The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-07-23
CRITICISEs SKATER.
Il. J. Allen of Kansas, Says the Gen
eral is Not One of Santiago's



Henry J. Allen, who has been at Santi-
ago and witnessed the assault and capitu-
lation, writing to the Ottawa Herald, says
that General Shafter is not one of the
heroes of Santiago; that he marched his
men into a death trap. He says:
IF we did strict justice to the army,
instead of printing pictures of the large,
fat general and calling him hero we
would first investigate his methods of
July l, with a hope to prevent the placing
within such incompetent hands of an
other expedition of such Importance. We
were beaten at 10 o'clock, July 1. Every
rule of modern warfare, every theory
printed in the textbooks of attack and re-
sistance which our officers have been
studying for twenty years would have ex-
cused the field and line officers for order
ing a retreat at that hour. But they went
forward. They had received no orders
during all the morning from General Shaft
ter and they received none during the
afternoon They were simply ordered for
ward at o'clock in the morning into jun
gle within 200 yards of Spanish artillery
to take their chances. The position had
not been reconnOitered. When they reach
ed the grounds where it was necessary to
place the brigades in battle formation they
remained under fire for three hours with
out being able to see a single enemy.
They fought b1indly and desperately till
they reached open ground below the Span
ish trenches and block houses, then they
had to go forward or be slaughtered, and
they went. The first five hours of July
were a hopeless, dreary tragedy; the last
two hours saw an advance of such des-
perate character that Garcia, the grim old
chief of the Cuban insurgents, who was
watching the movement of our left from
hill half mile away, shed tears of
emotion as he exclaimed:
rYKTI, -
cans are doingP
The American army had only about r..
900 men in line, and they were to attack
almost an equal number in trenches and
blockhouses.
During the entire progress of the peace
negotiations he General Shafter) has
every day offered some new indication of
weakness, while TOral has every day
shown his contempt for Shafter by try
ing some new plan to Outwit him. The
credit for the final surrender belongs to
President Mckinley, who twice ignored
Skaters recommendations and insisted
on unconditional terms. How differently
this hero of Santiago conducted his af-
fairs from what the hero of Appomattox
did at Vicksburg. Had Grant been at
Santiago he would never have sent the
silly information to Washington that he
had just come from an hour and halfs
discussion with the Spanish general and
believed he had made an IMPRESSION
Grant would have given Mr.. Toral twelve
hours. then he would have closed the truce
and reopened artillery. Shafter was two
weeks in completing the surrender, and
every step of the tedious affair had to be
directed from Washington, where the pres
ident awaited every unintelligibIe tele-
gram from Shafter with great anxiety.
He has missed no opportunity to bungle
things. He placed US on transports six
days before we were ready to start. When
he thought he was ready to sail he always
discovered that something had been for
gotten. After two months of waiting at
Tampa his army sailed with no better ia
cilities and equipments than it had when
it arrived at Tampa. It had to go with
out uniforms, and recruits were left be-
hind because someone had forgotten to
supply them with arms.
when we arrived off Santiago three ships
containing 800 troops and General Kent's
For three days and four nights we lay
before Santiago suppOsing we had been
separa ted from the fleet for some purpose.
On the last day Shafter. who was all this
time only fourteen miles away, discovered
that $500 men and a division commander
were missing. He was told that we were
lying at the mouth of Santiago harbor
waiting for orders. He ordered US up to
Siboney to disembark, and then sent Cen
eral Kent a sharp reprimand for being
absent three days without leave"
In closing Mr.. Allen says: Il am telling
the exact truth when I say that General
Shafter has seen absolutely no fighting at
Santiago
Mr.. Allen is now in Washington, having
arrived the first of the week from Santi-
ago.