Six thousand years of history . rof the Grand Army of the Republic, and W. C. Oates,the latter an ex-Confederate officer. Under the law the Governors of the States appointedall line officers below the rank of Brigadier-General. Toprovide for this army an immense increase in the staffwas necessary. This was done as far as possible by tak-ing young officers from the regular army and promotingthem, though many preferred to remain in the line. Inaddition, a large number of civilians were appointed,many of whom had never had the slightest military train-ing. Some of these learned their duties easil
Six thousand years of history . rof the Grand Army of the Republic, and W. C. Oates,the latter an ex-Confederate officer. Under the law the Governors of the States appointedall line officers below the rank of Brigadier-General. Toprovide for this army an immense increase in the staffwas necessary. This was done as far as possible by tak-ing young officers from the regular army and promotingthem, though many preferred to remain in the line. Inaddition, a large number of civilians were appointed,many of whom had never had the slightest military train-ing. Some of these learned their duties easily and be-came efficient. Others never did become efficient, andmuch trouble resulted. During the war it developedthat the weakest spot of the army was the staff, not onlyin the higher grades, but in the regiments. Everyonewas anxious to fight, but the vexatious detail ofquartermaster and subsistence departments, and sanitaryarrangements was irksome, and it took some time toproperly learn the duties; a certain amount of red tape. DEWEYS VICTORY AT MANILA 369 being necessary or else there would be hopeless con-fusion. It took a long time for green officers to learnthese rules, and in the meantime the men were often onshort rations, while few companies at first had goodcooks. In spite of all drawbacks, by July ist there wasan army of over 200,000 men, nearly all equipped, andall eager to fight. In spite of all complaints made bypersons ignorant ol war, this army was assembled andequipped in a shorter space of time than had ever beenknown before. We now turn to the narrative of the war, which isbrief and glorious. The first conflict took place April27th, at Matanzas, Cuba. The blockading vessels NewYork, Puritan, and Cincinnati bombarded the forts of thetown and dismounted some batteries without loss oneither side. On the same day Commodore Dewey, hav-ing received laconic orders to destroy the Spanish fleet,sailed away from Mirs Bay, near Hongkong, expectingto find the enemy at Sub
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