Lieutenant Colonel James Allen, United States Army Signal Corps, to Commander Bowman H. McCalla, and Forwarded to Secretary of the Navy John D. Long
Trans-Atlantic Cablegram
POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY.
SecNav Washn.
THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN RECEIVED BY COMMANDING OFFICER AT PLAYA DEL ESTE, GUATANAMO BAY, COMMANDER MC CALLA’S INFORMED THAT YOU HAVE FORBIDDEN TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES WEST OF PLAYA BY LAW1 CONTROL OF LINES MILITARILY OCCUPED DEVOLVE ON ME AND BY SPECIAL ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT I HAVE COMPLETE CHARGE ALL CABLES AND TELEGRAPHICAL COMMUNICATIONS IN CUBAN WATERS REQUEST THAT YOU IMMEDIATELY REVOKE YOUR ORDERS AND REFRAIN FROM GIVING OTHERS LIEUTENT COLONEL ALLEN OF GENERAL MILES STAFF
Source Note: C, DNA, AFNRC, M625, roll 232. In upper-left corner: “7W LT GOVT Via “ti/ PLAYA DEL ESTE JUNE 28-98/From PLAYA DEL ESTE JUNE 28-98.” Company advertisement and information appears across the top portion of the cable.
Footnote 1: Cmdr. Bowman H. McCalla took control of the cable operations at Guantánamo, but Lt. Col. Allen resented his jurisdictional intrusion. An appeal was made to President William McKinley, who sided with the Army Signal Corps. For more information, see: Brig. Gen. Adolphus W. Greely to McCalla, 27 June 1898.
