Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-01-28
MILES SCONTRAD|CTED,
This Time However, in Par
Eanentary Language
GENERAL LUDLOW'S Defence.
Chief Engineer of the Santiago EX-
peditiOn Explains.
THE CONFUSION AT TAMPA
order tn Take Full Charge of Pre-
paratiOns Came Too Late-M
General at Army headquarters.

WASHINGTON. January 27-There
were no witnesses before the War-In-
vestigating Commission to-day. but the
commission received and gave out an am
davit from General Ludlow. now Military
Governor Of Habana, which the General
had forwarded i'm lieu of personally APP
pearng in Washington.
The typewriter statement was prin-
cipally in answer to the statements of
General Miles's before the commission
referring to the lack of preparation made
by the engineer corps, Of which General
Ludlow had been the chief officer in the
field.
General Ludlow i'm his statement dis
claimed all intention of disrespect to-
ward General Miles before catagorically
contradicting his statements.
General Ludlow explained that press OF
worl, in Habaua had prevented his carrier
attention 10 the matter, and then con-
tnued:
SURPRISED AT MILES.
Having only newspaper clippings,
which were sent to me by friends, ! am
without authentic information as TO what
General Miles really stated to the com
mission and my time in Habona has been
so engrOssed that no opportunity has
been afforded TO draft this statement until
now. n these clippings indicate correctly
the nature Of General Miles's statements
and of the responsibility which is therein
made 10 attach 10 me for any shortcom-
ines that may be supposed To have eN-
listed I'm connection with the embarkation
and decentralization of the Santiago eN-
pcdition. / beg leave. disclaiming all m
tentlon OF disrespect TO express surprise
at the statements made.
'T had the honor an the time 20 be at
tached 20 General Aliles's stan as chleI
engineer of the armies I'm the field. ana
such orders as / received were given me
by him.
MILES'S CHARGES.
"In the newspaper statements it IS rep
resented that / had been ordered by Gen
eral Miles to supply myself with every
thing necessary for the Decentralization
Of the troops I'm Cuba; that l failed TO
conulv with these instructions. and that
practically / had done no more than lur'
uieh a number of small pontOon boats,
that would be entirely useless for the
purpose. although I had been sent to va
rious places for the purpose Of collecting
a proper equipment.
Il beg leave To- make the following
statement of the actual facts OF the
case. and of my responsibility and duties
! for the information Of the commission
to which / propose TO append my affidavit
9s to their correctness. as has been. with
one exception. the custom with state
ments made to the commission
CONTRADICTORY ORDERS.
General Ludlow then explained that his
| first orders were 10 prepare am eNpedi-
| u0n 10 land at Mariel. on the north Gu
| ban coast 90 operate against Habana.
! only from 6.oVj 90 1000 men were TO be
landed I'm a sheltered harbOr. and he pro.
! yidcd the pontoon boats for use as land
ng pier I'm smooth water The transport
! Alamo was equipped for two companies
of engineers and abundantiy 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 another eX-
pedition and was out of reach, and the
| problems 10 be- faced i'm the unsheltered
| roadstead' az Siboney were radically diff
| ferent from those pt Nariel.
| Concerning General Miles's instructions,
| General Ludlow then goes on TO say:
! "I was merely ordered i'm writing 20
| proceed TO Tampa, accompany General
| Shafter's expedition. and render him an
"This was the only formal order J had
from General Miles or from any one
else"
CONFUSION At TAMPA.
General Ludlow explains that on arrival
| at Tampa he found that General Shafter
had turned over the whole matter Of
TRANSFORMATION and Decentralization to
| Colonel Humphreys Of the Quartermas-
tr's Department and General Ludlow
thereupon confined himself 10 studying
| The problems OF the harbors and roads
| around Santiago. lie ala. however, buy
| TWO large deck-scows at Tampa one Of
| which was lost an route and the other
cf which did invaluable service at Sibo-
ney. lie also tried 10 get steam-launches
10 ala in the landing. but il was impossi-
bile. as he figured that with the assist
| ance Of the nayy's boats all the force
| could be- landed I'm one day.
! There We're orders und cOuntermanding
! of orders AT Tampa, General Ludlow eX-
| plains and he did not know until "just
! prior 70 the sailing Of the Shafter eXpe-
| diuon' whether he was 10 go with 10 OF
10 Porto Rico. At the last moment. he
received a formal letter from General
Miles. announcing that he ludlow was
charged with the full responsibility OF
the Shafter expeditions transportation
and Decentralization. that he was "un-
restricted I'M his orders and expenditures '
and would be held 10 account for the
success or failure Of the expedition in
these respects.
General Ludlow thereupOn formally
disclaimed this full measure Of response
bnity. expressing his opinion. however
that the preparations We're adequate.
CONTROVERSY WITH MILES
General Ludlow incorporates In hi'
statement a report Of q rather warm con
troversy he had with General Miles al
army headquarters in Washington. after
his return from Montauk. in which Gene
raj Miles had said that General Ludlow's
lighting az Santiago was good. but his en-
gineering was very bad"
General Ludlow says that he refuted
this statement az the time. pointing out
that he had done all the engineering
work that the time and circumstance
permitted: that the Santiago expedition
was not an engineering expedition. bur d
race between the army and the malaria
and that II the army had stopped 10 builC
railroads and bridges IL would have beer
on its back before the surrender instead
Of after il.
IN conclusion. General Ludlow requests
80 s.rflf rrfts. I..r ..