New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-03-17

I uand of naval forces or the province VI $40
de Cuba. All know OF the gallant "ork oo''
by our troops that day. and the espeolai e"''a''
shovn nv a raw organization like the Rough
Riders in this their baptism OF ire put recN-
less claims like these do not enhance the glory
Of the troops In commenting upon TINS ski'"''s"
Of las Guasimas the General says: Tine mo-
mont General Iawton and the commander oi
bis leading brigade General Chaffee. heard the
noise Of my engagement. they promptly struck
camp and marched to the frort; pu'' as '"e
enemy broke and was I'm full retreat III niue
more than an hour. they did not reach me "'''''
some time after the action was over i"S &c
~ cororare airy wav OF disposing OF the real
facts y, the case which are: Early in the morning
news came TO General Lawton mat the caVa'iS
had marched out and he Immediately sent ioi
General Chaffee and ordered him to march up
10 Sevla as he 04awton) had not the ia'''e''
idea how many Spaniards there were thcre' anu
he knew that Wheeler must be equally ieho'e'''
lie had been warned the day previous that zen
eral Wheeler was going TO make an attack. nus
he declined TO believe. Nevertheless ne rieo u
send word to General shafter. but failed to Sc
cure a boat 10 communicate with the transports
So. TO guard against possible contingencies he
.ort forward his crack brigade. The results OF
the dav justified this action. for. shortly after
tho beginning Of the fight hurried appear TOT
endorsements arrived from General Wheeler'
stating that he was engaged with much larger
forco or the enemy than he had anticipated
I'non recent Of this General Lawton forwarded
Inv another trail two regiments OF the Second
Brigade (the 4th and 25th Infantry under COM
mand Of Colonel Miles Neither OF these TWO
brgades however got into action for the span
iards saw the columns coming up the valley
and making up their minds not to be outiianKeu'
retreated into the city, carrying with them 'he
report that they had been engaged with the
entire American Army. Now. why does not
General Wheeler mention this call for reinforce
ments?
There is ample evidence that sharp words
passed between General Lawton and Generai
Wheeler Immediately after the skirmsh' al
though Lawton congratulated the individual ofii'
GERS warmly for their gallantry but his SOL
dicrly spirit was shocked at the recklessness OF
the attack against enemy whose numbers
were absolutely unknown. Had the force which
General Wheeler so lightly claimed was present
to wit thirty-fve hundred men-reay been
there. it is the opinion of every Regular Army
officer who knows anything about the ground
that our whole Army would have failed TO dis
lodge them and we should have received at the
very outset the second day after landing, a set
back that would have proved simply disastrous
in it's effects.
on Page AZ General Wheeler disposes Of the
battle Of El Caney-n which the Second Division
and Bates's Provisional Division were engaged
in three or four lines. and then devotes himself
through many pages to the battle Of San juan
He publishes the official reports of himself. Cen
eral Young. General Kent and Colonies Wood
and Roosevelt. He does not publish the report
Of the General commanding the Second Division.
Why is this? And yet Lieutenant Tejeiro says:
The Americans referring to the Second D-
yisionl il must be acknowledged. fought that
day with truly admirable courage and spirit.
The houses of FL Caney. which General Nara
del Rey. with his go men. converted into as
many fortresses. threw forth hail Of project
lies upon the enemy, while one company after
another without any protection, rushed with
vertabe fury upon the city. The first company
| having been decimated. another appeared and
| then a third. and still another. and those SOL
| diers resembed moving statues Gf / may be
| permitted that expression for want OF better)
rather than men, but thev met heroes. and al
| though the houses had been ridded with bullets
! by the artillery and muSkets. and although the
streets were INSTRUCTED by dead and wounded.
| FL Caney had been converted into a vertable
| volcano vomiting forth lava and making II inn
! possible TO so near H. OF the 90 de-
! tenders Of FL Caney only eighty returned most
| Of them crippled and bruised. The Americans
| acknowledged that they had nine hundred cas-
| ualties
And again he says: with the loss Of FL
! Ganey. lost the line which it had been so
imperative for us to keep and also the aque-
duct and the region under cultvaton-that is,
provisions and water We had to confne our
selves TO the defence Of the precinct knowing
full we'll that though the sad end might be held
of for a day or two longer. there was no posi-
bity OF avoiding it,"
General Wheeler takes great care q pOint ont
that there were only 800 Regulars at FL Caney.
This is quite true. Add to these 900 guerllas
and sharpshooters. and have a total Of 30
men who held the little town all day long
against division Of picked troops. But the au-
thor Of this book. with complete disregard for
the man whose division did SO much in this cam
paign. quite omits to state how many men held
the hill at San Juan. In his account Of the bat
tie Of San Juan Hill the General makes the mis-
take Of confounding Kettle HILL which was
taken by the Rough Riders and which stood so-
lated on the hither side Of San Juan Hill and
the ridge OF San Juan with the hill captured by
Kents division-the real San Juan Hill
But now we come to graver things. in speak
ing of the famous meeting whereat the PROPOSE
ton to retreat was discussed General Wheeler
takes to himself the entire credit for the fact
that the proposition fell through. The inside rec
ords however tell widely different story. As
matter Of fact, General Wheeler did write on
July ]. at $40 p. M. "A number OF officers have
appealed 10 me TO have the line withdrawn and
take up strong position further back. and l
expect they will appeal 10 you. have positively
discountenanced this. as it would cost much
prestige" but this was about the only active
part he took in the matter. Army men declare
that General Wheeler favored a retreat the
ID and only changed his views when he found
himself in the minority at the meeting. There
is evidence that after the conference was
over he did not go to the front but went back
10 General Skaters headquarters. his own
camp having been moved to the under an
order issued by him before the meeting. He finds