The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1907-05-29

service was as a private and sergeant
in an Indiana infantry regiment, and
he was promoted rapidly for gallant
fighting. Congress voted him a medal
Of honor for gallantry in action in the
fighting before Atlanta in 1864. Before
the end of the war he was a brevet
colonel When the war closed, Colonel
Lawton retired for few months, but
In July. 1866. he entered the regular
army as second lieutenant in an in
fantry regiment. He remained in the
regular army until his death by Fill
Pine bullet more than thirty three years
later At the time of his death his rank
in the regular army was that of colo
mel but the war department clerks at
Washington We're preparing his COM
mission as brigadier general in the
regular service when the news reached
the department that he had been killed
In battle
In 1871 Lawton was transferred to
the Fourth cavalry. He fought the
Sioux. the Utes and other hostile Indian
tribes and in 1886 performed one of the
most notable exploits in plains warfare
history by rounding up and capturing
fierce Apache chief, old Geronimo.
who had given the government more
trouble than any other Indian on rec
ord. General Miles selected Captain
Lawton to lead an expedition of picked
men into Mexico against Geronimo and
his band of bloodthirsty Apaches. Law
ton visited the chief in his camp and
planned for his surrender. This was
one of the most daring ventures in In
dian war annals. Some of the older
army officers still discuss it with Won
der
At Santiago Lawton, with the rank
manded the second division Of the Fifth
army corps. doing valuable service in
the several engagements leading to the
capture of the Cuban city. He was
made major general of volunteers
less than week after the fall of San
tiago for gallantry at Ell Canev
General Lawton's service in the Phil
ippines was notably brilliant. He be-
gan his work there early in 1899. In
July he was placed in command at
Manila. He Immediately began cam
paign with the object of capturing
General Aguinaldo. the Filipino leader.
1t was much like the Indian fighting
with which Lawton was so familiar
Various small engagements were
| fought, the Filipinos frequently hiding
in the jungles and shooting from am
/ bush. General Lawton captured San
Isidro, the capital of the Filipino gov
eminent at the time, and chased Agui-
naldo from place to place.
l. About the middle of December the
general led force of something more
than thousand soldiers against FIJI,
Mateo, fifteen miles from Manila. Gen
eral Lawton and his staff made the
| trip on horseback in one night over
almost impossible mountains in a
heavy raiIfstorm. The horses slipped
| and slid down the hills and ravineS,
and the men arrived on the river bank
opposite San Mateo drenched and mud
dy, but full of fighting spirit.
When the engagement began Cen
/ eral Lawton. wearing a white helmet
i and yellow raincoat. was a conspicu-
Gus target. He was, in fact, the most
conspicuous target in the army, being
six feet three inches tall and a big
man at that He insisted. against the
advice of his staff. upon going on the
firing line. He was standing in front
| of the firing line, the men being prone
in the grass. when one of his staff Off.
/ GERS observed that the Filipino sharp.
shooters We're trying to pick the gen.