The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-21
SHAF''TER.
Heard by w ar
Board.
TELLSOF CAMPAIGN
Interesting Story of His
Part in the War.

Washington, Dec. 20.-General Shat
ter appeared rather Unexpectedly before |
the war investigation commission to-
day and told his story of the Santiago
expedition. He was supported by his
aide, Colonel NIiley, who was with him
in Cuba, and thanked by a large port
manteau and papers to which his aide
occasionally applied for reference. |
General Skaters story of the opera
lions around Santiago was tersely told,
but at times was quite vivid in it's re-
cital and interesting in detail
Briefly summed up, his estimate of
the Santiago expedition was that it had
been military success and cheap at
the cost of the 500 men lost in the
light. He considered the expedition to
have been as well fitted out as the time
allowed would permit, and said that in
looking back he had no criticism of
mis- plans to make and would not
change them if the events had to be
gone through again. He said he had
no complaints of any sort to make and
would be loath to intrude them at this
time if he had.
After a brief preface, General Shafter
went into a detailed account of his pre-
He said his plans We're changed three
zines by the department, and once he
actually started, but was called back by
che report of Spanish warships off the
cast. He said the transports feet was
not sufficiently large to accommodate IT,
100 men for any length of time at sea,
but all were so anxious to go that he
risked considerable croWding to take all
the men possible.
He admitted that he took chances in
doing this, but said the weather was
good and there was no mishap to re-
gret. The men We're regulars almost
entirely, fully equipped, and he saw
that they were made as comfortable as
circumstances permitted.
As to medical supplies General Shat
er said. you know medical supplies
are the one thing that commanding
| officer or a line officer never knows any
| thing about. The surgeon is supposed
10 know what he wants. My medical
| officer said he thought he had enough
medical supplies for the temporary ser
| vice TO which we thought we were des-
| tined. Events proved, however, that
| the surgeon was mistaken. The arnmu-
milton supply was ample"
AS to supplies, Gen. Shafter said
there was nothing essential left be-
| hind
How about the ambulances?' asked
Gen. Beaver.
CAS- to the ambulances," said Gen.
Shafter. Il take the whole responsible
ity myself / ordered and supervised
their loading. After events proved that
| it would have been better to take 10 or
! Is additional ambulances and left that
many wagons behind. But wagons
can be used for two purposes and
ambulances can be used for but one. l
| took the wagons and the wounded had
to be transported in them after the
| first DAYS fighting. / must say that on
a rocky. muddy road, such as we had
| there, there is little difference in COM
| fort between an ambulance and an es-
| cort wagon. The men were put on
straw on the bottom of the wagons. and
we did the best we could for them. Am
balances would have been better but
then hindsight is always better than
| foresight"
Concerning the landing facilities with
| the expedition, Gen. Shafter said they
| had two large barges, one of which was
| lost en- route, and a small tug, the
| CAPTAIN Sam whose captain desert
ed during the night. The boat capacity
| of the transport fleet was sufficient for
| the landing, as events proved. An IN
| teresting incident of the landing was
brought out by Gen. Shafter who said
| he had arranged with the Cuban gen
eral Castillo, the day prior to the land
| ing, to have 1000 men back of Baiqui-
| ri to catch the Spaniards when they
were ,shelled out by the navy. Castillo
was three hours late, however, and all
the Spaniards got away.
How about getting supplies to the
front for the menu" asked Gen. Beaver.
TT was the one problem of the cam
| paign. and it taxed us to the utmost
said he; 'if it had not been for the
pack train we could not have done 1t,
and the expedition would have been a
| failure"
Gen. Shafter said he regarded the
landing of the expedition as eminently
successful They lost only two men
and 80 animals out of total of 10000
men. 1t was a remarkable record.
"There has been considerable criti-
cism from the medical officials about
getting their medical supplies ashore
said Gen. Beaver. 'Were any such
complaints brought to you?"
"A majority of the regimental surg
cons left their medical chests on their
vessels When l found this out, l put
DR.. Goodfellow aboard the Mantee and
had him collect the chests. AS soon as
they were landed they were put on
four wagons and distributed at once to
the men,"
AS an additional explanation of the
difficulty in furnishing supplies ashore
| Gen. Smarter SAID tnaI at one time,
with an army Of 21.000 men, he had to
issue rations to 10000 people, the eX-
cess being the refugees from Santiago
| women and children for the most part
whom he could not allow to starve.
AS to the care of the wounded, Gen.
Shafter said they We're cared for as
carefully as the circumstances would
permit The doctors worked like Tro-
JAMS They deserved and received com
mendatlon from every one. They
worked till they were sick and worn
out The doctors were mostly young
men. You can't get very old and ex-
perienced surgeons to go on summer
campaign for 500 a month but they
were splendid fellows. Compared with
the civil war the wounded were better
cared for in Cuba than they were then
! Touching the signal corps, Gen. SHAFT
ter said he was served admirably.
Asked if he thought his own sickness
had any effect on the success of the
| Cuban campaign, Gen Shafter said:
mo, most decidedly. The campaign
was carried out as planned from the
start ana my health or sickness did
not alter a single plan. / knew 1 was
going to have sick army on my hands
in the country pretty soon, and SIM