SHAFTER, WILLIAM RUFUS. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



697 



part of Col. Coburn's command, he was captured 

 by Confederate cavalry under Gen. Joseph Wheeler, 

 and was taken to Libby Prison. His exchange was 

 effected about sixty days later. Coburn's brigade, 

 at the time of the capture, was on a foraging expe- 

 dition, and fell into the hands of Wheeler's flying 

 squadron. Brig.-Gen. Absalom Baird, commanding 

 the third division of the Army of Kentucky, in a 

 lispatch from his headquarters at Franklin, Tenn., 

 :lated March 11, 1863, said, in reporting the capture 

 of Col. Coburn's command at Thompson's Station : 



WILLIAM RUFUS SHAFTER. 



'The bravery of the little band surrounded and 

 captured was so conspicuous as to elicit the ap- 

 alause of the enemy himself, and we are informed 

 :hat Cols. Coburn and Gilbert and Major Shafter 

 were permitted on this account to retain their 

 lorses and side arms." Col. Coburn, in his official 

 -eport on the affair, refers to Major Shafter as one 

 )f the officers " at their posts, bravely doing their 

 luty." About a month after Major Shatter's ex- 

 jhange, in June, 1863, he was promoted to a lieu- 

 tenant colonelcy, and on April 18, 1864, he was 

 igain honorably mustered out. The following day, 

 lowever, he was made colonel of the Seventeenth 

 United Stales (colored) Infantry. His promotion 

 ,o brevet brigadier general was dated March 13, 

 1865. 



In July, 1866, while still in the volunteer service, 

 Brig.-Gen. Shafter was made lieutenant colonel of 

 ,he Forty-first Regiment of regular infantry. He 

 vas mustered out of the volunteer service for the 

 -hird time on Nov. 2, 1866. On the reorganization 

 >f the army, in 1869, he was transferred to the 

 Twenty-fourth Infantry, having received in the 

 neantime the brevet of colonel for gallant and 

 neritorious services in the battle of Fair Oaks, Vir- 

 ginia. He became colonel of the First Infantry on 

 March 4, 1879. 



As a regimental commanding officer, Col. Shafter 

 Became noted for his discipline. The officers and 

 nen under his command were marked for their 

 ifficiency, including an excellent appearance on 

 mrade and general good behavior. As lieutenant 

 iolonel of the Twenty-fourth Infantry, he served 

 vith distinction, subsequent to the civil war, in the 

 Indian campaigns in Texas and New Mexico. 



In May, 1897, Col. Shafter was made brigadier 

 general, and shortly after the declaration of war 

 vith Spain, he was appointed major general of 

 volunteers, to date from May 4, 1898. His record, 

 ind that of his command during the campaign in 

 Juba, is given in detail under UNITED STATES. 



Major-Gen. Shafter arrived home from Cuba with 

 the headquarters of his division on Sept. 1, 1898, 

 and landed at Montauk Point, Long Island. He 

 was afterward placed in command of the Depart- 

 ment of the East. At the termination of the cam- 

 paign, according to statistics made public by the 

 War Department, the percentage of loss to his force 

 from conflict with the Spaniards was infinitesimal 

 when compared with results as shown in the records 

 of the civil war and previous conflicts in which 

 United States troops were engaged. Adj.-Gen. 

 Corbin, when asked, shortly after the war with 

 Spain began, why Shafter was selected to lead the 

 campaign in Cuba, said: "On account of his rank 

 and conceded ability, his vigor and good judgment. 

 He is one of the men in the army who has been able 

 to do what he was ordered to do ; not a man to find 

 out how things can't be done." 



SIAM, an absolute monarchy in southeastern 

 Asia. The reigning King is Chulalongkorn, born 

 Sept. 21, 1853, who succeeded his father, Mongkut, 

 Oct. 1, 1868. With an area of about 244,000 

 square miles, the country has a population of 

 about 10,000,000. The official religion is Bud- 

 dhism. There is a steady immigration of Chinese, 

 of whom 37,475 came in 1896. Bangkok, the capi- 

 tal, has about 200,000 inhabitants, half of whom are 

 Chinese. The imports in 1896 were valued at $14,- 

 747,000, and the exports at $27,505,000. The mer- 

 chant marine numbers 18 vessels, of 5,238 tons, 

 including 4 steamers, of 658 tons. There are 92 

 miles of railroad, and 1,810 miles of telegraph. 

 The King has an army of 10,000 men, trained and 

 commanded by European officers, which has been 

 formed since the war with France, when he had 

 only 3,000 troops, not half of them trained in any 

 way. Of arms he has 10,000 Mannlicher repeating 

 rifles and 40,000 Mausers. His fleet consists of 2 

 cruisers and 4 gunboats. 



SOUTH CAROLINA, a Southern State, one of 

 the original thirteen, ratified the Constitution May 

 23, 1788 ; area, 3,750 square miles. The population, 

 according to each decennial census, was 249.073 in 

 1790; 345,591 in 1800; 415,115 in 1810; 502,741 in 

 1820 ; 581,185 in 1830 ; 594,398 in 1840 ; 668,507 in 

 1850; 703,708 in 1860; 705,606 in 1870; 995,577 in 

 1880 ; and 1,151,149 in 1890. Capital, Columbia. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year : Governor, W. H. Ellerbe ; 

 Lieutenant Governor, M. B. McSweeney ; Secretary 

 of State, D. H. Tompkins ; Treasurer, *W. H. Tim- 

 merman ; Comptroller, L. P. Epton ; Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, W. A. Barber; Adjutant General, J. G. Watts ; 

 Superintendent of Education, W. D. Mayfield ; Phos- 

 phate Inspector, A. W. Jones; Chief Justice of the 

 Supreme Court, Henry Mclver; Associate Justices, 

 Eugene B. Gary, Ira B. Jones, and Y. J. Pope ; Clerk, 

 U. R. Brooks. All are Democrats. 



Finances. The Governor in his message says the 

 finances are still in an unsatisfactory condition ; the 

 Treasurer has been obliged to overdraw for small 

 amounts upon various banks where the funds have 

 been, in order to meet obligations. About $500 of 

 the old debt was funded this year, leaving $350,208 

 outstanding Dec. 31, 1898. The amount of the in- 

 terest-paying debt outstanding is $6.494,657.47. 

 The cash balance at the opening of the year was 

 $439,418.39; the amount received, $2,407,283.88; 

 the expenditures, $2,396,025.21 ; leaving at the close 

 of 1898, $450,677.06, of which $140,383.75 belongs 

 to the general fund. 



The total value of the assets of the cumulative 

 phosphate royalty sinking fund is $296.592.04. Of 

 this amount, $105,056.75 is lent to counties at a rate 

 of 5 per cent, interest per annum. The sinking 

 fund has permanently invested in State stocks $35,- 

 728.56. There is invested in temporary loans to 



