The broad ax., 1898-10-22
GENERAL WHEELER.


OF tins war without anything. but
glory In their records. His life has
oeen q somewhat curious mixture OF
the most dashing and picturesque ad.
venture and the most uninteresting OF
drudgery. A West Point lieutenant
Just entering upon his military caree.
at the beginning Of the civil war, he
unhesitatingly devoted his heart and
his hand 10 the fortunes Of the Con
tederacy and became the most daring
and successful cavalry leader Of the
South, possibly OF the whole country.
Wheeler's exploits during those four
years were told with glee by the Con-
federates and with a mixtue Of admi-
ration and gnashing of teeth by the
Union officers whom he circumvented.
When Lee surrendered and jefferson
Davis was prisoner, Wheeler, loyal
as ever 10 the cause for which he had
fought for four long years. risked his
life and freedom In an attempt to res
cue Davis. 1t failed, and when the
turmoil Of war had q little subsided
and the knights OF the Lost Cause
gathered themselves together to face
the future, Wheeler, practical, plucky,
and uncomplaining as ever, was to be
found grubbing living out of his farm
In Alabama. They wanted him to be
professor Of philosophy in the Louis
--.te Seminary, but he declined
that offer and kept on practicing law
and agriculture with equanimity and
success
The Forty-seventh Congress saw
him In the House, and after that moth
ing except war would have dislodged
him from his seat. Whenever here
has been any development which look
ed Ike war he has alwaysCbeen the
drst to tender his services to the gov
.rnment. For the last thirty years he
mas had what one might call a stand.
ng determination to continue his mill.
ray career when he had a chance. II
Is my belief that If we had an admin.
istratIon foolish and obstinate enough
to refuse him a commission he would
have shouldered a rife and gone to
the front as a private, and he would
have inevitably come out of the fight
wearing shoulder straps. He % moi
the kind of man to be ignored.
The stories which have clustered
about Wheeler's career in this wal
would make an interesting book all
by themselves. He not only climbed q
tree to reconnoiter the enemy's camp
and 1t wasn't a cactus or a cocoanut
palm, as some Of the enterprising art.
lists tried to make us believe-but 1t Is
reported that he climbed the tree un.
der which the capitulation was signed
at Santiago, and sent leaf thereof tc
each of his constituents. / am inclin.
ed to doubt this yarn. OF course 1t is
a picturesque thing to think of-the
slender, active little general sitting in
the crotch of a limb busily picking
leaves enough to ill barrels. and leav.
ing the tree as bare ~ a BARRIERS pole,
but 1t is my belief that II there really
was a barrelful of leaves picked of
that tree, Wheeler sent some small Gu
ban boy up to do II. He never does
an odd thing for the sake OF being
odd. 1t is certain, however, that he
did send a good many of his friends
leaves from that there tree and that
they prize them most highly.
Wheeler's behavior at Santiago has
furnished the subject for almost the
only real war poem which has appear.
ed during the war. You have all read
ii. 1t is called Wheeler at Santiago"
and is by James Lindsay Gordon. The |
poem has been copied all over the Uni
ted States, and the story of that day
has been told everywhere, but 1 am
going to tell it over again. Wheeler,
the rest Of the army, was, like his
men, attacked by the fever Of the coun-
try, and was not able to lift his head
for several days. He was carried here
and there and directed operations from
his cot, but when the time came to at |
tack Santiago he was so Ill that il
was not thought best to inform him |
just when the attack would take place. |
But he heard the roar of guns from |
afar and he was not to be let or him |
dered. He told them to put him into |
Al ambulance and take him to the |
front and there is more power in the |
little major generals say so, even !
when he is helpless with fever, than !
there Is in the blatant roaring of big |
six-foot bully. They put him into that |
and started for the front. !
On the way they met the lItters with
he wounded, and the newspaper cor
bear witness as to the mis-
srabae inadequacy with which these
were provided for. |
was out OF that ambulance .
md In the saddle In about a minute
md a half, and though almost any man
n bis army could have picked him mp
md carried him, nobody ventured to
oppose his determination to 60 to the
ront. And then ne rode to the front.
md the sight Of him put new life into
he whole army. Gordon tells II in |
words which thrill one like the sound
f drum and fife.
There Is nothing In the whole his
DRY Of warfare more dramatic than
!