The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-01
Blue Shirt and khnl<i.

Many persons will remember to have
heard of the American war correspondent.
James T.. ]. Archibald. who was with the
American troops in Cuba and afterward
with the British in South Africa. He haG
also had previous experience In American
Indian warfare. He was a close observer.
acute, Intelligent and fair-minded. and a
good writer. This book is largely a COM
parison of the traits. personnel. strategy.
tactics. discipline. commissariat transpor-
tation. etc, of the British and American
armies, interpreted with interesting pen
pictures of army life in geneal. successive
chapters treat of the new soldier and his
equipment, OF British and American
recruits, the common soldier in the held, the
officers, American and British tactics. iced
ing armies, the railroad in modern war.
transportation OF troops by sea ana otner
topics relating To the practical side OF war.
The general conclusions TO be drawn from
the book are favorable TO the American
army. In the authors comparison OF
recruits and common soldiers the honors
are decidedly with the Americans. who
nave a vastly higher type OF individual
soldier. The Englishman." says the au-
thor, makes a natural sailor. but he Is
not a natural soldier. and il requires 4
great amount of training 10 make a good
man OF him In the field; he may drill we'll.
march we'll and look we'll. but he needs
much training and good leadership 10 fight
we'll. When he has that there is no better
soldier 10 be found. 1t Is in this respect that
the Americans, as well as the Beers, excel
the English as soldiers. They have been
taught 10 hunt wild game In the wilderness
OF the great plains and deep forests: they
have been taught 10 shoot and ride in their
childhood. If the British common
soldier is properly led, and ii he has full
confidence in his leaders, he will go any
where, but he must be led, for he has no
initiative and does not think for himself
in the field any more than he does at
home The officers OF the British army
come in for a scathing exposure OF inef-
hciency for reasons which are chiefly in
herent in the British system. Contrasting
the different methods of lighting. the au-
thor says: There was 4 vast difference
between those South African frontal at
tacks at the beginning of the war and the
charges up the hill of FL Caney and San
Juan in Cuba. The American assault was
sanguinary enough, and the resistance was
more desperate than that offered by the
Beers. But had the blue shirts marched
in columns of fourS, or swept up in the
old-fashioned line of battle of the civil
war, the carnage would have turned TO
humiliation. They scattered, they aban-
doned all formation, they crawled, they
sprinted from one poor shelter TO another;
they knew what the Mauser rifle would do,
and they adapted their offensive tactics
TO it, This sustains the opinion now gen.
orally accepted that in respect of initiative,
individual action and adapting himself TO
circumstances the American soldier is the
best fighter in the world. The book is not
a mere laudation of the American army,
but Is an intelligent presentation of facts
which Justify the authors conclusions,
while in no sense decrylng the merits and
excellent features of the British army.
The account of the fall of Pretoria is the
most vivid ever printed. New York: Silver,
Burdett G. Co.