Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-10-24

| whether the Spanish division, W. s in the
~ i, toor. o. -, II they were, an immediate army
! ana navy movement was to he made. In
| on dispatch the secretary said 1t wou
| oe discreditable to the navy if the pres
| eHce OF the Spanish feet was not aScer-
tanned immed ately. The commodore's dis
patch evidently had rot been received at
Lre sne department when the secretary's te!e,
| grams We're sent. Meantime Admiral
sampson had made arrangements TO pro-
eeed TO Santiago with a nun Der of his
vessels. He arrived there June l.
Ihen follows a historical resume OF the
dolnss or the fleet while off Santiago, of
lGs Doihbardment of the forIS. of the taking
! al me lower bay at Guantanamo by the
Maroiehead and the Yankee, copies OF
neinoiandums regarding methods OF block
aoeS. teiesrams beaIing on the proposed
army movement TO Santiago. etc, brac-
y uSany all OF which is told in official
teiesrams. On June s, the admiral urged
upon the department as he had pre-
.Iousiy done. TO expedite the arrival OF
| SIe troops Tor Santiago. the difficulty of
| piockadihS the Spanish ships daily inCreas-
ing. On June 10; dispatch was received
! showing that the army expedition WAS
tghpofdriiy stopped becausL of the reported d
| observation of additional Spanish vessels
| IN american waters. In a memorandum
| dated June 10. the admiral SAYS:
! ne commander-in-chiefd desires again TO
taii Ga +h the attention of commanding, officers
70 the positions occupied by the blockad-
ifS neet especially during the day time
ana II is now directed that all ships keep
VIII MIIhin distance of the entrance to Santi-
!
| rot be exceeded.
II the vessel is coalng or is otherwise
restricted in her movements, she must
! ne'ertheiess kepp within this distance. Il
at any time the flagship makes signal
Which is not VISIBLE to any vessel. such
oessei must at once approach the flagship
she can read the signal
DisreGard of these directions, which have
already been given under this head, has led
10 endless confusion. Many times during
| the Gay the fleet is so scattered that Il
would be perfectly possible for the enemy
70 come out of the harbor and meet with
very little opposition.
s,rirt rhe comm omn1mandsr;in-chief hopes that
stTlct attention will be given this ORDER
| 81, me ADMIRAL reproduces the order of bat
LEVI aie lncidentaI s to the landing. of Skaters
to shell the beach and cover the landing
OF the men. men In this order the following
occurs: The attention of commanding Of
ncers OF all vessels engaged in blockad-
ing Santiago de Cuba is earnestly called to
me me necessity OF the utmost vigilance from
snas, inns time forward; both as to maintaining
| Stations and readiness for action, and to
| Keeping close watch upon the harbor
mouth. If the Spanish admiral ever intends
to attempt to escape tina. attempt will be
| made soon."
| The admiral here remarks that much
trouble was experienced in landing on ac-
of the transports which had to be looked
up. The progress of Decentralization was rem
dered somewhat difficult by heavy sea.
fleet had been stationed there owing to a
stiff blow off the coast o. Jamaica. 1t ap-
pears that according to a dispatch to Sec;
| the sinking of the Merrimac Admiral
to hasten the destruction of the Spanish
| vessels, although he regretted resorting to
this method because of its difficulties and
| this, he says. were the present force to be
kept there; as it insured capture which
he believed would terminate, the war. The
above telegram was sent. the admiral eN-
plains, with reference to the proposed de-
| tachment of some of our heavy ships for
service abroad (the proposed expedition to
| retary Long shows that this expedition was
to consist of the Iowa. Oregon, Newark.
| Yosemite. Yankee and Dixie and they We're
| to go to the Azores for orders en- route 10
| Tangiers, Morocco. The colliers were to
| join the fleet at the Azores.
| On juno 80, the admiral received a COM
| munication from Major General Shafter an
| nouncing that he expected to attack San
tiago the following morninS a ana forss ashins :;
| Aguadores in SUPPORT of a regiment OF in
| fantry and make such demonstrations as
he thought proper at the tb hafeGr nI f5ars
! as possible. This request was conplea
with and on July l. General Smarter asked
| that the admiral keep up MS hSht on the
! Santiago water front
July 2 the following was received from
General Shafter:
is now strongly intrenched about three
| fourths of a mile from town. l urge that
you make effort Immediately to force the
| entrance to avoid future losses among my
| men. which are already very heavy. You
! can now operate with less loss or lie
| than | can Please telephone answer;
| A reply was telephoned Genera! Smarter
| from Admiral Sampson through Lieutenant
| Stanton. which said the admiral had oon-
barded the forts at the entrance or San,l-
ago and also Punta Gorda battery, inside,
cila
| tShafte) wanted further firing on the ad-
mirars part. The explanation was made
| until the channel was cleared OF mines-a
work of some time. after the forts were
taken possession of by the troops. 10 thls
| General Shafter replied:
| 1T is impossible for me to say when 1
can take batteries at entrance OF harooT.
| II they are as difficult to take as those
| which we have been pitted against. II Will
| be some time, and entail a great loss OF
| life. / am at loss to see why the navy
cannot work under destruetiSe5 s nre as as
over so men. BY all means keep up fire
on everything in sight of you until de,
molished. l expect, however, in time and
| with sufficient men, TO capture the lof'S
along the bay"
| Admiral Sampson then says:
| Il wrote General Shafter the following
lette: and began mkns tb b ePieS of 70
| ranging an attack upon the batteries at
| the entrance a visit was arranged TO CEN
/
| Thoroughly discussed and combined acti
take place. l had in view the employ
ment of the marines for an assault on on
| either the Moro or Socapa battery, while
at the same time assault ng the deferses
| at the entrance with the fleet:
"'U. s. Flagship New York. First Rate,
| Ion Santiago de Cuba, July 2, 1928.
| my Dear General:-I have your note
Of this morning-just received at 1850
"An officer Of my , stan ma, mas area az y re re-
morning but l must say in add ion TO
| what he told you that the forts which we
| silenced were not the forts which would
! give you any inconvenience in capturing
/ ward They cannot even prevent our en-
| trance into the harbor of San iago. Our
/ trouble from the first has been that the
/ channel to the harbor is well strewn with
| observation mines. which would certainly
| result in the sinking Of one or more of our
| ships IL we attempted to enter the harbor.
| and by the sinking Of a ship the object of
| the attempt to enter the harbor would be
| defeated by the preventing of further
| progress on our part
"It was my hope that an attack on
you- part on these shore batteries. from
the rear. would leave Us at liberty to
! drag the channel for torpedoes.
| "'If it is your earnest desire that we
| should force the entrance. | will at once
| prepare to undertake it. l think. however,
| that our position and yours would be made
| more difficult if, as Is possible, we fail in
our attempt -..
| forty countermining mines. which | will
and if we can succeed in freeing the en-
trance of mines by their use. will enter
the harbor.
..eThis work, which is unfamiliar to us,
will REQUIRE considerable time. II is not so
much the loss of men as 1t is the loss of
lara rod