The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-10-05
FOUND No FAULT.
Continued from First Page.

Continued from First Page.
the field that night. The witness had
heard that there was more complaint OF
the shortage of medicine among the IN
fantry than in the cavalry arm OF the ser
vice." aoa>
Going back to Tampa, he said that Eat
the season he was there, the first hall OF
June, the site was without objection, but
he had felt that it would be wet later IN
the season. 1t was his impression that
Tampa had been selected as camp slte
after the beginni ng OF the war and was
Incidental to the intended movement on
Havana. There was at times some short
age of supplies at the camp but moth
ing" he added, ''that a soldier could
complain OF. !"
They had comfortable tents and the
commissary supplies were sufficient. The
water supply also was good. He said the
men In his command were well taken
care of. However, very few men were
at that time sick. He had himself gone
into the hospitals and had found the men
General Wheeler said he had no control
over any Of the supplies which were taken
to Santiago on the transports when ne
left Tampa. This was attended to by the
different staff officers. He only knew
from conversation with these that there
was an abundance Of the supplies OF all
character.
Returning to the Santiago campaign he
said that only two regiments had report
ed shortage of rations and he had I'M
mediately telephoned to the rear and the
shortage which was due to accident, had
been adjusted. There was suffering when
the men were compelled to lie in the
breastworks. The meat was poor and they
had no bread but bareback. They We're
49, a.. s,,% nd OF
nately and necessarily there was much
sickness. While they had the full quota
of doctors and nurses, he thought that II
more had been furnished, the men would
have been better cared for. AS for ra-
tions. three days supplies was generally
issued. Whenever the troops went into
action they would throw their food away
as we'll as their packs and they often did
not recover hem.
General Wheeler took up the common
report that the Cubans stole goods thus
discarded. 1t was not fair, he said, to
thus accuse the natives, for there was so
much of this fotsam and rjetsam that
hungry and poorly clothed as the Cubans
were, they were not to be blamed for
helping themselves. He said he had seen
among the e, 900 people who came out OF
Santiago many ladies of refinement, ema-
ciated and evidently hungry. s~a"
In reply to questions he stated he never
had heard of any shortage of commissary
or ordnance supplies at Santiago but he
had been told that the medical supplies
were short. He had no personal knowl-
edge on this point He had seen some
wounded men crawling to the rear in the
engagements but as rule as soon as a
man fell in battle be was carried to the
hospitals by the medical corps. He said
that as rule the quality of the bareback
was good. When there was any deteriora-
tion it was due to local rains and not to
the fact of original inferiority.
The spirit of the army was such, he
said, that there was no disposition to COM
plain. "1hey were all proud to be there
and willing to undergo hardships. =
Replying to question from Colo mel
DENLY, General Wheeler said the regulars
had shown a greater ability to take care
of themselves than the volunteers The
volunteers were most careless but the
volunteer cayalrymen were not SO negli-
gent as the other volunteers because they
were generally men who had been used to
camping. He thought this fact had had
a strong influence in causing the health
Of the regulars to be better than that Of
the volunteers.
Captain Howell asked to what he at.
tributed the development of disease after
the capitalization of Santiago, and General
Wheeler replied that it WAS due to the
CuiudG0 duO " tue eApo5uIo utuo utCoS-
sary. All the men seemed to be more or
less affected by the conditions. He had
known of no instance of sick or
wounded man dying from want of care
from the physicians So far as he knew,
there was general commentator of the
medical corps, except that on one or two
occasions, there had been some grumbling
in regard to general conditions. he
thought there was deficiency In the num-
har of am bulancas hut this de{iciepov
was due to the exigencies of the campaign.
General Wheeler also said in reply to
Captain Howell, that he knew of no con.
fusion in shipping supplies from Tampa.
He was not acquainted with case in
which the body Of a vehicle was shipped
On one vessel and the wheels on another
His memory was not distinct as to COM
plants from officers in his command as
to the scarcity of medical Supplies but he
thought there were some .snch complaints
and in such cases he had had them sup.
piled as promptly as possible. There had
been difficulty in getting the transports
near inshore as was desirable, rendering
it difficult to get at supplies promptly. In
this connection, General Wheeler revealed
the fact that he had felt somewhat hurt
that his had been the fourth command
ordered to be landed when he thought his
rank entitled him to the first landing.
General Shafter had given the order
which thus affected him.
The masters Of the transports claimed
to have their authority from the quarter
masters department., but he thought the
commanding officers had acted independ-
emily as to how far out they should lie.
Referring to the sleeping apartments of
the transports, General Wheeler said
they were quite warm and there was
some discomfort He had often CONS
down among the men at night and found
that there was comparatively little COM
plant except for the heat. He recon-
mended that in the future hammoc1s
should be used instead of cots for the
transportation of troops.
Coming back from Santiago to Mon
tauk, he had sailed on the Miami, having
chosen it because it was said TO be the
worst He had found it very comfortable
and when they landed there were only
thirty four sick and only three or four of
these were too i'll to stand up for inspec-
ton. There was plenty of water on the
vessel and a suffioiency of ice for the sick,
though not for others.
After the destruction of Cervera's fleet
and there was no danger from navigating
ID RnlPs Cough syrup cures bronchitis.
Why suffer when this wonderful remedy can