Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-11-06
Tells Of the Boys Who Have Been
Known as Soldiers and Sailors Too
Are Really Not salIors-Pays Com.
pliment to Colonel Waller.

dispute. again called attenLlOn TO one
of the fittest and finest bodies of fight
ing men In the world, the United
States marine corps. The resignation
Of Colonel Littleton T. w. Waller as
commander of this provisioned force
emphasized the high quality Of marine
corps officers. Colonel Waller was re-
peatedly promoted for extraordinary
service in fighting the Filipino guer-
rillas and the Chinese Boxers. He Is
to the marine corps what General
Funston is to the army or Fighting
Bob" Evans to the navy.
There was time not SO far back,
when the marines were not very high
ly regarded in public estimation. That
was chiefly because the general pub
lie knew very little about them. But
during the spanish-AmericAn war and
the troubles in China a little later the
marines did such effective work that
every patriotic lip was loud in praise
Of them. Students in history are well
aware that in nearly every engage
ment of American arms abroad the
marines have done most valiant fight
| ing, not only as landing forces but as
aggressive soldiers on interior expedi-
lions and campaigns.
Not a Sailor.
The marine is called Soldier and
sailor" too. AS matter OF fact he
is not sailor. He has nothing to do
with the passing Of coal, the sweeping
Of decks, the handling of ships ma
chinery or other duties Of enlisted
seamen in the naval service. Some.
times 1t Is true, the marines man the
secondary battery on warships, and in
a case of emergency, they may take
hand at the big guns, but they are
enlisted for duties quite different from
those of a seaman. The marines are
sea soldiers. Even this does not ade-
| quately describe them. They are land
soldiers as we'll While a detachment
of marines goes aboard every war
vessel for guard duty and police duty,
from eighteen to seventy men, accord
i ing to the size and class Of the ship,
events have proved that their ability
to go ashore upon occasion and fight
as infantry, just as that branch Of the
regular army fights They are equip
ped with the same guns, practically
the same accouterments as are the in.
4 fantry, and before they ever set foot
on warship they are severely drilled
in the manuel of arms and in all the
methods of the land fighter.
4 Training schools for marines are
maintained at Washington, Annapolis
Brooklyn, Norfolk, Boston, Portsmouth
and League island The establishment
at Washington is called the school al
application, and the training there is
particularly thorough. The marines
have been put to the test as land
soldiers in our conflicts in Mexico, II
Cuba, in the Philippines, in China ant
elsewhere, and in every instance they
have fought with bravery and skill
equal to that displayed by soldiers o.
the regular army. In fact, from thu
!. very nature of their service, they al
most invariably do the first land fight
Ing abroad because they get there
first.
Older Than Navy.
d The marine corps is older than thu
!. navy. George Washington was tn
4 father of the marine corps. In III
he observed the necessity of havfns
81 actual soldiers aboard war vessels ant
) sent an army captain with two com
1 panies on an expedition aboard al
i armed sloop. Less than two month
> later the continental congress, acting
!, upon this hint, established the marin
/ corps, which has continued to this da.
! as a separate and distinct arm of GU
q fighting service. The present strength
or the corps is 278 officers and 606
enlisted men.
Marines fought with great gallantr
t in the war of 1872. They were a par
!, OF Cen Scott's army in Mexico, an
: at the storming and capture Of Chapu
g tepec the marines were among tn
d / first to scale the high walls of til
d fort The commander Of that detacf
p ment Of marines, Captain Levi Twiggs
d fell in the charge. Captain Myers 6
$ the marines, grand nephew Of Cal
y tain Twiggs, was desperately wounde
s. in the attack of the allied forces upo
g Picking, six years ago, and it was
marine, IAN Iowa boy" who was tn
first to scale the walls of Peking.
A detachment of $50 United State
j. marines was right in the front of tn
d fight at the first battle of Bull Run
and it was almost the last to fall bac
II in the general rout, after losing hea'
IT lily in killed and wounded. When tn
g Merrimac fought the Federal fleet |
, Hampton Roads, nine marine
= aboard the Cumberland weI
o killed and the whole marine guard Q
the Congress was annhilated. Marine
j. fought on ship and shore with Admtr'
Farragut in his campaign in the Mi
er sissippi liver and were the first
enter the city Of New Orleans whe
:. that place was captured, just as the
= had been the first to enter the city ,
l. Mexico with the victorious America
army sixteen years before.
Fight With Regulars.
" 1t was the marines who landed an
re held camp at Guantanamo bay,