Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-20

| II had fretted the heart OF Roberts that
he had not been able to go to the front in
Abyssinia and ehare in any fighting that
befell but now he had not long to wait for
one Of those little wars" which are to In
! dian soldiers what the grand autumn
maneuvers are to continental armies. Hav-
ing organized. he was appointed senior staff
officer Of the expedition which, about the
time that France and Germany were strip
ping for a fall was sent to chastisc and
subjugate the turbulent Looshai tribes on
the southeastern confines of our Indian en-
pire toward Burmah. But staff service
pure and simple would not content him, and
we find him leading the advance against a
stockade" in very difficult and dangerous
country. The taking OF Taikoom which
ended the campaign. wae mainly due to the
| fact that the attacking column was led in
person by Roberts-the first time he had
commanded in action. Lieutenant Colonel
Roberts untiring energy and sagacity,"
wrote the commanding general, "are beyond
all praise. He works without guides, even
without map or geography, and thwarted
the Looshais, whose game was to delay our
progress. He never seemed at a loss"
| year or two later Roberts was made
| quartermaster general in India, and on his
shoulders rested most OF the responsibility
! for the preparation of the camps and dur
bars necessltated as we'll by the prince of
| Wales visit to India (1S75-1S76) as by the
| proclamation of the queen as Kaiser-i- Hind.
Nor was he less useful and energetic in the
| field of fighting than in the field OF famine
! 1S73-1s7D, where this was how he appeared
to Archibald Forbes, the brilliant war cor
respondent: Short and slight, square, how
ever, of shoulder and of a distinctly mill
I h;- l,n1n inc
alertness and a wiry endurance. He had the
air OF quiet command one sometimes dis
Germs in men who have seen much service
when as yet they have not attained high
| leadership. His face was almost ascetic in
| its attenuation hollow temples indented and
narrow the lofty forehead that rose above
| the keen, quick eyes; the lower section OF
! the face was long, gaunt and eallow end
| ing in a chin every line and contour OF which
betokened force of resolution
Combining the experience of a soldier
with the sagacity of a statesman, Roberts
made a deep impression on the viceroy,
Lord Lytton, who gave him an appointment
which was virtually that of warden of the
marches on the northwest frontier, and
| when 1t became necessary to force the ameer
of Afghanistan, Shere Ali, t. receive Brit
ish mission at Kabul, Major General Rob-
/ eTlS got tne command OF IllS CeulGI, Ol
Kuram valley, column (about $500 men)
of the force which was to advance on the
defiant despot's capital by three several
routes. Crossing the frontier November,
| 1879, Roberts hastened forward. only to
! find his path barred by a superior force of
! Afghans on the Peiwar Kota Making a
! circuitous night march and developing his
attack at dawn, he launched the Seventy
second Hghlanders CRosshire Buffs) and
! the little Ghoorkas on the first stockade
of the Afghars, which was carried without
a pause save to bayonet the defenders, and
stockade after stockade was thus stormed
| in rapid succession. After several hours
! fighting the Pewar Kotal was finally car
ried with a British loss of twenty
killed and seventy-two wounded. AS far
as Roberts was concerned the fighting was
now over and the spring brought to the
British camp Yakoub Khan, who had mean
while succeeded to his father, Shere Ali,
and who fastened to sign the treaty of
Gundamuk, which virtually deprived Afghan
istan Of its previous character as buffer
state" and made it feudatory of the Brit
ish crown. At a banquet given in his honor
on his return to India Roberts-now X. C.
B.-was referred to by the ,yiceroy as "the
hero of the Afghan war" .lq s-.,i..
March TO Kandahnr.
But greater war OF the kind was still
to come, for scarcely had the ink on the
treaty of Gundamuk become dry when that
instrument was torn into bloody shreds'
by the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari and
all the members of his mission at Kabul.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the
British Afghan policy, the massacre OF the
mission called loudly for retribution and
the work of avenging so foul and treacher-
/
erlck Roberts, whose appointment to the
task was again hailed with general accla-
mation-especially by the private soldiers,
whose personal devotion to Little Bobs''
was so intense that they would have cheer
fully followed him to the Internal regions.
Roberts objective again Kabul, which
he soon reached with his small army after
clearing the way by fighting a victorious
action at Charasah In front of Kabuf
Roberts spent some considerable time with
varying military fortune, being meanwhile
joined by Sir Donald Stewart from Kan
dahar, and the army was actually on the
eve Of returning TO India when news came
TO Kabul by WIRE via Smis, of the British
disaster ct Mawand-a reverse more
we're than any that had befallen the British
army since Chilianwallah. In the face of
, this disaster Roberts quick to resolve
that he must relieve Kandahar, back to
which from Maiwand the broken regiments
had streamed.
The marching out strength of his rellev-
ing force. included splendid Highland
brigade of the Gay Gordons" and the Ross
shire Bufs-was about 10,O00-just the num-
ber whom Xenophon led back from the
plains of CunaXa to the banks of the EuXne
On August ., 1879, the immortal column be-
gan its march of 3O3 miles, and il had COW
cred the distance in twenty days. including
one OF rest, which gave an average Of over
fifteen miles per day. On September the
anniversary of Sedan-Roberts gave battle
to and utterly defeated Ayoob. After brief
rest he rode to the various regiments in sue
cession, beginning with the Gordons, whose
list of casualties was the longest to thank
them for the successes they had achieved
for him; and he was everywhere received
with deafening cheers-cheers which were
repeated, so to speak when. after the war
was over Roberts came to England and re-
ceived the thanks Of both houses of Parlia-
ment a peerage from the queen and other
honors innumerable.
When, a few years later, Mandalay was
captured and King Thebaw deposed from the
throne of Burmah, Roberts took command
and soon, as usual, brought the operations
IN a successful issue Apain when tha gry