Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-02-12
FIRING LINE ETIQUETTE
WHY so MANY BRITISH OFFICERS ARE
KILLED IN BATTLE.


Continental army officers recently
have been busy criticising the British
battle system which ordains that on
the firing line when the men have
sought what little shelter the confor-
nation of the ground affords the Off
GERS shall remain erect and exposed.
The European military critics speak
of this daring habit of the queens
officers as though the custom were
confined wholly to the British army.
Many a hard-fought field on the
western frontier and the battles in
Cuba attest that the American officer
is guided on the field by the same
feeling and the same rule of conduct
that prompts the Englishman to make
Of himself conspicuous target for
the Boer bullet. To one unacquaint-
ed with the field tactics of European
armies the wonder is how an officer
lying prone behind a rock on the
missile-swept firing line is able "con-
stantly to direct and encourage his
men," as reads the "tactical injunc-
tion" to the officers of armies of all
English-speaking people. The major
ity of the officers of the United States
army of middle age and younger,
West Pointers and civilian appointees
alike, received their early soldierly
sustenance from Emory Upton's Blue
Book. There was no paragraph in
the whole volume, from "the points
of soldier" to the "evolutions of a
Brigade" that was SO thoroughly
crammcd into the brains of the cadets
in the section-rooms at West Point as
was that which in terse language said
that for the encouragement and heart
ening of his men it was the duty Of
an officer to expose himself at all
times of danger. The same rule is
laid down in the United States army
drill regulations which have recently
succeeded the old tactics of Upton.
The position of captain on the FIR
ing line is ten PAGES to the rear of the
center of his men, who seek what
shelter they can while the captain
stands erect. An officer of the United
tailed for cowardice because it was said
he sought the shelter of tree while
his command was skirmishing with
the enemy. If the American captains
I and lieutenants had sought shelter
during the preliminary skirmishes be-.
fore Santiago the British military at
tache on the field never would have had
the chance to write so sympathetically
in his report of the death of the second
lieutenant of dismounted cavalry who,
while his little command was under
the shelter of the rocks, stood erect
watching the enemy through q field
glass. His men begged him to lie
down, but he stood there uttering
words of encouragement until Mau-
ser bullet gave him his death wound.
Had continental fring.line methods
been followed at ElCaney the same Brit
ish officer attache never could have told
the story of that hot corner of the
field where amid the flying bullets
Colonel A. R. Chaffee, standing erect
and calmly smoking cigar, suggested
to the non-combatant Englishman that
he lie down. ga bit of advice no.
ticed," afterward wrote the military
attache,s that: the imperturbable col
onel did not deign to follow himself. :"
Down in the mountainous and desert
Apache country in the year 1885 Pow
hatan 81. Clarke, Louisiana lad just
out of West Point, rode at the head of
twelve black troopers of the Tenth
Cavalry into narrow, rocky defile
There had been no sign of an Indian.
When well into the gorge from the
rocks in front, behind and above came
a shower of bullets. The enemy was
invisible. With carbines unslung,
the little band of troopers made its
way back to the open. The first SER
geant. shot through both thighs, drop
ping from his mount just as the en-
france to the defle was reached.
Clarke led his men at dead run for a
distance of $50 yards. Then they
were dismounted and thrown into q
skirmish line. The trained horses lay
down upon the desert sand and the
men used them as shelter, Clarke,
however, standing erect in the centre
of the line. The instant that the
lieutenant had dismounted and given
the order for aeploying the men, with
straining eyes, saw him on foot dart
forward along the path over which
they had just come. He was running
like deer straight for the gateway of
the gorge. His troopers as one man
started to follow him, but he warod
them back to their shelter and kept
on. Clarke's pathway toward the de-
file was marked out all the way with
/ spiteful little sand puffs as the bullets
FROM the rifles Of the hidden savages
battered about him. He reached the
objective point uninjured. Once there
he lifted the wounded black sergeant
to his shoulder and staggered back
across the $50 yards of open to his
command. The way back was made
through perfect fusillade. The escape
from injury was marvel. For this
deed Powhattan H. Clarke afterwa
wore the coveted medal Of honor, and
he wore it pinned on his blouse when