Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-05-25
atlisttllanrpus Reading.
AGAINST HASTE IN CUBA.
General Wingate ON Some Difficulties In
Campaigning.

FROM tnc NeW 1 oIh souti'
General George w. Wingate is high
authority in all that pertains to the
national guard. He is best known to
army and guardsmen as the father OF
rifle practice in this country. 1t was
he who built Creedmoor and intro
duced the system which has since
been copied into the regular army,
and has made marksmen of the regu-
lars, who, when they first competed
with the guardsmen at Creedmoor,
made 135-the lowest score OF all the
Is teams that entered, and not more
than one-third of the top score.
"Men Of my age will understand
me when l say that hope the army
will not be driven forward by any de-
sire to emulate the great deeds Of the
navy to make a premature Invasion OF
Cuba" said the general. "Men of my
age will remember how the cry: 'On
to Richmond!' = drove the army of the
Union to advance when it was not
not ready. The result was Bull Run.
"The volunteers now in the field are
not fit to campaign anywhere, but es-
pecially unfit for campaigning i'll Cuba.
Before Scott marched on the City of
Mexico he spent six months in prepar-
ing his men. The result was that his
march was distinguished by success
sion of victories. If our boys go down
TO Cuba now in their present shape
they will die like sheep, not from bui-
lets of the Spaniards, but by reason OF
the climate. The Spaniards are all IN
fortified cities. They will stay there,
and our troops will have to camp IN
the deadly lowlauds about them. IL
would be madness TO send troops to
Cuba before the end of the rainy sea-
son. 1 don't think the government
really means it. l judge that Porto
Rico, where the conditions are much
better, is really our objective point,
but I'm afraid of a foolish thing being
done to satisfy public clamor or be-
cause the army is anxious to catch up
with the navy.
"The volunteers now in the field
have the best of stuff in them, but
they are not soldiers; they are not
disciplined; they can't march; they
don't know how to take cake of
themselves they don't understand
maneuvres. Another thing, they have
no proper equipments. Their uni
forms are all wrong for Cuba-won't
do at all their blankets are not worth
anything. They have no proper shoes.
The women's auxiliary corps recently
gave the soldiers at Hempsted 5000
worth of underclothing which they
needed. | think that was reflection
on the state of New York.
~ think a good way to train the
volunteers would be to start them out
on a hundred mile march, making so
many miles day, and gradually in-
creasing the distance. By that means,
bivouacking each night in different
place, the regiment would learn how
to take care of itself on the march,
how to pitch camp and make itself
comfortable. 1t would grow Injured to
heavy marching orders, and learn to
take care of arms and equipments.
If it had some regulars along to give
it tone it would get more instruction
in a week than in three months of
present camp life.
"The troops also need handling by
brigade and division, so that they will
learn the necessity of obeying orders
and being at the place directed at the
time directed. Without this, manoeuv-
ring on an extensive scale is impossi-
BILE. Another thing our boys need
before they make move on Cuba Is
training in Sire discipline a soldier
can only carry from 80 to so rounds
of ammunition for the Springfield rifle,
45-calibre, with which the national
guard is armed. The regulars are
armed with the krag. JorgensoD, and
can probably carry $50 rounds, calibre
being smaller. Either one of these
men can fire all his ammunition in half
an hour, and one of the faults of green
soldiers in battle is that they begin
firing too soon, and keep it up when
there is nothing to shoot at.
''To prevent this it is necessary that
the fire should be under the strict con-
troll of the officers. This is the case
i'm all modern armies. The officers in
charge of the firing indicate the object,
give the elevation and tell the num-
Der of shots each man shall fire. If
the men are not trained to yield i'm
plicit obedience the result is that they
hn hnt,t M hon
is most necessary. A recent report
of the inspection at Camp Black shows
that from 25 to 40 per cent. Of the men
are net only recruits, but are even sup
piled with uniforms. Half the volun-
teers know nothing at all about the
use of the rifle.
call that goes to demonstrate that
the volunteers at present are wholly
unsuited for campaigning anywhere,
especially in Cuba. Now, then, we
have regular army which for this
purpose would muster about $4,000
men. They ought not to be used i'll
Cuba during the rainy season. The
Negro troops and immunes could stand
the climate, probably, but they are
only IA handful, and the Spauiards
have $4,000 troops in Cuba. They are
poor in arms, equipment and discipline,
but Manila shows that they will fight,
and they are in possession Of the forti-
fled cities.
II have known Cuba and the Cubans
for long time. speak Il little Span
ish. | am Il property owner of Sancto
Spiritu, and know what am talking
7 .,,. tbnt a :,