Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1891-05-14
SOME FAMOUS MARCHES.
INTERESTING HISTORY FOR OLD
VETERANS.
Fifty Miles Day for Several Consecutive
Days Has Several Times Been
Accomplished by Armies
All Of Infantry.

olden times. Armies are not now kept
marching night and day in order to
defeat some plan OF the enemy. but are
taken from point to point on the rail-
roads. and instead of being so worn
out and fatigued when they come up
with the enemy that they actually in
vite defeat they are as fresh as daisies.
The men who fought in the days before
steam power were hardy set, how
ever. and during frequent wars exc
cuted many wonderful marches.
The earliest and probably greatest
march on record during ancient times
was that of the Lacedonian infantry
from Sparta to Marathon (46O B. c.
to take part in the great battle at the
latter place. They marched $50 miles
over an almost roadless country in
three days, under weight which those
who have seen the helmets and breast
plates of ancient Greece can easily es-
innate for themselves; they came up
too late. however, and more than one
historian has hin ted that 1.-The incident
happened on purpose" Contemporary
authors have BEEN more generous
however and have given them credit
for having honestly done their utmost
to arrive on time.
During the famous retreat of Keno
phon aud his Ten Thousand" through
Mesopotamia in 401 b. c., many forced
marches were executed, which equaled,
and if we take into consideration the
burning heat of the great central plain
and incessant attacks of a hostile force
which We're added to the natural diff
ficulties OF the way, even excelled the
march of the Spartans.
Less romantic, equally brilliant and
far greater in historical Importance
was the march accomplished by
Claudius Nero during the second Punic
war in 207 b. c., wheH, suddenly
abandoning his watch of Hannibal's
army in Apulia. he fastened by forced
marches into Umbria, defeated Has
drubal, on the Metaurus, 200 miles
from his starting point, and was back
in Apulia before Hannibal had time to
discover his absence. During the en-
tire march of 400 miles the army did
not stop once for any length of time;
night and day they marched, taking
their hurried meals and resting by re-
lays in the wagons which the country
people provided, and which followed
in the rear of the column.
In POI B. c., Hannibal himself &C
complished an even more rapid, though
far less triumphant march in his re-
treat upon Carthage after the fatal
battle of Yuma. So quickly did he
march that he reached Adrumetum,
sixty-three miles from the battlefield,
between sunrise and sunset, while the
pursuing Romans are said to have ac-
complished sixty miles Of the journey
in the same time. 1t is recorded that
during one of the latter campaigns in
Gaul Caesars Tenth legion achieved a
similar feat.
Let us now jump from ancient his
tory to more recent times, in which
we will find these exploits fully equaled,
striking as they are.
In his march from York to meet
William the Conqueror at Hastings,
the Saxon King Harold covered 22O
miles in five days. most remarkable
feat when we remember what the
roads OF Saxon England were like.
A few years later William himself
equaled this feat. when, after defeat
ing one body Of Saxon rebels at Stat
ford. he crushed another near York
before even the news OF his coming
reached them. and then shooting like
a cannon ball across the whole breadth
of England he overwhelmed the invad-
ing Welch under Blethwallon, near
Chester.
In 1896 Sultan Bajazet advanced
with such amazing speed on the Chris
tian confederates near Nikopolis that
an old historian speaks Of it not as "a
march, but a leap" The distance
covered was 115 miles in two days.
The celebrated march of Gustavus
Adolphus through northern Germany
in 1881 is familiar to every student of
history. and gave rise to the saying
that 1.-The Snow King Gas he was called
by his enemies) had become an av-
alanche."
Lord Peterborough's wonderful
march over the Catalan mountains for
1cO AuAlCo III tI1O OSpIA Vi IAO ScVtTc
winter of 1906 has been immortalized
by Pope's graceful lines to him as one
who
Tames the stubborn genius of the plain
Almost as quickly as he conquered Spain.
In 171O the Due de Vendome COM
p!etely eclipsed Peterborough's work
by marching from Talavera, covering
100 miles in four days. swimming the
hoo..ed Henares, and utterly routing
the unprepared British at Brihuega.
Frederick the Greats marches dur
ing the seven years war were the Won
der of all Europe. At one time, in
1880. he marched his army for fifty
hours with only two intervening halts
Of two hours each. Again in 1860. he
kept his army marching for ten hours
on one Of the hottest days in the year
without a single halt. nearly 800 of his
men dropping dead in the line OF march
from sheer exhaustion.
The Kalmuck Tartars, ut the outset
of their memorable flight from Russia
H. l. g., IT,