The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1902-11-21
PASSING OF THH VETERANS.
y but one Hundred and Seventy-Fiye Civil
sS5 War Soldiers on the Active List
bS $ Of the Army.
iENew Orleans Times Democrat. /

" ystsS: -. ~. So: VI wv <hMy .N.s gs .r.
\ s!ss New Oreane Times Democrat. I.
sS8 w ashlngton, November l4.-N,
small sensation was created toda,
aamong army Veterans in the war de
.epartment byan event which has here
tofore escaped attention, On oas
Gala examination of the new arm,
register it was accidentally discov
ssered that there is now one regimen,
sin the United States army without
s.an officer in it who participated ir
1.-The civil war, either as officer or on.
listed man. 1t is the first break OF
Sthe kind since 1861. The 18th cav
aalryF has been first to clear it's roster
OF the men of forty years ago. b
fI9s Promotions and retirements last
year caused the transfer of Lieut..
kCoi. Godfrey from the 18th to the
9thscavalry as colonel, and Col. j. N.
Wheelan, it's colonel, was retired on
December 6 last by operation of law
for age. & They were the last two
civil war veterans in the regiment.
It happened that both, in order of
seniority, .were5 succeeded by officers
: who entered the army after the war
was over.
No recent event has more striking.
ay emphasized the passing of the
scivil war veteran. Doubtless it is a
matter of-interest and satisfaction to
the hundreds of officers who came
after, who have long been handi-
capped by the great names of the
civil war.
The discovery led to the further
cone that, thsresare now remaining no
more than 175 veterans of the civil
war on the active list in the whole
'military establishment, staff and line.
Within ayear or two there will be a
dozen to twenty regiments without a
single representative.
Out Of the $50 officers of all grades
required by the fifteen cavalry regi.
ments, only "a have civil war records.
Precisely half the number are colo.
nels.5N In six of the regiments there
is only one each, two of whom are
majors. The schedule of retirement
dates shows that within few months
more that half the regular cavalry
regiments will have dropped their
last officer who fought against the
Confederate States.
In every one of the thirty infantry
regiments there is still one or more
who bore arms in some capacity in
the civil war. But there is only O
single representative each in twelve
of them, eleven of whom are old colo
nels very near the retiring age.
Out of the aggregate 1900 officers
in these thirty infantry regiments
only 40 appear to have been soldiers
T.of the civil war; Of their total of 80
majors only 8 remain who entered
rthe service, regular. or volunteer,
fprior ito the surrender of Gen. Lee.
jRut Of the 30 lieutenant colonels 13
date back to 1861-65, while every
one of the colonels of infantry were
civil war soldiers By reason of pro
motion of seniority up to to the grade
Of colonel the old fellows are neces-
sarily found at the top.
Out of the total of $40 captains of
the line, infantry, artillery and cav
airy, only one had a civilwar record,
Capt. Edward A. Edwards, 21st in
fantry. He served nearly three
years as a private in the 10th Con-
nectiout volunteer infantry. AL
though he has been soldier contin.
uously since october 16, 1861, Ed.
wards did not become an officer until
1880. The apparent slowness OF bis
promotion is explained by the fact
that prior to 1880, he had been con
tinuouslya hospital steward for six
teen years There are still sixteer
staff captains, including five chap
lsins, who served in the civil war.
OF course not single one Of tn.
2,04b fret and second lisutenants o
the army, including line and staff al
Of a more recent generation, tool
part in the civil war.