The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-01-23
A sRIrIsHER ON OUR SOLDIERS.
Says They Looked More Like Wild
Poets Than Fighting Men.


The special correspondent Of the
Times OF India, writing of the march
to 1ekin. tells US that the American
army was TO the British source Of
special wonder he says:
ION occasions we felt inclined 10
take of our hats TO every American
soldier We saw; on other occasions
the army seemed to US no more than
a mob of tramps. The Americans, an
officer told me. believe that the fight
ing unit is the man. not the section.
nor the company, nor the regiment
They therefore encourage individual
ism. and encourage it to what men
brought up on European military ira
ditions must consider an extraordinary
and extrayagant length
When Uncle Sans forces started
from Tien-tsin every man was provid-
ed with a great coat, blanket, haver-
sack. canteen, water bottle. spare
socks. shirts. boots and so forth When
the army reached Pekin half the men
carried nothing more tan their rifles,
ammunition belts and water bottles.
They had even thrown away their tn
nics. The retreating Chinese army
left behind tangible evidences OF its
fight. The victorious Americans left
behind similar evidences of their
march. The road to Picking was it
tered with blankets, tunics, haver-
sacks. marked with the mystic letters
L. s. a. II there is aristocracy among
the American soldiers it is the arts
tocracy of the clean. A man who car
ried q razor was looked up to with rev.
erence.
1T was good form to get your hair
cut occasionally, but there were indi-
viduals- 'indepenuents-who looked
more like wild poets than fighting
men. Their hair hung in long curls
on their shoulders and strayed into
their eyes.
Il think if there had been no fight
ing all the foreign observers would
have gone back to their homes with a
very poor opinion of the efficiency #
the American troops. Luckily for Gen
eral Chaffee and his soldiers there was
fighting. When you see an American
private advancing under fire you be
gin TO think there is something in the
idea that the fighting unit of the tn
ture is the individual He and his
companions maze for common OBJ
jectiye. not like stiff, trained soldiers,
but like panthers stalking a prey;
their eyes flash, their 1.-THE bodies
swing forward. There is murder and
deadly intentness in every move
ment. When the American soldier lies
down to fire he does so with the IN
tention of killing somebody. Most
troops fire not at the enemy, but IN
the direction of the enemy. Not so the
American.
The Americans in battle have a
most reckless courage. At times they
expose themselves with a strange
contempt for death. An officer will
take chances no European would care
to take. The field battery was gener-
ally to be foun0 in places where no
body read in tactics would have dared
TO put it, General Chaffee and his
staff always rode where the enemy
was most likely 20 see and shoot at
them. Young and inexperienced cor
respondents were warned by older
heads not to go, during the action,
near prominent buildings. large groves
or the American staff.
The British and the Americans
were the very best of friends. In fact
when drinks were handy. which was
not often, there was great talk of the
Anclo-Saxon alliance. We were not
let into all the secrets of the war, but
there were probably times when diff
ferences arose between various gen.
erals. and on such occasions there IS
reason 10 believe that the Americans
always supported the British. One
who overheard MIN told me that once
when the Americans sent over to Gen
eral Gaselee. making some request
the latter exclaimed:
Certainly. certainly. Nothing We
can do is too good for the Americans.
cannot tell you now much We owe
to them