Omaha daily bee., 1895-09-29
END OF A BRILLIANT CAREER
General scho6eld Retires Today from Active
Command in the Army.
STEPS OUT ON ACCOUNT OF AGE
His Retirement Marks the Close Of n
Long Series of Valuable Services
10th In War and in
Times of Peace.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2S.-Tomorrow Lieu
tenant General John M. Schoheld retires
from active service and goes on the retired
list, after an eventful career In times OF
war and peace. For more than seven years
he has been in command Of the army, and
since February last he has had the rank
Of lieutenant general by special act of con-
gress.
General Schofeld was born in Chautauqua
county, New York, September 20, 1881, and
was appointed to the military academy from
Illinois in 1S49. Entering the artillery
branch as a second lieutenant In 1858, the
outbreak of the civil war found him a cap
tain of the First artillery in 1861. He was
in active service in the west throughout the
hostilities, and in 1864 was a brigadier gem
eral in command of the Army of the Cum
berland. During reconstruction times he was
in command of the First military district
(state of Virgnia), for little over year.
and for ten months was secretary of war,
| from June 2, 1868, to March IA, 1869, In
which latter year he became a major gen
| eral and after commanding several of the
| army departments he became commander Of
the army in 1888 upon the death of General
| Sheridan.
General Schofeld is one of the few
surviving veterans Of the war who
cOinlndHueu an army, WIN iuuShI
battle himself such, and the
| record Of his active service in the field is
| full of brilliant achievements. But in ad-
| dtion to these he has accomplished in an
administrative way matters of such sub
! stantial benefit to the army that his reputa-
| tion might safely rest alone on them.
First of all, he has been an artillery Of
| fcer, and has kept constantly in view the
Importance of bringing this arm of the serv-
| ice up to perfection. AS the senior member
4 1T, st, t,.N,,
| he has lost no opportunity to encourage in
vention and the development of modern
ordnance and coast defense. He has in
augurated a system of higher education
among the younger members of the ordnance
and artillery branches that mas mad remark
| ably successful results. Young officers who
showed special aptitude in the schools have
| been sent to the arsenals by his orders
Lyceum instruction has been afforded others
| and complete instruction in special
branches has been given noncommissioned
| officers and men by means of pamphlets pre-
| pared under the direction of General Scho-
| field by experts in each branch.
In the wider field of army reorganization
the general has played an important part
He has for years been an earnest advocate
for the three-battalion organization, and tC
him is owed the adoption of the policy OF
concentrating troops IN the great railroad
| centers and at exposed points on the coasts
and the abandonment of small posts. 1t IL
also a notable fact that under his administra
ton of the army has come an end of the
Indian wars that have ravaged the western
country since its settlement, which be a
least in part attributed to the skillful hand
ling of troops that has made 1t manifest t
even the Indians that their struggles woult
be hopeless.
In the hour of civil disturbances th
general has shown himself most wise anc
discreet commander. He is largely respon
sible for the admirable construction of thu
posse comitatus laws, which have neve
been disturbed by the courts, and during th
great labor strikes of last summer in Chi
cago it was his demonstration of the Law
that prevented any serious conflict betweel
the national and etate authorities while
using the army to afford proper protection
to national interests.