New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-08

To the Editor of The Tribune
Sir: In my letter of yesterday took coca
sion to comply with the request Of IN. c." for
more facts" concerning American military
history, and selected the Battle of Bladens-
burg and the subsequent raid on Washington
as an example of the inevitable fate of I'M
trained troops.
By way OF contrast and to give an example
from history of the feats of arms OF trained
American troops, may | call attention to one
of the few bright spots in our land campaigns
of the War of 1912? shall quote word for
word Ingersolls account of the Battle of
Lundy's Lane.
Lundy's Lane was fought only a month
previous to the catastrophe of Bladensburg
The desperate vaor of SCOTS well-drillei
brigade at Lundy's Lane, where General
Brown made a gallant stand against formida-
bic odds and won a temporary success, at
least, shows the inestimable value Of that
training and organization which we need in
1915 on a much larger scale than we have
"All that remained of the First Brigade
after that terrible conflict" says Ingersoll,
did not exceed 300 men-the Ninth, Eleventh
and Twenty regiments, consolidated
under Major Leavenworth, not altogether 100
Many of the cartridges with which the
Americans fired when attacked on the hill
were taken from the cartridge boxes Of the
English lying dead around them. Men and
officers, after five hours constant fighting,
were completely exhausted and many almost
fainting with thirst. There was no water
nearer than the Chippewa.
Before they marched, however, from the
mill. the wounded were carefully removed, and
the return to the camp behind the Chippewa
was made slowly in perfect order, entirely
urdsturbed by the enemy. Seventy-siX Off
GERS were killed or wounded and 500 rank
and file, of whom the First Brigade lost
thirty-eight officers and 468 rank and file.
Jhe commander of the brigade and every
regimental officer was wounded. Every officer
81 the brigade and regimental staff was
killed or wounded. General Scott and Major
Jessup had each two horses shot under them;
Jessup was wounded four times severely;
Scott has never entirely recovered from the
wound in the shoulder; Brady, LeavenwOrth
and Mcneil had each a horse shot under him.
No battle in America, before or since, was
ever so severely contested or attended with
such casualties in proportion to numbers"
| quote this TO prove fact we'll known to
students OF our military history, namely,
that American trained troops have always
given splendid account of themselves,
although space forbids my mentioning a hum
cred other examples necessary to make this
proof complete. II is fair, however, to com
pare Lundy's Lane with Bladensburg, because
these two battles occurred within month of
each other IN the same war.
At Bladensburg 6,401 Americans, morgan
lied and unframed as a whole, were routed
bv less than 1900 trained British troops. At
Lundy's Lane The force of 1900 Americans
H. action, composed largely of regulars who
had seen service in the field. fought drawn
battle against 5000 British and Indians the
Indians numbering 500
II should be remembered. also, that our
military policy in 1912, which did not differ
materially from our policy in any other Of
cur wars, prevented us from invading Canada
successfully, though we had, during the first
two years of the war, most excellent oppor-
tunity to wage an offensive war across our
northern borders. During 1912, 1873 and
until August, 1914, the total number of Brit
sh regulars in Canada did not reach $500.
Six months before the declaration of war
Congress had increased the number Of our
regulars, on paper, to $4,000 men. When war
was declared our total number of regulars
was 6,7l4. How does that speak for our mill
tary policy? As we were powerless to take
advantage Of the enemy's military weakness
a weakness, be il remembered. caused by Ma
poleon Bonaparte military legislation had
to take the place of military action.
When we remember the desperate valor OF
our regulars at Lundy's Lane. should we for
get that this battle was fought two years
after the War of 1912 began; that during
these two years our national military organi-