Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1900-02-16
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> FIRST IN AMER
Z ICAN HEARTS.

= ICAN HEARTS. (
81 I isimpossiblc at this day to add any
thing Of a new character to the ac-
q count of men and events of a hundred
years n more ago, for the field of his
tory, in so far as it relates to the Ameri-
can revolution and the men who were
representative in its accomplishment, has
been well explored and voluminously cx-
pounded by hundreds of men equal to the
task. Nor is there a school child of 10
years in all this country, who has not
written his essay IN these same men and
events, SO that their history is in-burned
III the minds of all Americans. Yet this
is one Of the hopeful signs of the dispo-
sition of n great people towards those
who called its nation into existence. And
of the leader of all those courageous
men,, the one who before all others car
ricd to an astonishing and successful
achievement the llcrculean labors of
bringing victorious n handful Of ragged
and unframed soldiers through the dark
ness OF Il struggle with one of the most
powerful countries OH earth, certainly
nothing now needs be said.
AS n young man, Washington was prob
ably no less fippant and worldly than
hundreds of others i'll the colonies. His
manners. which havc been thought extra
ordinary in their courtlincss, were prob
ably not the slightest hit more SO than
those of the majority of his acquaint-
anccs. Flo was not fee from the faults
of men of his time. He was accustomed
To m%ctlodical cXactncss from his cXpcri-
cncc on his mothers plantation and to
her he no doubt owed many of the traits
which afterwards stood him in such good
stead. From his school teachers, Will
liam Hobby, who was also the church
sexton, and Thomas Williams, he learn
cd To read and TO write, as we'll as to un-
dcrstand the art of computation. Tho
latter of the two also gave him the rudi-
lments of surveying which served as much
rs amy other one thing 10 develop him i'll
10 the general OF the American forces.
For it was OIL account of his knowledge
nj this science that he spent three of
his years of early manhood in the wilds
of the forests. running lines, dctcrmin-
ing levels, fixing boundaries. His wages
at this time were sufficient To enable him
to purchase large pieces of that tracklcss
wilderness bordering on streams, which
were afterwards OF great value, thus de-
vcloping his insight and Sllrcwdncss as i:
business man. But the Lessons that lie
learned from that rugged nature in the
solitary hours. were priceless, and the
constitution that WAS hardened by his
life in the woods enabled him in after
years TO endure untolu strains of expos
ire and suffering. To rescue Braddocli af-
ter that generals dcfcat by the French.
to conceive the crossing of the Delaware
on that bleak and checrlcss December
night, to undergo Valley Forge and to
emerge from them all, the modest, self
contained, reserved gentleman. 1t was
because of his knowledge OF the ways of
the forest that he was sent on that
seemingly needless GRAND to warn the
French off English territory in the win
ter of 1iJ3-54, on which he quilted him
self we'll and learned his first lessons in
practical warfare. The next year he
was chosen to go with Braddock on his
Inflated expedition against the French.
Here ii was that Washington learned for
the first time. that Americans were of
| Just as good stuff as Englishmcn, that
they could fight just as bravcly as the
seasoned veterans of the mother country.
For it was through the efforts of the
"bush-whacking'' Nirginians that Brad
st'SN - AOANS GNalSu Y USSlkuSlIOn.
Tho cololists knew better than did Brad
dock that the cvolutions of the parade
ground were of no avail in the sort of
warfare in which they were at that time
engaged. The physical strain undergone
by Washington ut this time was extra
ordinary. From the ninth to the six
tccnth of that July, he had little sleep,
walking and riding, sometimes all night
long through the forest, and succeeding
i'll bringing mp some support for Brad
docks rctrcatinS army. He was then
% years old. In the course of that one
expedition lie had seen enough to give
him an u%nconQucrablc faith in the valor
n abilities of his fellow colonists. This
faith, it mary have been, that SO upheld
him through the dark hours of defeat and
intrigue, when his army we'll nigh per-
ishcd from lack of food and clothing.
Washington had no idea, even when the
colonies We're being greatly reused over
the injustice of their treatment by Eng
land, that the end would be war. He
did not desire war. And it was only when
there was no other way to decide the
momcntous question Of principle that he
set his heart on hostilitics. The cour-
age OF the man in accepting the position
of commander-in-chicf which was offered
to him by the assembly was sublime.
The mother country could send hundreds
Of thousands of trained soldiers against
the colonists; her ships ruled the seas.
On the other hand. the c~olonists were a
few thousands, u~ndiscipiined in any war
fare except that against the Indians;
their resources We're comparatively insig-
nifcant. 1t seems as if there could have
been but one outcome. But Washington
modestly undertook the task, refusing
first any money remuneration for the
services he might render. And then his
sagacity as q commander began to display
itself. Quietly did lie collect stores and