The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-08-08
BY RICHARD sPILLANE.

IN the world Anthony Wayne always
III be Mad Anthony" Strange that
", o5ip,ls a sobriquet should be given
:, en- sane so brave, so competent A
s,r5ier. A drunken camp follower, sent
"a the guard house by the generals or
der asked the keeper If the general
vas mad or in fun when the arrest
,as made. Many persons, in former
5avs used the term mad as a synonym
I'm angry, and somehow his own men
cot TO referring to their commander
Is Mad Anthony. They meant 1t as a
tribute 10 his daring. his magnificent
courage and his disregard of danger in
The hour Of supreme trial, but through
that nickname d grave injustice has
besD done to the fame of a really great
man
He was not the rash, hare braiaed
man sch0Olb0ys have been led to be-
Eeve Far from it. Brave he was to
the highest degree, but he was prudent,
100. OF all the generals who served
under washington he probably was the
most studiOus and most competent. He
drilled his men as did no other COM
mander in the Continental army, and
through his patience and painstaking
attention to detail he brought the Penn
sylyania line up to a point where it
was the finest fighting body in the
War of Independence.
Twice he saved the young republic
once al Stony Point and once at Mon
mouth. In the annals Of war there are
few achievements to compare with his
capture of Stony Point 1t ranks high
er than that Of Wolfe I'm scaling the
heights of Abraham. yet America never
has given to Wayne the glory Britain
gave to the hero Of Quebec. In fact the
republic has not done justice to Anthony
Wayne, living or dead. Despite his sue
cesses in the war 70. liberty promotion
was denied him. 1t was not until the
close Of hOstilities that he cot a major
generalship, and then only by brevet.
And after his death, through the unfor-
tunate acceptance of Mad in connec-
ton with his name the idea was sug-
gested that his brain was tainted with
madness.
The Real Anthony Wayne.
The real Anthony Wayne, the Anthony
Wayne the American people ought to
know, was a whOle-souled, hearty, free
spoken man. who had two passions
fine dress and letter writing. He was
mordinately fond Of rich apparel and
as vain Of his handsome face and fig
ure and his brave appearance as ever
Beau Brummen was Of his silks and
atins. He was the dandy of his day.
To him clothes played a decided part
10 the making Of a man. He insisted
upon his men shaving themselves reg
ularly and until the time the Continen-
tai army was reduced TO rags his in
speCtiOn Of his men was rigorous. Be
fore he stOrmed the heights of Stony
Point he had his men shave and pow
der themselves.
He believed cleanliness and neatness
tended to self-respect and good order.
Generous, warm-hearted and impulsive,
he frequently was indiscreet in his
speech. He could not dissemble, and
he criticised public men so freely that
he made many enemies. He hated Ben
edict Arnold from the first day he met
him, he could not tolerate General
Charles Lee. and he had little respect
Tor General St Clair. There were vari-
Gus men IN congress, too, for whom he
mad no use. Generally speaking, his
Judgment of men was remarkably good,
but he was so strong willed and impe-
Hous at times in declaring his opin-
Ions that he won sympathy for those
ne denounced. And at times he was a
bit boastful. He was not an envious
or jealous man, but he certainly was
esotistical and he loved flattery. He
believed absolutely in his military skill,
his Judgment and the fighting qualifi-
cations of the American soldier. And
De never was prouder than when on
the field of Monmouth he, with a part
OF the Pennsylvania line, not only with
stood the charge of MOnckton's gren-
adiers, but crushed that command, the
flower of the British army.
BAH" he exclaimed to Baron Steu-
ben, you said the American soldier
could not stand in the open against the
British regulars. I charged the regu-