The Florence tribune., 1898-08-27
FIGHTING SEVENTH. For Some Reason It Is Not In Its
 Right Place. A Retired Army Omcer Gives His Views Concerning the Stanch Old Fighters - should
 De in Cuba.

When retired army On1cer opens right up and says what he thinks of the reverhment in any of its rela- iiora CT agtionsi it may be put down hat he is in deadly earnest, for his
 whole training has been to silence
 the most discreet utterances. This
 Iact adds force 10 the language re- cently used by one Of these gentlemen in Detroit;
 T want this country to know one thing he said, indignantly, "and I'd like 10 see an explanation demanded from the war authorities. Everybody knows lsc famous old Seventh cavalry.
 the regiment of Custer and of Forsyth.
 Of Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee.
 There is Q body of the toughest, hard jest troopers in existence. They have done more hard service in the field and had more members killed since the civil war than has all the rest of the regular army put together. That sounds like an exaggerated statement. but it is absolutely true and verified in the records.
 Do you know where the Seventh Is in this time of the war when they could do more to hunt down and ex-
 terminate the skulking Spaniards in Cuba thun could any other like or ganization in the service of the na-
 ton, who know most about their style of fighting and how to meet it? They are scattered through the southwest in little army garrisons of one and two companies, keeping an eye on the Indians to see that they behave them
 selves on issue day and the brief pe- riod of exuberance that follows. They faithfully carry out the daily routine of military life. go through the usual evolutions on the sun-baked perade
 grounds every day, mount guard and
 attend with prompt precision to every other duty. Not man among them utters a complaint, but their bronzed
 faces bear the marks of disappoint- ment as they read and discuss the war news which reaches them through belated newspapers Every old sol dier knows how they feel, how their blood wnrr1s md their nerves jingle
 fet they the tried and seasoned 0Rht- CTS Of the army, She men wtHo hHve followed the most daring leaders. are ont there doing police duty vhiIe raw recruits are sent 10 the front fo com hat foe that employs the same the ties with which the seyeatA is so f,- miIiar and has always so successfully met.
 My own opinion is, and it is shared
 by other disinterested military men of the country, that the Seventh has taken up too much space in the army
 history of the country for the past 30 years, that there are certain men and cliques of influence that are jealous
 of it's record, and that it Is being
 ruthlessly suppressed More than
 once it's flashing officers have been
 brought upon the carpet after some
 brilliant victory over the Utes, Apeches or Sioux, only to be exonerated and complimented from the war depart ment. There is some unworthy animus behind such harassment of brave men,
 and believe that 1t is still operative against the Seventh. Public sentiment should be aroused, at least to the ex-
 tent of demanding an explanation. It
 would have been just as foolish and in-
 excusable during the civil war to have placed the followers of such men as
 Custer and Sheridan on post duty in some peaceable section of the coun- try."-Detroit Free Press.