The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1915-08-12
By JULIUS w. MULLER
Copyright, 1915. by ]. W. Muller.
All rights reserved.

Am sending field guns forward. EaaIl
have passage clear In an hour"
Use ample force" answered the
commander These Americana he
said to his aid ''They aren't to be
underesttmated A little more prep
aration"-
And we wouldn't be herer' laughed
the aid.
Thirty minutes afterward, from
points wholly invisible to the Amert-
cans, there burst the SCATTERING thun-
der Of field artillery. Explosive shells
few over and into the trenches.
Shrapnel screamed at them and burst
like sentient things right in their
faces to drive rafting bullets in all d.
rections.
At Rocky Hill a militia company OF
artillery tried to move its gun into
better shelter. The pillow horses that
had been seized to drag 1t, wild with
terror, became entangled In the traces
! and fell. Cutting them away, the men
wheeled the cannon into position by
| hand. But their armory never had
been fitted for subcaliber practice, as
| it never had been fitted for mounted
| instruction. None Of the men had been
/ qualified as first class or even as sec
ond class gunners. They fred, and
their shots went wild, serving only to
| betray their situation to the enemy.
| They did not know how TO place them
selves for protection from indirect fire.
So they died.
| A troop of militia cavalry, trying to
move forward near Hartford, was cut
of by an advance patrol Of enemy cav
airy that had crossed the river to out
flank the defenders from the north.
| The Americans charged, but they were
mounted on horses never used before
for cavalry work. The enemy riders
were men trained to workmanship.
The American troop had averaged only
thirteen men In mounted drill in
whole year because they had possessed
neither horses nor armory.
The green brutes reared at the sight
Of weapons. They pitched into each
other as the enemy cavalry dashed at
them and added their iron hoofs to the
melee. For one brief moment eyes
stared into eyes, and 1t was hack and
thrust Then the enemy riders were
through them and whirled like gale
and swept through them again and
killed and killed.
"Annihilated," reported the scout cav.
airy a little later when its squadrons
came up. Our loss, one dead, three
slightly wounded"
Annihilated! Yes, gentlemen Of con-.
gress, sitting In Washington at mat
moment and passing resolutions and
appropriations and uttering fine senti-
ments about millions for defense and
not one cent for tribute. there were
ugly things there or, the Connecticut
shore that answered you more loudly
in their eternal silence than If they
had spoken with a thousand angry
tongues.
Less than thousand men, it was
said aftePward, escaped from the mas
sacre. They crawled away down gull
lies or swan down the river and hid
under weeds and painted and tied up
their wounds with rags from their rag
ged garments.
1--WE have taught them their lessong'
said the hostile commander. I'VE shall
have no more trouble"
When the news of the battle Of Con-
necticut went through the United
States there was a temporary end to
all patience, to all calculations OF pru-
dence. There was an end to every
thing except blind passion. The Unit
ed States was not patient nation, but
no nation, however patient, could have
remained so at such time.
Trusted leaders pointed In vain to
the history Of the United States to
prove that whenever its raw forces had
hurried into battle In obedience to
popular demand the result had been
only to hurry disaster. In vain they
pointed to the civil war and the hid
eous death tolls paid by both sides
) without military advantage to either.
No administration, however determin-
ed, could have ignored it Secretly, a
special train was made ready In Wash
ington. Secretly, In the night, tho pres
ident Of the United States, with bis
advisers and stan, boarded It and were
taken northward.
At Jefferson Junction an armored
train with machine gums and a three
inch rifle slid in ahead Of them from
siding where IL had been waiting. Ar
: oncer entered the presidents train and
requested that all shades be kept down
Thus, furtively, the nations ruler en-
5 tered Albany.
q Army headquarters had been tar
get like the White House, for mes
sages that had shaken those 10 WHOM
they were addressed. More than onc'
2 the commanding general had felt tia