The herald., 1898-10-05

cine among the infantry than in the cav
airy service.
Going back to Tampa, he said that at the
season he was there, the first half of June,
the site was without objection, but he had
felt that 1t would be wet later In the sea-
ron. It was his Impression that Tampa
had been selected as a camp site after the
beginning of the war, and was incidental
to the intended movement on Havana
Shortage Of Supplies
ssThere was. he said, "at times, some
shortage of supplies at the camp, but
nothing" he added, "that q soldier could
complain Of" They had comfortable tents
and the commissary supplies were sufti-
Client. The water supply also was good.
He said the men in his command were well
taken care of. However, very few men
were at that. time sick. He had himself
gone into the hospitals and had found the
men doing well.
General Wheeler said he had no control
over any of the supplies which were taken
to Santiago on the transports when he
left Tampa. This was attended to by the
different staff officers. He only knew from
conversation with these that there was
an abundance of supplies of oil characters.
Returning to the Santiago campaign,
he said that only two regiments had re-
ported a shortage of rations and he had
Immediately telephoned to the rear and
the shortage, which was due to accident,
had been adjusted. There was suffering
when the men We're compelled to lie on the
breastworks. The meat was poor, and
they had no bread but hard tack. They
were forced to live in the sun and water
alternately, and necessarily there was
much sickness.
While they had the full quota of doctors
and nurses, he thought that if more had
been furnished the men would have been
better cared for AS for rations three days
supply was generally issued. Whenever the
troops went into action they would throw
their food away as well as their packs,
and they often did not recover them.
Cubans N OF Blamed
General Wheeler took up the common
report that the Cubans stole goods thus
discarded. 1t was not fair, he said, to
thus accuse the natives, for there was so
much of this fiotsam and jetsam that hun
cry and poorly clothed as the Cubans
were they were not to be blamed for help
ing themselves. He said he had seen
among the 1900 who came out of San
tiago many ladies of refinement who were
emaciated and evidently hungry. In re.
ply to questions, he stated he never had
heard of any shortage of commssary or
ordnance supplies at Santiago, but he had
been told that the medical supplies were
short, yet he had no personal knowledge
on this point.
He had seen some wounded men crawl
ing to the rear in the engagements, but
as rule as soon as a man fell in battle
he was carried to the hospitals by the
Medical Corps He said that as rule
the quality of hardtack was good. Where
there was any deterioration it was due
to local rains and not to the fact of orig
inal inferiority.
The spirit of the army was such. he said,
that there was no disposition to complain.
'"They were all proud to be there and
willing to undergo hardships."
Replying to a question from Colonel Dem
by, General Wheeler said the regulars had
shown a greater ability to take care OF
themselves than the volunteers. The vol
unteers were more careless, but the Volun-
teer cavalrymen were not so negligent as
the other volunteers, because they were
generally Western men, who had been used
to camping. H thought this fact had had
a strong influence in causing the health
of the regulars to be better than that of
the volunteers.
Effects Of Climate
Captain Howell asked to what he at
tributed the development of disease after
the capitulation of Santiago. General
Wheeler replied that it was due to the clim-
ate and to the exposure made necessary.
h. lass
affected by the conditions. He had, he
said, known of no instance of sick or
wounded man. dying from want of care
from the physicians. So far as he knew
there was general commendation of the
medical corps, except that on one or two
occasions there had been some grumbling
in regard to the general conditions. He
thought there was deficiency In the num-
ber of ambulances, but this deficiency was
due to the exigencies of the campaign.
General Wheeler also said in reply to
Captain Howell that he knew of no con-
fusion in securing supplies from Tampa.
He was not acquainted with a case in
which a body of vehicle was shipped on
one vessel and the wheels ON another. His
memory was not distinct as to complaints
from physicians in his command as to the
scarcity of medical supplies, but he thought
there were some such complaints and in
such cases he had them supplied as prompt
ly as possible.
There had been difficulty in getting the
transports to lie as near in shore as was
desirable, rendering it difficult to get at
supplies promptly.
In this connection Gen. Wheeler re-
vealed the fact that he had felt somewhat
hurt that his had been the fourth command
ordered to be landed, when he thought his
rank entitled him to the first landing. Gen.
Shafter had given the order which thus af-
fected him.
On Shipboard
Speaking of the sleeping apartments of
the transport, Gen. Wheeler said they
were quite warm and there was some dis
comfort. He had often gone down among
tn men at night and found that there was
comparatively little complaint except for
the heat. Coming back from Santiago to
Montauk, he had sailed on the Miami, hav-
ing chosen it because it was said to be the
worst. He found it very comfortable and
four sick and only three or four of these
were too ill to stand up for inspection.
There was plenty of water on the vessel
and suffic!ency Of Ice for the sick though
not for others.
After the destruction of Cervera's fleet
the army was more abundantly supplied
than any army in the field had ever been
For the future he said that the men should
be kept off the ground and be we'll shell
tered from the rain by good tents. There