The age-herald., 1899-03-17
GEN. WHEELER AND
 THE REGULAR ARMY
From the Washington Star.

From the Washington Star.
 The reported cabal of army officers against General Joseph Wheeler, ment .oned
 in the Star yesterday. is the first intima- ton of what may become a warm piece Of history, unless there is a cessation of the talking which is going on and of the al- legged efforts to prevent the retention of General Wheeler in the army.
 General Wheeer's friends are becoming agitated it is said, over the stories which are being told about him, and which are declared to have been started by officials in the war department. The friends of the little general, however, declare that they
 have no uneasiness as to his future, as the
 president will take care of him, having
 several times expressed the desire to see
 General Wheeler an officer of the regular
 army. It is believed that at the first op- portunity President Mckinley will appoint General Wheeler as a brigadier general in the regular army and allow him to retire after the fighting has ceased. It is known that General Wheeler would accept sucn a position, and desires this above every
 thing else. If appointed to the regular
 army and allowed to retire he would sever his connection with politics.
 The president, it is said, may find 1t im-
 possible to make General Wheeler major general Had the Hull bill passed 1t Is positively known that General Wheeler
 would have been among the major generals appointed The others who would have
 been honored, in addition to the regular
 army men, would have been Generals Lee,
 
 making these appointments having disap-
 peared when the Hull bill was defeated,
 the next best thing with the president Will be the appointment of General Wheeler as a brigadier general.
 The islanders against General Wheeler are said to be still in circulation among men who want to prevent his entrance into the regular army. General Wheeler Is aware of these stories. and so is the president, who has declared that he will pay no at- tention to them.
 The chief charges in circulation are that Gen. Wheeler fought the battle of La Guas- imas against positive orders, and that ne wanted to retire from in front Of Santiago on the night of July 2. the second day or the battle with the Spaniards. Gen. Wheel- CT is said to feel keenly these imputations, inasmuch as he knows that they are false As to the La Guasimas story, it is said that Gen. Wheeler received the congratula- tions of Gen. Shafter, proof that he had not disobeyed orders. The refutation of the charge of wanting to retire from before
 Santiago is furnished in the following story
 of a close friend of Gen Wheeler:
 Ut is admitted by the very men who are
 opposing Gen. Wheeler that he fought against retreat on the night of the first
 days battle in front of Santiago, Well, on that night, after the killed and wounded had been removed to the rear, the doing of which required the services of many men, there were only about 5000 Americans on the ridges in front of the Spaniards. Gen. Wheeler was surrounded by ofhcers that night beseeching him to order re- treat. It it well known that he refused in the strongest possible language. He not only did this, but he sent message to Gen. Shafter saying what efforts were making to have retreat. He asked Gen. Shafter to pay no attention to the entreat- ies when they reached him. On the night of July the American force numbered close to f5, 900 on the ridges around Santia- go and they were well protected by breast works. Gen. Wheeler had no thought of retreating then, and did not once mention the subject. Is it likely that he would have advocated retreat the second night, with
 
 with but 5000 men?'
 It is declared that this stamps the story as preposterous. To further dispose of the story however, Gen. Wheeler is said to have received letters from Generals Shafter and Kent and Governor Roosevelt brand ing the stories as false. Governor Roose- welt expresses astonishment that such story could obtain a foothold among truth ful men. He is Indignant that the story should obtain circulation at all. A peculiar feature in connection with the stories is the allegation of Gen. Wheelers 8 friends that Gen. Corbin Is unfriendly to the Alabama fighter. It is not charged that Gen. Corbin has stigmatized any of the stories in circulation, but it is alleged that he has never shown the friendly feeling for Gen. Wheeler that should have been prompted. It Is declared that Gen. Corbin is such a close friend of Gen. Lawton that he would oppose any person likely to be raised in rank above Gen. Lawton. Among officials of the war department and army it is declared that there is no special feeling against Gen. Wheeler and that there Is as much friendship for him as there would be for any volunteer officer in the army. The whole thing is said to arise out of the usual feeling among army officers that an outsider should not be placed in the army above men who have been there for years.