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Show AMERICAN DRAM IMS NO SECTION (By Edward B. Clark.) The first of Uncle Sam's sailor boys to bo killed in this war while actually serving on a man-of-war was Osmond K, Ingram, a native of Alabama, an entrant into tho service from that state. Some one seml-jocosely has said that is an Alabama war. It simply has happened that three, high ranking officers of the United States army are from the stato of Ala. bama. One of them is Maj. Gen. William Wil-liam C. Gorgas, who is tho surgeon general of the United States armies; the second is Maj. Gen. William L. Sibert, commanding Uncle Sam's first division in the field in Franco, and the third in Maj. Gen. Frank Mclntyre, acting at present as chief military censor for the government with the promise soon of active field service in France. General Mclntyro is also chief of the bureau of insular affairs. Every part of the Union is finely represented in tho armed forces of tho United States. The same spirit ani-mates ani-mates officers from whatever part of tho country they come. It haa been an accident of the service more than anything any-thing else, probably, which has given some Southern officers the opportunity opportuni-ty to see first service and to 'carry through," but the fact remains. Tho adjutant general of the United States army, Maj. Gen. Henry JP. McCain, Mc-Cain, whoso work perhaps at present Is tho most burdensome of all the urn i i iiiiii staff service, is a Mlssissippiah. Gorgas, Gor-gas, Sibert, Mclntyro and McCain rose in the service to the point where chief commands were certain to be their lot when war broke out, under I Republican administrations. There has been no politics or sectionalism In the promotion of these men, nor in their selection for high service. It was a Republican president who sent Gorgas and Silbert to Panama, whero they mado thoir great fame, nnd ii was a Republican president also .who put Mclntyre whero he is. Good Work By Southerners. Let a Northerner write something In appreciation of the service of the men from the South. Equally with the men from the North, West and East, their hearts seem to be in this fight. As has been said, tho first sailor killed In this conflict while actually serving on an American man-of-war was a Southerner. South-erner. In the Spanish war the only American navy officer who lost his life In battle also was a Southorner, Ensign Worth Badley. B-dley, by the way, was a brother-in-law of Josephus Daniels, now secretary of the navy In the Spanish war and in the insurrection in-surrection in the Phillipplnes which followed It the list of officers killed and wounded Included a large share of Southern names. It was CapL Marion B. Saffold, who was killed while leading a detachment of his regiment re-giment in tho charge of the battle of Novoleta, Philippine Islands. It was Victor Blue, now a captain in the navy, & North Carolina, who dared the fate that overtook Nathan Hale of Connecticut in the Revolutionary war by traversing with a single companion com-panion the Island of Porto Rico, subsequently sub-sequently to, report to tho American authorities on the disposition of the Spanish defense in the Island. It was Andrew S. Rowan, a Virgin ian and a West Point, who dared death in a similar was by piercing to the heart of Cuba, carrying " the message mes-sage to Garcia" beforo any other American soldier had set foot on the island's soil. Brig. Gon. George B. Duncan, the first American rogular to be given a Cross of War by the French government govern-ment for conspicuous courage In the field, is a Kentucklan. A Southern captain of regulars, because of his record, rec-ord, was picked by a general staff, composed largely of Northerners to command a regiment of National Guardsmen in the field in France. His name is William P. Screws and he is now on duty with the Rainbow division on Long Island, which "in good time and soon" probcbly will sail for France. No one must understand from what is Bald in Washington concerning the wllingness of the Southern soldiers to do their duty and something more, that the saia spirit does nt anirtte the Northern officers. What is true of one Is truo of the other, but it Is something to be able as a Northerner to pay a tribute to the unmistakable spirit of loyalty to sorvice and loyalty to country which is bein.tr shown daily by the men of the South who are following the flag on land and on sea. When tho offical record of heroic deeds of Individual soldlerj and sailors sail-ors of the United States is read it is found that heroism knows no section. The medals of honor which havo been granted by congress for conspicuous personal gallantry in the field have gone about equally, in proportion to numbers, to North, South, East and Went. American heroism knows no state, country, city township or hamlet. ham-let. It abides in all. |