The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-07-18
Stars and Men.

~ UR camps on Cuba's southern
~ coast are p~rofusely adorned with
stars. The shoulder strap oil a
major general carries two stars. that
of the b~rigadier carries one. The hab-
it of the Spaniards is to keep their
forces richly equipped with generals:
the popular notion is that they are the
most numerous factor in Spanish and
in Cuban armies. In comparison with
the number of our forces in Cuba. our
own crop Of generals has been abundant.
as the result Of these weeks of war.
Shafter was a one-starred ~brigadier
when the war began; in proportion TO
the size Of his command, he has a
heavy stock of generals under hin.
There were two or three major ger
erals In our Cuban army when it
landed; the president has created six
more, each n of the brigadiers get
ting an additional star while two or
three colonels have been advanced to
the rank of %brigadier. The criticism
that possibly suggests itself is that.
under all circumstances, major gem
eralships cannot be so very plenty; IL
the war proves to be a long one. OPP
%portunities for merited promotion will
thus be made relatively scarce. The
man who is major general is about as
high up as most American soldiers get.
The rank of general. without a quail
flying prefix. does not exist in our
army. Washington. Grant, Sherman
and Sheridan are the only Americans
who have been honored with it, while
the rank of lieutenant general has been
held only by Washington. Grant, Sher-
man. Sheridan and Schofield: Scott
held it by brevet.
More noticeable, however. than the
fact of numbers is the incident of age
among our commanders on land and
sea. Joe" Wheeler, in his prime dur
ing the civil war. is pushing through
the sixties; Shafter is sixty-threa;
Dewey s~ixty-one; Schley fifty-eight.
Sampson is of Schley's age. To all APP
pearance the war will not last long
enough to give the young blood an OPP
portunity-unless it be that this coun-
try is foolish enough to plunge into
colonial schemes; If we do that, our
coming years will provide war enough
for all. When the civil war started,
old men were in the saddle-Scott vas
seventy-1ve when the first shot in that
war was fired. and several of the vet
Grams whom the Mexican war had ad-
vanced in rank were past their prime.
Lee and Johnson were with the con-
federates; Mr.. Blaine's assertion was
that the only West Pointer in the
union army during the civil war who
of troops after he was fifty years Of
age was David Hunter" He entered
upon his sixtieth year on the day of
misfortune at Bull Run. and thereafter
he rendered meritorious service.
But the youngsters were soon in the
front rank in civil-war service. Sher-
man gained distinction at forty-one;
he marched to the sea when he was
forty-four. Grant commanded at
Shiloh when he was thirty-eight. Sher-
ludh was ihii's-'hi't stdiS 'Nh "ht
he swept through the valley. Scho-
field had splendid achievements to his
credit before he was thirty-fve: Burn
side was successful. In his North Car
olina campaign at the age of thirty
seven. Meade was in his forty-seventh
year when he commanded at Gettys-
burg. Benjamin F. Butler was forty
two when he commanded the army of
the gulf; Logan had high rank at the
age of thirty-fve; Garfield was a ma
jor general before he celebrated his
thirty-second birthday. History does
not show tina any of these men were
entrusted with responsibilities beyond
their years. General Miles. ranking
officer of the army of the United
States. will be sixty next year. At the
age of twenty-one he was clerk in a
crockery store in Boston. He enlisted
as a private; two years later he was a
brigadier general. Merritt. who is 20
be chief In command in the Philippines,
a graduate of West Point. was a
brigadier general of volunteers at the
age of twenty-eight. He is sixty-two
years old.
The aay-raising at Santiago yester-