Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-12
ECHOES OF TUE war.

The stigma Of Coward" dreaded BY every
soldier, has been officially attached to the
names OF three officers of the Seventy-frst
New York volunteers, for their conduct at
tbe battle Of San Juan. The men thus
stigmatized are Colonel Downs, Lieutenant
Colonel Smith and Major Whittle. board
of inquiry of the State National Guard has
had the matter under investigation for sew
eral weeks, and it's findings have just been
made public The board aequits the regl-
ment of blame and condemns the three Off
GERS for failing to obey orders and to lead
their men into action. In approving the
findings of the board Governor Roosevelt
says; "on no possible theory can Colonel
Downs conduct be justified. He failed to
lead or even to accompany his men, or to
follow them, save at distance when they
finally went forward by themselves. He
has since resigned Major Whittle's case
is almost as clear. He retired to the rear
and stayed there until after dark, when
he came forward with Colonel Downs He
also has resigned, Lieutenant Colonel Smith
stayed as gnobly inactive as his chief, maxi
ing no effort to go forward into the fight
1t is not safe or wise that such man should
told high office, either in the volunteer army
or the National guard"
The conduct of the Seventy first in the
battle of July / is one of the unpleasant
episodes of the Santiago campaign. BY some
mysterious influence 1t was singled out from
among New York regiments for what was
regarded as special good fortune-partici-
patton in the first invasion of Cuba. The
famous Sixty ninth, with its unsurpassed
record in the civil war, was ignored and
left to pound sand at Tampa. Being thus
rnxy CHI I,av pnrth hy
of the honor. Instead its craven officers
left it in the lurch at the first firing line,
causing great confusion and preventing SOL
ders who were not afraid of the whistle of
bullets to move on the enemy. The men
crouched on the road and in the bushes and
some of the regiments following were
obliged to step over their PROSTATE forms.
A sergeant of the Second infantry, Kill
patrick by name, shouted to the New York
ers: why don't you come on? I'm New
Yorker" 1--WE would" replied Lieutenant
Rafferty,. "if we had officers like you have"
Come on without them" the sergeant re-
torted. Quick as a flash the lieutenant
called to the men to follow him and they
did. Temporary fright from lack of COM
petent leadership vanished in an instant and
the men marched to the front and fought
and stayed there to the finish
These facts were related without comment
by General Kent in his report of the days
operations. They were published in the
New York World at the time and aroused
furious indignation among the home patriots
of Gotham. So intense was the Indignation,
whetted by rival papers, that the World
qualified and withdrew the accusation. Later
on, when the regiment came home and the
shouting was over, members of the regi-
ment publicly reiterated the charge of cow
ardice against the officers. The outcome
was, first, court martial, then a board of
inquiry and the verdict given above, ap-
proved by the governor. In the whirligig of
time the World has the satisfaction of see
ing its rivals admit that the original pub
lication was true to the letter.