Commander Bowman H. McCalla to Rear Admiral Arent S. Crowninshield, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation
CABLEGRAM.
Guantanamo, July 10, 1898.
BUNAV,1
WASHINGTON,
RESOLUTE SAILED EIGHTH. HARVARD COALING SAILS TONIGHT. CABLE BETWEEN GUANTANAMO ARMY HEADQUARTERS SIBONEY WORKED BY ARMY SIGNAL SERVICE TELEPHONE. CABLEGRAMS SENT SAMPSON THIS WAY BY ARMY OPERATORS. AM NOT SURPRISED NOT SATISFACTORY.2 ALLEN NOT HERE.3 HIS REPRESENTATIVE INEXPERIENCED DELAY AND MUTILATION OF CIPHER MY OPINION DUE LARGELY INEXPERIENCE ARMY SIGNAL SERVICE. REMEDY PUT CABLE BETWEEN HERE SIBONEY ENTIRELY FROM GUANTANAMO PLACING CABLES HERE UNDER NAVY CONTROL.
McCalla.
Source Note: C, DNA, RG 313, Entry 48. Addressed below close: “Official business./Government rates.” Stamped at top of page: “RECEIVED/flag-ship n. a. station./JUL 11 1898.” Handwritten at bottom of page: “Copy for Commander-in-Chief.”
Footnote 1: A portmanteau for Bureau of Navigation.
Footnote 2: RAdm. William T. Sampson, Commander, North Atlantic Fleet. There were problems with cable communications, in part, because of jurisdictional disputes between the Navy and Army. For more information, see: Brig. Gen. Adolphus W. Greeley to McCalla, 27 June 1898.
Footnote 3: Lt. Col. James Allen, chief signal officer of the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
