APPENDIX C
[The following is the report of the Associated Press correspondent of the "round-robin" incident. It is literally true in every detail. I was present when he was handed both letters; he was present while they were being written.]
Santiago de Cuba, August 3d (delayed in transmission).—Summoned by Major-General Shafter, a meeting was held here this morning at headquarters, and in the presence of every commanding and medical officer of the Fifth Army Corps, General Shafter read a cable message from Secretary Alger, ordering him, on the recommendation of Surgeon-General Sternberg, to move the army into the interior, to San Luis, where it is healthier.
As a result of the conference General Shafter will insist upon the immediate withdrawal of the army North. As an explanation of the situation the following letter from Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, commanding the First Cavalry, to General Shafter, was handed by the latter to the correspondent of the Associated Press for publication:
Major-General Shafter,
Sir: In a meeting of the general and medical officers called by you at the Palace this morning we were all, as you know, unanimous in our views
