The Portland daily press., 1898-12-21
WOULDN'T CHANGE THING.
Gen. Shafter Satisfied With Santiago
Campaign.
SAYS 1T WAS SWIFT AND SUCCESS
Full.

His Own Illness Had No Effect On
Campaign--Doctors To Blame If
There. Was Any Lack of Medicines.
| Washington, December 2o.-Gen. Shat
ter appeared rather unexpectedly before
tne war investigation commission today
ana told his story of the Santiago expe-
dition. He was supported by his aide,
Col. Miley, who was with him in Cuba
ana hanked by large portmanteau of
papers to which his aide occasionally
applied for reference
Gen. Skaters story Of the operations
around Santiago was tersely told, but
at times quite vivid in its recital and
interesting in detail Briefly summed
up his estimate of the Santiago expedi.
tion was that it had been military sue.
cess and cheap at the cost of the 500
men lost in the fight. He considered the
expedition to have been as we'll fitted out
as the time allowed would permit, and
said that in looking back he had no criti-
cism of his plans to make and would not
change them if the events had to be gone
through again. He said he had no COM
plants of any sort to make and would
be loath to intrude them at this time if
| he had.
After brief preface Gen. Shafter went
| into a detailed account of his prepara
| tions for the SANTIAGO expedition. He
| said his plans were changed three times
| by the department. anu once he actually
| started, but was called back by the report
of Spanish war ships off the coast He
| said the transport fleet was not suffic-
iently large to accommodate II, 600 men
for any length of time at sea, b It all were
so anxious to go that he risked consid-
erable crowdipg to take all the men pos
sible he admitted that he took chances
in doing this, but said the weather was
good and there was no mishap to regret
| The men were regulars almost entirely
fully equipped and he saw that they were
made as comfortable as circumstances
| pc mitted. AS to medical supplies Gen.
| Shafter said:
"You know medical supplies are one
| thing that a commanding officer or line
officer never knows anyhhing about. TIE
surgeon is supposed to know what he
| wan 8. My medical officer said he
thought he had enough medical supplies
| or the temporary service on whicn we
went through EvenIs proved, however,
tnat the surgeon was mistaken. The
|
| AS to supplies Gen. Snafter said there
was nothing essential left behind
How about the ambulanoesf" asked
| Gen. Beaver.
| Gas to the ambulances," said Gen.
| Shafter, Il take the whole responsibility
myself / ordered and supervised their
| loading. After events proved that it would
| have been better to have taken ten or
| fifteen additional anlbulances ana left
that many wagons behind But wagons
can he used for two purposes and a1nhu-
| lances can be used Tut for one. l TOOK
| the wagons anu the wounded had to be
| transported in them aitsr the fist days
| lighting. l must say that on rocky,
muddy road, such as We have had there,
| there is little difference in comfort be-
| tween an ambulance and an escort
| wagon. The men were put on the straw
| In the bottom OF wagons and we did the
| Eest we could for them Ambuiances
would have been better, but then hind
| sight is always better than foresight
| Concerning the landing facilities with
| he expedition, Gen Shafter said they
| had two large barges, one of which WAS
lost en- route, ana d small tug, tne Cap
tain Sam, whose captain deserted during
the night. The boat capacity of the
| transport deet WAS sufficient for the
| landing as events proved.
An interesting incident of the landing
was brought out by Gen Shafter, who
said he had arranged with the Cuban
| general, Castillo. tie day prior 10 the
landing, to have 1000 men uack of Bal
quiri to catch the Spaniards when they
were shelled out by the navy. Castillo
! was three hours late, however, and all
! the Spaniards got away.
"How about geJting supplies to the
front for the mena" asked Gen beaver.
| sit was the one problem of the cam
paign and it taxed US to the utmost, =
- hn IL had f,norn fs,rp
pack train we could not have done it
and the expedition would have BEEN a
| failure !"
| Gen. Shafter said he regarded the
| landing of the expedition as eminently
successful. They lost only two men and
81 animals out of a total OF 70, 700 men.
4 1t was remarkable record.
"Ibere has been considerable criticism
| from Il Q m adical officials about getting
their III ul~al S. p. Les ashore, said GeE.
Beaver.
"Were any such complaints brought
to you
geons left their medical chests ON their
| vessels. When / found this out put
| Dr. Goodfelow aboard the M antee and
mad him collect these chests. As soon as
they were landed they were put on four
wagons and distributed at once to the
men,
| AS AL HuuAtioustt oAplanaoloA VI 0uo
difficulty in furnishing supplies ashore,
Gen. Snafter said that at one time, with
an army of 21,G00 men, he had to Issue
rations to 40. 100 people The excess be-
ing the refugees from Santiago, women
and children Tor the most, whom he
could not allow to starve.
AS to the care of the wounded, Gen.
Shafter said they were care, lor as care
fully circumstances would permit.
1.-The doctors Wo ked like Irojans.
They deserved and received oommenua-
lion from every one. They worked till
they were sick and worn out The doc
tors were mostly young men. You can't
set very old and experienced surgeons
TO go on d summer campaign lor 500
u month. But they were spienuid fellows
Compared with the civil war the wounu-