The National tribune., 1901-12-19

after the war was over, and the Sth Ill.
was one of the regiments retained in
Texas. There was much dissatisfaction
among the troops thus held in service,
and some of them were on the verge of
open mutiny. The spirit and discipline of
the Sth ILL.,, under WheatOn's command,
made it marked exception in this par
ticular-sO much so that 1t received the
sobriQuet of "Wheaton's Regulars In
this trying service the regiment remained
more than year. 1t was finally mustered
out at Baton Rouge in May, 1866, after
more than five years continuous service.
OF the $50 men mustered in its ranks at
Cairo, April so, 1861, only 14S answered
to the last rOll-call at Baton Rouge the
Nth of May, 1866! From this brief his
tory the impression will doubtless be de-
rived that the early military education OIL
Maj.-GCn. Lloyd Wheaton was not neg
lected.
After his five years of volunteer Serv-
ice Col. Wheaton took a rest for To DAY ;,
and in July, 1866, accepted the commits
sion of Captain in the 3ith Regulars. The
reduction Of the number of Infantr.: req
ments soon afterwards made promotion
slow, and Wheaton remained a Captain
% years, reaching the rank of Major in
1891, and that Of Colonel in 1SJS. When
the Spanish War broke out he was among
the first BrigadierGenerals of Volunteers,
q
in that branch. He was promoted to
BrigadierGencral in the Regular Army
in 1900 and to Major General March 30,
1901. His service in the recent war has
been wholly III the Philippines, and Is too
well known to require mention here.
At the age of - Lloyd Wheaton is in
his 4lst year of practically continuous
service, and but for the legal limit of 64
years for active service, he would be good
fgt. lta al u 81 AZ
over 4j.
In conclusion it is worth saying that
in our General and our Major
Generals we have q group of officers
whose equals either iii personal ability or
actual warlike experience do not exist
elsewhere. Taken together they repre-
sent a wider scope and greater diversity
of practical military training than any
other seven men since NapoleOn's Mar
shals. The mischief is that the youngest
of them has only about seven years of
active service left, and when they are
gone there will never be any more of their
school to take their places.
Never again can there be such n war
school rs that in which they graduated
with such hOnOrs. Our Immortal Old
Army of the Potomac claims five Of them;
Miles and Brooke from the Second Corps,
Otis from the Fifth and Sam Young and
Chaffee from the Cavalry Corps. The
Western Armies of Grant. Sherman and
Thomas claim the other two, and may be
equally proud Of thcnl-MacArihu" and
Lloyd Wheaton. Many veterans yet sur
viye who have seen our Generals carry
ing muskets or carhues in the ranks Or
marching on foot with their companies as
volunteer subaltcrns in times when the
chaif and the wheat of humankind were
winnowed apart by the blasts Of battle.
In their Military Academy the cuIricu-
lum was all in dead earnest. Their path
OF duty yawHed full of graves and their
road of fame was Il bloody stripe across
the land. Survivals of the iittcst in trials
the like of which never were before and
can never come again, not the least Of
their historic glories is that they must
be the last of their heroic race.