Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-23

Of Enfield; that he was S feet 9 inches in
height, dark complexioned and had gray eyes,
This and that the. service of the swarthy
gray-eyed young carpenter 30 distinguished him
from his fellow patriots to win from Gen.
Washington the Badge Of Military Merit
THERE are bronze tablets on houses and trees
at Yorktown marking the bright points
0f that great battle but no arrow tells where
young sergeant under Alexander Hamilton
20 served his country as to be singled out for
the highest of military distinctions Even the
local legends have passed him by and vet in
the musty records of the nation we find that
during the Battle Of Yorktown, on the evening
OF the l4th Of October, 1881. Sergt. Daniel
Brown was ordered TO take detachment Of
men and precede the main attack upon the
British lines. Like the shock troops of the late
war, he was to draw and sustain the first brunt
Of the enemy's fire and drive into their lines
as far IS he might without waiting for sappers
to cut through the barricades and distractions
that those who were to follow might find the
going more easy. Gen. Creation and his board
Of officers found:
That Sergt. Brown of the late 5th Connecti-
cut Regiment in the assault Of the enemy,s
left redoubt at Yorktown, in Virginia, on The
evening of the 14th Of October, 1891 conducted
forlorn hope with great bravery, propriety
and deliberate frmneSs and that his general
character appears unexceptionable
SO much and no more for Sergt Daniel
Brown. He appears to have shared in that
great virtue of the Revolution, "firmneSs," but
even in that he was O little different, for his
"hrmness" was worthy to be qualified as "delib-
crate" What must have been a glorious, o
breath-taking adventure is hidden in these few
cryptic words. We are left to conjecture that
the force held in readiness to follow him
walked calmly into the position they had ex-
pected to win only with great loss of life.
Gould there but have been some one to tell us
n0Y1a Tani
Quoted" There Is romance in the phrase "for-
lorn hope" but there is also unforgivable
reticence.
Could there have been some cotemporary to
have told fully the stories Of these men or
could the book Of merit" with its complete
list Of those who won this decoration be dis
covered even at this late day, we would have
important names to add to the list of the
country's patriots. The fun muster roll of those
of the Purple Heart would make legion Of
the true and the brave In which America might
well take pride But failing the fun story the
names of Elijah Churchill. Daniel Bissel and
Daniel Brown deserve to be revered and re-
membered in company with such men as
Nathan Hale and Ethan Allen.
Yet despite these stories the most significant
aspect OF the Badge Of Military Merit is the
picture of Washington stopping in course Of
the days business. thinking back over seven
years Of war filled with heartbreak, discourage
ment and disillusion and far too few victories.
He must have thought OF Arnold, friend and
trusted officer and traitor; Of the dificulty of
enlisting recruits, Of the times when only
promises Of land grants could bribe men to
tight. We glimpse something Of the pro-
found pride and the tender affection Washing
tom cherished for those men in whom the war
had discovered unknown greatness; men like
Churchill, Bissel Brown, Hale. From such men
as these he had drawn the courage and the
faith which had given him strength even in
the darkest years Of the war. And so as q
tribute to that courage and faith he fashioned
1.-THE figure Of q heart in purple cloth, or silk,
edged with narrow lace or binding" and he
dictated that:
1.-THE road to glory in . patriotic army and q
free country is thus open to all"