Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-07-08

inspired by the air of American free
dom, the men from all over the land
sprang at once to the front, not to de-
fend their homes and firesdes, not to
accomplish any selfish purpose for
their own ACKNOWLEDGMENT, but cheer
fully, eagerly they offered their wealth
and their lives that another people
might be free and another nation
might take its place in the ranks of
those dedicated to human liberty.
Dewey's Victory.
1t was the American spirit which led
Admiral Dewey to leave his base of
supplies to execute that brief but mo-
mentous order to capture or destroy
the, Spanish fleet and to sail without
hesitation over Spanish mines, past
Spanish batteries into the open jaws
of Corregidor and one morning in May
to put full stop to the long history
of Spanish misrule and oppression in
Eastern waters, and in one short hour
make obsolete the Biographies of the
orient and rewrite the history of ma
ton.
1T was the American spirit that
built and manned the Oregon and
drove her dashing through IA 1000 miles
of ocean brine to Santiago harbor
| There Schley and Sampson, with their
lines of steel, closed upon the Spanish
fleet. There was flash. roar and
smoke-stained wreck. That ocean
which had borne Spains proudest Ar
madas, turned upon her in her hour of
| mr. hnr CHI
and Spain had lost her last hold upon
the American continent.
at was the American spirit that
when our enemy was humbled in the
dust, when we had but to take as
spoils of war whatsoever We might de-
sire, considered not our own power but
only the necessities of brave though
defeated enemy and renouncing all
claims for wars indemnity gave to
Spain, from our own full treasury, the
millions needed to preserve her ma
tional life.
The Rough Riders.
ut was the American spirit that
brought into existence that band of
fighters whose fame has spread to all
the corners of the earth as the regi-
ment of Rough Riders. Among its men
were the sons of millionaires and sons
OF hardship and toll Among it's Off
GERS were cowboys and men with col
lege degrees and when that regiment
went into action it was the American
spirit that animated Hamilton Fish
millionaire and club man, when he
said to his wounded cowboy friend
Here, old man, you get behind this
tree; let me take the open" and so,
with smile on his lips and the Amer
lean feeling of brotherhood In his
heart, Hamilton Fish went to his
death, brave and unflinching as thou
sands of our boys have done before
present such picture of fraternity
Hamilton Fish and 'Pizen Ike. 'Buclly'
O'Neil and Theodore Roosevelt-men
who measured themselves and each
other, not by wealth or station, but by
their worth as men. When last Win
ter l visited the old home of 'Bucky'
O'Neil found that our chief executive,
whose name was on every tongue, was
known not as President Roosevelt, but
as Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider
and companion of their own best type,
the hard-riding, notwithstanding en-
sheriff of Yavapai county, 'Bucky
O'Neil. The man who had hunted and
: fought through all the great south.
west, who had helped to subdue the
wilderness and had brought order out
of chaos and security out of disorder
and who had cheerfully given his life
in that wild charge which knows no
parallel in history, when the astonish-
ed enemy intrenched on the heights of
San Juan saw the thin line of blue
shirted men sweep over their defenses
and drive twice their number OF veter-
ans in mad panic back to the main de-
lenses of Santiago.
At Santiago.
at was the American spirit again
which animated the heart of regi-
ment of the sons of former slaves,
in support of the sons of their former
masters, to forever wipe out, in a
common sacrifice of blood, every YES
tige and remnant of the color line in
the American army. Today there are
no honors for the Rough Riders that
are not shared by their black brothers
of the gallant Twenty-tifth.
1T was the American spirit which
fiuttered in the wind on the flagship
Brooklyn as the waving flags signal
ed to all the world that there was
glory enough for all.
Noble Words.
Brief though our history has been
there is not an incident of our nation
al life but is eloquent with this same
American spirit A spirit not un
known wherever true patriotism has
dreamed of freedom bur now at last
born into the actual life and move.
ment of the world. 1t spoke through
dying Lawrence when he said Don't
give up the ship; through John Paul
Jones when summoned to surrender
and he replied, We have only just be.
gun to fight through Pinckney, TN
millions for defense but not one cent
for tribute" through Grant in The
only terms are unconditional surren.
DER through Sheridan in the wild
rout in Shenandoh, We are going
80, H.,