The Red Cloud chief., 1898-11-18
BRECKENRIDGE CR|TCSES.
Inspector General Testiies About
the Santiago Campaign
WON IN SPITE OF SKATER.
The Army Dronaht tho Commanding
General Through In ssfe~ty--rbiaks n
Would Have Besn Moro satisfactory
10 MlIes Had C~ommsndsd

c. Breckenridge, inspector general Of
the United States army, criticised the
conduct Of the Santiago campaign be-
fore the wal investigating committee
to-day. When asked his opinion Of the
result Of the campaign, no said he
thought 10 was consistent with the
character OF the men who conducted It
what vas 10 be expected from the
limitations OF General Shafter. Think
II would have been different II General
Miles had been In command-that IL
would have been more satisfactorily
conducted. / think he has more of
tho spark and genius OF command
than any man In the army, and I am
sure that IL he had had charge he
would have been In the front rank"
In his testimony to-day, General
Breckenridge dealt with the campaign
In Cuba and the transportation OF
troops to that island. He had, he said.
gone to Cuba as inspector general, ar
irving Mt Tampa June s. He had OBJ
served casually the preparation for the
decentralization Of troops before the
expedition left and had concluded that
they were quite inadequate.
~ made no report, however," he
said, las General Miles was upon tho
ground and could observe for himself
Continuing, no said that there was
no preparation for landing in the face
Of an enemy other than that which
the navy might make. So far as he
had observed there were two lighters
and two scows secured on behalf of
the army before the departure from
Tampa. 1t was his understanding,
however, that the army and navy were
cooperating in this expedition.
Speaking OF tho conflict OF author
ity upon the transports he said tho
masters of the vessels did not respond
as promptly as might have been do.
sired. ''Truc," he said, "there was a
little navy cadet on board caoh of the
vessels, but he had no authority. An
actual naval officer Of the quarter
masters department. on each vessel
would have been better. What was
needed was prompt communication
between the commanding officer
and the vessels, and tho masters
Of the transports did not respond very
promptly"
He was questioned at sone length
concerning the conduct of tho cam
paign in front OF Santiago and replied
that the result was what he had ex-
pected 1t would be. Everything there,
he said, was strained to get men on
board and consequently there was
comparatively little effort to secure
equipment. While he knew nothing
definitely of the plans Of the campaign
he was sure thore was q plan. He was
quite certain from q conversation he
had had with General Miles that he
had a plan, though no did not say that
this was the plan carried into effect.
'Of course" suggested Ex-Governor
Beaver, Santiago was the goal Of the
campaign"
certainly. The fact was published
SO extensively in the newspapers that
many of the men on board the vessels
would not accept this information as
to the destination as correct"
Ex-Governor Woodbury. suggested
that the battle In front Of San Juan
might have been fought and the vic
tory won within eight days of the
landing. General Breckenridge replied
. that the victory had been won ''wher
General Torals nerve gave out" This
he continued, had been the war Of al
3 Others when success had been won in
: its earliest stages. lie believed thai
the war was the Lords war and tha'
this wonderfu' success was duo to Hi
supervision. The time for the battl,
- lu ahNn nN Va
il must be remembered that the dis
tance between the battlefield ant
y Siboney was less than half
days march. While he considered tn
4 result as marvelously c~ommendable, h
did not feel that General Shafter wa
above criticism in tho conduct OF tn
campaign. He could not bell We tn
result was n miracle, but he ascribe'
the outcome to the fact that the arm.
was one which was capable OF meet
ing oil calls. mo matter how II wa
tangled up" he said, 'it went to vic
tory"
Q lie had, at this time, quoted Lor
Beresford when he said to his arm
II upon q certain OCCASION: II have lie
IS you into q devil Of q fix and 1t Is no,
10 your duty to fight like hell to get III
T. out Of It,"
lie was sure at least that al engage
n In the war had acted with zeal IN
q. every mar had lone the best of whic
a he was capable, and he had neve
a. known q war when there was NOT cri
re icism ut the close Of II.
FOR SHAFTER TO TELL
al General McCook asked Gener'
b. Breckinridge II he had visited Shaft'
10 in his tent when the latter was i'll /,
Santiago. Breckenridge replied thu
he had done 30.
ibid he then offer the commar
OF the army to you. as has been r
- ported in the press?"
On General Breckenridge replied:
ly would very much prefer not to ausw'
of that question. You should ask &c
at eral Shafter. Such a conversation
mt occurred between General Shafter al