Arizona republican., 1899-03-28
LAWToN, THE FIGHTER.
Some Facts About the Man in Com mand of the Army at
 Manila.

ent of Indiana volunteers Henry w ] Lawton began the military caree which has brought him to the rank 0
 major-general and to the command O.
 the army of the Philippines. The be
 gjnnipg4 was humble The present DO
 sition is that demanding the bes
 fighting talent in the American nlilI
 tary establishment While Genera
 Otis will be the goyernCr-general anc
 as such will rank General LawtoE, the
 former will devote himself to the civil
 duties and upon the latter will de
 volve the disposition of the troops and
 the planning and execution Of cam
 paigrs.
 Sergeant Layton of the Nintb h.
 diana infantry he was six days a1ler Fort Sumter was fired upon in April, 1861. The war between the north and south was to be a matter of 100 days
 The. first enlistment was for three
 months. Sergeant La'wtCn saw enough
 service in West Virginia to earn a | commission When he returned to nlS
 state in midsummer he re-en4isted, and
 was comuissSioned a second lieutenant
 in the Thirtieth Indiana. The steady
 persistent quality of the man showed
 itself in the way he continued through l the war and climbed by all of the
 grades until at the time of muster out
 he was in cCrcmand of a regiment. Al Chickamauga he was a captain. In the
 last year Of the war he led his regi-
 meLi1 on several battlefields.
 Aftsr the Thirtieth Indiana was 1us- tered out. in the winter of 1865, Col. I4awton saw a few mon ths of civil lif9 With the reorganization of the regular
 army came an offer of a ieutenants commission, and it was accepted. rTfa Cr4T11T11i sim for second llofItS1-
 ant in the regular army, issued in 1865,
 was in the F'oGty-frsjt infantry. Lieu
 tenant LaWton served with the Forty
 first in Texas, and was transferred to
 the Twenty-fourth infantry. From the
 infantry he was transferred iD 187j
 to the cavalry arm and assigned to the
 roul'lh cavalry. Lalwton's service in the cavalry continued seventeen years.
 LawtOn never was 9 political sol
 dier. When he got his commission in the regular army he was assigned to regiment which was soon sent out to the frontier There he gained the great reputation as an Indian fighter which had much to do with his early selec- tion for a command in the war with Spain. His regiment was in most of the Indian campaigns from 1868 to 1888 But that which army officers most associate with the fame of Law l ton was his pursuit of Geronimo. | Twice this born fighter took a force across the Mexican border and fol- | lowed the trail eff the willy Apache | chief into the fastnessas of the Sierra | Madre. It is an interesting fact that participation in this Apache campaign ing brought cut the fighting qualities of Surgeon Leonard Wood, and laid the of reputation which in q ink iS,y1 ,TCIo a him to organize the Rough Riders I4awton and Wood were togethe., in the Geronimo campaigning They found themselves together again last June at Santiago, LawtOn heading division and Wood commanding . bri~ gade. Now Wood is a major general of volunteers, commanding the depart ment of Santiago, and Law'tOn has just reached Manila to take charge of fight ng operations against the Filipinos. :
 After his twenty years service ir the line, which made him famous as n Indian calmpaigner, Lawton, ill 1888, was transfrred to the staff as a ieutenant-colonel and assistant in speotor- -geera1 He was stationed in Washington ten years, and was occu- [ 1y4ng a desk at the war department when th5 hCstilities with Spain came m. His field record stood him well in | lis prayer fer active service. When he rush from the bureaus to command ook place Lawton was one of the first ,ffcers given a high commission aIld }at in charge of mobilized regulars. 2 lad he been of like rank, LaWt0n and | lot Shafter WCuld have had the com l nand Of the Santiago expedition. AS t was Shatter put Lawtop and his reg ( liars forward for the most responsible |
 IJa +-41i7 0asI oldier to take Fl Caney and to close in q Il the city from the north. Lawron anne home with his division to Mon auk He had his season of being ionized to which he did not take with The military critics Ound no flaw in his part of the cam [ aign, and the newspapers never drew L i'm into the controversy with his su- erIots Cr with his subordinate com W handlers No speech of his was ever " aported which called forth censure or | ,arted 9 Wordy war. During the win er a great dinner was given at Wash lgton to war heroes. Generals and ad- llrals and other officers of high rank ere present. Speech followed speech. Jt ome wise things were said, and also W sme things not particularly wise. aWton's turn came. He arose amid q e earty round of applause He bowed II fro1e ..e t:se right and to the jeff. hen he sat down without word. The :t was dGls handsomely. It was just ke I-awton, who is frequently de- ribed by brother officers as 'the si ost modest man ia the army
 The story of the returned soldier :. on Santiago who met profuse ad- II iration with the response, T ain't 10 gro; I'm only a reg'lar,' is said to Ii i've originated with General LaWcon.
 the general did not start the story si } was one of the first to tell it, and e satisfaction he took in the repeti- c, on was very plain.
 That General Lawton is a medal of onor man is net generally known g ais most prized decoration of the merican army was conferred upon if 10 for distin2uisbad gailanLrN in