Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-08-10
R. w. s0ULE,
THE Hustler" Aliens Block.
augusta, Maine.
OUR OLD COMMANDERS.
Few Of the Commanding Officers Of the
Present Strife Are Youthful.

This is an old mems war so far as the
army is concerned. When the Civil War
broke out. Lee the two Johnstons. Coop
er and perhaps one or two other men of
years and rank joined the Confedtrlcy,
for most of these officers were from the
Southern states; d few elderly officers
went into service in the national armies,
nut with rare exceptions ii was the cap
tainS and lieutenants of the regular army
who became the generals Of the Civil War.
and the civilians who were appointed to
military command were usually young
men, Most of the general and field off,
GERS of what is known as the old army
were deemed physically unavaila BILE and
ton that remembers well the names of
scores of military commanders who in
1851 were company officers or. if in civil
life at at time, were just beginning their
business or professional careers.
In 1861 the patriarchs of the United
States army were Sumner. aged g. and
Mansfield aged ~. The latter was killed
at Antietam; the former. soon after
F'rederickshurs. was relieved from SER
vice in the field at his own request.
Ormsby Mcknight Mitchell was 30 when
the war began. Hooker Il. Meade 46.
Thomas -, Mcdowell. ord and Buell. AZ,
Sherman Al, Aufur 40 Grant and Pope. %,
Hancock and Burnside 81. Logan and Nc
Clellan 3d. Mcpherson 80. Howard 81
Sheridan 80 and Merritt 25.
Most of the general officers of the pres
ent army were the generals and colonels
of the regular army; few of these are
under 60 years Of age. The four original
major generals of volunteers. appointed
from civil life. achieved high rank in the
Civil War. \ man who was only - when
that war closed would now be GO, so that
these commanders are over that age, for
the youngest of them, General Wheeler
was 2S at the end of the war. General
Sewell declined his appointment. prefer
ring 10 remain in The senate, and the
president added to this list Butler. of
South Carolina, and keifer of ono both
50: these men were not 80 years old when
the Civil War closed, and both OF them
had distinguished themselves in that
struggle.
Dandolo took Cunstantinople at so or
over. and Won Moltke was over 20 at the
time of the Franco-German war. Several
other German officers We're well over Co.
but these must be regarded as excep-
tional cases. Napoleon and Wellington
We're about IS at Waterloo, and most of
Napoleon's generals were young men
Our officers in the Revolution were gem
orally young, but so were the leaders of
civil life; the active period of life
seemesl then to beginand close earlier than
now. Scott and Taylor were past middle
life in the war with Mexico. After a. II
man is liable to develop physical weak
nesses that interfere with campaigning.
and "A man of 30 does not generally take
the chances that man of 30 does and
in war many chanceS must be taken. If
General Shafter is to be criticised at ALL
however, it is for being too aggressive
and not for being too cautious. We do
not critcise the general. but if he were
to be criticised it would be for fault
of youth and not for "A fault of age. But
he is over 60. weighs over 800 pounds. and
on~Sccount of trouble with his legs is
lr kble for days at a time to stand. Cen
eral Wheeler is 81. and was carried for
ward to the fighting before Santiago on
hut tt,yt ttN.. -.xtC fh.a
surgeons. he insisted on mounting his
horse when he reached the front. Cen
eral Young, also over so. has been in
valided home because he cannot stand the
climate of Cuba. Men between 30 and 40.
the age of most of the generals of the
Civil War are at present subalterns.
Colonel Roosevelt who is one of the boys
of this war must he 40 or little over.