Secretary of the Navy John D. Long to Secretary of War Russell A. Alger
Washington, May 6th, 1898.
Sir:
Referring to the conference, held at the White House, May 2nd, at which General Miles1 and Admiral Sicard2 were present, you will recollect that it was finally agreed that a force of forty or fifty thousand men, with the necessary provisions, equipments, transports, etc., should be at once prepared and embarked for the North coast of Cuba, near Havana, for the purpose of investing that city or operating against it on the land side, and that it was announced that the land force and transports could be ready in about two weeks from that time.
At that conference, the representatives of the Navy stated that the fleet would protect the expeditionary forces of the Army while crossing, and, also, afterwards, protect its communication with our Gulf coast. The Navy is, accordingly, ready to afford the above protection at any time, and will be glad if the War Department will, as soon as possible, fix a day when it will be ready to embark its expeditionary force, prepared to land and maintain itself against the Spanish Army.
Respectfully,
SECRETARY.
Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG80, Entry 194, vol. 1, p. 59. Addressed before opening: “To the Honorable/The Secretary of War,/Washington, D.C.”
Footnote 1: Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Commanding General of the Army.
Footnote 2: RAdm. Montgomery Sicard, President of the Naval War Board.
