The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-29
PLANS ALREADY MAPPED OUT
FOR THE OCCUPATION OF EITHER
OR BOTH THE ISLANDS.
President Mckinley Urged to Seize
the CarOlines-A Major General and
Several Brigadiers Named.
snenial to the 1ndiananolis Journal.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON, May 2S.-No effort is be-
| ing spared to rush the work of equipping
and Quitting the great army of American
soldiers that has suddenly sprung into be-
| ing. There are now about $4,000 men in the
! several encampments, on the way there or
! stationed about and in actual service This
| enumeration includes the regular army reg
! iments which not yet filed out. The
War Office had to begin the preparation of
| this great aggregation of fighting men for
! the real business of war right from the
| ground. Very little that had been done was
done right. Practically everything had to
| be provided anew. The process is too slow
| to suit impatient critics, who eliminate such
! little things from their calculations as time,
| space and physical possibilities, and who do
| everything instantaneously, performing
miracles with the greatest ease on paper.
| General Miles is to proceed at once on a
| tour of inspection Of the encampments of
soldiers, that he my acquaint himself by
| personal observation of the requirements of
the army. He will begin with Camp Alger
| and thence proceed to Chickamauga, and
| from there to Tampa, via New Orleans and
Mobile. 1t is not probable that he will re-
| turn to Washington immediately, but will
establish headquarters in Florida, so as to
be close to the scene of actual military op-
erations He may conclude to lead the
army of invasion into Porto Rico and Cuba,
| but this is something to be determined later.
| The President is being strongly urged to
| reach out and take the Caroline islands as
| we'll as the Philippines. The Caroline group
| lies south of the Philippines and east of
| Borneo. 1t is there that we had serious
| trouble some years ago on account of indig-
mites to American missionaries. Church
| officials have brought the existence of these
| islands and their desirability as an acqui-
sition to the attention of the President. In
| themselves the Carolines are not important,
but their seizure by the United States would
be another blow at Spain and would deprive
| the Spanish of all their colonies in that
part of the world. For that reason the
| President Is giving favorable consideration
to the suggestion, and it is more than prob
able that when General Merritt sails from
| San Francisco for Manila to become mill
tary Governor of the Philippines his juris-
diction will be extended over the Carolnes.t
| While our armies are being prepared for
| the invasion of Cuba the Cubans and their
dearest friends are to be encouraged by the
| government to organize series of exped-
| tons to get supplies to the suffering Cubans
/ on the island. 1t ought to be a compare
| lively easy matter to smuggle great quanti-
| ties of provisions through the Spanish lines,
| now that the sea patrol has been broken up.
In this way suffering among the pacificos
can be measurably mitigated. This relief
| work is not to be carried on with brass
band accomplishments, but will be done
quietly so as to avoid interference from the
| Spaniards.
Gen. H. V. Boynton, chairman of the
| Chickamauga Park Commission, has re-
turned to the city after visit of several
weeks to the park in connection with a
number of matters which required his at
| tention The general says that considering
! the time the authorities have had at their
disposal for making preparations the con-
dition of affairs there is gratifying. Nothing
has been neglected in the way of taking the
necessary initial steps for the comfort and
convenience of the troops, and from now on
| the arrival of an adequate variety of ra-
tons, uniforms, tents, ETC., will begin in
such quantities to be ample for all ne
| cessities. Some Inconvenience and perhaps
| dissatisfaction was caused by the failure
Of some beef rations to arrive, making it
| necessary for the troops to use pork instead,
but this has now been remedied. General
| Boynton pays a high compliment to the
| splendid military organization of the camp,
which he says is due to the efforts of Major
General Brooke, commanding, and to his
efficient aids, Major Generals Wilson and
! Wade.
| There are now about As, 900 volunteers en-
| camped at Chickamauga, and these are ex-
pected to be supplemented by the arrival of
| $4,000 more if the present plans of the War
| Department not changed before they
arrive. In addition there is some United
| WI
| guard, but they are few in number There
are 1900 horses and mules also on the park
| grounds The men are alls tented in the
wooded portions of the park, leaving the
| open fields for drilling purposes. The ordi-
| nary accommodations of the park says
| General Boynton, are for $1,000 men, and, in
| view of the unexpected arrival of the 10000
| more men, it has been decided to locate one
| corps of troops on some of the adjoining
/ grounds Arrangements for carrying this
| into effect already have been made General
| Boynton feels that it is a cause for con-
| graduation that up TO this time the troops
| have been moved in and around the mark
| with only one accident, in which. unfortu
nately. one Missouri private was killed and
| several injured, all of whom, however, he
| says will get we'll
| The complaints as to lack of water which
| at first were very numerous, now have been
reduced to a minimum. Twenty-one artesian
| wells have been bored, there are a dozen
| springs, nearly every of which furnishes
! plenty of water and two good-sized main
| pipes have been installed, which relieves fhe
| situation materially and makes 1t necessary
/ for the men TO carry water only reason
able distance when the large extent of the
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