The evening times., 1900-02-09

/ pcSaihO q 4 itbt l<icuttuduL III Tue lQtTLtetL
Indiana, and he came out OF the war In
| 1885 Lieutenant Colonel and a brevei
Colonel He fought at Shiloh and Corintt
| and Chickamauga. He went on the march
| through Georgia. At Atlanta he attracted
| especial attention by his bravery. He won
his medal OF honor for gallant and meri-
torious service He led a charge oi
| skirmishers against the enemy's rifle pits
and captured the place. Twice he resisted
desperate attacks of the enemy to retake
| the ground. He fought also at Philippi
Laurel Hill, Cheat River, and was in many
| engagements under Grant, Sherman, BUELL.,
and Rosecrans. All those officers knew
him and his work we'll, and Sherman and
| Sheridan were among his warmest sup
! porters in his effort. after the war was
| over, to secure a commission in the regu-
| lar army.
| 'Lawton secured his commission as a
second lieutenant on July 2s, 1856, in the
| Forty-first Infantry. He became a first
| lieutenant ON July 81, 1867 In 1859 he was
| transferred to the Twenty fourth Infantry.
| In 1871 he was sent to the Fourth Cavalry.
| and at time it has been said that General
| Mackenzie said of him:.I like that new
| lieutenant of mine, Lawton. Unless | am
| very wide of the mark, he will prove a
| great soldier Lawton served in the many
Indian campaigns Of the West for twenty
years. He fought against the Sioux, the
Utes, and other tribes. He did not become
captain until 1879, and it was not until
1886 that his great chance came.
THE bloodthirsty Apaches, under Chief
Natchez, but really under the lead of the
crafty and cruel medicine man. Geronimo,
were on the warpath. General Crook had
failed TO catch the band. The War De-
partment thought one of his messages in
solent, and General Miles was sent out to
take Crooks place. Miles thought the
way TO catch Geronimo was TO pursue him
with band tireless as that of the In
dians themselves. and with a man at the
head who would die rather than give up.
He selected Lawton for this work
1t was terrible task, but Lawton sue
ceeded. Once he had Geronimo in his pos
session. but at night the Indian and his
followers broke away after killing several
soldiers guard. Enraged beyond re-
straint Lawton started on the trail again,
a veritable fury. Across desert and noun
tain, through rayines and over plains, the
hunt went without food or drink for days
sometimes. the Dursuers kept on. There
was no rest for Geronimo. The soldiers
became barefoot. They killed their mules
for food. and at last after chase of 1886
miles. the willy Apache was cornered in
the mountains OF Mexico, into which our
sion.
Geronimo surrendered on condition that
his life and those of his followers should
be spared The triumphant Lawton gave
his pledge and the Government kept il.
He brought the captured Indians to San
Antonio and this description by fellow
officer, printed in the New York Times
of December 20, not only pictures the
scene of their arrival graphically but re-
veals the manner of man Lawton was, and
shows what his campaigning meant:
lie stood on the Government Teserya-
tion at San Antonio. surrounded by the
tawny savage band of Chiricahua Apaches
whom he had hunted of their feet. The
squat figures of the hereditary enemies of
the whites grouped about him came only
to his shoulders. He lowered among them.
powerful dominant-an incarnation of the
spirit of the white man whose war-drum
had beaten around the world. Clad in a
faded. dirty fatigue jacket, greasy fan
mel shirt of grey. trousers so soiled that
the stripe down the leg was barely visible.
broken boots. and disreputable sombrero
that shaded the harsh features burned al
most to blackness. he was every inch a
soldier and a man. To the other officers
at the post the Indians paid no sort Of at
tentiOn. To them General Stanley and his
staff were so many we'll dressed lay fig
ures. standing about as part of a picture
done for their amusement: but the huge,
massive man. with the stubble on his chin,
had shown them that he was their supe-
rior on hunting grounds that were theirs
by birthright. and they hung upon his
lightest word
Then came a life of comparative ease
for Lawton. In 1855 he was made a major
and inspector general. and he lived most
of the time in Washington until the Span |
ish war came. He secured a place in the |
line in the volunteer forces. and fought as |
a brigadier general in command Of the di- |
vision that took Ell Caney. His work there /
is too fresh to need detailed narration. |
His health became impaired after the |
fighting and he took a rest. He had been |
made major general Of volunteers; on
January 19 1899 he left on the transport |
Grant for Manila. He did not get into the !
fighting in the Philippines until April %, |
but when he started he was a whirlwind. !
He fought twenty-five fights in twenty |
days He captured twenty-eight towns: |
he killed AGO of the enemy. He took Santa |
Cruz. San Rafael. and the insurgent capi-
tai San Isidro.' President Mckinley sent !
him his especial congratulations for his !
work when the rainy season had stopped |
the fighting.
Readers who have followed the special |
from the Philippines need |
no recapitulation of his more recent work !
His sweeping march to the north in LuZOn, |
up beyond Cabanatuan and Arayat his |
swift. irresistible advance the capture Of |
members of Aguinaldo's family and cabi- !
net the scattering OF the insurgents. and |
the fight of Aguinaldo himself marked |
Lawton's charge. His men again were |
barefoot. and again they lived off the coun- |
try. For days he and his soldiers were |
were on the pursuit with re- |
lentless vigor.
Then quickly Lawton returned to Ma |
nila and on Monday night. December IS, |
in driving storm. he set out for San Ma |
teo General Otis at first forbade the move |
ment on account of the weather but Law |
ton pleaded with him. and he went to his |
death He was killed as his troops were /
taking the town. and after il was all over /
they bore his body to a building and one .
by one filed by his corpse for a last look
at his face the tears running down their
cheeks.
mo record of Lawton should be made
without mention of dramatic incident
that followed his death. He had been quot
ed far and wide as saying that he wished /
this aecursed war would stop. His
friends say he really used the express
sion this damned war II was inter-
Dreted to mean that he did not sympathize
with the war on the Filipinos. He was en- |
ireIy misunderstood. AS if it were a voice
rom the grave former Minister to Siam,
John Barrett, read a letter from him, writ
en in November last. at the New England