The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1915-08-12

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it was more than human men could
bear. More than once. in council, OH.
GERS, Infatuated by the yelled accusa-
tons Of cowardice in the dispatches,
had spoken in favor of giving the army
the fatal order to go into action.
The president, when he looked at the 7
generals deeply lined features, knew
that the old soldier had more to gain
from battle, however disastrous, than
from life. IF he does not interpose
between the invader and New York .
city," thought the chief magistrate, The
will live only to see his name blasted.
There will be a thousand tacticians in
future years who will assert that he
was blunderer, if not traitor"
'"The country demands a battle! I
known The soldier laid before the
president a sheaf of papers. Some
reports, sir, bearing on the matter"
The first sheet was a report from
brigade headquarters. Twenty bat
teries of 81 inch artillery moved west
| ward through New Haven last night"
| it said. "Our spy reports that these
guns appear to be of the type that is
| known to have a range of sey en- miles,
far outranging our field guns. Accom-
panIe0 Dy heavy conveys OF shrapnel
and explosive she'll"
'They are bringing up heavier guns
STILL" said the general, selecting anoth-
er report. Between New London and
Saybrook Junction fiat cars were seen
with HOP inch howitzers. which, we
presume, must be the type that throws
a 760 pound projectile. We have moth
ing near that type in our artillery to
/ oppose them. AS they have range of
1900 yards, they can be placed wher-
ever it pleases the enemy, and we
might as well lombard them with ro-
man candles as with our guns"
II tell you,' said the president, "the
country is wild! The people know that
| you have the whole of a magnificent
railroad system from here 20 New
York at your disposal. They know
that the invading armv must have
spread out tremendously to hold all
the territory that it occupies. They
cannot understand why you should not
be able to engage the force that is adj
vancing on New York"
The general walked to. the wall map.
THE enemy is thinned out, yes, he
laid his finger on the chart--"but to
meet him we must move due south 40
miles down the Hudson valley, with
the river on one side of US and the
Berkshire and Litchfield hills Of Mas
sachusetts and Connecticut on the 9TH
er. We cannot leave men behind Us
to protect that length of line and hold
open our road for US If we have to re-
treat When General Sherman march
ed to Atlanta he left 115,0O0 men be-
hind him to guard his 500 nile line
back through Chattanooga to Nash
vile. We have less than $4,000 men
in our whole army, even If we scrape
together all the very latest green ar
rivals.
1.-THE moment we leave. oul. base"
continued the commander, ''the enemy
headquarters will know 1t. They VIII
instantly begin a big shifting Of their
New England forces. They viii push
them across into New York state be-
hind us, and wen be trapped"
you think that they can concentrate
swiftly enough?" asked the secretary
OF war.
The soldier pulled a paper out Of the
pile and read: Observer at Providence
reports that hostile forces entrained
cavalry, field and heavy artillery and
ammunition columns at regular rate of
two hours for full military train. Time
for loading siege material three and a
half hours"
He tossed the papers aside When
did any Of our officers ever have to
handle 10000 menP' he asked How
many Of them ever handled as many
as 10000? Last week two regiments
were left without food for two meals
on a practice march because their
commissary failed to supply travel ra-
tons. Day before yesterday seven
boxes Of provisions were found lying
in a company street without any one
to claim them. Those were militia, but
our own officers equally lack expert
ence in handling such a big contract
as a whole army
! do you know what IL means TO see
! that an infantry division gets It's ma
ter1aI? Do you know what we've got
; to send into battle with it? 1t means
, an ammunition train OF 1876 four-mule
wagons and more than TOO mules and
horses. Then there are the other sup
, ply trains, the pack trains and the en-
) gineer trains-135 more wagons and
: 600 animals There are ninety am
balances and wagons with their ami
mails And this is without counting
the horses for the cavalry and the sig.
nal corps! tell you. Mr.. President, il
we unload that mess in the face OF ar
enemy like the one down there''-hs
pointed southeastward-'sit viii nevel
5 e,.& tso.1-