The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-06-04
Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley

On this day a great English sol dier and hero, Viscount Wolseley, much better known to old timers as Sir Garnet Wolseley, was born. AL though essentially a soldier, Woise- ley was diplomat of no mean abll- ity and an author as we'll During his 4S years of active military duty, he saw service in America, China, Africa, Turkey and India. He be-
 came noted as a commander for do- ing a great many difficult though
 rather minor things excellently and
 in a manner to indicate that had
 great emergency arisen he would
 have been equal to it. At the time
 of his retirement from active com mand of the army, in 1900, 1t was said of him that he is man whose breast is covered with medals and whose body is covered with wounds Lord Wolseley was the son of Ma i jor Garnet Joseph Wolseley, dis tinguished English army ofh- cer. Both father and son were mu- l tually attracted by things military
 and young Wolseley entered the
 army as an ensign in 1852. His pro- | motion to a captaincy in 1855 was | almost without precedent in times of i peace. It was accomplished only by i a display of exceptional military abil- l ity. This was further exemplified when he was promoted within an
 amazingly short space of time to Ma 1 jor and then Colonel.
 | While still a junior officer he had 1 some real campaigning in Burma in l 1852. As a result of this fighting, | he brought away a serious wound and
 d very incap pacitating form of fever. The Indian mutiny found him win i ming his prom otion to a captaincy. He 1 was sent to Lucknow in charge of a | battalion. There was the usual trou- | ble on the line of march. The two | chief thornS in the side of the troops
 were known as '"The Mess House" and
 ''The Mott Mahal.'' Lord Glide se- 1 1ected Wolseiey to feel out the 1 strength of the defenses and then l return and report. Instead the
 young captain hurled his men di- 1 rectly upon the stronghold in a head | on assault. Under his impetuous | leadership his troops took the place 1 and then effected a junction with i the command from which he had l been separated-this command having | laid siege to the Mess House" from | another direction.
 After this exploit Lord Glide com plimented him and recommended his imm ediate promotion. Suhse- quently he became a major of infan- | try when he was only 25 years of
 age.
 1 Talk of the achievements of the | brilliant young officer reached the 1 ears of Sir Hope Grant just given l command of the army mobilized for | the China campaign. As result
 Grant sent for Wo1se1ey and invited l him to take a position on his staff As a Lieutenant Colonel Wo1seley | went into the campaign and his ser i vices aided Grant so effectively that l the youthful staff officer won recog- hilton as the man behind Esngland's $ l success in one of her most decisive | minor wars. At the end of the war
 he wrote his first book "A History | of the Chinese War;
 The American Civil War aroused | his interest and he made a close | study of it. After it's close he wrote | book on it in which he featured l Robert E. Lee.
 Canada saw Wolseleys next military | exploits. He was appointed by the | government to handle the problem 1 presented in the Colony and gained
 much renown in America by his Red
 River campaign of 1870. Confronted by wilderness in which to do his l fighting he successfully overcame the | many difficulties offered by revolu. | tlonizing army tactics and adaptins | them to the task before him. This i was Wolseley's first campaign as 2
 full-fledged army comma nder and ht