The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-10-01
Intimate Sketches of Sibert and
Pershing by One Who
Knows Them.
THEIR RECORDS AS FIGHTERS
Both Generals Careful Planners and
Each Has an Enviable Record for
Getting Big Results by
Hard Fighting.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.

- NtDAN - Nv AA3hA a
of the American expeditionary force
In France. there was given a study of
the temperament, characteristics.
methods and personal attributes of
Maj. Gems. John u Pershing and Will
liam l.. Sibert.
Here is one thing that was said of
the senior major general:
"Pershing is of the quick-on-the-trig-
ger style. He is of the dashing type,
nervous, always on the e like q sur
charged battery, stirring up everybody
he comes In contact with, forcing them
along at top speed"
Here Is what Is said Of the junior
major general. who commands the d.
vision in the field:
"Slbert Is q deliberate, methodical,
t~ireless worker, watching every detail.
insistent that reports of his young of
ficers be accurate, comprehensive, GOV
ering every angle-of the type that Is
persistent and sure He Is an
engineer with a training for accuracy
that figures down to t~housandths Of
an inch"
Now, in order to show that there Is
no thought on the part of the writer
that he has appraised these men too
lightly, he says this:
There are two big jobs with two
big men TO FIJI them. The dashing Per-
shing and the methodical Sibert make
a team that will be hard to beat when
their machine once starts"
American military officers from
Pershing down TO the last second lieu
tenant realize that this Is a war of
method. a methodical war In other
words, and that II is also largely an
engineering war. The picture that n
gets of Pershing from the cabled ar
ticle is just such as one carries in his
mind of Custer on the plains, his vel.
low hair streaming in the wind. a Colt
revolver in his left hand, a dazzling
saber in his right hand. charging head
long. regardless of bullets, into the
heart of a Sioux horde.
In q methodical war army men say
that this daredevil gallantry does not
win, and nobody knows 1t better than
Pershing. If the war department had
believed that Pershing was "quick on
the trigger In the sense In which that
expression usually is employed. he
would not have been sent to France.
The campaign which John j. Per-
shing led against the enemy in the
Lake Lanac district In the Philippines
was a methodical campaign. II was
conducted on strict military lines, and
there was no forcing them along at
top speed" 1t was this campaign
which promoted Pershing from a cap
taincy to a brigadier generalship. He
will not sacrifice American lives In
France by a recklessness which Is for
eign to his nature. and absolutely for
elgn to modern methods of fighting.
Now as for William l.. Sibert, I have
said what / have about Pershing from
a study of his career and from a hun
dred or more expressions Of opinion
which, concerning him, have come to
me from army men who know him well
personally.
In the recently printed. and I think
misleading, although Internationally
SO. description of Sibert's characters.
tics as q man and a soldier, he is de-
scribed as deliberate and methodical,
giving close attention to the tiny
things and In fact having a purely
and mathematically methodical mind.
Bluntly speaking. 1t makes Sibert a
student rather than a soldier.
Now for the truth Of this thing
When William l.. Sibert was a junior
officer of engineers serving In the Phil
ippines he did both engineering and
fighting work so well that II called
forth the praise Of the general com
handing, Theodore Schwan. The rec
ord Of 1t is in the war department
today. General Schwan said that this
engineer insisted on having a place
on the firing line at all times.
II was William l.. Sibert who stood
alongside of Reilly's battery, the Rel
ly who afterwards was killed at Pc
king. at the front Of a battlefield In
the Philippines, and there stood like
a rock against the furious close-rangt
nre OF the enemy. IL was oipSil WIN
under fire on this same battlefield
knelt beside the gallant Maj. Wood
bridge Geary, who fell at the first fire
and died within a few moments.
The methodical Sibert is as quick or
the trigger as any man ought to be
He is a fighter of the first rank. / dc
not think that contradiction will com
from the war department if l SHOULD
put into words something which Ions
have suspected. 1t is my belief tina,
a certain military report, a fighting
program report which in effect de
clared that there was no such thing al
the impossible where a real military
end is to be gained, a report which
II Is said was made by Sibert
caused this fine junior brigadier gen
eral % be jumped over the heads Of
eleven men to a major generalshiI
and then sent to France In command Of