The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-02-20

which the schools Will take into ac
count even though the result be against
them in the end.
Sam Houston was an amateur when
he gained the independence of Texas
by decisive victory over the trained
regulars OF Santa Anna at San Jacinto
to the same extent that the Boer lead
ers are amateurs. He had seen mill
tary service in a subordinate capacity
and had been student of Andrew
Jackson's style of warfare. Singularly
enough one must so back to the battle
of Marathon to find the precedent for
Houston's tactics at San Jacinto. And
the great Aliltiades was the hero of
that battle, the one whom Houston,
doubtless unknowingly, initiated. One
is equally thrilled by the audacity of
the Athenian commander at Marathon.
Houston's marvellous courage at San
Jacinto and Napoleon's habitual bold
ness III knocking down all the set
rules of art. And 1Iouston's work was
as scientific as that of Miltiades or Ma
poleon. He didn't blunder into sue
cess. but watched a favorable oppor-
tunity to strike and then, in the face of
all his advisers. ''let slip the dogs of
war; with a vengeance so dire that
Santa Anna was glad to lay his sword
at the feet of the Tennessee back
woodsman. whom he saluted as ''the
Napoleon of the vest
Butler has been condemned by critics
for attacking all along the line at 9'u-
gela river He was beaten at that des-
perate game, and hence the book rule
against it will have double force I'm.
til some daring general knocks ii over.
One of the chief Of the leaders in our
civil war attacked all along the line
again and again, and, although he JUS
tilted the method on the whole. he adj
mitted that in one very grave instance
1t was mistake. His justification for
the method. reduced to plain English,
was that he had men enough to war
rant the sacrifice. and the moral effect
upon the enemy was well worth the
cost. If England is going to overrun
the Beers with numbers = and that
seems to be her only way out of the
difficulty = attacks all along the line
must become as frequent in South AT
rican campaigns as they were in Viz
ginia in 1864
Methuen's methods up to and includ-
ing Magersfontein were decidedly anna
flourish. An analogous case may be cit
ed from the civil war in Pope's Vir-
ginia campaign. Pope coined the
phrase, Headquarters in the saddle"
and he tried to live up to the idea sug-
gested by abolishing proper military
bases, lines of communication and the
designations front and rear" Me-
thuen's attitude seemed to be that all
the other British generals had failed,
and he must set the example of whip
ping the Beers and relieving be-
leaguered city. Whatever he thought
he acted as though his mind was run
ming all the time upon the phrase,
Kimberley or hades" He found
hades. Methuen's amateurishness lay
in his, rushes into the enemy's territory
and attacks without accommodating. If
the Beers chose. they could make the
ground between Orange river and
Magersfontetn another Shenandoah
valley from She Potomac to Strasburg
on the road to Staunton
1t depends wholly upon the man on
horseback whether rules of art can be
safely ignored. Genius maintains so
firm grasp upon the situation that the
mere fact of a mishap here and there
does not count in the long run He is
the greatest general who organizes vic
tory out of mistakes. And the man to
do that is the rare soul who under all
excitement and vicissitudes keeps his
head. Not the least among the quail
fications of the self trained and self
made man is the faculty of self con
troll. His character is formed in fight
ing obstacles. Therefore an obstacle
more or less, as the loss of division
or a fresh division hurled against him
in a crisis, does not count On the 9th
er hand, the general who fights by the
book is put out if one point in his
plan fails.
In his field the Confederate general
Forrest has no superior in history Els
raiding command fought as an army.
He originated the branch now called
mounted infantry and the method of
lighting it. His force was mobile and
would gallop over the country, dis
mount, charge breastworks and be off
like the wind. Forrest was strate-
gist. He would plant himself in the
interior of the enemy's country, COM
pei concentration of forces to cope
with him, then make off through Il
loophole thus left open. Once he was
caught at the game, but that only dem
onstrated it's hazardous nature, and
his frequent successes in the same
movements showed his genius. For
rest not only had no military training,
but he was illiterate, an instance of
native genius trained by circum-
stances. Getting thar first with the
mos men" was his summary of the
art of war. When warned that the enc
my might get in his rear. he exclaim-
ed, "Well, when we turn round won't
we be in their r'ar?
All in all. the civilian Boer generals
nave shown the capacity needed for all