The times., 1899-07-06
VOLUNTEER MEN FOR Otis
Ten Regiments TO Be Recruited as
Soon as Possible.
Plans for Augmenting the Philippine
Army Discussed nt the Cabinet
Meeting and the Details frnn.i!
Arranged mt Military Confer
ence-Orders to He Issued Today.

menting the army in the Pnlllpplnes were
discussed at length at Cabinet meet
ing yesterday, and were finally arranged al
conference held at the White House last
night between President Mckinley. Secre-
tary Alger, and Adjutant-General Corbin.
| Instead of three brigades of volunteers, as
originally contemplated, there will be four
brigades of three regiments each, includ-
ing the two regiments which General Otis
is organizing at Manila. This volunteer
force will consist, exclusive of officers,
of l5.536 men. There will be 564 officers,
470 of whom will be selected by President
Mckinley and the rest by General otis.
Ten volunteer regiments will be organ
lied in the United States, and 1t is eX-
pected that General Otis will be able to
raise from among the regulars and volun-
/ teers in the Philippines whose terms OF
service have expired, enough men to or
ganize two full regiments instead oil that
number of skeleton commands. The order
providing for the enlistment and organiza-
tion of this volunteer force was revised
at the White House conference and VIII
be formally issued by the Adjutant-General
| today.
| No Reference to states
The ten regiments to be raised in this
country will be raised without reference to
| State lines The order to be issued today
will provide for the establishment OF head-
quarters for each of these regiments Nine
stations will be designated by the order
at one of which two regiments will rendez-
voused and one regiment at each OF the
others The headquarters will be SO DIS
! tributed that every part OF the country VIII
be covered Enlistments will be made at
all the seventy Regular Army recruiting
stations, and at the headquarters OF the
regiments. As fast as recruited the vol
unteers will be sent in detachments to the
nearest regimental headquarters.
These nine regimental stations Will be
Plattsburg Barracks, New York; camp
Meade. Pennsylvania; Fort Mcpherson,
Georgia; Fort Thomas, Kentucky; Fort
Sheridan, Illinois; Fort Sam Houston,
Texas; Fort Leavenworth. Kansas; Fort
Logan. Colorado, and Vancouver Bar
racks. Washington. Two regiments will
rendezvous at Camp Meade. Plattsburg
Barracks will be headquarters of the reg
iment to be recruited in New England
and northern New York; Camp Meade for
New York City, central New York, and
the Middle Atlantic States; Fort McPher-
/ sen for the Southern States of the At
lucky, and part OF the South; Fort Sherl-
dan for the Middle West; Fort Sam Hous-
ton and Fort Leavenworth for the South
west and the rest of the Middle West;
| Fort Logan for the Rocky Mountain re-
gion and part of the Northwest. and Van
couver Barracks for the Pacific Coast.
The officers.
The colonels and most of the officers Of
these ten regiments will be appointed
within the next ten days AS soon as he
receives his commission each colonel will
establish headquarters at the station des-
ignated as the rendezvous of his regi-
ment and will superintend its organiza-
tion. The regiments will be designated
numerically. beginning with the Twenty
sixth and including the Thirty fifth. This
order was adopted so that there would
be no confusion between the volunteer
regiments and those of the Regular Army,
which are numbered from one to twenty
five inclusive. 1t was announced yester-
day afternoon that Major Edmund Rice,
of the Third Regular Infantry, would be
colonel OF the first of the new regiments,
which will be designated as the Twenty
sixth United States Volunteer Infantry.
and will have its headquarters at Platts-
burg Barracks, New York.
The plan of the President in regard to
the appointment of the officers OF the ten
regiments to be organized in the United
States. as developed at the Cabinet meet
ing yesterday, is TO select the ten colonels,
ten lieutenant colonies. and thirty majors
from the officers of the Regular Army,
and the company officers from men who
served in the war with Spain either as
volunteers or regulars. II is said that no
officer of the Regular Army Will be ap-
pointed a captain or lieutenant OF yoiun-
teers But officers of volunteers who
served in that war will be eligible to ap-
pointment as company officers. An ex-
ception to the rule of taking all the .egi-
mental officers from the Regular Army
may be made, it was reported in military
circles yesterday, in the case of Colonel
Durbin. a civilian, who commanded the
l5lst Indiana Volunteers in the Spanish
war. While Colonel Durbin's regiment had
no fighting to do it was one of the very
best of the volunteer army and made an
excellent record for discipline and general
efficiency while in camps in the United
States and Cuba Capt. James S. Petit
of the First Infantry, who commanded the
Fourth Immunes in the war with Spain
has been selected for the colonelcy of one
of the new regiments. By restricting the
selection of regimental officers TO officers
of the Regular Army the Administrators
hopes to avoid a repetition of the rusf
for commissions which was experienced a
the beginning of the Spanish American
war. BY selecting trained regular officers
for these places high state of efficiency
in the new regiments will be assured.
The Kind of Recruits Wanted.
The physical qualifications OF applicant!
for enlistment in the ten volunteer regi-
ments will be greater than those of appli.
cants for enlistment in the regular service
! No man will be accepted who does no
possess a vigorous constitution, and ex,
; soldiers who were discharged from tht
, regular or volunteer service on account o
disability contracted in the war with SpaiI
will not be taken. The other require
ments, however, will be less severe thar
those of the Regular Army. Applicants
need not be citizens of the United States
or able to speak and write the English
: language large number of German min
ers in western Pennsylvania have beeI
, anxious to enlist in the Regular Army fo
service in the Philippines, but We're pre-
vented from doing so because they hat
4 not been naturalized and could not writ
or speak English. 1t is expected that
great many OF these men will now enlist
Each of the ten regiments viii consist o
Al commissioned officers and 1878 enlisted
men, including the non commissioned stat
and band. Twelve companies of li2 mel
each will compose the fighting strength
= of a regiment.
q Word has been received from Genera
Otis that he is hopeful of securing in tn
/ Philippines the 2756 enlisted men neces
sary to make the two regiments he i
organizing of full strength. The numbe
of men to be enlisted in the United State
: will be 1880. Regiments will be organ
, l ized as raDifIy as DOSsihle and IL Is hOpet