Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1899-02-16

i :
/, been laid before us, show that the secre-
reaus cordial and ful1support, and prompt
upon him by comma nding othcers. No
tsntiona neglect Of duty nor any ya attem mt
to serve personal interests. The charges
aEy iaretsd in Contracts IT. aar wns Rsse
and other transactions Of the war depart
ment, have been thoroughly examined and
: II {uaEms hht ef the commission
tration Of the war department during the
continuance OF: the war with Spain that
complete grasp ofsthe situation which was
essential to the highest efficiency and dis
d
4headA ofxbureaus. for not having acted with
! foresight in preparing their various de-
actually declared, because it has appeared
\ that the national defense fund provided
by the act of March 9, 1898, was not made
| for coast defenses and the expenditures Ing
eident thereto until after the declaration
with reference rs the adjutant generals
| department, the report says: There have
lbeensvery few complaints against this de-
|
/ show that t7has been prompt in its work
and has added greatly. to the efficiency Of
THE commiss Jon find that the inspector
as. it ought Is havs been The organizas
ton in the field was ample, and the in
Inspectors made reports to the commanding
officers to whom they had been assigned:
l~Those reports were often not acted upon
and were not forwarded to the war de-
r. 50 Is Wig Not Pre.narad IN. VIZ,
TT viii be observed that the declaration
| Of war threw upon the quarterma ster' s
R;sS Of aRer and
physically nor financially prepared. The
department has reported that on April l,
sary clothing pnd e9vpag Suppes
three months for the army as then organ
lied. It appears that within few weeks
and equipping an army OF more than 90C00
men. So soon as funds were available, so
| soon as war was inevitable, so soon as law
ment undertook this en reaS Fiat
the ,qnartermaster general threw the en-
Van atG hs aRd b
his officers labored faithfully, in their eff
| carefully studied their work.
Some of the Complaints.
Tin spite of every effort there were occa-
| slons where troops suffered from poor tent
age or lack of tentage and absence of straw
Tor bedding, where clothing was scarce
| ana troops suffered discomfort for lack of
shoes, shirts and other articles of apparel.
At Santiago the deficiency at the front APP
pears to have been caused rather from lack
| lack OF clothing and tentage, a supply of
which was on the transports. Great COM
plant was made of lack of transportati ion
Faculties at the camp at Montauk Point,
| N. 7. Many complaints were made in ref
/ erence to unnecessary delays and lack of
promptness on the part of the quartermas-
n
in the careEof the. sick ana conva1escents
returning home either with their regiments
or alone. Great complaint was made of the
| railroad congestion at Tampa and the alb
| solute lack of ability to bring order out of
/ cna9s ?atHthatiplace during the early part
Of the period of it's occupancy by troops;
that supplies for 10000 men for 80 days were
ordered there, and the confusion on the
a rnna4 wi when he reached Tampa was very
great, 1000 cars being Sidetracked, some of
them as far back as Columbia, S. C.
Lack of Executive Ability.
1t is stated that in the hurry and rush
attending the commencement of this work
| the contents of cars were unknown at
1 Tampa; that bills Of lading were not for
\ Warded,s and that it seemed Impossible for a
time to.determine where absolutely neces-
sary articles were located Col. Bird, of the
quartermaster's department, testifies that
this was corrected later on, when the con-
em s 9sa9y
ed The condition Of the railroad conges-
f TO during the early portion of the time
paralleled, showing an almost inexcusable
| lack of executive ability ON the part of
those charged with the loading, unloading
Gen. Humphrey testify ' that there re were tr
! very poor facilities for transferring troops
and supplies arriving at Tampa via the
tenn, leading direct to Port Tampa. Order
was finally brought out of chaos, the cars
unloaded, the congestion overcome and a
vast amount of supplies of every character
delivered at this immense encampment.
! Water Transportation.
| With reference to the vessels used to
| transport troops to Cuba, the report says
lit was. shown by. evidence that their ca
pacity had been largely overrated and it
was impossible to carry upon them, with
out gre at discomfort a. and nd danger, more
than 1nstead OF men, with their a,h
| sistence, medical supplies and 1926 animals
| for voyage of 1000 miles.
to have been able to more thoroughly
have been more certain of their CARRYING
for transporting $4,000 men, with the re-
quired lighters for their Decentralization,
! should have been promptly furnished, even
seizure Of every steamer on the Atlantic
and Gulf coasts sailing under the. American
flag, ,Gs e -, :" NJ stia3.-a:
=. + :. Land TRANSPORTATION. ,s
lowing to the lack Of necessary trans
ports the means of land transportation dur
| ing the Santiago campaign was painfully
deficient. The tegttmanY shows that the
Cuba near Santiago -on June a.; that the
pack trains were landed on June "a; that;
the frstF wagons were landedso June Is,
aaeay eond
set up on: shore and that In fact some
of thoseat that: were landed were never set
up at all: Gen. Chaffee testifies that on
July l., at, the battle of Ell Caney, ten days
after the arrival of 1.-The, fleet there were.
no ambulances or wagons available and
that thss roads were so horrible that they
could not reach the front. Il =.
ct is plainly evident that this army of
Il, 900 men .disembarked in the face of an
enemy in hostile country, and rapidly
thrown forward against a well-armed
force, was painfully deficient in land trans
portation, 5but in spite of the absence of this