The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-09-11

John Walker Harrington. in the
New York Sun Indian stealth is
doing much to win this war. Because
he calls il infltrafion does not alter
the met that the American army and
the world at large owe much 10 the
strategy which our forebears alb
sorbed from the aboriginal inhabi-
taats Of this continent. When We
read Of 3 group Of United States sol
diers crawling up on nest Of Ger
man machine guns and suddenly
sweeping down upon the busy boche.
we may well consider that from the
forests of the new WORLD TO Belleau
wood is no very far CRY.
Savage nations. SC called, are
adopts in all the arts OF ambush, but
the kind Of military art which makes
brains take the place OF Drawn and
gives the fighter the best chance TO
take as much life as he can before he
loses his Owl can hardly be called
mere savagery. The highly cultivated
Arabs who taught European fighting
men of the crusades SO much that We
low hail as common knowledge, were
masters of the wiles OF war, although
classified as inhdels and barbarians.
Our Own Indians when the white men
reached these shores had attained
degree of civilization which made
them comparable with the archaic
Greeks, and as able warriors as the
followers Of Achilles. In many arts
they had reached q high perfection,
but IN war, the ART of arts, they dis
played 81 intelligence that made the
European methods of the settlers
men seem ike stupid
schemes 10 court useless death II
the cclonists had not learned ~infl-
ration" the white population Of this
country would have abandoned its
hard won plantations.
War, like civil life, is liable to
ruls. The element of surprise joys
the wheels of the military machine
out of the grooves of the road.
Miles Stand.sh, the captain of Ply
mouth. and the grim soldiers like
Johc Smith, who commanded at
Jamestown in Virginia, relied on the
use Of firearms and Caesars Com
nentaries" TO hold off the Indians.
Until the redmen got thunder reeds
Of their own they were at some dis
advantage in open fight, but in the
line art of the surprise they were
able TO make flaming arrows good
for trade guns.
Braddock's defeat in western Penn
5yivauia was due to his disregarding
the advice Of young Virginia militia
officer. George Washington. who had
the technique of Indian war
are Here stood the redcoats in con-
spicuous. scarlet panoply, formed into
. perfect hollow square and yolIeying
II nothing in particular, as far as
hey knew. General Braddock, the
British commander. considered it un-
manly and barbaric to fight in the /
! boriginal way. and his forces became
he victims Of inf1ltration. The In !
Hans, who were camofeurs before l
his picturesque and oyerworked /
name was invented, merged with the /
rees and bushes and picked of the /
rained British soldiery with ease.
At the outbreak of the American
evolution and for many years there /
after the military art of Europe was
Inder the influence of Prussianism |
Heavy battalions were brought up TO i
shoot at each other point blank The |
;heltering Of troops behind bales of /
lotion at New Orleans, from which !
,oint Of vantage they could pick off
he flower Of the foe. was regarded