The power of his later message came partly from the fact that he was not speaking about peace from a position of inexperience.

He knew what battle looked like.

He had been close enough to an enemy to hear him cry for his mother.

He had led men through dangerous ground.

He had watched modern armies destroy towns and landscapes.

He had inherited the memories of nineteenth-century wars that changed the future of his people.

When such a man said that war produces loss on both sides, the statement carried weight.

It was not sentimental.

It was historical judgment.

The Decorations On His Chest And The Feather In His Memory