Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Secretaryof the Navy John D. Long to Secretary of War Russell A. Alger

LETTER

Washington, July 21, 1898.  

Sir:

     On the 18th instant the Quartermaster General, U.S.Army,1 addressed a letter to the Honorable Assistant Secretary of War,2 quoting the following telegram, received by him, from the Quartermaster at Tampa,3 on the 17th instant:

     “With reference to Iroquois, Mississippi and Stillwater, which sailed yesterday would suggest that a convoy vessel run down from Santiago so as to conduct the transports through the Bahama Channel.”

     The Quartermaster at Tampa requested that the Navy Department be asked to take such action as might be necessary for the protection of the above transports by furnishing a convoy through the Bahama Channel, accordingly.

     The above letter was referred to the Navy Department by the Assistant Secretary of War on the 20th instant, and was received in the Navy Department on the 21st instant.

     It will be readily perceived that this communication arrived in the Navy Department too late to enable a convoy to be provided for the transports in question, as they must have been nearing Porto Rico at the time of the receipt of the request in the Navy Department.

     It is regretted that the above mentioned delay in transmission of the request for convoy prevented the Navy Department from acting.

Very respectfully,          

John D. Long,          

Secretary.   

Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 80, Entry 194, vol. 1, pp. 311-12. Addressed before opening: “The Honorable/The Secretary of War.”

Footnote 1: Gen. Marshall I. Ludington.

Footnote 2: Asst. Secretary of War George D. Meiklejohn.

Footnote 3: Maj. John B. Bellinger.

Related Content