The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1898-07-28
FIELDS OF ADVENTURE.
THRILLING INCIDENTS AND DARING
DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA.

, How Eagan Won Prornotion-The ModocS
Gave Him the Chance and Mckinley
Gave Him the Hewartl-Gigcr stories
That One Hears in Nladivostock.
"About twenty five years ago." said
q well-linown army officer, "the Modoc
Indian war, in the lava beds of south
ern Ore ,oL and northern California,
was in progress. In it occurred some
as severe fighting, under adverse
circumstances, as ever came to the
lot of the United States Army. Among
the troops engaged in that war was the
Ninth United States Infantry. 1t is
we'll known that this regiment was
never permitted to take any part in
the Civil Var, but was kept during
that whole eyentful period on the
Pacific slope. Il was not the fault Of
the officers of the regiment, yet they
felt very sensitive on the subject.
Among the officers of that regi-
ment was q young Lieutenant, whose
name l shall mention later. On the
evening preceding the heaviest fight
that occurred during the campaign re-
marks were made rejecting upon the
courage of what they designated as
the California contingent meaning
thereby the Ninth Infantry. These
remarks came to the ears of the young
Lieutenant, who Immediately sought
their author, and in the presence of a
large number Of his fellow officers
resented the aspersions in the most
vigorous terms, branding the man as
q modern Ananias, and also announc-
ing that Immediately after the fight
which was slated for the following day
he would personally make good all that
he then said.
Furthermore, as the matter Of per-
sonal courage had been put in ques-
tion, he announced that in the fight of
the following morning he should wear
his full uniform, and he challenged
the author of the disparaging remarks
TO do the same. That night the COM
manding General sent for this Lieuten-
ant and informed him that in the
charge that was to be made on the
following morning he was going to
give him the next position to the post
of honor, that is, the left of the line.
Any soldier will know that when
troops are in line of battle the left
is equally exposed with the
right. 1t happened, therefore, that
on the morning of the battle the Cali
fornia Lieutenant, true to his word,
appeared in command of the left of the
line in full uniform, and as it was we'll
known that such an exposure was to
court almost certain death, not an
other officer did so appear. notwith-
stand the Lieutenant's emphatic chal-
lenge. In the gray dawn of the fol-
lowing hour the troops lined up in
front of those terrible obstacles known
as the lava beds. The command "For-
ward!' was given, and over they went,
first one and then another, in the face
of withering fire from the savages
behind piles of rocks, some five and
some fully forty feet in height, the
California Lieutenant, in full uniform,
at the head of his company on the left
of the line. The right was crushed
and fell back, but the left, encouraged
by its commanders splendid example,
held its ground.
Gas may be imagined, the officer in
full uniform received the attention of
every Modoc warrior who caught sight
of him, and they finally brought him
down with rifle ball through his
thigh, cutting the tendons to his leg.
Calling two soldiers, instead OF per-
hitting them to carry him off, as they
wished to do, he placed hand on the
shoulder of each, and, thus supported,
he fought on, until by sheer loss of
blood his whole strength gave way and
the soldiers laid him down till the
fight was all over. His gallant con-
duct on this occasion won for him the
undying friendship of the late Major
General Crook, to whose department
he was soon after called. To his own
valor and this friendship the United
States owes it that he is now Briga-
dierGeneral Charles P. Egan, Com.
missary- General of Subsistence.
"The Modocs touched the button in
the lava beds Of Oregon, and President
Mckinley has done the rest. The
same conduct in the British Army
would have won the Victoria cross; in
the French Army it would have
brought the cross of the Legion of
Honor. In the United States Army it
won only the friendship of General
Crook, and yet we fancy if General
Egan were now to choose between them
all lie would take the latter"