Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-06-18
MARX TWAIN ON THE ART OF WAR.

loaded up with military information, and
in what he said he was backed by the high.
est military authority. He added To be-
gin, gentlemen, when an engagement is
meditated, it is best to feel the enemy first.
that is if it is night, for, as one of the
cadets explained to me, you do not
need to feel him in daytime, because
you can see him then. l never should
have thought of that, but it is true,
perfectly true. In the daytime the
methods of procedure are various, but the
best, it seems to me, is one which was in
troduced by General Grant. General
Grant always sent an active young man
redoubt to reconnoiter and get the enemy s
bearings. l got this from high officer at
the Point, who told me he used to be re-
doubt on General Grants staff, and had
done it often. When the hour for
the battle is come, move to the field with
celerity-fool away no time. Under
this head l was told of favorite
maxim of General Sheridan's. Gen.
eral Sheridan always said, "If the
90 by any trains that are handy To
get there is the main thing" Now that
is the correct idea. As you approach the
field it is better to get out and walk.
This gives you a better chance to
dispose of your forces judiciously
for the assault. Get your artillery in po-
sition and throw out stragglers to the
right and left to hold your lines of COM
munication against surprise. See that
every hod carrier connected with mortar
battery is at his post. They told me at
the Point that Napoleon despised mortar
batteries ard never would use them. He
said that for real efficiency he wouldn't
give hatful of bricks for ton of mortar
However, that is all he knew about it,
Every thing being ready for the assault,
you want to enter the field with
your baggage to the front. This idea
was invented by our renowned guest, Cen
eral Sherman. They told me that General
| Sherman said that the trunks and baggage
make good protection for the soldiers, but
| that chiefly they attract the attention and
rivet the interest of the enemy, and this
gives you an opportunity to whirl the other
end of the column around and attack him
In the rear. | have given good deal of
study to this tactic since | heard about it,
and it appears to me that it is a rafting
good idea Never fetch on your reserves
at the start. This was Napoleon's first
mistake at Waterloo Next, he assaulted
with his bomb proofs and ambulances and
embrasures when he ought to have used a
heavier artillery. Thirdly, he retired his
right by ricochet-which uncovered his
pickets-when his only possible chance of
success lay in doubling up his center flank
by flank and throwing out his cheuaur de
frise by the left oblique to relieve the
skirmish line and confuse the enemy,
if such movement would confuse him,
and at West Point they said it would
Ii was about this time that the Emperor
had two horses shot under him. How
often you see the remark that General So
and So, in such and such battle, had two
or three horses shot under him. General
Burnside and many great European mill
tary men, as | was informed by high
military officer at West Point, have justly
characterized this as a wanton waste of
projectiles, and he impressed upon me a
conversation In the tent Of the Prussian
chiefs at Gravelotte, ID the course of which
our honored guest just referred-General
Burnside-observed that if you can't aim
a horse so as to hit the General with it,
shoot it over him and you may bag some
thing on the other side whereas horse
shot under General does no sort of dam
age. l agree cordially with General
Burnside, and heaven knows | shall
rejoice to see the artilleryists OF this
land and of all lands cease from this
wicked and idiotic custom. At West
Point they told me of another mistake at
Waterloo, namely, that the French were
under fire from the beginning of the fight
All h. oaJ ,,.biah laTI1lxy
effeminate and ill-tined attention to COM
fort, and a foolish division of military
strength, for it probably took as many men
TO keep up the fires as 1t did to do the
fighting 1t would have been much better
to have had small fire in the rear, and
let the men 90 there by detachments and
get warm, and not try to warm up the
whole army at once Ali the cadets said
that an assault along the whole line was
the one thing which could have restored
Napoleon's advantage at this juncture, and
he was actually rising up IN his stir
rups to order it, when sutler
burst at his side and covered him with dirt
and debris, and before he could recover
Wellington opened. a tremendous and de-
vastating fire upon him from monstrous
battery of vivandieres, and the star OF the
great Captains glory set to rise no more.
The cadet wept while he told me these
mournful particulars. When you leave a
battlefield, always leave it in good order
remove the wreck and rubbish, and tidy up
the place. However, in the case of a
drawn battle it is neither party's business
to tidy up anything. You can leave the
field looking as if the city government of
New York had bossed the fight When
you are traversing the enemy's country, in
order to destroy his supplies and cripple
his resources you want to take along
plenty of camp flowers. The more the
better. They are tremendously ef-
fective arm of the service, and they inspire
in the foe the liveliest dread. A West Point
professor told me that the wisdom of this
was recognized as far back as Scripture
times. He quoted the verse. He said it
was from the new revision, and was little
different from the way it reads in the old
one. / do not recollect the exact wording
of it now, but l remember it wound up
with something about such and such de-
vastating agent being as terrible as an
army with bummers." l believe | have
nothing further to add but this The West
Pointers said private should preserve a
respectful attitude toward his superiors,
and should seldom, or never, proceed so
far as to offer suggestions to his General in
the field. Ii the battle is not being con-
Quoted to suit him it is better for him to
resign. By the etiquette of war it is per-
mitted to none below the rank of newspa-
per correspondent to dictate to the Cen
eral in the field.
Ivanovitch, Rysakof, Hesse Helfmann,
Mikhailoff and Kibaltschitisch, the Nihilists
who were executed for the murder of the
Gar, may not have been guilty of the
crime. but it must be admitted that they