The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-11-01
The South and the Service.

shot and instantly killed Saturday
while leading detachment of his reg
iment, the Thirteenth United States
Infantry, in charge at the battle OF
Novoleta, Philippine Islands. The
part that the South has borne in the
Spanish struggle and the far Eastern
conflicts, which is its outgrowth, is
brought to attention with an accen-
tuated interest by the death of this
soldier Of Dixie. 1t is true that some
Of the States below the Mason and
Dixon line had some difficulty in fill
ing their quotas of enlisted men, but
of a truth the Southern officers have
borne their full share Of the heat and
burden. Of the fray. Since the War
Of Secession there has been afeeling at
West Point and in the army that the
sons Of the men who followed the
stars and bars from Balls Bluff to
sAppomattox would hail the coming Of
"a foreign war in which they might
fight under the folds of the stars and
stripes.
The long list Of the officers killed
ard wounded during the.struggles OF
The last eighteen months includes a
large share Of Southern names. AS
large share of the names known to
the Southland may be found in the
list Of the ,oAicers Of the army and
navy who during the same time have
distinguished themselves for heroism.
Saffold who was killed Saturday at the
head Of his men, claimed che same Ala
bama home as does Hobson, Of the Mer-
rimac fame. Worth Bagley, the only
naval officer killed during the Spanish
war, came from North Carolina. A
negro was killed by fragment Of the
shell which struck Bagley down. The
dying ensign asked that the negro re-
ceiive the first care. Victor Blue,
sSoutherner and Annapolis graduate,
dared the fate that overlook Nathan
Hale during the revolutionary war by
traversing with single companion the
A
Island Of Porto. Rico, subsequent
ly reporting to the American authorl-
ties the dispatches of the islands de-
fensive forces. Andrew S. Rowan,
Virginian and West Pointer, dared
death in similar way by piercing to
the heart Of Cuba before any other
American soldier had set foot on it's
soil.
Twenty years ago there entered
West Point with the writer Of
this article two Southern boys-Wil-
liam E. Shipp and William q. Smith.
They met each other for the first time
as they left the ferryboat to toll up
the steep hill leading to the hotel.
Their orders Of appointments as ca
dets gave them until the next day to
report for examination. The two
young Southerners occupied the same
room atthe hotel: they passed their
examinations together; they tented
together during the troublous months
of pleb camp; they roomed together
during the four years Of their cadet
course, and finally joined the same
regiment as second lieutenants, the
Tenth United States Cavalry. We
used to speak Of them as Damon and
Pythias, and more than once it was
jocosely remarked that in order to
carry the comradeship to fitting end
they ought to die together. Smith
and Shipp were shot and killed with
in FIVE minutes while they were
leading the dismounted black troopers
up the slopes of San Juan Hill.
During the time that spent at the
United States Military Academy Shipp
was my close friend. For year his
and his roommate's quarters were
close to nine. One day, forgetting
the fact that Shipp was from North
Carolina, I loaned him Albion W.
Tourgee's ga Fools Errand.' The
scene Of the book is laid in Ships
home, and many of his friends and
relatives are roundly abused by it.
Shipp read the story and said: THE
man who wrote this book had unreas-
oning hatred in his heart. [ hope to
show him some day that some love Of
country is possible in the despised
place
The ful6llment Of this hope came
when he fell sword in hand on the hill
of San Juan.
In the same West Point class with
Cadets Shipp and Smith was John W.
Heard, Of Mississippi. Heard is now
a captain in the Third United States