The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-28
CUBANS ARE POOR FIGHTERS
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(Continued from First Page) indeed, some noble hearted individuals, notable General Garcia, who stands head and shoulders above the rest, but the rank and file are without discipline or any idea of military duty The l vast majority seem already to believe | that this land of milk and. honey is theirs to enjoy, not to fight for. They are willing to let us feed them and achieve the liberty for which they ap- pear to be ill-fitted and ill-equipped mentally and morally.
 "A Gold Brick"
 | Poll the United States troops in the province of Santiago to-day and nine- | ty-nine out of every one hundred will say in almost so many words, We have bought a gold brick in Cuba Libre" The Cuban leaders are vain and jealous, and if they were given l government, the odds are that | those who failed to get places of promi- hence and profit would In the course of month start a revolution against those who had fared better than they. European Military Critics. l lobctbly lSN IHulOpGclll Illlilui critics will appreciate the arduous na- | ture of the campaign so successfully | terminated by the surrender of all the | Spanish forces east of Santiago and | the virtual abandonment of this prov | ince by Spain. In continental Europe | during all the wars since the Napo- | leonic days, 1t has been possible to | drive armies by forced marches over | long distances and to keep transporta- | tion supplies up with the advance. It 1 will be hard. threefore, for European observers to understand the obstacles that had to be overcome in advancing an army of 6,00O men ten miles into the interior from the south coast of this l province.
 | Roads.
 One word tells the story-roads. The roads here are simply paths through the dense tropical forest, paths along which half a dozen OK teams haul lrm- bering carts once a day in compara- | lively dry weather. There are no bridges and in wet weather, when the streams are raging torrents, these paths are almost impossible to men on horseback, absolutely so to vehicles of all descriptions Thus 1t was that all these roads along which the troops were moved had really to be built be- fore single wagon train could get | through The bridges thrown across the streams were repeatedly swept away by high water Several times communication was almost entirely in- terrupted, and the army had to fall ! Tv,I of supplies was seriously threatened. It is fact that during the four days before the surrender 1t was only possi- ble to get one light battery of the Sixth artillery to the front while not sin gle one of the siege guns brought by General Shafter got beyond Siboney. In Europe, where the roads are good, none of these difficulties exist.
 Compared With European Campaigns. There is another vital difference in the nature of the country itself Over the fields of operation in the Anstro- -Prussan of 1S70 1t was possible, in almost every engagement, to manoeuvef an army corps by platoons and battalions. Here the men were obliged to advance. in single file into the open, and at the famous assault on San Juan hill one column marched out of the road into the open in the face of n1Yr- Qer0uS artillery una Tl0p nre rom tne Spanish trenches and deployed for the charge on open ground No finer exhibi- tion of nerve could be required of soldier than that charge across 700 yards of open the crest Of hill. But our men never finched.
 An Unvvritten Secret.
 As 8 matter of fact, 1t is one of the un- written secrets of the battle of July 1st that the plans made the night previous did not contemplate an assault upon the works of the enemy before Santlag6 Two divi- sfons. those of General Wheeler and Con- erai Ken. were to remain In column on the main road to Santiago to reinforce General Iawton whose division was to assaat M Caney on the extreme right, while Crimes battery made q diversion on the left. But when the spanish guns began to drop shrapnel shells over the road on which our column rested and when word came that General, lAwton was successful at Nl Ca ncy, it became necessary either for Wheel and Rents divisions to advance or retreat or remain quiet With general impulse to get where they could return the enemy $ fire, the advance regiments, the Sixth and sixteenth Infantry, moved out. The others followed.
 AQuestion,
 There is a question whether any specific general command to charge was ever given Regimentdl and company commanders sim. ply led their way heroically forward up Inc hill. Che hill was taken, the American flag planted on its crest, and the enemy | drlven peil men lnto ms hnner line of in | trenchments beyond Our men were tee much exhausted to follow up their victory though 1t has since been ascertaiued that had the pursuit been continued the demor. alized Spanish would have surrendered that l night
 Could Not Go On.
 But men who had left a third of their officers and 12 per cent. of their comrades upon tke field behind them could not go on Physical strength and courage mad theil . limitations European critics will, per haps, seize upon this for condemnation, inst as They frequently condemned the failure ot the northern armies during the late civi . war to follow up their victories. Bat just , as tte northern generals had to build thejl , roads through the south, so our generals in Santiago have had to build their roads and the men, exhausted by travel over hart roads and hard fighting, of necessity inallJ l ai....I l,t lIl,ait of v