The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-03

you could force their surrender.by cutting
| OH the supplies. Under these circum-
stances your message recommending that
! spanish troops be permitted 10 evaeuate
! and proceed without molestation to Hol-
! gum IS great surprise. and is not APP
proved. The responsibility of destruction
and distress to the inhabitants rests en-
] urely with the Spanish commander. The
secretary of War orders that when YOU
are strong enough 10 destroy the enemy
and take Santiago that you do it. If YOU
have not force enough it will be dispatched
! 10 you at the earliest moment practicable
Relnforcements are on the way, of which
| you have already been advised In the
meantime nothing is lost by holding the
position You now have and which you re-
gard as impregnable. Acknowledge re-
| ceipt.
by order of the Secretary of War:
II. c. Corbin Adit Gen.
Playa del Este Via Haiti-(Received
! Washington. July 10, 1898, $50 p. ND
Adjutant General Washington: Head
quarters near Santiago, Cuba 1O-Tele-
gram of 9Th regards TO evacuation OF Span
ish troops received, My position is i'm
| pregnable against any attack the enemy
| can bring against me, but have not yet
| enough troops to entirely surround the
| town. The Cuban forces are not to be
depended upon for severe fighting. In
structions of the war department win be
carried out to tAe letter. ~
Shafter, Major General.
On the 10th, Shafter telegraphs that his
offer having been declined he should begin
! to lombard Santiago at O'clock that
day, but the secretary authorized him to
promise to return the Spaniards to Spain
if they surrendered Internationally. A
good deal of telegra phic correspondence oc-
| ours at this point to and from. touching
the terms of surrender but the facts al
ready have been pretty thoroughly pub
lished. In the midst of them is one from
Gen. Miles from the camp near Santiago,
July Il, in which he advises, with Shafter
and the major generals that discretion be
| granted as to terms of surrender He re-
ferred to the Spanish offer to surrender
Santiago province, force batteries, NUM-
lions of war, etc, all except the men and
small arms. Gen. Miles says that under
| ordinary circumstances he would not adj
wise acceptance but to avoid the assault
and in view of the fact that there were 100
cases of yellow fever in the command he
concurs with Shafter. The response came
as follows:
/ Washington, D. c. July 10, 1S9S.-Mai.
Gen Miles, Camp near Santiago Playa del
Este, Cubai You may accept surrender
| by granting parole to- officers and men. the
officers retaining their side arms The Of
| ficers and men after parole to be permit
| ted to return to Spain, the United States
assisting. If not accepted, then assault.
unless in your Judgment an. assault would
fail. Consult with Sampsons and pursue
such course as to the assault as you Jointly
agree upon. Matter should now be settled
| promptly
| "R. A. Alger, Secretary of War"
On July 10. Secretary Alger wrote to the
| Secretary of the Navy requesting that he
| order the feet off Santiago to at once
| force its way into the bay if possible The
| reasons set out are that the heavy rains
| have made the roads nearly impossible for
supplies for the troops, have filed the
trenches and endangered the lives of the
men from the yellow fever. Also the en-
emy's works were of such character as
TO involve a terrible sacrifice of life were
an attempt made to assault them. Score
tarY Long responded in a mere acknowl-
| edgement of receipt of the Communication.
More correspondence by telegraph re,a-
tive to the surrender is injected at this
point by the secretary Including Gen.
Miles announcement of the surrender on
July II, with the unders landing that the
Spanish troops would be returned to Spain
and announcing his arrangements for the
disposition of the sick soldiers. The Secre-
tary's next telegram was addressed to
Gen. Shafter on the following day and
read: Have you received the absolute sur
| render Of the enemy. We are, waiting the
| conditions with Impotence" Skaters re-
| Spouse was that Miles regarded the sur
render as absolute and the matter would
| be settled by commissioners that day The
18th. There was a telegraphic exchange
| regarding the Spanish arms. The secretary
I said no proposition could be entertained to
permit them to carry off their arms and
Shafter replied that the arms were sur
rendered subject to ourfdisposition. He re-
garded it as small matter but one which
he would not let stand between clearing
10000 Spanish soldiers out of Cuba or leay-
ing them there to be captured later and
probably with much loss to our
selves" long dispatch from
Gen. Miles, dated Playa del Este 2lst
tells what general directions were given TO
Gen. Shafter to be executed under his or
ders and supervision in order to avoid
conflict of authority or MISUNDERSTANDING.
1t is in this message, which he also pub
lished in his report, that he suggested taxi
ing the troops 10 the highlands in the rear
of Santiago, and il that failed to break
the disease, then to send them 10 the New
England coast
After the fall of Santiago the secretary
SAYS the Spaniards evacuated ManzanilIo
on Oct 10. The sanitary condition of an
these cities, he says, is simply terrible
and a great amount of work and money
will be necessary to make them. habitable
still, cooler weather approaching and I'M
der the energetic supervision OF Gen. Wood
it is hoped that his department will be in
good condition before the beginning of The
next hot season.
Next. the correspondence shows the his
tory Of the Porto Rican campaign. July
18Th the secretary telegraphed Miles at