pointed out that he was commanding a regiment in the Civil War while I was only a cadet, that he was for that reason my senior in the list of generals (he was by just two places), and as he was present for duty it was a reflection on him to send a junior in command of the third expedition. Merritt saw the point; so did I, though I might have made a similar objection in the case of General Greene, but did not. I rode back to camp almost as sad as when I had to give way to Upham in the spring of '62, yet went straight to MacArthur, congratulated him on his preferment, and told him that had he spoken to me I would have gone with him to Merritt, as I would have gone to Lincoln with Upham, and said that he had the better claim. In the early summer of 1862 Senator Doolittle had taken MacArthur to the President to beg for an appointment at large for West Point, only to learn that Upham and I were already representing Wisconsin on the presidential list. So he went home to become adjutant of the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin and, before he was fairly nineteen, its commanding officer.

And now he was to go on and reach Manila in time for the one tussle with the Spaniards, he and Greene both my juniors in age and Greene my junior in rank, both to be made major generals as a result of it, while I was left behind to continue drilling volunteers. It was hard luck, but worse was to follow.

Two of the best regiments in my brigade were sent with MacArthur, but in their stead I had received the Fiftyfirst Iowa, a militia regiment, in very creditable condition as to drill and discipline. Under its lieutenant colonel, however, another regiment had become so slack that Merritt sent for me and asked the direct question, “Which Wisconsin regiment shall I apply for in its stead?”

It was then late evening. "Let me think it over until morning," I replied, and with that we parted; and with the following day came Funston, the young colonel of the Kan

sas regiment, who had been held in Washington by Lieutenant General Miles because of his intimate knowledge of Cuban affairs, and with Funston came a marked and immediate change for the better. In less than a week Merritt had such excellent reports of the "Jay Hawkers,” as the Kansans were called, that Wisconsin's chance in the first army of occupation at Manila was gone.

I now had what was soon called the Union Brigade— Iowa, Kansas, and Tennessee-with three fine colonels, and in ten days their brigade drills and evolutions were worth seeing. Merritt himself left for Manila, placing Major General Otis in command of the three brigades, Gen. Marcus Miller, a veteran regular, Gen. Harrison G. Otis, and myself as the brigade commanders, Otis being my junior. Merritt in going told me that he had directed Gen. E. S. Otis to send me with my three thousand just as soon as the transports got back. Meantime it was drill, drill, drill.

Then came another blow:-Orders by wire from Washington for Gen. E. S. Otis to send the brigade of Gen. Harrison G. Otis, and himself to accompany it. "The President directs" was the wording, and everybody knew why.

During the latter part of the Civil War the Twentythird Ohio, of which a modest young sergeant, McKinley, was on duty at regimental headquarters, was commanded by its major, Harrison G. Otis, and now the sergeant had become president and commander-in-chief, the major head of a great California paper, and there you were. Again was I overslaughed, as the saying is. Again I congratulated my luckier rival, and then Major General Merriam came to San Francisco to command the Department of California, and presently held the first brigade review of the war, so he said though I fancy there may have been a few at Chickamauga-and the Union Brigade was called on, and

it was a beauty. Alex. Reid of Appleton was then with us as volunteer aide on my staff, and his description of that event in the Appleton Crescent was a joy. Indeed, the major general, a keen drill master himself, was more than complimentary. He had the whole brigade cheering wildly after the ceremony by the announcement that they should go to Manila before the end of the month (August) as a reward for their fine work, and once again we took heart.

Soon, however, came the news of the battle of the thirteenth of August, and soon thereafter General Merritt's announcement that he needed no more troops, and for the third time my hopes were blasted.

Then followed a week of decided depression, and then an inspiration came to General Merriam, who had been most sympathetic. The Arizona of the old Guion Line, once the grayhound of the seas, having made the quickest run from Sandy Hook to Liverpool, arrived in port to load up with supplies for Merritt's army at Manila, and to carry over a number of Red Cross doctors, nurses, additional staff officers, etc. The First New York Infantry and the Second Battalion of Engineers had been sent over to Honolulu and were in camp at Kapiolani Park, and they needed supplies, and there had come to our camp at Presidio Heights five battalions recruited in Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania for the regiments of those states already in Manila, also two hundred men for the Eighteenth Regulars. These men being actual members of organizations already in the Philippines, General Merriam declared it could be no violation of General Merritt's wishes to send them where they belonged. "And," said he, “if you don't mind giving up this fine brigade and taking charge of a single ship load, you shall go in command." I could have hugged him.

Merriam felt sure that they would be needed, for no sooner did Aguinaldo's forces find that the Americans sternly

forbade their looting the homes of their former oppressors, the Spaniards, now disarmed and helpless, than they became turbulent and threatening. In writing to the Sentinel in August and September, I made the prediction that the Filipinos would give our little army infinitely more trouble than the Spaniards had caused Dewey or Merritt. Whether General Merriam consulted the War Department or not was no affair of mine. On the sixteenth of August I bade adieu to the Union Brigade, assuring them of my faith that they would speedily be needed and sent after me. Our five battalions were ordered to embark the following day. My two staff officers and I moved aboard (a beautiful cabin, formerly the ladies' rest room, had been assigned to me), and then came a message from Merriam. Bad news: Ordered to hold the Arizona until the arrival of certain field guns from Rock Island Arsenal, and again my spirits sank. Something kept telling me the plan would fall through after all.

Three wretched days followed. At last the guns came and were hoisted aboard and stowed below, and nearly mad with impatience I drove up to headquarters to urge that the battalions be marched down at once, and Merriam met me with his whimsical grin:

"Another day can make no difference," said he, "and I've about decided to run over with you myself and have a look at Honolulu. The islands are now part of my command and I ought to get acquainted with them, but I can't get aboard until tomorrow night."

"Then I am betting that orders will come from Washington to stop the whole scheme."

"Don't worry," said Merriam, "it doesn't pay. You are going anyhow."

At last he came aboard bringing a little party of friends, and to him, as senior, I turned over the beautiful cabin, turned Lieutenant Colonel Barnett out of the next best, he

1

in turn recoiled on the senior major, and so there was no end of moving of luggage at the last moment. By nine at night the last soldier was stowed away between decks, and the last stowaway led, crest-fallen, ashore. At ten General Merriam, tired out from three days' rush work, turned in. We were hard aground, with our heavy load of stores and fifteen hundred passengers and crew. "But," said Captain Barneson, "the tide will lift us off toward midnight, then we back out into the bay and anchor until morning."

At eleven everybody except the sentries, the watch, and so on, had gone to roost, officers and soldiers wearied after the long march in from camp, and still I paced the deck, nervous, apprehensive, sure that something still was destined to happen to checkmate our move.

And at 11:30 it came.

The officer of the guard appeared with a telegraph boy, and the lad held out to me the fateful brown envelope. It was oddly addressed: "Commanding General U. S. Troops, San Francisco, California." Official beyond doubt, and as General Merriam, the department commander, had declared himself simply a passenger on the ship, which was under my command, I was undoubtedly the commanding general of the United States troops at that moment at San Francisco, General Miller being in command of the two brigades still left at camp.

But the instant I opened it I saw that the clerk had erroneously addressed the envelope, for this was practically what the message said; at this moment I cannot quote it verbatim.

Commanding General,
Department California, S. F.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON,
August 20, 1898.

If General King has started send swift steamer after him with orders to hold command at Honolulu.

(Signed)

who was the adjutant general of the Army.

CORBIN,