Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1906-06-29
A Man Who Didn't Know How
to Spell His Own Name


My grandfather was a private in the
Mexican war, and l got this story
from him direct:
l was with that army which, under
Scott, landed at Vera Cruz and march
ed to the City of Mexico, fighting one
battle after another by the way In
the til artillery was a sergeant
named Kelly, who was one of the best
disciplnarians among noncommission-
ed officers l ever knew. Any man I'M
der his command must toe the mark"
or take the consequences. Kelly was
an Irishman and had served in the
British army. He was natural SOL
der and, like most such, was not fitted
for anything else.
At Vera Cruz man who said that
his parents were or had been Ameri-
cans, though he had been born and had
always lived in Mexico, wanted to en-
list in the United States army. He
spoke English with broken Spanish
accent, but any one under the circum-
stances would have done that. He was
accepted, put in the battery with KEEL
ly and fell under the sergeant's orders.
The recruit gave his name as Gala
ger, which denoted Irish extraction,
least heard something about the EN-
erald Isle, but he was woefully igno-
rant of it. For this reason, possibly,
the sergeant was not prepossessed in
his favor and put on the screws of dis
cipline in his case to the fullest extent.
Gallagher bore the sergeant's severe
rebukes at his errors at first with pa
tence, but he looked as much like a
Spaniard as an Irishman, and he could
not miss pugnacious blood in either
race. At any rate the sergeant worried
him into a state of frenzy. We enlist
ed men thought we saw dislike for the
recruit in Kelly and condemned him
for taking advantage Of his position to
crafty his spite. There was one act
that came under my observation which
was unfair He had noticed that Gal
lagher was especially indisposed to do
police duty"-that is, he WINGED at
going about picking up old papers,
cigar stumps and such like, and the
sergeant detailed him for this duty
oftener than he should have done.
Once when Gallagher had been de-
tailed for the same Ignoble work three
days in succession he refused to serve
Hot words between him and Kelly re-
suited, and the affair ended by the re-
cruit knocking the sergeant down.
saw this quarrel, and l made up my
mind that Gallagher had drawn Irish
fight with his mothers milk and Span
ish fight with the atmosphere he had
breathed from the day he was born.
BronZed as he was by the sun of trop-
les, be looked under the spirit Of re-
bellion more like a descendant of the
AZtecs than the Irish and more like
Spaniard than either.
Instead of giving vent to rage as he
was bound to do by the traditions of
his race, Kelly picked himself up and
quietly called for corporal of the
guard to take the mutinous recruit to
the guardhouse. 1t occurred to me that
he had been trying to prod the man in
to mutiny in order to have the pleasure
of penning him up. AS Gallagher was
marched away l noticed peculiar ex-
preston on his face, an expression that
denoted self condemnation. He was
evidently much dissatisfied with him
LOTT hn
better of him.
We marched next day, and Gallagher
walked, with other prisoners, under
guard. We soon came upon the Next
cans, and our little army deployed for
fight. The ordinary routine of army
life vanishes with the sound of firing,
and Gallagher was in it with the rest
of us. l remember seeing one of the
junior lieutenants telling him to go
in" and he would help him by testify
ing to the fact on his trial for mutny
But that was the last | saw of the mu-
tineer during the fight, and after 1t
was over no one saw him. He was
among the missing. When l suggested
that he had died the death of a soldier
Kelly's wrath exploded.
KILLED, the spalpeen Dye be think
in there was "a bullet fired by the
Mexicans that would "a touched the
dirty spy?'
What do you mean, sergeant?"
"Oh, go long wild yez. Dye think OF
wouldn't know any O the Gallaghers?
The miserable Spaniard didn't even
know how to spell his own Irish name"
We laughed at the sergeant's preju-
dice against the poor fellow, who must
have been buried by those of another
corps who didn't know him, and
thought no more about the matter.
Our work had now commenced in
earnest, and we had no time for any
thing but fighting till we had captured
the City of Mexico. Our battery was
a good deal cut up by the concentrated
fire Of several Mexican batteries on
the heights of Chapultepec. Kelly
uOx fhat AT hn hoa