Rock Island daily Argus., 1892-11-17
AN ENGLISH SOLDIER.
LORD WOlSELEY is THE KIND OF
A MAN A SOLDIER SHOULD BE.

Remarkable Vitality to Have Pulled
Him Through So Many Encounters with
Death-A Record of Wounds
II am worth a good many dead men
yet" was the characteristic remark of the
man when regarded a dead un" by the
army doctor in the Crimea. Lord Wolse-
ley's remarkable vitality helped him to
pass with success through many such ex-
periences, and to impress his mark on the
modern military history of Great Britain
in way unequaled by any other soldier
since the great Wellington died
The career of the commander in chief of
her majesty's forces in Ireland began in
1852, when, as n young enthusiastic Irish
lad, he joined the army as ensign He at
once tasted blood. He passed through the
Burmese war, and then returned TO Eng
land. Few have had Lord Wolseley's
| luck, and few his i'll luck While he has
won more victories than his fellows. so has
| he been wounded oftener than most soldiers
| In his position. His life has been one full
of narrow escapes from death
His first experience was ugly enough in
all conscience. Burmah was the scene; and
here, while heading an attacking party,
young Wolseley saved himself from de-
| struction by falling into a pit. Then, in
| the second attempt, he and his fellow Of
| ficer were each struck in the left thigh by
| large iron jingsl balls. His friend lived
| but few minutes. while Tolseley himself
| needed all his strength In the fight be-
tween life and death. He recovered only
| to meet experiences as hard in the Crimea
His biographer, Mr.. Lowe, tells that
during the progress of the Crimean war
| Captain Wolseley was wounded severely
| A,.cr WI ol;
June Z. On Feb. Is his coat was pierced
| by ball; on April 10 a round shot struck
| the embrasure at which he was working
and his trousers were cut, and on June
| a ball passed through his forage cap from
| the peak to the back, knocking it off his
| head.
| 1T may be said without exaggeration
| that he bore a charmed life, for at the ter
mination of the siege, of three messes of
four members each, he was the only re
naming officer in the Crimea, all the
others having been killed or forced to leave
| through wounds"
1t was not without truth that his fellow
officers regarded him as possessing more
| lives than even the proverbial cat.
/ But these hairbreadth escapes from death
| were trivial compared to some of Lord
Wolseley's other experiences. Outside
| Sebastopol he was giving orders to two
| sappers in the trenches when suddenly Il
| round shot took off one mans head and
drove his jawbone into the other mans
| face, to which it adhered, bespattering the
| party with blood" Aug 30 was bloody
day in the trenches.
A sortie by the Russians, successful for
| the moment, made it important that the
gap opened by the attack should be re-
paired. Wolseley and two sappers began
| the work of repair, but their labor was
stopped by the appearance of round shot,
| which struck the gabion, which was full
| of stones, and striking its contents with
terrific force, instantly killed the poor fel-
| lows by his side, the head of one being
| taken off, while the other was disem-
| boweled." Wolseley did not escape
| Thrown senseless to the ground, he lay for
| a time as one dead. At length he came to
himself, staggered to the doctors hut, and
again fell unconscious. 1t was then that
the doctor said, Hes n dead un." This
| reused Wolseley, who, turning in his
| blood, said, 81 am worth a good many
| men yet"
The young captains wounds on this oc-
casion presented a shocking appearance
The doctor fancied after probing the
| wound, that his jawbone was shattered
but Wolsely made him pull out the sub
stance in his mouth. when large stone
came away. The surgeon then lifted up
and stitched the cheek.
Both his eyes were completely closed,
and the injury done to one of them was so
serious that the sight has been perma-
nently lost. Not a square inch of his face
but was battered and cut about, while his
body was wounded all over, just rs if he
had been peppered with small shot. He
| a on
right leg, so both his limbs had now been
injured. The wound in the left thigh re-
ceived in Burmah rendered him slightly
lame
Many opportunities have since been given
him of fulfilling the instructions often de-
livered by Sir Hope Grant in China, Take
Wolseley; he will do the work for you -
1t is certain, too, that he has thoroughly
acted throughout life up to his own die
tum-that the only way for a young man
to get on in the army is to try and get
killed in every way he possibly can.
Three years after the close of the Crimean
war Wolseley was ordered to China.
Wrecked on the way, he made for India,
and greatly distinguished himself in the
suppression of the Indian mutiny. For
one of his deeds he deserved an honor
which every soldier most cherishes-the
Victoria Cross. Lord Wolseley has him
self told the story. He was leading the
storming party against the Metee Mohul
in November, 1857. which opened up the
way into the Lucknow resdency, when
Private Andrews, of his own company,
lone of the very bravest private soldiers
| he knew, fell wounded.
Wolseley ut once took the stricken man in
his arms and made a rush for 81 r
Before reaching friendly house, however,
poor Andrews was again shot by "a bullet
intended by rebel Sepoy for his rescuer.
The end of the mutiny saw Wolseley, at
the age of twenty-six, a lieutenant colonel
An experience in China came after, to be
followed by his appointment in 1851 as
Quartermaster general in Canada. Years
of quiet elapsed until the Red River expe-
dition and the Ashantee war, when Wolse-
ley became known among the natives
against whom he fought as 1.-The general
who never stops"
He came out of the Ashantee campaign
| a major general A rest of five veara