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President At Camp

President At Camp image
Parent Issue
Day
9
Month
September
Year
1898
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Camp WikoJÏ, L. I., Sept. 5.- The president and secrej:ary of war arrived at Camp Wikoffi at a quarter of 9. Major General Wheeler and his staff, Coione! Roosevelt and other offlcers greetcd Mr. McKinley, Mr. Alger and their party on the station platform. Outs!de a thousand smart troopers ofthe Third cavalry wore drawn up, and the converted yacht Eileen in the roadstead slowly boomed f'rth the president's sa!ute ot' twer:: r-one guns. General Wheeler met. t.-.e president bacause General Shafter has ü.' touch of f ever and does not feel able to move from nis cot. Besides General Shafter is stil! in dentention and it would hardly comport with the discipline of the camp for the commanding general to disregard the detention rules. General Wheeler arranged for the inspection party to go throujch the detention camp, pa.st General Shafter's tent, where the president -rreeted the commander of the Santiago iorces. A Most ÏSeaxitiful Camp. The carriages, preceded by the cavalry, first wound up the hill to General Wheeler's headquarters. There the president took a long view of the wide, treeless expanse, checkered with regimental camps and hospitals, great parterres of canvas amid stretches of grass. "This is beautiful," Mr. McKinley said, and then later: "I think I never saw a handsomer camp." After a two minutes' wait the president drove through the detention camp to Major General Shafter's tent. The general was in full uniform, but his face was flushed with fever. He endeavored to rise from the chair in which he sat as the president entered the tent. "Don't get up general," said Mr. McKinley, ?s they shook hands. "You are er.titled to rest. How are you?" "A little achy," replied the general, "but otherwise all right." Mrs. Alger remained in General Shafter's tent while the president, Secretary Alger, Mr. Griggs and others went to the general hospital. Shafter Preparing a, Report, General Shafter and his staff spent the day in the hills of the detention quarters. The general is busily engaged in preparing a long report, which will cover the entire Cuban campaign and will answer his critics by blows straight from the shoulder. "In that dccument," said Lieutenant Miley, senior aide, who took the opportunity of creeping out of the detention lines, "we will teil some facts, and the critics may say what they please." On all sides are heard praises of the work of the Red Cross society. "They just kept this army from starving to death," asserted a soldier. The Pirst Illinois was relased from quarantine and will not be compelled to spend the usual flve days in detention. This, however, will make no change in the time set for starting home. Troops To Be Sent Away. President McKinley was in camp but a few hours when he decided that the best thing to do was to get the troops away from Montauk Point as soon as possible. The volunteers will be sent home on furlough and some of the regulars will be disposed of as follows: Third ravalry, Fort Ethan, Allen, Vt., and Jefferson barracks, Mo.'; Sixth cavalry, to Fort Myer, Va., and Fort Wadsworth, N. Y. ; Third infantry, to Fort Snelli.ng, Minn. : Fourth infantry. to Fort Sheridan. Hls.; Sixth infantry, to Fort Thomas. Ky. ; Ninth infantry, to Madison barracks, N. Y.; Thirteenth infantry, to Forts Columbus, Porter and Niágara, N. Y.; Seventh infantry, to Columbus barracks, O.; Twentieth infantry, to Fort Leavenworth, Kan.: Twenty-flrst infantry, to Plattsburg barracks. N. Y. General Wheeler and General Ames, while they favored sending the troops home as rapidly as possible, told the president that they did not believe the sanitary eonditions ot the camp were as bad as had been represented.

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Subjects
Ann Arbor Argus
Old News