The sun., 1916-10-29

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successor received another from the
public store. Nc captain kept q book.
Accounts were never furnished or re-
quired. As our army is. thank God.
little subject % desertion. I venture
to say thai during an entire campaign
there have not been twenty muskets
lost since my system came into
force. |
with regard to their military dis
cipline. ! a safely say no such thing
existed. In the first place there was
no regular formation. A so-called regi-
ment was formed of three p%latoons,
another OF Ave. eight and nine. and the
Canadian regiment OF twenty-one. The
formation OF the regiments was a.
varied as their mode Of drill. which
only consisted Of the manual exer-
else"
That this lack Of proper discipline.
caused by rapid change OF recruits and
the election OF officers by their "
men, occasionally ran to excuses Is
! not to be denied. In 1871 Washington
wrote to Gov. Livingston:
"Their officers are generally OF the
lowest class Of the people; and, In.
stead Of setting a good example to
their men are leading them into every
kind OF mischief, one species OF when
lis plundering the inhabitants under
the pretcnce OF their being Tories. A
flaw should, In my opinion. be passed
to put a stop TO this kind OF lawless
rapine for unless there Is something
! done to prevent It the people VIII
throw themselves If choice. into the
hands OF the British troops. But your
object should be n well regulated MILF
tia law. The people. put under GOOD
officers, would behave in quite another
manner and not only render real SER
vice as soldiers but would protect In
stead OF distressing the inhabitants
one cause for great disorder was the
system OF Selling specific supplies IN
critical periods OF the war. without
which the army would have gone to
pieces for lack OF food. Certificates
we're given for these supplies. but It
was more than ten years before they
were cashed. 1t is this seizure OF
supplies in the immediate neighbor-
hood OF the field OF war. a system
probably practised by every army IN
1.-THE field in Europe to-day. which
gives color to the charge that the
American army looted right and LETT.
As for outrages on the civil popula-
ton. for the most part the American
armies were in a friendly country IN
all their campaigns: n the tempta-
ton to robbery or brutality was small.
The cases that occurred were contrary
Ia orders. and subjected the guilty
man to penalties such as are recorded
by Surgeon James Thatcher. VINO
wrote in 1850:
Death has been inflicted in a rev
Instances OF an atrocious nature. u
in general, the punishment consists
In a public whipping. and the humble
Of stripes is proportional to the de-
gree OF offence. In aggravated cases.
and with old offenders. The culprit 10
sentenced to receive ono hundred
lashes, or more. In some instances
OF incorrlgible villains. II Is adtudged
by the court that the culprit receive
his punishment at several different
times, n certain number OF stripes
repeated at intervals OF two or three
days, in which case the wounds are
in a state Of Inflammation and the
skin rendered more sensibly tender;
and the terror Of the punishment Is
greatly aggravated. Another mode OF
punishment is that of running the
gauntlet"
This testimony brings out one of the
many startling differences between
Gen. Villa and Gen. Washington. One
orders his men to rob and murder: the
other, by the stcrnest orders n the
severest punishments, recalled the
hayward and the undisciplined to their
duty to their army and their people.
Another cogcnt difference is that mu-
t~ilation, torture, rapine, violence TO
women and murder OF non-combatants
are the breath OF life to villa and his
crew. and were almost unknown In
the annals of tho Revolutionary army.
; Mrs. Esther Reed, who founded what
we should now call a Red Cross society
, for the soldiers, was not aware OF any
. OF these outrages which either hor-
rify or amuse Secretary Baker. Nine.
' Riodcsel, wife Of II commander Of Ger
: man mercenaries and captured with
him at Saratoga. records tho consid-
GRAFTON with which she was received
by Gen. Schuyler; and In all her ex-
I periences in Cambridge n afterward
. at Charlottesville. Va, discovered nc
!, Villas In the American army.
Posterity knows the American mill.
= tary leaders, Washington, Putnam,
4 a score of others, who were both brave
< and merciful. Even the traitor and
embexzler, Arnold. was a gentleman In
the field. The glimpses that We have