The Portland daily press., 1898-11-18
pelling the men to lie on the grounds ana

| causing s1okness. .,aa ha-
! fore the commission at its afternoon ses.
| sion relating his experiences at Sans.0so :
and afterward at Montaus. ne saaL ~ ~
| had landed of Baiqulri on the 2is. "a -
June. He had notified Gen. Wheeier ans :.
had received orders to move ON ioui t4a ga
| five miles and secure good camp
He had asked Gen. Wheeler Woe'e vns
government camping ground was anu
he had replied that the Spaniarus uonn-
pied 1t. II then," said Gen. founs, ~
asked permission to go out 10 ses =. snv ~.
ground, saying ! should like to geg g ~ ios lor
our own troops, to which Gen. WAe0iol
| assented.
In accordance with this arrangement
he moved out next morning to ignt 1ne
| battle OF Guasima, sending the volunteers
and the Rough Riders by one road, on9
| regulars going by another He decisIeu
| that there was no surprise In TINS 1snp
and no ambuscade as had been reporteu;
Speaking of the Rough Riders, ne sal9
there had been no greater per centage %
casualties among them than among Ine
regulars and that they were not LED lnuo
any situation not to be expected in Wal,
In reply to question as to what aiu
heshad secured from the Cubans In unls
fight, he replied: None whatever. Inc n
Cuban guides had deserted him upon Une
first fire. After the fight was over. how
ever, some of tho Cubans had come up
under the command of Frenohman VINO
saluted him very tragically with his sabre
saying that he had been ordered by cen.
Castillo to follow the enemy and 1gnu
him wherever he could find him. Gen.
Young said he simply ordered the Cubans
to the rear and the only service they per.
formed was to gather up the baggage thai
the American soldiers had discarded.
Gen. Young said that Immediately al
ter the Guasima fight he had looked the
ground over toward Cana and had In
he could take the place that night with
his brigade if allowed to do SO. G6n.
Wheeler had replied THAI his orders from
Gen. Shafter were not TO advance Wl6nout
notifying him and that he would notify
the general Of his (Gen. Young's) wishes.
He had not heard anything more offlciai-
ly in regard to the matter. With this.
Gen. Young's services In OuEa CEASED as
he was taken down with fever on the Sp5n
OF June and sent back home. After
period of sickness he was sent TO Mon
tauk Point to establish Camp Wikoff. He
detailed the difficulties of the prepara-
tion of the camp He said it had been
impossible to get in floors and that ne
had not considered them necessary either
for health or comfort
81 gave them lumber and hammers
and nails, however, and told them 60
make themselves floors if they wanted
them. thought they were being treated
too much like babies
Regarding the commissary supplies he
said they were abundant and that food
enough had been allowed to spoil to feed
1860 men daily. The hospital and quar-
termaster stores We're also ample. He mad
never in all his experience seen army hos
pitfalls SO we'll supplied with medicine and
stores OF all kinds.
Nba ~frol in col0
Montauk was that of securing proper
quarantine and very sariot quarantine
was observed. He considered the camp
very heaIthful and the site desirable.
.'As to what was done there for the
soldiers" he said, 81 think ] deserve
more credit for what | did at Montauk
than furaa what did at LaGuasimas,
think more was done than should have
been done for the soldiers y
Telling of the hardships of one COM
mand which had just arrived from Cuba, |
he said:
ssThey wers not the heroes, being only
regulars y He said the privations of the
war were not so serious as those of Indian
campaigns he had been engaged in.
There had been occasions when his COM
mand had to live on corn and Others
when there was nothing to be had exceut
horsemest or burross meat. "Bus that,
he said, twas not in the news t,apers."
he was s80lsHeu 5hab moSb oi bne coiu-
plants against ths camp were unfound
cd. Many of the complaints were made by |
men and women who had never seen
men in camp. Approaching the sibn-
alton, the soldiers had placed it on" the
visitors, making complaints that were
without foundation in order to get dell
caoies.
sSoldiers like to be made babies OF, 's
he said, 'tand some of them soon got SO
they would not eat their regular ra-
tions. =
Gen. Young concluded his testimony |
with the Statements that the soldiers were
far better cared for than they had been
in the Civil wer.