The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-26
REVIEWED BY SKATER
THE SANTIAGO CAMPAIGN DE-
SCRIBED AGAIN BY ITS MANAGER.
No RancOr or Enmity Between Span
in the March Towards the City.

NEW YORK, Nov. 25.-General Shafter
was the principal guest tonight at q ban
quet given at Delmonico's by the Sons Of
the Revolution of the State of New York
In the course of a speech he said: II wish
to say something about the late war, about
the success in Cuba. At Santiago there was
no rancor or enmity between the Spanish
and American forces. They fiocked together
thicker than fieas, if 1 may use the term
They snapped coats and experiences as best
they could. not knowing each others Ian
guage, and using an interpreter when one
could be had General Shafter then spoke
of letter he had received from Spanish
officer just before leaving Santiago, in which
the writer said it was a source of great
qualification to all the Spaniards to have ex-
perienced so much generosity and magnan-
unity from foe.
II suppose" continued General Shafter
that you all know how that campaign has
been bitterly criticised. 1 want to tell you
that it is much easier for man to say how
thing should be done than to do II. In
the early part of April, while in command
of the forces of the United States on the
Pacific coast, 1 was suddenly ordered to
Florida to take charge of the six or eight
regiments in Tampa"
General Shafter then told of the embarka-
ton of his expedition and continued: con
June Il we reached the vicinity of San
uago. l made arrangements to confer with
General Garcia. There were no maps of use
to military operators to be had, only general
maps giving the rivers and mountain ranges.
Fortunately there happened to be an intelli-
gent American who had lived for many
years at Santiago and who knew much
about the country. From him and from Gen.
Garcia l made up my mind what was neces-
sary to be done. will say right here that
there was no strategy employed. 1 learned
of a considerable body of Spanish troops in
ana about Santiago, which in round num-
Ders l Will place at Il 900. knew we would
nave some sickness, and 1 determined to
make a sharp and forced march straight
to Santiago. / had 20125 men, all of the
light artillery and all of the available cav
airy There were three regiments of volun-
teers. One composed of cowboys who, while
they lacked the discipline of the regulars
were Injured by past lives to hardship and
could do good work. There were also the
Seventy-t1rst New York and the Second
Massachusetts. They were good regiments
and did their duty well. (Applause) There
isn't a regiment in the volunteers on the
race Of the earth who could be made SOL
these regiments had. OF course we could
not carry comfortable homes with us Every
man haa three days rations. All the gem
erals except General Wheeler went on foot
with their haversacks and rations like pri-
Vates.'
General Shafter then described the various
marches and the methods of the Spaniards
in fighting and continued: Il made one
mistake In that march towards Santiago.
1t was the only serious mistake l made.
That was at the battle of FL Caney On
the first day we approached the town from
the northeast. / sent several of our best
men TO reconnoiter. On their return they
told me that the place could be taken On
learning this from them / ordered an adj
vance on FL Caney."
General Shafter complimented General
kents and General Lawton'S forces. OF
the FL Caney fight he said: ut was the
most direct way. / knew that sickness was
certain. and was determined to reach San
tiago before the sickness came upon the
men. / knew that the surrender of San
tiago was only a question of a few days"
Sald tne general; I was told by the Brit
ish consul afterwards that the town was
ours when we arrived at the brow of the
hill. There was much clamor for me to
assault the town. l had to exercise the
greatest effort to withstand it,
In speaking of the sufferings of the men
ne said; We had lots of suffering, 1 will
ADMIT. There is always suffering in war.
There was not a moment when 1 could have
prevented it that any man suffered unneces-
sarily Out of the fifteen hundred wounded
put thirteen died, as was informed in July.
That is small percentage. / have never
heard complaint from any officer or man
Closed with tribute to the Sons OF t6e
Revolution and sat down amid great APP
plause.
Rev henry Van Dyke, ID. D., was intro
duced and created sensation by vehement
ly denounclng the policy of expansion. He
declared that the purpose for which we
went to war was freedom for Cuba and the
cause of humanity, and not for the ag-
grandiZement of territory. He referred to
the evacuation Of the British and said: I'm
perialism meant a reaction to the days of
1888, when the colonial policy was banished
from America by Washington. Do you pro-
pose, Sons of the Revolution, to change this
Republic into conquering empire?
Ine greatest excitement prevailed at this
point and the speaker had to wait for quiet.
Then he paid wonderfully eloquent tribute
to the flag, and hoped it would never float
above any country whose people were I'M
willingly under the dominion OF this govern
ment, and that it stood for conquest, i'm
perialism, instead of humanity and enlght-
eminent" He read some lines from Wash
ington's farewell address and declared that
Washington was not a fool or old fogy, but
had a prophetic vision of the present sit
uation.