Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-03-24
ARMY OFFICERS WATCHING PRO-
cREss OF EXPEDITION WITH
MARKED INTEREST.
FLYING COLUMN KNOWN
To- BE MAKING TIME
Main Body Moving More Slowly But
With Remarkable speed-Expedition
Recalls Sons Notable Rides Made BY
Army Officers and Troopers in In.
dian and Other Wars. Il
Especial Correspondence


ing some riding in Mexico. The col
onel's column is flying light. while the
generals is trailing heavily, but both
outfits are making fast Roadway in the
face oftremendous natural difficulties.
With some thousands of men with
him General Pershing has been MAX
ing some thirty five miles a day over
sand and rocks, and thru deftles that
make wrecks" imminent. The speed
of his troops Is the speed Of the least
speedy among them. Army officers
in washington are watching the out
come OF this bandit hunt in Mexico
with deep anxiety and they are watch
ing the records Of travel made by the
troops with keen interest. Some rec
ords may he broken.
There are records in the war depart
ment OF scores of long, hard rides.
made by American troopers, but there
are no records since the civil war days
Of speed expeditions" In which 50
many men were engaged as is the case
In the Pershing advance. Taking INTO
considerations the size Of the Pershing
outfit the material that it necessarily
must carry with it, and the awful con-
dition Of the country thru which 1t
must travel, It perhaps already has
made q new mark for rapidity of ad-
vance. i 90 -
Flying Column Fast.
The movement of Pershing, however,
with his thousands of troopers is slow
as compared to the records made BY
small detachments of regulars In enc
past when they were on vital hurry-up
srrands Col Theodore A. Dodge,
cyk oAo~x Iaroa
lected the official records Of long dis
lance cavalry rides and made them
public, SO that it was possible to COM
pare them with the performance of
soldier horsemen Of other nations. The
colonel declared specifically that he
had rejected all ""hearsay rides OF
which there IN. no end" and accepted
only those proved by official reports.
He wrote book on the subject called
"Riders of Many Nations"
Some of the performances of Amer
lean cavalrymen are almost past be-
lief, but they are attested by wit
lesses and In some cases the attesta-
ton Is known to be valid because the
TOUR Of starting and the hour Of arriv-
ing were taken down and put into the
Official reports. 3f%l -
In the year41S7 when the Utes sue
ceeded in getting some United States
troops into what afterward was known
as Thornburgs rat hole" several
mounted troopers succeeded in slipping
thru the circling line of savages All
OF them reached the column of Genera.
Merritt, ITO miles distant in less than
twenty -four hours. The exact time
was not taken for as Colonel Dodge
puts 1t, rrescue was Of more impor-
lance than records. -
Some Notable Rides. -. A
Colonel Lawton.. who, when he be-
camesamajor general. was killed in the
Philippines rode in the year 1875 from
Red Cloud agency, Nebraska, to Sid
ney, in the same state "a distance Of 125
miles, III twenty-sx hours He was.
carrying dispatches 2 from General
Crook and tho the road was bad his
mount was in good condition when
Lawton, looking five years older than
\ he did the day before" handed over
his bundle OF papers to the black
beared general.
General Merritt, when he was col
onel, made 8 forced march record that
has no American parallel when the
conditions Of his journey are consid-
cred. He was ordered in the fall Of
which was surrounded by hostile In
dams. Merritt's outfit consisted of four
troops Of cavalry. but at the last mo-
ment he was ordered to add to his
forces q battalion Of tnfantry.y Tho
dough boys" were loaded into army
wagons drawn by mules, and with the
cavalry at the flanks the relief column
started. The distance which must be
made was ITO miles and this was COW;
cred in Just sixty-six hours, notwith-
standing the handicaps of the wagons
loaded with infantrymen and Of trails
that were in turns sandy and, muddy.
Troopers Made Hard Ride.
Y Four troopers Of the Fourth cavalry:
volunteers for the service, rode in the
GUNNER OF 1910 from Fort Harvey to
Fort Warner with dispatches and were
told to make the best time that they
could without killing their horses. They
made 40 miles in Twenty-Five hours.
AH Fort Warner they rested day and
returned to Fort Harvey on the same
horses at the uniform rate of sixty
miles q day. =. &l55 :, ~ Il
WI Sis3 Ii the year 1891 Capt IS. F. Fountain,
United States cavalry, with a detach-
1nent Of his troops, rode eighty four
miles in eight hours. It must be I'M :
derstood that all these rides were
made without changing horses, but OF
course it Is unnecessary to say that
there were stops by the way for the
purpose OF feeding animals and men.
and of resting up both, altho these
: |. 81 i; Il. s1.. Spells neeessasy
were short
Capt. Edmund 6. Fechet, Of the
Eighth cavalry, in December. 1890,
started at midnight to the relief Of the
Indian scouts who had been sent out
20 arrest Sitting Bull, and who, after
I: killing that chief, were besieged in q
log hut by his blowers.
Fechet took the troop OF cavalry, an
asnbuiance and q Hotchkiss gun with
him. The gun carriage broke down and
4 he was compelled to fasten the trail OF
the ptire to the tail piece Of the am
alss,san1 ~ n has drag ~ along, Not
n NTH. g & Ing this handicap he made
&orty-save nnties m sefen nours. Then
ne fought aHd dFoyeS on - :: ss.s
acouted tn Il; ii for ten miles. gave
his troopers some ibreakfast and re-
4 turned ia. the fort. He had covered
MIN Nv miles III fourt cen hours.
w rer16 Y u doing sosne fast travelling
~ = 81 ~ force undsf ~
!: ;sssEII