ty
yards from shore, with the sea breaking over her. The small temporary
pier at which I landed when I went to the front had been completely
demolished and swept away, but another stronger one was in process of
construction.

The most serious embarrassments with which the army of invasion had to
contend after it reached the coast and began its march on Santiago were:
first, the extreme difficulty of landing supplies in a place like
Siboney, where there was neither pier nor shelter, and where the beach
was lashed a large part of the time by a high and dangerous surf; and,
second, the difficulty of getting such supplies to the front over a
single line of very bad road, with an insufficient number of mules and
army wagons. If these two difficulties had been foreseen and provided
for there would not have been so many smashed lighters and launches on
the beach, and the soldiers at the front would not have lived so much of
the time on short rations, nor have been compelled to boil water and
cook their rations in coffee-cups and tomato-cans, as they had to do
throughout the campaign. The difficulty of landing supplies on that
exposed and surf-beaten coast might have been anticipated, it seems to
me, and provided for. The warships of Sampson's and Schley's fleets were
there long before General Shafter's army left Tampa, and their
commanders must have seen, I think, that to get supplies ashore through
the surf at any point between Santiago and Guantanamo Bay would be
extremely difficult and hazardous, and would probably require the use of
special engineering devices and appliances. The prevailing winds there
are from the east and southeast, and from such winds the little
indentations of the coast at Siboney and Daiquiri afforded no protection
whatever. A strong breeze raised a sea which might amount to nothing
outside, but which was very troublesome, if not dangerous, to loaded
boats and lighters as soon as they reached the line where it began to
break in surf. The water was very deep close to shore; it was difficult,
therefore, to construct a pier of any great length; and even if there
had been a long and solid pier, small boats and lighters could not have
discharged cargo upon it with any safety while they were being tossed up
and down and dashed against it by a heavy sea.

I do not pretend to be an expert in such matters, but in watching the
landing of supplies here, both from our own steamer and from the army
transports, i