The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-03

List of Names which Recall Men,
cries of the War i'm Cuba.
New York Mail and Express.
The other day the President sent to the
Senate a long list OF names. 1t attracted
no particular attention there. II was not
published in any of the papers, so far as
L have observed, except the Army and
Navy Gazette. And yet if the story that
brought every name into this list could
be we'll told it would make as noble and
thrilling record as the Iliad of Homer.
1t was a list of promotions by brevet of
officers of the regular army, all for gallan-
try in action. The nominations went back
to Las Guasimas, and consequently in
cluded brevet honors for service in the
Spanish-American war, the Philippine in
surrection and the Chinese campaign. 1
say this list did not attract much attention
in the Senate. but it did achieve the honor
of being seoTed at in the House by Burle-
son, of Texas, who, in the debate on the
appropriation bill, twice proved himself a
coward-once by sneering at this list Of
brave men and once by saying that he did
not go to the Spanish war because the
President thought him too old. Burleson
was born i'm 1869, and there were regiments
of volunteers raised in Texas.
A brevet is a rather empty honor, and
yet ii is priced by the soldier. for 1T forms
a part of his record. 1t does not mean any
added emolument; it is only "A badge of
gallant service. AS such a badge, it is well
come to the recipient. 1t is welcome. that
is, if the man who gets ii is alive. Many
of the men promoted by brevet the other
day have been in their graves nearly four
years. The list includes the names of
Lieut.. Jules Ord, of the Sixth, who, though
on staff service, was really the first officer
to get to the top of San Juan hill, and who
was shot down there by d wounded Span
lard whose life he saved. 1t has the name
of Wetherill, of the Sixth, too, killed in
the same action. 1t has the name of the
gallant Dickinson, of the Seventeenth, who.
though also detailed for regimental staff
service which would have kept him else
where, begged and received permission TO
stay by his coloners side at Caney. The
colonel, Haskell walked out into the zone
of fire to find the proper place for his regi-
ment, and Dickinson with him. Both fell.
each with three bullets through him, and
both died.
The list has the name of the heroic old
Colonel Egbert, wounded repeatedly in the
civil war, wounde at Santiago and killed
at Maliuta, Luzon, In 1899. 1t has the name
of Wikoff. who was killed while deploying
his brigade on the Santiago side of the
San Juan river on the morning of July !,
1893.
The words "'since deceased" are sprinkled
all through the long list, at intervals scarce
six or eight names apart. Those two pro-
sale words mean, in nearly every case, a
brave death i'm action. There is a heroic
tragedy in every parenthesis.
Glory sometimes lays hold of a gallant
action, indeed, with ingular reluctance.
One name in this list brings back to me
a curious "Reminiscences. L shall tell the
story Just to show how little a man may
know about a battle even when he has a
brilliant part i'm it. The name that has
suggested this story to me is that of
Lieut.. Col. Charles w. Miner. of that same
trebly historic regiment. the Sixth In
fantry.
On the first day of July, 1898, I had gone.
as a correspondent, into the fighting be
fore Santiago with the confident expecta-
ton of seeing IL all. Ii was a part Of the
plan that Lawton's division was going TO
take Ell Caney and then go over and make
itself the right wing in the assault on San
Juan Hill and Santiago. L attached myself,
therefore, to the foremost regiment in Law
toms foremost brigade CChaffees) and went
inland consequently got held up at FL
Caney till the San Juan fight was all over.
1t is exasperating, in war, how things fail
TO go according to programme. FL Caney
was fine as far as it went, but Ii was not
all.
AS soon as possible went over to San
Juan hill to pick up the threads of that
light. Passing the Second Division Hos
pital on the way, where the surgeons were
at work, l got the impression that the
Sixth Infantry had done most of the work.
Its men all others in the hos
pital, just as now they outnumber all other
regiments in this brevet list. L went to the
camp of the Sixth on the side of the hill.
| found it in command of Major Miner, all
his superiors having been shot. l asked
for him and was referred to a detected
looking human object in its shirt sleeves
that stood in fro-t of a pup tent.
This man looked more like an old tramp
than anything else, and L noticed that the
old brown service vest that he wore was
probably the only vest in Skaters army.
His black shirt was torn, his brown trous-
ers were caked with mud, his shoes were
full of holes and the brim of his old cam
palgn hat hung Imply about his ears.
/ asked him to give me the story of the
part which his regiment had taken in the
battle.
Sir" said he. 81 assure you that l don't
know anything about 1t. No, L don't know
what part l had in it myself. You go to
Captain KennOn. He can tell you all
about it,"
He pointed out a good-Iooking, bearded
was remarkable to me for having his blue
trousers patched with a large piece of once
white canvas taken out Of a ruined tent.
Capt. Lyman w. V. Kennon-in command
of a brigade since in the Philippines, and
a brevetted officer In this same ~list-gave
me a thrilling story, which, as a part of
the piecemeal history of that great day, L
hurried off to New York as quickly as L
could.
But Major Miner had nothing to saw.
though / lived with the Sixth for two days
afterWard. He was in the fight Just the
same and did his duty CALAMITY. But he
told the truth when he said he didn't know
much about it. Nobody did, then. We
learned a great deal more about IL after we
got back to the United States than any
body was able to pick up on San Juan hill.