[3] The distance from Hampton Roads to Key West is increased, owing to
the adverse current of the Gulf Stream through much of the route.
V
THE GUARD SET OVER CERVERA.--INFLUENCE OF INADEQUATE
NUMBERS UPON THE CONDUCT OF NAVAL AND MILITARY
OPERATIONS.--CÁMARA'S RUSH THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN,
AND CONSEQUENT MEASURES TAKEN BY THE UNITED STATES.
The result of the various movements so far narrated was to leave the
Flying Squadron May 22nd, off Cienfuegos, and Admiral Sampson's
division off Havana, on the 21st. The latter was seriously diminished
in mobile combatant force by the removal of the _Iowa_, detached to
the south of the island to join the ships under Schley. It was
confidently expected that there, rather than at any northern port,
the enemy would make his first appearance; and for that reason the
Flying Squadron was strengthened by, and that off Havana deprived of,
a vessel whose qualities would tell heavily in conflict with an active
antagonist, such as a body of armored cruisers ought to be. Only by
great good fortune could it be expected that the monitors, upon which
Sampson for the moment had largely to depend, could impose an
engagement upon Cervera's division if the latter sought to enter
Havana by a dash. By taking from the Admiral his most powerful vessel,
he was exposed to the mortification of seeing the enemy slip by and
show his heels to our sluggish, low-freeboard, turreted vessels; but
the solution was the best that could be reached under the conditions.
It was not till the 28th of the month that the junction of the
_Oregon_ put our division before Havana on terms approaching equality
as regards quickness of movement.
On the 19th of May the Department received probable, but not certain,
information that the enemy's division had entered Santiago. This, as
is now known, had occurred on the early morning of the same day.
Singularly enough, less than twenty-four hours before, on the 18th,
the auxiliary steamer _St. Louis_, Captain Goodrich, lately one of the
American Transatlantic liners, had been close in with the mouth of
this port, which had hitherto lain outside our sphere of operations,
and had made a determined and successful attempt to cut the telegraph
cable leading from Santiago to Jamaica. In doing this, the _St.
Louis_, which, like her sister ships (except the _St. Paul_), had not
yet received an armament suitable to her size or duties, lay for
three-quarters of an hour under the fire of the enemy, at a distance
of little over a mile. Fortunately a six-inch rifled gun on the Socapa
battery, which was then being mounted, was not ready until the
following day; and the _St. Louis_ held her ground without injury
until a piece had been cut out of the cable. In this work she was
assisted by the tug _Wompatuck_, Lieutenant-Commander Jungen. The two
vessels then moved away to Guantanamo Bay, having been off Santiago
nearly forty-eight hours. It may certainly be charged as good luck to
Cervera that their departure before his arrival kept our Government
long in uncertainty as to the fact, which we needed to know in the
most positive manner before stripping the Havana blockade in order to
concentrate at Santiago. The writer remembers that the captain of the
_St. Louis_, having soon afterwards to come north for coal, found it
difficult to believe that he could have missed the Spanish vessels by
so little; and the more so because he had spent the 19th off
Guantanamo, less than fifty miles distant. By that time, however, our
information, though still less than eye-witness, was so far probable
as to preponderate over his doubts; but much perplexity would have
been spared us had the enemy been seen by this ship, whose great speed
would have brought immediate positive intelligence that all, and not
only a part, had entered the port. On this point we did not obtain
certainty until three weeks later.
In yet another respect luck, as it is commonly called, went against us
at this time. The _Wompatuck_ was sent by Captain Goodrich into the
mouth of the harbor at Guantanamo to attempt to grapple the cable
there. The tug and the _St. Louis_ were both forced to retire, not by
the weight of fire from the coast, but by a petty Spanish gunboat,
aided by "a small gun on shore." Could this fact have been
communicated to Commodore Schley when he decided to return to Key West
on the 26th, on account of the difficulty of coaling, he might have
seen the facility with which the place could be secured and utilized
for a coaling station, as it subsequently was by Admiral Sampson, and
that there thus was no necessity of starting back some seven hundred
miles to Key West, when he had with him four thousand tons of coal in
a collier. When the lower bay was occupied, on the 8th of June, our
attacking vessels were only the naval unprotected cruiser _Marblehead_
and the auxiliary cruiser _Yankee_, the former of which was with the
Flying Squadron during its passage from Cienfuegos to Santiago, and
throughout the subsequent proceedings up to Sampson's arrival off the
latter port. No resistance to them was made by the Spanish gunboat,
before which the vulnerable and inadequately armed _St. Louis_ and
_Wompatuck_ had very properly retired.
Although the information received of Cervera's entering Santiago was
not reliable enough to justify detaching Sampson's ships from before
Havana, it was probable to a degree that made it imperative to watch
the port in force at once. Telegrams were immediately sent out to
assemble the four auxiliary cruisers--_St. Paul_, _St. Louis_,
_Harvard_, and _Yale_--and the fast naval cruiser _Minneapolis_ before
the mouth of the harbor. The number of these ships shows the
importance attached to the duty. It was necessary to allow largely for
the chapter of accidents; for, to apply a pithy saying of the Chief of
the Naval Bureau of Equipment,--"the only way to have coal enough is
to have too much,"--the only way to assemble ships enough when things
grow critical, is to send more than barely enough. All those that
received their orders proceeded as rapidly as their conditions
allowed, but the Department could not get hold of the _St. Louis_.
This failure illustrates strongly the remark before made concerning
the importance of knowing just where cruisers are to be found; for of
all the five ships thus sought to be gathered, the _St. Louis_ was, at
the moment, the most important, through her experience of the
defenceless state of the harbor at Guantanamo, which she could have
communicated to Schley. The latter, when he arrived off Santiago on
the evening of the 26th, found the _Minneapolis_, the _St. Paul_, and
the _Yale_ on the ground. The _Harvard_ had already been there, but
had gone for the moment to St. Nicolas Mole, with despatches that the
Commodore had sent before him from Cienfuegos. She joined the squadron
again early next day, May 27th.
On the morning of the 25th, the _St. Paul_ had captured the British
steamer _Restormel_, with 2,400 tons of coal for the Spanish squadron.
This vessel had gone first to Puerto Rico, and from there had been
directed to Curaçao, where she arrived two days after Cervera had
departed. When taken she reported that two other colliers were in
Puerto Rico when she sailed thence. This would seem to indicate that
that port, and not Santiago, had been the original destination of the
enemy, for it would have been quite as easy for the colliers to go to
Santiago at once; probably safer, for we were not then thinking of
Santiago in comparison with San Juan. This conjecture is strengthened
by the fact that there were only 2,300 tons of Cardiff coal in
Santiago, a condition which shows both how little the Spanish
Government expected to use the port and how serious this capture at
this instant was to the enemy.
The intention of Commodore Schley to return to Key West precipitated
the movement of Admiral Sampson, with his two fastest ships, to
Santiago; but the step would certainly have been taken as soon as the
doubt whether all the Spanish division had entered was removed. The
Department, under its growing conviction that the enemy was there, had
already been increasingly disturbed by the delay of the Flying
Squadron before Cienfuegos. This delay was due to the uncertainty of
its commander as to whether or not Cervera was in the latter port; nor
was there then known reason to censure the decision of the officer on
the spot, whose information, dependent upon despatch vessels, or upon
local scouting, was necessarily, in some respects, more meagre than
that of the Department, in cable communication with many quarters.
Nevertheless, he was mistaken, and each succeeding hour made the
mistake more palpable and more serious to those in Washington; not,
indeed, that demonstrative proof had been received there--far from
it--but there was that degree of reasonable probability which
justifies practical action in all life, and especially in war. There
was not certainty enough to draw away our ships from before
Havana,--to the exposure also of Key West,--but there was quite
sufficient certainty to take the chance of leaving Cienfuegos and
going off Santiago; for, to put the case at its weakest, we could not
close both ports, and had, therefore, to make a choice. Against the
risk of the enemy trying to dash out of Santiago and run for some
other point, provision was made by a telegram to the _Yale_ to inform
every vessel off Santiago that the Flying Squadron was off Cienfuegos,
and that orders had been sent it to proceed with all possible despatch
off Santiago. If, therefore, the enemy did run out before the arrival
of Schley, our scouts would know where to look for the latter; that
is, somewhere on the shortest line between the two ports.
The embarrassment imposed upon the Department, under the telegram that
the Flying Squadron was returning to Key West, was increased greatly
by the fact that the five cruisers ordered before the port were
getting very short of coal. If the squadron held its ground, this was
comparatively immaterial. It would be injurious, unquestionably, to
the communications and to the lookout, but not necessarily fatal to
the object in view, which was that Cervera should not get out without
a fight and slip away again into the unknown. But, if the squadron
went, the cruisers could not stay, and the enemy might escape
unobserved. Fortunately, on second thoughts, the Commodore decided to
remain; but before that was known to the Department, Sampson had been
directed, on May 29th, to proceed with the _New York_ and the
_Oregon_, the latter of which had only joined him on the 28th. The
telegram announcing that the Flying Squadron would hold on came indeed
before the two ships started, but it was not thought expedient to
change their orders. Word also had then been received that two of the
Spanish division had been sighted inside from our own vessels, and
though this still left a doubt as to the whereabouts of the others, it
removed the necessity of covering Key West, which had caused the
Department, on the first knowledge of Schley's returning, to limit its
orders to Sampson to be ready to set out for Santiago the instant the
Flying Squadron returned. By the departure of the _New York_ and the
_Oregon_, the _Indiana_ was left the only battleship to the westward.
Her speed was insufficient to keep up with the two others, and it was
determined to employ her in convoying the army when it was ready,--a
duty originally designed for Sampson's division as a whole.
Admiral Sampson with his two ships arrived off Santiago on the 1st of
June at 6 A.M., and established at once the close watch of the port
which lasted until the sally and destruction of Cervera's squadron.
"From that time on," says the Spanish Lieutenant Muller, who was in
the port from the first, as second in command of the naval forces of
the province, "the hostile ships, which were afterwards increased in
number, established day and night a constant watch, without
withdrawing at nightfall, as they used to do." Into the particulars of
this watch, which lasted for a month and which effectively prevented
any attempt of the enemy to go out by night, the writer does not
purpose to enter, as his object in this series of papers is rather to
elicit the general lessons derivable from the war than to give the
details of particular operations. It is only just to say, however,
that all the dispositions of the blockade,--to use the common, but
not strictly accurate, expression,--from the beginning of June to the
day of the battle, were prescribed by the commander-in-chief on the
spot, without controlling orders, and with little, if any, suggestion
on the subject from the Department. The writer remembers none; but he
does well remember the interest with which, during the dark nights of
the month, he watched the size of the moon, which was new on the 18th,
and the anxiety each morning lest news might be received of a
successful attempt to get away on the part of the enemy, whose reputed
speed so far exceeded that of most of our ships. It was not then known
that, by reason of the methods unremittingly enforced by our squadron,
it was harder to escape from Santiago by night than by day, because of
the difficulty of steering a ship through an extremely narrow channel,
with the beam of an electric light shining straight in the eyes, as
would there have been the case for a mile before reaching the harbor's
mouth.
The history of the time--now nearly a year--that has elapsed since
these lines were first written, impels the author, speaking as a
careful student of the naval operations that have illustrated the past
two centuries and a half, to say that in his judgment no more onerous
and important duty than the guard off Santiago fell upon any officer
of the United States during the hostilities; and that the judgment,
energy, and watchfulness with which it was fulfilled by Admiral
Sampson merits the highest praise. The lack of widely diffused popular
appreciation of military conditions, before referred to in these
papers, has been in nothing more manifest than in the failure to
recognize generally, and by suitable national reward, both the
difficulty of his task, and that the dispositions maintained by him
ensured the impossibility of Cervera's escaping undetected, as well as
the success of the action which followed his attempt at flight. This
made further fighting on Spain's part hopeless and vindicated, if
vindication were needed, the Department's choice of the
commander-in-chief; but, as a matter of fact, the reply of that great
admiral and experienced administrator, Lord St. Vincent, when he sent
Nelson to the Nile, meets decisively all such cases: "Those who are
responsible for results"--as the Navy Department (under the
President), was--"must be allowed the choice of their agents." The
writer may perhaps be excused for adding, that, having had no share,
direct or indirect, in this selection, which entirely preceded his
connection with the Department, he can have no motive of
self-justification regarding an appointment for which he could deserve
neither credit nor blame.
The office of the Navy Department at that moment, so far as Santiago
itself was concerned, was chiefly administrative: to maintain the
number of ships and their necessary supplies of coal, ammunition, and
healthy food at the highest point consistent with the requirements of
other parts of the field of war. During the month of June, being, as
it was, the really decisive period of the campaign, these demands for
increase of force naturally rose higher in every quarter. A numerous
convoy had to be provided for the army expedition; the battle fleet
had to be supplemented with several light cruisers; it became evident
that the sphere of the blockade must be extended, which meant many
more ships; and in the midst of all this, Cámara started for Suez. All
this only instances the common saying, "It never rains but it pours."
Our battle fleet before Santiago was more than powerful enough to
crush the hostile squadron in a very short time, if the latter
attempted a stand-up fight. The fact was so evident that it was
perfectly clear nothing of the kind would be hazarded; but,
nevertheless, we could not afford to diminish the number of armored
vessels on this spot, now become the determining centre of the
conflict. The possibility of the situation was twofold. Either the
enemy might succeed in an effort at evasion, a chance which required
us to maintain a distinctly superior force of battleships in order to
allow the occasional absence of one or two for coaling or repairs,
besides as many lighter cruisers as could be mustered for purposes of
lookout, or, by merely remaining quietly at anchor, protected from
attack by the lines of torpedoes, he might protract a situation which
tended not only to wear out our ships, but also to keep them there
into the hurricane season,--a risk which was not, perhaps, adequately
realized by the people of the United States.
It is desirable at this point to present certain other elements of the
naval situation which weightily affected naval action at the moment,
and which, also, were probably overlooked by the nation at large, for
they give a concrete illustration of conditions which ought to
influence our national policy, as regards the navy, in the present and
immediate future. We had to economize our ships because they were too
few. There was no reserve. The Navy Department had throughout, and
especially at this period, to keep in mind, not merely the exigencies
at Santiago, but the fact that we had not a battleship in the home
ports that could in six months be made ready to replace one lost or
seriously disabled, as the _Massachusetts_, for instance, not long
afterwards was, by running on an obstruction in New York Bay. Surprise
approaching disdain was expressed, both before and after the
destruction of Cervera's squadron, that the battle fleet was not sent
into Santiago either to grapple the enemy's ships there, or to support
the operations of the army, in the same way, for instance, that
Farragut crossed the torpedo lines at Mobile. The reply--and, in the
writer's judgment, the more than adequate reason--was that the country
could not at that time, under the political conditions which then
obtained, afford to risk the loss or disablement of a single
battleship, unless the enterprise in which it was hazarded carried a
reasonable probability of equal or greater loss to the enemy, leaving
us, therefore, as strong as before relatively to the naval power which
in the course of events might yet be arrayed against us. If we lost
ten thousand men, the country could replace them; if we lost a
battleship, it could not be replaced. The issue of the war, as a whole
and in every locality to which it extended, depended upon naval force,
and it was imperative to achieve, not success only, but success
delayed no longer than necessary. A million of the best soldiers would
have been powerless in face of hostile control of the sea. Dewey had
not a battleship, but there can be no doubt that that capable admiral
thought he ought to have one or more; and so he ought, if we had had
them to spare. The two monitors would be something, doubtless, when
they arrived; but, like all their class, they lacked mobility.
When Cámara started by way of Suez for the East, it was no more
evident than it was before that we ought to have battleships there.
That was perfectly plain from the beginning; but battleships no more
than men can be in two places at once, and until Cámara's movement had
passed beyond the chance of turning west, the Spanish fleet in the
Peninsula had, as regarded the two fields of war, the West Indies and
the Philippines, the recognized military advantage of an interior
position. In accepting inferiority in the East, and concentrating our
available force in the West Indies, thereby ensuring a superiority
over any possible combination of Spanish vessels in the latter
quarter, the Department acted rightly and in accordance with sound
military precedent; but it must be remembered that the Spanish Navy
was not the only possibility of the day. The writer was not in a
position to know then, and does not know now, what weight the United
States Government attached to the current rumors of possible political
friction with other states whose people were notoriously sympathizers
with our enemy. The public knows as much about that as he does; but it
was clear that if a disposition to interfere did exist anywhere, it
would not be lessened by a serious naval disaster to us, such as the
loss of one of our few battleships would be. Just as in the
maintenance of a technically "effective" blockade of the Cuban ports,
so, also, in sustaining the entireness and vigor of the battle fleet,
the attitude of foreign Powers as well as the strength of the
immediate enemy had to be considered. For such reasons it was
recommended that the orders on this point to Admiral Sampson should be
peremptory; not that any doubt existed as to the discretion of that
officer, who justly characterized the proposition to throw the ships
upon the mine fields of Santiago as suicidal folly, but because it was
felt that the burden of such a decision should be assumed by a
superior authority, less liable to suffer in personal reputation from
the idle imputations of over-caution, which at times were ignorantly
made by some who ought to have known better, but did not. "The matter
is left to your discretion," the telegram read, "except that the
United States armored vessels must not be risked."
When Cervera's squadron was once cornered, an intelligent opponent
would, under any state of naval preparedness, have seen the
advisability of forcing him out of the port by an attack in the rear,
which could be made only by an army. As Nelson said on one occasion,
"What is wanted now is not more ships, but troops." Under few
conditions should such a situation be prolonged. But the reasons
adduced in the last paragraph made it doubly incumbent upon us to
bring the matter speedily to an issue, and the combined expedition
from Tampa was at once ordered. Having in view the number of hostile
troops in the country surrounding Santiago, as shown by the subsequent
returns of prisoners, and shrewdly suspected by ourselves beforehand,
it was undoubtedly desirable to employ a larger force than was sent.
The criticism made upon the inadequate number of troops engaged in
this really daring movement is intrinsically sound, and would be
wholly accurate if directed, not against the enterprise itself, but
against the national shortsightedness which gave us so trivial an army
at the outbreak of the war. The really hazardous nature of the
movement is shown by the fact that the column of Escario, three
thousand strong, from Manzanillo, reached Santiago on July 3rd; too
late, it is true, abundantly too late, to take part in the defence of
San Juan and El Caney, upon holding which the city depended for food
and water; yet not so late but that it gives a shivering suggestion
how much more arduous would have been the task of our troops had
Escario come up in time. The incident but adds another to history's
long list of instances where desperate energy and economy of time have
wrested safety out of the jaws of imminent disaster. The occasion was
one that called upon us to take big risks; and success merely
justifies doubly an attempt which, from the obvious balance of
advantages and disadvantages, was antecedently justified by its
necessity, and would not have been fair subject for blame, even had it
failed.
The Navy Department did not, however, think that even a small chance
of injury should be taken which could be avoided; and it may be
remarked that, while the man is unfit for command who, on emergency,
is unable to run a very great risk for the sake of decisive advantage,
he, on the other hand, is only less culpable who takes even a small
risk of serious harm against which reasonable precaution can provide.
It has been well said that Nelson took more care of his topgallant
masts,[4] in ordinary cruising, than he did of his whole fleet when
the enemy was to be checked or beaten; and this combination of
qualities apparently opposed is found in all strong military
characters to the perfection of which both are necessary. It was
determined, accordingly, to collect for the transports a numerous
naval guard or convoy, to secure them against possible attacks by the
Spanish gunboats distributed along the north coast of Cuba, by which
route the voyage was to be made. The care was probably thought
excessive by many and capable men; but the unforeseen is ever
happening in war. Here or there a young Spanish officer might
unexpectedly prove, not merely brave, as they all are, but
enterprising, which few of them seem to be. The transport fleet had no
habit of manoeuvring together; the captains, many of them, were
without interest in the war, and with much interest in their owners,
upon whom they commonly depended for employment; straggling, and panic
in case of attack, could be surely predicted; and, finally, as we
scarcely had men enough for the work before them, why incur the hazard
of sacrificing even one ship-load of our most efficient but all too
small regular army? For such reasons it was decided to collect a
dozen of the smaller cruisers, any one of which could handle a Spanish
gunboat, and which, in virtue of their numbers, could be so
distributed about the transports as to forestall attack at all points.
The mere notoriety that so powerful a flotilla accompanied the
movement was protection greater, perhaps, than the force itself; for
it would impose quiescence even upon a more active enemy. As a further
measure of precaution, directions were given to watch also the torpedo
destroyer in San Juan during the passage of the army. The _Indiana_,
as has been said, formed part of the convoy; the dispositions and
order of sailing being arranged, and throughout superintended, by her
commanding officer, Captain Henry C. Taylor.
On Saturday, June 4th, Commodore Remey, commanding the naval base at
Key West, telegraphed that the naval vessels composing the convoy
would be ready to sail that evening. The army was embarked and ready
to move on the 8th, but early that morning was received the report,
alluded to in a previous paper, that an armored cruiser with three
vessels in company had been sighted by one of our blockading fleet
the evening before, in the Nicolas Channel, on the north coast of
Cuba. Upon being referred back, the statement was confirmed by the
officer making it, and also by another vessel which had passed over
the same ground at nearly the same time. The account being thus both
specific and positive, the sailing of the transports was
countermanded,--the naval vessels of the convoy being sent out from
Key West to scour the waters where the suspicious ships had been seen,
and Admiral Sampson directed to send his two fastest armored vessels
to Key West, in order that the expedition might proceed in force. The
Admiral, being satisfied that the report was a mistake, of a character
similar to others made to him at the same time, did not comply; a
decision which, under the circumstances of his fuller knowledge, must
be considered proper as well as fortunate. The incident was mortifying
at the time, and--considering by how little Escario arrived
late--might have been disastrous; but it is one of those in which it
is difficult to assign blame, though easy to draw a very obvious moral
for outlooks.
The expedition finally got away from Tampa on the 14th of June, and
arrived off Santiago on the 20th. The process of collecting and
preparing the convoy, the voyage itself, and the delay caused by the
false alarm, constituted together a period of three weeks, during
which the naval vessels of the expedition were taken away from the
blockade. Some days more were needed to coal them, and to get them
again to their stations. Meanwhile it was becoming evident that the
limits of the blockade must be extended, in order that full benefit
might be derived from it as a military measure. The southern ports of
Cuba west of Santiago, and especially the waters about the Isle of
Pines and Batabano, which is in close rail connection with Havana,
were receiving more numerous vessels, as was also the case with Sagua
la Grande, on the north. In short, the demand for necessaries was
producing an increasing supply, dependent upon Jamaica and Mexico in
the south, upon Europe and North American ports in the north, and the
whole was developing into a system which would go far to defeat our
aims, unless counteracted by more widespread and closer-knit measures
on our part. It was decided, therefore, to proclaim a blockade of the
south coast of Cuba from Cape Cruz, a little west of Santiago, to Cape
Frances, where the foul ground west of the Isle of Pines terminates.
The Isle of Pines itself was to be seized, in order to establish there
a secure base, for coal and against hurricanes, for the small vessels
which alone could operate in the surrounding shoal water; and an
expedition, composed mainly of the battalion of marines, was actually
on the way for that purpose when the protocol was signed. During the
three weeks occupied by the preparation and passage of the Santiago
expedition, the blockade had been barely "effective," technically; it
could not at all be considered satisfactory from our point of view,
although we were stripping the coast defence fleet of its cruisers,
one by one, for the service in Cuba. Our utmost hope at the time, and
with every available vessel we could muster, was so far to satisfy the
claims of technicality, as to forestall any charges of ineffectiveness
by neutrals, whose cruisers at times seemed somewhat curious.
In the midst of all this extra strain Cámara's squadron left Cadiz and
made its hurried rush eastward. One effect of this was to release,
and instantly, all the patrol vessels on our northern coast. These
were immediately ordered to Key West for blockade duty, Commodore
Howell also going in person to take charge of this work. On the other
hand, however, uneasiness could not but be felt for Dewey in case
Cámara actually went on, for, except the monitor _Monterey_, we could
get no armored ship out before the two Spanish armored vessels
arrived; and if they had the same speed which they maintained to
Suez--ten knots--it was doubtful whether the _Monterey_ would
anticipate them. It may be mentioned here, as an interesting
coincidence, that the same day that word came that Cámara had started
back for Spain, a telegram was also received that the _Monterey_ had
had to put back to Honolulu, for repairs to the collier which
accompanied her. This, of course, was news then ten days old,
communication from Honolulu to San Francisco being by steamer, not by
cable.
The strengthening of our blockade by the vessels of the northern
patrol fleet was therefore the first and, as it proved, the only
lasting result of Cámara's move. What the object was of that singular
"vagabondaggio," as it is not inaptly called by an Italian critic, is
to the author incomprehensible, to use also the qualifying word of the
same foreign writer. That the intention was merely to provoke us to
some "eccentric" movement, by playing upon our fears about our forces
at Manila, would be perfectly reconcilable with going as far as Port
Said, and remaining there for some days, as was done, in difficulty,
actual or feigned, about getting coal; but why the large expense was
incurred of passing through the canal, merely to double the amount by
returning, is beyond understanding. It may have been simply to carry
bluff to the extreme point; but it is difficult not to suspect some
motive not yet revealed, and perhaps never to be known.
Possibly, however, the measures taken by ourselves may have had upon
the Spanish Government the effect which, in part, they were intended to
produce. A squadron of two battleships and four cruisers, drawn from
Admiral Sampson's fleet, was constituted to go to Manila by way of
Suez, under the command of Commodore Watson, until then in charge of
the blockade on the north coast of Cuba. Colliers to accompany these
were at the same time prepared in our Atlantic ports. Upon the
representations of the Admiral, he was authorized to suspend the
sailing of the detachment until all the armored vessels were fully
coaled, in order to ensure maintaining before Santiago for a
considerable period the five that would be left to him. To this
modification of the first order contributed also the darkness of the
nights at that moment; for the moon, though growing, was still young.
But, as our object was even more to prevent Cámara from proceeding than
to send the reinforcement, it was desired that these dispositions
should have full publicity, and, to ensure it the more fully, Watson
was directed to go in all haste to Santiago with his flagship, the
_Newark_, to take over his new command, the avowed objective of which
was the Spanish coast, then deprived of much of its defence by the
departure of Cámara's ships, and most imperfectly provided with local
fortifications. Had Cámara gone on to the East, Watson would have
followed him, and, although arriving later, there was no insuperable
difficulty to so combining the movements of our two divisions--Dewey's
and Watson's--as to decide the final result, and to leave Spain without
her second division of ships.
Cámara's delay at the Mediterranean end of the Canal, which extended
over several days, suggested either doubts as to the reality of his
rumored destination, or a belief that the equipment and
preparation--in coal especially--for so distant an expedition had been
imperfect. This contributed to postpone Watson's departure, and the
first passage of the Canal (July 2nd) by the Spaniards coincided in
date very closely with the destruction of their other division under
Cervera. After the action off Santiago the battleships needed to be
again supplied with ammunition, and before that could be effected
Cámara was on his way back to Spain.
This abandonment by the enemy of their projected voyage to Manila
concurred with the critical position of the army before Santiago to
postpone the project of reinforcing Dewey, who no longer needed
battleships so far as his immediate operations were concerned.
Besides, the arrival of both the _Monterey_ and the _Monadnock_ was
now assured, even if the enemy resumed his movement, which was
scarcely possible. When Santiago fell, however, it was felt to be
necessary to re-establish our fleet in the Pacific, by way either of
the Straits of Magellan or of the Suez Canal. The latter was chosen,
and the entire battle fleet--except the _Texas_, rejected on account
of her small coal endurance--was directed to join the movement and to
accompany some distance within the straits the two battleships which,
with their smaller cruisers and colliers, were to go to Manila. The
preparations for this movement were kept secret for quite a time,
under the cover of an avowed intention to proceed against Puerto Rico;
but nothing, apparently, can wholly escape the prying curiosity of the
Press, which dignifies this not always reputable quality with the
title of "enterprise." No great harm resulted; possibly even the
evident wish of the Government for secrecy, though thus betrayed, may
have increased the apprehension of the enemy as to the damage intended
to their coasts.
On the latter point the position of our Government, as understood by
the writer, was perfectly simple. In case the enemy refused peace when
resistance was obviously and utterly hopeless, bombardment of a
seaport might be resorted to, but with the utmost reluctance, and
merely to compel submission and acquiescence in demonstrated facts. It
is not possible to allow one's own people to be killed and their
substance wasted merely because an adversary will not admit he is
whipped, when he is. When our fleet reached the Spanish coast that
case might have arisen; but probably the unwillingness of our
Government so to act would have postponed its decision to the very
last moment, in order to spare the enemy the final humiliation of
yielding, not to reasonable acceptance of facts, but to direct threat
of violence. The purpose of bombardment, so freely asserted by the
Press, was one of the numerous baseless discoveries with which it
enlightened its reader during the hostilities,--mixtures of truth and
error, so ingeniously proportioned as to constitute an antidote, than
which none better could then be had against its numerous
indiscretions.
The determining factor in this proposed movement of the battle fleet
as a whole was the necessity, or at least the advantage, of
reinforcing Dewey, and of placing two battleships in the Pacific. It
was not thought expedient now to send them by themselves, as at first
proposed, for the reason already given in another instance in this
paper; that is, the impropriety of taking even a small risk, if
unnecessary. Cámara's two ships had now returned to Spain, and there
were besides in the ports of the Peninsula other armed vessels, which,
though evidently unfit for a distant voyage, might be good for some
work in the Straits of Gibraltar, where our two ships must pass. That
the latter would beat them all, if assembled, we quite believed, as we
had hoped that the _Oregon_ might do had she met Cervera; but the
_Oregon_ could not be helped without neglecting more immediately
pressing duties, whereas, at the end of July, there was nothing to
detain our heavy ships in the West Indies. It was determined,
therefore, to keep them massed and to send them across the ocean. It
was probable, nearly to the extent of absolute certainty, that neither
before nor after the separation of the division bound for the East
would the entire Spanish Navy venture an attack upon the formidable
force thus confronting its ports. To ensure success without fighting
is always a proper object of military dispositions; and, moreover,
there were reasons before alluded to for maintaining in perfect
integrity vessels whose organized fighting efficiency had now been
fully vindicated to the world. Even during peace negotiations, one's
position is not injured by the readiness of the battle fleet. In
short, it should be an accepted apothegm, with those responsible for
the conduct of military operations, that "War is business," to which
actual fighting is incidental. As in all businesses, the true aim is
the best results at the least cost; or, as the great French admiral,
Tourville, said two centuries ago, "The best victories are those which
expend least of blood, of hemp, and of iron." Such results, it is
true, are more often granted to intelligent daring than to excessive
caution; but no general rule can supersede the individual judgment
upon the conditions before it. There are no specifics in warfare.
To this main reason, others less immediately important concurred. The
ships would be taken out of a trying climate, and removed from the
chance of hurricanes; while the crews would receive a benefit, the
value of which is avouched by naval history, in change of scene, of
occupation, and of interests. The possibility of the enemy attempting
to divert us from our aim, by sending vessels to the West Indies, was
considered, and, although regarded as wildly improbable, provision
against it was made. As Nelson wrote to his commander-in-chief before
the advance on Copenhagen: "There are those who think, if you leave
the Sound open, that the Danish fleet may sail from Copenhagen to join
the Dutch or French. I own I have no fears on that subject; for it is
not likely that whilst their capital is menaced with an attack, nine
thousand of her best men should be sent out of the kingdom." It was
still less probable that Spain in the present case would attempt any
diversion to the West Indies, and the movement of our heavy-armored
vessels to her shores could now justly be considered to cover all our
operations on this side of the Atlantic. The detailed arrangements
made for frequent communication, however, would have kept the
Department practically in touch with our fleet throughout, and have
enabled us to counteract any despairing effort of the enemy.