The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-16
ROSE FROM THE RANKS
SOMETHING OF THE CAREER or E YOUNG.

A Brave Soldier Whose Upward
 March Has Been on Merit.
 Colonel Young and Privae
 Murphy.
 -e
 Boston Transcript.
 General S. B. M Young on Saturday suc- ceeded General N. A. Miles in command of the United States army. The success sion stands in this order: Miles. Young, Chance. Corbin, MacArthur, Wood. For a year or more Young has been generally regarded as Miies's legitimate successor. slight misunderstanding arose, however, on the publication of the last Army Reg ister. in which Corbin's name appeared at the head of the list of Major Generals next in order after Miles Chronologicaiiy, Corbin fs the ranking officer. He was given the rank, pay and emoiuments of a Major General by act of Congress on June 6, 1900. Young did not receive his promotion to the same rank until Febru- ary 2, 1901. But precedent counter ball. | anced seniority. General Corbin is dis tinctly stan officer, and as such stands apart from officers of the line. In the past 1t has been customary to promote omcers from the line in preference to stan officers to ranking generalship, and as Young stands at the head of the list Of Major Generals, he is by force of cus- tom the logical candidate. In the last is- sue of the Army Register, for the first time, list of general officers was printed arranged according to relative rank. with Corbin's name at the top. In previ- ous issues the names of line and staff omcers had been entered according to seniority, but printed in separate columns, under which arrangement Young appear led at the top of one list, while Corbin headed the other group As a matter of | Tact. h0wAVar ha te either by law or custom to choose the senior Major General for promotion to the highest rank. Up the grade of Colonel promotion is made strictly accrding to seniority, but above that the selection is within the powers and discretion of the President.
 Accordingly the matter has been ar ranged satisfactorily upon the following basis General Young reaches the age Of retirement on January 9, 1904. which gives him only five months service in supreme command General Chaffee, the next ranking line officer to Young, reach es the age-retirement limit on April 14, 1906 which Is five months before Corbin must retire for age. in September, 1906. The Adjutant General has said that he will do nothing to press his claims of seniority over Chaffee. for should he be given the preference. Chaffee would be denied the honor which his good service
 
 least so far as Young and Corbin are concerned. is most satisfactory Never before in the history of the War De- partmefit has the office of Adjutant Gen. eral been so important as 1t Is today, and more than any other man General Corbin has been responsible for making 1t so. He and Young are close frieds, and the smooth cooperation of the Ad- jutants office with that of the chief will prove invaluable to the commanding of- fcer. The main object of General Young's brief incumbency wifi be the or gantzation and systematizing of the gen. erai stan, work in which the assist ance of such an able organizer and ex- ecutive as General Corbin will be of the greatest importance to the army. Not one of those four major generals of the American army is a West Pointer General Corbin entered service in the war as second lieutenant; General Young, like his predecessor, Miles. and his sue cessor, Chaffee, has worked his way up from the ranks. He has been all his life, by inclination. training and experience, a first class fighting mar. In his 42 years of army life he has seen service through out the civil war, against Indians on the fronties. the Spanlards in Cuba and the Filipino que rillas. Seven years ago he | was only major of regulars-a long, toil- some period up to that point. filled with experience which would late rprove in- ! tion has come to the grand which he holds today. He began his career as a private in Company K of the 12th Penn syIvania Infantry on April 25, 1861, when President Lincoln issued the first call for volunteers. Only H years old then plain Samuel Young of Pittsburg, Pa. Very , soon, however, he became a marked man | in the regiment-a tall, broad-shouldered lad, eager for work and absolutely fear less. Before many months he was com , missoned a captain in the 4th rennsyl- vania cavalry. Thrice during the years for gallantry in action and after Appo. mattox was mustered out, when only 2l years old with the rank of colonel Ir practically all the cavalry operations oi the Potomac he took part, and bears to- day four wounds sustained in the Virginia campaigns Throughout the war Young proved that he was made of martial stuff a born fighter and born commander He was the personality of magnetic lead ership; his men adored him and cbeyed } his orders with that affectionate willing ness which makes a well-organiZed body of troops doubly effective.
 There is a man who will make his name familiar in military life some day not only in his own country, but across the water. too-if he lives to come through this war" said his superiors men who bad scars from many a battle
 
 ) Young finch and turn pale at less fierce fusillades than those into which he dart ed with the ringing command to his men to Come onP'
 At Sailors Creek. Va. the last encoun, ter with the Confederate army under Lee took place, and the Pennsylvania was in at the death
 The "Yanks" under Grant were in full pursuit of Lee, moving on a parallel road with the enemy in the direction of App-o mattox court house, and whenever the hostile forces were near enough there were lively combats between the oppos- ing armies.
 At Sailors Creek the young Pennsyl- vanian took a very active part in the fight. and brought himself still more prominently before the notice of his SUI perior officers. He succeeded in delay ing Lees army in a sharp skirmish to the extent of several hours. so that the Union army reached the court house sev. eral hours before the rebels. When the apamV- finally Taached it's deStina tiov.--