Produced by Annie McGuire
[Illustration: HARPER'S
ROUND TABLE]
Copyright, 1895, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved.
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PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1895. FIVE CENTS A COPY.
VOL. XVI.--NO. 810. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.
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[Illustration]
HEROES OF AMERICA.
"MAD ANTHONY" WAYNE AT STONY POINT.
BY THE HONORABLE THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
[Illustration: Decorative O]
ne of the heroic figures of the Revolution was Anthony Wayne,
Major-General of the Continental line. With the exception of Washington,
and perhaps Greene, he was the best General the Americans developed in
the contest; and, without exception, he showed himself to be the hardest
fighter produced on either side. He belongs, as regards this latter
characteristic, with the men like Winfield Scott, Phil Kearny, Hancock,
and Forrest, who revelled in the danger and the actual shock of arms.
Indeed, his eager love of battle and splendid disregard of peril have
made many writers forget his really great qualities as a General.
Soldiers are always prompt to recognize the prime virtue of physical
courage, and Wayne's followers christened their daring commander "Mad
Anthony," in loving allusion to his reckless bravery. It is perfectly
true that Wayne had this courage, and that he was a born fighter;
otherwise he never would have been a great commander. A man who lacks
the fondness for fighting, the eager desire to punish his adversary, and
the willingness to suffer punishment in return may be a great organizer,
like McClellan, but can never become a great General or win great
victories. There are, however, plenty of men who, though they possess
these fine, manly traits, lack the head to command an army; but Wayne
had not only the heart and the hand but the head likewise. No man could
dare as greatly as he did without incurring the risk of an occasional
check; but he was an able and bold tactician, a vigilant and cautious
leader, well fitted to bear the terrible burden of responsibility which
rests upon a commander-in-chief.
Of course at times he had to learn some rather severe lessons. Quite
early in his career, just after the battle of the Brandywine, when he
was set to watch the enemy, he was surprised at night by the British
General Grey, who attacked him with the bayonet, killed a number of his
men, and forced him to fall back some distance from the field of
action. This mortifying experience had no effect whatever on Wayne's
courage or self-reliance, but it did give him a valuable lesson in
caution. He showed what he had learned by the skill with which, many
years later, in 1794, he conducted the famous campaign in which he
overthrew the Northwestern Indians at the fight of the Fallen Timbers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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