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"HOW!"
WHEN, on occasion, an army man raises a glass, the movement is invariably accompanied by the word How!" rather than "Here's Luck" or Mud in your eye" or other civilian equivalent. This curious custom has its origin in the Everglades of Florida almost a century ago.
In the winter of 1841 during the latter part of the Seminole War, several companies of the Eighth Infantry, and Company I of the Second Regiment of Dragoons, (now Troop I, 2d Caavalry), were encamped on the bank of the Kissimmee. Micco, an Indian guide, had been sent into the swamps to inform Coacooche, (Wild Cat), that Colonel Worth, command the Eighth Infantry, desired the chief's presence at a pow-wow. Coaccooche was finally located and agreed to meet the Colonel on the 5th of March at an army post near Big Cypress Swamp.
On the appointed day, the chief appeared with his entourage. Sometime previously the Indians had attacked a theatrical troupe near St. Augustine, the plunder including a gorgeous stage wardrobe, so Coacooche arrayed in all his glory, wore the nodding plumes of the Prince of Denmark, while close to his elbow appeared Horatio, and another aide wrapped in the robes of King Richard. The colonel's officers managed to suppress any untoward mirth and the conference was conducted with fitting solemnity. Partly because of the importance of making a treaty and partly because of the genuine respect that one warrior feels toward another, Coacooche was treated as an honored guest.
During his stay the chief observed that the officers, before drinking, always said "Here's looking at you" of something of the sort. Puzzled, he turned to Gopher John, a run-away slave who had lived for years among the Seminoles, and was now employed by the Army as an interpreter. The negro did not know but ventured "It means 'How d'ye do!'" Thereupon the chief raised his cup with great dignity and said "How!" The officers instantly responded in the same manner.
The custom soon spread from the Eighth Infantry and Second Dragoons to other regiments. For nearly a hundred years, our army, whether at Vera Cruz, Manila, Pekin, Chaumont, Archangel or Coblenz, has repeated this toast first uttered in a Florida Swamp by Chief Wild Cat of the Seminoles.—Allen P. Wescott.
Mightier Than the Pen
MUCH has been said from time to time about "fighting newspapers," which as a rule do their fighting with news-print, working on the theory that "the pen is mightier than the sword." There is on record, however, one paper that apparently held the reverse of this theory to be true. That paper was the Baltimore American and Doily Advertiser.
On September 10, 1814, the British burned Washington and headed for Baltimore. On the same day, the American carried a notice that it was suspending publication for a few days, while the entire staff left the office to join the forces gathering for the defense of the city.
They participated, on September 12, in the repulse of the British at the Battle of North Point. Next day, the British tried to take Baltimore with their fleet. Fort McHenry, at the entrance of the harbor withstood their bombardment, however, and a fleet of barges carrying landing parties that sneaked past the fort in the dark met with such a hot reception when it tried to land that one was sunk and the rest had to retire. After this second defeat, the British left and the Maryland city was threatened no more.
On September 21 the American resumed publication, carrying among other items a poem by Francis Scott Key, a Baltimore lawyer—"The Star-Spangled Banner."—Edward F. Leyh III.
Napoleon at Eylau
EAST PRUSSIA in its most forbidding aspect at the dreariest time of the year. A snow-covered plain stretches to the horizon. The sluggish streams and the famous long pond are thick with ice. A bitter east wind rages and howls. Very low leaden-grey, almost black clouds scurry before it. 150,000 men, French and Russian, prepare to spend a miserable night. It is February 7, 1807—the eve of Eylau.
The soldiers in their great-coats huddle in the snow, totally without shelter. The temperature is Arctic, and their clothing makes a poor shield against the icy wind and freezing cold. Moreover, they are cold with the worst cold—that of hunger. For days the French have eaten nothing but potatoes, their drink the melted snow. Here and there shine the flames of a fire. But kindling-wood in East Prussia at that season is hard to get, and the fires are few.
Napoleon is early astir. Nothing wins him the hearts of the rank and file more than his concern for their welfare. And he knows precisely when to show it. So this morning, walking among infantry units, he asks that one potato per squad be brought to him. He himself will test the quality of the men's rations. Sitting on a truss of hay, he proceeds to cook the potatoes in a fire, gravely turning them over with his stick. The soldiers watch in silence and admiration. "All this," says Colonel Vachee, "was the bluff of a great leader. But it was a bluff that never failed to impress."—Hugh Thomason.
The Knights of Malta
ONE of the strangest chapters in history is that occupied by the Knights of Malta. Their beginnings were inconspicuous. Some rich merchants of Amalfi, a city in the then kingdom of Naples, obtained permission from the Caliph of Cairo to erect a church at Jerusalem, to replace one destroyed by the Arabs. In rebuilding the church in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem, some time between A.D. 1014 and 1070, they also built hospitals dedicated, respectively, to St. Mary Magdalene and to St. John the Almoner. These hospitals treated the sick and wounded Christian pilgrims, but did not exclude Arabs or Egyptians.
However, the invading Turkomans, who united their armies with the Arabs, made Jerusalem so unsafe the Hospitallers quickly developed a military organization. At their head was elective Grand Master, responsible to the Pope, and assisted by a council of senior Knights. Under them were the younger Knights or fighting men whose duties were to nurse the sick and exterminate the Turks. Of lower rank were the Chaplains, largely concerned with religious matters in the hospitals and on the battle-fields. The lowest rank were the Servants-in-Arms or Serjeants.
After the Christians, in 1291, were defeated at Acre by the Turkish Mamelukes, the Order removed to the island of Rhodes. During this period of wars against the Turks the Order became known as the Knights of Rhodes.
In 1480, the Turkish bashaw, Mischa Palæologus, attacked Rhodes with a fleet of one hundred sixty ships and one hundred thousand soldiers. After a siege of eighty-nine days involving the loss of about 25,000 men through battle, disease, and slavery, the bashaw admitted defeat. Forty-two years later, in 1522, the Turkish forces again attacked the Knights. On the 26th of June, 150,000 Turks landed on the island of Rhodes. Shortly after came another 50,000 with the commander, Sultan Suliman. Following a siege of four months, in which the Turks lost 80,000 soldiers at the hands of the Knights and as many more by disease, Rhodes was surrendered.
Rather than continue on the island of Rhodes under Mohammedan rule, the Knights, with their Grand Master D'Isle Adam, left with the honors of war. They took with them their arms, flags, and artillery, and their most precious relic, the hand of St. John the Baptist.
AFTER several halts elsewhere, the Spanish Emperor Charles V gave them feudal rights to Malta and other islands. This grant was under the approval of Pope Clement VII. The Knights, still under Grand Master D'lsle Adam, settled on the island of Malta October 25th, 1530. From that time on, the Sovereign Military Order of the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem were known as the Knights of Malta.
At Malta, the Sovereign Military Order continued its historic mission. In the Eastern Mediterranean it fought against the Turks, and in the West, against the Barbary States — Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers. In the East, the Turks had gone on from Rhodes to the capture of Syria and Egypt. In 1526 the victory at Mohacs had made them masters of Hungary. Thus the continued mission of the Knights of Malta was to prevent complete Mohammedan command of the Mediterranean. Much of the history of this Order could well be symbolized by a blood dripping sword.
All during the Medieval ages, the Order so continually battled the Moslems that it was recognized throughout Europe as offering the finest military and naval training. Centered on the island of Malta, the Order had Commanderies in Italy, France, Germany, England, and Ireland. These Malta monasteries had considerable wealth due to bequests of pious citizens of property of various kinds, including lands. The monasteries also acted as recruiting stations for the Sovereign Order of Malta.
The Knights were chosen entirely from the nobility. Requirements were strict. No natural children were accepted and often the suspicion of bastardy was sufficient for rejection. In Germany, sixteen quarterings of nobility were required. That is, the twenty-one year old candidate's great-grandparents had to be of the nobility. From France, only eight quarterings were required.
The Knight of Malta was hedged about with numerous obligations, such as the saying of one hundred fifty paternosters a day. The vows of chastity and celibacy were strictly enjoined. But when the Knights set out on a Corso or forty-day voyage in their galleys, it was nothing unusual for numerous ladies of Malta to bid them bon voyage.
IN 1565 the Knights of Malta successfully withstood a siege by the pashas of the aged Suliman the Magnificent. In 1566 the Sultan died. He was succeeded by Selim II, called by Ottoman historians, "The Drunkard," who spent his time largely in his seraglio by the Golden Horn. Suliman's generals and admirals took control.
At long last, under their guidance, the Moslem powers of the Mediterranean began combining their naval forces for a conquest of the Mediterranean. They began by the siege of Nicosia, and when it had fallen, followed with the siege of Famagusta—both on the island of Cyprus. The Venetian commander of Famagusta Antonio Bragadino, put up a stubborn resistance. The Turks lost nearly 30,000 men. Through lack of flour and gunpowder Famagusta surrendered. Bragadino was flayed alive, his skin stuffed with straw, and sent to Selim the Drunkard.
An allied Christian fleet was formed in 1570, but failed to get into action through indecisive leadership. In 1571, Pope Pius V, as chief of the Holy League, chose Don Juan of Austria as captain-general of the Christian armada. Don Juan was the natural son of the Spanish Emperor Charles V and Barbara Blomberg of Ratisbon.
The Sovereign Order of Malta sent its best galleys and rallied its well trained Knights for a decisive campaign in the Greek archipelago. They were allied at Lepanto with the papal galleys under Prince Colonna, the Venetian gallevs under Veniero, and Philip IPs Spanish and Neapolitan galleys. Six galleasses and seventy frigatas brought the allied total to 278 against the Turks' 274. On October 7, 1571, at noon, they met the Turks under Ali Pasha and 28,000 Christians fought 25,000 Moslems in one of the bloodiest naval battles in history. By nightfall, the Turkish fleet was largely destroyed, its remnants routed. The Order of Malta lost but sixty Knights.
In the fierce fighting, the flagship of their galleys was temporarily mastered by the Algerines under Ulugh Ali, a renegade Calabrese fisherman, who got possession of the Order's war flag, a white, eight pointed cross on a red field. So greatly did the Algerines value this trophy, they took it with them in their rout from Lepanto and carried it to Constantinople as a consolation for the destruction of the Turkish fleet.
Lepanto represents the high point of the Knights of Malta. They fought the Barbary corsairs till the end of the eighteenth century, but the usefulness of the Sovereign Order of Malta was ending. Through dissension in their ranks they surrendered Malta to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798. He melted down their solid silver dishes and cups to pay the soldiers for his Egyptian campaign.—Allen Fiske.