The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-21
CHEAP VICTORY, SAYS SHAT TER
Continued from Page II


took chances in doing this, but said
the weather was good, and there was
no mishap to regret. The men were
regulars almost entirely, fully equipped,
and he saw that they We're made as
comfortable as circumstances permit
ted.
AS to medical supplies, General Shat
ter said:
you know medical supplies are the
one thing that commanding general
or line officer never knows anything
about. The surgeon is supposed to
know what he wants. My medical Off
Ger said he thought. he had enough
medical supplies for the temporary ser
vice to which we thought we we're, des-
tined. Events proved, however, that
the surgeon was mistaken. The am
munition supply was ample"
AS to supplies, General Shafter said
there was nothing essential left behind.
THOSE AMRULANCES.
How about the ambulances?" asked
General Weaver.
"As to those ambulances,' said Cen
eral Shafter, Il take the whole respon-
sibility on myself. 1 ordered and SUI
pervised their loading. After events
proved that it would have been better
to have taken ten or fifteen additional
behind But wagons can be used for
two purposes, and ambulanceS can be
used but for one. l 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 different
in comfort between the ambulances and
an escort wagon. The men We're put
on straw in the bottom of the wagons,
i IL +, fcr. f1,-
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 feet was sufficient for
the landing, as the events proved.
An interesting incident of the landing
was brought out by General Shafter,
who said he had arranged with the Gu
ban General Castillo the day prior to
the landing to have 1000 men back of
Baiquiri to catch the Spaniards when
they were shelled out by the navy.
Castillo was three hours late, however,
and all the Spaniards got away.
TRANSPORTATION OF SUPPLIES.
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 utmost, ="
said he. eff it had not been for the
pack train. we could not have done it.
and the expedition would have been a
failure
General Shafter said he regarded the
landing of the expedition as eminently
successful. They lost only two men
and thirty animals, out of a total of
10000 men. 1t was a remarkable rec
ord.
There has been considerable criti-
cism from the medical officers about
getting their medical supplies ashore =
said General Beaver. Were any such
complaints brought to you?"
"a majority of the regimental sur
geOns left their medical chests on their
vessels. When 1 found this out [ put
DR.. Goodfellow aboard the Manteo, and
had him collect these chests. AS soon
as they were landed they were put on
four wagons and distributed at once to
the men,"
AS an additional explanation of the
difficulty in furnishing supplies ashore,
General Shafter said that at one time.
with an army of 21,000 men. he had TO
! issue rations to 10000 people, the excess
being the refugees from Santiago,
women and children, for the most part,
whom he could not allow to starve.
AS to the care of the wounded, Gen
eraI Shafter said that they We're cared
for as carefully as the circumstances
would permit. THE doctors worked like
Trojans. They deserved and received
commentator from everyone. They
worked till they were sick and worn
out. The doctors We're mostly young
men. You can't get very old and ex-
Derienced surgeons to go on a summer
campaign for 500 a month. But they
were splendid fellows. Compared with
the civil war. the wounded were better
cared for in Cuba than they were then.
Touching the signal corps, General
Shafter said he was served admir-
ably
HAD THE GOVT.
Asked if he thought his own sickness
had any effect on the success of the
Cuban campaign, General Shafter said:
No; most decidedly. The campaign
was carried out as planned from the
start, and my health or sickness did
not alter a single plan. I knew I was
going to have 9 sick army on my hands
in that country pretty soon, and 1
simply rushed matters to an issue as
soon as possible. For myself, 1 was not
seriously sick. It is true l had the govt,
ard I had to have my foot tied w in
a gunnysack, and could not get it in a
stirrup, and so l had to build plat
form from which to get on my horse.
But I certainly had not expected to be
subjected to personal criticism for this.
1t was military necessity"
Governor Woodbury. asked how the
staff officers from civil life turned out
General Shafter said: They were
men, as q. rule who had no previous
military experience. and might not have
been of much use in executing a mill
tary maneuver But / had three of
them on my staff, and for carrying or
ders. distributing rations to the refu-
gees, and a thousand necessary things
they were invaluable. Beginning with
Colonel John Jacob Astor, who was,
perhaps, the most inexperienced they
were splendid fellows. and did. what
they had to do. Astor fell in With the
work, ate his beans and did his duty as
carefully and expeditiously as though
he had not q dollar Captain Brice, the
son of Senator Brice, was an excellent
officer. and did fine work in feeding
those hungry people at Carey. At times
he had to take All axe helve and stand
off some of the men who were keeping
back the weaker women and children.
and he did it effectively"
e-s
State Department Has La Grippe.
Washington, Dec. 2O.-Secretary Hay
was obliged to leave the state depart
ment at noon today by an attack of la
grippe which he has been fighting off
for some days. The disease is undoubt-