The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1899-10-06
GRAVE NUMBER FIVE
Written for This Paper.

seven graves on San Juan hill. AS ! nave |
stated in the Others ! but repeat the story
AS told to me 10y soldier acquaintance
met bes:ie these graves.
The board that marks the last resting
place OF this one Of the heroic trough riders
gave his name as james j Scholard, Aged
%"
That, to my mind, is one of the saddest
deaths of the seven, said my acquaintance.
james SchoIard was one of the brightest
men in the entire troop. lie was OF the
class that the nation, and especially the
west, can i'll afford to lose. lie was one
OF the energetic young men who come to
the west, not for the opportunities 1t Of
fers for wild free life, but because of the
business possibilities. They bring to our
western country the energy and ability that
it needs for its proper development. They
can see its possibilities and are ready to
grasp them and improve them. Such men
as Sergt Brodie or Jack Burns were brave
men, none could show more heroism, none
could fight better or be of more value to
their country on the field of battle, .but with
their deaths the country lost only good SOL
diers. In civil life they were and would
remain unknown. At home they were
classed as good fellows, but their part in
the development of the west had been, and
would have continued to be, small one.
with Scholard it was different. He was
a good soldier. 1t was not necessary that he
should die to prove this. But to the nation
he was worth more as citizen than as
soldier. There were thousands of men
throughout the west, men of the class of
Brodie, Burns or Scales, who would have
gladly taken his place in the ranks, and
who would have been as.valuable in a place
of this kind as Scholard was, and their
death would have crowned their names as
that of a hero, and the nation, while mourn
ing for them, would hardly have missed them
in civil life. But the west will miss
Scholard. He was destined to occupy
prominent place in great territory that is
in need of energetic men.
at was certainly purely patriotic motives
that induced Scholard to enlist. There
seems no possibility of its Icing anything
else. Brodie enlisted because soldering
was his business Scales and Burns would
have probably told you it was for want of
something better, had you asked them their
reason. Their real reason was because of
their desire to see the excitement, believe.
But Scholard neither needed a position, or
had his life been such as to develop a taste
for fighting.
HE came to the west some two years ago
and settled in Phoenix He was just out of
college, where he had evidently improved
the opportunities his fathers wealth had
given him. With plentiful supply of cap
ital behind him he opened large estab
| lishment devoted to the sale OF general
ranch supplies and pushed his business with
such energy that in two years time he was
recognized as a leader in that trade. His
statesmen could be found all over Arizona,
Texas and New Mexico. He would employ
no one who would not give his firm the same
tireless energy that he gave it, and his sales
men were successful. His business methods
were always honorable and while he cut
into the trade of other concerns he always
held their respect.
"Scholard did not originally enlist with
this troop, but was transferred to it from
another at his own request and that of our
captain who knew him, and who desired to
make the service as pleasant for him as pos
sible. But he would accept no favors; he
insisted on doing his share of the guard duty,
the kitchen work or the policing while in
camp in the states. The men of the troop
appreciated his position; they knew that
he could have gotten out of many in unpleas-
ant task had he so desired, and they hon
ored him for not doing 80.
"He could sing well or could tell good
story and was always willing to DO either If
by SO doing he could add to the enjoyment
of his comrades. His own actions would
never have betrayed the existence of his
wealth He lived as the rest of US did, eat
ing the government rations, and if he
smoked it was a pipe would not have you
think that he was in any way stngy, for he
was not Oftentimes the men would find
some luxury at mess which we knew the gov
ernment had not furnished and if the quar-
termaster was questioned concerning 1t he
would answer our questions by saying it
lust turned up. For time we gave the cap
tain the credit for these things, but he dis
| claimed any knowledge of them, and finally
we learned that it was Schoard. 1t was the
uuartermaster who let the secret out more
to relieve the captain than for anything
else, as that officer did not relish getting the
credit for something he was not entitled to.
Scholard would once or twice each week give
the uuartermaster a ten-dollar bill with in.
structons to spend it for the boys in any
way he saw fit, He never asked for an ac-
counting of this money, but he, as well as
ourselves, knew that was unnecessary. BE-
fore the transports that brought us here
sailed generous supply of these delicacics
found their way on board, and many a
wounded or sick man has since had reason
to thank Private Scholard for his gen
crosby and thoughtfulness.
'"Scholard was not destined to be a lead
gr on the battle line. He had none of those
qualities that go to make up the heroic fight
err BY his enlistment and his life in camp
he displayed more heroism than he did on
the battle field when we consider the sacri-
fees he must have made to enlist and the
difference between the camp life, with its
hard work and rigid discipline, and that
which he had previously led. He was not a
good shot and was not part of the skirmish
line or even of the general advance. He was
assigned place in our small support and did
not get onto the line of battle until we were
almost ready to charge, but the support had
been under fire for some little time before
this, without, however, suffering any seri
ous losses In the iull that came before the
charge that cost us so many good men the
supports were brought up and placed in the
general line Even after this we advanced
for little 10y rushes, and could not help
noticing that Scholard never led his sec
tion of the line. lie was by no means the
last man, hut he waited for some one else -
lead. At each halt he would drop into the
grass and fire with the rest Of the troop,