The Red Cloud chief., 1898-10-07

some shortage Of supplies ct the camp,
u nothing" ne added. that q SOL
der could complain Of" They had
comfortable tents and the commissary
supplies wers sufficient. The water
supply also was good. lie said the
men in his command were we'll taken
care of. However, very few men were
ut that time sick. He had hitsolt
gone into the hospitals and had found
the mon doing well.
General Wheeler said he had no con-
troll over any of the supplies which
wcre taken to Santiago upon the
transports when he left Tampa. This
was attended to by the different staff
officers. He only knew from conver-
sation with these that there was an
abundance OF the supplies OF all char
acters.
Returning to the Santiago campaign
he said that only two regiments had
reported a shortage OF ~rations and he
had Immediately telcphoncd to tho
rear md the shortage, which had been
due to accident, was adjusted. There
was suffering when the mcu were
compelled to lie upon the brcastworks
NEGLECT AT SANTIAGO.
General Wheeler said the meat was
poor, and they had no bread except
hard tack. They were forced to 1.-Two
in the sun and water alternately, and
necessarily there was much sickness.
While they had the full quota Of doc
tors and nurses, he thought that IL
more had been furnished tho men
would have been better cared for. Az
for rotions, three days supply was
generally issued. Whenever the troops
went into action they would throw
their food away as we'll as their packs,
and they often did not recover them.
General Wheeler took up the COM
mon report that the Cubans stole
goods thus discarded. 1t was not fair,
he said, to thus accuse the natives, for
there was so much of this flotsam and
jetsam that hungry and poorly clothed
Us the Cubans wcre, they were not to
be blamed for helping themselves. Ho
said he had seen among the 20, 900
people who came outof Santiago many
women Of refinement who were e,na-
ciatcd and evidently hungry.
In reply to questions he stated he
never had heard of any shortage Of
commissary or ordnance supplies at
Santiago, but hc had been told that
the medical supplies were short, yet no
had no personal knowledge on this
point. He had seen sorne wounded
men crawling TO the rear in the en-
gageinents, but as q rule rs soon as .
man fell In battle he was carried to
the hospitals by the medical corps.
He said that as a rule tho quality OF
hardtack was good. When there was
any deterioration it was due to local
rains, and not to the fact Of original
inferiority.
TOO PROUD TO COMPLAIN.
The spirit Of the army was such, no
said, hat there was no disposition to
complain. "They were oil proud to
be there and willing to undergo hard.
ships"
Replying TO q question from Colonel
DENLY, General Wheeler said the reg
ulars had shown n greater ability to
take caro- OF themselves than the vol
untecrs. The volunteers were moro
careless, but tho volunteer cavalry
men were not SO negligent AS tho
other volunteers, because they wero
generally Western men who had boon
used to camping. lie thought this
fact had had a strong influence in
causing the health of the regulars to
DO better than that OF tho v~oluntsers.
Captain Howell asked to what he at
tributed the development of disease
after tho ~capitulation OF Santiago, aud
General Wheeler replied that ID
was due to tho climate aud to
the exposure made necessary. All the
men seemed to be more or less affected
by the conditions. He had, he said,
known of no instance of u sick or
wounded soldier dying from van Of
care from the physicians. So far as
he knew there was general CON.
mendation of the medical corps,
except hat on one or two occasions
there had been some grumbling in re-
gard to general conditions. Ito
thought there was a deficiency In tho
number of ambulances, but this de-
ticieucy was due to the exigencies OF
the campaign.
ALL WENT SMOOTHLY.
General Wheeler also said in reply
TO Captain Howell that he knew of 40
confusion in shipping supplies from
Tampa. He was not acquainted with
u case in which q body of Il vehicle was
shipped on one vessel and the wheels
on smother. His memory was not
distinct as 20 complaints from physi-
clans IN his command as to tho
scarcely OF medical supplies, but no
thought there were some such com.
plants, and in such eases hs had Thorn
supplied as promptly as possible.
There had been difficulty in getting
the transports to lie as near inshore a.
was desirable, rendering 1t difficult to
get at supplies promptly.
The commission called Mt tho was
department late to-day and saw See.
rotary Alger, Assistant Secretary
Meiklejohn and Adjutant General Cor.