The record-union., 1898-10-09

progressed more than quarter Of a
century since that time. Military ideals
have been fostered and followed UP to
their very highest point, and the very
elements Of choice American bone and
blood and Sinew and brain which went
to the creation of the crack corps OF
1854 have entered into the makeup OF
those matchless regiments of regulars
who stormed and carried the nights OF
Ell Caney and San Juan in the face OF
foe the equal in courage in equipment,
in position, Of any troops that ever
stood for battle
Shafter had the pick of the regular
army with him at Santiago. This was
stated to me again and again at camp
Wikoff, and I think no discrimination
was intended against the regiments
that were not there. The fact seems
to be that those regiments which were
selected happened to be, without sim
gle exception, up to the very hgheSt
standard of efficiency. The soldiers
had passed through just the experiences
in the West which would fit them for
a hard campaign. They were well
officered, we'll disciplined, rugged,
gritty men In the Army of the
Potomac in 1864 the very best OF the
army corps had regiments and some
times whole brigades of raw and un-
tried material and scores and scores or
green officers. One needed b. to see
the regulars in Camp Wikoff to recog-
nize at once the fact that the veterans
there had not evoluted in a single
months campaign from the standard
of the militia volunteer.
Tn
whose camps l fingered round not a
single one but what was commanded
by veteran of the civil war. In
MANY cases these commanders were
Majors. The field officers, above them,
absent on account of wounds or pro-
motion were war veterans, and in sew
eral instances the commanders helo 'he
rank of Captain and were war veter-
ans. 1t seems that there are no"
something like sixty-fve Captains IN
the regular army who served III Inc
civil war The importance of all this
will appear during the battle harra,
tive, where the leaders VIII De ndlieu
in connection with their war recoru.
General Shafter says tnat d1.ei
Sampson located Cervera's fleet IN the
harbor of Santiago, and had Iooheu
the ground over to be cabled TO WASH
ington, that an army or lO,OVV ilieli
could take the city at one blow Shdller
was already getting together an expe-
diton for the invasion or Cupa eise-
where. He was directed to empaTk
10000 men and proceed at once 10
Santiago. Owing to some dlfncuity III
the way of forwarding certain supplies
or other elements in the expedition 10
the point of embarkation at tampa
there were empty transports in the
harbor after the 10000 had gone on
board Shafter ordered these empty
transports to be filled with troops, ana
asa result he took something like To-
600 or II 900 men to Santiago. he
said. and General Wheeler, who was
present at the conversation, agreed
with him, that had the expedition gone
with 10000 men it would have ended
in horrible disaster. In conflrmauon
of the statement about embarkatlon is
the story Of the Ninth Infantry of San
Juan, fame On the night that 1t en-
barked at Tampa an orderly dashed up
to the headquarters with a message
to the effect that if the Ninth Reg1-
ment was not on board the transport
within a limited time it would be left
behind at Tampa and not go to Cuba
The point was that the material Whlch
had been ordered forwarded to Tampa
might arrive and be loaded ahead or
the regiment, and SO it was really
race between soldiers and some other
necessary part of the expedition.
The Fifth Corps as it fought at
Santiago on July 1st was as follows:
Wheeler's Cavalry Division.-Sum-
ner's Brigade - Third United States
Cavalry, Sixth United States Cavalry
(colored); Young's Brigade, First Unit
ed States Cavalry, Tenth United States
Cavalry (colored). First United States
Volunteers (Rough Riders);. There
were only two squadrons of each reg1-
ment at Santiago, one squadron being
left at Tampa with the horses and bag
gage.
First Division of Infantry, General
J F. Kent-Hawkins' First Brigade,
Sixth United States, Sixteenth United
States. Seventy-firs New York; Pear
sons Second Brigade, Second United
States. Tenth United states, Twenty
first United States; Wikoff's Third
Brigade, Ninth United States, Thir-
teenth United States. Twenty-fourth
United States (colored).
General H W. Lawton's Second Di-
vision-Ludlow's First Brigade, Eighth
United States, Twenty second United
States, Second Massachusetts; Miles
Second Brigade, Twentyfifth United
States (colored), Fourth United States,
First United States; Chaffee's Third
Brigade Twelfth United States, Seven
teenth United States, Seventh United
in n
of battle.
Artillery and Machine Guns-Grimes',
Parkhurst's. Best's and Capron's Bat
teries, United States Artillery, four guns
each; Captain Watson's, four Hotch-
kiss guns; Lieutenant Parker's, four
Gatling guns.
These troops figured conspicuously in
the battles to be described in the arti-
cles upon the Santiago campaigns
George L. Kilmer.