The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-01-28
At Gen. Miles Putting Responsibility
for Errors on Him.
HEACTED ON GEN. MILES ORDERS
Which Were Simply to Go to Tampa
and Render General Shaiter What
Aid He COuId-Tells OF Con
troversy He had with the
General in Washington
over His Comm, nts.

w ActiiNt AO4N, JANUARY @t.- new
were no witnesses before the War Inves-
tgatng Commission to-day. but the COM
mission received and gave out an am
davit from General Ludlow. now Military
Governor OF Havana, which the General
had forwarded In lieu OF personally ap-
pearing in Washington.
The typewriter statement was prin-
! cipally IN answer TO the statement OF
| General Miles before the commits SION
referring 10 the lack OF preparation mads
| by tho engineer corps, Of which General
| Ludlow had been the chief In the neid.
! General Ludlow IN his statement ds-
| claimed an intention OF ilsrespect t0wsrd
! General Miles before cttegorlcally con-
tradicting his statement
General Ludlow explains that press OF
work I'm Havana had prevented his earlier
attention to the matter, and then con-
| tinued
Having only newspaper clippings,
| which We're sent 10 me by friends, / AKA
without authentic Information as 10 what
| General Miles really stated 10 the COM
mission. and my time I'm Havana has
| been SO engrossed that no opportunity
! has been afforded 10 draft this state
ment until now. II these clippings indi-
cate correctly the nature OF General
! Miles statements and OF the responsi-
bilty which is therein made to attach
10 me for any shortcomings thar may 10
supposed % have existed I'm connection
with the embarkatiOn and decentralization
Of the Santiago expedition. l beg leave
/ disclaiming an intention of disrespeci'
| To express surprise at tho statements
made
MILES GAVE THE ORDERS.
Il had the honor az the time To be AZ
! tachcd TO General Miles stan as chiet
e,fgiaeer of the armies In the heid, ana
such orders as 1 received We're gwen m'
/ By him.
..Tn tne newspaper statements. IL is rep
| resented that had been ordered by
| General Miles 10 supply myself wlih
| everything necessary for the disembarkh-
ton OF the troops I'm Cuba that | failed
| 70 comply with these instructions anu
| that practically / had done no more IMAM
/ furnished a number OF small pontoon
/ boats that would be entirely useless for
the purpose. although I had been sent
10 various places for the purpose OF col
! iecting a proper equipment. l beg leave
/ 90 make the following statement OF the
! actual facts of the case and OF my re
| sponsibiitv and duties for the affidavit
as 10 their correctness. AZ had been win
! one exception. the custom with state
| ments made 20 the commission.
General Ludlow then explained that
| his first orders were % prepare an eN-
pedition 10 land al Mariel, on the north
| Cuban coast 10 operate against Havana.
| only from six thousand To seven thous-
and men were 10 be landed In a sheltered
barbor and he provided the pontoon boats
for use as "a landing pier In smoo'h
water. The transport Alamo was equip
ned for two companies OF engineers ana
abundantly supplied with the necessary
tools. picks. shovels, etc. When the plan
| o. campaign was suddenly changed %
the south coast. the Alamo had been load
cd for another expedition and was oui oi
| reach, and the problems 90 Do faced in
the unsheltcred roadsted az sibonev were
radically different from those az Marlei
Concerning General Niles Instructions
General Ludlow then goes on TO say:
TO AID SHAFTER.
"I was merely ordered In writing 10
proceed 10 Tampa. accompany General
Skaters expedition and render him an
the aid In my power
This was the only formal order : had
from General Miles or from any one else.
Gereral Ludlow explained that on ar
! rival az Tampa he had found General
| Shatter turned over the whole matter of
| transportation AMI Decentralization 10 Col
onel Hun rhreys. Of the Quartermaster
! Department, and General Ludlow there
upon confined himself 10 studying the
problems OF the harbors and roads around
Santiago. lie did. however buy TWO
| large deck 3cows at Tampa, one of which
| was lost en- route and the other OF whlcn
i did invaluable service az Siboney.
lie also tried 20 get steam launches to
aid in the landing. but Il was impossible.
as he figured that with the assistance
OF the nayy's boats. all the force could
be landed in one day.
LETTER FROM NILES
There were orders and counterinanding
Of orders at Tampa, General Ludlow ex-
planned. and he did not know until Just
prior 10 tho sailing u the Shafter expe-
| diton.' whether he was TO 90 with Il or
70 Porto Rico. Al the last moment he
received "a formal letter from General
| Miles announcing that he dudi'w) was
charged with the full responsibility OF
the Shafter expeditions transportation
and Decentralization; that he was "un-
restricted IN his orders and expendi-
lures" and would be held TO account
for the success or failure OF the eNpedi-
/ tiOn in these respects
General Ludlow thereupon formally DIS
/ 6'aimed the fun measure OF RESPONSE
| bity expressing his opinion, however.
| that the preparations were adequate.
General Ludlow Incorporates IN MS
| statement report Of rather warm
/ controversy he had with General Miles
! at army headquarters IN Washington
after his return from Moniauk IN which
/ Genrai Miles had said nat General Luz
lows lighting at Santiago was good
/ but his engineering was very bad
General Ludlow said that he refutet
this statement at the time. pointing out
that he had done all the engineering
work thar the time and circumstances
permit,ed. but that the Santiago expedi-
/ ,ion wss not an engineering expedition
I hui a race between the army and the ma
! larta, that n the army had stopped 20
build railroads am bridges Il would have
/ b,en on It's back before the surrender
iissead OF after.
In conclusion General inio" requestsa
,ho, ,be cou,noiss!on should give HIS
,at.,,,e,,s as much public.ty as the state