The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-29
REGULARS HAVE A KICK


PEG ULkRS HAVE A KICK
Jacksonville. July 19.-"To h-ll with you
newspaper fellersr
The speaker was a stalwart trooper
with whom I was talking in the hospital
at Key West. His remark was rather pro-
fame and somewhat discourteous. but It
was also general and not personal, and
was evidently the result of a temporary
fit of Indignation. I only smiled at the
mans vehemance, and settled myself a lit
tie more comfortably in my chair to lis
ten to the recital of another tale of sol
diers' grievances. I have heard so many
of them that l am quite we'll toughened.
But this man was a new case. He was
trooper in a cavalry regiment Of the regu-
lar army. The complaints and protests
which have become so familiar to me
have come mainly from the ranks Of the
volunteers. The kick of a regular was
quite a novelty. The man had returned
from Santiago on the Iriquois, with his
arm in a sling. He belonged to that
branch Of our service which is supposed
TO do a good part of its fighting on horse
back, but which, sent to the front with
out its horses, had fought as infantry
and rivalled the infantry in valor and eff
fectivenes.
What is the matter, lad? What Is
hurting you now besides that arm with a
hole in tt?'' I replied.
"Oh! You're all right. I know you
You're friend of my old colonel, so I
know you're staight. But we didn't see
any papers out IN Cuba, an I've been
TN
an I don't see much in 'em except what
ahe Seventy-first New York did an what
the Rough Riders did What l want to
know is where we fellers come in" said
the man with the crossed sabers on the
side Of his old campaign hat.
TIL mans idea was not a new one to me-
I had marked the same tendency in many
of the papers which had come under my
notce|audation ofv our volunteer troops,
and not much to say about our regulars
i sympathized with the complaint He
had no wish or purpose TO reflect in any
way whatever on the fighting qualities
of the volunteer troops. He spoke of them
an terms of unbounded admiration for
their nerve in charge and their steadi- !
mes sunder fire. He knew what he was !
talking about, for hr had fought beside |
them. But he could not understand why |
so much was said in the papers about the |
CONDUCT of the Rough Riders at La |
Quasimas. and why so little was said
about the gallant black fellows Of the 1
Tenth regular cavalry, who, according to /
what appear TO be the most reliable ac- |
counts, saved the volunteer cavalry from !
terrible disaster. He saw much told of /
the gallant action of the Seventy-first |
New York, told at length and in detail. |
but saw their comrades of the Sixth and
Sixteenth regular infantry dismissed with
Il few lines, which did little more than
hote the participation of those regiments
in the engagement.
In all probability I understood better
than he did the reason for what appeared
to him to be an unjust distinction. rea-
LIKED more fully than he that. incidentally,
1t is the business of newspaper to notice
whatever IS noticeable and 20 recount
deds Of valor done by men who are I'M
known as well as those done by men who
are known, but that. primarily. the pa
per must give that which Will be Of the
liveliest interest to the creates number Of
readers. This is especially he case when
news comes n a food. The selection must 1
be made in favor OF the best known. But I
from his standpoint and. perhaps from
the standpoint Of absolute Justice. the
man was quite right With no word of
anything but the highest praise for the
courage and unf nching bravery of the
volunteers engaged in the battle before
Santiago, the fight was a fight Of our
regular army. Il is useles to speculate
results had none but voltn-
teers been engaged in that struggle at
El Canev. or in those desperate CHARGES
up the hills at San Juan, which viii be-
come historic for their dauntless and al
most reckless herossm. The results could
have been no more glorious. They might
have ben les so. and stu have been
worthy Of all honor But with the excen-
ton OF the First volunteer cavalry and
the Seventy-first New York and the Sec
ond Massachusetts infantry, who stood
beside them, the hottest, fissting on hat
long firing line at Santiago was sustained
by the men OF the United States regular
army. Many readers are not sufficiently
familiar with the organization Of the
army 10 know that when they Sc an illu-
sion to the work Of a cavalry regiment
which IS spoken Of by any number from
the First to the Tenth. or to the work Of
an infantry regiment numbered from the
FRS 10 the Twenty-ff1h, TO which is at ,
tached neither the name OF state nor
he word volunteer. reference is mad TO a
regiment of the regular army.
To the majority q n people Of the coun-
try, the soldier of our regular army Is a
forgotten man" We hear Of MIN from
Tine 70 time. less frequently now than in .
former years. in connection with some ,
bold and daring fight with marauding or
turbulent Indians. Mrs. Clusters books
ave been widely read. and Captain