Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 29, Number 7, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 13 August 1898 — Page 6
6
I
pc:: MILES AND SHAFTEE.
STRIKING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
TWO GREAT GENERALS.
Both Csme From the People aod Posaesa the Troe American Spirit—Fightioe Indians the Best Preparation For Fighting Spaniards—Record* In the Civil War.
[Special Correspondence.]
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8.—From the counter of a small country store to the head of the American army—that is the story in epitome of the active life of Major General Nelson Apple ton Miles, the invader of Porto Bico. In variant phraseology, from the yardstick of clerk to the holder of a general's sword, with two stars on his shoulder straps, covers a period of 34 years in this man's life.
Born in Westminster, Mass., in August, 1839, General Miles was less than 22 years of age when the tocsin of war sounded in 1861 and caused him to throw aside his employment in a store not far from Boston and seek military
LIEUTENANT MILE8 AT TWENTY-ONE.
preferment. He had just come into the possession of $1,000, and this money he promptly devoted to the organization of a company of volunteers in the Roxbury district. But plodgcs made to him of financial support were not fulfilled, and ho wus obliged to oxpend $2,500 more, which he Huooeedod in borrowing from a relative, giving his noto for the amount. When the company was fully enrolled, he was elected captain, commissioned as suoh by the governor of his state and mustered into tho United States sorvice. This episode is thus re» lated in his own words: "Subsequently' the governor claimed that on account of toy youth I should accept a lower position and yield up the one held, to be give" to a political frleml of big,
I of courso demurred, but on the evening beforo tho regiment left for the Hold of active operations tho governor sent his adjutant geueral to me with a first lieutouant's commission and with ^directions for me to return the captain's commission which I had previously received. As I had engaged in tho service against tho enomies of my oountry, I did not proposo to abandon that service to engage in aoontest with tho governor of my state, however just my4 cause, though I certainly regarded the position he had takon as unwarranted and harsh in tho oxtrome. I therefore began my military service as a captain reducod to a first lieutenant iu tho Twenty-second regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, organized and first commanded by Colonel Henry Wilson, afterward vice president of the United States."
But tho boy of 22 was soon detailed on staff duty as aid-do-camp, and in the fall of 1861 became assistaut adjutant general of a brigade. InMay, 1862, on the recommendation of General Francis G. Barlow, ho was appointed lieutenant colonel of that officer's regiment, the Sixty-first New York volunteers. by Governor E. D. Morgan, and on Sept.. 30, when only a triflo past 28 years of age, he was promoted to the oolonelcy of that regiment. Honors crowded upon him. While in charge of Hancock's skirmish at Chancellorsville ho held his men intact against every attack by Lee's veterans and was seriously wonmlea on the second day. General Hancock, iu a letter to the war department urging his subordinate's promotion, said. "If Colonel Miles lives, he will bo one of tho most distinguished officers in tho service," a prophecy that has amply beeu fulfilled.
Among the incidents of his early service are those attending the organisation of the Army of the Potomac under General MeClellau, the crossing of the Rapprthaunock, tho return to Alexandria, tho advance up tho peninsula in the face of the Confederal* general Magruder, the fierce battle of Williamsburg, the terrible engagements of Seven Pines, Fair Oaks (where ho was wounded), Gaines Mill, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Nelson's Farm and Malvern Hill, tho recall of the army from the .lames, the succeeding advance movement known as "Pope's campaign," with tho fights of Cedar Mountain, the second Manassas (or Bull Bun) and Chantilly. This was followed by the advance of Lee's army into Maryland, the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, succeeded by McClellan's advance to Warren ton, Va., and the disastrous battle of Fredericksburg, where Oolonel Miles was again seriously wounded on Dec. 13, 1863. His valuable services in organising a brigade of volunteers before he bad fully recovered from his wounds to check Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania was finally rocogmeed, and on May 12, 1864, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, three months later receiving the brevet of major generaL
General Miles took a prominent part in the fiercely fought campaign of 1864 from the Wilderness to Petersburg and Richmond, and in the final campaign of 1863. In February of the last named
year he was made major general of volunteers, and when 25 years old com xnanded the Second corps. Never before or since has an American at that age been in charge of such a large body of troops. When Lee surrendered at Appomattox two moriths later. Miles was in command of the First division- of the Second army corps, the largest of all the divisions in the Army of the Potomac.
General Miles was mustered out of the volunteer service on Sept 1, 1866, but had received on July 28 previous an appointment in the regplar army as colonel of the Fortieth infantry. On March 2, 1867, the brevets of brigadier general and major general were -conferred on him for special bravery at Chancellorsville and Spottsylvania.
It is as an .Indian fighter that the world best knows General Miles. His work in that line has been made so much more prominent that his achieve ments during the civil war have been half forgotten. From 1869 to 1876 inclusive, while at the head of the Fiftieth infantry, he was engaged in defeating the Cheyenne, Kiowa and Comanche Indians on the borders of the Staked plains, subjugating the hostile Sioux and other Indians in Montana, driving Sitting Bull across the Canadian border and scattering the bands led by him and Crazy Horse, Spotted Eagle, Lame Deer, Broad Trail and other warlike savages. Commissioned brigadier general on Dec. 15, 1880, he was for five years in command of the department of toe Columbia and then in charge of the department of the Missouri. He compelled the Apache chiefs Geronimo and Natchez to surrender in September, 1886. For his services in the west he received the thanks of the legislatures of Montana, Kansas, New Mexico and Arizona, the citizens of the last named place presenting him with a sword of honor, at Tucson, on the 8th of November, 1887. Since his active life on the frontier he has been in command of the department of the east and subsequently stationed at Washington, having become the senior major general in the latter part of 1895.
Major General William Rufus Shatter, who until three months ago was a brigadier general in the regular service, is quite different in his personality and methods from Miles, though he has had, naturally, similar experiences as an army officer. He has always been popular, and by his pet name of "Pecos Bill" is well known from Vancouver barracks to Tampa. The sobriquet is a reminiscence of those days in the southwest when the Pecos river, Texas, was on the borderland. It was given to him probably by some enthusiastic cowboy and adopted by the soldiers of his command.
A native of Galesburg, Kalamazoo county, Mich., he was born on Oct. 16, 1835, while the first legislature of the state, assembled at Detroit, was slowly completing preparations for admission to the Union. Engaged in mercantile pursuits, ho was appointed at the outbreak of war in 1861 a first lieutenant in the Sovanth Michigan infantry, his commission dating from Aug. 22. Subsequently he became major and lieutenant colonel of the Nineteenth Michigan infantry. He was engaged in a dozen hotly contested battles, including Yorktown, West Point, Fair Oaks, Savage Station, Glsndale and Malvern Hill, especially distinguishing himself at Fair Oaks and being rewarded by the promotion to the rank of brevet colonel. Taken prisoner at Thompson Station, Tenn., in February, 1862, he was exchanged in May following. Later he was promoted to the grade of brigadiei general for "gallant and meritorious work at Thompson's Station." He was mustered out of the volunteer service on Nov. 2, 1866, but had previously
been commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Forty-first infantry, U. S. A., on July 28 of that year. He had becomo fascinated with the game of war, the long marches, the thrilling fights and the odor of gunpowder and welcomed his stay in a line of duty he regarded as his profession. He was transferred to the Twenty-fourth infantry on April 14, 1869, and afterward had long and important service on the Mexican frontier and in Indian campaigns. That rigorous experience has been of great use to him in his present efficient work. Becoming colonel of the First United States infantry in 1879, he held that rank for about 18 years. A large portion of this time he was in command at Angel Island, Cal., and at the Presidio reservation, near San Francisco.
Although he was long the ranking colonel of the regular army several of his juniors were for political reasons advanced to the rank of brigadier general above him. In May, 1897, President McKinley recognized his long and faithful services by commissioning him brigadier to sucooed General Wheaton, retired at that time. Promptly confirm-
BIRTHPLACK OF GENERAL SHAFTER ed by the senate, he was at once assigned to the command of the department of the Columbia, but soon after transferred to the department of California, thus becoming a department commander at the same station where he had so long been post commandant When the present war with Spain was threatened, he was transferred to New Orleans. Appointed a major general about three months ago, the war department soon decided that be was the right man to lead the army of invasion into Cuba, and the reliance plaoed opon his military skill has been amply sustained by hit successful efforts.
ALBERT P. SOCTHWICK.
LIFE AT CAMP ALGER.
HOW SOME OF THE VOLUNTEERS ARE CUTTING THEIR EYETEETH.
Representatives From Every Walk of Life—Equality of Officers and Men When Off Duty—Unbounded Patriotism and
Va., Aug. 8.—There never was a better place in which to study male human nature unhampered by the conventionalities of civilian life than a camp of volunteer American soldiers, and there never was a better camp for that purpose than this one, and it is something for every son of Uncle Sam to be proud of that, on the whole, the boys here are standing the camp test excellently well.
It is true that here and there some individual breaks over the traces, so to speak, that now and then a lack of character displays itself and that the observer who looks for dress parade smartness is sure to be disappointed, but as specimens of healthy, unaffected manhood, with small regard for frills, yet plenty of love for the flag and all due respect for proper discipline, the Camp Alger boys are all that can reasonably be desired. They include representatives from every walk of life. One member of a cavalry squadron, a private, is managing editor of a metropolitan newspaper, the scion of a wealthy family, who goes in swell society when not engaged in soldiering. He takes his turn at stable drill, guard mount and trench digging with the rest and works as hard as any, yet somehow finds time to write a leader every day for his paper. There are many of his social grade here, and, so far as I can find out, they are as hardy and as willing to accept the disagreeable features of the situation as any one else.
Of a wholly different class, of course —in fact, quite antithetical—are the villagers and farmer boys from the middle west. Some of these volunteers had never seen a large city before they enlisted to fight in this war, and their experience so far has been the most broadening, the most informing, of their lives. They have had their first lessons regarding the pitfalls dtjg for the feet of the unwary in the great world since they left home. They have, in truth, been through a sort of continuous per-
COLORED PICKET AT CAMP ALGER.
formance of the process of eyeteeth outting. Some of these lads indeed have seen their first "shows" within the last few weeks, and it need hardly be said that their amazement and delight at the 5 cent exhibitions given in the temporary booths built here and there on the edge of the camp have been more entewaining by many degrees than'the formal exhibitions. And of course some have had to pay dearly for certain knowledge that they have acquired. A volunteer from an interior state told today of an experience which has been duplicated by many of his Camp Alger companions. "You see that there watch," he said, drawing an ancient silver timepiece from his pocket. "Waal, I never look at it that I don't get lonesome for a $2 bill I lost the other day. You see, there's a feller up here that has a show. He's a sword swallower. went into his place with a friend of mine, and we asked the feller if he really could swallow a sword. He said he could swallow anything said he could swallow my watch and I could hear it tick inside of him. 'Bet you $2 you can't,' says I, for I thought he was a-jollying of me, and then I put up the money. "But, say, mister, be done it, and I had to give up. I got even one way, though," he added, heaving a sigh of regret at the thought of his lost $2, "for I got another feller in there, and he bet a dollar that the showman couldn't swallow a sword to the hilt. Of course the showman won, and I wouldn't bet ag'in him if he was to say he could swallow a liberty pole."
The almost absolute equality of officers and men when off duty is one of the most striking features to the visitor whose notions of military life are based on knowledge of European armies or indeed the regular army of the United States. A captain, an orderly sergeant and two privates are swapping yarns in the captain's tent just across the company street from where I write, and there are no titles heard in their conversation. All four were friends at home The captain was the pool 3st man of the lot The others habitually called him Jim, and he is still Jim when addressed by any of the others. Yet an hour or two ago, when company drill was going on, Bill and Charley and Jack were as amenable to discipline and as respectful to their captain as any of the soldiers in line, and there is no doubt whatever that they will fight just as hard tor the flag and, if need be, die as readily for their oountry as any regular who ever wore the blue. There are heroes in the camps of the United States as well as in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines. The only difference is in opportunity.
TERHE HAUTJfi SATURDAY EVENING MAIL, AUGUST 13, 189S.
Good Discipline. CSpecial Correspondence.] CAMP ALGER, NEAR FALLS CHURCH,
Ownas Srexcsa.
SfS#l
A Wise Answer.
It takes but an ordinary man to turn an angry answer to an insult The extraordinary man is he who, under such circumstances, holds himself well under control that he controls his adversary also.
Persia once possessed such a man and was clear sighted enough to make him a judge. He was the chief judge of Bagdad in the reign of Caliph Hadee and his name was Aboo Yusuph. He was a very wise man, for he knew his own deficiencies and was actually sometimes in doubt as to whether he possessed sufficient wisdom to give just decision in cases peculiarly shroud ed in mystery.
It is related of him thai on one ooca sion, after patient investigation of facts, he decided that he had not sufficient knowledge to pronounce on the case before him. There was in his presence a pert courtier, one of those men who take long to learn that wisdom and im pudence are not closely related. "Pray, do you expect that the caliph is to pay you for ignorance?" he asked, hoping to place the judge at a disad vantage. "I do'not," was the mild reply. "The caliph pays me—and pays me well —for what I do know. Were he to at tempt to pay me for what I do not know the treasures of his empire would not suffice. "—Youth's Companion.
A Fascinating: Stranger.
"AWorcester man,'' says the Worcester Gazette, "who makes frequent trips to Europe fell in with a fascinating stranger the last time he was across. The stranger, who may be designated as Ferguson because that -does not sound at all like his real name, was an American, his manners were those of gentleman, and he seemed to be well supplied with money and to know great many people worth knowing. In conversation with the Worcester man one day Ferguson said: 'Worcester is a charming city, and I have some very dear friends there. I presume you, know Colonel E. «j. Russell? He is an old and highly esteemed friend, to whom I am deeply indebted for many favors.' "When the Worcester man returned home, he met Colonel Russell one day and in course of conversation remarked that he had meta man in Europe who said that he was an old friend. Oolonel Russell thought for a moment, and then he replied: 'Oh, yes, I remember Ferguson very well! I ought to, for he lived with me for seven years once. It was when I was warden of the state prison at Charlestown, and I will say that Ferguson was one of the quietest and best behaved prisoners that I ever had.'
The Birthplace of Josephine.
Fort de France, Martinique, is the strongest fortified point the French own in America. It is both a military and naval station, and a fort was erected on a mountain top there years ago, which has since been improved and strengthened by_SQwe_§! the most modern guns known in warfare.
During the civil war tho United States cruiser Kearsarge chased the Confederate blockade runner Alabama into the harbor, and was on the point of opening fire on her when the authorities forbade it. Here they remained for some time, and during a stormy night the Alabama slipped out and disappeared the Caribbean sea.
Several times the place has been badly damaged by tropical cyclones, during which hundreds lost their lives. It is noted as being the birthplace of the Empress Josephine a life size piece ot statuary of her adorns the principal plaza. The fort has had for years but one family—the king of Dahomey and his six wives, whom the French captured after great trouble in the AfricaL wilds and imprisoned.—Philadelphia Record.
A French physician has apparently proved to a certainty that the contagious period in whooping cough comes previous to the appearance of the "whoop." W
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