Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 68, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1899 — BRANDED AS COWARDS. [ARTICLE]

BRANDED AS COWARDS.

Officers of Seventy-flret New York Receive a Severe Sentence. As a result of the court of inquiry which investigated the conduct of the Seventyfirst New York regiment in the Santiago campaign, the fact is developed that Maj. Smith, who was lieutenant colonel of the volunteer regiment; Capt. Whittle, who was major in that command, and Maj. Austin of the staff of Brig. Gen. Smith, Who commanded a company in the regiment, were all guilty of cowardice when the order came to move to the front. It will be remembered that the refusal of the Seventy-first’s officers to move forward under fire from the Spanish intrenchments was a signal for the rough riders, who charged through the New York regiment and on toward the muzzles of the enemy’s guns. While the report of the court is severe on the officers named, it exonerates the soldiers, every man of whom was ready to move on the enemy.