The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-08-24
GEN. JOE WHEELER.
What a Prominent United States
Army Officer Says Of Him.

6lu ~ OHbeCA Set J W 4Alih'
OF al the generals with the army in
front of Santiago Major General Wheel
cr now. promises to come out Of the
campaign with the highest reputation
for courage. strength of purpose mill
tary foresight and soldierly discretion.
The Washington correspondent Of the
Atlanta Journal says this was the opin-
ion advanced by 4 prominent army Off
Ger at Washington recently when the
.Alger- Roosevelt controversy was under
discussion.
There is no doubt that the conduct
of General Wheeler in the Santiago
campaign has won golden opinions from
leading officers in the army. In private
conversation they assert the belief that
the principal credit Of the victory be-
longs to General Wheeler more than
to any other general who took part in
the campaign. Strong reasons are ad-
vanced for this opinion. 1t has been
made clear that if it had not been for
General Whcelers determination the
army would have retreated from the
advanced position which it captured in
the fight before San Juan. The tele-
gram sent by General Wheeler to Cen
eral Shafter on the night Of July |
clearly indicates this. In this telegram
General Wheeler says that many Of the
officers had appealed to him to have the
line withdrawn and the army take up
position further back. but that he posi-
lively discountenanced this as it would
lose the American army much prestige.
He urged General Shafter not to pay
any attention to similar requests ifmade
Of him.
That General Wheeler understood
perfectly the conditions which con-
fronted the army when he took this
stand against retreat is shown by
his telegram to General Shafter. In it
he said: The lines are thin, as
so many men have gone to the rear with
wounded and many are exhausted but |
hope these men can get up tonight and
with our line cntrenched and Lawton
on our right, we ought to hold tomor-
row. but fear it will be severe day.
If We can get through tomorrow all
right we can make our breastwOrks
strong the next night.
He realized thoroughly" said this
officer above quoted, that his forces
were in bad shape and that they had
hot work before them But he saw
also that they could win out if they
held their ground, and believing that.
he counted not the cost. He at once
set the whole army to work strength
ening' its position, and We learn from
officers who have returned from the
front that it was his intelligent direc,
ton which not only made the Ameri-
can position tenable, but enabled our
army later on to drive the Spaniard<
into Santiago. Some of the officers
who took part in the battle even go SC
far as to say that if it had not been fol
General Wheeler the victory ofSantiagC
might have been lost and the American
forces routed. Even while he was SO
sick that he had to be carried around in
a litter, his knowledge of what ought to
De done and his directions as to how tC
do it were of incalculable advantange.
''You will take notice that General
Wheeler is the only one Of the com
manding generals at the front whose
name is not singed to the Round Rob,
in. Just as he refused to listen to the
generals who urged a retreat, so alsc
did he refuse to take part in any com.
plaint. He was not unsympathetic tc
the suffvrings of his men. His tele.
grams to General Shafter show how
deeply he was affected by the hard
ships which they endured. You can
hardly realize the exhausted condition
of the troops, he said in speaking OF
the situation at the front on the night
of the battle Of San Juan. But he had
himself stuck to his duty like man
when racked with pain, and he looked
to the men under him to show SINH
lar undaunted grit.
"A southern man and a Democrat
one might have looked for criticism
from kim of the conditions which Col
onel Roosevelt so forcibly set forth.
None came, General Wheeler stood
out against retreat; he stood out against
complaint. We give all our generals
at the front praise for their gallantry in
action, but General Wheeler has shown
himself to be the ablest and truest sol
dier of them ALL