FAMOUS
AMERICANS
EULOGIZE LAWTON
REPUBLIC
SPECIAL.
Washington, Dee. 19.-- It is expected that Brigadier General S. M. B.
Young, the senior Brigadier in the First Division, which was commanded by
General Lawton, will succeed to the command of the division and be
promoted to the grade of Major General.
General
Lawton was aided in the Philippines by a staff which he himself selected
for their personal energy and fearlessnes. Lieutenant Colonel Edwards, his
Adjutant General, probably will be designated to accompany Mrs. I.awton
and her children to this country when the body of the dead soldier is sent
home.
Another
valued member of General Lawton's command was Major Howard, the
Quartermaster, who was recently killed on the Pampanga River, north of
Manila. Captain Edward F. King, formerly known as Eddie King, of West
Point football fame, died in August. Colonel J. D. Miley of Santiago fame,
also accompanied General Lawton to Manila.
Mrs.
Lawton, during the dangerous and trying days of the invasion by Lawton's
division, was the mainstay of the little coterie of army women in Manila.
She was constantly in the hospitals, tending the sick and wounded, and
aided any project suggested for the relief of the suffering and disabled
soldiers. Mrs. Lawton has four children -- one son and three daughters.
The boy, Manley is 13. He has seen much service in the Philippines, and
very probably was on the firing line with his father at San Mateo, when
General Lawton was shot. The girls, Francis, Katherine and Louise, are all
under 10 years of age.
"The
army has lost one of its bravest and most capable men," is the
consensus of opinion in Washington to-night. An army officer, who knew him
and his abilities thoroughly, said of General Lawton tonight:
"He
was the field marshal of the American army, the fighting General, capable
at once of planning and executing his plans."
General
Lawton has shown his ability to fight every sort of battle under every
condition whether from pursuing Geronimo with a handful of men and fighting
Filipinos inch by inch with a corporal's guard, to the magnificent marches
and strategy of the approach to el Caney and the desperate struggles along
the Zapote River in the Philippines. Lawton was tire type of the fighting
Anglo-Saxon -- tireless and full of energy and aggression.
Never
Tired or Discouraged.
Of
him personally, his officers have remarked that he never seemed tired,
hungry or discouraged under any circumstances. His qualities were never
displayed to better advantages than during that night march from el Caney
to San Juan on the night of .July 1. 1898. After having fought all
day he marched his troops eight hours from El Caney to the San Juan ford
and placed them in position on San Juan Hill, covering the exposed right
flank of Shafter's army. For two days and nights he did not sleep and
refused absolutely to eat. His only nourishment was aft occasional sip of
rum and water.
In
the Philippines, General Lawton has frequently marched day and night without
stopping for rest. He chased Aguinaldo, indeed, until his men were
barefooted. The Filipinos learned to fear him as they did no other
American General. They called him "The General who never slept."
Personally
Lawton was the very type of a fighter. He was six feet three inches tall,
slender and graceful, strong and erect, and bronzed from thirty years of
campaign life.
His
death is regarded as a personal loss by all who knew him.
"I
knew him and loved him," said Admiral Dewey. "He was the bravest
of the brave."
"I
have heard with inexpressible sorrow of General Lawton's death," said
Mr. Charles Denby of the Philippine Commission. "He died like a
soldier. Lawton was a resident of Indiana, and I know how deeply Indiana
will grieve for her most distinguished son.
"I
knew General Lawton well in the Philippines. I vainly
reasoned with him as to his constant personal exposure in battle. At
Zapote Bridge he did as he always did, stood in the most exposed place
that could be found, at one end of the bridge, two insurgent guns
being stationed at the other end, at a measured distance from Lawton of
thirty-four yards. We had a gun on our end of the bridge. He stood there
exposed to the fire of the artillery and of the sharpshooters and of the
infantry of the enemy. Wheaton stood beside him.
"The
Filipinos had gone to church the night before and had registered an oath
that no American should ever cross the bridge.
"Our
men loaded their guns into a boat and pushed it across the river. swimming
behind, and charged the enemy on the the flank, driving them from their
trenches. At the same time, Lawton crossed the bridge, shouting
instructions to his men as he went. This was only one example of the
personal heroism which he displayed every day. General Lawton was an ideal
soldier, as careful and prudent of everybody but himself as he was
brave."
An
Indomitable Leader
Brigadier
General Joseph C. Breckenridge paid a glowing tribute to the memory of the
dead soldier.
"No
army," he said, "ever had a more reliable or indomitable
officer. Obstacles that would have thwarted anyone else would scarcely
check him, but were overridden sith such ease that those who heard of the
event afterwards could hardly appreciate the difficulties overcome in such
a masterly manner. His insight into any problem, but especially a military
one, and his clear perception of things, seemed almost phenomenal.
'Having
begun in the ranks in the three months service in the Civil War, he served
in both the company and regimental grades, coming out of that struggle as
a regimental commander. He began again as a Second Lieutenant in the
regular service, and had special experience both in the infantry and
cavalry branches, and was looked upon as probably one of the most superior
of the successful Quartermasters in those large Indian campaigns which
occurred after the Civil War.
"When
lie left the office here he was assigned to Santa Fe. The Utes were on the
point of an outbreak when General Lawton was ordered to the mountains, and
when caught in a snowstorm, so that progress seemed impossible, he
abandoned his sleigh and rode barebacked through a blizzard that few could
endure, reaching the Indians and terminating the emeute.
"His
pursuit of Geronimo gave him great fame, and his conduct throughout the Spanish
war and the Philippine insurrection has made his name familiar to all his
fellow-countrymen. But those appreciate him best who have known him
through all the vicissitudes of service which in each of its phases was
performed so well. I believe that those who are familiar with his private
life will feel all the more sympathetically disposed toward his bereaved
wife and children because they know what a colossal character has been
removed from our midst."
Major
General Miles, commanding the army said:
"General
Lawton's death is a great loss to the army and the country. He has done
the principal fighting in the Philippines He was a man of great energy and
absolutely without fear He was a fine type of the soldier and officer,
and, moreover, a very kindhearted gentleman. He could suffer
injustice, but I never knew him to do an unjust act to any one."
Professor
Worcester of the Philippine Commission said:
"It
was my great good fortune to be thrown into intimate personal association
with General Lawton during my recent sojourn in the Philippines, and I
learned not only to admire him as an ideal soldier but to love him as a
man and friend.
"He
was always ready for any duty The quickness and accuracy with which he
grasped every new situation and formed his plan, for meeting it. and the
energy and skill with which those plans were carried out, combined with
his splendid bravery to make him a matchless leader of men.
"He
brought law and order and quiet to every city and town taken by his
columns. When the splendid services which General Lawton has
rendered in this, his last campaign, are fully known, and not until then,
will the country begin to realize the loss it has sustained. He met
a soldiers' death, but his name and his work will live.
GENERAL
KING'S EULOGY.
Milwaukee,
Wis., Dec. 19.-- General Charles King, who commanded a brigade in General
Lawton's division up to June last, in the war against the Filipinos, was
much depressed on hearing of the death of his former commander.
General King paid a warm tribute to the dead General in the following
words:
"The
death of General Lawton is a calamity. yet one that I have been in dread
of ever since he took command of our division last March. In point of
dash, energy and endurance, he was our best. His one fault lay in the utter
contempt for danger. We could not prevail upon him to use cover, or shelter
of any kind. He was perpetually running into every kind of danger,
exposing himself to death or capture. He wanted to see everything for
himself and would stalk out in front of the lines, the most prominent
figure on the field. We loved him -- we always have, ever since the old
cavalry days when he was the hardiest and most daring of all the band of
young officers that won distinction under Crook, Miles and Merritt. He was
MacKenzie's right bower, and his later work in the Philippines was
incomparable. As friend and comrade he was as lovable as he was great and
heroic as soldier."
MONUMENT
TO DE ERECTED.
Indianapolis,
Ind., Dec,. 19.-- Tbe Commercial Club was holding a meeting in its rooms
this morning, when news of the death in the Philippines of Major General
Lawton was received by the President, Captain W. E. English, who served
with General Lawton during the Spanish-American war, immediately offered a
resolution to the effect that, as General Lawton was one of Indiana's most
distinguished sons, his gallant services to the country should be
fittingly recognized by the State in an heroic-sized statue to be placed
in Monument Circle. The resolution, which is as follows, was unanimously
adopted:
"The
board deplores the death of the gallant Indiana soldier, General Lawton,
and recommends that a bronze statue of General Lawton be erected by the
State of Indiana on Monument Place, as a representative of the State for
the Spanish-American war period."
From
the St. Louis Republic, December 20, 1899
