REPORT OF COL. JAMES N. WHEELAN, TWELFTH U. S. CAVALRY, COMMANDING THE DEPARTMENT OF TEXAS.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF TEXAS,

San Antonio, Tex., August 1, 1901.

The ADJUTANT-GENERAL UNITED STATES ARMY,

Washington, D. C.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the annual report of the Department of Texas for the year ending June 30, 1901.

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. I assumed command of this department, by direction of the President, June 20, 1901, relieving Col. Chambers McKibbin, Twelfth Infantry, under orders to join his regiment in the Philippine Islands.

My command of this department has been for so short a period that I have had to depend largely upon such reports as are on file and on information gathered from the different staff officers remaining on duty. I hope soon to make myself familiar with the conditions of the department and the necessities of the different posts.

The most serious event occurring in the department during the year was the disastrous storm in the month of September at Galveston, which has been reported on already by the former department commander. It is to be hoped that when the fortifications are constructed a like disaster can not happen again from the same conditions. The construction work being under the direction of the Engineer Department I do not feel called upon to more than express the above hope.

Congress having passed a law February 2, 1901, increasing the Army (and incidentally the cavalry 5 regiments), one of the regiments, the Twelfth, was directed to be organized at Fort Sam Houston.

Having been appointed colonel of the Twelfth Cavalry, I devoted the time from April 1, 1901, to June 20 of the same year to the formation and instruction of that regiment, I am pleased to say with great success. The regiment is now complete so far as numbers are concerned, fully equipped and partially mounted. I hope to have the regiment fully mounted in the early future. The organization of this regiment has proceeded quietly and has been accomplished with but few officers, each officer having to perform several duties, or such duties as came to hand.

The First Squadron was organized, equipped, mounted, and Troops A, B, and C sent to Fort Clark, Tex., for station and instruction in target practice in May, 1901, one commissioned officer to each troop.

To satisfy the demand for troops and the interests of the service, one troop of the First Squadron, D, was sent to Fort Bliss, Tex., so as to permit the garrison there (a small detachment of infantry) to proceed to the Philippines.

I have lately added one troop, F, to the force at Fort Clark, to permit the officer in command of the cavalry at that place to exercise his cavalry command as a squadron, and incidentally to give that troop an opportunity for target practice also.

I have also sent one troop, E, to Fort McIntosh for station and instruction in target practice.

In the distribution of troops I have confined myself to points on the railroad, so that in the event of the regiment being required for duty in the Philippines or Cuba, it might be quickly assembled and not

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delayed by the tardiness of one or more troops stationed at remote posts.

In compliance with General Orders, No. 78, current series, Headquarters of the Army, the Seventeenth Battery, Field Artillery, was organized at Fort Sam Houston, Tex., June 14, 1901, by the transfer of 76 enlisted men from the Second Battery, Field Artillery, stationed at the post.

These two organizations are now being completed, requisition having been made for a complete equipment. In this connection I desire to invite the attention of the Department to the inadequate facilities for storing and caring for horses and equipments of the Seventeenth Battery. The following telegram was forwarded to the AdjutantGeneral, but no answer received:

Arrangements should be entered into at once to house Seventeenth Battery, Field Artillery, in process of organization. Barracks ample; stables and gun shed, with storeroom, must be provided at once. Shall plans and estimates be submitted?

The Second Field Battery is now splendidly accommodated with stables, storehouses, and gun shed, but when the guns, horses, harness, and other necessary stores arrive for the Seventeenth Battery, I am at a loss to know what to do with them.

To relieve the congestion in the barracks due to the completion of the Twelfth Cavalry, I have sent troops to other posts, leaving barrack room at Fort Sam Houston for five troops of cavalry and two field batteries.

In connection with the organization of the Twelfth Cavalry, I began with the hope of being able to keep together the troops of the different squadrons, the squadron being developed and instructed under the direction of the squadron commander, which is the true tactical unit for the cavalry. If it becomes necessary at any time to detach one or more troops on special service, on completion of this duty the troops should return to their respective squadrons. Under these conditions squadron commanders could be held responsible for the discipline and instruction of their command; but, unfortunately, from the conditions that exist in this department, it has not been possible to carry out this excellent idea. In the future construction of military posts, I hope accommodations will be provided for one or more squadrons, not, as is now exemplified at the fine post of Fort Bliss, where arrangements are made for but one troop of cavalry. I recommend that increased accommodations be provided at Fort Bliss for one squadron of four troops.

The detention at Forts Bliss and Sam Houston of a considerable number of enlisted men as witnesses in criminal cases before the State courts is a subject that the department is familiar with by reports made from these headquarters, and some remedy should be found in future to prevent such a travesty upon justice as the affair at Fort Bliss. One field officer and 36 enlisted men have been diverted from their regular duty for eighteen months as essential witnesses. The cases are still on, and no one can guess when the end will be.

The water supply at Fort Ringgold has become a very serious question. The post has heretofore been furnished with water pumped from the Rio Grande, but, on account of the shifting of the channel of the river to the Mexican side, it has given the authorities much concern. It is believed that artesian water can be obtained at Fort Ringgold by sinking wells not over 1,000 feet. Several ranches 75 to

100 miles northeast of the post have succeeded in obtaining a good supply of water at 700 or 800 feet. I have recommended the artesian wells at Fort Ringgold, and, under the direction of the chief quartermaster of the department, proposals have been invited for sinking artesian wells at that post. If a good supply of water is obtained, the post can be kept up. I mention this subject at this time to show that it is not possible to increase the garrison at Fort Ringgold until the water question is settled.

The attention of the department is invited to the present status of Fort Brown. My predecessor, Col. Chambers McKibbin, Twelfth U. S. Infantry, presented to the War Department, on June 26, 1900, the then existing conditions at that post and recommended that an expert be sent there to make full report on the encroachments of the Rio Grande upon the military reservation. As a result of this investigation and reports, which are now on file in the War Department, the honorable Secretary of War, under date of April 2, 1901, directed that no further expenditures be made at Fort Brown.

Since the departure of Troop E, Tenth U. S. Cavalry, March 25, 1901, the post has been garrisoned by a small care-taker detachment. Pending action of the War Department on the recommendations as to the disposition of Fort Brown, this garrison has not been increased, as extensive repairs must be made if the post is to be garrisoned by one or more troops or companies.

The regular lyceum course for the season was limited to the preparation of a single essay by each officer, on account of the reduced condition of garrisons and lack of officers.

Schools for enlisted men were conducted at all posts where practicable, and schools for noncommissioned officers, under the immediate charge of troop, battery, and company commanders, have been conducted during the entire year.

Practical instruction (including small-arms practice, signal instruction, close and extended order drills, instruction in packing, field exercises, etc.) has been held, with as good results as could be expected. In view of the frequent changes of garrisons and other disadvantages, a strict compliance with the scheme as outlined in orders from these headquarters has been impracticable, and this course of instruction has, for the most part, been left to the judgment of post commanders. Attention is respectfully invited to the accompanying reports of the chiefs of staff departments at these headquarters.

Very respectfully,

J. N. WHEELAN, Colonel Twelfth U. S. Cavalry, Commanding.

REPORT OF MAJ. GEN. ELWELL S. OTIS, U. S. A., COMMANDING THE DEPARTMENT OF DAKOTA.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF DAKOTA,

St. Paul, Minn., August 13, 1901.

The ADJUTANT-GENERAL UNITED STATES ARMY,

Washington, D. C.:

SIR: The last annual report of this territorial department was rendered September 10, 1900, by Brig. Gen. James F. Wade, its then commanding general. It embraced a statement of department affairs to the time of its rendition. I relieved General Wade on February 21 last in obedience to paragraph 8, Special Orders, No. 23, current series, Headquarters of the Army, which directed me to assume command of the department temporarily, and I have exercised the same to the present date. I have the honor, therefore, to submit a brief rehearsal of its affairs from early last September to the end of the fiscal year 1901, with occasional reference to matters which have since transpired in so far as the more important changes in personnel are concerned.

The attached reports of officers supervising staff departments will give details of administration, the condition and character of troops as manifested in medical statistics, in proceedings of courts-martial (general and inferior), and the submitted results of personal inspection; also the expenditures of public moneys and the objects for which expended during the entire fiscal year.

At the date of the last annual report the posts of the department were garrisoned by three troops of the First Cavalry and four companies of the Eighth Infantry, representatives of the post noncommissioned staff and detachments of the hospital corps being present at all. The three troops were stationed one each at Fort Meade, Fort Keogh, and Fort Yellowstone. The four companies of infantry were stationed-two at Fort Snelling, one at Fort Yates, and one at Fort Harrison. Camp Merritt was maintained by a detachment from the Fort Keogh troop of cavalry, and detachments taken from the infantry company at Fort Harrison garrisoned Forts Assinniboine and Missoula. Company D, Twenty-fourth Infantry, was held at Fort Harrison awaiting transportation to San Francisco, Cal., for which it departed on September 20. These post garrisons remained unchanged until the directed organization of the Thirteenth Cavalry at Fort Meade had so far progressed as to make the reduction of numbers at that post desirable on account of lack of barracks, when on June 17 Troops A and C of the First Squadron of that regiment, having a strength present of 2 officers and 165 enlisted men, proceeded by rail to Fort Assinniboine, where they received their mounts. Upon arrival there they relieved the detachment of the Eighth Infantry, which proceeded to the station of its company at Fort Harrison, and they have constituted the garrison of Fort Assinniboine to the present time. No further changes were effected until July 18, when in obedience to instructions Troops B and D, Thirteenth Cavalry (3 officers, 160 enlisted men, and 170 horses), left Fort Meade for the post of Fort Robinson, Nebr., in the Department of the Missouri-the troops by march overland, their heavy baggage having been transported by railway.

The organization of the Thirteenth Cavalry commenced the middle of April and was completed during the first week of the present month in so far as men and equipment were concerned, but one squadron is still short of horses, for which purchase contract has not yet been effected. The post of Fort Meade having barracks for band and four troops of cavalry only, and the superintendent of the Yellowstone National Park calling for additional troops to subdue forest fires threatening the park, an officer and 40 of the troop of the First Cavalry composing the Fort Keogh garrison was on the emergency sent, on the 2d instant, to Fort Yellowstone, to be followed by the remainder of the troop when a portion of the Thirteenth Cavalry could by overland march, mounted, reach Fort Keogh. Accordingly, on the 5th and 7th instant, Major Jones, with four other officers of the Thirteenth Cavalry and Troops E and F, left Fort Meade for Fort Keogh, 2 officers and 51 enlisted men proceeding by Camp Merritt with instructions to ascertain and report the most practicable wagon route between that camp and Fort Meade, and the remainder of the squadron marching direct for Fort Keogh, there to take temporary station. These troops are now en route. To further relieve Fort Meade, which still has a garrison consisting of headquarters and six troops of the Thirteenth Cavalry, and Troop H, First Cavalry, authority was applied for on the 6th instant (application still pending) for permission to send the First Cavalry troop to either Fort D. A. Russell, Fort Washakie, or Fort Mackenzie, and two of the Thirteenth Cavalry troops to Fort Niobrara, these posts being their ultimate destinations, as understood at these headquarters from instructions recently received and to be executed so soon as headquarters and two squadrons of the Fourth Cavalry enter the department upon their contemplated return from the Philippines (as prescribed by General Orders, No. 91, of July 1, 1901, Headquarters of the Army), which, as now anticipated, will be about the 12th of next month.

On the 2d instant, in order to secure a garrison needed at Fort Missoula, hitherto guarded by 6 men of the Fort Harrison company, and to secure the necessary accommodations for the directed advent of headquarters and a battalion of the Fourteenth Infantry at Fort Snelling, Company C, Eighth Infantry (1 officer and 73 enlisted men), was sent from the last-named post to Fort Missoula. Some of these latter changes must be considered of a very temporary nature, in view of War Department orders sending into the department from the Philippines portions of the Fourth Cavalry and the Fourteenth Infantry and the organization in the department of the Thirteenth Cavalry.

The posts of the department, notwithstanding their recent small garrisons, have been maintained in comparatively fair condition. During the last fiscal year there has been expended upon them, in repair and minor construction, $31,324.15. Also, in construction at Fort Meade or for contemplated construction covered by existing contracts for barracks and smaller buildings, $49,952.78, and a sum of nearly $40,000 at Fort Lincoln has been covered by contracts now being executed for the completion of water-supply and sewer systems. At Fort Missoula, owing to the uncertain contemplated War Department tenure, and at Fort Yates, soon to be abandoned for new Fort Lincoln at Bismarck, only such repairs as were deemed necessary for temporary uses have been attempted, while at Fort Keogh the work which was being executed to secure an improved water supply and in the construction of a