The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-03-24
Makes a Statement as to Part Taken by the
Cavalry 10 the Santiago Campaign.
REFUTES CERTAIN REFLECTIONS
Which Have Been Made Upon Himself and His Cavalry Division..He
Shows the Falsity of the Charge That He Disobeyed Orders.
He Tells Who Won the Battle OF Siboney-He Refutes
Other Statements and Verifes His Position by
Letters and Communications From Shafter
and Many Other Officers

/ entirely n quotes the Spanish re-
ports to show that the ~Spaniards be-
lieved the American force which whip
ped them and drove them from the
field, was ten times as large as it ac-
tually was.
He refers TO a statement by Bonsal
that Lawton had declared that every
man who has fallen in the Guasimas
fight has been needlessly sacrificed, and
he says: 1T is my duty to say that this
statement is absolutely untrue" He
tells how General LaWton, after the
fight, congratulated him (Wheeler)
and points out how unsoldierly it would.
have been for Lawton to have criti-
cised his senior officer in that fashion.
He a the statement that the Quasi
mas fight had the effect of drawing
the troops five or six miles into the
Interior, was also a mistake. The ad-
vance was only three miles and would
have been necessary in any case to
find proper camping ground. In this
connection he again quotes Shafter in
an order 70 him to advance LawtOn'S
! division, made a it would have
been impossible to have camped the
entire army within three miles of the
coast of SibOney.
Touching General Miles statement
before the war commission where that
, officer said that Lawton had told him
that there was a scheme on foot to
leave him Lawton) in the Iurch, and
have a fight, Genera Wheeler points
out that General Miles was careful to
say that he only repeated what Law
! ton told him.
Taking UP the charge that Wheeler
had been relieved of command on the
! night of the Goth and had no command
during the battle on the following day,
General Wheeler say all these state
! ments are absolutely false.
Thnra11nnn he ohnu-1 hn xxro1 q cCionnI
to his command on June oath n tells
what he did day by day in the exercise
of that command. He says on the 2Sth
29th, and Both he suffered from fever,
} resulting from the exposure, but,
| nevertheless, continued his duties and
was not put upon the sick report. He
| admits he was ignorant of the confer
ences held by Shafter and his generals
on the Goth, but Shafter explained this
by saying he understood Wheeler was
sick and his physician had advised
against letting him know of the pro-
posed battle next day. Notwithstand-
ing this, Wheeler says he learned that
active preparations were being made
and he rode to the front and exercised
command. He tells of the various or
derS he gave to Sumner and he reports
to Shafter of what he was doing, which
supports his contention. He tells OF
the weakness of the line at San Juan
and says that many officers insisted
that the ridge could not be held, and
he learned the same statements had
been made to Shafter. Says Wheeler:
Il did everything in my power to dis
courage this feeling and told those who
came to me that the enemy had fled
from us at La GuasimiaS and that we
had driven them from their fortifca-
tons on San uan ridge; that they
would expect us to take Santiago the
next day: tina there was no possible
Sc 49, no yio~ on n ttonL mo
us that night and that if they did We
could hold the ridge. The fighting was
more or less severe during the day, bu,
by night we were we'll intrenched, and
l regarded our position as 1mpregna-
BILE"
General Wheeler says the statement
that he had told General Kent of his
desire to retreat was absolutely untrue
adding Il was emphatic and positive
and earnest against retreating from the
time we took a Juan hill until July
18th when Santiago surrendered
He attached General kents denial OF
this same statement, along with con
siderable other evidence of the sam
character. He says the publicity o1
the errors he seeks to correct ha:
brought to him many offers r
many officers, familiar with the facts
to write on the subject in REPUTATION
and he adds in the shape Of an appen
dix to his own report a number of let
ters from such officers. He quotes
General Lawton in a letter to himsel
as ~pronouncing his (Wheeler's) histor!
of the campaign: "A very just and &C
curate description of what occurred,
and he quotes Governor Roosevelt a
follows: Il have read Donsal's bool
and it makes me extremely indignant
) He seems to nave selected o as a
: especial object of attack. Of tn
{ Guasimas fight he knows absolutel,
nothing"
t Webster's Weekly: We learn that