Show T THE LEAST SAID ETC One would think that the officers and men of the first battalion of the Sev entyfirst New York would recognize and act upon the wisdom of the old adage The least said the soonest mended when the matter of their conduct con-duct at San Juan hill comes up for dls I cussion but they do not The latest one to speak about the matter is Major Whittle of that notorious first battalion bat-talion When be landed on the dock he was met by a reporter of the New York Times and in regard to the report of General Kent accusing his battalion of blockading the way of advancing troops n the charge up the San Juan hill to use the salving language of the I reporter said General Kent has the privilege of I riticising my command of course but these are the facts in the case On that eventful day I received an order from my colonel in the morning to take my battalion forward and deploy and protect the advance I did as directed I and received no further orders I sent word to Colonel Downs asking him whether he had received any further orders and he replied in the negative It is not true that ye broke ranks in confusion They did the best they could under the circumstances In all that which may be as Major Whittle says there is no direct denial of what General Kent said There are men now at Fort Douglas who were at San Juan 11iU and they walked through the ranks and over the bodies of the men of the first battalion On this I point General Kents report will stand for all time and it will be the authority author-ity The reporter says that Major Whittle strongly hinted that he had been the victim of considerable jealousy from the time that he left Camp Black and he intimated that there had been a consistent effort to run him down and personal enmity had been largely responsible re-sponsible for the attack made on himself him-self and his command That may all be but it utterly fails to account for the action of his battalion Major Whittle cannot better employ his time than by cultivating a discreet and profound silence |