Page:From Yauco to Las Marias.djvu/31

Rh Our brigade commander, General Theodore Schwan — silent, upright, tall, and spare — was regarded with affection and respect by every one who came into personal contact with him, officer and man alike. He was shrewd, clever, and distinguished, but never too busy or elevated to listen to the humblest soldier from the ranks, and from first to last a gentleman. Of his staff it is the highest praise to say that they were in every way worthy of their chief. Bluff Captain Davison, gruff Captain Hutcheson, studious Major Root, saturnine Major Egan, wounded Lieutenant Byron, patient Lieutenant Poore, dashing Captain Elkins, and courteous Lieutenant Summerlin, I salute you all in the most military manner of the soldier dismounted! You were my friends in need, you lent me money, you gave me fatherly counsel and passes of freedom to the shimmering tropic dawn — and I shall not forget.

At the head of the Eleventh Infantry was Colonel I. D. DeRussy, who, with his ministerial drawl and dry wit, was a sharp