The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1905-01-12
SOME FAMOUS SIEGES.
Many Were OF Greater Duration Than
That Of Port Arthur.

a siege always mas lLS element oil
excitement and romance 1t is-a--con-
| test of mental as well as OF physical
/ forces. The siege of Port Arthur,
which so wildly interested the whole
world, brings to mind many of the
! famous sieges of history. Since May
/ 10 last the town had been shut off
from the world by an army of mar
Vicious size and equipment, and the
| beleaguered people within had suffer
ed untold hardships
| And yet this is an exceedingly short
siege compared to some of which we
read. Before the Christian era Greece
camped nine years on the Trojan
plain before she "burned the topless
towers of Ilium." Rome, with her
primitive battering rams and wooded
weapons, pricked 10 years at the walls
of Veil before<her eagles were trium-
plant. And her splendid legions
were held at bay for two years before
Scipio at last stood as conqueror
among the ruins of Carthage. Dur
ing those two frightful years the wo-
men of the city, in mortal terror of
the wolves from the Tiher," worked
shoulder to shoulder with the men in
the trenches.
In more recent years the siege of
Sebastopol, in the Crimean War, east
ly takes precedence for daring and
picturesque achievement. For II
months the smoke of battle hung
like halo over the Redan and the
Malakotf, those supposedly impregna-
BILE forts.
! The year 1857 was made memorable
by the siege of Lucknow. Here in
this city OF glittering Oriental beauty
300 English soldiers with the indomi-
table spirit of the Anglo. Saxon, beat
back the hordes of Sepoys that swarm
ed about the residency, while the wo-
men, knowing their fate if 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
inevitable, when one day a new sound
mingled with the noises the garrison
already knew, and n Scotch lassie,
with her ear to the ground, recogniz-
ed the new note and cried out the res
cue to the Others: ut is the pibrochs
O the Highlanders, We are saved,
we are saved!' And in 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
Sepoy dead
In the Franco Prussian War Paris
held the enemy back for 1872 days,
Welding at last not to assault, but to
save her children from the horrors of
starvation. Then there is iPieyna
Here the Turks, under Osman Pasha
intrenched themselves 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 Plevna make
interesting reading for the student of
military tactics.
In the history of our own Icountry
sieges are rare. There was the So
called siege of Boston, the 90 DAYS of
Yorktown, which closed the.Revolu-
ton, and in the Civil War the siege of
| Vicksburg, which city held out against
Grant for several days. During
much of this time the people of the
town lived in their cellars!or burrow-
ed into the bluffs and cliffs to escape
the bursting shells of the assailants.
During the Spanish-American War
there befell the siege of Santiago, too
familiar for more than mention. :, Dur
ing the Boer War in South Africa
people all over the world asked for 11S
days, What is the news from Lady
smith?'' for during that length of time
Ladysmith 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 sallies, of
bloody assaults; each one ended with
its sigh of despair, its far-blown bugle
call of victory. Chronologists have
set them down coldly and succinct!y,
poets and orators have.told 81 - en-
in words that burn. But the Story
of each will PROBABLY fade i'll interest
and vivid 'picturesqueness when the
history of Port Arthur is told to the
world, for in those other days there
were wooden walls and spears, and
man propelled battering rams; or at
best, guns of but primitive.power
Snppar The Euapipo