Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/276

234 much of life, a graduate of Harvard who had been at one time a ranchman and hunter of the West, and at another Police Commissioner of New York. When the war broke out, he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, but he resigned that position for the sake of active service in the field. He was courageous to the last degree, a perfect shot, a man who knew how to manage men, and beloved by all the rough riders—cowboys and others—who served under him.

Having been sworn into the United States service, the gathering army was quartered at Tampa, Florida, Chattanooga Park, Tennessee, Falls Church, Virginia, and other points farther west. At Tampa the soldiers were put under the leadership of General Joseph Wheeler, an officer who had served with marked distinction in the Confederate army during the Civil War, while among the newly appointed officers was Colonel Bryan, McKinley's former Democratic opponent for the Presidency. Thus was the last of the line between the North and the South wiped out, and all political differences for the time forgotten.

While the troops were gathering at Tampa