The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-11-25
THE DASRING SKOBELEFF.
A RUSSIAN MAJOR GENERAL OF THIRTY FIVE.

a ASoSAAN 1iAoOh SENhhAL Or FIVE,
Bucharest correspondence. N. Y. Times.
In the coming assault, the great salient
figure will be, as he was on September o,
the Gen. Skobeleff whose brilliant courage
nearly crowned the Russian arms with sue
GEES on the last bloody day. Only thirty
five years of age, Skobeleff is the type of
the fair haired warrior of the North, on
whose youthful features the hot Bulgarian
sun has scarcely left that tinge of bronze
which 80 ages the Southerner in comparison
with his Northern contemporary. Tell In
stature and powerfully built, with email
waist and broad shoulders, Skobelef is a
fne representative of dashing soldier. de
wears his hair cropped as closely as a prize
fighter, and has long, pendant yellow whis-
kers and formidable mustache, and he
would 5e called handsome but for his noee,
which rather spoils the harmony of his
features his eyes are gray and small, but
and his short, thin upper lip closes over
set of teeth as brilliant as ivory. Intrepid
even to rashness, always in the front line of
bis Skirmishers, he eeems- to make it q
point of honor to put himself in the way of
danger, and his tall profile may always be
seen on the crest of the intrenchments OF
the rifle pits, and, indeed, wherever the fire
is hottest, as though he bore some charmed
talieman against death, or believed himself
invulnerable, until his mission has been
accomplished, for Skobeleff, like most men
of action, is superstitious. The number of
horses killed under him is fabuloue, and
the groom, as lie brings him each fresh
charger, knows that the poor beasts hours
are counted, and holds forth to the animal,
before his master mounts, one of those long
discourses which the Russian mOujik is wont
to address to his horses. Captain in the
Staff at the age of twenty-six, Michael
Demetriwitch Skobeleff had already ac-
~ fnr than
retical cleverness among his fellow-officers,
when he took part in the expedition to
Khiva, where, for the fret time, he had an
opportunity of exhibiting his dauutless
personal courage.
Here he was intrusted with the direction
of the extreme advanced guard, a mission
extremely perilous and delicate in these
unknown solitudes, where the want of
drin kable water is one of the greatest dan
gers to an invading column. But, although
unaccompanied by reliable guides, his geo.
logical and bydrographical requirements
taught him where to look for that pure
elixer which the Cossacks of the Don re-
serve for their steeds, even when they
themselves are thirstiDg. In all the fight
ing in Khiva he bore himself like brave
man, while the exactness of his coup ddiL
proved him to his chief to be q valuable
officer. He came to Bulgaria with all his
laurels fresh upon him, and even Plevns,
from Krudeper to the Commander in Chief
of the army, could scarcely pluck leaf
from his crown of honor, although three
fourths of his battaIions were swept from
before bis eyes. In one single day, 5000
out of his IL 600 soldiers fell-a proportion
almost without precedent in the annals of
military history. On that occasion Skobe-
left charged the Turkish batteries at the
head Of the Fourth Brigade of Chaeseurs.
1900 strong, and in less than an hour 2. 900
soldiers were hors de combat. At another
point of the battle the First regiment of the
was 3, 900 men, lost ,760, among whom we're
sixty officers. The Turks lay quietly in
their rifle. pits and kept. up fire which
nothing could resist. Once he brought up
forty eight pieces to within 600 yards of
the enemies position to cover his infantry.
In thirty minutes sixteen cannon were dis
mounted and when at last be withdrew,
three guns remained as trophies of his
defeat. He came back grimly, fighting to
tile laet, but sombre and taciturn, as one
who felt that he was hoping against hope,
as his anxious eyes scanned the distant
horizon in quest of those reinforcements
which he had vainly asked for, and which
| would have won him glorious victory.
He was sacrificed there to red tape and old
| fogyism there were troops enough within
sight, but no one dared to move without
the orders of their sovereign, and these
came not until the vantage-ground was
lost. Still he never complains, although
the tears fall even now from his eyes when
he speaks of that bloody day, and thinks of
his slaughtered "children." 1t is difficult
to judge of Generals real capacities in
any action where 'intrenchments are the
objective point, either for attack or defense,
but the past is an earnest of the future, and
if Skobeleff be not killed, his name will
certainly be the leading one among those
who have fought for the triumph of the
Gear.