The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-10-19
GOSSIP ABOUT Our
MAJOR GENERALS
NEARLY ALL OF THEM KNEW
ONE ANOTHER AT THE WEST
POINT ACADEMY.
FROM ALL PARTS OF COUNTRY
SturpIs 10 Son Of Noted Civil War
Cavalry officer-BrioadIer General
Morse's Long Record Of Virtually
Unbroken Field Service.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.

BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.
Washington.-Many of the major
generals of the United States army
who individually are commanding Ma
tional Guard or National army camps
We're classmates at the United States
Military academy, and virtually all OF
the major generals served at West
Point for at least a year or two to-
gether, although Of course they were
not all classmates. These men know
one another's ways from boyhood up.
and 1t Is altogether probable that the
war department itself knows their
ways. or otherwise 1t would not have
chosen them for high command.
Take the National Guard encamp-
ments, for instance. Maj. Gen. Clar-
ence II. Edwards. who until recently
was in command at Camp Greene,
N. c.. and Maj. Gen. @. @. Morton,
commanding at Camp Mcclellan, Ala.
were In the class OF 1888 and
were close friends. OF the ma
jor generals commanding National
Guard regiments, Edwards, Morton,
Morrison, Herman, Greble, Treat, Sage,
Hodges and Strong saw service at the
school on the Hudson at the same
time.
So far as the National army Is con-
cerned, Maj. Gems. III. r. Hodges.
Chase w. Kennedy, Adelbert Cronk-
hite, III. G. Hale, j. II. Dickman, =. ID.
Sturgis and III. T. Allen were fellow
cadets In the early COS. There are no
major generals and only a few briga-
der generals In any of the armies OF
the United States today who need to
be introduced to one another when
they meet.
All Sections Represented.
All sections of the country are rep
resented In the high ranks of the Unit
ed States army, the North, the South,
the East, the West and the middle
country. The Maine man commands In
one camp, the Alabama mar In anoth-
er, and a far Westerner In yet another.
They speak of the division of National
Guard troops which Is composed OF
units from &c different states as q
"National regiment" because II Is sc
representative of different sections
The commanding generals represent In
a high sense and In a literal sense this
union of states.
With a good many OF these ofiiceri
the writer of this article was at schoo
for a shorter or o longer time, thu
period depending upon the year In
which these officers graduated. Ma
for Generals Edwards. Morton. Strong
Kennedy, Hale, Dickman and Sturgi'
I knew and still know well.
A letter reached me only a shor
time ago from Gen. III. G. Hale, nov
commanding Camp Taylor. Kentucky
This letter was written In far-off Chini
and II was mailed within a few hour
apparently of the time that Harry
that Is his first name-learned that h
had been made a b%rigadier general
Mai. Gen. Samuel d. Sturgis, who 4
In command Of the Eighty-seventh oil
vision of the National army at CAM
Pike, Arkansas, n a son OF the lat
General Sturgis, who was a noted cav
airy officer in the Union army durinI
the war between the states. The eide
Sturgis after the Civil war was 10
some time colonel Of the famou
Seventh cavalry. A brother of the ma
Tor general now commanding ut Cam
Pike was killed with Custer on tina
awful day. June IS, 1876, when tn
swarming Sioux surrounded that d.
voted squadron Of the Seventh cava
~ and literally wiped Ii from exis'
ence.
General Morse's Active Life.
In speaking OF officers of geners
rank there is one brigadier general {
whom something more than a wor
should be spoken. He Is Benjamin I
Morse, commanding the One Hundre
Sixty-ninth infantry brigade of the M
tional army at Camp Custer, Mict
which is under the command Of Ma
Gen. Joseph T. Dickman.
Brigadier General Morse 10 a grad
ate of the Military academy of II
class Of 1884. He has had a soldi'
life OF virtually unbroken field servic
He has done straight soldering fro
the day when, as q stripping secor
lieutenant, he Joined his regiment
the fall Of 1884. He hardly knows VIII
an order to anything except acti'
field service looks like. He Is bett'
acquainted with the tented field ths
with the streets Of the city Of Was
ington, or Of those of any other hea
quarters city. The same things mig
be written of several other officers wi
recently have been advanced to hi
command.
A great deal has been written abo
Maj. Gen. Joseph e. Kuhn, now
command Of the Seventy ninth di'
sion at Camp Meade, Maryland. &c
eral Kuhn for q long time was 81
toned In Berlin as u military I
tache. It Is an open secret that t