Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-05-04
LITTLE WORK FOR INFANTRY.
An Army Officer Outlines the Campaign De.
9..a spatchl Boats as Naval Pickets. u g.
tSt. Paul Pioneer Press.)

The movement of infantry from this
| military department has aroused in
terest in the possible operations of that
arm of the service should war be de-
| clared. An officer of rank. when ques-
| toned, discussed the matter thus:
An of the regular army, no doubt.
| much Of the National Guard and per
| hapS a number Of volunteers may
eventually be called upon to Go duty
along the seacoast. our coast line in
Guiding the Atlantic. the Pacific, and
| the Gulf. is so extended that many
| thousand men viii DO needed to es-
| tablish even a fringe OF protection by
| land forces. But, on the other hand
very few Of these troops viii ever
catch sight of a fighting Spaniard. The
enemy would scarcely dare to land men
at any point, and the only active ser
| vice of our land forces would be in
Connection with the capture of Cuba.
1T has been suggested that while
| a landing in force ana Il formal occu-
| patton Of American territory would be
out OF The question, considering Spain =
| meaGre resources, yet swift Spanish
| cruiser might run into some fecbly pro-
| tec;ed point, and land troops for a few
] hours of destructive villainy. such
| troops. it is said, might effect heavy
| losses by the prompt use Of fire and OK
| plosives. or they might exact a large
| ransom before retredtinS from the
| coast. These c0njCcturos are far from
| comforting to the residents of the
smaller coast towns or to the isolated
| dWellers besides the sea. It's concciv-
| able, of course, that they could 10 but
| little damage. and could simply in
dulge their natural love for guerrilla
warfare. ! think, however. that such
| raids are mere Imagination. Although
| our preparations for coast defence are
If course not ideally complete by any
means, they are. nevertheless far more
complete than the public, Tor obvious
reasons has yet been told Every town
If Importance is now protected by bat
teries on shore, Nv mines and torpe-
does off shore. And our navy ii small.
rapidly growing. The number of eff
fective fighting ships cannot he in
creased as rapidly as one could desire
But the man that worries because we
haVn't battleship for every % miles
If coast ought to remember that we
shall have far more lighting ships than
| The enemy can send to attack us. and
chat if the enemys ships are kept ol:t
II mischief wherever they chance to
be. all the rest of the coast is as saf,.
as if the war We're being fought on
Mars.
What is necessary in order to pre-
vent a Spanish war vessel from finding
herself alone. Ike Il deserted stage girl
IN black gown. is an abundance Of
small boats ot high speed, boats that
IAN maintain perfect line Of recon
noissance, and still be able to get out
Of the way promptly should the enemy
attempt to rid himself of impairment
observers. Because if there were ple,-
ty of these fast small boats on our side.
no Spanish vessel could get very near
our coasts without the news coming
quickly to one Of our war vessels,
which would then be on hand to pre-
vent the Spaniards from attempting 10
land troops OF to shell the shore
That's no doubt the reason why the
government has bought so MANY fasr
tugs and yachts within the last few
weeks. These so-called dispatch boats
tsilN4 Il dilS itpI Is vii serve as naval
Dckets and will be Indispensable to the
Efficient maintenance of naval trocha
The first shock of war will take
place, without doubt. upon the sea
No troops would probably be moved
from this country until the supremacy
II the sea was definitely decided as be
tween ourselves and Spain. Because if
Spain could defeat our navy she might
establish blockade of Cuba, and she
might oblige any troops we had already
sent there to share the horrors of a re-
concentrate situation infinitely worse
than that which shocked the world. |
But should the Spanish fleet be forced
from the Western hemisphere Spain
might then abandon Cuba and sue for
peace without our landing one soldier
upon the Queen of the Antilles IN
deed, it would be foolhardy for Spain |
10 attempt then to retain her grasp of |
Cuba.
Yet should the Spaniards refuse to
leave the island after their fleet had been |
driven away, We would either invade in |
force or establish an open port for the in
SurgentS. An invasion in force might |
prove a serious undertaking for American !
white troops chiefly because of the IN |
wholesome climate.
should we decide to open a port for
the Insurgents. the undertaking would re-
quire only such a garrison as would keep
he Spaniards from recapturing the town
Ihe insurgents Undoubtedly would soon
open a line of communication from their
principal field of operations to that port.
Then. If the insurgents could secure,
along this line, unlimited supplies am
inunition and arms, including the latest
field artillery. and if along the same line
could be sent in some hundreds of Amer
lean officers. why, | imagine that the in
surgents would shortly control the island
without the American troops being obliged
to attempt a regular invasion.
1.-The occupancy of a port in that fash
ion would not require a large body of
land troops. And as all ports in Cuba,
except Havana, are said to be fairly free
from yellow fever. I suppose our troops
in any other port wouldn't suffer as much
as one might imagine from disease. For
of course no sooner would we take the
port than we would set to work all the
methods of recent sanitary science. Why
| think even Havana, old and rotten as it
is, both physically. morally and poiiti-
cally, could be turned into a reasonably
community by thoroughly
draining. the. city and driving out the
Weyler Spaniards.'