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Show I THE VACANT BRIGADIER-GENER- I 1; . ' ALSHIPS. , Our dispatches state that the Senate I yesterday confirmed the nomination of - .. Brigadier General O. O. Howard to be ': Major General, vice Pope, retired. Thi3 ; disposes of the vacancies in the list of Major Generals, and the question now arises, who will get the appointments as Brigadiers. It is expected that the nomi-, nomi-, ' nations to the coveted stars will be made in a few days, and in the meantime the Colonels are taking their turn on the .' anxious seat. The selection of the two senior Briga- f diers for promotion has greatly raised the ; hopes of the senior Colonels. The Presi- i . dent, of course, will not go below their , ; grade for his choice, and it is improbable that he will turn aside to the staff corps ( J - where he has no fewer than forty line I : Colonels to pick from. Of the latter, ' however, a good many have received I their present commissions within two or three 3-eara, and hence are out of the race, while some have no war record of importance. It is almost certain that J both nominees will be taken from the i first twenty of the Colonels, in relative rank. The Washington correspondent of the New York Sun, who seems to have thoroughly thor-oughly canvassed the chances of the several Colonels for promotion, thinks that in the cavalry the choice will be. ' i confined to the firsj; four Grierson of the Tenth, Hatch of the Ninth, Sturgis of the Seventh, and Merritt of the Fifth. In the artillery he says there is but one conceivable candidate Ayres of the Second. Sec-ond. In the infantry are named "Will-cox "Will-cox of the Twelfth, Ruger of the Eighteenth, Eight-eenth, Smith of the Nineteenth, An-'. An-'. drews of the Twenty-fifth, Potter of the Twenty-fourth, Kautz of the Efgbth, and, the Democrat is pleased to add, our own McCook of the Sixth. Thus the 1 twenty Colonels from whom a conceiv- ;v able choice could be made, are reduced i in number nearly one-half. Says the Sun correspondent: - If the principle shall prevail of giving the M first choice to those Colonels who, besides i being high in lineal rank, will be soonest retired for ago, on the ground that they ' have, as a general rule, rendered the most f years of aggregate service, the prizes would ) doubtless go in the cavalry to Colonel S. D. Sturgis, and in the infantry to Colonel J. H. i Potter, who not only stand respectively sixth and eighth on the total list of line Colonels, but are to be retired this very year, the former June 11 and the latter October 12. Bat the failure to nominate General Newton, who is also soon to be retired, for Pope's vacancy, makes it unlikly that age will have the advantage over seniority in grade. Looking then, at line rank, we find no ' fewer than five Colonels having the same date, July 23, 18GC, in their present commissions, commis-sions, namely, Willoox, linger, Hatch, Grierson Grier-son and Smith, arranged on the official list of relative rank as here given.. Colonel O. B. Willoox not only leads the entire list of Colonels, but is to be retired in about a year, Ij April 6, 1887; and this latter consideration may help him when coupled with the other strong claim. Colonel T. H. Ruger retires ten years later, and is also a prominent candidate can-didate for Judge Advocate General, in General Gen-eral Swaim's place; but should the President be thinking of somebody else for this office, Colonel Euger's chances would be perhaps increased for the present one. The chances of Hatch and Grierson, the latter of whom retires five years before the former, are ; probably increased by the likelihood that the infantry would not receive more than one of the Brigadierships. But should the : artillery receive an appointment, Colonel Ayres, who retires at the close of 1889, f i would unquestionably be the . nominee. j Finally, an abandonment of the principle of j seniority in selection would very probably ;. carry one of the prizes to Colonel Wesley Merritt, who is eleventh on the list of the line Colonels, received his . Colonelcy ten years ago, in 1876, and retires in 1S00. |
