tive legations of the Christian nations and all missionaries with extermination. He assumed command of the American forces in China, and on July 29, 1900, led them in the march to, and capture of Peking, the besieged Chinese capital, on August 14, and secured the safety of United States Minister Conger and his domestic and official family, and of the American missionaries who had taken refuge in the quarters of the legation and had been held there from June 28, to August 14, 1900. He was promoted major-general, U. S. V., June 20, 1900, and on the restoration of order in China, General Chaffee was promoted to the rank of major-general, U. S. A., February 5, 1901, was placed in command of the division of the United States army in the Philippine Islands and was appointed military governor of the Philippines to take effect July 4, 1901. He was relieved from service in the Philippines, September 30, 1902, and assigned to the command of the Department of the East, with headquarters in New York. On the retirement of Lieutenant-General S. B. M. Young, January 9, 1904, General Chaffee was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general and chief-of-staff of the United States army. He was made a companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and a member of several other patriotic societies and of the Army and Navy and Metropolitan clubs of Washington, District of Columbia. He also served for one year as commander-in-chief of the Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the State of Kansas. General Chaffee is an example of the possibilities open to American youth and shows that there is no position in life which may not be attained if the purpose is prompted by the best motives and if there is the determination to succeed. In spite of the disadvantages that handicapped him during his early boyhood and youth, he found in the regular army his high school, academy and college, where he was instructed in the profession of arms and advanced from the position of private through the work of forty-three years' constant service, to be the ranking officer in the United States army. In speaking to young men General Chaffee says : "The books that have influenced me most have been those devoted to history and biography, together with professional and current literature. I have always taken pleasure in the work that I have had to do and was never indifferent about anything. The greatest influence on my course of life has been contact with men of high character; and my
