The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-21
He Told His Story of the Santi-
ago Campaign.
1T WAS WELL FITTED OUT
The Campaign Was Military Success
and He Would Do 1t over Again
the Same Way-M.les Does
Not Wish to Testify.

this afternoon and told his story of the
Santiago expedition. He was supported
by his aide. Colonel Miley. who was
with him in Cuba. and fianked by "A
large portmanteau of papers. to which
his aide occasionally applied for refer
ence. General Skaters story of the
operations around Santiago was tcrsely
told. but at times quite vivid in its re-
cital and interesting In detail. Briefly
summed up, his estimate of the San
tiago expedition was that h had been
a military success and cheap at the
cost of 500 men lost in the fight. He
considered the expedition to have been
as well fitted out as the dime allowed
would permit. and said that in looking
back he had no criticism of his plans To
make and would not change them If
the events had to be gone through
again. He said he had no complaints
of any sort to make and would be loa,h
to intrude them at this time If he
had.
The commission stated that General
Miles to-day communicated To the COM
mission his unwillinGness 30 volunteer
testimony. \ message was accordingly
sent to the adjutant general directing
him to request the appearance of Gen
eral Miles before the board. No reply
had been received To this communica-
tion when General Shafter rather un-
expectedly appeared.
Capt. A. +. Hardy OF the 5th Illinois.
whose regiment was - first TO arrive
at Camp Thomas, vi ythe first to tes-
tify before the commission to-day.
Sickness began i'm the regiment, he said,
some 10 days To two weeks after the
arrival i'm camp. The sanitary arrange
of IL
and the regulations promptly enforced.
He visited his men I'm the division hos
pital and found the arrangement de-
cidedly bad. The hospital was un-
cleanly and the food bad. The men
complained TO him of their treatment.
The hospitals were the only thing OF
which he had ca,ls. TO complain.
After a brief preface. General Shafter
went into n detailed account OF his
preparations for the Santiago expedi-
tion. lie said his plans were changed
three times by the department. He
said the transport fleet was rot sufii-
ciently large to accommodate 1000 men
for any length of time at sea. The
men were regulars almost entirely,
fully equipped, and he saw that they
We're made as comfortable as the cir
cumstances permitted. As To medical
supplies. General Shafter said:
You know medical supplies are the
one thing that "A commanding general
or a line officer never knows anything
about. The surgeon is supposed TO
know what he wants. My medical Off
Ger said he thought he had enough
medical supplies for the temporary serN-
ice to which we thought We were des-
tined. The ammunition supply was am
pie"
As to supplies. General Shafter said
there was nothing essential left be-
hind.
How about the ambulances? ?" asked
General Beaver.
LAS to those ambulances." said Cen
eral Shafter. II take the whole respon-
siblity on myself. / ordered and super
Vised their loading. After events proved
that 1t would have been better To have
taken ten or fifteen additional ambu-
lances and left that many wagons be-
hind. But wagons can he used for two
purposes and ambulances can be used
but for one. took the wagons. and the
wounded had TO be transported I'm them
after the first days fighting. l must
say that on a rocky. muddy road such
as we had there is little difference in
comfort between the ambulances and
an escort wagon. The men were put
on straw i'm the bottom OF the wagons,
and we did the best we could for them.
Ambulances would have been better.
but then hindsight is always better than
foresight"
Concerning the landing facilities with
the expedition. General Shaftcr said
they had two large barges. one Of which
was lost en- route. and a small tug, the
Captain Sam" whose captain deserted
during the night. The boat capacity of
the fleet was sufficient for the landing.
as the events proved. An interesting
incident of the landing was brought
out by General Shafter. who said he
had arranged with the Cuban general
Castillo. the day prior to the landing. TO
have. 1000 men back of Baiquiri TO
watch the Spaniards when they were
shelled out 10y the navy. Castillo was
three hours late, however and all the
Spaniards got away
How about getting the supplies to
the front for the men," asked General
Beaver.
1T was the one problem OF the cam
paign. and IL taxed us to the utmost"
said he. IF IL had not been for the
pack train we could not have done IL
and the expedition would have been a
failure"
General shafter sad ne regarded the
landing Of the expedition as eminently
successful. They lost only two men
and 80 animals out of a total Of 0CO0
men. IL was A remarkable record.
There has been considerable criti-
cism from the medical officers about
getting their medical supplies ashore
said General Beaver. Were any such
complaints brought to you?"
"A majority OF the regimental sur
geons left their medical chests on tncir
vessels. When I found this out I put
DIR. GoodfellOw aboard the Manteo and
had him collect these chests. As soon
as they were landed they were put IN
four wagons and distributed at once to
the men"
As an additional explanation OF the
difficulty in furnishing supplies ashore.
General Shafter said that at one time
with an army OF 1900 men. ne had
10 issue ratiOns to 10000 people. tire
excess beinE the refugees from SANTA
GO. women and children for the most
part. whom he could not allow 10
starve.
As 10 the care of the wounded. Cen