Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-03-02

IL.y~<<1ffL .ffAkS,INlK1 Dr1e1 menVlOn IN
f~T@y1y$<TYpNks. the reports and
In battle the aid carries orders under
fire and often guides or leads the col
umn on a charge. Washington was an
aid when he saved Braddock's army
from destruction at Monongahela. Mel
son A. Miles won his first promotion ~
an aid to General Howard, and Custer
first gained distinction on the staff OF
Mcclellan A Spanish revolver in the
hands Of wounded don, who lay welt
ering in his blood near San Juan block
house, made staff hero out of Lieu
| tenant Garesche Ord of the Sixth regu-
lars Young Ord was the son of Gen
eral E. O. G. Ord, well known arm
leader who died of fever in Havan~
some years ago The generals name
sake. Lieutenant Z. O. G. Ord of the
Twenty second infantry, served in
| Cuba also
Garesche Ord was on the staff Of
General Hawkins. He was conspicuous
all the morning in the bloody San Juan
basin, where he risked his life more
than once to get information about the
Spanish positions and the ways to get
at them. When the Sixth and Sixteenth
regiments reached the fording place
following, not leading, the general and
his stafford was just coming from
the front, where he had climbed a tall
tree for good look at the blockhouse.
Boys, you can take it in 80 minutes,
he said. 1t was three hours or such
matter before these troops crossed the
Spanish trenches, and when they did
| Ord was one of the foremost.
There was another staff officer con-
spicuous at the ford, and before noting
what happened to Ord it is well to have
glance at General Skaters imam for
the hour, Lieutenant j. D. Miley.
When these same troops of Hawkins
began to cross the creek, the Spaniards
We're pouring in Mausers at very
lively rate, and Miley stood on the bank
nearest the Spanish lines. He is a tall
slim fellow Of about 80, a sober, earn
est schoolmasterish sort of a soldier who
wouldn't laugh without the best Of
causes He stood in view of the line in
direct range of the bullets swinging
his hands and clapping them gleefully
while he kept up a fire of comment to
encourage the men. That's all right |"
(Meaning the bullets overhead. 1.-THE
Spanish are simply wasting their am
munition, that is all " Soon it got too
hot for him even, and he strobe away
under the bank, saying with smile,
| bo inc ont Of nn, y
There was more work for Miley to do
that day as Skaters representative,
and he is to be met with all along the
line in the narratives of the soldiers.
There is n story ahoat in the army
that Ord said to a conrade that morn
ing, I'm come out of this a colonel or
corpse" but his companion officers
deny this and say 1t is unlike Ord He
was capable of rashness under excite
ment, but not given to bravado. The
story of Ord's gallantry and death was
given me by his companion officers OF
the Sixth. After the brigade had
been under fire a couple of hours OIL
more, it reached the shelter Of a
"bench" in the hillside well toward the
crest Some confusion in the lines tool
place owing to the thick high grass
the barbed wire fences and other OBJ
structions, and Ord seeing a detached
band of men little ahead Oh the res
making ready for the final rush, asked
Hawkins permission to join it. Haw
kins assented under the spur of the
prevailing excitement, but said after
ward that he had it on his lips to re
call the words. However, he did not
and Ord kept on at the head of all
When the handful reached the trench
Ord saw wounded Spaniard, and will
gestures told his men to take good care
of the luckless foeman Evidently thu
Spaniard misunderstood the gesture
, and the words were also unintelligibl,
, to him. He drew revolver and sho
Ord dead. Ord's companions shot tn,
Spaniard, natural act of revenge un
der the circumstances.
Lieutenant Miley received praise out
| side of the report Of his immediate com
mander, General Shafter, fact whicl
makes the mention all the more EN-
phatic General Kent, who led the in
, fantrv at San Juan hill, says that h
! often saw Miley delivering orders unde
fire with great unconcern. Miley wa
1 the bearer of truce dispatches and &C
companied Shafter when he talked wit
the Spanish generals. He it was VIII
received the honor Of hosting tn
! American flag over the governor S pal
=, ace on July II, aud found a rival at tn
t last moment in the shape of NEEDLE
some newspaper correspondent, VIII
7 tried to rob the army of honor won a
: the cannon's mouth.
>. Miley was one of the three America
r commissioners who negotiated the sur
t render of Santiago, the others bein
i General Wheeler and General Lawtor
b. There is an army story told to illus
trate the remarkable influence at head
quarters of this comparatively youn
aid -de-camp When the Spaniards SUI,
al thAp S,. Oh, l.