Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-01-28
GEN. LUDLOW TURNS ON MILES
lntimates Very Strongly That His Testi-
monY Concerning the Cuban Expedition
Was Untrue.

lntimates Very strongly That His TestI-
mony Concerning the Cuban Expedition
Was Untrue.
Washington, D. c., January 81
There were no witnesses before the
war investigating commission to-day,
but the commission received and gave
out an affidavit from Gen. Ludlow, now
military governor of. Havana, which
the General had forwarded in lieu of
personally appearing in Washington.
The typewriter statement was prin-
cipally in answer to the statements of
Gen. Miles before the commission in
reference to the lack Of preparation
made by the engineer corps, of which
Gen. Ludlow had been the chief officer
in the field. Gen. Ludlow, in his state
ment, disclaimed all intention of dis
respect toward Gen. Miles before cate
gorically contradicting the latter's
testimony as reported in the papers.
He writes:
II had the honor at the time to be
attached to Gen. Miles staff as chief
engineer of the armies in the field, and
such orders as I received were given
by him.
I'm the newspaper statement it is
represented that l had been ordered by
Gen. Miles to supply myself with every
thing necessary for the Decentralization
of the troops in Cuba; that 1 failed to
comply with these instructions and
that practically 1 had done no more
than furnish a number of small pom
toon boats that would be entirely use
less for the purpose, although l been
sent to various places for the purpose
Of collecting proper equipment. l beg
leave to make the following statement
Of the actual facts OF the case, and of
my responsibilities and duties for the
information Of the commission to
which I propose to append my afi-
dayit as to their correctness as has
been with exception the custom
with statements made to the commits
sion"
Gen. Ludlow then explained that his
first orders were to prepare an ex-
petition to land at Mariel, on the
North Cuban coast, to operate against
Havana.
Only from 5000 to 1000 men were
to be landed in a sheltered harbor, and
he provided the pontoon boats as a
landing pier in smooth water. The
transport Alamo was equipped for
two companies of engineers and
a%bundantly supplied with the neces-
sary tools, picks, shovels, etc. When
the plan of campaign was suddenly
changed to the south coast, the Alamo
had been loaded for another expedi-
ton and was out of reach, and the
problems to be faced In the unshelter-
ed roadstead at Siboney were radi-
cally different from those at Mariel.
Concerning Gen. Miles instruc-
tions, Gen. Ludlow then goes on to
say:
Il was merely ordered in writing to
proceed to Tampa, accompany Gen.
Skaters expedition and render him
all the aid in my power. This was
the only formal order l had from Gen.
Miles, or from any one else"
Gen. Ludlow explained that on ar
irving at Tampa he found Gen. Shafter
had turned over the whole matter Of
transportation and decentralization to
Col. Humphreys, of the quartermas-
ter's department, and Gen. Ludlow
thereupon confined himself to study
ing the problems of defense and roads
around Santiago.
There were orders and countermand-
ing of orders at Tampa, Gen. Ludlow
explained, and he did not know till
'just prior to the sailing of the Shat
ter expedition" whether he was to go
with it OF to Porto Rico. At the last
moment he received a formal letter
from Gen. Miles announcing that he
LudloW) was charged with h full
responsibility of the Shafter expedi-
tons transportation and disembarka-
ton; that he was unrestricted in his
orders and expenditures" and would
be held to account for the success or
failure of the expedition in these re-
spects. Gen. Ludlow thereupon form
ally disclaimed this full measure of
responsibility, expressing his opinion,
however, that the preparations were
adequate.
In conclusion, Gen. Ludlow requested
that the commission should give his
statement as much publicity as the
statement of Gen. Miles.
TIMER SITSPTCIOTTS r.