Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1898-08-30

MssJCr (TeueraI commanding.
General Miles sailed for Cuba On
July II, at noon, he reported his safe
arrival to the war department and at
once assumed charge, reporting TO the
secretary of war. All of the SUBSEQUENT
business or the surrender was entirely
in his hands as shown by the fact thas
the war Department. communicated with
him direct. not even mentioning Gen.
eral Shafter $ name in the numerous
dispatches. The following dispatch Is
an excellent example:
WASHINGTON, July 13.
Major General Miles
You may accept surrender by
granting parole to officers and men, the
officers retaining their side arms. the
officers and men after parole will be
permitted TO return to Spain, the
United States assisting. Ii not accepted,
then assault, unless in your Judgment
an assault would fail. Consult with
Sampson and pursue such course as to
the assault as you jointly agree upon.
Matters should be settled promptly.
SIR. A. ALGER,
g Secretary Of War
This dispatch recognized Miles as
commander amt gave hia authority to
act. Shafter was entirely ignored. In
the face OF this situation Secretary
Alger, throa1sl General Corbin, sent a
dispatch to zen raj Shafter, assuring
him that General Miles did not come TO
Cuba TO supefscde Shafter in any way.
This dispatch General Miles refers 90
as secret for he says he did not know
it had been sent, not being notified
orr Washington and General Shafter
by .ng nothing about it. After the sur
iender General Miles still retained con-
troll. He authorized Shafter to appoint
peace commissioners, and. judging from
Skaters report that all was over, he
instructed him as to the disposition of
the troops.
Gully Is General Shafter wired Gen
eral Miles that the surrender was not
as complete as was thought and said:
please do not go away with the rein
forcements as | may yet need them,'
Miles promptly replied by wire from
Baiquiri that the surrender is COM
plete' and the Spaniards must sur
render
"On July 16 Shafter wired Miles
that the surrender was finally COM
plete and General Miles replied through
Adjutant General Gilmore as follows:
THE commanding general is very
much gratitied to hear that the sur
render is complete. He directs that
you telegraph anything of Importance
and the condition of your command
daily General Miles then reported
the condition of affairs to the secretary
of war, with whom he had been i'll
conference. In one of his kilograms to
Miles, Secretary Alger says:
AS soon as Santiago falls the troops
must all be put i'll camp as comfortable
as they can be made and remain, | sup
pose, until the fever has had its run
@Miles did not agree with Secretary
Alger, for July 81, III letter, the gen
eral commanding urged the return of
the army to the United States as soon
as possible. July II, after the surren-
der was complete, General Shafter
wired as follows to General Miles:
sSIBoNEY, July II, received July Is.
General Miles. on board Yale.
"'Letters and orders in reference to
movement of camp received and will be
carried out. None is more anxious to
get away from here than myself. IL
seems, from your orders given me, that
you regard my forces as part of your
command. Nothing will give me greater
pleasure than serving under you. gen.
eral, and / shall comply with all your
IoQucSto duu UlIcCtlOlc, Dut L was bOltt
by the secretary that you were not to
supercede me in command here 1 will
furnish the information called for as to
condition of command to Gilmore, ad-
infant general A. II. @.
"'SHAFTER,
"'Major General
General Miles very promptly replied
as follows:
PLAYA DEL ESTE, July Is, Guiana
tanamo).
General Shafter:
Telegram received, have no desire
and have carefully avoided any appear
ance OF superseding you. Your COM
mand is d part OF the United States
army which I have the honor to COM
thereto and directed by the president to
go wherever l thought my presence re-
quired and give such general directions
as thought best concerning military
matters, and especially directed TO go to
Santiago for a specific purpose. You
will also notice that the orders of the
secretary of war of July IL left the
matter to my discretion. / should re-
greet that any event should cause either
yourself Or any part of your command
to cease to be part OF mine.
Very truly yours,
!" NELSON A. MILES,
Major General, Commanding United
States Army
General Miles then gave General
Shafter final instructions and left hur-
riedly for Porto Rico. In view of the
situation as revealed by the above tele-
grams, statement contained in the
New York Herald of recent date, is