The evening times., 1898-08-09
USELESS ARMS.
No Wounds From R~vcIve RS, Swords
and BayOnets.

NJ " OouOU rom hevCIyCRn swords
and BayOnets,
New York. Aug. 9-Theodore Roosevelt
according to a stan correspondent of the
Tribune. at Santiago killed Spaniard
with his revolver in the charge near San
Juan hill on July l.. This" says the
correspondent. ''is apparently the only
case In which that weapon was used with
effect by either side In the whole cam
paign. Nearly all the officers in both ar
mics, or, rather three armies. to include
the Cubans, carried swords or mache;es.
yet there does not seem to have been a
single wound inflicted with one OF these.
Thirdly. all the infantry carried bayonets.
but 1t is believed that not a hurt made
with one of these was dressed in any hos
pital, American or Spanish. These three
arms were carried BY the thousands: tney
cost a great deal of money; with the an
munition of the revolver they involved
the transportation of tens of thousands
of pounds of weight, and nowadays. es-
pecially in tropical legion. the great
object Is to burden the soldier with as
little baggage as possible. The question
asks itself Why are they borne? Ger
is to wound and to kill. If in an entire
campaign, in which several thousand men
were injured more or less severely, .he
revolver, sword and bayonet did virtual
" no execution whatever. ought they II
continue part of the military equipment
in actual warfare?
As for the revolver there are not lack
ing officers who think that, on the whole,
II is almost as much of an fncumbrance
as a use 1t is well enough in a military
post. and carries a certain weight of au-
thority. just as the sword does. Per-
haps no man. except OF high rank, would
want to go into the enemy country en-
tirely unarmed. He might be sent on
some duty at night, or encounter stray
soldier of the other side in the daytime.
Tue emergency would probably never
arise but the feeling of security given
by good. big pistol would be worth all
the trouble of carrying IL.
In the fighting around Santiago Off
GERS were conspicuous leading their men
in charges. But, as one of them ex-
pressed II. II a commissioned soldier had
time to fire a weapon he was neglecting
his duty of observing and commanding
his men. The charge in which Col.
Roosevelt took part was exceptional in
THE way in which the men of the differ
ent regiments were mixed up. and in the
nearness of few of the Spaniards. Any
thing like hand-to-hand conflict is ex-
tremely unlikely in battle in which
both sides use modern rifles. Their range
is measured in miles. From 500 yards
down their accuracy I'm the hands of
skilled marksmen is frightfuI. They can
be aimed and fired six or eight times a
minute. The zone of fire is so large that
the victory is virtually decided before a
revolver could be used with accuracy
In the charges at Ell Caney and San
Juan. the fighting continued until the two
sides were close together, although many
Spaniards had managed to escape. In
the thrilling charge up the hill on the
rifle pits and stone fort of Ell Caney the
enemys fire. except from the hills be-
yond slackened when the final dash was
begun. The execution of the American
weapons was so awful that the Spaniards
feared to show even enough of their bod
les to fire. When the storming party
reached the trenches and the fort the
enemy surrendered. For some minutes it
had been evident that further resistance
was useless.
An officer therefore. found his revolver
of little service, even h the difficult task
OF keeping his men together did not -e-
Quire all his attention. His functions are
well defined and well understood. Mill
tary tacticians have figured the need Of
a certain part of an army to direct the
rest. They are more useful in this ca
pacity than they would be handling guns.
They can serve their cause best by doing
the work especially assigned to theIa.
Any mixing up of their duties with those
of the privates would be Likely to result
in neglecting the more important set.
Therefore, 1t is reasoned out an officer
can be more effectively employed than in
trying with his own hand to kill the enc
my.
Some exceptions are to be noted, such
at when troops are stationary and an
officer borrows rifle for a fancy shot.
These instances occurred around Santi-
ago, but were, of course, mere diver
sions.
Granting all this. some men in author
ity think that the carrying Of the small
arm is justified for one reason, the pos
sibility of having to use II on your
own soldiers. One deserter, a volunteer,
was shot in this campaign, but the Amer
ican soldier otherwise showed no inclina-
ton to sh;rk danger. Indeed. most of the
examples were of companies and regi-
ments advancing more rapidly than the
coionels and generals expected them to
do Col. Miles. the brigade commander.
wanted to charge on the FL Caney stone
fort with his brigade, but two or three
companies Of negroes of the Twenty-fifth
Infantry ANTICIPATED him.