The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 3, 1898, Page 17

THE MAN WHO WILL LEAD OUR ARMY IN- CASE OF WAR When the United States battle-ship Matne was destroyed in the harbor of Havana Captal of eral to Cuba, w en. terests in Cuba, became the chief fig- ur ing events. Then President McKinley, o by commander 1pon whe ievolve the direction of the nation's mi in the gucceeded to the o pée § i e armies in the other great nations? These are questions to which Con- ITH every change in the Cu- ban situation there comes to the front some conspicuous American upon whom are focused the eyes of the world. Sigsbee was the hero fter him came Fitz- erican Consul-Gen- , by his firm insist- g the nation’s in- the hour. gh Lee, the ce upon protec e in the exciting panorama of pass- and alert, stepped o the foreground, and, by the influ- se of his strong personality, obtained the unanimous vote of Congress an opriation of $50,000,000 for the na- defense. comes Nelson A. f the United State in the event of w l, conservative now ng forces. on A. Miles now {s a major-gen- He is a born fighter, an exper- wced tactician, and a thorough dis- narian. F men with the same litary traf g have risen to his rank the armies of the world Shall he ajor-general, or shall hed title of liteuten- erred upon him? the United States commanded by an officer of inferior to that of the commander of the f the world, or shall his as his position, be placed vel with that of the heads of distingu al be cor the forces of 2 1 r arn in connection with its considera- S ban situation, is giving of thought. Major-Gen- - thirty-five years a con- us member of the United States s been proposed for the ex- rank of lieutenant-general. There ling before Congress a joint rese to make him, in title as wel fact, the supreme head of the na- rmy It is contended that he now is but one of three in the army, but be- ears of distinguished ser- rendered to his country. keenly interested In n now before Con- , and thousands of American cit- with them the feeling that f the first questions that settled, With three major- the regular army, and witn { these major-generals in com- 1 alike feel knowing whether ide or refuse to make 1 of the army an officer rank over all other officers. y ask, have one lieuten~ atenant-General Miles not \ X men since the nation title of lieutenant- Washington, idan ana of generals n honored. And of ne Grant honorea higher title general. nited States fi a war 1798, and George Wash- called to the command ot given the title of hero, Winfield Scott, int-general half a War the title w; ysses S. Grant, s le general, in 166, Sherman became leuten- general. Upon the retirement of nant-General Sherman that title nferred upon Sheridan, rceeded to the office. But when d, in 1888, the title of leu- 1 passed away with him, . head of the army , was made lieutenant- special act of Congress months before his retirement. n Major-General n A. Miles did not suc- al efforts sd to the title, qluce et o) JEFFERSON DAVIS N CHAINS '/695"_8555 MONROE _Za == MAJOR GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. If war Is declared General Miles would, unless superseded, direct the invasion and command the Vvolunteer army. At present he is in command of the regular standing army, U. S. A, and directly controls all forts inland and along our coasts. There is a bill now before Gongress to raise him to the rank of Lieutenant-General, a title that has been held by only six soldiers in the history of ‘the nation—Washington, Scott, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and Schofield. have been made during the last two years to re-establish the title. There is no army politics in the joint resolution now pending in both branches of Congress to make Nelson A. Miles a lieutenant-general. Demo- crats and Republicans favor it and other Democrats and Republicans op- pose it. General Miles was designated to succeed General Schofield by former President Cleveland, through Daniel S. Lamont, his Secretary of War. Yet Secretary Lamont, three months after General Miles’ elevation, wrote a let- ter in which he strongly opposed reviv- ing the title of lieutenant-general. On the other hand, General Russell A. Al- ger, Mr. Lamont’'s successor as Secre- tary of War, is as strongly in favor of making Miles a lieutenant-general as Becretary Lamont was opposed to it. It Is a very interesting side light to all of the current war talk, is this ques- tion of whether the armies of the United States shall be commanded by a major-general, with two other major- generals as assistants, or by a lieuten- ant-general. In the event of war, the Federal forces would be commanded by Major-General Miles, under whose im- mediate direction has been carried on all of the work of coast defense under- taken since the passage of the $50,000,- 000 appropriation. Under Major-General Miles would be Major-General Wesley Merritt and Ma- Jor-General John R. Brooke, with Brig- adier-General Graham in charge of the Department of the South. There would be no confusion of major-generals, probably, and no member of the army could be excused should he forget that Major-General Miles is the senior offl- cer of that title. But Major-General Merritt, ncw commanding the Depart- ment of the East, undoubtedly would take charge of the forces in the field, and Major-General Brooke, who would be sent to Governor's Island to take charge of the Department of the East in Major-General Merritt's absence, would be certain to figure prominently in subsequent events. It is partly because of the confusion that might follow the multiplicity of major-generals that Congress is being urged to take immediate action on the resolution to make Major-General Miles a lieutenant-general. If that is done there will be no reason for con- fusion as to who is the ranking head of the army. Few, if any, other armies of the world, are organized without a lieuten- ant-general, and it was because of this fact that the present movement to re- vive the title was started. General Miles has scores of enthusiastic ad- mirers among the officers of the army who would like to see him made lieu- tenant-general, both because he is the head of the army and because they be- lieve his services entitle him to the honor. They hold that a man who organized a volunteer company when he was-22 years old, served throughout the Civil War with distinction, and af- terward made a world-wide reputation as an Indian fighter should receive the title of lieutenant-general when -called upon to perform the duties of that re- sponsible position. & It wag Daniel' 8. Lamont who fur- nished the first argument in opposition to conferring the title of lieutenant- general upon Nelson A. Miles. That fact attained interest because of the other fact that it was Secretary La- mont who, obeying the instructions of President Grover Cleveland, formally placed General Miles at the head of the United States army. Since Secretary . Lamont first made known his opposi- tion, more than two years ago, certain Southern leaders, nearly all of whom were prominent in the Civil War, have joined in the effort to defedt the project. . General Miles was a mere boy when he entered the Union army, and he rose so rapidly during the confligt that he came out of the army with the title of brevet major-general, although he was , but 26 years old. After the war, when Jefferson Davis was sent to Fortress Monroe as a prisoner, Miles was select- ed by Secretary Stanton to take charge of the noted captive. Those were un- certain times, and the young officer took every precaution to see that his prisoner did not escape. It has been charged against him that General Miles put Davis in chains, and because of this charge there is much opposition to making him a lieutenant-general on the part of Southern members of Con- gress. General Miles’ friends have explained that in his treatment of the President of the Confederacy he merely obeyed explicit instructions from Washington, but_the vote in the Senate Committee on Military Affairs the other day indi- cated that the Davis incident still ran- kles in the bosom of the Southerners. Six members of the Senate committee voted in favor of the joint resolution to s S el make the head of the army a lieuten- ant-general, and the three Senators Who voted in the negative were Sena- tors Bate, Cockrell and Pettus, all from Southern States. Major-General Miles became the head of the army towa- 1 the end of 1895, and the proposition to make him a lieuten- ant-general was brought before Con- gress early in 1896. General Joseph R. Hawley of Connecticut was chairman of the Senate Committee on Military “Affairs, and he sent a copy of the joint resolution to Mr. Lamont, then Secre- tary of War. Senator Hawley requested Secretary Lamont to give the commit- tee his opinion on the bill. In his reply Secretary Lamont, after recalling the fact that but six men had held the title of lieutenant-general in the history of the nation, said: “In no instance has an officer attained this rank until he has commanded the whole of a separate army in battle and active campaign. The grade has been revived three times since its first cre- ation, always with the object of con- ferring complimentary rank upon gen- erals who had rendered ‘eminent and distinguished services' or those ‘most distinguished for courage, skill and ability’ in war.” As for the major-generals of recent times, Secretary Lamont wrote: “Ths present major-generals of our army at- tained brilliant reputations for gal- lantry while commanding subdivisions of army corps during the late conflict, and have added to their laurels since by the efficient performance of arduous services on the frontier, but it is no re- flection upon those excellent officers to say that the services they have so far rendered are not of that exalted char- acter that has hitherto been regarded as prerequisite to the advancement now proposed.” This opinion of Secretary Lamont evidently prevailed with the members of the Fifty-fourth Congress, for the joint resolution was passed in neither branch, although it made some pro- gress in the House. Since that time, however, the distinguished services performed by General Miles have come to be better understood, and there is a strong feeling that the present head of the army will be a lieutenant-general before the expiration of the present session, Secretary Alger’s earnest ad- vocacy of the joint resolution is cer- tain to have a marked effect, and Gen- eral Miles’ admirers in the army are losing no opportunity to press forward the project. - In whatever light one chooses to view the matter, General Miles’ is a most Interesting personality He won the confidence of the principal men in the Civil War by his conduct during the four years' conflict, and he since has made a world-wide reputation as a fearless Indian fighter. He has the manner of a successful business man when out of his uniform, and is every inch the soldier when engaged in any military function.- He is quiet, firm and resolute, and at all times most gen- tlemanly. To the casual dbserver Gen- eral Miles appears to be a man who has had a successful business career, rather than a man who had been fighting for two-thirds of his active life and who has recovered from four serious bullet wounds. One effective answer is given by tha friends of General Miles to those per- sons who oppose making him a lieu- tenant-general on the ground that he did not attain to sufficient prominence In the Civil War. ‘That answer is that no man, either in the Civil War or in any other conflict, attained to the dis- tinction at the age of 26 years that Miles won under Grant. When this of- ficer’s age is kept in mind,- Wwhat he did from 1861 to 1865 becomes most con- spicuous. B He was not quite 22 years old when Fort Sumter was fired upon, and was then emploved in a store not far from Boston. He had come into the pos- session of $1000, and promptly devoted this money to organizing a company of volunteers. He succeeded in borrow- ing $2500 more from a relative, giving his personal note as security. With this money young Miles equipped his company, was elected as its captain, and made all arrangements to go to the front. But the Governor of Massa- chusetts, learning the age of the young captain, refused to issue a commission to him. Instead he made Miles a lieu- tenant, and in that capacity he joined the Federal forces. Continued on Page 28. A SR 'GENERI&%AREE?J’\' AS AN INDIAN FIGHTER