Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1898-09-08
Says II Was a Mistake to Send an
Army to Santiago In June.
HEAT KILLED HIS SOLDIERS.
Tolls of tho stupondoui Difficulties Th at
Had to 30 and We're surmountod
--Dotter That Santiago wua Not Taken
July ..

cral Shafter, In which the general Is
represented as saying! "At Santiago
we had to deal with thlngs rs they
are, not az they should be, OF course
there was sickness, 1t was Inevitable
In summer campaign. But nobody
was neglected. Tho doctors were
scarce at first, but we had boat loads
OF them as soon as they could get
there. Doctors got sick like the rcst.
They were ovorworked and exhausted
But their ability Is unquestionable.
Look at the low per ccntago OF deaths
from wounds II was never lower in
any war. Why, IN the civil war lay
ON the battlefield myself until my
wounds were in n horrible condition,
and that was right near by, not down
In maIarious, sub'tropical country,
far away.
"The men who ordered GUNNER
campaign in fevcr.lnfested country
are responsible Tor the natural and I'M
Hvoidable consequences Mono OF our
wounded was allowed TO lie on the bat
tie field rs | was In the civil war.
Nothing OF the kind happened Anaes'
thctics were plentiful,
1T was the heat that wasso deadly,
and the rains Right in the midst OF
tho most torrid heat shower would
fall 1t would drcneh everybody with
out cooling tho air, In few minutes,
under tho sun again, every man would
be steaming. Men OF the strongest
constitutions succumbed.
"our first case Of yellow fever de-
veloped at III Caney. but the army
was ripe for it and II spread like u
prairie fire, Many man had yellow
fever who. will never know IT, And to
tell the truth II IL not so dangerous as
the calcntura or heat attacks that un-
acclimated men have In the malarlal
regions Of Cuba, Why, IL is n common
thing for mans temperature to rise
from normal to los in II few hours.
That means death in most cases. II
can give cards and spades to yellow
fever in the game OF death. I'd rather
have yellow fever
"We Mt tho front did not wait to let
the fever have Its run. We wanted to
savo life, Now tho problem was to
save the most lives possible We had
never had foreign war since 1921.
The United States has no hospital ships
II was not u question of using what
was best, but what we had We used
the transports that brought the troops
down.
"lf l could have had few more
weeks to equip hospital ships tho con.
dition would have been better. II the
war had continued we would have
stayed right there, fever or no fever.
The sudden ending Of the war was I'M
expected. / made IL nm invariable
rule to send home twenty-five less men
on transport than she had brought
south. That was fair view to lake.
~ am satisfied with the Santiago
campaign, When 1t Is fully under
stood, all its difficulties, it will receive
just place in military history. We
were hurried of to Cuba. We landed
and could not have got our stores back
on board ship IL wc had wanted to-
When tho invasion was planned it
was obvious that it must be u rush.
Such It was.
And 1t was a success and
unequivocal Many things were done,
1T is true, that were forced upon us by
the exigencles of the hour, but the
means employed, even under such
stress, proved to be wisely chosen.
was compelled to do n great many
things that under different clrcum-
stances would not have been consid.
cred.
81 sized up tho Spaniards correctly.
For example, at San Juan l was sure
they would not come out from their
works and attack us. The I'll Caney
fight had hoped would be finished at
10 n. m, but it took until . o'clock,
and l rather feel now that 1t was for
the best, Had we taken the city OF
Santiago that night only the garrison
then there would have surrendered to
us. Whereas, later, all tho troops in
the region surrounding were included.
Tho men outside OF Santiago, July 2,
could have gone to General Pando.
knew that the war was over rs soon as
Toral spoke to me about surrendering
the troops in the Eastern province. l
almost fell over
"Why was your food supply short
before San Juau?"
III had to act quickly and shove my
men right into the field, because /
knew they were growing weaker and
weaker every hour We had plenty of
rations, unloadcd at the shore, but
there was only q single road hub deep
in mud, over which they could be
brought to the front, and IL we had q
thousand army wagons we could not
have got the provisions where they
were needed. Tho paclS trains saved
us. They were invaluable
---------.-------..---------
Hall Calno will Talk.