The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-08-31
This War and the Last.

I am asked by the World to give my
impressions Of the campaign against
Santiago. First, it must be remem-
bered that with the exception of
Scott's campaign in Mexico our coun-
try had never engaged in military
enterprise which involved the trans
port of troops to foreign land.
Therefore it could be hardly expected,
with few officers who had had expert
ence in handling such expeditions,
that the matter of transportation could
have been carried through without
any mishap.
Taking it all in all, I think the ad-
ministration, General Miles and Gen
eral Shafter deserve great credit for
conducting the Cuban campaign as it
has been conducted.
AS [ look back over the short but in
all vital respects most successful cam
paign [ am impressed with the enor-
nous amount of hard work that has
been accomplished with but few acci-
dents or mistakes.
[ have been asked many times how
the fighting compared with the fighting
in our great civil war. 1t impresses
me as being different in many respects.
In the civil war we fought at short
range, 200 or 300 yards, and even much
closer than that. There was dense
smoke and loud roar all along the
lines of both armies. But in Cuba,
with our long range rifles, the firing
commenced at some 700 or 800 yards.
[ advanced on the line of the First
Regular cavalry. The regular officers,
who were thoroughly trained on dis
tance, directed their men how to adjust
the sights Of their rifles and their men
fired with the precision of skilled
marksmen. The matter of marksman-
ship has been special matter of in
struction in the army for many years.
Again, at those distances, although b
the Spaniards fired in volleys, their
was no smoke, or very little, from their
lines, and the distance was such that
the sound was very small as compared
with the roaring noise that accompa-
MED the battles of the civil war.
The greatest evidence we had that
the Spaniards were firing at us was the
whistling Of the bullets all about Us
and the dropping of our men, killed Or
wounded. Probably the first man
killed on the firing line was Private
i Stark, Of the First Regular cavalry. he
fell in the road right before me. [
looked at him and could see no wound.
1t was strange experience and quite
new to me to see men fall, hear bullets
whistling around US, yet to hear but
little sound from the enemy, and see
no smoke, and more than that to see no
wounds in the men who fell. I told
the men near me to unbuckle Stark 8
belt and then l saw that the bullet had
passed through his belt and probably
through his body. 1 could only, see
a very small spot Of blood where the
bullet had entered, but the Spanish
bullet being only 27-calibre the place
where it entered was not perceptible.
In the civil war the bullets were so
large that they tore great holes, and
often during the battle the roar Of mus
kerry and artillery was so great that
Icould only know that cannon within
few feet of me was fred by seeing
the smoke or fire issue from its muzzle;
the general volume of noise was so
great that the additional sound Of one
cannon going off close by made no dis.
tinct impression. All that is changed
with the new style of ordnance and
rifles and the new ammunition.-Gen.
Joe Wheeler IN the Ne,o YorA; World.