The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-18

ing yesterday at which il was decided TO
request Governor Wells to invite the leg
islature to go with him to the armory
on Friday evening and witness d parade
of all the troops of the city which will
be held that evening under the command
OF Major Grow. The captains OF the
several organizations and the major con-
sutute the committee. In this connection
i mas been decided that these officers
AID the first sergeant OF each oreaniza-
ION, together with the enlisted men from
each and ali shall constitute a commit
tee to wait upon the joint military COM
Inittees of the senate and house TO urge
TIE passage of beneficial laws. This last
named body meets on Sunday next.
g g g
Captain Gibbs of the battery read a
Daper Yesterday. which is given below,
Tho title being The American Voiun-
teers, How Organized into Armies. The
once: says: IN presenting a paper OF
i:--s character 1 was impressed with the
necessity OF an active and energetic dis
cuSs;oe OF the problem that this assoc
cation IS formed TO solve That was the
proposition that determined many of the
statements l advance hereins they are
moe 10 provoke discussion. and under
standing that feature You viii readily
see they cannot be in their nature purely
Judicial. AT various times the agitation
iof hlShly trained United States re-
serve force to supplement the National
Guard 1lndS its way into the public press.
put the movement has little strength and
IS soon forgotten. AS the probable avail
able number of men capable of bearing
arms reaches with us the figure of 10
ttV.OOO. we can safely count on per cent
OF this force being ready at all times
TO volunteer, making force of 100000
men available for mobilization Three
months continuous training for such a
force would put il in excellent fighting
condition. provided the war department
was prepared for any emergency. 1t
would seem that Il volunteer reserve
OTHER than the National Guard is I'M
necessary and that congress has usually
been right in paying no attention to the
reserve idea. What should be done is
clearly pointed out by the late Major
General August V. Kantz. L. S. A, and
published in the Century magazine In the
year 1898. under the caption, our Ma
uonal Military System; What the United
States Army Should Be- General Kantz
was West Point graduate who held i'm
portGrt commands throughout the civil
war Will only note few paragraphs.
re says, 100 much Importance is at
tached TO drill tactics. When the sword
ana pike and the bow and arrow were
the essential implements of war the
formation of ranks had its origin and
developed into masses. and an elaborate
ana complicated manual. With the in
PRODUCTION of fire arms the thinning of
the ranks began and has continued with
TIE Improvement in fire arms until it is
simply disastrous for any force to be
surprised in solid formation. where form
cry the reverse was the case
W ( dQileTe 10 TlRI0 UneS IN ranks and
drills and to unnecessarily complicated
systems. when every officer of experience
KNOWS they have no value and are not
used in actual warfare. member of
the National Guard is liable TO think
that he knows the whole art of war if
he can take the prize at competitive
drlil or a target practice on an armOry
nooc. ana with an unObStructed range
II actual war he would not be able to
accomplish the facngS in a ploughed
field any better than the volunteer of a
few weeks, and the accuracy of his fire
would be materially affected by the nm
familiar ground and the knowledge that
there was an enemy that would fire
Ii"St All that is ever used of the end
less drilling when in actual campaign
- the passing from column into line and
from line into column by the simplest
methods. and no other movements, no
matter how favorable the ground or how
perfect the drill The precision required
in drill takes away from the soldier
what is of the first Importance in mod
ern Observation-Disclosures of movement
freedom of action-and that individuality
or out of the ranks. Then follows Cen
eraI Kantz's idea in regard to remod-
cling our whole system: he has now so
many disciples that very few try to de-
lend the old plan: his scheme, as form
ulated. is the best that has ever been
presented Let us draw away from the
mistake that is sometimes made in dis
cuSSing war: that is that knowledge
training, drill or experience wins bat
ties: they contribute to that end, that
is all.
The only thing that wins a fight is
pure force. Getting the prepOnderance
and superiority of destructive effect at the
point of contact is the essential thing.
The difficulty of doing this is nearly as
often Overcome by the comparatively in
experienced commander as by the highly
trained one. Sitting Bull had no train
lnr, but he knew the essentials at the
Little Bighorn- The insurgents that are
fIrrl H.
but they paralyze the trained Spanish in
fantry.
Forrest had no training. but the trained
men flew before him. Garibaldi Cronn
well and many others before and since
their time demonstrated that training
was not necessary to win battles, and
Gates militia at Saratoga We're q, good
match for Burgoyne's highly educated
troops. The revolutionary army of
France. and JacksOn's troops at New
Orleans are good examples. and as good
stated that martinez methods nearly
ruined the best national soldier that was
ever born, meaning the confederate
volunteer of 81. What We must guard
against is the foolish notion that eX-
cessive training is the way TO produce
good soldiers. There could not be
greater mistake. What is wanted is high
military intelligence and reSOurceful and
comprehensive minds that love war and
have the soldier spirit. The mechanical
drill is obsolete. and we should abandon
II. In the next war thousands OF men
may be sacrificed by theorists and martin
cts, who will keen their commands in
close order within the range of the
enemys guns; who will commence an
action with cavalry or infantry and who
will expose their infantry to the enemy
machine guns and artillery. by sending
them forward in rushes before trying to
silence the enemy's batteries, and by
doing generany the things they ought not
to do, because they believe the adversary
is going to wait for their pretty lines and
nicely trained movements. 1t is singular
that in the memoirs of Grant Sherman
and Sheridan, the three names that
represent the American IDEAL of the pro-
fessional soldier. viz: professional train
ing with the volunteer spirit, and par
ticularly Sheridan's comments on the
Franco Prussian war, there is none of
the drill book theory and no worship of
European army methods. Is not this
because Sheridan knew that all these
value? Grant says in his memoirs that
when he took command of his regiment
he had not paid any attention to minor
infantry tactics for years. and that in
that time SCOTS tactics had been super
ceded by Hardee. but that he found that
he got over all difficulties by applying a
little common sense to the movements.
The western armies of Grant and Sher-
man were sent into action almost as soon
as organized, yet they gave just as good
an account of themselves as the eastern
armies that had been drilling for year.
There is a great deal of misunderStand-
ing in regard to the actuaiitieS of war.
The veterans who had served Tor years
through the war were not noted for their
precision of drill; in fact. the militiamenil
who had stayed at home could give them
points Another error is the contrasting
of the veterans of the war with the
present regulars, always to the advant-
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