Military officer; born in
Ohio, Nov. 9, 1865; attended the Kansas State University, but did not graduate; became a newspaper reporter in
Kansas City in 1890; botanist of the
United States Death Valley Expedition in 1891; and special commissioner of the Department of Agriculture to explore
Alaska, with a view of reporting on its flora, 1893-94; joined the Cubans in 1896 and served in their army for a year and a half.
At the beginning of the war with
Spain he was commissioned colonel of the 20th Kansas Volunteers, which he accompanied to the Philippines, where he subsequently made an exceptionally brilliant record.
On March 31, 1899, he was the first man to enter
Malolos, the Filipino insurgents' capital.
On May 2, 1899,
President McKinley promoted him to brigadiergeneral in the newly organized volunteer service, on the recommendation of
Generals Otis and
MacArthur, for signal skill and gallantry in swimming across the
Rio Grande at Calumpit in the face of a heavy fire from the insurgents, and establishing a rope ferry by means of which the
American troops were enabled to make a crossing and to successfully engage the insurgents.
On May 2, 1900, while making a personal reconnoissance up the
Rio Grande de la Pampanga he discovered a perpendicular ladder leading up a cliff crowned with a dense forest.
Beside the ladder hung a rope which, when pulled, rang an alarm bell in the woods back of the precipice.
Deeming these appearances suspicious, he ascended the ladder and at the summit found many large wooden cases filled with documents comprising a great number of the archives of the insurgents, including all the correspondence of
Aguinaldo from the time of his earliest communications with
Dewey down to the flight
[
491]
from
Malolos, and also including
Aguinaldo's personal letter-book, with press copies of his correspondence.
These boxes were hidden in a ravine, but were all recovered and taken to
Manila, where their contents were delivered to the
American authorities.
On March 23, 1901, he captured
Aguinaldo (q. v.), and on the 30th following was commissioned brigadiergeneral in the regular army.
