The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-07-23
THE VICTORIA CROSS.

| a Guerdon for yalor-'Little Wars"
Dotted with Milestones OF Brave Deeds.
The decoration was instituted by a
warrant under the royal sign manual,
bearing date Jan. 20, 1856, for the
purpose OF rewarding individual acts
OF bravery by men in the army, navy,
or the corps OF marines. Any addi-
tioral act OF bravery is recorded by q
bar being attached to the ribbon from
which the cross is suspended. In 1858
it was declared that non-military per-
sons, who as volunteers had borne
arms against the mutineers in India,
should be considered eligible to re-
ceive it. The distinction consists of a
| Maltese cross of bronze made from
gun metal captured from the enemy,
with the royal crest in the center, and
underneath with an escroll bearing
the inscription: "For Valor." On the
reverse side OF the bar the name and
rank ofthe recipient are engraved, and
on the cross the name and date of the
action or campaign in which the hon
or was won. Some two hundred men
| only can boast of the honor since
| its foundation, and that in any army
which, barring the Crimea and the In.
dian mutiny, has been fighting all the
time, albeit 'little wars yet tnone the
less to its credit. AS one gances
through the list one may readily ex-
, 10 81, T,,,
OF the British army has held its own
for deeds of daredeviltry. England's s
"only general In days gone blythe
| little army has no need OF a dozen gem
erals to a regiment, as does the guard
OF the Haytian government-the duke
| OF Wellington, long ago gave it it's
need. These are the noble words in
which he referred to them when appeal
ing to the English protestants for
catholic emancipation: "Your lord
ships are well aware for what length
OF period and under what difficult cir
cumstances catholics (who formed one
hall OF my armies) maintained the en-
pire buoyant upon the flood which
overwhelmed the throne and wrecked
the institutions OF every other peo-
| pie; how they kept alike the only
spark OF freedom which was left uneN-
tlnguished in Europe. My lords, it is
mainly to the Irish catholics that we
owe all our proud predominance in
our military career, and that l per-
sonally am indebted for the laurels
with which you have been pleased to
decorate my brow. We must confess,
my lords, that without catholic blood
and catholic valor no victory could
have ever been obtained, and the first
military talents might have been ex-
erted in vain" And more than half a
century later this record has not been
disturbed. Charles Levers inimitable
characters, the dashing Charles o NAL
ley and the bold Mickey Free, may be
fictitious in name, but in deed they
had many a prototype i'll the penin-
| sular war and elsewhere under the
"Iron Duke" Such names as Bergin,
Byrne, Coglan, Donohoe, Doogan,
Finn, Laughnan, Mcclure OConnor,
O'Hea, O'Toole, and Sullivan, cum
multis aliis, on the roll OF honor OF the
Victoria cross bear ample testimony
to this.
In the Service Almanack, under the
heading Victoria cross-winners since
institution, with nature OF acts of
bravery, and when and where perform
ed, he who runs may read, not only
the record OF numerous brave deeds
briefly told, and betittingly so, but Eng
lands war history for the last thirty
years. Rushing alone in battery
and killing officer in charge" Few and
simple words, but one has no need of
greatly drawing on ones Imagination
to realize all that they imply AS one
runs ones eye down the list, the cam
paigns in the Crimea, India, New Zea-
land, Ashantee, Zululand, and Egypt
are kept alive in the minds eye by
acts performed before Sebastopol, at
Lucknow, at the Great Pah, at Coon
assie, at Rorke's Drift and Ulundi be-
fore Alexandria, and at Tel-el- X ebir.
Many deeds of heroism are recorded
during the Indian mutiny, principally
the attacking OF superior numbers. !"
bringing in wounded under a heavy
fire" is all oft repeated mention.
6o-and-so "died before receiving it"
Is melancholy reading, which re-
call Lieutenants Coghill and Melville,
who died while trying to save the col
ors of the Oath foot after the disaster
at Isandhlana, in doing which "duty"
they were both killed. In these, as in
other cases, the well-earned cross was
sent to the families Of the dead. Anon
one comes across Christian clergy
man-perchance not q muscular one,
for muscle and pluck do not alwaysgo
together-but a plucky one, who has
''rescued drowning lancers in the i'm
mediate presence of theenemy." Even
scoffers at the clerical garb must ad-
NIT that a clergyman has his uses
sometimes. Throwing outside trench
a live shell from the midst of num-
Der Of ammunition cases." The man
who did that must have beaten the
Give" shell in a lively fashion, or not
enough would have been left ofhim or
of his comrades to pin on the cross he
now wears. The familiar refrain OF the
nautical song 'Frhe Land -Lubbers
Down Below" is irresistably drought
to mind" by this: climbing, under
fire, tree, touching the angle OF the
Shah Nuiiff. in order to reply to
enemy's fire. Needless to add that
this feat was accomplished by
two men from tie navy. Admiral
Salmon and Boa suns Mate Harrison
officer and tar. 1t came to them as
n matter OF course to "go aloft. :"
Those land-lubbers could never have
done it. Many are the instances
where recipient has been elected by
officers or again elected by privates
OF regiment" These are cases where
a handful OF men have together gone
on forlorn hope. and the survivors
have selected from among themselves
the "bravest OF the brave" Not alone
is Marshal Ney entitled to that dis
tinguishing appellation. Sergt. Nc
Wheeney, a Crimean soldier, can read
on his patent: Saving lives under