The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-25
GEN. SKATER MISQUOTED
WHAT HE REALLY, SAID ABOUT THE
VOLUNTEERS AT SANTIAGO.
Effectiveness of SmOkeless Powder
Guns-CareIessncs on the Part of
Newly Recruited Soldiers.

NEW YORK, Sept. 24-Gen. w. r. SHAFT
ter who arrived last night from Michigan.
said in an interview with a. representative
of the Press: MY remarks about the vol
unteers, in a speech at Constantine, have
been misquoted. / was speaking at re-
union of the Nineteenth Regiment. l went
to the front with it thirty-five years ago.
1t happened some Michigan volunteers got
mixed up in the Santiago fight. l merely
said they had not been intended for active
fighting that day. They had been sent off
toward Aguadores to make feint. They
got into cut and shell was sent into
them, killing and wounding some. They had
no business in the cut, and regulars would
not have been caught there. The volunteers
were all right at Santiago, handicapped as
they were They had black powder rifles
for one thing, and they had not learned
what comes only from the longest drilling
and what constitutes the ideal soldier-that
is to stand with other men without knowing
it."
ut has been said that there were 10000
Krag-Jorgensens in the arsenal during the
Santiago campaign that were never issued"
said the reporter.
well, am not at the head of the ord
nance department, but the increase in the
number of companies raised the army by
$1,000 men, and these had to get Krag-
Jorgensens Immediately, as they were ex-
pected to do the bulk of the fighting. How
many of the small stock of Krag-Jorgen-
sens were left after the 35.O GOO were equipped
l can't say.
mo one who has not seen it can know
the effectiveness of smokeless powder guns.
Our batteries had black powder; the Span
iards smokeless. One day, the 10th or 18th
of July, was standing in the trenches try
ing to make out with my glasses the loca-
ton of Spanish battery. Our battery
was several hundred yards to our left. We
could hear the shells leave the Spanish
guns and pass over We tried to locate the
guns by following the sound, but it was i'm
possible. Later we found that it was more
than a mile away, behind fringe of bushes
just thick enough to hide the movements of
the men. 1t astonished me and other vet
Grams who saw the work of smokeless pow
der"
The scandals of the camps struck Cen
eral Shafter as the natural product of in
experience among the soldiers. ''There has
been gross carelesssness on the part of new
men in sanitary matters he said. You
can't make them understand the necessity
u L
their officers for not picking up cigar stubs,
fruit Feelings, and such apparently trivial
things In the civil war we often started
out with a thousand men and in six months
lost five hundred of them through sickness.
What has befallen thes men who re-
lieved me at Santiago? They had no such
conflict with Indictment weather as we had.
They have mad plenty of food and complete
tentage, but they have thirteen hundred
sick men out of six thousand. So 1 don't
think we did so badly
JAS to his coming to New York to take
charge of the Department of the East, Gen
eral Shafter said: II do not know where 1
will go finally. 1 have expressed wish to
go to the Pacific coast, where 1 expect to
live when 1 am retired but before going
I should not object to taking the Depart
ment of the East for several months till
General Merritt's return. My wife is from
Vermont, and / hail from Michigan, and a
stay of a short time in New York would
give me the chance to meet many persons
1 have long wished to see.
What do think of territorial expansion?
Well, / don't think my views are of much
Importance but they are very brief Hold
on to all we get. We had to work hard to
get it; let's keep it. We are rising into the
position of leader among nations, and we
must accept the responsibilities that come
from that eauership.'
General Shafter said he would go at once
to Montauk Point to take command there.