The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-28
Another Army Officer ResentS At
tack From Miles.
CRITICISM WAS UNJUST
ENGINEERS PART IN THE
SCATTER CAMPAIGN.
General Miles Himself Was Resron-
sible For All the Orders That
Were Issued to Ludlow-Found
That Shafter Had Appointed
Humphreys-Warm Controversy.

-A
Washington, Jan. 27.-There were no
witnesses before the war investigating
commission today, but the commission
received and gave out an affidavit from
General Ludlow, now military governor
of Havana, which the general had for
warded in lieu of personally appearing
in Washington. The typewriter affi-
davit was principally in answer to the
statements of General Miles before the
commission in reference to the lack of
preparation made by the engineer
corps, of which he General Ludlow
had been the chief officer in the field.
General Ludlow says:
IF newspaper clippings sent to me by
friends indicate correctly the nature of
General Miles statements, and of the
responsibility which is therein made to
attach to me for any shortcomings that
may be supposed to have existed in
connection with the embarkation and
Decentralization of the Santiago eXpedi-
ton, 1 beg leave, disclaiming all inten-
ton of disrespect, to express surprise
at the statements made.
Il had the honor at the time to be
engineer Of the armies in the field, and
such orders as L received were given by
him.
In the newspaper statements it is
represented that L had been ordered by
General Miles to supply myself with
everything necessary for the diSem-
barkation of the troops in Cuba; that
failed to comply with these instruc-
tionS, and that practically l had done
no more than furnish a number of
small pontoon boats, that would be en-
tirely useless for the purpose, although
1 had been sent to various places for
the purpose of collecting proper
equipment. 1 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 l propose to ap-
pend my affidavit as to their correct
ness, as has been, without exception,
the custom with statements made to
the commission"
FIRST ORDERS.
General Ludlow then explains 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 har-
DOI anu THESE piONiOeQ WIFI lIlG pom
toOn boats for use as a landing pier
in smooth water The transport Alamo
was equipped for two companies of
engineers and abundantly supplied
with the necessary tools, picks, shOvels,
etc. When the plan of campaign was
suddenly changed to the south coast
the Alamo had been loaded for an
other expedition, and was out of reach,
and the problems TO be faced in the
radically different from those at
Mariel.
Concerning General Miles, instruc-
tons, General Ludlow then goes on to
say:
I was merely ordered in writing to
proceed to Tampa and accompany
General Skaters expedition, and
render him all the aid in my power.
This was the only formal order l had
from General Miles or from any one
else
General Ludlow explained that on
arriving at Tampa he found General
Shafter had turned over the whole
matter of transportation and disem-
barkatiOn to Colonel Humphreys, of
the quartermaster'S department. and
General Ludlow thereupon confined
himself to studying the problems of
defense and roads around Santiago. he
scows at Tampa. one of which was
lost en- route and the other did invalu-
able service at SibOney He also tried
TO get steam launches to aid in the
landing, but it was impossible and he
figured that with the assistance of the
navy's boats all the force could be
landed in one day.
CONFUSION AT TAMPA.
There were orders and ccuntermand-
ing orders at Tampa, General Ludlow
explained, and he cid not know till just
prior to the sailing of the Shafter ex-
petition whether he was to go with or
to Puerto Rico. At the last moment he
received a formal letter from General
Miles, announcing that he (LudlOW)
was charged with the full responsi bill
ity of the Shafter expeditions trans
portatiOn and Decentralization; 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 respects. Gen
eral Ludlow thereupCn formally dis
claimed this full measure Of RESPONSE
bility, expressing his opinion, however,
that the preparations were adequate.
General Ludlow incorporates in his
statement a report OF 4 rather warm
controversy he had with General Miles
at the army headquarters in Washing
ton after the return from Montauk, n
which General Miles had said that Gen
eral Ludiow's fighting at Santiago
was good, but his engineering was very
bad"
General Ludlow said that he refuted
this statement at the time, pointing out
that he had done all the engineering
work that the time and circumstances
permitted; that the Santiago expedition
was not an engineering campaign, bat
race between the physical endurance
of the army and the Cuban malaria
and that if the army had stopped to
build railroads and bridges it would
have been on its back before the sur
Ing fand Of of