The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-01


In a report dated July Is Sampson in
forms Secretary Long that steps should be
taken at once to garrison and clean up
Guantanamo, and says that. while perfectly
willing to aid in the work, he hesitates to
take any steps without q request from the
army.
In another report dated Aug. l. from
Sampson TO the secretary OF the navy,
Sampson goes over again all the circun-
stances connected with the joint operations
before Santiago ii order. as he says that
more complete history OF the action Of the
fleet in combination with the army may be
at the disposal OF the department Some CT
the additions follow When Shafter sig
nailed that Miles and himself were to have
a confer ence looking to the surrender of
Santiago, Sampson sent a message TO Shat
ter saying he desired to be represented in
any conference which included the surren-
der of the shipping. Shafter agreed to this
On July "A sampson sent the following 10
SeGe T8I long tdraid M re,eeFas OF
on the navy. 1 wish the department and the
President to understand that the first
requisite to opening the harbor of Santiago
de Cuba is the occupation Of forts and in
trenchments at it's entrance, guarding mine
| fields, and that the general has never mado
a move to do this, although before his army
landed he stated that such was the primary
object of his operations. If the general
chooses to ignore the sea approaches and to
attack Santiago to the east and north, that
IS his affair. but it should be clearly under
stood that this attack does not influence the
situation at the harbor entrance, from which
his left flank is distant not less than four
miles. ] have been ready at any time dur
! clear the entrance Of mines, and to enter
harbor whenever the army will do the part
which the proper conduct Of war assigns to
| 1t. To throw my ships to certain destruc-
ton on mine fields would be suicidal folly
| and | have not the force to form a landing
party strong enough to insure the capture
| of the forts. No diSagreements mentioned
| by the paper have been brought to my no
| tice by General Shafter.
SKATER REFUSED.
! Admiral Sampson gives a number Of dis
| patches showing that he was asked to par
ticipate in the terms OF surrender, and tried
! to find out when he should send repre-
sentative, but owing to two delays
no time was fixed SIMPSONS comments
follow THE foregoing certainly shows
clearly the most absolute joint action. and I
took for granted that we should be joint
signatories of any capitulations, as is GUS
| tomary in all services in such circum
! stances. Captain Chadwick arrived at the
| front at the earliest hour it was possible for
| him to do So and informed General Shafter
! of my expectancy in the matter but General
| Shafter peremptorily refused. The conven-
| ton had already been signed, and he stated
as one reason that nothing had been said of
! the army in my report of the fleet action of
| July 3. There would have been as much
reason for mentioning the navy in the report
| Of the land action OF July /, When assault
| was made by our army on the Spanish lines.
mo mention was made of the Shipping in
| the capitulations, and Captain CnadWlck m
! formed General Shafter that all Spanish
| ships would be regarded by us as property
| to be turned over to the navy. He said he
| would refer such matter to the secretary
| of war; but that, of course, could have no
| bearing upon what considered my duty in
| the matter, particularly in the view OF our
late experience of Spanish perfidy in regard
! to injury of ships, which, in my opinion,
made it necessary to look after their saTety
| at once. | thus, after the hauling down OF
| the Spanish flag, sent prize crews aboard
! the gunboat Alvarado and to the five mer-
| chant steamers in the harhor. AN ofncer or
4l,e, fn11y1 m 4 lVaT2GO
who stated he had been sent to take charge
of her, whereupon / addressed the following
| letter to General Shafter:
"sU. S. Flagship New York, July II.
"'Sir-Upon sending in an officer to take
| charge of the captured Spanish gunboat,
| the Alvarado, it was found that one or your
! officers was on board, evidently with the
| expectation Of taking charge of her; 1t
| should hardly be necessary 70 REMIND you
| that in all joint operations of the character
| of those which have resulted in the ran OF
| Santiago all floating material is turned over
| to the navy as all forts, etc, go to the
army 1 have been lying within 500 yards
of the Moro, from which the Spanish nag
was hauled down at O'clock ana upon l3ot
! at 2 d. M, been hoisted. Although my 1orceS
| have frequently engaged these forts ana
| yours have not exchanged a shot with them,
| I await the arrival of a detachment of your
| troops to take possession, as they must
eventually. occupy them ! expect the ne, same me
| lieve Lieutenant Caruthers of the duty
| given him. as I have directed Lieutenant
| Marble to assume command OF tne AIVdf-
ALLEGED DISCOURTESY.
After quoting some further correspond
ence on the matter in which Sampson
| claims the prizes, he refers to the expulsion
of Lieutenant Doyle from the captured ves-
sells and the failure Of Shafter to invite any
| of the squadron officers to be present at
the surrender, and adds: This, of course
may have been a mere oversight. but it is,
of course, to be regretted that any such
should take place. Had the navy been with
drawn after the action of the third day
after which all the fleets operations were
to aid the army-al the shipping re1errea
to would have escaped and our army have
become the besieged instead OF the be-
| siegers, as, of course, the Reina Mercedes
and the gun boat AlVarado would nave pcen
free to destroy or drive off the transport
fleet. I do not think the commanding gen
eraI quite appreciates how necessary a part
our forces were to the reduction Of Santi-
ago and the surrender of its garrison in
any case Independently of the erect OF our
shell, which latter was undoubtedly one OF
the principal causes OF the surrender at this
time -
Skaters rejoinder came on Aug. 1, d.
rected to Admiral Sampson, as follows:
do not acknowledge the authority of the
secretary of the navy In the matter IN
which you wire me. The surrender Of san
tiago was made to me by General Toral IN
person, in surrendering verbally all the
prisoners and public property OF Spain IN
the district commanded by him, ana L dc-
ceptines the same in the presence of the
troops representing all the respective
armies The details for carrying this into
effect were arranged by three commission
ers on each side. These articles were signed
by the respective commissioners in dupn-
cate one copy of which was handed to Gen.
Toral and the other was sent by me to the
secretary Of war Neither General Foral or
myself signed them. Certainly l could not
and would not submit these articles to any
officer for signature, my own not being
affixed and I shall protest to the secretary
of war against your signature to that docu-
ment l respectfully invite your attention
to the fact that claim for any credit
for the capture of Cervera and his fleet has
been made by the army, although 1t IS a
fact the Spanish fleet did not leave the har-
Dor until the investment of the city was
practically completed, and Cervera had sut-
ficient losses on land on July and z, nota-
bly among them his chief of staff.
Sampson says that he acknowledged re-
CENT Of the above without argument and
that the matter should be decided at Wash
ington Meanwhile he cites a number Of
kilograms and signals to show that Shafter
had the assistance of the fleet in bringing
about the surrender.
A Slow Torpedo Boat.
PHILADELPHIA Pa, Nov. S0.-The Of
fetal trial of the torpedo boat Mackenzie,
which took place yesterday over the govern
ment official course at Deep Water Point,
below Wilmington, Del, was not 81 success