AMERICA'S FOREMOST SOLDIER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3144, 24 July 1917, Page 9

AMERICA'S FOREMOST SOLDIER

MAJOR-GENERAL WOOD VETERAN OF THE INDIAN AND SPANISH WARS o>y J.-.i;;.- I'. Jliircossoii, in the "Daily Mail.") [llr. ilarcosson, Iko distinguished American, journalist, is peculiarly equipped lo write of General Wood for the reason that just before leaving NonYork ho completed a biography of th« distinguished; American soldier. Ho has also been associated with General AVood ill the great American preparedness move. uient.l . Major-General Leonard AVood ia America's, .foremost lighting man,, with a self-made career as romantic as that of any of tho great captains of capital. He is not even a graduate of West Point, tho American Sandhurst, for lie worked his ivay-up from obscurity to eminence. He is tho Yankee prototype of your gallant. General Sir William Eoberteon. Leonard AVood is the son of a Now England country doctor and a lineal de. scendaiji; o f the first vhito child born after the landing of tho. Jlayflower. He always loved tho open, and was intended f<tt tiie Navy. Ho graduated in medicine, .However, from Harvard University, and after practising a year in Boston, passed an examination for what, is known as a contract surgeon in the United States Army. This jneans that he had to serve without a commission until, a vacancy Occurred in tho Medical Corps. About ■that time—it was the middle, of the, 'eightios— tho South-AVesteni American border was alive with hostile. Apache Indians under tho conimaud-of Geronimo, a notorious chief. They had institued a reign of terror that extended into Mexico. AVood. was sent out to join Captain H-. AY. Lawtqn, who had been ordered to capture Geronimo "dead or alive," With a picked command , of- forty- seasoned cavalrymen they began a pursuit- thai; lasted intermittently'for nearly- two years, and which extended over rough, wild country abounding in deserts and difficult mountain passes. Food' had to lie carried by niulo pack-train; econtiiiK parties wore forced to livo for weeks on. what gamo they could shoot. 'Xlio net result was thai" Geronimo. was brought back captive with tho then lioutcnant AA r ood riding.alongside his pony..'.'. Rebuilcler of Cuba. ■ ■ ' ■ After three or four mor'o years of Indian campaigning in tho west, Wood was assigned to Washington,'- wlrero ho became White Houfio surgeon, fust t<> President Cleveland and then to his successor, William M Kinloy. Hero ho met Theodore Boosevclt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy. They were both Ifnrvard raon, both hardy' athletes, and they became bosom friends. Washington lifo irked AVood so much that he decided 11> quit, the Army and txy sheop-ranc.hingiii tho AA'cft. Ho had written out his resignation when tho .battleship Maine e blown up in Havana Harbour,'and Uμ Unit, cd Rtatfw declared- war Hgainsl;' Spain. For tivo men now conspicuous in American public lifo -this war meant much, because it started .Uoosovelt on the road io the Presidency and it put AVood into the gallery of'military fame.

Unprepared America flew to arms. Amid all-lho confusion of raising a. volunteer army one - cnncrolp exam pin of swift and efficient order stood out —Ilic organisation of tho Hough Jiidcrs—a cavalry regiment with AVood as colonel and Tiooscvelt as licirtonunt-coloncl. It whs tho most; picturcsixuo ooinmnnd that ever fought under the American flag, for it included millionaire bankers, college profejsors, "roir-pimchers," and soldiers i>f fortune generally. They were. r part of (he. first oxpeditionnry force to Cuba. Wood led his men in Ihe Las Gunsimas and fcliin Juan fights. For noteworthy gallantry ho was promoted to bo briga-dier-general in tho field. When Santiago surrendered he became Military Governor of tho district.

1. ran give you no butter illustration nf General Wood's many-sidedness I linn In toll what hfl did in Cuba. After tho siege Santiago was a pest-hole recking with disease; the dei'id and dying wore everywhere. Wood niacin it clean and sanitary; lio used the disinfectant instead of Iho sword. But hp was strong when occasion required. He walked about accompanied by ono aide-de-camp. Onc« his oflicD in an old casino was stormed by angry .Spaniards. Hβ rushed k> the door armed only with a riding crop, liaising it above his head be shouted in excellent Spanish, "I will kill the first man who ;ipproaches." Tho crowd dispersed. Wood built streets and sewers, set'iip schools anil hospitals, established a fiscal and transportation system. His most distinguished work, however, related to yellow fever, long tho bane of Cuba. He instigated and encouraged the historic researches of Dr. Tieed—an nrmy surgeon—which proved for tho first time that the dread disease was carried by mosquitoes. It enabled him to wipe out tho plague. Subsequently" Wood was made Governor-General of Cuba, and he achieved for the wholo island what he had accomplished on n smaller 6calc at Santiago. At forty lie was a ninjor-gcii-crnl. Profit of Preparedness. Meanwhile Roosevelt had become President. Wood wanted active service, so he was sent to tlie Philippines to become Governor of the province of Mindanao, where he duplicated his constructive Cuban work, but with a different material. Instead of cunning Cubans, 'he had to deal with fierce and bloodthirsty Moros—fanatics like Ihe Dervishes that Kitchener fought in Egypt. Many of them were cannibals and head-lmnters. Ho was in the field for two years, but he broke the rule of the barbarian, instituted law and order, and made the country peaceful and prosperous. His last post in tho Philippines was as commander of our whole Far Eastern military department, when lie reorganised the whole system of coast defences and brought the native army to a higher state of perfection. General Wood returned to the United States to become Chief of Staff. Ho now launched his great campaign for preparedness which makes him full brother to the lamented TJarl Roberts. They bad a kindred experience, for Wood eloquently preached National Service, and his creed, at the start, had scant hearing—even abuse. But like the intrepid "Bobs" ho stuck- to the task. Under liis direction the first extensive summer aniiv manoeuvres were held in America.' lie brigaded the Militia with Regular troops and brought about a considerable efficiency among the Territorials. Hβ ie the father of the so-called Pliittsbnrgh movement which led to tho establishment of citizen training camps every summer throughout the United States to train ;\ reserve force of officers. He «!?o created the. plan for student training camps, in which boys between 13 and 17 get military instruction under the direction of Regular officers during .their holidays. For tho past two years General Wood has been Commander ot , the Department of the East, with headquarters at Governor's Island, New York City. This is the prize post of the American Home Service, and it 'has supervision, among other tilings, of tho fortifications of New York Harbour.