The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1904-09-15
Criticism for West Pointers.

Criticism for West Pointers.
1t appears that your paper, writes
correspondent of the New York
Sun, has great faith In the military
ability of West Point graduates, but
glance at the history of their per-
formances during the civil war hardly
justifies such confidence. Look at the
records:
Mcdowell at Bull Run-with his
| left resting on the only road and
his line extended in prolongation of
| that road, thus severing two-thirds OF
| his army from its communications
before a shot was fired. When the
| fighting began his little bunch of ar
| tillery was too far advanced, shoot
| ing in the wrong direction and abso-
iutely and entirely without support.
have never seen the fact stated in
print, but the first sign of discourage
ment shown by our infantry was
J when these artillerymen, led by the
! lead driver of the right piece, gallop-
ed to the rear, leaving their guns on
the field.
Think of Rosecrans at Chickamau-
| ga-his army lost in the woods. and
to this day no man can tell what he
was trying to do with 1t Sturgis at
Gun river-whipped in a minute by
Forrest. who had been a peaceful
slave dealer till he was past 40 years
of age; Smith-loolzing at Petersburg
and then retreating without even
realizing the Importance of occupy
| ing the town; the absurd Red River
campaign-planned by one West
Pointer and, to all intents AMI pur.
poses, conducted by another.
Then look at Antietam. 1t is not
| too much to say that any one of
| Napoleons marshals could have
taken either army and won decisive
victory in that Maryland campaign.
divided force on the 18th or 18th, and
then thrown his whole army on
Jackson, who, good as he was, could
hardly hope to win against such odds.
The worst of 1t is the movement re-
quired no display of originality on
the part of the federal commander.
for the trick had been done thou
sands of times and was hoary with
age when Hannibal was fighting the
Romans.
The other side: II squad of Con-
federates had pushed through the
gap made by Hills artillery when it
stopped the Ninth Army Corps, Lit
tie Mac" would have had another
chance to show the world how fast
he could retreat, for there was moth
ing in the way of such an advance ex-
cept four pieces belonging to New
York battery, without round of am
munition.
The chests had been emptied shoot
ing at nothing before crossing the
creek, and the corps commander, a
| West Pointer, had been within ten
yards of the guns most of the time,
apparently not seeing any absurdity
In the cannonading.
When Burnside, early in the fight,
reported to his superior that a force
should be sent to protect his left, the
commander replied that he had no
troops to place there, well knowing
that neither the Fifth Corps nor the
cavalry had fired shot that day.
II would be interesting to discover
why that commander was always ask
ing for more cavalry, for he never
used any except for escort duty.
A couple of hundred dismounted
troopers, with their breech leaders.
could have kept that cornfield so full
of flying lead that nothing could live
in il, and the confederate artillery
would have been compelled to do
their fighting from respectful dis
tance.
Another graduate, Meade, at Gettys-
burg-with a large part of his army
so situated that II could not be
brought into action.
Any one who served during our
domestic disturbance must acknowl-
edge that most of the West Pointers
on both sides, were too fond of un-
necessarily and clumsily assaulting
fortified positions. and that all OF
them except possibly Sheridan and
Hazeu, were continually wasting am.
munition in long range artillery fir
ing. as IL, like the Chinese tomtom
beaters, they imagined that noise won
battles.
The academy ON the Hudson has
given us thousands of brave. good
looking officers. but not one OF them
for soldierly ability and knowledge OF
the art of war has come within hail
ing distance of oliver Cromwell, who
graduated from an English brewery,
| f.