Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-08-30
Major-General Commanding -

| secretary OF War. All OF the subsequent
business OF the surrender was entirely in
MS hands. as shown by the fact that the
war department communicated with him
| directly not even mentioning Skaters
name in the numerous dispatches.
Ihe Following dispatch is an excellent
example:
Washington, d. c., July 30. AeoS.
'Mator-General Miles:
| You may accept surrender by grant
! ing parole 70 officers and men. the officers
retaining their side-arms. The officers
and men. after parole, will be permitted
TO return 20 Spain the United States as
! sistlng If not accepted then assault
unless In your judgment an assault would
fail Consult with Sampson, and pursue
| such course as to the assault as you
jointly agree upon. Matters should be
| settled promptly. Il. a. ALlGER,
Secretary Of War "
This dispatch recognized Miles as com
mander. and gave him authority to act.
Shaftor was entirely ignored
THE SUPERSEDURE DISPATCH.
In the face Of this situation. Secretary
Alser, through Adjutant-General Corbin,
sent a dispatch TO General Shafter, as
! suring him that General Miles did not
come 10 Cuba to supersede Shafter in any
way This dispatch General Miles refers
TO as Secret for he says he did not know
II had been sent, not being notified from
Washington. and General Shafter saying
nothing about II. After the surrender,
General Miles still retained control He
authorized Shafter TO appoint peace com
missioners, and. Judging from Skaters
report that all was over he Instructed
him as 10 the disposition Of the troops.
July 18th General Shafter wired Gene
al D.. or wa M "a
complete as was thought, and said: please
do not 80 away with the reinforcements'
as / may yet need them
miles promptly replied by wire from
Baiquri that the surrender is complete
and the Spanards must surrender
"On July 18th Shaftcr wired Miles that
the surrender was finally complete, and
General Miles replied. through Adjutant-
General Gilmore, as follows: The COM
manding general is very much gratiiied to
hear that the surrender is complete. lie
directs that you telegraph anything Of i'm
portance. and the condition of your com
mand daily
General Miles then reported the con-
dition Of affairs 10 the Secretary of War,
with whom ne had been in conference.
in one Of his kilograms TO Miles Secre-
tary Alger says
"As soon as Santiago falls, the troops
must all be put i'm camps as comfortable
as they can be made. and remain. | sup
pose. until the fever has had its run
miles did not agree with Secretary
Alger, for July 21st, in letter. the gene
raj commanding urged the return of the
army to the United States as soon as
possible.
PROTEST FROM SKATER.
July 18th. after the surrender was com
plete General Shafter wired the follow
ing TO General Miles
'Siboney. July II, 1s9S.-S:4O p. M.-Re-
ceived July 18 1S9S-General Miles, on
Board Yale: Letters and orders in refer
ence TO movement of camp received and
will be carried out. None is more anX-
ious TO get away from here than myself.
IT seems from your orders given me. that
You regard my forces as part of your
command. Nothing will give me greater
pleasure than serving you, General ana
/ shall comply with all your requests ana
directions but ! was told by the Secre-
tarv that you We're not 10 supersede me
i'm command here. / viii furnish the
information called for as to condition OF
command to Gilmore, Acknowledgements
A. II. @.
"'sHAFTER, Major-GeneraL'
General Miles very promptly replied
"''Playa del Este, July IS, 1898 (Guanta-
non,o) 119O A. M.-General Shatter:
Telegram received. Have no desire ana
have carefully avoided any appearance or
sunersedinc YOU. Your command is a
mart Of the United States army. which
have the honor to command, having peeh
duly assigned thereto, and directed py
the President TO so wherever l thoughl
nv presence required, and give such
general directions as | thought best CON
cerning military matters, and especially
directed to go to Santiago for a speclhc
nurrose. You will also notice that the
orders of the Secretary Of War of July
18th left the matter to my discretion
should regret that any event should cause
either yourself or any part of your COM
mand 20 cease TO be a part Of mine.
Very truly yours,
NELSON 4. MILES,
" edaior-General, Commanding United
States army"
General Miles then gave General
Shafter final instructions ana leiI Hu'
riedly for Porto Rico.
I'm view of the situation, as revealed
nv the above kilograms the following
statement contained in the New York
Herald of recent date, Is quoted;
AI.GER FEELS REPAID.
d" If my CdblegTdm 10 NdJ"A -pN-iNi'''
Sbafter. informing him that Major-Gene-
raj Miles was not sent to supersede hlm
en- eupreme command Of the troops in the
feld AZ Santiago de Cuba prevented the
etorming of the city on the day OF its
surrender. and the resultant saving OF
lives which otherwise would nave Deeh
lost I'm the attack. then l am repaid lor
sending it thousandfold 80.
This statement was made 10 me tiils
afternoon by Secretary Alger apropos
Of the publication in the Herald OF yes
terday. setting forth the dongs oi
Major General Miles during his brief stay
IN Cuba The Secretary told me he ala
not rropose to enter into any controversy
reearding the Santiago campaign with
onvbodv The results spoke for them
eol,.ee and they were a sufficient Jusu-
dcation for the policy which had been
nursued by the War Department in the
conduct of the operations against Sah'i"
ago. Go, cnas,or
Ia continued. was simply due TO my de-
ciro "a show him that / intended TO 40
e,,orvtbine fair. Before his departure Tor
C,,ba General Miles and l had talked the
,,,otter over and he started for Cuba
1-,op,ing that he was not in any way 10
interfere with the preparations Whlch
,,,era under the control OF General Shat-
- Tbat there could be no doubt what
e,-or I cabled General Shafter that Gene
,,i miles had left for Cuba, with instruc-
=. "a In any manner supersede him