St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-05-03
AN IDOLIzED GENERAL.
Whose Soldiers Would Follow
Him Through Anything.

Gen. Lloyd Wheaton, whose frank
ness in expressing his opinions has
stirred up a number Of senatorial crit
les, will not lack for defenders. Prac'
tically without exception the men who
have served under him. whom they
fondly call dad" Wheaton,, would
fight for him to the last ditch against
any odds. Even among the general
officers of the United States army. in
Guiding so many men of dauntless
courage and splendid character, there
are few who rank with Wheaton in
personal popularity among the enlist
ed men, says the Chicago Tribune. In
appearance he is the ideal soldier, tall
and straight is a pine tree. His thick
hair is jet black and the lower part of
his face is covered with a black beard.
set off by a pair of long and fiercely
pointed black m%ustaches. On horse
back especially he looks the part of a
pirate king. and his voice is a deep bass
of tremendous power that can be heard
At great distances.
1t is a %favorite joke with soldiers in
the islands that "Old Dad" needs no
staff because he can make himself
heard half a mile without straining
himself. Most endearing of all. from
the standpoint of the common soldier,
Sen. Wheaton never spares himself,
and many a little outpost, hard pressed
by an overpowering force of "niggers,"
has been inspired by the roaring COM
mand of "Old Dad"-"Go in. boys. go
in!"-while he himself. riding like a
c%entaur. led the charge far in advance
OF h advancing column. Even his
presence is inspiring. In many a hot
skirmish. when the men had become
tired and scattered, his tremendous
voice. believing in the distance, has
had the effect of a trumpet call OF the
arrival of a regiment of reinforce
ments.
"Brace up, boys" the call will go
across the scattered lines. "here m
old Dad" and then rushes into the
light the big bay horse, topped by the
big, fierce man, with his black beard,
and all is over but the shouting.
Enlisted men returned from serv-
ice IN the islands tell all sorts Of
little stories of Gen. Wheaton. For
instance, there was the night after
the landing at San Fabian. Six gun
boats had gone down the coast to
cover the landing of a lot of men I'M
Gen. Wheaton, who were loaded
on a couple of army transports.
While the gunboats shelled the town
got his men into launches
and other small boats and waited for
the first chance to get ashore. Once
or twice his eagerness led him to
push ahead within range of the gun
boats fire, and each time he had to
face about and retire, much to the
amusement of the men, bobbing about
IN the swell in their little boats.
Finally the party landed, under a hot
fire from the insurgents, and rushed
the line. After pickets had been
thrown out and all arrangements
made for guarding against a night at
tack, Gen Wheaton started to turn
with the idea of catching q few
hours sleep. He and his orderly
went into a native house on the
square and opened the door leading
into the corner room. AS they did
a couple of privates, who had al
ready laid down to sleep. on the
floor, rose speedily, came to atten-
lion, saluted and started to leave the
"Here, you!" roared "Old Dad,'' in
his terrifying voice, "you need sleep
just as much as I do. Lie down
again and go to Sleep"
So the commanding general and a
of privates went to sleep side
by side on the floor. But early in the
morning before anyone else was
awake, Gen. Wheaton got up and
went out alone on a accommodating
He closed the door, and it
ocked behind him with a spring lock.
Several times during the night strag-
ylers had been ordered away by the
sulphuric orderly. It hap
oened that the orderly had just got
INTO a sound sleep when the general
'eturned and knocked for admission.
The orderly, who had no idea that
len. Wheaton had gone out, woke up
lot and angry.
With all the of his pic
uresque vocabularyhe cursed the man
Who had disturbed him and ordered
i'm to go away under awful penal
les. "Now, you clear out of here and
us sleep, OF I'll come out and kick
our head Oft" he roared.
Cali right, sergeant" sounded the
leep voice of "Old Dad" "all right,
IL clear out. But won't you please
ct me have my field glasses first?"
Gypsy Knowledge of the Future.