“Chasing the Major-General” is a short story by the famous artist Frederic Remington. Remington is the artist most associated with
the West of the Indian Wars. His
paintings of cowboys, Indians, and the cavalry helped establish our image of
the Old West. Most people do not know
that he also fashioned himself a writer.
This particular short story was for Harper’s Weekly. Remington’s presence was requested by Maj.
Gen. Nelson Miles. Miles was one of the
more well-known Indian fighting generals.
He had made a name for himself in the Nez Perce (Chief Joseph) campaign
and the capture of Geronimo. The story
is set in a mission by Miles to escort an Indian commission to negotiate with
the Northern Cheyennes. Miles had a
dream of becoming President and saw Remington as a means to that end. He had to put up with Remington’s excessive
drinking which ironically held up the commission on occasion, but the
flattering story was worth the trouble.
The story is about Remington trying to keep up with
the gung-ho general. Although not meant
to be comical, the image of the portly general galloping ahead of his column is
the big take-away from the story. Miles
is the model of a general who leads from in front – far in front. The weird thing is that Miles was not
conducting a campaign to catch and defeat hostile Indians. So what was the hurry? Personality is the key. Speaking of which, we get a good impression
of Remington from the story. He was
known as “The Soldier’s Artist” because he idolized the cavalry and lionized
them in his paintings and writings. (He
later would justify Wounded Knee as the soldiers defending themselves.) He has some very interesting opinions that
come through in the story.
Remington declares that there are two types of
cavalry generals in the West – wagon-men and horse-men. Wagon-men rely on wagons for logistics and
horse-men travel more quickly by packing supplies on horse-back. Or rather mule-back. Miles was a horse-man. Obviously Miles also believed in a general
riding on horse and setting the standard for his men. This could be dangerous especially at
night. One unlucky step into a gopher
hole or one unseen ravine could result in death. Riding like a maniac brings questions as to
Miles fitness to lead a nation, but apparently Remington and Miles felt the
story bolstered his chances. One also
wonders about the attitude of Miles toward the horses. Remington describes the horses as
inferior. He criticizes the military for
paying $125 for $60 horses. It’s clear
that the profligacy of the Pentagon is not new.
And these horses were expected to gallop sixty miles in a day! And in the case of Remington, carry a 215
pound artist attempting to ride in the “European style” with legs tucked to his
chest. He humorously describes trying to
ignore the catty comments of the Westerners.
Remington does seem to know horses.
He offers the interesting opinion that “while you can teach a horse
anything, you cannot unteach him.”
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| when you do a self-portrait, you can trim some pounds |
Remington also has some interesting things to say
about the Army. He is scathing in his
comments about the reason for the poor support from Washington. His theory is that by the time a soldier
reaches the higher ranks and go off to the capital, they feel they have earned
the right to slack off. This results in
the leadership of the Army being conservative and cheap. He specifically had some opinions on the
Battle of Little Big Horn when they visited the site. Not surprisingly, Remington blamed the defeat
on the lack of initiative of Reno and Benteen.
He opines that the role of these subordinates should have been to march
to the sounds of the guns. When in
doubt, go in and fight until you drop.
Best to end up a “dead lion” than a live survivor. He has insights on the officers as well. He describes them as being cogs in the
machine except when their individuality comes out in battle and before
breakfast.
The piece is well-written. I did not expect Remington to be competent as
a writer. I was very familiar with his
paintings as I am a big fan, but I was only vaguely familiar with his literary
endeavors. He has a booze-flavored style
to his writing. I did not find about his
fondness for the bottle until after I read the story, but it makes sense. The story has a sense of humor typical of a
genteel toper. He doesn’t mind poking
fun at himself. The story is excellent
at portraying the personalities of two famous men. Although nothing particularly exciting
happens, the story is charming and worth reading.
GRADE
= B-
Next month's story: The Colonel's Ideas
Thanks for finding this story! It is often very enlightening to read views of historical events from people who were alive at the time. We usually have the advantage of historical scholarship and the accumulation of information, but those living at the time have a practical understanding of things that can only be conveyed to us by a kind of translation; often, historians don't bother because it doesn't fit their focus.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of a distinction between "horse-men" and "wagon-men" among cavalry commanders, but it makes a great deal of sense and might help explain why some cavalry units acted on campaigns.
Remington wasn't the only person at the time who felt that the frontier army was undersupplied. I recall that Thomas Nast drew several editorial cartoons on the subject.
Thanks for the input.
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