The Washington herald., 1912-11-03

health, rife strength and markmanship,
rather than BY its force of numbers
Hitherto detachment of less than Eve
hundred men had been regarded as Of
Comparatively small value in . clash Of
arms Then skirmishes or minor brushes
between opposing forces were few and
campaigns we're fought in . series Of En-
sagements in which many thousands Of
men were engaged On each side. The
Lsuperiority in force Of numbers ON one
side generally turned the tide of battle
and the .anquished retired to take up .
position and await reinforcements.
Thst this condition no longer exists was
apparent in the South African campaign,
when an army of 10000 Boer farmers.
almost none Of whom had had experience
in military tactics other than being
trained to shoot with a high degree of
accuracy and take cover afte. the fashion
Of the indian, held back for ne-rly two
months force of artillery, infantry and
cavalry nearly three times its size, and
every man of which had been drilled and
trained in the then most up to date man
happened at the Tugela River when Sir
Redvers Butler, the British commander,
hurled his whole strength repeatedly at
the Boer front. to be repulsed each time
in manner that almost broke th, old
fashioned British generals heart as well
as decimated his infantry and artillery
brisades.
As a last resource he yielded to the ad-
vice of some of the younger members of
his staff ! turned the Boer flank in q
series of skirmishes in which his men
operated in approved Boer fashion, which
was merely an adaptation of Indian tao
tics. No doubt the tradition ridden gen
eral Of the British force was as surprised
as the Boer commander when the ma
noeuvre was completed.
1t was this action, known as the battle
Of Pieter's Hill, that turned the tide OF
the campaign, and it almost scandalized
some of the older British commanders 10
see their cherished ideals as to the mode
of subduing England's foes cast aside in
favor of the tactics of men who had not
been taught from the latest guide books
the proper way to encounter an enemy in
the field. Their good sense, however.
prevailed, and Tommy Atkins" after .
few more lessons in the etiquette of the
game, almost forgot that he had once been
a uarrack square ornament and "a thin
red hero" in parades of royalty. Where
an army of 10000 had failed little more
than 5000 men were actively engaged
in the action that opened the way to
Ladysmith.
A: the battle of Guasimas. which
opened the Cuban campaign in 1895, the
Spaniards said they had force Of 1000
men engaged. These were intrenched be-
hind rife pits and bushes in a mountain
pass and were dislodged by an Americas
force Of less than 1000 men. The At
tacking army had to fight for the most
part in the open, and although they
have been pictured by artis:i whose exc
cution in art was superior to their knowl-
edge of what actually happened on that
eventful day as charging wildly in the
direction of the Spanish trenches, au-
thentic reports of the action show that
the American soldiers carried the posi-
lions of the enemy by charging Indian
is, squirmins through the
long Grass from cover to cover, Offering ~
little as possible of themselves - tar.
get for the visilant Spaniards and firing
from every point Of vantage reaehsA