The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-22
W AR BOARD
Miles
Testifes.
MEDICAL SUPPLIES,
These, He Declared, made
Quate in the Campaign.

Washington, Dec. 2L-Gen. Miles tes-
titled before the war investigating com
mittee today following Lieut.. Col. Wi
ley, his chief of staff. Lieut.. Col.
Wiley's testimony was for the most
part concerning the Santiago cam
paign, following the lines of Gen. Shat
ters story Of yesterday.
Gen. Miles then took the stand
Are you willing to be sworn?" he
was asked
II think, was the reply, that I can
say what l have TO say without being
sworn"
Gen. Miles was fortified with large
package of papers, and had his own
stenographer He gave his evidence in a
clear, unhesitating way, and went into
details regarding both the Santiago and
Porto Rico expeditions.
He opened by describing the railroad
confusion in getting war munitions to
Tampa, pointed to the lack of govern
ment storehouse facilities there, and
said the cars at one time were held
back as far as Columbia, S. c. He said
when the transports were loaded it was
found impossible to put more than 10,
600 men aboard, and they were
equipped as well as possible under the
circumstances.
1T was most fortunate" he said,
that the transports had good weather.
If they had encountered a severe storm
the loss Of life, or the suffering at least,
must have been fearful, AS it was,
with fair weather, the men below
crowded in with the mules and supplies
could get on deck, which would have
been imDOSsible otherwise"
The cOmmissary stores taken, he said,
were sufficient but the medical supplies
We're inadequate. He had left the load
ing, except for general directions, to
the corps commander, Gen. Shafter. He
found just before sailing thai there
were a number of pontoon boats being
taken which would be utterly useless
for the purpose and he himself had Sc
cured two barges from the owners
there, and had taken other steps, but
the supply of such boats taken was
very inadequate. THE expedition" he
continued, should have been furnished
with launches, naphtha or steam, or
tugs, for towing barges from the ships
to the shore. We relied largely on the
engineer officers and the engineer de
partment for these. In the second ex-
petition to Porto Rico these were fur
nished, but they arrived too late to
render much assistance"
Were the medical supplies at that
time sufficient for the needs of the
commando? he was asked.
In reply he read a dispatch, dated
Aug. n, saying four men had died for
lack Of medicine. There was at no
time medicine sufficient for the troops
He remembered seeing one train for
the sick in drenching RAIN with no
covering over the wagons
Cen RpaVpr a clyn6- s'E7rO11o what I,ot4
learned and observed while there, do
you think there was at any time a suffi-
Gent medical supply?"
Gen. Miles: "Of medical men and
materials"
Gen. Beaver: Yes"
Cen Miles: mo. sir"
The witness stated that the hospital
accommodations were only of tenn
porary character. He said that the
shelter was bad. The shelter tents did
not shelter Questioned as to the
character of facilities for transport
ing the wounded he said that they
were taken in wagons.
Gen. Beaver: DO you know if any
Of the wounded were lying exposed to
the weather."
Gen. Miles: Some were exposed in
being sent down to the hospitals. I
saw one train Of wounded men driv-
ing along in the drenching rain with
nothing to shelter them"
Gen. Miles stated the first plans for
sending troops to Cuba were not his.
as he was opposed to sending troops
| there until Cervera's fleet was located.
The question at the outset was a naval
problem; and the dispatch of troops, in
| his judgment then, hinged on which
| feet should destroy the other. If the
| Spanish, he thought had destroyed the
| United States fleet, the United States
would have been blocked for a num-
Der of years. IF we had had a force
| in Cuba then we would have lost it.
as it would have been impossible to get
| it back here"
He was also opposed to send a
| large force to places like Havana or
| MatanzaS, because of the large per-
centage Of yellow fever deaths there
he said the destruction Of Cervera' s
| f1eeu settled that problem He said he
wanted TO operate with a small force
against the Spanish forces by harrass-
ing them during the sicKly season. aid
ing the Cubans and not endangerinp
the lives OF his own force. He also at
iirst favored taking Porto Rico to pre-
vent the Spanish from using that as
a base of operations.
Gen. Miles gave details of the Porto
! Rlcan expedition organization and oh
stacles. Concluding with his opinion of
camp sites, he said the first he knew
| OF the selection Of Camp Alger (Vir-
ginia), the most Objectionable camp in
his mind was when the regiments be-
! gan reaching there. AS to Chicka-
mauga he had recommended mobiliz-
ing the regulars there and portion of
the volunteers, after some of the rep11-
| lars left, but he never anticinafed
$4,000 men would be sent there. and
when finding it overcrowded had rec
commended distribution of the forester
among other localities.
Gen. Wesley Merritt was the first
witness of the afternoon. He began
his testimony by a description of the
operations around Manila prior to its
capture Owing to the smalIness Of
his force, he said, the army was com
PEELED to operate along the sea front
in cooperation with the navy. Had
there been larger American force on
hand, the city could have been taken
from the high ground inland. but This
was tacitally impracticable without
leaving our base at the mercy of both
Spaniards and insurgents. The CITY de-
lenses were good. The Spaniards had
excellent arms and plenty Of ammuni-
L.