The age-herald., 1898-07-28
 DIFFICULTIES OF
 THE CAMPAIGN  Few European Critics Realize Its Ar-
 duOuS Nature. THE ONE W0RD-" ROADS" Tells the Story Of the HardshlpS of
 Shafter'S Men. "A FINER EXHIBITION OF COURAGE Has Never Been Witnessed Than That of Our Men in Charging Across the Oren Against the Enemy Firmly
 Entrenched on Hilh
A FINER EXHIBITION OF COURAGE

Before Santiago de Cuba July H--Prob- ably few European critics will appreciate
 the arduous nature of the campaign, so
 successfully terminated to-day by the sur
 render of all the Spanish forces east of
 Santiago and the virtual abandonment of
 this province by Spain.
 In continental Europe during all the wars
 since the Napoleonic days it has been pos
 sible to drive armies, by forced marches,
 over long distances and 10 keep supplies
 up with the advance. It will be hard,
 therefore for European observers to ap-
 preciate the obstacles that had to be over
 come in advancing an army of 16,00O men
 ten miles into the interior from the south
 coast of this province.
 One word tells the story-roads. Roads
 here are simply paths through the dense
 tropical forests, paths along which half
 a dozen OK teams haul numbering carts
 once day in comparatively dry weather.
 There are no bridges and in wet weather
 when the streams are raging tori ents
 these paths are almost impossible to men
 on horseback, absolutely so to vehicles of
 all descriptions Thus 1t was that all the
 roads along which the troops were moved
 had really to be builf before a single wa
 gon train could~gef through. The bridg thrown across the streams were repeatedly swept away by high water. Several times communication was almost entirely inter- rupted and the army had to fall back on pack trains. Indeed, the base of supplies was seriously threatened. It is fact that during the four days before the sur render it was possible to get only one light battery of six pieces to the front while not a single one of the siege guns brought by General Shafter got beyond Siboney In Europe where the roads are good none of these difficulties exist. There is another difficulty in the nature Of the country itself. Over the fields of operation in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866 and the Franco Prussian war of 1870 it was possible in almost every engagement to manoeuvre an army corps by platoons ana l 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 into the open In face | of a murderous artillery and rifle fire from | the Spanish trenches and deployed for the charge on open ground.
 Exhibition of Nerve
 No finer exhibition of nerve could be re- quired of any soldier than that Of charg- ing across 700 yards of open territory
 against an enemy en,renched upon the crest
 of a hill But our men never finched.
 As a matter of fact, it is one Of the un-
 written secrets of the battle Of July that
 the plans made the night previous did not
 contemplate an assault upon the Works
 of the enemy before Santiago. Two diVls-
 ions those of General Wheeler and Gen.
 oral Kent. were to remain in column on
 tha main road to Santiago to reinforce
 General Lawton. whose division was to as
 sault Fl Caney on the extreme rlSnt, Whiie Grimes battery made a diversion on the
 right 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 Fl Caney il became necessary TOT w nee- ler's and Rents division to either advance, | retreat or remain quiet under the storm | of shells that we're bursting over tner heads. Under the circumstances il was less danperous to advance and charge the en- | emv's works than to stay where they were, and with a general impulse to get where | they could return the enemys hre, the au- vance regiments, the Sixth and sixteenth | infantry. moved out The others followed. There is a question whether any general snecifc command to charge was ever gwen l Regimental and company commanders sim | ply forced their way heroicaliy forwaro up | the hill The hill was taken the American flag planted its crest and the enemy driven nell-mell into his inner :ine of en- l trenchmentss beyond. Our mer were too much ex xliaaiste to follow ur thetr victory, though it has since been asserted that hao the pursuit been continued thaS alternooh the demoralized SpaniardS Wouio nave Sai | rendered that night
 | General Wheeler Said "No"
 l R,,t men who had left third of their l officers and 12 per cent of their comrades | nnon the field behind them could non go on 1 Physical strength and courage nave their | limitations So terrific had been the siaush- 1 ter of our men-90 per cent Of whom were | then under fire for the first time-that the l fact is (but comparatively few know It, l that on the night of July officers Of high | rank-brave soldiers, too-went TO General l Wheeler. who was in command at tiie | front fGeneral Shafter being still aboard | his ship). and appealed to him to W1th- l draw. They predicted an awful disaster to | our arms if we attempted to noiu the pc | sitlon we had earned so dearly But the | intrepid old caValry ieaoer oi 'iie acy said "No."
 l He smoke reassuring words to those who | came with dire forebodings. we are in | on uncomfortable position" he said, "but l the Spanish are more uncomfortable than | we; pass that word down the line. | General Wheeler even sent back dls- | hatch to General Shafter telling of the | pressure that was being brought to bear on him.
 .I presume the same influences are being brought to bear on you." he wrote in ef- | feet. but it will not do. American pres | tige would suffer irretrievably If we gave l in an inch. We must stand firm
 The Cubans have proved sorry disap- | pointment throughout this campaign, even | to their warmest friends. They have been | everywhere except where the battle ragged, l but their chief and favorite station has been near the commissary. So persistently have they hung about the supply stations
 that they have come to be known and l described. in language more forcible than | elegant. as the "Mango-bellied degener- | ates."
 | During the various actions since the | army landed only seven Cubans so far as | known have been wounded. At Fl Caney, l when the pack train brought up supplies | for the starving refugees, the Cubans crowded women and children out and de- manded rations, not a privilege, but as | a right. Captain Brce. who was in charge.