The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1913-03-14
LAST FIGHT in ARM0R
WAS NOT IN THE MIDDLE AGES,
~ As MIGHT BE IMAGINED.
Auick- Witted French Commander, In
1899, Clothed His Soldiers In Steel
and Sent Them to Spike Guns
Which Annoyed Him.

Which Annoyed Him.
The last fight in armor occurred
Turing Napoleon's time. In 1899, the
main army of the French having with
drawn from the town Of AQuila, 4
body of some four hundred soldiers
remained in the place, whose inhab-
ltants were well disposed toward
them. But the peasants of the sur
rounding region were bitterly hostile
and, rising in revolt, penetrated the
town and drove the Frenchmen into
the fortress, which was small and
" eak, yet powerful enough to hold the
Insurgents at bay with its cannon.
These insurgents numbered ten or
Twelve thousand. They barricaded the
street and loopholed the houses so
that they were safe from attack, but
this did not satisfy them. They
wished to take the fort, which, with
out artillery, was manifestly impossi-
bic. Finally some cunning brain de-
Vised a scheme that came near to be-
Ing successful.
Between the fort and the nearest
houses there lay on the glacis, with
out carriages and resting upon pieces
Of wood, twelve guns which the
French had not had time to take into
The fort with them. The position OF
the guns exposed them to fire from
both sides, SO it was not thought they
would be interfered with, though by
way of precaution two of the guns Of
the fortification were kept trained up
On them.
One night the sentinel heard a
noise. He fired, but the sound con-
!inued and did not Immediately cease
after other shots, though it seemed
to draw farther off. When daylight
came it was seen that, under cover of
darkness, the insurgents had reached
the nearest gun, attached rope to the
breech, and then, fastening the rope
TO a capstan In the nearest house, had
attempted to haul the piece away.
Had it been q military man who
tried the trick, he would have sue
reeded, but the peasants did not know
enough to thrust rollers under the gun
before hauling, and consequently the
breech dug q furrow into the soil
which soon became deep enough to
stop further progress.
Nevertheless. the besieged were
much irritated by the occurrence and
determined to prevent repetition Of
It. They cannonaded the house from
which the rope issued, but when the
walls fell they found that the capstan
was in the cellar and, consequently, un-
Injured, although blocked for the time
by debris. This did not content them.
Then it was that the commandant of
the fort remembered having seen
slowed away in it somewhere dozen
suits of ancient armor. He selected
twelve of his coolest men, gunners
and grenadiers, clothed them in this
armor and sent them out to spike the
guns. r
Covered with steel from head to foot
and carrying spikes and hammers, the
men marched heavily, awkwardly, out
Of the fort and moved in dead silence
toward the coveted guns, the white
smoke curling about their mailed fig
ures, and bullets pattering harmlessly
against antique helm and corselet.
Many of the peasants we're horror
struck and believed the strange fig
ures to be diabolical and invulnerable
while, after the first anxious moment
was passed, their own comrades, look
ing from the walls, broke into exul-
tant roars of laughter.
The twelve latter-day knights re-
turned safely from their raid, having
spiked the guns and cut the rope.
Though many times hit, they had but
one wound among them. slight one
received by a soldier who had wrong
ly adjusted "brassart," so that it fell
off and left his arm exposed. The in
surgents were discouraged; and,
though the blockade continued, there
was little more fighting and the be-
sieged were soon relieved by their
friends.-Harper's Weekly.