Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1909-06-11
uV1f SANS OLDEST living SOLDIER

Laying close siege to the century
mark, Uncle Sans oldest soldier re-
Gently celebrated his ninety-seventh
birthday in Washington. He is Major
General Daniel H. Rucker. U. S. A, re-
tired born ninety-seven years ago
April %. 1872 In the whole history
Of the military service of the United
Btates there is no record to parallel
his. declares o. F. Schuette in the
Chicago Inter Ocean. Probably in all
the world there is no soldier who can
look back seveDty-two years to the
date OF his first commission. For it
was IN 1897 that the future general re-
ceived his first commission as a second
lieutenant from President Andrew
Jackson He was then a man Of %
little dreaming that he had before
him threequarters Of a century of life.
II he lives three years longer, and
with his present vigorous vitality
there is no reason he should not he
will cross the century mark Of life
and celebrate the end of three-quar
tiers of q century Of membership on
the military lists OF the United States
government.
Away back in the dawn Of our ma
tional greatness, our school book his
tories tell Of the war of 1912. Yet
Daniel Rucker was two months old
before the first shot of that war was
fired. 4 year later came the first
Greek Indian war. Five years later
came the hostilities with the Semin-
oles in Florida. And then came out
break after outbreak Of Indian con
f1icts 1t was in this Indian warfare
away back in the '30s that he saw his
first service. He won his first pro-
motion for bravery in the Mexican
war. Then again he participated IN
Indian warfare. He was 10 years old
when Fort Sumter was fired on When
the Spanish war broke out he was Sc
years of age. But he had retired
from active service sixteen years be-
fore, with fOrty-f1ve years Of service
to his credit.
1t is a far cry from the clumsy,
muzzle-loading flint lock to the noise
less, smOkeless, rapid-ire rifle of to-
day. And it Is further cry from
the wooden frigates that formed the
fleet of the United States and won
those splendid naval victories on the
great lakes, when he was a babe in
1872, to the marvellous squadron Of
fighting ships that sailed home from
triumphant trip around the world
When General Rucker first Joined
the ranks of Uncle Sans defenders
there was no such thing as breech-
loading muskets, no sixteen inch guns,
no torpedoes, no mines no lyddite
shells. No warship was propelled by
steam and all the fleets of the world
were at the mercy Of the wind and of
the waves. Then came the Civil War
and the first ironclads General
Rucker had passed the half century
mark Of his life when the first battle
of armOred ships was fought and the
triumph of the Monitor in beating off
the MerrimaC and turning the tide of
the Confederacy on the seas. Yet
'Aehe was Jul 81 10y experiment OF what
was to follow. Progress was slow, and
1t was thirty years before the armored
vessel of to-day really came into be
ing. General Rucker was 81 years old
when the navy of the United States
worthy successor of the plucky little
fighters Of 1812-sent to the bottom in
two hemispheres the successors of the
proud Spanish armada.
1t Is long Jump from the clumsy
frigate, with its muzzle loading guns,
It's shaking sails and its limited range
of action, to the Dreadnoughts Of to-
day, with their heavy armor, their
speed, their powerful engines and
their wonderful range; and there have
been other marvels just as great In
the progress Of his profession. When
he took his first commission, and
rode 200 miles on horseback alone to
his post, no one had thought of auto
mobiles or airships or wireless tele-