THE UNITED STATES ARMY AND ITS

COMMANDERS.

BY NELSON A. MILES.

[Nelson A. Miles, lieutenant general U. S. A., retired; born Westminster, Mass., August 8, 1839; entered the army as a volunteer in 1861, grade by grade attaining the rank of major-general of volunteers; at twenty five commanded an army corps; at the close of the civil war he entered the regular army, where he rose to be major general, succeeding to command of the United States army October 5, 1895; conducted several campaigns against hostile tribes of Indians on the western frontier; commander of the army during the war with Spain in 1898; raised to rank of lieutenant general June 6, 1900; retired August 8, 1903. Author: Military Europe, Observations Abroad; Personal Recollections, etc.]

It is an inspiring thought that the commanders of the American Army in the past, who, by their achievements, have placed their names in the front rank of illustrious men, were scrupulously honest, both in their private life and public character. Washington, the best rounded patriot soldier and statesman that ever walked the earth, the embodiment of the grandest and loftiest traits of character, did not hesitate to say: "I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy." His whole life, public and private, was an exemplification of his firm belief in that maxim. In his Farewell Address he laid down as one of the prime rules for national guidance the injunction: "Observe good faith and justice toward all nations."

Of Washington it has been aptly said that, having no views which required concealment, his real and his avowed motives were identical; and his whole correspondence does not furnish a single clause from which even an enemy could infer that he was capable under any circumstances of stooping to duplicity. His purposes were always upright, and his means always pure. Among other elements of his success, especially as a military chieftain, were his early training and experience in engineering, a magnificent physique, abounding with vitality and the spirit of enterprise, and

a familiarity with camp life among the wild Indians of the virgin forests, fields and mountains. By his early communion with nature in her solitudes he acquired or strengthened the will to do and to dare; and to the knowledge there gained he added the good fortune of being in a position to equip himself with knowledge derived from study and the refining influences of the best social advantages of his age and generation.

It was therefore no accident, but his recognized fitness, which placed him in the supreme leadership of the armies of the infant republic that had risen to assert its independence of the mighty British Empire-the empire which, during the centuries of its colonial growth, had never lost a colony. In the position to which Washington was called, and which he accepted fearlessly, he knew well that if he ailed of success he must pay the penalty of his life. By his wisdom, sagacity and sterling integrity-by his determination, and at the same time through his candor, he inspired the confidence of his officers and men, as well as of all his fellow countrymen, and thus molded and controlled public sentiment through adversity and disaster and gloom to final success.

Yet, with it all, no man was ever more a mark for the shafts of envy, jealousy and malice than was Washington. No one was ever more severely criticised, reviled and vilified than was he. However, the attacks of his enemies, as poisoned darts upon the bright armor of truth, fell harmless from the character with which his whole life was mailed. The splendid gallantry of his acts in battle, the wise, judicious strategy and generalship displayed in his campaigns, and the noble principles of justice, integrity and honor that characterized all his official acts have been the chart, the compass, the beacon light of the American Army for a hundred years.

From the time that Washington, on the 19th of December, 1783, resigned his commission to congress, until he was again called to the command, July 3d, 1798, there were four commanders of the United States Army-Harmer, St. Clair, Wayne and Wilkinson. The first named assumed

command in the September succeeding the inauguration of our first president under the constitution, in 1789. Harmer was succeeded March 4th, 1791, by Arthur St. Clair.

General St. Clair had served with distinction at Louisburg and Quebec, and performed other services in the French and Indian wars, as well as throughout the war of the Revolution. He had been president of congress and governor of the northwest territory. But while in command of the army, in 1791, he was badly defeated in battle with the Indians near the Miami villages, and soon thereafter resigned his command.

He was succeeded March 5th, 1792, by Major General Wayne, or "Mad Anthony," as he was affectionately styled by his soldiers, because of the ardor he had displayed in battle. It was he who carried Stony Point about the middle of July, 1779, in a night assault with bayonets alone without firing a single gun, and, in the midst of the heat of the assault, falling wounded, exclaimed: Forward, my brave fellows, forward! -then in a low tone to the aides who had hastily gathered about him: "Assist me: if mortally wounded I will die in the fort." It was first feared that the impetuosity of the commander in chief would render him unfit to cope with a foe remarkable for caution; but the skill and bravery with which he fought and triumphed over the Indians very soon vindicated the wisdom of his selection by Washington.

Upon the death of General Wayne, he was succeeded by General James Wilkinson, December 15th, 1796. Wilkinson was known as a politican rather than a soldier. He had, however, been made conspicuous by having had command of Wayne's right wing at the victory of Maumee.

When the war with France seemed inevitable, in 1798, George Washington was called a second time as general in chief to the command of the army of the United States. After the death of Washington, Alexander Hamilton was for a brief period the senior officer of the army. Wilkinson was the next senior officer of the army, from June 15th, 1800, until January 27th, 1812, when he was superseded by General Dearborn.

During the war of 1812-1815, the secretary of war assumed direct control of military matters, and at one time established his headquarters at Sackett's Harbor, N. Y. It was during

this time that disaster and serious misfortune befell the nation. The capitol at Washington was captured, sacked and burned, and Canada was lost to our republic, possibly forever. Jackson's brilliant achievements, with the minimum loss of life, went far to retrieve the failures of others. Long after the war was over, the secretary of war explained his conduct by saying that from the lateness of the season, the inclemency of the weather and the continued indisposition of the commanding general, he had expected that the campaign would end as it did "with the disgrace of doing nothing." The spectacle of the secretary of war hastening to the frontier, planning an expedition which he knew must fail, yet collecting troops and stores at an immense cost, and sending forth his generals with assurances that he believed they would succeed, was humiliating enough; but what followed was so much more so, that we may decline to pursue the subject further.

General Wilkinson disconnected himself from the army and went to Mexico, where he died December 28th, 1825. General Henry Dearborn, who succeeded Wilkinson as senior major general of the army, appears to have been unfortunate as a commander. General Jacob Brown assumed command June 21st, 1821, and retained it until his death, February 24th, 1828. Brown was of Quaker parentage, born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He received his education in the public schools, and at the age of eighteen became a public school teacher himself, first in his native state, then in New Jersey, then in New York. With his savings he purchased some government land in the northwestern part of the state of New York, and proceeded to improve it. When the war with England broke out in 1812, and New York state was threatened with invasion from across the Canadian border, Brown was appointed to the command of a body of the state militia of that section. His career illustrates the fact that, however beneficial and advantageous a regular military education may be, the true soldier is born, not made by such education. Brown's career was so brilliant that the government of the United States tendered him a command, first with the rank of colonel in the regular army, which he declined; later with that of brigadier, and finally with that of major general, which he was induced to accept. To great