The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-21

thorough which does not secure the
' .,;rony of some of the officers who
s.rs returned from Santiago. This
~ ~, NOT be furnished by the leaders in
,h,t M campaign, or by those whose
lanes appear at the bottom of the
s#c;al & dispatches, but the fund Of in
;.rmation will be of Importance to a
,ommssion appointed by the Presi-
,snt to inquire into the conduct of
he Santiago campaign, or to a COM
n,;ttee Of Congress selected for similar
,..earch. These officers agree that
,hsre are well-defined reasons for the
rs,kuesscs Of the army before Santi-
,,o They do not attempt to give the
,slstiye extent to which these defeats
Elected the conduct of the campaign,
but perhaps if they were forced to
,;re one defeat especial prominence
tor the amount Of discomfort attribu-
,,ble to it they would say that it was
,ne failure Of transportation. They
describe an unlimited supply of tran
.rortation facilities at Tampa aud a
,mentable lack at Santiago.
There we're mules in vast herds at
Y,mua-so many animals that it was
.ometimes wondered where men could
he cot to care for them. Indeed, the
mules we're uncomfortable at one time;
they broke loose frequently, and their
recovery cost the Government a great
deal Of money. However, at Santiago
the animals were scarce, and it was
due to this that many supplies were
not on the firing line. Men were
! obliged to go to the front with their
own burdens, and to some cf them
1 this was a great hardship. Men were
/ found discarding supplies which they
could not afford to dispense with, and
! it was said that the route of the army
I was traceable by the rejected clothing
and other articles along the roads and
Through the fields. The medical sup
! plies we're abundant, but they were
4 not taken to the front, and medical
officers struggled along under the
J weighr Of such materials as they could
4 carry, with the result that on the fir
3iug line or near it the surgeons had
! very little to work with.
This was something more than
I hardship, and it may have been, say
the officers who Witnessed it, fatal
3defeat. Lack of transportation made
iii difficult to get subsistence to the
d troops, and while the regular officers
3ay that there was never great hunger
Issa result Of this failure in the system,
desperate at best, would have been
! slessaned il severity with proper food
,s the proper time. The subsistence
s3Ess irregularly delivered, and there
Twas lack Of method in distributing
|it There would be on scme occasions
ID surplusage of canned tomatoes and
.3nothing else; and again potatoes would
be the favorite edible. At no time
$did ii seem possible to get the regular
nations euuitably distributed among
|Sths troops.
. The officers at Santiago whc. he'd
also served in the civil war said the:
sthe soldiers Jared much better in
Cuba than they did during any cam
apaign in the rebellion, and that no
Yntcism can attach to the subsistence
department for the quality and guam
Ahty of supplies on tSuud. Tie only
# #Fhauce for improvement, they say,
|s3aa' q the issue Of ration more suit
saole to the tropical climate. in which
}ne troops were fighting. Some Of the
Podes of delivery were not always
& convenient for the troops, as in the
'er Of coffee, issued unground, re-.
olrlng the soldiers to pulverize it as
pest they could. This was sometimes
aplished by the primitive system
grinding the coffee between two
81 ZONES or by crunching it under the
put Of gun.
another notable defect in the San.
i,go army was the utter lack Of gene
aasnlp. It is on this point that some
ssV interesting things will be told an
81 aSaa'eatigation committee, If ii takes
ae J: trouble to call upon those in q po-
''lon to know. Gen, Shafter, in the
s. place, was not, able to take an
s., I,'lve part in the campaign. He fail
70 make Inspections, and his only
saas Of keeping track Of 3 fairs at
= ~ INN. .. ==a =5wasso o;s5 WAS through
81 y a'des and ataff of;cs ere. He stuck
nls tent nearly all che time, Tanning
- vigorously, whom not totally
aapsed and under che care cf nurses.
y was unapproachable and irascible,