The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-08-19
CLUTCH COURAGE IN WAR.
The Custom of Giving Spurious
Liquor to Men in Battle.

the desperate dash out of Santiago har,
Dor, Cervera's sailors were we'll dosed
with spirits to give them Dutch cour,
age" for the Spanish article was pre-
sumably at a rather low ebb Just then.
OF its kind, this is an instance unite
apart from anything recorded of mod
ern sea fights. The mind revolts at
the thought of Keeling, drunken men
toll1ng at their guns or sweating in
the hell below decks, the stoke hole.
AS Cervera's mad dash with drunken
crews was typical with that which is
old and decaying. equally typical with
that which is new and modern was the
little episode that occurred during
Dewey's fight at Manila harbor. When
he had strewn the sea with the pierced
and battered hulks of his enemy, and
the game was all in his own hands, he
drew off and had coffee served to his
men. There are whole volumes in this
contrast.
No one accuses the S%paniards of
cowardice. 1t isn't that. They are SIM
ply pathetically out Of date. Soldiers
and sailors today do not depend on
~stimulants to furnish them their in
%spiration for courage; training and skill
does that.
Dutch courage" has played quite an
important part in history. Though the
expression villifies a brave people, who
have had better need to pump courage
oat of the depths Of the spirit cask.
seventeenth century, when Holland
was worsting England on the high
seas. and even burning her fleets in
the Thames. The English attributed all
this success on the part of their en-
envy to the inspiring influence of their
"schnaps."
1t is not likely, however, hat the
Dutch sailors used stimulants n
mor freely than did the English, for
in the old navies spirits of some sort,
always served before a fight. In the
case Of a hopeless combat, or n
against great odds, it was sent among
the men in liberal quantities, the great
err the odds the more Dutch courage"
On board pirate vessels, where disci-
pline was lax, there was no stint of in>
toxicants on the eve of battle, and
when one of those sea overs fell in
with a ship Of the line, and felt that
the Zig was up, every ordinary re-
A-:a4:1- NH l1~~1 ~1
does would drink themselves into a
condition of brutal recklessness. And
when defeat became inevitable, it was
this that in more than one instance
gave them the heart to blow up their
ship and themselves, and their victori-
GUS foes along with them.
Among soldiers it has been custom
airy to give raw recruits a mixture of
gunpowder and whisky, a mixture that
is supposed to create a frenzy which
renders men utterly insensible to fear.
Whether it does or not is a matter of
doubt. Though the mingling of the
powder and alcohol may have a chemi-
cal action which really produces the eff
feet attributed to it.
Perhaps the most striking and Ira
matte instance Of the display Of Dutch
courage anywhere recorded in history
occurred at Moscow at the time of Ma
poleon's invasion of Russia.
Kutusoft had withdrawn his army,
while the citizens had fed from the an
cient capital of the cars, as the French
moved upon it. When the advance
city there was no sign of life to be seen
anywhere; an appalling quiet reigned
on every hand, but when they pene-
trated the Kremlin, the gates Of which
were closed, they were greeted with a
discharge of musketry from the walls.
It vas then discovered hat the place
was defended by a squalid, wretched
band of men n women, of most repul-
sive n disgusting appearance, and in
a state of bestial drunkenness. They
prisons. Count R~ostopchin, the gov
ernor of Moscow, had released these
outcasts and had delegated to them a
s~tupendous task.
Napoleon did not enter the city until
nightfall. Shortly after l in the morn
ing he was informed hat the Mer-
chants exchange was in flames. AS
soon as it was day he hurried to Gen.
eral Mortier, whom he had appointed
military governor. Mortier was al
ready apprehensive; he showed the en-
peror closed houses, from which the
smoke was issuing. They had not been
broken into, but had evidently been