The Return Home 205 



Wheeler, who were the other representatives of the 

 cavalry division. Besides the line officers all the 

 chief medical officers were present at the conference. 

 The telegrams from the Secretary stating the posi- 

 tion of himself and the Surgeon-General were read, 

 and then almost every line and medical officer pres- 

 ent expressed his views in turn. They were almost 

 all regulars and had been brought up to life-long 

 habits of obedience without protest. They were 

 ready to obey still, but they felt, quite rightly, that 

 it was their duty to protest rather than to see the 

 flower of the United States forces destroyed as the 

 culminating act of a campaign in which the blunders 

 that had been committed had been retrieved only by 

 the valor and splendid soldierly qualities of the 

 officers and enlisted men of the infantry and dis- 

 mounted cavalry. There was not a dissenting voice ; 

 for there could not be. There was but one side to 

 the question. To talk of continually shifting camp 

 or of moving up the mountains or of moving into 

 the interior was idle, for not one of the plans could 

 be carried out with our utterly insufficient transpor- 

 tation, and at that season and in that climate they 

 would merely have resulted in aggravating the sick- 

 liness of the soldiers. It was deemed best to make 

 some record of our opinion, in the shape of a letter 

 or report, which would show that to keep the army 

 in Santiago meant its absolute and objectless ruin, 



