The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-16
SIDNEY HERBERT'S LETTER.
THE RANK REACHED BY SONS OF
GEMS. FITz. LEE AND WHEELER.

Some Misleading Statements in Re-
gard TO Thcm-Jacksonville and
the Confederate Reunion-The
Tablet at West Point to the Mem
DRY of Soldiers of 1S12-Ipexcus-
able Ignorance on Patent Med
icine Certifcate-A Timely Refer
ence to Lieut.. w. ii. Lee-Star
West Point Cadets-Some Com
ments on Flag Day-FlOwers Cast
Upon the Ocean Waves as a Part
of Memorial Day Ceremonies.
Other Matters of General Interest.
Pine Crest Villa, Maitland, Fla, June
15.-The press telegram announcing that
Fltz Lee. Jr., had been appointed lieu
tenant in the regular army was mislead-
ing, he having been so appointed months
ago, and is now simply promoted to be
a first lieutenant. 1t is a singular fact
that both Fitz Lee, Jr., and Joe Wheeler,
Jr., have already reached the highest
rank held by their fathers in the old
army but those fathers are now back
again as brigadier generals on the retired
list. The reported suicide of Maj
W. H. DAILY, surgeon general on the
staff of Lieut.. Gen. Miles in Porto Rico,
is also misleading. He was simply vol
unteer surgeon on temporary duty, and
not surgeon general which carries the
rank of brigadier general. Assistant sur
geons general are colonels and deputy
surgeons general are lieutenant colonies.
, Medical directors and chief surgeons are
attached to army corps, but not surgeons
general. The sugeon general is at the
| head of the entire medical department
of the army and is located at Washing
| ton. D. c. - BY readers of the News
it will be remembered that l vigorously
| and persistently opposed the Metropolis
| in it's advocacy of. Jacksonville as the
| next place of meeting of the u. Z. V"
| contendng that the city could not prop
| erly entertain them. And now the Me-
tropolis, Notwithstanding Memphis had a
public fund of $4,000 and plenty of prl-
waite hospit atty, says: The boast that
Memphis could well care for the visitors
| at the late Confederate Veterans reunion
did not prove true, as that city had more
| visitors than it could accommodate with
| ease" This being true, If the Metrop-
| oils is correct, a similar reunion In jack
sonville would have "swamped' the town.
The United States Daughters 1872 have
recently placed a memorial tablet to the
soldiers of 1872 in the chapel at West Point
Military Academy This reminds me that
the patriotic women of Atlanta have or
ganized the Georgia Division, United
| States Daughters 1872, with Miss Virginia
Arnold Miss Junia Mckinley and Mrs.
Norwood Mitchell at the head of it,
The Atlanta Journal blindly persists
in saying the United States are" con-
federation, when all history shows that
the United States is a nation. What
ever the status may have appeared to
be prior to the Civil War, 1t is now set
tied fact that I'VE is Nation"
A striking example Of vife's deep devo-
ton to a gallant husband is to be seen
! ip the Confederate cemetery at Winches-
ter, Va, where the wife OF Col. Edward
/ Stiles, of the Sixteenth Georgia Infan-
| try lies buried by his side Mrs. Stiles
! died few years after the Civil War and
at her request the body was taken to
Winchester and laid beside that of her
heroic and beloved husband.
I noticed a patent medicine certificate in
the Morning News lately from Mrs. James
| Longstreet, wife, it said, of Lieut.. Gen.
James Longstreet the only living ex-Con-
federate officer of that rank Such ig-
norance on the part of a noted Ohio med
jcine manufacturer is inexcusable. Any
man who reads the daily papers knows
that Hampton, S. D. Lee, ]. B. Gordon,
Buckner. A. p. Stewart and Joe Wheeler
are ell as alive as Longstreet, and more
so, with the exception of Hampton. 1t is
safe to assert that Longstreet will never
live to be the sole surviving lieutenant
general of the Confederacy. TIE
May Shut Jarvis Out" special frora
Washington, is all "bosh." The suspen-
sion of Cadet Telford, at West Point, is
the same in results, as his being found"
in study and turned back" to a lower
class. In that case Jarvis would be set
back a year in entering West Point II
he becomes of average" during that
year It is not the governments fault. His
appointment is simply to a vacancy that
is to follow Teford's graduation. Now,
there can be no vacancy until that event
occurs. If Teford is suspended or put
back a year Jarvis must wait. He has
no vested right" until Telford is out.
And then he must pass his exams" and