The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-30


 ter the surrender General Miles stlll retained control. He authorized Shaf- ter to appoint peace commissioners and judging from Shafter's report that all was over, he instructed him as to the disposition of troops.
 July 15 General Shafter wired Gen eral Miles that the surrender was not complete as he thought and said: Please do not go away with the rein forcements as l may yet need them Miles promptly replied by wire from Baiquiri that the surrender Is com plete' and the Spaniards must surren- der On July 16 General Shafter wired Miles that the surrender was finally complete and General Miles replied, through Adjutant General Gilmore as follows: The commanding general IS very much gratified to hear that the surrender is complete He directs that you telegraph anything of importance and the condition of your command daily
 General Miles then reported the con- dition of affairs to the secretary or war with whom he had been in conference. In one of his telegrams to Miles, Secre- tary Alger says: AS soon as Santiago falls, the troops must all be put In camp as comfortably as they can be made and remain, I suppose, until the fever has had it's run Miles did not agree with Secretary Alger, for July 2l, in a letter, the general commanding urged the return of the army to the United States as soon as possible. July F, after the surrender was complete, General Shafter wired as follows to General Miles:
 siboney, July 1T, $40 p. m., (received July 1S)-General Miles on board Yale Letters and orders in reference to move, ment of camp received and will be carried out None Is more anxious to get away from here than myself. It seems from your orders given me that you regarded my forces part of your command Nothin9 will give me greater pleasure than serving you, general. and 1 shall comply, with all your requests and directions but was told by the secretary that you were not to su- persede me in command here. l Will TUT ntsh the information called for as to condi. ton of command, to Gilmore, adJutant general A. II. Q. (Signed) Shafter, Major-general. General Miles very promptly replied as follows:
 Playa del Este, July IS, 1898; Guanta- namo, 11:3o q. m.--General Shafter:-Tele- gram received. Have no desire and have carefully avoided any appearance of super. seding you. Your command is q part of the United States army which I have the honor to command having been duly as signed thereto and directed by the presi- dent to go wherever l thought my presence required and give such general directions ters and especially directed to go to Santi- ago for n specific purpose. You Will also notice that the orders of the secretary Of war; of July IS, left the matter to my dis, erection. I should regret that any event should cause either yourself or any part of your command to cease to be a part or mae maer enTa sgne cdmmandns SGs01 united sf States
 Army.
 General Miles then gave General Shafter final instructions and left hur- rledly for Porto Rico. In view of the situation as revealed by the above tel egrams the following statement con- tained in the New York Herald of re- cent date is quoted:
 If my cablegram to Major General Shaf ter informing him that Major General Mics was not sent to supersede him in su- preme command of the troops in the field at Santiago de Cuba, prevented the storm ing of the city on the day of It's surrender, thus resulting in the saving of lives which otherwise would have been lost in the at tack, then I am repaid for sending it a thousand fold.
 This statement was made to me this, afternoon by Secretary Alger apropos of the publication of the Herald of yes- terday, setting forth the doings of Ma jor General Miles during his brief stay in Cuba. The secretary told me he did not propose to enter into any contro- versy regarding the Santiago campaign with anybody. The results spoke for themselves and they were a sufficient justification for the, policy which had been pursued by the war department in the conduct of the operations against Santiago.
 My cablegram to General Shafter, he continued, was simply due to my desire to assure him that I intended to be absolutely fair. Before his depart ure from Washington, General Miles and I had talked the matter over and he started for Cuba knowing that he was not in any way to interfere with the operations which were under the control of General Shafter. l cabled to General Shafter informing him that General Miles had left for Cuba, with instructions not in any manner to su- persede him as commander, and as I have said, if my message prevented a battle on the morning of the day the city surrendered, then l am repaid a thousand fold.'