The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1904-02-12
CHAFFEE'S
REMARKABLE RECORD
Rises From Private to Lieuten-
sa.t General With Only
One Skip
FOUGHT IN FIFTY BATTLES
He Is a Veritable T~hunderboIt, Whose
Examples Were an Inspiration to
Heroic Deeds by Those He
Commanded.

- stS ~ ''NS AthS A'AoS ny IA OWL
diership. In January, 1904, forty-two
years and five months afterward, at g.
| years Of age, he holds the highest rank
in the United States army, that of lieu
tenant general, a successor of Washing
ton, Scott, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan,
Scofield, Miles and Young"
So spoke, and enthusiastically, a soldier
who had watched the military career of
Major General Adna r. Chaffee, who, on
the 9th of January, will become lieutenant
general and chief of staff, the highest rank
in the American army.
Forty-two years and five months seems
like a long time, but think of the dis
lance he has covered; think of the step
from the lowest rank in the army and
without missing a rank, save that Of cor
poral, tc the highest. The remark and
enthusiasm of the veteran gave me a
subject.
A whole book might be devoted to the
services of Lieutenant General Chaffee,
for he has been a soldier In active service
from the day he enlisted as an Ohio boy
more than forty-tWo years ago. He
missed none of the campaigns or the great
battles of the Army of the Potomac, and
was with Sheridan In the Shenandoah
valley when that officer won his greatest
victories and his promotion to brigadier
general and major general. He had done
SO well, was SO perfect a soldier, so good
a flghter, that within two years he was
given a commission as second lieutenant
and two years later another promotion,
ana IN 1861 was captain of cavalry in the
reginent in which he had enlisted as a
private. He is one of the not large num-
Der OF officers who missed none of the i'm
portant Indian campaigns from the end of
the civil war until the close of the In
dian campaigns, and in all of those cam
palgns, he was a veritable thunderbolt,
q leader whose examples. were an inspira-
non t0 heroic laa1c hU thncn Gn M,
manded. In the Spanish-ALuerican war
he was at the front in the one great battle
OF that war, a volunteer brigadier gelt-
eral in of a brigade and part Of
the time of a division. Nearly all Of the
men under him had their first experience
in actual war in that battle. Chaffee had
been in fifty battles and skirmishes and
realized how important II was that those
untried men lave confidence in them
selves and their officers, and from the
opening to the close of the fight no man
In the brigade or division was more con-
sstantly exposed to bullets, shot and shell.
When spoken to about exposing himself,
he quietly said: Never mind me; l want
to let those men know that 1t takes q
great many bullets to hurt a man." In
that battle he had many narrow escapes;
bullets tore holes in his uniform and
clipped off buttons. That battle would
not have been won but for just such SOL
diers as General Chaffee. 1t was a close
shave to a defeat for our army, and had
the Americans been defeated, possibly
the Spanish-American war would still be
in progress.
Goes to China.
TWO years later, in July, 1900, we see
this peerless soldier, every inch a soldier,
hurrying to China as commander of the
American forces in that never-to-be-for-
gotten expedition to Pekin. With him
was the Sixth cavalry, with which he
served from 1861 to 1883. Very we'll I re-
member the rousing cheers given by the
Sixth at Nagasaki, Japan, while on board
the transport Grant, headed for China,
when a cable was received announcing
that Chaffee had been made a major gen
eral of volunteers. Following the cheers
was a serenade by the Sixth's famous
band. When history is correctly pre-
sented there will be a page in which Il is
shown that this American soldier from an
Ohio farm, in the rear rank Of a regular
troop in 1861, was not only a leading spirit
In the hurried advance upon Pekin, but
the leading spirit. The fighting done in
that campaign by Chaffee and his Amer
lean soldiers was not equaled by the SOL
diers of any other country represented In
the expedition.
In China, in 1900, Chaffee conferred i'm
perishable honor upon the American re-
public. Who in our little army would have
done better?
On July 4, 1901, then a major general,
our new lieutenant general assumed COM
mand of the division Of the Philippines,
ana during the following year and three
months he had more and knottier prob
lens to solve than any Of his predecessors
in command Of that important division.
1t was under his administration that Sa-
mar, the plague spot of the Islands, was
conquered. 1t was under his administra-
ton that two other plague spots, the prov
| }pnac Of J a =, eroS or1 .FTnva hoe vyarn
thoroughly ubdued. 1t was under his adj
ministration that the first telling blow
was struck against the Moros on the is
land of Mindanao, a blow which made 1T
comparatively easy to complete the work.
1t was during his administration that Gov
ernor Taft did .his hardest and best work
in laying the foundation for civil govern
ment, and throughout that period he had
the ready, hearty, able cooperation Of
the military commander. Probably those
We're the busiest months that this busy
soldier has experienced during his busy
life,
For more than a year General Chaffee
was in of the largest department
in the country, thai of the East, and now
he is the head of the army, and those
who have watched his career, those who
have admired him as a young officer, an
older officer, as a commander of armies,
will find pleasure in saying that at no
| III d Lie II bSSL AiiAS0 Ny
a soldier who has shown greater bravery,
more devotion to duty, who loved his
country better, was more patriotic.
Falls in Love.
There is anothe, campaign in which the
new lieutenant general, when a captain.
anticipated, and 1t ought to be mentioned
in this connection. In 1875, after his mag
nifcent career IN four years of the civil
war. during which he was three times
seriously wounded. after nearly ten years
of active service and participation in
many sharp battles with the Indians, he
was stationed at Fort Riley, three or four
miles from Junction City, Kas. Probably
up to that time this stirring, wideawake.
fighting soldier had not had time to even
think that he could or ought to get mar
ried, but something occurred very soon
after he reached Fort Riley that led him
to think on these things. He met a young
lady there, the first one who had ever
made the kim of an impression that leads
to iovership, and this captain, then 80
wears of age. seems to have engaged in
his courtship somewhat as he hat been in
the habit of performing his duties as a
soldier. He was not long In letting the