The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-08-09
DOWNRIGHT by Associated Press.)

fNJDDJ ~
Santiago de Cuba, August 3, $3.50 p.
m~.-(Delayed in ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
moned by Major General Shafter, a
meeting was held here this morning at
headquarters and in the presence of
every commanding and medical Off
Ger Of the Fifth army corps, General
Shafter read a cable message from
Secretary Alger ordering him at the
recommendation Of Surgeon General
Sternberg to move the army into the
interior to San Luis, where it is health
Ter.
AS a result Of the conference Cen
eral Shaftcr will insist upon the i'm
ediat withdrawal of the army
north within two weeks.
AS an explanation Of the situation,
the following letter from Colonel The
odore Roosevelt, commanding the First
volunteer cavalry to General Shafter,
was handed by the latter to the CORE
publication:
Major General Shafter:
"Sir-In a meeting Of the general and
ultultd OlllCeGS Cdlltu Dy you DIT the
palace this morning we were all, as
you know, unanimous in the view OF
what should be done with the army.
To keep us here, in the opinion of eV-
cry officer commanding a division or
n brigade, will simply involve the de-
StruCtiOn for thousands. There is no
possible reason for not shipping prac-
tiCalIy the entire command north at
once. Yellow fever cases are very few
-, tho Ia yya1ry division yvhnpa I nnrO-
mand one of the two brigades, and but
. one true case of yellow fever has Oc-
CURED in this division, except among
the men sent to the hospital at SibOn-
ely, where they have, / believe, con-
traCted it. But in this division, there
have been ! 800 cases of malarial fever.
Not d man died from it, but the whole
command is so weakened and shatter-
ed as to be ripe for dying like rotten
sheep when a real yellow fever epidem-
iC, instead of a fake epidemic like the
present, strikes us, as it is bound to if
We stay here at the height of the sick
ness seasOn-August and the beginning
Of September. Quarantine against
maIarial fever is much like quarantine
ing against the t~OOthache. All of US
are, as certain as the authorities at
Washington fully appreciate the cOndi-
tons of the army, to be sent home. If
we are kept here it will in all human
probability mean an appalling diSaS-
ter, for the surgeons here maintain
that half Of the army, if kept here
during the SiCkly season, will die. This
is not only terrible from the stand
point from the Individual lives, but it
means ruin from the standpoint of the
military efficiency Of the flower of the
American army, for the great bulk of
the regulars are here with you. The
sick list. large though it is, exceeding
A 900 CC--1- l4 - H.
debilitatiOn of the army. Not 10 per
cent are fit for active work. Six weeks
on the north Maine coast, for instance,
or elsewhere, where the yellow fever
germ CannOt possibly come, would
make us all as fit as fighting cocks,
able as we are eager, to take a leading
part in the great campaign against
ava in the fall, even if we are not
allowed to try Porto Rico.
I'VE can be moved north. if moved
at once. with absolute safety to the
country, although, of course, it would
have been indefinitely better if we had
been moved north or to Porto Rico two
weeks age If there We're any object
in keeping us here, we would face yell
low fever with as much Indifference as
we faced bullets, but there is no object
in it. The four immune regiments or
dered here are sufficient to garrison
the city and surrounding towns, and
there is absolutely nothing for us to
do here, and there has not been since
the city surrendered. It is impossible
to move into the interior. Every shift
ing of camp doubles the sick rate in
u present weakened condition.. and,
any now, the interior is rather worse
than the coast as I have found by &C
tual reconnaissance. Our present camps
are as healthy as any camps at this
end of the island can be.
Il write only because I cannot see
our men who have fought so braVely
and who have endured extreme hard
ships and dangers so uncomplainingly,
go to destruction without striving so
far as lies in me, to avert a doom as
fearful as it is unnecessary and unde-
served.