The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1904-09-15
Famous Sieges.

thousands OF DOCKS nave D0en VIII
ten about the horrors of the siege.
Living in a town that is all shot to
pieces under a rain of falling, kissing
and exploding shells, having to subsist
on horse meat and only a small ration
Of that, knowing that the end must be
capture if death does not intervene, all
of these are bad even in the telling, but
not half so bad as they are in the actu-
ality, for 1t is easier to bear other peo-
pies troubles than our own. Death is
not so horrible when one toasts his
shins by the fire and merely reads
about his bony majesty. But, for that
matter, people who have thought they
were dying say it is not so bad actual
" to "shovel off the mortal SOIL" AS
for those who get the dying over with,
their testimony is not obtainable. Yet
granting that the horrors of death have
been overdrawn, so possibly have the
horrors of sieges.
The investment of Port Arthur re-
calls other celebrated sieges. 1t is a
vain habit of the human animal to
compare the thing that is happening
with similar things that have hap
pened in the past. This it was that led
some observing person to remark that
comparisons are odious." He proba-
bly, meant that some people who make
them are odious. But that, as r. Kip
ling would say to J. Chamberlain, is
another story.
The longest siege Of modern times
was that Of Gibraltar, for the four
years from 1779 to 1888. The English
garrison under Elliott defended itself
successfully from the combined attack
Of the French and Spaniards, and the
war closed with the fortress unsub-
dued. Perhaps the most notable siege
of the nineteenth century was that of
Sevastopol which the French, English
and Turkish allies made the objective
point in the Crimean war The place
was defended with fine pertinacity by
the Russians for nearly year. The
attack began on Oct. II, 1854, and the
town was not evacuated until Sept. 8
of the next year. The siege was ac-
companied by the memorable battles of
the Malakloff, Inkerman and the Sc
dan. The town, in constant communi-
cation with the Russian general forces,
was usually defended by a garrison of
10000. It's losses in the siege were
$4,000 men, and the casualties on both
sides reached the enormous total of
10000.
In the civil war the great siege aside
from the attack on Lees army before
Richmond-was that of Vicksburg.
Grant began his movement against the
city in November, 1862, but the invest
ment proper did not begin until May Is
of the next year The garrison Of 3d.
900 men surrendered on July 4, after
having lost 10000 men in the seven
weeks of fighting.
In the Franco-Prussian war Strass-
burg, with a garrison of 1900, kept
off force Of 10000 for fifty-one days.
Metz, defended by 100000 hela out
against 100000 Germans for seventy
days, and the siege Of Paris lasted
more than four months. The capital
had nearly half million defenders, but
many of them were raw and inefficient
conscripts. Six years later the Turks
made a desperate stand against the
Russians at Pleyna. In one charge the
Russian force lost 1880 men. The
siege lasted from July 20 to Dec 10,
and then 10000 Turks surrendered. AS
many more had been killed, wounded
Or captured.
In the Boer war Kimberley held out
1913 days and Ladysmith 118, and both
were eventually relieved. In neither
case were large forces involved The
investment of Port Arthur, therefore,
is the most important siege since Plev-
ma.