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Davis, Richard Harding, 1864-1916

"Real Soldiers of Fortune"

He remained at the front throughout that
campaign, and until within a few years there has been no campaign
of consequence in which he has not taken part. He served in the
Ten Years' War in Cuba, in Brazil, in Argentina, in Crete, in
Greece, twice in Spain in Carlist revolutions, in Bosnia, and for
four years in our Civil War under Generals Jackson and Stuart
around Richmond. In this great war he was four times wounded.
It was after the surrender of the Confederate army, that, with other
Southern officers, he served under Maximilian in Mexico; in
Egypt, and in France. Whenever in any part of the world there was
fighting, or the rumor of fighting, the procedure of the general
invariably was the same. He would order himself to instantly
depart for the front, and on arriving there would offer to organize a
foreign legion. The command of this organization always was
given to him. But the foreign legion was merely the entering
wedge. He would soon show that he was fitted for a better
command than a band of undisciplined volunteers, and would
receive a commission in the regular army. In almost every
command in which he served that is the manner in which
promotion came. Sometimes he saw but little fighting, sometimes
he should have died several deaths, each of a nature more
unpleasant than the others. For in war the obvious danger of a
bullet is but a three hundred to one shot, while in the pack against
the combatant the jokers are innumerable.


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