
purpose under battle conditions--with rifle, shrapnel and canister
fire--for there were no machine guns or grenades in those days--in such
battles as Bull Run--Antietam, Fredericksburg--Chancellorsville,
Gettysburg, etc., and the influences which they wrought upon one's
character in later years to deal with things that to some men would
appear to be simply impossible--all these combined with the true
military spirit--and good, common sense were the determining factors
in that strange adventure so far as they are able to guide us in
this mysterious and complex game of life--or can enter into the
human problems in which we engage and are ever attempting to solve
to our satisfaction and credit. Such was the philosophy and logical
reasoning of we two "hold overs" of the Civil War, as we plodded
our weary way across the black prairies--in the howling "Norther"--in
our pursuit of these deserters. Little or no thought was given to the
training received at the Military Academy beyond a well nourished
pride in its motto of "Honor--Duty--Country"--the balance was in our
pride as battle-service soldiers of the Civil War--and all of our
knowledge and experience gained thereby--but especially so far as the
writer was concerned to a short period of service at a huge conscript
and "substitute" camp[B] where he acted as a provost guard--and as a
young detective among many deserters from every Army and Navy in the
world--hardened and desperate criminals of the worst description--intent
on receiving a large bounty only to desert at the first opportunity and
enlisting at another rendezvous--repeating this trick ad libitum.
Here was real human character depicted in its worst forms of
iniquity--depravity--greed--selfishness--low cunning--trickery,
treachery--atrocity--and the most desperate crimes--not stopping short
of black-jacking--garroting--sand-bagging--robbery and frequent murders.
To mingle with them was to know their types--their methods--habits,
resources, etc. All this knowledge was of incalculable value to the
writer when the plunge was made into darkness and the depths of an
uncertainty--of an adventure the outcome of which could be but
problematical or only to be guessed at.
[B] Note--Men who had been paid large bounties during the draft
period to take the place of men who were _long_ on money, but
were _short on gall_--and who had no stomach for a fight of any
kind.
All this applied to Lawton, who, although he was not a graduate of West
Point, had had the same campaign and battle experience as the
writer--and as Lieut. Colonel Commanding the 30th Indian Volunteer
Infantry had developed in him all of the necessary elements at
Chickamauga--Missionary Ridge--Dalton--Resaca--Kenesaw Mountain and in
his march with Sherman "from Atlanta to the sea"--which, as essential
factors would fit into our problem--and which, many years later, he
fully exemplified in the Philippines by his push, energy, iron will,
resourcefulness, well-balanced judgment and quick, decisive action which
strongly marked every movement in his campaigns, and characterized him
as the personification of an ever ready and perfectly trained--although
not _intensively_ trained--soldier--the magnificent soldier without
frills, furbelows, fuss or feathers--that he was--