The herald., 1898-04-24
CALL FOR TROOPS
TO REPEL THE ATTACK OF A
FOREIGN FOE
ACTION ALREADY TAKEN
SHOWS OCCUPATION OF CUBA
IMMINENT
'TELEGRAMS ARE POURING IN
Showing the Surprisingly Short Space
of Time Required to Raise
the Force Needed
Associated Press Special Wire

. WASHINGTON. April 2S-The pres Z
. ident today called upon the people OF
the United States for the first time in Z
. thirty years to manifest their martial
Q strength, the call this time being upon Z
a united people to go forward to battle
. with a foreign foe. The secretary Of .
. war created new army corps. The
two taken together, with other news {
Of the day, showed that the regular .
. army will soon move on Cuba, and .
that meanwhile the volunteers will
be equipped and drilled. .
. The presidents proclamation, while
actually Issued, was not certified to .
. the governors Of the states and terri .
tories and will not be until Monday. .
The reason Is two-fold. In the first place,
the war department desires to avoid de-
stroying the present organization Of the
National guard, which is to be called into
service first. The guard regiments are
composed of twelve companies, and, being
officered more numerously than the regu-
lar army regiments, would have to be
changed to correspond to the army organ
ization in order to comply with the order
as 1t exists. The pending bill. however.
provides for meeting just such an emerg-
ency and permits the use of the National
guard as organized This consideration is
more important than would appear at first.
inasmuch as many Of the National guard
have volunteered only under condition that
they may serve as now organized. The Sec
ond consideration which influenced the de-
partment in postponing the certification Of
the call until Monday is a desire to make
sure that adequate arrangements can be
completed by quartermasters and the COM
missary department for transporting and
feeding the large number Of men called for.
This Is no light task as the volunteers
must be taken by the government at a
certain point in every state where they are
to be collected by the governors.
Little Time Needed
kilograms have been coming from al
most every section Of the country to Secre-
tary Alger from governors and military
officers conveying information as to the
length Of time. surprisingly short in many
cases, that would be required by them to
gather their forces ready for muster. The
men, as fast as mustered in by regular
army officers in the various states, will be
brought to one Of three great depots.
namely Washington, Richmond or Allan
ia, where they will be organized to meet
the requirements Of modern army tactics.
The fact that Richmond Is named as one
OF these points Is taken in some quarters
as an evidence that Fitzhugh Lee is to re-
ceive q volunteer commission, either
as one of the four major gener-
ais or one Of the nine brigadier
generals provided for in the volunteer
BILL for It Is believed to have been largely
at his instance that Richmond was select
Cd as one of the points Of concentration.
In anticipation Of the certification of the
presidents call vast numbers Of letters and
kilograms have begun to flow in upon Sec
retary Alger, offering the services Of the
senders as volunteers in the army. So nu-
merous are these communications that the
secretary has asked the press to notify the
people that such communications should
be directed to the governors of their re-
spective states and territories. as he has
no authority under the law to accept vol
unteers directly.
To Move on Cuba
The formation of a grand army corps in
the department of the south, with head
quarters at the three gulf ports, is an
evidence that the government is to move
upon Cuba at once with the troops of the
regular army, leaving the volunteers just
called for to be disciplined and worked
into shape for future use in the cam
paign.
The formal order for the creation of this
grand army division, issued at the war
department at the close of office hours
today, was as follows:
The Formal Order
Headquarters of the Army, Adjutant
Generals Office. Washington, D. G.,
April 23-General Order, No. -.
BY direction of the secretary of war the
following orders of the president are pub
lished for the information and guidance of
all concerned
First-The United States troops assem-
bled in the Chickamauga national PARK
will form an encampment to be known as
Camp George Ii. Thomas, and will con-
stitute, temporarily. an army corps under
the command of Major General John f.
Brooke. The corps will consist of one di-
vision Of cavalry, one division of infan-
try and one brigade of light artillery.
The cavalry and infantry divisions will
each be composed of not more than three
brigades, consisting of three or more reg:-
ments each. The artillery brigade will be
composed of two battalions, each compris-
ing five batteries The corps commander
will assign the senior officers present for
duty with each arm to command of di-
visions and brigades.
Second-The infantry regiments con-
centrated in New Orleans, Mobile and
Tampa are constituted divisions under the
command of Brgadier General William
r. Shafter, Brigadier General John Cop
pinger and Brigadier General James Il.
Wade respectively. The division command
ers will form their divisions into brigades
and assign the senior officers present for
duty to comamnd them.
BY command of Major General Miles.
II. G. CORBIN,
'"- Adjutant General.
{ The District Guard
The people Of the District of Columbia
will see a great many soldiers at the be.
ginning Of next week. BY direction of the