The age-herald., 1898-07-18
GENERAL SKATER
 HERO OF SANTIAGO

SecTetdry or WAT lO O0lckdHduBd diu dl- terward to Tampa to organize and com mand. But not then, even, did the. pub lie learn more than a small item or two concerning his previous career. Z They learned soon, however that he was prov ing himself entirely competent for the du- ties assigned him. The report that came up from Tampa was that he had the men well organized and material and camp baggage quickly in readiness for the planned expedition. But he was never once spoken of as a potential hero. So he could not have impressed many observers of his person and actions as one possessed of the greatest powers and capable of the highest action on the field. Some, noticing his enormous bulk and the signs of age that are upon him, and knowing of his suffer- ings from varicose veins, even wondered why he had been selected by the secretary | of war for his laborious and perilous com mand. That he was the secretary of wars selection seemed to be generally known | or believed.
 Arrived at Santiago de Cuba, General Shafter manifested and exercised the same | talents which had stood him in good stead | at Tampa, and which had given him his
 
 | expedition was safely landed, with surpris ingly few casualties. If he had not with him all the material of war that he needed and that belonged to a properly equipped
 army it was surely no fault of his. But l when all was done and said, at the sue | cessful landing, there was no hint then or after, down to the day of battle, that he was possessed of the qualities of a great to i.x,a ward Santiago de Cuba. and General Shaf 1 ter followed in carriage, which was not | in accordance with soldierly custom. but | he could not otherwise accompany the army, owing to serious physical infrm- ties. Since then, on the few occasions when he has sat on his horse, it has been with unsteadiness in consequence of band aged legs And it is almost a pity that anybody was witness to his mounting of his horse, for it was with the help of or derlies and some of. his staff. It is per- haps remarkable that the army was not l more depressed than it appears to have been by the unwonted spectacle Certainly | it was too much to expect that a com | mander so afflicted and embarrassed, what | ever his mental and moral qualities, would | greatly inspire his soldiers. The com IldHulHS SeHSTdl on lHe Hefu IS lHe center of organized action, and if anything is wanting at that center disaster is inevita- ble unless the subordinate commanders are steady and able and the men are undeterred by considerations of how things going on at headquarters There has been disaster at Santiago de Cuba, but there has been seen an unusual amount of in- dividual work among the subordinate com manders, and it is the testimony of all tine n a aflar md nts hat fhn infn gence and resolution of the men has shown out conspicuously in every fight. 2"
 
 That General Shafter regarded Secretary Alger as a friend, well a superior officer, is plainly to be seen from the gen. erals dispatches No such dispatches were ever before sent from any battlefield by any commander. They are much Ike Jet ters from home or to those at home. Their burden is the war and present actions, but they have touches that imply some thing more than official confidence-a degree of intimacy. in fact. One sentence tells of an advance. The next sentence alludes to | the state of his health. The third sentence makes it known that some have been kill ed and the fourth that one of h,s generals is sick. Then he writes that his lines are extended, but too thin, and that he is in his carriage. And he in all this seems not to be aware that his dispatches would be given out by the war department to the 
 with the rest-would read them.
 
 While operations on the land around San- tiago have not been startling, not one of them resulted in failure. Gloom over the country was so great indeed, before Ger vera came out of the harbor and met de- struction for his fleet that for a few days the country was almost wishing that it could for once forget it's Fourth of July But this was in consequence mainly. as it 1f -n1 l.af aVfc fnn confiding dispatch. His army had gained better position than he knew. Ceryera knew of it. and saw that if he did not quickly get himself and his ships out of that harbor he would be destroyed by United States cannon planted on the hills around Hence it is evident that if the campaign had stopped then, with Cerve- ra's ships riddled and sunk, Shafter's army would still have been entitled to great praise.
 There was no danger that the parleying that went on between the opposing armies would eventuate in disadvantage to the United States army And the picture. sure to become historical, of the respective com
 nanders of the opposing armies meeting midway between the hostile lines in hu- flane debate-a picture that appears very like reproduction of a scene on the war field in the time of the heroes of chivalry --is worth the cost of any delay that was thus accustomed. General Shafter has
 
 name will always be associated with the surrender of Santiago.
 
 William R. Shafter. young man of Michigan, enlisted for the war of the re- bellion in the Seventh Michigan infantry and his first service was in the army of the Potomac. This was for ninety days. His next enlistment was in the Nineteenth Michigan he was made the major of the regiment, and for three years did service s., 41,a ,f f ha 4p,1o and Ia xxyac once a prisoner, and once he was promo ted, gaining the rank of lieutenant-celonel. His three years being up, he was appointed colonel of colored regiment in Ma, A. L. Chetiain's command of 20,00o colored troops After the close of the war he was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the regular army, but was not assigned for a whole year. Slowly he rose in the service. first to be colonel and then brigadier-gen- eral. His time has been mostly spent in the territories and in California. At the beginning of this war he was commissioned a major-general of volunteers.