San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-06-30

English speaking captains.
"But to return TO General Cocirell
During the campaign for the nominal
ton he repeatedly declared that if Har-
din, Colman or anybody else defeated
him no voice would be lifted louder and
no hat thrown higher than his for his
successful competitor. So when Charles
Il Hardin was nominated and Coclrell
was called ON for a speech he good ma
suredly referred to his promise, and
then and there, as the indictments say,
threw his big white SLOUGH hat to the
lofty ceiling of the convention hall and
gave lusty rebel yell which startled
the catfish in the Missouri river. That
performance made him senator, and no
state ever had better one.
at is said the great King Cyrus knew
the name of every soldier in his vast
armies. Cocbrell never forgets either
the name or the face Of any person to
whom he has been introduced. This fac
ulty is simply invaluable to public
man and has been of incalculable bene-
fit to the distinguished Missouri senator.
Luck Go to Suppose General Cock
rell had defeated. Hardin? The chances
are a thousand to one that he never
would have had the opportunity to pre-
vent innumerable raids upon the fed
eral treasury, thereby saving untold
millions to the people. He ought to
hunt up the delegate who cast that frac-
tional vote against him and dress him
in purple and fine linen the remnant of
his days
"Some people say-among others that
eminent pubicist, orator and Journal
list, Henry Watterson-that Stonewall
Jackson was the one Puritan soldier Of
our civil war. They speak without
knowledge. Stonewall was Puritan
indeed, worthy to have charged with
mighty Oliver at Naseby, Marston Moor
and Dunbar, shouting, God with us 7
but so was Francis Marion Cockrell He
fought and prayed, and prayed and
fought, and it remains to this day
mooted question whether he fought
more than he prayed or prayed more
than he fought. If jackson was the
superintendent of Sunday school at
Lexington, Va, Cocrell was engaged in
the same way at Warrensburg, Mo. He
started in as private in April, 1861;
he surrendered as u major general dur
ing the very last days Of tho war; He
was volunteer without military train
ing, and that fact ex necessitate deprived
him of any particular favor in the Con-
federate war department, where the de-
lusion prevailed that no man could be
great soldier unless he had graduated
from West Point, which delusion seems
to have prevailed also in the federal
war Office. Nevertheless events appear
to indicate that, even with this handi-
cap, had the war lasted four years longer
General Coclrell would have risen to
the highest command.
He fought. That made his soldiers
love him, and that is one thing which
makes the people of Missouri love him.
He is just about as popular with the ex-
Union soldiers among his constituents
as with those who followed the stars
and bars.
General Cockrell, being a volunteer,
evolved some original theories ON war
which are calculated to stun the typical
martinets For instance, after the first
battle in which he fought, green as he
was in things martial, he would never
permit an army engineer to select his
line of battle for him. He said that as
the duty of defending the line devolved
ON him he knew better than any engi-
neer what was defensible line and
what was not. This may have seemed
presumptuous in raw recruit, but his
military history furnishes his justifica-
ton.
Another thing that he sticks to to
this day, and which will give the souls
of the professionals rude shock, is that
the most effective weapon with which
infantry can be armed is double bar
relied shotgun. He claims that it will
discount all the new tangled rifles ever
made. His logic runs as follows, and to
acivilian appears absolutely convincing
One wounded man on the battlefield
is ever so much more trouble than SO
many dead men. The double barreled
shot gun is unequaled as producer of
wounded men; therefore it is the best
thing to arm troops with.
"As clincher he states that in GER
tain battle in which he was engaged
when he was colonel two companies
of his regiment were armed with double
barreled shotguns, the other eight with
Enfield rifles, and that when the fight
ing was over there were more dead and
wounded men in front of the two COM
panies with shotguns than in front of
the eight armed with rifles. If seeing is
believing, then any rational being not
under the tyranny of preconceived opin-
ions ought to be convinced by General
Cockrell's reasoning
WALTER WEIlMAN
Human slSuiIs Us Medicine.