The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-24

Army Officer Outlines the Campaign
Dispatch Boats as Naval Pickets.

st. Paul Pioneer Press.
The movement of infantry from this mill
tary department has aroused interest in
the possible operations of that arm of the
service, should war be declared An officer
of rank, when questioned, discussed the
matter thus:
"AIl of the regular army, no doubt, much
of the National Guard, and perhaps num-
Der Of volunteers may eventually be called
upon to do duty along the seacoast. Our
cif1c, and the gulf. is SO extended that many
thousand men will be needed to establish
even fringe of protection by land forces.
But, on the other hand, very few of these
troops will ever catch sight of a fighting
Spaniard. The enemy would scarcely dare
to land men at any point and the only a e!
connection with the capture of Cuba.
1T has been suggested that while a land
ing in force and formal occupation of
American territory would be out of the
question, considering SPANS meager re-
sources, yet swift Spanish cruiser might
land troops for a few hours of destructive
villainy. Such troops, it is said, might eff
feet heavy. losses by the prompt use of fire
and explosives, or they might exact large
ransom before retreating from the coast.
These conjectures are far from comfort
ing to the residents of the smaller coast
towns or to the isolated jewellers beside the
sea- It's conceivable, of course, that they
could do but little damage and could simply
indulge their natural love for guerrilla war
fare. 1 think, however. that such raids are
mere imagination. Although our prepara-
tons for coast defense are, of course, not
ideally complete by any means. they are,
nevertheless, far more complete than the
public, for obvious reasons, has yet been
told. Every town of Importance is now pro-
tected by batteries on shore, by mines and
torpedoes off shore. And our navy. if small,
is rapidly growing. The number of effective
fighting ships cannot be increased as rapidly
as one could desire. But the man who Wor-
res because we haven't a battle ship for
every twenty miles of coast ought to re-
member that we shall have far more fight
and to
tack us, and that if the enemys ships are
kept out of mischief wherever they chance
to be all the rest of the coast is as safe as
If the war were being fought on Mars.
What is necessary in order to prevent a
Spanish war vessel from finding herself
alone, like a deserted stage girl in a black
gown, is an abundance of small boats of
high speed, boats that can maintain q per-
feet line of reconnaissance and still be able
enemy attempt to rid himself of imperti-
nent observers. Because if there were
plenty of these fast small boats on our side,
no Spanish vessel could get very near our
coasts without news coming quickly to one
of our war vessels, which would then be on
hand to prevent the Spaniards attempting
to land troops or to shell the shore
That's no doubt the reason why the gov
eminent has bought so many fast tugs and
yachts within the few weeks. These So
called dispatch boats and transports will
serve as naval pickets and will be indispen-
sable to the efficient maintenance of naval
trocha.
without doubt. upon the sea. No troops
would probably be moved from this coun-
try until the supremacy of the sea was def
initely decided as between ourselves and
Spain. Because If Spain could defeat our
navy she might establish a blockade Of Gu
ba and she might oblige any troops we had
already sent there to share the horrors of a
reconcentrado situation infinitely worse than
that which shocked the world. But should
the Spanish fleet be forced from the western
hemisphere Spain might then abandon Gu
ba and sue for peace without our landing
one soldier upon the Queen Of the Antilles.
Indeed 1t would be foolhardy for Spain to
attempt then 10 retain her grasp of Cuba.
Yet should the Spaniards refuse to leave
the island after their feet had been driven
away we would either invade in force or
establish an open port for the insurgents.
An invasion in force might prove a serious
undertaking for American white troops,
chiefly because of the unwholeSome climate.
Should we decide to open a port for the
insurgents. the undertaking would require
merely such q garrison as would keep the