The Monmouth inquirer., 1898-12-22
TESTIMONY OF SHAF TER
Commander at Santiago Before
War Inquiry Board.
HIS STORY OF THE CAMPAIGN,
There Were Errors of Judgment, He
Admits, but on the whole Thinks
Affairs Were Wen Managed-says
He Left AmbuIanees Behind.

washington, Dec. 21-General Shaf-
for appeared rather unexpectedly be-
fore the war investigation commission
Yesterday afternoon and told his story
Of the Santiago expedition. He was
supported by his aid, Colonel Miley,
who was with him in Cuba, and flank
ed by a large portmanteau of papers, TO
which his aid occasionally applied for
reference.
General Skaters story of the opera
tions around Santiago was tersely tolo,
but at times quite vivid in its recltal
and interesting in detail Briefly sum-
med up, his estimate of the Santiago
expedition was that it had been mill
tary success and cheap at the cost OF
500 lost in the fight. He considered the
expedition to have been as well ntteo
out as the time allowed would permit
and said that in looking back he had
no criticism of his plans to make and
would not change them if the events
had to be gone through again. He SAID
he had no complaints of any sort to
make and would loath to intrude them
at this time if he had.
After brief preface General Shafter
went into a detailed account of his
preparations for the Santiago expedi-
ton. He said his plans were changed
three times by the department, and
once he actually started, but was called
back by the report of Spanish warships
OF the coast. He said the transport fleet
was not sufficiently large to accommo-
date 1000 men for any length of time
at sea, but all were so anxious to go
that he risked considerable crowding to
take all the men possible. 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, fuily
equipped, and he saw that they We're
made as comfortable as circumstances
permitted.
AS to medical supplies, General Shaf-
ter said: sYou know medical supplies
are the one thing that commanding
officer or a line officer never knows
anything about. The surgeon is sup
posed to know what he wants. My
medical officer said he thought he had
enough medical supplies for the tenn
porary service to which we thought we
were destined Events proved, how
ever, that the surgeon was mistaken.
The ammunition supply was ample.
AS to supplies, General Shafter said
there was nothing essential left behind
How about the ambulances?" ?" asked
General Beaver
Hindsfght Better Than Foresight.
AS to the ambuIances, said General
Shafter, Il take the whole responsible
ty myself. | ordered and supervised
their loading. After events proved that
ii would have been better to have taken
10 or Is additional ambulances and left
that many wagons behind. but wagons
-. nd ar
balances can be used for but one. /
took the wagons, and the wounded had
TO be transported in them after the first
days ighting l must say that on a
rocky muddy road, such as we had
there that there is little difference in
comfort between an ambulance and an
escort wagon The men were put on
straw in the bottom of the wagons, and
we did the best we could for them. AM
balances would have been better, but
the hindsight is always better than
foresight"
Concerning the landing facilities with
the expedition, General Shafter said
they had two large barges, one of which
was lost en- route, and small tug, the
Captain Sam, whose captain deserted
during the night. The boats capacity
of the transport fleet was sufficient for
the landing, as the events proved.
How about getting the supplies to
the trent for the men?" asked General
Beaver.
TT was the one problem of the cam
paign, and it taxed US to the utmost, "
said he IF it had not been for the
pack train, we could not have done it,.
and the expedition would have been a
failure
General Shafter said he regarded the
landing of the expedition as eminently
successful. They lost only two men
out of total of 10000 men and 80 ami
mails 1t was a remarkable record.
"There has been considerable criticism
from the medical officials about getting
their medical supplies ashore" said
General Beaver Were any such COM
plants brought to your"
"A majority of the regimentai sur
seons left their medical chests on their
vessels. When I found this out. put
Or. Goodfellow aboard the Nantec and
had him collect these chests. AS soon
as they were landed they were put on
wagons and distributed to the men,"
AS an additional explanation of the
difficulty in furnishing supplies ashore
General Shafter said at one time with
an army of $1,000 men he had to issue
rations to 10000 people. the excess being
the refugees from Santiago, women and
children for the most part. whom he
could not allow to starve.
AS to the care of the wounded, Cen
eral shafter said they were cared for
as carefully as the circumstances would
permit 1.-THE doctors worked like Tro-
JAMS They deserved and received com
snendation from every one. They work
ed till they were sick and worn out. The
doctors were mostly young men. You
can't get very old and experienced sur
geops to go on a summer campaign for
$500 month. But they were splendid
fellows. Compared with the civil war,
the wounded were better cared for in
Cuba than they were them
Guard Kills a Soldier.
Greenville, S. c., Dec. 21.-Private
Murgridge, Second West Virginia regi-
r1ent was shot and instantly killed yes