St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-06-01
Adiutant General MacOarthy Makes Some
Very Plain Statements to
Col. Bend.
he Insists on His Proposition That the
Local Companies Should Have
Paraded.
Ben Hogan at the Rink Gives Char
acteristic History of an Event.
full Life.
Memorial Services ut Plymouth
Church.-Petty Crimes--Other
Sabbath DOings.
AN OFFICIAL REBUKE.
A Severe Letter from the Adjutal
General to Col. Bend.

A Severe Letter from the Adjutant
General to Col. Bend.
The GLOBE presents this morning the
last installment of the interesting missive
literature which has been circulating be-
tween Col Bend of the First regiment and
Adjutant General MacCarthy. The GLOBE
has been the only paper to give the litera-
ture of the controversy, and brief sum-
mary of the case may not be out OF place
at this time. The militia were invited to
participate in the parade on memorial day
with the G. A. r. posts and other organl-
cations. In accordance with the military
code, the right of line should have been
given them, according to Col. Bend, and
this was made the condition on which he
was to issue the order to the officers OF the
companies. A failure to reply to his re-
quest led to more correspondence, until
finally this position was denied. Where
upon Col Bend refused to order the
companies out, though last Friday
he gave to the captains of the local COM
paneS the option of turning out if they saw
fit to take the place assigned them III the
parade. The action of Col. Bend was up
held by the company officers, and as d con-
sequence the National guards were not rep
resented in the parade. The two letters
which raised the issue directly were one
from Adj. Gen. MacCarthy to Col. Bend,
in which it is stated that "a mere technical
question of military etiquette, SHOULD not be
allowed to keep the National guard from
doing honor to the dead heroes and in
which the hope is expressed that the pro-
priety of parading in the order proposed by
the management will be seen. Col. Bend
took exceptions to this in communication,
published in yesterdays GLOBE, in which
he stated his reasons for not joining the pa
rade quite deliberately. In answer to this
Gen. MacCarthy last night made the fol-
lowing reply:
THE ADJUTANT GENERALS LETTER.
STATE OF MINNESOTA,
ADJUTANT GENERALS OFFICE,
ST. PAUL, May 80, 1885.
Col. William B. Bend, Commanding
First Regiment NJ. n. G.-Sir: Your let
ter of this date in answer to my cOAmuni-
cation of last evening was received by me
this evening on my return from the memo
rial services, and in reply have to say that
I have not been misinformed as to the
facts, for received my information from
yourself and representations of the GA. r. !;
nor have I misunderstood them in any par
ticular. You state that in settling matters
of precedence and all other military mat
tiers, the regulations of the United States
army are sufficiently good authority for
you, and / am left to infer that that state
ment carries the mental reservation that
you are the supreme authority to interpret
them. You quote articles there of the reg
ulations as to the formation or arrange
ment of the different arms Of the service,
which refer to strictly military dress pa
or hr14 o% 1ncC
to quote anything from them in reference to
civil or public professions, which are gov
erned by custom and the good sense of the
management, and you fail to quote from the
regulations as to the disposition of troops,
in which you will find much to contradict
your position. You say there is not word
in the regulations or tactics to warrant my
assertion that at funeral professions the
order prescribed in article should Tie re-
versed. I had supposed when / gave you
the reverse formation you were cOnversant
with the tactics at least of your own arm of
the service, and l now quote for your infor-
nation from paragraph 1913 of Upton's
United States Infantry Tactics:
''At the funeral of general officer the
commander of an escort in forming a
column gives the appropriate commands
for the cavalry, artillery and infantry, which
form in column, from front to rear, in the
order named"
BUT YOU MAY ARGUE
that these memorial professions of the
''privateS'' of the G. A. r.. cannot be
ikened to the funeral of a general officer,
which alone is entitled to an escort COM
prising the three arms of the service, and
you may claim this, though they carry their
offerings to the grave of their comrade, the
g -, h
whose name will be honored and memory
renewed long ages after you and are for
gotten.
You say that if the turnout on Decera-
ton day is not military parade contem-
plated in article 3, that the placing of the
troops vested in you, as senior commander,
had you paraded. Now, you are not the
senior commander, except for your own
regiment, and you have no authority over
the artillery, which is part of the guard
except when it is assigned to your command
temporarily, and you certainly have no
authority over the cavalry, which
is not in the service. The authority which
assigned you to command the first division of
the procession was for that purpose held
for the time being your superior, and the chief
marshal, Gen. Leasure, might with perfect
propriety and in accordance with your own
thesis, have assigned the artillery to the
right of the column, but the infantry was
accorded that place, and the battery made
no objection, which it might justly have
done, and showed its sense of propriety by
parading in any position designated.
All your objections to the cavalry were
obviated by assigning as the body guard of
the commander of the procession, and its
rank and standing was entirely absorbed in
a QI1lY nf xuhn
surrounded.
YOUR COMMAND.
then being given the right of the column
proper, there remained not shadow of
excuse, just or technical, for your refusal to
parade.
You state that seven companies of your
regiment paraded in other cities, and were
accorded the right of the line, and the same
should have been done here. The situation
is not similar for they did not parade with
other arms of the service, and natu rally
the right of the line fell to them without
dispute. The right of the line proper was,
however, rendered the infantry companies
of this city, and it is to be regretted that
they were not permitted to set commend
able example to other companies that
might be called upon to parade on
similar circumstances, and l take
here this opportunity to state that
in my official opinion your action under all
the circumstances does not speak the senti-
ments OF the National Guard of Minnesota
In conclusion you say you have no fear for
the consideration for the commander-in-
chief and you doubt my authority to use
his name. 1t is not the first time that YOU
have publicly asserted that have acted as
adjutant general without authority, and it
appears you are counting one more lesson
on that point
HAD I SEEN FIT
to order you to parade instead of writing