the applicant to Quartermaster
Jacobs at Daiquiri. Lieutenant Kilbourne walked seven miles to Daiquiri,
only to find that the quartermaster had no more idea where that
ammunition was than the commanding general had. He thereupon returned to
Guasimas, after a march of more than twenty miles, and reported to
General Wood that ammunition for the rapid-fire guns could not be had,
because nobody knew where it was. If the commanding general and the
quartermaster could not put their hands on ammunition when it was
needed, they could hardly be expected to find, and forward promptly,
articles of less vital importance, such as camp-kettles, hospital tents,
clothing, and spare blankets.

It would be easy to fill pages with illustrations and proofs of the
statements above made, but I must limit myself to a typical case or two
relating to medical supplies, which seem to have been most neglected.

In a report to Surgeon-General Sternberg dated July 29, Dr. Edward L.
Munson, commander of the reserve ambulance company, says that for two
days after his arrival at Siboney he was unable to get any
transportation whatever for medical supplies from the ships to the
shore. On the third day he was furnished with one rowboat, but even this
was taken away from him, when it had made one trip, by direct order of
General Shafter, who wished to assign it to other duty. Some days later,
with the boats of the _Olivette_, _Cherokee_, and _Breakwater_, he
succeeded in landing medical supplies from perhaps one third of the
transports composing the fleet. "I appealed on several occasions," he
says, "for the use of a lighter or small steamer to collect and land
medical supplies, but I was informed by the quartermaster's department
that they could render no assistance in that way.... At the time of my
departure large quantities of medical supplies, urgently needed on
shore, still remained on the transports, a number of which were under
orders to return to the United States." "In conclusion," he adds, "it is
desired to emphasize the fact that the lamentable conditions prevailing
in the army before Santiago were due (1) to the military necessity which
threw troops on shore and away from the possibility of supply, without
medicines, instruments, or hospital stores of any kind; and (2) to the
lack of foresight on the part of the quartermaster's department in
sending out such an expedition without fully anticipating its needs as
regards temporary wharfage, lig