The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-10
HUMANITY OF LAWToN
The Natives Regarded Him ms n
Friend Rather than an Enemy
Efforts to Secure Peace.
Fielding Lewis Poindexter. in Baltimore

unnecessary destruction of property. From
the time of his arrival his chief efforts
were TO pacify the Filipinos. and on ac-
count of these efforts. had General Lawton
been in supreme command. hostilities in
the Philippines would doubtless have
ceased months ago and our country not
been destined to lose its best general at the
hands of a sharpshooter.
AS early as the San Isidro campaign the
Filipinos had begun to recognize in General
Lawton a friend rather than an enemy
Though saving of his men. that he con-
tinually exposed himself never seemed to
occur to him. The day of the taking OF
Balinag MAY p for several hours he was
accommodating, practically alone, almost
into the lines of the enemy and In plain
view. That day, as usual, he rode black
horse at least twice as large as the Filipino
pony, carried with him his great white
Eighth Army Corps flag and wore -all
white helmet. The Second Oregons were
just entering the city of Balinag when
General Lawton rode up. His attention
was called Immediately to the fleeing pro-
cession of not less than 10000 Filipinos.
consisting of soldiers and their families.
passing along a road a mile and half
from US. and into which for the past five
minutes Colonel Summers had kept three
3 2-lO-inch guns warm throwing shrapnel.
stop that firing" in his stentorian voice
the general demanded instantly on putting
up his glasses. 81 see white flag
In entering a town always the first thing
General Lawton saw to was the appoint
ment of provost marshal, and man seen
going in a house without permission was
placed immeolately under arrest. In my
company alone twenty men were arrested
the day we captured Balinag for helping
themselves to a pile of abandoned man.
goes.
At Norzagaroy Colonel Summers had or
ders to wait several days until joined by
General Lawton with the rest of the bril-
gade While waiting the colonel thought
he was making the best use OF his time by
capturing and burning to the ground the
pretty little city of Angot, few miles fur'
Their down the Quingua river. When Cen
eral Lawton arrived and learned that this
town. where he had expected to quarter his
troops, had been destroyed he appeared
greatly provoked and issued an order
strictly prohibiting any burning of prop
erty. The very next morning his attention
was called to a fire I'm the suburbs of Nor
zagaroy Sending for the colonel in COM
mand Of troops quartered there, he ordered
| the fire to be put out Immediately. The
colonel seeming little slow carrying out
his order, General Lawton turned to his
| assistant adjutant general and said:
Major Edwards have that fire put out
| If 1t takes the whole regiment; If you can't
| do 1t, then place the colonel under arrest. :"
On the 10Th of April. with the loss of
| capture of San Rafael was effected The
same day General Otis ordered General
Lawton to turn the town back to the
enemy. explaining that representative OF
of surrender. So General Lawton with
drew his forces to Moronco. where We
waited in idleness, until several days after
ward 1t was learned that General Otis had
4 refused the representative any satisfaction
| other than unconditional surrender" and
| that the latter had left the governor gen.
| erals palace with tears streaming down
his face. In connection with this Major
Edwards was heard to remark that had
| General Lawton been able to deal directly
| with this representative the war would
| have been ended
Then General Lawton was ordered to re-
| take San Rafael, which cost. besides the
delay Of nearly a week. during which time
| 5000 men were practically idle, loss of
| four men wounded and one killed.
| We entered San isidro on the morning of
| May IL. While there, for the first time dur
| ing the campaign, l was able to get an in
| terview with General Lawton. being intro
| duced to him by Assistant Adjutant Gen.
| eral Edwards, his chief of staff.
| The generals headquarters at San Isidro
| were entirely free from ostentation. In
| ferior officers had been permitted to occupy
| the palatial residences, while he picked one
| out Of a common hundred. l found him,
| his coat of, seated by candle, busily en-
| gagged. Upon my being admitted he arose,
| extended me his hand. and cordially in
| vited me to sit down; and. expressing my
| regrets for inter-upting him with a matter
| that might not be regarded of very grave
| concern, he replied that he had no objec-
| ton to being freely quoted, answering my
inquiries follows:
| How does the Western volunteer COM
| pare with those who fought In Cuba?' /
| asked.
Its not a fair comparison. 1 never met
with finer men In my life than these volun-
teers from the West They have splendid
material in them, especially for scouts,
and, considering the short time they hvae
been In the army. have acquitted them
| selves wonderfully"
Would you express an opinion referring
| especially to the work of the Oregons
while in your commando
"Well. this would be embarrassing on ac-
| count of the other volunteer regiments con-
/ nected with the campaign"
How are you impressed with the volun-
1 teers as officers?"
/ "Of course they are not expected. from
| military standpoint, to be as efficient as
4 men who have devoted a good part of their
which, after ALL is what we most want
| they have no superiors. / am well pleased
with Colonel Summers. Since being with
me my attention has been attracted To
| three of his moves in particular, showing
very pretty work If he failed to capture
| the enemy 1t wasn't his fault. The colonels
| fire was simply so hot that the insurgents
| couldn't stand under 1t long enough for our
| men to get near them. l intend recon.
mending him for promotion.
| Our men here, after few minutes
pause. the general continued. ARE greatly
| handicapped. They are weighted down with
too much load. All soldier should be re.
| quired to carry in this climate besides his
| rifle Is canteen and belt of cartridges. Ur
| at Vera Cruz thirty of my men were pros
| trated from heat, eight of them becoming
| unconscious right on the spot"
What improvement along this line
| would you suggest"
| why, instead of these bull carts we
should have for use In the campaign here
| from COO to 1000 Western mules, and the
| wagon trains should get to camp in twenty
minutes after the troops. II wears men
| out to have to wait around for their
meals.
He then talked about the work of the
scouts, remarking that nothing had grieved
him more than the loss of Young and Har-
| rington. "These two men," he said, "were
| worth two regiments" He had known
| Young only since the taking OF San Ra-
| fael. and his attention had first been at.
| tracted to Harrington day when the
the river from Norzagaroy. Although the
| continued General Lawton, THE idea of a
| comrade being left over there among the
| insurgents worried me all that night"
L