Crawford avalanche., 1900-04-05

The South African war has demon
strated some things about up-to-date
lighting machines. One important fact
brought out is that, for creating ex-
tensive cemeteries and making bloody
history, the old-fashloned fighters, with
their old-fashioned short-range weap-
ons, still hold the championship. Dy-
Mantle bombs and lyddite shells. bullet
sitting machines and long-range smoke
less powder guns have not feazed the
worlds record for carnage an iota The
civilized nations stand aghast at the
fall Of a few score Of officers in a single
fight as though it were an unheard of
thing and that science had rendered
warfare too frightfully CORY for it to
be tolerated among human beings.
Probably the almost bloodless victories
of our navy at Manila Bay and Santiago
have led people to look for enormous
gains on a minimum Of Investment.
These We're marvellous exceptions War
means fighting, and fighting in war
worthy Of the name means killing on
both sides.
The effectiveness Of the long range
weapons used in the South African war
and the mortality which is looked upon
by the laymen as something excessive
attract the notice of military men who
have had actual experience In war.
Under the regime of magazine rifles the
battle usually begins at 1,5OO or ZOO
yards, and may close down to LOO or
1000 yards. At the latter range the fire
is supposed to be very effective. Artil-
lery is, of course, effective to break up
solid lines of infantry, but it is impos-
sible to make artillery fire effective
against troops who are covered behind
a height, for instance, or by the lay Of
the land or by rock and trees.
Gen. Sickles said recently that he
never had much faith in the effective
ness of long-range weapons, for once
you teach troops that they can send a
bullet mile, 1t takes away their in
trepidity. sNapoleon III. demoralzed
his army by causing the soldiers to
think that the long range breechloading
chassepot and the mitrailleuse would
defeat the enemy. 1t took all the elan
out of them and made them mere ma
chimes. The Germans, who, by the
way. also had their breechloading, long
range rifle the needle gun, rushed to
close quarters, and the result was dis
astrous to the French.
Civil War Fatalities. ns-s
Gen. Nelson A. Miles said, apropos Of
the subject of modern improved weap-
ons and projectiles in relation to battle
field casualties, Losses diminish in
proportion as man-killing devices pro
gress." This Is fact, as shown by fg-
ures, and is well known to close stu
dents of warfare. Take, for, instance,
the Federal attack upon the Confeder-
ate stone wall at Fredericksburg In
1862. The experience Of the seventh
New York tSteuben) regiment in that
charge is typical. The Seventh went
in after other brigades had been re.
pulsed in front Of the stone wall so that
it did not receive the fierce outburst OF
Confederate fire, but in twenty minutes
or at the outside thirty minutes. out OF
twenty-five officers in the regiment ten
were kiiieu anu elSut WOunucu. anu OIL
Of 45O men 240 were killed and wound
ed. All of these casualties came from
bullets fired from the stone wall. This
loss In officers killed was never exceed
ed put once in the whole civil war, and
that was in the case of the Seventh
New Hampshire at the storming oI
Fort Wagner. !. In that affair eleven OF
acers of this regiment we're killed out
right. 80
In the attack upon the stone wall Tho
Seventh Regiment fought with Han
cocks division. This division wa:
brought in as a supporting column tc
the initial attack. 1T consisted of elgh
teen regiments, and there were nineteef
regimental commanders shot down ant
disabled In one hour. Others were hit
but kept the field. In the brigade oi
COL Caldwell, to which the Seventh
Regiment belonged, there were 116 ON
GERS present. slxty.two of whom wer'
killed or wounded Gen. Hancock's di
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