The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-09-03

assaults of France and Spain in 1919
1888 for S74 days. 1t took 1872 days
for the Germans to effect the surrender
of Paris in 1871. On single day the
Prussians hurled $4,000 projectiles at
the defences, and during the siege
10000 of the inhabitants succumbed to
disease and hunger. At Plevna Osman
Pasha in the fortified camp he con-
structed kept the Russian army at bay
for ninety -four days and was forced to
surrender only when the last desperate
sally of his starving Turks failed and
he himself was wounded. Khartoum,
which Gordon defended against the
host of the Mahdi for 81 days; Kars,
in the Crimean war, where. General
Williams was allowed to march out
with all the honors of war; Delhi and
Lucknow in the Indian mutiny, Bel
fort in the Franco-G erman war, and
.Ladysmith in the recent South African
war, where the defence was main
tanned for 11S days until the relieving
army arrived, are among the most
memorable sieges of the last century.
For desperate fury on the part of
both defenders and besieged probably
no siege has surpassed that of Sara
goosa, in the Peninsular war in Spain.
1t was twice besieged by the French
and captured by them in February,
1909, though the best troops of Ma
poleon commanded by four Marshals
of France, were engaged, after three
weeks street fighting, in which the
citizens-men, women, priests, mobiles
and peasants-maintained the most
heroic resistance.
In our own campaign many parallels
may be found between the siege of
Santiago and that of Port Arthur,
though it remains to be seen whether
the results, in the event Of the fall of
Port Arthur and the destruction of
the fleet contained in it's harbor will
be ut all commensurate to the forces
engaged in each case. The sieges of
vicksburg and Petersburg in the civil
war stand out in military history as
momentous for their strategic import
ance.
Owing to the situation on the Miss
issippi, Vicksburg had immense
stragetic Importance for the control of
the river, and Grant made its capture
the objective Of his campaign from
April to July in 1868. Placed on a
high bluff it commanded the river,
and it's approaches from the land side
were capable of easy defence.
Grant crossed the river at Bruins
burg on April 80, and twenty days
afterward had got to the rear of the
city, completely investing it, with the
aid of Admiral porter's ships. He had
in the meantime cut himself bodily
from his base and justified the step
by the capture of jackson, the capital
of the state, and fighting five distinct
battles, driving back Pemberton's
army into Nicksburg and isolating him
from relief by Johnson's army.
Grants first assault, made OH May
%, failed, and he began Il regular siege
to out camp the enemy. His line was
more than fifteen miles long against
the seven of the enemy. Admiral Por-
ter supplied a battery of navy guns.
AS the besiegcrs had no mortars
wooden ones We're made by taking logs
of the toughest wood and boring them
out for six or twelve FOUNDER shells.
BY June 80 800 guns were in position
and Grant had about II 900 men.
The surrender came on July 4, when
31,GO0 prisoners gave themselves up,
together with 172 cannon, about co.
600 muskets and large amount Of
ammunition. Grants losses during
the campaign were:-Killed, 1914;
wounded 1896, and missing, 253, max
ing an aggregate of 9,3G2. The COM
plete reports Of the Confederate losses
from May 1 to July 3 amounted to
1850 killed, 3,572 wounded and 1927
captured or missing. The assault of
May % alone cost Grant a loss of 3,199.
Both at Vicksburg and later at
Petersburg mining played an import
ant part in the attack upon the lines
of the defence. The fighting in the
craters made. by the explosions were
desperate in their character and long
remembered as the main incidents Of
the sieges. The Burnside mine at
Petersburg, which caused disaster
GUS check for while to the besiegers,
was about mile from the heart Of the
town.
After one of the assaults the Ninth
Corps had gained position not more
than hundred yards from the
enemy's lines, and some men Of the
Forty-eighth Pennsylvania regiment,
composed almost wholly Of miners
from Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania,
suggested that a mine could be run
from the hollow to a point under
battery Of the enemy Immediately op-
posite. The idea found it's way to the
colonel of the regiment, and finally to
General Burnside, who approved the
undertaking.
The main gallery was completed
July %, and Grant ordered general