Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-11-28

that Sampson laid were to gather his
ships about the entrance and watt
Yes, he did lay one plan of his own.
He tried to bottle up Cervera's vessels
in Santiago harbor by sinking the cost
ly Merrimac in the channel at the en-
trance. (Schley, it will be recalled,
wanted to go into the. harbor after
them.) Had SIMPSONS brilliant plan
succeeded the naval battle of Santiago
would never have been fought and our
troops on land would have suffered
fearful loss from the guns of the Span
ish fleet in the harbor when Shafter at
tackled Santiago. So much for Samp-
sons plans" Luckily. the only one
he formed miscarried.
This recalls the fact that Sampson
showed equal brilliancy in his previous
''plan" of attack on the fort at San
Juan de Porto Rico. In that engage
ment Sampson clearly showed that he
did not possess the stuff that Is found
in the makeup of either Dewey or
Schley. He had an infinitely better OPP
portunity to silence that fort than
Dewey had to silence those at Cavite
and Manila, for he had no Spanish
squadron to do battle with beforehand
in the harbor But it will be remem-
bered that after wasting tons OF am
munition on the forts at safe distance
he ordered his captains to cease firing
and sailed away. One of these cap
tains, who had sailed in and was en-
gaging the fort at close quarters, max
ing it particularly hot for the Span
iards, was SO disguised with SIMPSONS
order to quit that he pretended not to
see it and kept on battering the Span
iards with shot and shell until he had
to be signalled a second time. Then
the American squadron under MY
command sailed bravely away, leav-
ing the Spaniards convinced they had
won great preliminary victory, and
Madrid was Immediately so Informed.
This was the only engagement that
Sampson took part in during the entire
war; His patrons at Washington
showed him the grossest favoritism,
sidetracking Dewey aad raising Samp-
son unjustly over the heads of several
captains who outranked him and over
the head of Commodore Schley, in or
der to give him chance to show what
was in him, but the fact remains that
Dewey did all the naval fighting on
one side of the world and Schley did 1t
on this side, while Sampson did moth
ing, throwing away at Porto Rico the
one opportunity he had of doing some
thing.
What Sampson might have done had
he been present at the time Cervera
emerged, instead of being away on a
trivial accommodating expedition down
the coast, on which he could have sent
a smaller ship than the New York, there
is, of course, no means of knowing
Doubtless the New York would have
conducted herself gallantly-she had
gallant captain and gallant crew full
of fight. But the fact remains that
Sampson was not there and Schley was
and that Schley whipped Cervera. The
efforts of the Sampson claquers to de-
prive Schley of his hard-won laurels
by persistent falsehood and villification
of that brave officer, will not deceive
the American people, who are thorough
ly posted as to all the facts in the case
1t will only serve to emphasize the I'M
worthiness, selfishness and short-com-
ings of Sampson and cause popular re-
sentiment at the administration clique
who have thus meanly and under-hand-
eddy tried to ruin every prominent Of
ficer in both army and navy who played
prominent parts in the war, with the
single exception of the unworthy Samp-
son. Thus the mud that is thrown at
Schley sticks where it belongs and
whence it comes-in Washington.