The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-11-15
FAMOUS SlEGES.
Many of Greater Duration Than That
Of Port Arthur
(Memphis Commercial-Appeal)

(MemDnlS COmInerclal-ApDeaI)
A siege always has its elements Of ex-
citement and romance Il is a contest of
mental as well as of physical forces. The
siege of Port Arthur which is so Vividly
| interesting the whole world. brings to
mind many of the famous siegeS of his
tory. Since the 18th Of last May the town
has been shut off from the world by an
army of marvellous size and equipment,
and the beleaguered people within are
suffering untold hardships. And yet this
is an exceedingly short siege compared TO
some of which we read Before the
Christian era Greece camDed nine years
on the Trojan plain before she burned
the topleSs towers of Ilium.' Rome, with
her primitive battering rams and wooden
weapons, Dricked ten years at the walls
Of Veil before her eagles were triumphant.
And her splendid legions were held al bay
for two years before SciDio at last stood
as conqueror among the ruins of Car
| thage. During those two frishtful years
the women of the city, in mortal terror OF
the wolves from the Tiber worked
Shoulder to shoulder with the men in the
trenches.
In more recent years the siege of Sebas-
| tOpOl in the Crimean war easily takes
precedence for daring and picturesque
achievement For eleven months the
smoke of battle hung like a halo over the
Redan and the MalakOff those supposed
~ impregnable forts
The year 1851 was made memorable by
! the siege OF Lucknow. Here in this city
of glittering Oriental beauty 800 English
soldiers with the indomitable spirit of the
Angio-SaXOn. beat back the hordes of
Sepoys that swarmed about the residency.
while the women. knowing their fate II
surrender came, prayed every hour for
death or rescue. Four months of this
slow torture went by. and despair began
] to settle on the garrison; defeat seemed in
evitable. when one day a new sound min
gled with the noises the garrison already
knew, and a Scotch lassie with her ear
to the ground. recognized the new note
and cried out the rescue to the others:
1T is the pibrochs o. the Highlandersl
We are saved; we are saved" And to
the music OF those pipes that gallant band
of Scots and English cut their way TO
/ their starving cOuntrymen- leaving behind
a path Of blood thick-strewn with Sep0y
dead
/ the enemy back for 1872 days. yielding al
I last not TO assault. but 20 save her chill
dren from the horrors Of starvation. Then
there is Plevna. Here the Turks. under
Osmau Pasha. entrenched themseiv ives
against the Russians. and in the 142 days
Of siege that followed 10000 men gave up
their lives. Then the Pasha capitulated.
The siege and capture OF Pievna make in
teresting reading for the student of mill
] tary tactics.
In the history OF our own country sieges
are rare. There was the sO-called siege
Of Boston: the twenty DAYS at Yorktown.
which closed the Revolution. and in the
Civil war the siege of Nicksburg. which
city held out against Grant for some sew
enty days. During much of this time the
people of the town lived in their cellars or
burrOwed into the bluffs and cliffs TO
escape the bursting shells OF the assail-
ants Here in Memphis was heard the
detonation of that fierce bombardment.
During the Spanish-American war there
befeil the siege of Santiago. too familiar
for more than mention. During the
Boer war in South Africa. people asked
for rs days What is the news from
| Ladysmth?' for during that length Of
time LadyslDith was holding out against
the beleaguering foe
These are some of the famous sieges Of
history ancient and modern. Each one OF
them had its own record Of brave deeds,
OF gallant salies. OF bloody assaults: each
one ended with its sign Of despair. its far
blown bugle call OF victor ChronOlogists
have set them down cOldly and succintly:
poets and orators have told Of them in
words that burn. But the story Of each
will probably fade in interest and vivid
picturesqueness when the history of Port
Arthur is told 10 the world: for I'm those
other days there were wooden walls and
spears. and man-propeiied battering rams;
or at best guns of but primitive power.
But before Port Arthur there stands to-
day the very steel-pcrsonified spirit Of
war. the materialzed genius OF Invention.
/ No improvements Of weapons or explosive
| that the mind has conceived or matter
/ lent itself to perfect have been overlooked
or neglected b. beieaguers or beIeagued;
and when the siege ends and the crash
comes it viii be stupendOus. drowning in
| its mighty roar the HOmeric echoes OF
| Troy. the clash and cry at Plevna, and
the undying guns OF the Malakoff.