The record-union., 1898-12-21

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20.-General
Shafter appeared rather Unexpectedly
before the War Investigation Commls-
sion this afternoon, and told his story
of the Santiago expedition. He was
supported by his aide, Colonel Miley,
who was with him in Cuba, and Hank
ed by a large portmanteau of papers,
to which his aide occasionally applied
for reference.
General Shafter's story of the opera
tions around Santiago was tersely told,
but was quite vivid in its recital and
interesting in detail. Briefly summed
up his estimate of the Santiago expe-
dition was that it had been a military
success and cheap at the cost Of 500
men lost in the fight. He considered
the expedition to have been as we'll fit
ted out as the time allowed would per-
NIT, and said that in looking back he
had no criticism of his plans to make
and would not change them If the
events had to be gone through again
He said he had no complaints Of any
sort to make and would be loath to
intrude them at this time if he had.
The commission stated that General
Miles to-day communicated to the COM
mission his unwillingness to volunteer
testimony. A message was according
ly sent to the Adjutant General direct
ing him to request the appearance of
General Miles before the board. No
reply had been received to this COM
munication, when General Shafter
rather Unexpectedly appeared.
After brief preface, General Shaf-
fpr went into detailed anpO11pt of iS
preparations for the Santiago expedi-
tion. He said his plans were changed
three times by the department He
said the transport fleet was not suffi
ciently large to accommodate 1900
men for any length of time at sea, but
all were SO anxious to go that he risked
considerable crowding to take all the
men possible He admitted that he
took chances in doing this, but said the
weather was good, and there was no
mishap to regret. The men were reg
ulars almost entirely, fully equipped,
and he saw that they were made as
comfortable as circumstances per-
mitted.
AS to medical supplies, General Shat
ter said: You know medical supplies
are the one thing that a commanding
General or line officer never knows
anything about. The surgeon is sup
posed to know what he wants My
medical officer said he thought he had
enough medical supplies for the tenn
porary service to which we thought we
We're destined. Events proved, however,
that the surgeon was mistaken. The
ammunition supply was ample
AS 10 supplies, General Shafter said
there was nothing essential left behind
How about the ambulances asked
General Beaver.
AS to those ambulances." said Cen
eral Shafter, II take the whole respon-
sibility on myself. I ordered and su-
pervised their loading After events
proved that it woud have been better
to have taken ten or fifteen additional
ambulances, and left that many wag-
ons behind. But wagons can be used
for two purposes, and ambulances can
be used but for one. I took the wagons.
and the wounded had to be TRANSPORTED
in them after the first days fighting.
L must say that on a rocky, muddy
road, such as We had, there is little
difference in comfort between the am
balances and an escort wagon. The
men were put on straw in the bottom of
the wagons. and we did the best we
could for them. Ambulances would
have been better, but then hindsight is
always better than foresight"
Concerning the landing facilities with
the expedition. General Shafter said
they had two large barges, one of
which was lost en- route, and a small
tug, the Captain Sam, whose Captain
deserted during the night The boat
capacity of the fleet was sufficient for
the landing, as the events proved.
An interesting incident of the land
ing was brought out by General Shaf-
ter, who said he had arranged with the
Cuban General Castillo the day prior
to the landing to have 1000 men back
OF Baiquiri to catch the Spaniards
when they We're shelled out by the
navy. Castillo was three hours late,
however, and all the Spaniards got
away.
How about getting the supplies to
the front for the men?" asked General
Beaver.
1T was the one problem of the cam
paign, and it taxed us to the ut
most" said he. IF it had not been for
the pack train, we could not have done
II, iiko lIic SApGQllIOA4 AOO4Q We DSGII
a failure"
General Shafter said he regarded
the landing of the expedition as emin-
emily successful. They lost only two
men and thirty animals out of a total
of 10000 men. 1t was a remarkable
record.
"A majority of the regimental sur
geons left their medical chests on their
vessels said General Shafter When
I found this out | put Dr. Goodfellow
aboard the m2nitou. and had him COL
lect these chests. AS soon as they
We're landed they We're put on four
wagons and distributed at once to the
men,"
AS to the care of the wounded. Cen
eral Shafter said that they We're cared
for as carefully as the circumstances
would permit. The doctors worked
like Trojans. They deserved and re-
ceived commentator from everyone.