The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-10

], Perhaps the thought will have come | to some that little was ever heard or the services of the late General Joseph 1 Wheeler in the Philippine fsiands, l whither he was. at his own urgent re- quest, sent by President Mckinley. It is tacitly assumed that. whatever op- portunity he might have had for gall iantry or eniciency, he would have inn proved But. beyond some newspaper paragraphs coming from the islands during the closing months of 1899. i when Aguina1do's forces were being scattered from Central Luzon. not much has ever been said of the great cav airy generals doings in the Philippines.
 Tn Part 8 of Volume of the Annual Reports of the War Department for | 1900 will be found the records relating !, to General wheeler's services in the Philippines, along with the reports of ] the second division of the Eighth Army Corps from May. 1899. to April. 1900, i when 1t was under Major General Arr thur MacArthur. On page 229 of this volume of reports we find telegram from General Wheeler to General Mac i Arthur's adjutant. dated on November ! IT. at Tarlac, where he had been de- ] tAined to see to the getting of supplies over the river. while he was. as al- 1 ways. chafing for chance to get into action at the front. This telegram ! reads as follows:
 T beg you will pardon me for again asking for active service against the i enemy, when I have completed this work and brought forward the troops l as directed by you.
 My reason for making this request Is not from motives of personal ambi- ton. but because it will aid me very much in a cause which forms a para mount issue in our country. I feel con fdent that the view I express is con- cured In by the President Of the Uns- ted States
 We may assume that he referred in this last paraeraph to conversations had with the President before he took service in the Philippines upon the subject ot the reconciliation of the South with the North. Tn preparing later his formal report of operations with his brigade. General Wheeler sup pressed these last two sentences as not pertinent to the questions reearding military operations: but the messaee fin full was published es one nf the ap- pendices to General MscA~thurs own summary. But General Wheeler did not get the opportunity he asked for: and one resrets that he could not have been moved over to Lawton's division. where the man who wanted to go ahead and do somethins was being 
 ahead when te,eeram from General Otis at Manila did not prevent.
 General MacArthur's division was the one that moved north ward along the line of the Manila & Da~npan railway to which the rcvoIntionis+s eenera1lv stuck. until the final abandonment of Tarfac Twice in 1899 General Lawton Jed expeditions to the eastward and northward of the railway. away from a hna nA tnt with rain. and each time the celerity of his marches and the results accom- nlished made the achievements ot the troops moving along the railroad and it's paralleling highways seem all the rcantier In consequeuce It was Youns's column. sent ahead without supplies by Lawton. which surrounded ana almost captured the forces guard ing Aguina1do in his November flight to the north to hide himself in the mountains. From September on to De- cember. 1899, MacArthur's command rarely moved in time to meet the en- amy in any force at all and. when the final dispersal of the insurgents came. MacArthur simply had to move from empty town to empty town alonx the Railroad. making careful plans for the taking of each town. only to find on arriving that 1t had been evacuated from one to four days ahead of him. There were Tn hfs division two men who chafed at the lack of contact with the enemy, and who got 1t when possi- ble by stretching a scout or reconnois- sance into a pursuit One of these was General Wheeler. and the other was James Franklin Bell. now recognized as the most dashing general of tho army, then only a major of regulars in command of a volunteer regiment. Bell could, as q scout. get some of the op- portunities for action that he craved: as commander of a brigade. Wheeler had to wait more upon orders, and at- tend to the performance of other du- ties. But he pressed all the time for a chance to drive the Filipino forces harder; their resistance Mad become purely formal. as they fell back even before little bands of scouts. and the idea of employing complicated tactics and extreme caution against them had become purely ridiculous, as these off, eers saw.
 Therefore. aside from the personal interest as relating to the life of the late Joe" Wheeler, there is some his toric interest in taking note of the nu- merous disappointments of the old cavalry chiefs eagerness to see action. He had reported to General Otis in Ma nila on August 21. 1899, and had spent a week or so in looking over the sta tions of the army around Manila. On the last day of August he was sent to General MacArthurs division, which was to have the task of driving" the insurgents along the railroad, while Lawton fianked them on the east and north. and Wheaton should eventually