Class Book COPYRIGHT DEPOSJT I-Voi.i a Dhotograph by M-iUiani Diinvidilie. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in the Field. THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS 1«T u. S. VOLUNTEER CAVALRY THE REGIMENT IN CAMP AND ON THE BATTLE FIELD BY EDWARD MARSHALL ILLUSTRATED KROM PHOTOliRAl'lIS TAKEN OX THE Flf^LI) AND WITH DRAWINGS MADE BY EICHARD F. OUTCAULT <&. NEW YORK G. W. DILLINGHAM CO., Publishers MDCccxeix ^s<^^-^ [All ri(jltls ri'siTird] Copyright, 1899, by 0. \V. DILLINGHAM CO. ^_ v£0. ■/■ ■'■;:v^^ l< MAR 13 1899 EXECUTIVE MANSION. WASHINGTON. February 21, 1899 All of our soldiers in Cuba did well- It was an honor to the First United States Volunteer Cavalry to be with them, and it was an honor to the army to have this splendid regiment at the front . / A TRIBUTE FROM THE SECRETARY OF AVAR. The First United States Volunteer Cavalry was an admirable regiment, and did good service dnring tlic war. Officers and men alike acquitted themselves most creditably. 'I'hey were promjjtly oi'ganized, were c(inil)I)ed with smokeless-powder carl)ines, and took l>art in every military engagement in Cuba, except the light at El Caney. Wherever they were thev did well. MAJOR-GENERAL LEONARD WOOD\S OPINION OF THE REGLMENT. Notwitlistanding the fact that 1113' connection with the regiment, as commanding officer, ceased on June 30th, the day before the San Juan charge, my interest in it lias never lessened for a moment. I was naturally proud of my connection with it at the beginning. I am proud now of the fact that I went into the war as its colonel, and I am proud of its record. AYhen I began to do what I could at San Antonio, to organize the regiment into a creditable military body, I said to the men of it: " Make yourselves as much like regular soldiers as you can in the shortest possible time. If you think only of that you will be thinking exactly of the right thing and you will have enough to think about to keep you very busy. If you devote your time and attention to that, the regiment will be a success." The men did make themselves so much like regulars that it was hard to tell the difference, and the regiment was a success. It would be utterly Useless for me to recapitulate now the history <>f the good work the Rough Riders did. They were not the only good soldiers in the army, but they were among the best, and they did not do any bad work. FROM LIEUTENANT-COLONEL (FOR- MERLY MAJOR) BRODIE. Never in the history of the -world had such a regiment been organized. It was made up of men of the frontier, who were joined by volunteers from nearly every State and Territory in the Union. The former were accus- tomed to adventure, and the latter joined the regiment IxH'ause they were looking for it, so there was no man in tlie whole organization who was not anxious to face hardship and brave death. We had all either seen or wanted to see hard w^ork. We got it. The regiment contained no shirkers. I was wounded at Las Guasimas. It is one of tlu^ regrets of my life that I could not have been with the men at San Juan. I rejoined the regiment at Montauk. AV(> were as lucky in our two commanding officers as we were hicky in our men. Wood and Roosevelt were of the very few worthy to command a regiment like the Rough Riders. They were strong of mind and body, knew the military business, w^ere self-forgetting, patient and brave. r)oth have since won high honors, and both have absolutely deserved them. To neither of them, in all his life, can any honor come which is too high. Alexander O. Brodie. PREFACE. The author makes no apologies for devoting an entire book to the story of one regiment in the Spanish- Ameri- can AVar. The history of the Rough Riders is really the history of the war, for from its beginning to its end these men were at the forefront of the fighting, and did work on a par with our very l)est regulars. The Ameri- can people has already formed its estimate of them. Captain Lee, who was the English military attache dur- ing the entire campaign, told me that they were the best regiment of volunteer soldiers ever organized, and this English estimate quite agrees with that made by George Lynch, an experienced correspondent from London. He said: " Xo European, who has had an opportunity to study the Rough Riders, fails for a second to appreciate the American soldier. It would be madness to back the English, German, or French fighting machines against men like tliose in the First Volunteer Cavalry." The Rough Riders were the first volunteer regiment organized, armed, and equipped. They were the first volunteer soldiers to land in Cuba. They raised the first flag flo^\Ti by the military forces of the United States on foreign soil since the ^lexican AVar. They were the first regiment of the army to fire a shot at the Spaniards, and the fir^^t man killed was one of them. Indeed, they bore the l)runt of the first battle, and they bore it with unexam])led bravery. In tlie PREFACE. second battle, their colonel and his men led the van and headed one of the most desperate charges in the history of warfare. From first to last they were always in the lead, and always a credit to themselves and to their conntry. If these men do not deserve a history book devoted entirely to them, then I am ignorant of any men who do. My own connection with the regiment began the day after they landed in Cnba (where I had gone as war correspondent for the New York Journal), and lasted jnst twenty-fonr honrs. It was then qnickly pnt a stop to by a jManser bullet. ISJ^ot more than six weeks ago Colonel, now Governor, Theodore Koosevelt sent me the medal of the regiment, and was good enongh to say that he was glad to consider me a member of it. Like medals and like letters were sent to Richard Harding Davis, the able col-respondent of the Xew "S'ork Jlenild and Scrih- nri-\^ M(i(jaziit(', and to C^aptain ]\IcCormack of the regu- lai' army. IJoth of these gentlemen were with the Rough Riders in the battl(Mif Las Guasimas, and, I tliiidc, afterwards at the battle of San Jnan. The faet that 1 was shot while on the battlefield with this regiment, naturally made me feel a deep sympathy with it, a hearty ])ri(le in all its acdiievements, and con- stant interest in everything it did in Cnba and, after its return, in America. When Mr. John H. Cook, the President of the G. W. Dillingham Company, asked me to write a history of the regiment I was, therefore, greatly pleased. Of course it was impossible that I should not have at hand some of the required material. My long illness, however, had not permitted me to xii J'RKFACE. gather il in a systciiial ic or sutficicnt way, and s(» I have had to call to luj a.ssistauec several members of ths regiment, as well as others. I am deeply indebted to Colonel Leouard S. AVood (now ^lajor-deneral and Alilitary Governor of Santiago Province), Captain James 11. ^IcClintoek, Major Alexander Brodie, Lieutenant F. P. Hayes, and Privates George W. Bnrgess, Sam. W. Noyes, and " Judge " Murphy. I have borrowed anec- dote and fact freely from the newspaper press, and only regret that the almost universal anonymity of American journalism makes it impossible for me to thank and credit the writers by name. Richard F. Outcault, who has made the drawings for the ])0ok, has caught the spirit of the regiment and the scenes in which its work was done, admirably. I am further indebted to ^Ir. W. P. Hearst, the proprietor of the N^ew York Journal, whose constant kindness has permitted me to take time to write this book while still a member of the Journal staff. I I CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. ' PAGE IIIE BUILDING OF THE REGIMENT ... 19 CHAPTER II. TUE REGIMENT AT SAN ANTONIO .... 35 CHAPTER III. AT TAMPA, AND THE TRIP TO CUBA ... 48 CHAPTER IV. IN CUBA, BEFORE THE FIGHTING .... 65 CHAPTER V. THE FIRST SHOT ....... 84 CHAPTER VI. THE FIRST BATTLE ...... 101 CllAPTEU VII. DEATH AND SUFFERING . . • • .122 XV CONTENTS. CHAPTER Vlll. PAGK AFTER LAS GUASIMAS ...,., 137 CHAPTER IX. THE BEGINNING OF SAN JUAN . , . .169 CHAPTER X. THE CHARGE OF SAN JUAN . . „ . . 184 CHAPTER XI. THE MEN WHO DIED . . . , o o 203 CHAPTER XII. AFTER THE FIGHTING WAS OVER . . . .211 CHAPTER XIII. LAST DAYS IN CUBA ...... 224 CHAPTER XIV. HOME AGAIN ....... 235 CHAPTER XV. IN NEW YORK ....... 256 ROSTER 259 LIST OF FITLL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in the Field . Frontii A Group of K Troop Mex The Dock at Port Tampa, Florida, on tiik Day ok Sailinc . Col. Leonard Wood in Consultation with Lieut.-Col. Roose- velt AT Daiquiri The First Camp of the Rough Riders, at Daiquiri . Building Palm Shelters Lieut. -Col. Roosevelt Examining the Severed Wire .iust before the Battle of Las Guasimas Cooking a Cuban Half-ration Breakfast Captain IMcClintock Wounded at Las Guasimas . The Battle-field of Las Gu'asimas Making Camp after the Battle of Las Guasimas Where the Rough Riders Waited in the Quivering Heat BEFORK the CHAK(iF, OF SaN JuAN . . . • • The Shkll at Kl 1^)So A Gun in Grimes's Battery Asleep in the Shade on the Railroad Leadinc; to Santiago Troopers at Mess at Montauk The Famous Recjimental Colors ....•• Colonel Roosevelt and His Staff at iAIontauk The Last Guard PAGE spiece 31 4.", 59 73 87 07 113 129 141 153 1()5 177 189 201 213 225 237 249 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS CHAPTER I. THE BUILDING OF THE REGIMENT. \\ V*. Rough, tough, we're the stuff, We want to figlit, and Ave can't get enough, Whoo-pee. This was the crv of the Tiong'h liidcrs. It is ju^t as well to i)ut it at the head of the eha])ter on (»ra,aniza- tioii as it would he to put it anvwhere else, for it imqiiestionahlv expre>se 1 the sentiments of the men who joined the regiment, from the very begin- ning. The moment that the news])apers sent broadcast the tale that such a regiment was contenii)lated, excite- ment began in nearly every State in the Tnion, and did not end until the announcement was made that the regi- ment was complete. 19 TllK STOJn' OF 'I'llE UOL'GII KlUERS. As it stood finished, the troops which made it up, theoretically, came from the following sections, although men from the East and from other States and Territories were scattered through each troop. Troops A, B, and C, from Arizona. Troop D, from Oklahoma. Troops E, F, G, li, and I, from New Mexico. Troop K, from Eastern colleges and cities. Troops L and ]\I, from Indian Tei-ritory. Senator Warren, of Iowa, is responsible for the idea of the Rough Ividers. He introduced and carried through Congress, aided bv Senators Kyle, Carter, and others, a bill authorizing the enrollment of three regi- ments, to be made up of expert hunters, riflemen, cow- men, frontiersmen, and such other hardy characters as might care to enlist from the Territories. Captain Leonard Wood, of the ]\redical Corps, was the President's chief medical adviser, and had had much ex- perience in Indian fighting in the West. Theodore Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the !N^avy, and had had some knowledge of men and things on the frontier, through his life on his own and other ranches. It was the President's intention to offer to AVood the colonelcy of one regiment, to Roosevelt the colonelcy of a second, and to Griggsby, of Montana, the colonelcy of the third. Wood and Roosevelt received their offers at about the same moment. Roosevelt promptly declined his, on the theory that he had not liad sufiicient military experience to warrant him in taking command of a regi- ment. He asked that he might be given the second 20 THE JMILDINCI OF THE REGIMENT. place ill the reginieiit comiiiandcd l)y Wood, which was doii(\ Thus the Kough Riders began. Ah'xaiider Brodic, who afterwards became major of the regiiiient,was probably the first man to systematically start towards the organization of this particular regi- ment, lie Avas shot at Las Guasimas, and after the war he ran for Congress from his section, with disastrous resnhs. Xo more gallant soldier ever wore Uncle Sam's uniform. ^Major l>rodie started about the organization of the regiment witli characteristic impetuosity, liefore he tek'grnplicd to the President that he had engaged him- self u])on the enterprise at all, he telegraphed to each county in Arizona, saying that he wanted men; that he wanted good men, and that he Avanted them quick. Brodie's first fear was that he would not receive sufficient re])lies, so that he could tender the services of a respecta- ble number. He made the conditions of enlistment very rigid. He demanded, first, that the men should be a'ood horsemen; second, that thev should be good marksmen; and. third, that they should be of good moral character. He askcnl for as many references as you would ask for if you were investigating the ante- cedents of a prospective servant girl. Tie had an idea that this request would bar from service in the legiment many men otherwise desirable, and it undoubtedly did. But his amazement was writ in large characters on his face and in his language, when he found tliat .\rizona contained enough men, exactlv to liis liking and ardently anxious for enlistment, to form a full regiment. This information he telegraphed to the President witli great 21 THE STORY OF THE KOLGH KIDERS. glee. But the President wired back to Brodie, that Arizona's quota of troops previously decided u})on by Congress assembled, was insufficient to enable liini to accept the services of a whole regiment from that Terri- tory, lie added to the message, and this well-nigh broke Ih-odie's heair, that not more than two iuuulred men could be taken. Brodie started oii a process of sifting, and pi'csently gathered at Prescott tiie best three buiKh'ed and tifty out of the lot. Fnmi these he selected two hundred, after having examined them first as to theii' (|ua!iHca- tions for killing S])aniar(ls and, second, as to their (pudi- fications for entei-ing into the lieaveidy (dioir, in case they should I)y chance l)e kiUed themsidves. dames 11. .Mc( 'lintock, afterwards cai)tain of B Troop, ])ro])ab]y gave Brodie more assistance than any other one man. McClintock would have been a bad man Inm- self had he not been ])revented by the restraining in- fluence of tlie ])rofession of journalism, whicli he fol- lowed. Tie had l»een the editor of half a dozen pap(>rs in the Territory, some of whicli are as dead as lu^ came near to being at Las Guasimas; some of which now sur- vive on half-total disability, as he does; and some of which are as active and as stiu'dy as he was when he helped Brodie to organize the Arizona troops. I shall not attempt to tell a chronological history of the organization of this regiment, because I do not be- lieve that anyone could prepare such a c]ia]iter. The regiment was organized, as most of its meml)ers had previously lived, and as it fought at Guasimas and San Ju an — helter-skelter. 23 TIIK JJUlLDINc; OF TllK i{K( i I M KNT, Arizona fuiiiislicd the rci;iiiifiital colors and the rogiiiicntal mascot. Tlie universal sympathy which existed between the people of tlie Territory and the ob- ject of the oriianization, couhl not be more plainly shown than it was by these two episodes. The ladies ot the Women's Kelief Corps at Phamix gave the flag, which was presented by the Governor. As Captain McClintock received the colors, a chorus of female voices from the Territorial Normal School sang ''Cod be with you till we meet again." The regimental mascot was given to the regiment by Ilobert Brow, a prominent and jovial gentleman of Prescott, and if the band jtlayed at all during the ceremony, the tune was probably either " AVe won't go home till morning," or " The Streets of Cairo." Thus extremes met. The flag was a beautiful silk standard, sewed together by devoted women who did not mind sitting uj) all night in order to get it ready in time, and it is said that there was much difficulty in finding the material of which to make it. Tlie same rumor tells of a blu.' >ilk ball gown, which may or may not have been used as the field for the flag's white stars. Tt was understood and hoped that President McKinlev would, when the regiment was in "Washington, formally present the colors to it in b(dialt of the ladies of Pluenix. but for some reasou this plan fell through. The regimental mascot was a mountain lion cul), who had been nanie(l Florence by Mr. Pobei-t Hrow's ]iatron, who brought her in to him, and ])ossibly turned hcv over to him in payment for a stack of blue chips. Slie was an extremely handsome animal, with soft, deep, tawny 23 THE STOllY OF TUE ROUGH KIDERS. fur, ami eyes which were deceptively mild in their ap- pearance. Xothing- could jjossibly be more satisfactory and comforting' than the gentle purr of this pleasant cat, and nothing could certainly have been ^har])cr or more lacerating than the points of the chiws which, foi- a certain portion ot tlie time, she ke|)t amiably coiiccah'd in the \('l\-et pads of her muscnlar paws. 1' lorciicc was fond of soldiers, and never altackcd lliciii. She bated civilians, and the man who did not wear a unifoi'm was I'casoiiably cci'tain to carry Iier signatnre away with bim if he went near enongh for b( r to rea(di him. This is b'terally trne. The Ihig was the first to be raised by the army (bii'ing the \vi\\\ and the (hiy we landed floated ])rou(lly on the snmmit of Mount Losil- tires. Tt was gallantly borne thnmgh every engagement in Cuba, and has now been returned to the AVomen's Relief ('or])s of Plufiiix, who point with pardonable pride to the many 1»nlh't holes wdiich are in it. The mountain lion was very wdsely left at Tampa Avhen the regiment sailed. Some of the troopers advo- cated her transportation to Cuba on the theory that the colonel coidd sick her on the Spaniards just before^ each battle, with disastrous results to the enemy, but still, she was left at Tampa. She has now gone back to Arizona. Probably Mr. Robert Brow has her again. She did hei- duty nobly, and deserves a pension. One more word about Arizona, which does not entirely concern the Rough Riders. This Territory, both on the 24 TIIK lUII.DINd OK TIIK UK(;iMKNT. tirst and second calls for tni()[)s, had her full ([uota organ- ized, armed, and equipped before any other State or Ter- ritory in the Union. At AVhipple ]^aiTacks, when the two hundred selected men marched away to take tl)" train for San Antonio, they left behind them tifteen hundred to two thonsand sorrowing' ones, who would have gone with them at the drop of the hat, and who mourned because the hat fell not. It was ou the od of May that the Arizona nuMi started for San Antonio. It was on the 8th of .May that the very last men of all — those of K Troop — left Washington for San Antonio. These were the " dnde warriors," the " dandy troopers," the "gilded gang." When their train pnlled into San Antonio, and they start(Ml stragglingly to march to cam]), they encountered a contingent of three hundred and forty cowboys from Xew^ ]\rexico. Oil and water are not farther removed than were the everyday natures of these two groups of men. Yet, instantly they fraternized, and from that moment — through the hardships of it all, through the blood and death and fever of it all — these men w(n'e brothers. Concerning the voyage of the Washington swells. T will quote an item from a newspaper. It indicates sonu' interesting things about the reijiment: "A well-known Xew ^'o^k clubinan had eidisted. When departing for San Antonio he engaged a sleeper, and was shown to his place by the p(»rter. Just as he deposited his ])aggage, Sergeant Thad- deus Higgins, an old eavalrynuin of the regular ser- 25 TJtlE STORY OF THE KOUGII ItlDKHS. .-U'.- vice, Avlio had rharjic of the partv, ta}>})t'(l him on the shoulder. " ' Take these tliiiiiis hack thei-e, ' he said, jerking his thiiiiil) ill ihe direction of the ordiiiarN' i^hiy coaches pro- A'iihd l)_v the ( loverniiieiit for tiic Iroojx'rs. " The chiluiiaii hioked suri»risc(L It was his first ex- |tcricii('c ill iiiilitarv discipline. " ' ihat's where voii h(doiii;/ ad(h'(l Sergeant lliggins, wit h tlie t huiiili st ill pointed to the r<'ar. " 'I'he (dul)iiian was made of good stuflF. lie sahited, picked up his things, and went hack to tlie day coaches, lie did not sleep at full h'Ugth until the train ar- rived at San Antonio." l)(>tinitely, the Arizona contingent started for San Antonio ^lav J5d; the troo]) from Outhrie, Oklahoma, started May 4th, and the four troo})s from Xew ^Mexico started May Gth. .And it may he as well uow to go hack to some of the experiences which Colonel Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the ISTavy, was having in "Washington. From the very start, as I have said, C^olonel Roosevelt was considered the head of the regiment. The fact that he had declined to accept the colonelcy on the ground that he did not have enough experience, and that the post of commanding officer had been given to Captain 36 TIIK lUILDINd OF 'I'llK HKCIMENT. Lc(Mi:irnr,u', niuh'r the guidance of Jack Conley, known to be one of the most daring characters ill that State. Ifoosevelt had to decline. At that very iiioiiieiil U'tters and telegrams lay on his (l(>sk, which tol 1 of over fifteen thousand men who wanted to join the regiment. Prohaldy no military organization has ever been made up of men selected from so large a number of applicants, or of men so carefully select e(l. T could till a chapter easily by telling of the men who wante to the time when he resigned and came l^orth to enlist. Guv ]\lurchie was the well-known Harvard coach. Waller was the champion high-jnmijer of Yale. Stephens was a great polo player from Colorado. Henry W. Bull, of California, was one of the leading members of the Harvard crew. Ilollister was Harvard's champion half-mile runner. Horace Devereaux, from Colorado S])rings, was the leader in one of Princeton's most famous football teams. Basil Ricketts was the son of the late General Rick- etts, and was born just across the street from the place at which he entered service that day. Sterne Avas a well-known polo ]ilayer. Percival (Jassett, of T^oston, was a grandson of Com- modore " ]\Iad Jack " Percival, who commanded the frigat(> " Constitution." (Jassett liad served for three years in Troop A in P)Oston. and in Light Lattery A. He bore a medal for marksmanship. There were three N^ew York policemen in the troop, Henry Haywood, Edwin Eberuian, and William Breen. El)erman also served in the Sixth Cavali'v at Pine Pidge, and wears a medal for gallant conduct there. Two other ex-cavalrymen were in the tro(->]-), Eirst Sergeant Higgins, of Xew York, aiul Private Pi'ice. Tt is interesting to note that the ]>oIiceiiien wlio juinccl the I'cgiiiient were 29 THK STuJiV OK THE Rorcil IMDEUri. i;ivon indotiiiitc Icavc^ of jiUsonce M'itli full pay by the; city. J'oor Haywood was killed -hily 1st. I devote ('oiisideral)I(' space to these men, not because their work was any better than that of the men of wlioni I do not sjx'ak l)y name, but in order to illnstrate the extraordinary materials of which the regiment was made. That sncli cliaps slionld liave joined at all was, ])erliaps, iiioi'e to their credit than it ^vas to the credit of the Westei'uers who joined, foi' they had more to lose in i;'oin^-, and tlie liardships of a soldier's life meant more to them than they did to the men who had known hard- shii)s all their lix'es. Hiere were those among this dude contingent, however, who had done service on the ])lains, and who could ride as w(dl, or throw a rope as well, or "shoot as well, or do any of the things which are asso- ciated with life on the frontier, as well as the men who were ])ro])erly known as cowboys. It was on the (ith of May that Theodore Iloosevelt was sworn in as lieutenant-colonel of volunteers. The ceremony took ])la('e in. the othce which lie had occupied as Assistant Secretary of the jSTavy, and there were a good many prominent men there to see the famous civilian fighter change to a military fighter. There were senators and representatives there and many army offi- cers. General Corbin administered the oath. That same day most of the niend)ers of Troop K were mustered in. They were in the Army Dispensary building in Washington wdien Roosevelt made liis first speech to them. It was the first speech he had made as an army officer, and he evidently enjoyed the situa- tion. During the Santiago campaign he made almost 30 i ^ 1 I'llK HLll,l)iNG UF 'J-llE REGIMENT. as niaiiv speeches to his sohlicrs as he did to the voters of Xew York State duriug his political campaign, and the soldiers always enjoyed them. He said to the men w lio li;i(l uatlicred there: "Gentlemen: ^'oii have now reached the last point. If any one of yon doesn't mean business, let him say so now. An lionr from now it will be too late to back out. ( )iu'e ill, yoiTve got to see if tliroiigh. You've g'ot to perform without flinching whatever duty is assigned to you, regardless of the difficulty or danger attending it. You must know how to ride, you must know how to shoot, you must know liow to live in the o])en. Absolute obedieiiee to every eommand is your first lesson. Xo matter what comes you mustn't sipieaL ihink it over — all of you. Tf any man wants to withdraw, he will be gladly excused, for there are thousands who are anxious to have places in this regiment." Of course no one withdrew. The comic paragrajjliers had a deal of fun over the enlistment of these men — these petted ones of fortune who were going to war — but the comic paragraphers stop])ed saying funny things when the ])etted ones of fortune, hiter, stood up like the real men they were and took, without whimpering, tlu^r doses of steel medicine on the batth^tields of ( "uba. riiey gave their lieutenant-colonel a rousing cheer, and three times three times more rousing cheers. After- wards they cheered him in the staid and quiet precincts of the Xavy Department until all the (derks, wdio had never heard sucli a disturbance within its sacred walls before, swarmed into the hallways and wished that they were going to war too. 3 3:] THE STOKV OF THE KOUGH RIDERS. Ill tlic iiioantiiiic, Colonel Wood was busy at San Antonio. The men began to pour in there from the Territories in which thej had been enlisted. By May lOtli the regiment was all there, and was being licked into shape with a rapidity that was probably never equalled before. 34 CHAPTER II. THE REGIMENT AT SAN ANTONIO. 'i'hc lil'c of rlic rcuiiiiciit at San Antonio was almost as interestini;' as the life of the rejjimoiit, nftorwnrds, in ('iili:i. Prohiiltlv there never was handed too-(>ther sneh ;iii iiic()iii;rii(His mass of men as this one which gathered ill the Texan eity for the ])urposc of being put into shape as a eavahy regiment. The men were at first put into the old Exposition building, because there were no tents for them. All the officers expected clashes between the Eastern contingent and the Western men; but the clashes did. not come. The men mixed fraternally, and officers ceased to be surprised when they found that an Arizona bronco buster had chosen as his bunkie some Eastern college man. Colonel Roosevelt (piickly won the love and confi- dence of the men who were under him, by refusing to accept for himself any conveniences which he could not offer to his men. lie slept as they slei)t, and ate what they ate. Another thing which pleased them was the early announcement that it had been arranged in Washington, through his personal efforts, to arm the regiment with Krag-Jorgenson carbines. The Ivough Riders thus became the only volunteer regiment of the army properly equipped \vith modern guns. 35 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS, After tlic tents eame, the men left the Exposition building and made a regular military camp on the Ex- position grounds. A very large majority of them had never seen a shelter-tent before, mid knew much less about lu)\v t(i make a luilitary eaui}) than sonic ot" thcni knew about diiierential calculus, and others about stop- ping stampeding cattle. Many of the officei-s rpiartered themselves in the bnildings thereabouts, hnt lloosevclt slept in liis shcltcr-tcnt with his ])onclio and his l)lanket. The regiment, by the way, had no regimental or otficers' tents assigned to it until it arrived at ^lontauk, after the war was over. I'here were men ad- mitted to the regiment after the mobilization at San Antonio, and there were men who left it after that. Some of these were finally rejected on their physical examination, and some were dropped or dropped themselves for other reasons. One of the latter class was a German, who must cer- tainly have been accepted by mistake. AVhile the Hough Riders were not all educated men, they were mostly chaps with breech-loading, rapid-fire-high-speed- projectile minds. The German's head lacked these characteristics. He was undeniably stupid. He suf- fered. He went. 36 THE RKGTMENT AT SAN ANTONIO. It came alxiiit in this way. '\\w men in liis troop li:i(] (l(H'i(l(Ml that they did not care to acH'oinpany him to (nha, \>\\\ rlicy took liini aside, and with many words cxphiincd to liini their hio-h reo'ard. They told him that he was a man wh(»se i-epntation for bravery had gone before him, and that as the Spaniards liad crossed the ]\lexiean borih-r into Texas, and were momentarily ex- pected to attack tliat cam[) at San Antonio, he had been seh'cted as the one man of all men to protect it from their devilish wiles. Xiaht was a])proachinsi', and the last snow of the tardy sprinu' was fallinii,'. They gave him liiree candles and they posted him in a remote place by a tree. '* If one regiment of S]~)aniards attacks yon," said they, " light one candle; if the attatdv is made hy fwo regi- ments, then light two; if three regiments come npon yon in the night, light all of them, and may (I^d ha\c merc-y on yonr sonl. We are s^irry that we cannot give yon a gun." The derman acceyited the res])onsil)ility, and his leave-taking was im]iressive. Solemnly the men of his ti'oop iijed np, and sadly and atVectionately tluy shook hi- hand. They assnred him that it was a great thing to be the first man in the war to die for liis eonntry, and he wept in dialect as he thanked them for the chance. Strict military regnlations had not lieen ])ut in force at San Antonio, else it w^nld have been impossible for the twenty men to leave the camp who stole away at midnight toward that watelifnl (German. Bnt they left it, and when they came npon tlie German, his regret was that he had not more than three candles, for he was 37 THE STORY OP" THE ROUGH RIDERS. convinced that the entire Spanish army of not three, but three thousand regiments had begun a night attack. Also he became impressed with the idea that there are other things nicer than dying for one's country. His disappearance might have been recorded as de- sertion. But it was not. Another episode — B Troop had no cook. That is, its cook liad expressed his opinion of his assignment to that duty by remarking: " What the hell do I know about cooking? All I do is to throw the stuif together, boil it and then yell ' dinner! ' " This, unfortunately, was too true, and great was the grief of Captain McClintock and Lieutenant Alexander thereat. Desperate, they dined at a restaurant. That meal was a taste of Paradise. jMcClintock said: '' I'm going to get that cook! " He (lisa]ij)eared into the kitchen, and great was the woe and loud the ])rotests of the proprietor of the res- taurant while McClintock was explaining to the cook the beauties of service in the uniform of Uncle Sam. ISTo recruiting officer in the service of the Queen ever worked harder to earn his fee than McClintock did to get that cook. His eloquence won the day, and the cook enlisted. Then did B Troop begin to feast like lords. But sud- denly the cook was missing. ITo search availed the grief-struck officers. Days passed. Frank W. Schenck had gone. When he reappeared, McClintock's joy at his return was too acute to permit much scolding. He, however, demanded an explanation of his five days' absence, and 88 THE REC-IMENT AT SAX ANTONIO. Frank W. SclK'Uck i'c|ili('(l wirli lioncvcd swcotiicss, thai he had gone to San Antunio (ti niik' away) and started to return on time but had missed his car. At Montauk, the same cook obtained a fui'lungh, and went away. AVhen he returne(K he brought a Mrs. Frank AV. Schenck with him. He ha clear. F'or courtship must pre- cede marriage. The Easterners were scarcely less at home on the AVestern broncos, than the AVesterners were on the Mc- Clelhin saddles. Tliey missed the great .Mexican pum- mels which had l)een theirs since childhood. an inspiring to the on- looker or more interesting to the ]>articiiiani than the first reginu'utal evolutions on these wild Western ponies. There would l)e five or six lioiscs in e\-erv troop whose refusal to stay in line was fii-m and i)er- manent. It was frequently necessary to stop the entire mana-uvre while some cowboy paused to throw his un- willing little brute. Bridles were scarce at first, and some of the men got on with the sim])le hitch id" a lariat around their animal's lower jaw. I'oi- a horse to bolt was common, for one or two to rcai' so enthusiastically that they eventually fell ba<-kwai'd, excitcil no conunent. Xothing less than the stampede of an entire troojt amid 3!) THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. the howling of tlie men was considered really excit- ing. The second mounted regimental drill occurred May 24th, and with it came one of these stampedes. Dozens of the troopers were thrown, mid am(»ng the victims were as many Western cowboys as members of the gilded Eastern gang. They had attempted to charge, with Roosevelt in the lead. That some of the men were not killed ill the ciisiiiiig luix-ii}) was wonderful. llallett Allsop JJorrowe was tlirown beneath two strapping cow- boys and had his new nniform blonse literally torn off his back. The ( iox-enimeiit ])i'(i\'ides not for such con- tingencies, and iJorrowe lind to buy his own new blonse. Afterwards the charge was tried again with some success. The next day Joseph Jenkins bee, (»f IJaltimore, and Roscoe Clianning, who was Vale's great h:ilf-b:iek in 'IHi, were assigned their mustangs. They took what they themselves called a trial canter. That there were moi'o trials than cantering about it was shown by theii- con- dition when they retui'ued. rnasmuch as they took solemn oath that they had not been thro^\m, the regi- ment concluded that they must have paused by the way- side to mix mud pies. The tii-st man sent to hos]:)ital was Private Greenway. He tried to stop his mustang with his kneecap. Just before the regiment departed for the concentra- tion camp at Tampa, the gathering and shipping of the live stock afforded nuieli pleasure and instruction to the men. That any of the men who entered the corrals lived to go afterwards to Cuba was not the fault of the; merry mustangs who plunged therein. " Judge " 40 THE HECIMKX'l' AT SAN ANTUNIO. .Mui'phv was the sergeant of the giuml. His heart had been hroken hv the work of getting the horses out. lie had been at it for twenty hours, and war seemed cruel to him. That was when he learned to love Captain Cap- ron. lie was l)etween two ])hiiigiiig hnites in the mid- (Mc (.f thi' corral, linding it diftieult to keep awake, even in such distressing cireumstances. Captain Capron, long and l)ig, elind)ed over the snrrounding fence and said: " Go \\\) and go to sleep on one of those boxes. I'll do your work for you. I don't want to kill my men — yet." Afterwards at Lns Cuasimas, they were glad to die for him and he was glad to die with them. ihe second wounded man was ^larshall Bird, whose siibs('(|uent wonderful escape at (luasimas is mentioned in the story of that battle. Bird was thrown while he was a nHMubci- of a detail going after horses, and it was thoiiglit f(ir a lime tliat his skull was badly fractured, but he tui'ued uj) tor duty and went on witli the ((thers. It nuiy be well now to devote a few brief words to the startling ex]terieuces (.f the Eastern men who went west. When tluy arrived in San Antonio, May KUh, they gathered by ])re-an-augement at the best hotel in the citv. Thfy' nuide elaborate toilets and they ordered as fine a breakfast as San Antonio provided. "■ It's all off after this," they said to themselves, and they enjoyed that breakfast with great joy. There were in this little ])arty, (i. Bonald Fortescue, Henry W. Shar]). .1. W. Taih.r. Henry W. IJull, Kenneth Tvh'W t)ver. i\ruch excitement was created at one time l)y the announcement that 15oi'i'owe was kee})ing his vah't at a liotel, and that he daily made a pilgrinuige to the place to shave and take a hatli. The valet was sent Kasr. The same day a Xew ^lexi- can cowhoy refused point l)lank to ohey an order given by Sergeant 'i'ilfauy. He sait expedition to Cnha started, ancl the men took it all cdieerfuUy, and did their work with gladness. 'Idas was beeanse among them there was hnt one thought — the desire; to go on that e.\])edition. Ottieered as they Avere, with the President's own medical adviser in command, and the ex- Assistant Sec- retary of the Xavy as their lieutenant-colonel, they knew that they would be considered kindly when the opportu- nity came, and they were anxious to see to it that that consideration found no tlaws in them. AVheii Colonel Wood announced to the men that martdiing orders had at last arrived, the news was re- ceived with cheers which lasted for many minutes. In- deed, nothing exce])t the sound ol" ta]>s eoiinng from tlie bugles with the night, could still the exuberant spirits which infected the regiment. Xo wilder hurrah was heard in Cuba when we learned o\ir victories than tliat which went u]) in San Antonio wdien marching orders were receivcMl. Lieutenant-('(donel lioosevcdt read the message, and then he and Colone^ AVood em- braced like schoolboys. 47 CHAPTER III. AT TAMPA, AND THE TRIP TO CUBA. It was on May '2inh tliat tln' Roiii^li Riders went away from Sail ^Viitonio with higli hopes in their hearts that they wonkl not jianse Jonii- a_nain nntil they pansed in Cnba. Indeed they had bet- ten- luck than any other regi- ment in the ai'my, for be- tween the endjarkation at San Antonio and the moment when they actually faced the Spanish bnllets, less than thirty days intervened. Every captain had orders to send his troops to bed early that Satnrday night, for Wood and Roosevelt al- ready had inklings of the imperfect transportation which the Government conld fnrnish to the regiment. They knew the trij) before them wonld be long and wearisome, and they wanted their men to be well prepared for it. The work of l)reaking camp took all of Satnrday. Colonel Wood ordered all snperflnons baggage left be- hind, telling the men that they conld take with them only such necessaries as they conld find room for in their 48 AT TAMPA, AND J'llE TRW 'JO CI BA. blanket rolls, lliuidrccls of boxes were sent by express that day to Western ranches and Eastern mansions. Kane, Tiffany, and K(»nalds sheepishly admitted that their rejections inchuled the swallowed-tailed coats and low-cnt vests of full dress suits. Just why these gentle- men took dress suits to war with them I do not know. The last packing was done after supper. Ulien most of the cooking utensils were stowed away, leaving the men only their lilanket rolls to pack, and their shelter- tents to " strike " (or take down), before they started on their journey. At three o'clock the sweet notes of reveille rang out, and Cam]) Wood woke up. The dawn was cool and lovely, and the men were as full of energy as they after- wards proved themselves to be full of fight. Breakfast \vas a hasty meal, prepared under great ditticulties, be- cause so many of the cooking utensils had been jiacked uj). Drilled as tlicy had l)ccn in the ])rei)aration of the blanket rolls, there wove those among the men who packed theirs so badly that many of their little treas- ures were shaken out before they reached the railway. They were shaken out to stay, for when the ride (mce started, (^olonel AVood p(M-mitted no stoppage. The cars into wliicli IIm' men were huddled were iu- finitely less comfortai)le than the cars making up the trains (111 which most (d' the regular trooi)S went South. I travelled from Chickaniauga to Tampa with the Xinth Cavalry, and the negro troopers Avere furnished with emigrant sleeping cars. The men of the liough liiders had no such luxury. They slept in their seats, if they slept at all. 4 1!» THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. The experiences which the men had had with their Western horses at drill and regimental manoeuvres, were as nothing to the time they had in loading them on the stock cars for final shipment. It is well here to call atention to the fact that these horses were practically neglected during the live days' trip which followed. This was no fault of the regiment, but can oidy be laid at the door of the railway companies. Iloosev(^lt left on the last section. Wood remained to see that everything got oft" all right, and followed on a regular passenger train. It was fully half-past ten at night before that third section pulled out, and when it went, the sleeping car berth which had been reserved for Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt was occupied by a private soldier. Roosevelt found him suffering from an illness, and had him taken in and put to bed. From then on, until the regiment reached Tampa, Roosevelt took pot-luck with his men in the dingy day coaches which Uncle Sam had furnished to them. There was a good deal of trouble in getting food for the men during that long day's wait in the San Antonio raihvay yard. Their dinner finally consisted of a thin slice of canned beef between two hardtacks. This was the first day the regiment went hungry. Many others followed after they reached Cuba. The first man to be taken sick on the trip was Private Nicholson, of Troop K. His home w^as Baltimore, and he had the measles. It is believed that he may have carried this disease into the regiment, for many men afterwards came down with it. All along the line the men were received with the 50 AT TAMFA, A:ND THE TRIP TO CUBA. iitmoRt cntlnisiasiii l)y great crowds waiting at the sta- tions. Even as early as four ox- lock in the morning, in some instances, pretty girls were dressed in white, and wailing to give them posies as they passed. The most enthnsiastic reception of all occurred at JSYnv Orleans, where tremendous crowds were at the Southern Pacific and Lonisville and Nashville stations to hid them (lod- speed as they passed throngh. 'JMiere Avcre unaccount- able delays, and for hours the men, who were kept closely in the cars by guards stationed at all entrances, sweltered and sweated in the heat of a A'ew Orleans day. They bore the hardship of this kind of travelling with a certain rough philosophy, but the remarks they nuide about the railway companies are not printable in this volume. They were dirty, hot, and hungry, and while it cannot be said that language ever suffers from dirt or hunger, that used by the Rough Riders on this occasion was certainly hot. It was (nirly in tlu^ cool dawn tliat the regiment reached Tampa. It was dumped without consideration by the railway com])any at Ybor Oity, although it could easily have been taken half a dozen miles nearer to its camping ])lace. The baggage cars were run off into some remote district, thoroughly out of sight, and the regiment's mess kits were hidden in them. They had been assigned three days' rations. Their journey had taken five days, and they were hungry. Probably a trooper's remark on this occasion, "that war is hell," was spoken with more feeling than marked the expres- sion of any sentiment afterwards during the entire cam- paign. Roosevelt and AVoo(l wei-e both wildly indig- THE STOEY OF THE KOUGH RIDERS. nant over the way the regiment had been treated by the railways. Koosevelt made the acquaintance of at least a dozen officials of the road before the day was over, and those officials can be classed with the S[)aniards whom he met afterwards and who never wanted to renew their communication with Colonel Koosevelt. So crowded was the train that grain, hay, and other forage for the animals had to be packed in the aisles of the pas- senger coaches, and the tops of the freight cars carried tons of supplies of all kinds. The animals were unloaded in the stock pens, and plainly showed the effects of the starvation and neglect which they had suffered on the way. But like the men, they were glad enough to get there, no matter how. The ride from the point of disembarkation to the camping grounds was not less than eight miles long. It was made with some pretense of troop formation, but not much. The men rode through Tampa, with its filthy shanties and deserts of sand, to a point back of the Tampa Bay Hotel. Their destination had previously been used as the Sixth (Cavalry's drill ground. Not much effort was made to form an elaborate camp here, for the men were tired and it was the belief of everyone that they were only pausing for a day or two before they were to be sent to the transports and on to Cuba. They simply formed in lines— a row of tents and a row of horses at their picket lines. It was not a good camping ground. Rains were frequent, and the formation of the soil was such that the water would not soak in. Those who had the money were comforted by the proximity of the Tampa Bay Hotel, but those who 52 AT TAMI'A, AND THE TRIP TO CUHA. liad not, were less pleasantly sitnatecl than they had been in San Antonio. The arrangement of the tents elose to the picket lines brought a })lagne of flies about the men, and Tampa contributed its pleasant little share of tarantulas and centipedes. It is scarcely worth while to go into great detail about the stay of the men at Tampa. It was an unph'asant ])eri()d, })ut it was only pre- liminary to the embarkation. It was simply one of the necessary evils which led up to the glorious Cuban cam- paign, and the men have forgotten as much of it as they can forget. It is only fair here to make some slightly detailed mention of Troops C, M, I, and II. I'hese included the unfortunates Avhose memory of Tam])a is their iiicm- ory of the war. Probaldy no grief stands out as more acute and painful in the minds of the men wlio formed these troops than that whidi came to them wbeii they found that they were to be left bchiiKb Nearly cvei-y regiment of tlic army was forced to desert some of its men in this way, and the men who stayed Ixliind deserve quite as ample credit as the men whose ]>rivil('g(' it was to hui'ry to the front. Theirs were the long and ag- gravating days of inactive discomfort; of weary, weary waiting. ]\rajor Ilersey was left in command of those who stayed in I'auipa. After Majnr Ib-odit^ was wounded and promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy, Cap- tain Jenkins was made the junior major, and through a special dispensation from deneral Coppinger, Ilersey became the ranking major, and joiued the regiment in the field. Afterwards, ^Fajor Dunn took command at Tam])a. The troops at Tampa suffered terribly from r)3 THE STOEY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. sickness. For instance, there were eighty-three men in C Troop. When the war was over, and they finally started ISTorth, only forty-five men were left who could travel, or who had not already been sent iSTorth. It has been shown that the men in Tampa really suffered more from sickness than the men who went to Cuba. The hospitals were so overcrowded that it was almost im- possible to find room for ailing Rough Riders there, and many sufferers from typhoid aiid typhus-malai'ia were, perforce, neglected. Scarcely a hospital train went Xortli which did not carry with it some of tliese unfortunate Rough Riders, and the lot of the men in Tampa was generally unhappy. They had eleven hun- dred horses and mules to look after. Reveille was hal)itiially sounded at 4.-^)0. Drill came on at .").:>( I and lasted until S.:30 or !», and after that the men i)erf()rmcd such dreary cam]) work as came in tlieir daily routine. Then they could only lie in their shelter-tents (»ut of the sun, and spend the horrid days in fighting m(>s(|nito('s, flies, and heat. Their only hope was that they might be ordered to the front. Tliree times the glad news came. They were instructed to prepare their goods and strike their tents. The last time they were even told that transportation was all ready for them, and that the ship which was to carry them on to Cuban battlefields lay anchored, ready, in Savannah harbor. But each time when they were prepared to start, their orders were countermanded, and the dreary, dreary hopeless days at Tampa began again. I should have said before that the camp of this waiting contingent was transferred from Tampa to Port Tampa, 54 AT 'I'AMl'A, A.N I) THE TRll' TO CUBA. after tlicir iuoi'(> fovtiuiate companions had sailed away, and that the sanitarv conditions were as good as any. An episode of the days at 'rani})a was the football game. There were a good many football players in the regiment, and some of them had college records not ex- celh^d. Vho game was progressing merrily, when Ham- ilton, the strong man. fi'om Indian Territory, who liad been to town as JMajor TIersey's orderly, came along. He conld not keep ont of the game and forgot that he still had his spurs on. He jnmped for Ricketts and Mc- Farrin, who had ])lay(Ml on the University of F^ennsyb vania team. There was scarcely a man in the sci'imniage that ensued who left it without wounds from Hamilton's spurs. The newspapers hare already told the story of how the troops were loaded on the transports; how the trans- ])orts sailed out into rani]ta Bay, and how the spectre of a mythical S])anish tleet di'o\-e them inglorionsly back to their docks. I'inally they started. The troo])s on board the " Yu- catan '" were A and V>, from Arizona; 1), from Okla- homa; K, F, and (i, fi-oni Xew Mexico; K from the Fast, and 1j from hidian Territory. riiere was also a part of the Second Infantry on board, with its regimental band. There had been the wildest excitement and heart- burning among the men Avhen it was found that some troops were to be left l)ehind and some were to be chosen to go to ("nba. There was not a mail in the whole regiment who did not voice in his heart that cry which he shouted from his lips: THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. "Rough, tough, we're the stuff, We want to tight, and we cau't get enough." But there were those of them who were to see no fighting and they took their disappointment then as bravelj as their comrades afterwards took their danger, although the danger was much more welcome than the disappointment. Knowledge of the troops which had been selected was spread throughout the regiment tlie night before, and there were those among the Kough Eiders who worked for transfer to the troops which were to sail under the favored letters. J\Iore demonstrative than the others, because thej were of the elect, were Woodbury Kane and Lieutenant Tiffany, who had been among the most ardent workers from the start. These two ipen had done more, perhajjs, than any others to persuade the AVesterners that because a man came from the East, and because he was college bred, he did not necessarily shirk his tasks nor fall off his horse. The day of cmljarkation Avas a great day. Sergeant Higgins expressed it well when he remarked: " Hell won't be worse crowded on the last day than this dock is ikjw." I have inserted a photograph of the embarkation in the book, and its wild mix-u]i only slightly pictures the insane confusion of the scene. On the transport, the quarters were anything but pleasant. Most of the bunks were in the vessel's hold — and she was a rattle- trap old hulk that had been used in the freight-carrying trade — and they were badly built of rough and unplaned lumber. The work of the contractors wlio liad ]^iit the berths u]). proved to be so inefficient tliat many 56 AT TAMPA, AND THE TRIP TO CLBA. of thorn foil down wlion the mon piled into thoin the first night. After that those particular Ifough Jiidors were without beds. At the best, the bunks were so close to- gether that the men could niOYO about between them oidy witli the very greatest difficulty, and wdien they crawk'd into them at night they found them so narrow that turning over ordinarily meant splinters in their skins. The transport's capacity was 750 men. At first 1,000 men Avere on board. One hundred were afterwards re- moved to another ship. Early in the voyage a waggish trooper hung the sign, "Standing Eoom Only," ("vor the side of the ship. Another came along, and with the same marking i)ot added: '' And (huim little of ihat." In the meantime, oi course, such luxuries as artificial ventilation had been utterly neglected, and the room (.n dock was greatly circumscribed by the building of a rough board sui^orstructuro. A little space was left clear, fore and aft of this, and if the men wanted air they had to seek these s])acos, trust themselves to the some- what shaky roof of the sui)erstructuro, or cling to the swaying shrouds. It was on the first day out that the third man wounded mot his injury, 'riicnias II. Young, who was the son of a Kentucky colonel, anignal men wei-e always wigwagging to the other boats from lier dingy bridge, and smutty litth' torpedo boats were ever dodging about among the fleet, gi\ing ordcMs fi'om her as to formation — as io \\lio should conu' foi'wai'd and M-Jio should fall back. There were things which hap[)ened, before we passetl Cape Maisi, of which we had no knowledge. 'Idie Spanish papers have, since the war, told of a ti'iji which one of their torpedo-boat destroyers made through the middle of our fleet on a foggy nudnight, when slie did not know whether she was among frieiuks oi* foes; wlien she did not know wliether to fire or hold hei- ammuintion, and Avheii slic was suddenly enliglit(MU'd by a stnrtly hail iVom the bridge of one of onr wai'ships, asking her if she wei-e the " Pol'tei'," one of onr toi'pedo boats. 'J'he Spaiuards promptly answered, " ^'es.'" and when the warshi]) tlii'ew her searcddight ronnd, showing six or eight .\ m erica n ships in >iglit, she -kipped for the ( 'nhan coast and safety with all the rapidity tliei'e was within lier b( lilcis. riie " \'aid mere savages? " A month later, as he sailed away upon the " Silvia," a s])ecial ship which he had chartered to take him Xortli, lie stood calndy at the rail and gazed with satisfaction at his last blue glimpse of ( 'uha. When he had found that Paradise, he had heeii well and strong, his nuiscles and his mind had ovei'llowed with energy, his enthusiasm had been great, 'ihat day, as he leaned against the rail, the high temperature of Gnbnii fever burned his skin, his pulse beat 140 to the mintite, antl his eyes, erstwhile so bright, were yelloAv and bloodshot. 63 THE STORY OF THE KOUGH lilDEKS. He shook his fist at Cuba on this occasion, and said: " My God ! how can even savages live there ? " On the 2 2d of June, the Rough Riders made their hmding at Daiquiri. 64 CHAPTER IV. IN CUBA, BEFORE THE nOHTING. It was at Daicjjjiri that I tirst saw the Rongli Uidors. ^ I liad liaitpciu'd to go away from 'laiiipa on the very (lay tlu'y I'eachod there, and had rctnrned oidy in time to embark long after the " Yucatan" and its cargo of First Vohmteer Cavalry men was out of sight. r ^.^c- I was among the tirst to land, because there was a /'^i^J^^;J JonjiKil tugboat there to help me get ashore. While I was wat(dniig the soldiers of the regular troops disem- l>ark at the dock, the first boatload of Kough Iliders came alniig. This dock was a uiere skeleton. The Spaiuards had rip[)ed the j)lanking oft" it before the}' retired, and, althougli there were thousands of feet of loose boards stacked np on shore, our men were in too gi'eat a hurry to nail lliem on the bare timbers which had been left. Tlie engineers, who might have done this work, had been sent down the coast to build pontoon bridges for the ('ubaiis, and so the I'nited States army picked a precarious way ashore over slippery wooden girders. This gave the Eough Riders their first opportunity to distinguish themselves in Cuba. Our soldiers, laden down with blanket rolls, annnunition belts, arms, and otiier heavy equipment, (dindx'd up to the dock from the tossing surf boats with the utmost diftieulty. The sea dashed quite over the dock at times, and the wet 5 65 THE STOKY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS, timbers afforded slight hold for either hands or feet. The men were thoroughly occnpied in keeping their own balance, and frequently could not avoid letting some of their impedimenta slip from their hands into the boiling- waters below the dock. There lay bugles, guns, re- volvers, canteens, and other pieces of equipment galore. In the boat-load of Rough I\iders, which I have men- tioned, were C. E, Knoblauch, whom I have already spoken of as a member of the Xew York Stock Exchange, and several other expert sAvimmers. They quickly volunteered to rescue the lost articles, and stripped for the work. All day long they plied at this thankless task. Along toward night, while the Tenth Cavalry was struggling ashore, two of its colored troopers slipped oft" the dock and went down into the boiling sea among the crunching boats and jagged rocks. Knoblauch, Buckie O'Xeil, and their companions worked as never men worked before to save these two poor chaps from drowning, but the task was too great for human strength, and they had to make their way to shore as best they could — crestfallen and unsuccessful. The men who were drowned were the first victims of the same lack of foresight which afterwards cost so many lives at Bloody Angle, and the men who tried to save them were the first men who had an opportunity to develop heroism during the land operations of the Spanish- American War. So the Rough Riders were " in it " at the start. Over at the right of Daiquiri a sugar-loaf mountain rose sheer a thousand feet. It was called Mount Losil- 66 IN CUBA, EEFORE THE FIGHTING. tires. On the very siiiuniit of this strani;el_v shaped hill was a bh)ekh<)us('. All the inoriiiiig, during the bom- bardment, wo had watched this tiny fortification with the greatest interest. It offered a sliining mark for the gunners of the attacking ships, and proba])ly a hundred shells were aimed at it. ^lany struck near it, and as we Avatched the clouds of smoke and dust resulting from their explosions slowly clear away, we ex])ected to find that the blockhouse had been annihilated. Ihit when the bondtardnient ended, it still stood there, (tutlined shar})ly and saucily against the Cuban noonday sky. At its side there rose a flagstaff. I tried to borrow a flag of a nund)er of trans[)ort cap- tains, but witli that charming indifference to any ])atri- otic idea which they exhibited from beginning to end of the war, they unanimously refused to let me have one. I had in my possession a small flag belonging to the Xew A'ork Journal; I decided to raise that flag as the first to be set flying over Cuba by anyone connected with the United States army. There never was a harder clind) than the one by which I reached the summit of Mount Losiltires. I'here liad been a path up the side of the mountain, zigzagging and rough at best no doubt, but now almost entirely oblit- erated in places by the terrific explosions of our shells. In one place a hole not less than ten feet deep and three times as far across had literally scooped out the side of the mountain — ])atli and all. 1 never did harder Avork than I did in getting around this hole, clinging with hands and feet to tiny projections and little shrubs. AVilliam Bengough, a Joiirnal artist, had started "U'ith 67 THE STORY OF THE KOUGH EIDERS. me, but the heat and the climb proved too much for him, and he stopped to rest before we reached the hole. Fi- nally I scrambled up to the sunnnit. The sun was blistering hot and the clind> had cx- hansted me. I sat down to get my wind. While I was sitting there, Surgeon La Motto, (/'olor-Sergeant Wright, and Trumpeter Piatt, of the Kongh Riders, came up by another and easier trail. They had wdth them the flag which had hccn pre- sented to Captain McClintock's troop by the ladies of Pliamix, Arizona. It was a beautiful silk Hag and it is now a Hag with a history. This history will be found elsewhere in this volume. We consulted as to the best means of raising it. 'I'lierc were no lanyards on the weather-beaten old pole which the Spaniards had left behind them. We tried to de- vise a scheme of putting a flag up on that, but it was too small and slippery to climb, and "we gave the notion up. Just at this moment the only patriotic civilian sailor that I saw during the whole war, came clind)ing slowly over the edge of the hill. I have forgotten his name; I Avish I had it. The llough liiders had inves- tigated the blockhouse and found a little ladder inside, long enough to reach up to the tiny cupola with its loopholes. Wright and Piatt had found this ladder, and presently Piatt appeared on his knees on the hot, slippery tin roof. He remained on his knees not more than five consecutive seconds. The roof was too steep and Piatt came to grief with great rapidity. Then we paused for consultation. We had the flag, we were at the top of the hill, the blockhouse and the 68 IN CUBA, JiEFOKE 'I UK i'KillTING. lluiipolc were there lo olir IkiikIs. ImiI we enilltl see im way of eari'viii^ out our hrilliaiit (lesii>n. Arouud the edge of the hill the Spauiards had dug 1 renelies and built outside iid)ai'(liii('nt. It Avas addressed to (Jeneral Toral, and announced that he, the officer on ]\[ount Losiltires, would take great pleasure in getting along without reinforcements, and that, should the American army ap]>ear, l)acke(l l)y the entire navy of the United States, he could whi]) them and drive them back to Florida, single handed and with- out difficulty. But as I have said, when the army did come, he fired not one single shot in opposition to its landing. Being a S]^aniard, he adopted other means to accom- plish onr undoing. There were many bottles of wine among the rubbish which the Spaniards had left behind them in the blockhouse, and tliere were other bottles of 70 IX CTHA, BKF(JRK IIIK KICHTIXG. wiiu' lyiiiu' (iiitsidc I lie lildcklidusc miuI on the stone wall and in the trcnc-lics. Tlicv lav there very ostentatiously. No one could possibly fail to see them. It was a hot day. The exertion of getting np the hill and raising the flag had been tremendous. That wine looked most inviting. \\'riulit and Piatt had opened a bottle and were about to drink of it, when Surgeon J^a ]\Iotte took it from them and snielled it. He threw the botth^ on a rock, where it was dashed to fragments. Then he took the copjicr binding of an exploded six-incdi shell, and with it broke every other l)ottle of that wine which the Spanish commanding officer had kindly left for the comfort and entertainnicnr of the Anici'ican army. AVright and Piatt had had a mirrow es('ai)e. The wine was ])oisoned. We made onr way down the hill and left the flag behind us. to lloat thei'e |)i'oudly until sunset. The Rough Ridei's were encamped in a beautiful val- ley between the two low ranges of pretty hills which border the I)ai<|uiri liiver. They had wirli them (udy " dog tents." and the grass in the \ alley was higher than tlie tents. This grass was full of land crabs and tarantu- las. Xice little lizards, too, scuttled about here and there, and there wcro some extremely susj)icious-lo()king snakes. Colonel AVood and Colonel Roosevelt did not main- tain such military discipline in the construction of their camp as did some of the other commanding officers, and the dog tents went np in a somewhat haphazard fashion. As soon as they Avere up and the men discovered their discomfort, they set about constructing for tliemselves 71 THE STORY OF THE KOUGH liiDEKS. more pleasant shelters. Neighboring shrnbbcry was drawn upon for uprights and leafy bonglis, and some good-natnred ("ul)ans instructed our gallant lighters in the mysteries of palm thatches. Before night fell, fully a quarter of the men were comfortably housed under these impromptu roofs. Regimental headquarters were positively embowered through the efforts of solicitous troopers. Probably no officers ever looked more care- fully after the comfort of their men, and certainly no men ever looked more carefully after the comfort of their officers. As the quick-setting sun went down red and fiery behind the hills, this Cuban solitude which had suddenly been transformed into the abiding place of six liundred men, Avitli its myriad camp fires twinkling gayly, its cheery bugle calls and active bustle, presented as beau- tiful a picture as the brush of a painter could desire. Travelling with the regiment was Burr Mcintosh, also of the Journal, and a well-kn(jwn actor. ]\[cIntosli was affected with that prying curiosity which leads a journal- ist to news, and sometimes into trouble. The first evi- dence of it came when he decided to test the speed of two tarantulas. At Tamj)a the boys had organized exciting- races in which land turtles were the participants; Mc- intosh decided to try tarantulas. He did. They didn't speed to any appreciable extent, but they bit him with amazing rapidity. We wondered if journalism and the stage w^ere about to lose a shining light. Surgeon La Motto did his best. Mclntosli, ]\Iajor Brodie, Sergeant Hamilton Fish, and one or two others planned to tour the place in search of that celebrated medicine which is 72 s IN CUBA, BP:F0HE I'llK KK I il'l'l NG. given so froclv in ACw .Icrscv as a cure for siuiko bite. There was no whiskey in the eanip. They searehed else- where with commeudable persistence. There was no whiskey in any other camp. They walked eagerly up the straggling little street, which has its beginning near the now celebrated skeleton dock. At last they found a storehouse full of Jamaica rum and great demijohns of sweet Spanish wine. They tried the rum and found it raw, even beyond the endurance of a liough Rider. They carried a great demijohn of the wine l)ack to camp with them. ]\lcIntosh did nut die of the tarantula bites, but when he woke the next uKU'iiing to a reali- zati(»n of the kind of head which sweet Span- ish wine is capable of That Sweet Spaimk Wine. ])utting on a ]ournalist aiieler sent orders to Colonel 76 IN CUBA, IJEFOHE THE FIGHTING. AV(»()(1 to !»(' rrady lu move at a iiKdiiciit's notice. In the iiicautiiiic several rei;iiiieiits of rciiiilar tru<)[)s had niarrlied (ill' lowai'ds Siboney. At half past one orders came tor the Roni;h Kich'rs to move at once. 'Jdieir heantil'id cam]) was traiisfornie(| into a scene of (h'sohitioii within an hour. The lilth' shehers nnd ]»ahn thatches were rnthh'ssly destroyed. JJOg' touts came down and went into the hhiidvct rolls of these di-^nioniited ca\alryiiien with a rapidity whicdi wonhl have done crech't to any regiment of regulars. The oidy tronhh' concerne(l the nnde-ti'ains. The scarcity ot animals which luindicapped tiie conduct of the (hdian campaign from the very start Avas severely felt hy the KoTigli Riders. Much of the luggage of" the officers was al)an(h>ned Avhere it lay in camp. It seemed almost im- ])ossil)le to ])ack the mess truck alone on the f(>w animals at hand, and the rapid-hre and dynamite gnns ])resented great })rol)]ems. The captain of the " Yucatan '' had gone out to sea with a good deal of the Kongh Iliders' plunch'r. There were not satldles enough for the offi- cers to ride in. Colonel Wood had an extra horse — a beautiful little thoi'onghbred Iventu(dnt of my sight, bnt 1 know that before he had disappeared, there was very little clothing on him, and he was very properly bleeding. There is no eonnti'v on the earth more beantiful than that throngh which we passed. For a large part of onr wav we were almost end}owcred by the rising Cnban jnngle on eaeli side of onr path; for several niih^s we marched throngh a cocoannt grove where the palms towered on an average more than a hundred feet above onr heads; we crossed several handsome streams and went through the dry IxmI of one river. The Spaniards had announced tluit we could never march from Dai- (piiri to Silioney. without building elal)orate bridges, bnt we found that all of the streams were easily ford- able. ISTothing is thirstier than a long march, except a battle. As we crossed one of the streams, the water looked so cool, clear, and delightful that Colonel AVood stopped and told ns to be careful. " You can fill yonr canteens here/' he said, " if you don't foul the water yourselves." 6 8t THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. So we stopped on stepping stones, and we hovered on the edges, and we hnng ourselves out on overhanging boughs, and we tilled our canteens. And just as we got them filled, we heard a great splashing around a curve up stream, and a large section of the Tenth Cavalry (colored) came into view. They were swimming in the river. We emptied our canteens. After that the march was long and weaiw. By no means as large a proportion of men dropped (Hit of our regiment as had dropped out of the regular regiment that preceded us, but stilh twenty or thirty fell by th(> wayside. Along towards the end of the uiarcli — after we had come across the raih'oad track-^. and were mo- mentarily expecting to see Siboney — the men began to grumble a little bit. Darkness had fallen, and march- ing was difficult. The curious lumpy roots of the scrub |)almettos grew constantly across our path, and walking- was not joyful. AVhen a man called back '" hole," we were all unhappy until Ave had seen some other fellow fall in, and thus knew that we had passed it. Humorous sentries were posted high above us on the railroad em- bankment to our left, and they cried out ribald cries about imminent Spaniards and sudden death that was likely to strike us in the next thicket. Those last miles were worse than fighting. Finally, it was well after ten o'clock, we began to find the campfires of the regiments which had already reached Siboney. At last we went into camp in the very heart of the now^ famous little village. In front of us were the rail- way tracks, and beyond them the sea. Some transports 82 IN CUBA, BEFORE THE EKJIITING. had come up from Daiquiri and were vomiting their men into the surf, from which they scrambled up to us, drenched and disheartened. Slioi'lly after our arrival Major-General AVheeler sent for Colonel AVood and General Young, 83 CHAPTER V. THE FIRST SHOT. The 24:th of June liad well Uegiin before this con- ference between Generals Wheeler and Yoniii;- and Colonels Wood and Roosevelt was ended. Before the day had finished, nine of the men in the regiment were dead on a Cnban hillside, scarce six nules away, and thirty-two were lying in hastily improvised hospitals, sore wonnded. I was not actnally present at this conference, but Richard Harding Davis was, and he says in his book, and says privately, that General AYheeler had recon- noitred the trail that afternoon with some Cubans, and found that the enemy were intrenched at Guasimas, which, Davis says, is at the apex of two trails only three miles from Siboney, but which is really more than five miles away from that strange little Cuban town. Before the rain came that night, despite our weariness, some of us started to explore. Troops were still being landed through the surf. Two warships lay in the slight coast-line indentation which is dignified by the name of bay, and played their searchlights on the landing place. Probably no more picturesque sight w^as ever presented to the eye of a newspaper correspondent than was before me and half a dozen of the Rough Riders when we went 84 THK FIRST SHOT, down to tlie odiio of the ocean for a swim. The canteens of the reiiinunit wvvv empty, and I was thirstier than 1 liave ever been before in m_v life, and the men of the rei>iment nnist have been Avorse off tlum 1 was. They had been earryinii' their heavy arms and eqnipment dnr- ing the lon^' martdi from Daiqniri, \vhik^ 1 had ])orne only a blanket, in which I had wrapped my photographic films and my camera. The blanket, by the way, be- longed to Ste])hen C^'ane. Mine had fallen a victim to the skeleton i)ier. AVe took our little bath. We stri]i])e(l for it as boys do who g'o into the Erie C^inal to swim, and tlms saved ourselves from attracting attention, because the man who had clothes on, unless he was just getting ont of one of the landing surf boats, would have appearcMl unusual. l^r(il)al)ly two hundred American soldiers werc^ thei'e in the surf, helping the newcomers to disend)ark, and they were quite as God made them. I shall not soon forget the wet look of the water in the sea. We all wanted to driid< it. While we were standing tliere talking about it and discussing the thoughts which must come to shipwrecked sailors on rafts who see "water, water everywhere and not a dro]i to drink," one of the TcMith Infantry came along with six or eight canteens on his shoulders. Tic asked us if we want ('(1 a drink. We did. ''Well, hei'e you are," he said, and handed a canteen t(» 1 )r. ( 'hui'ch. The doctor took it. He took one swallow. He handed it sorrowfully back. " Xever mind,'" said he. '" T will go thirsty." Tlic canteens were filled with that same sweet Spanish THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. wine wliieli the liongh liidcrs had learned to dread at Daiquiri. AVe had returned to camp before the men had cooked supper. Colonel Wood asked me join the regimental mess, and I was filled with exceedingly great joy. But the men were handicapped by lack of water. The Span- iards had cut the pipes which were supposed to bring water from the hills, and Colonel Wood had given the strictest orders that no member of his regiment should drink the water which was being given out freely in the Cuban shanties of the town. His wisdom in taking this course is plainly shown by the fact that not one mem- ber of the Itough Ttiders developed a case of fever dating from that (Uiy, although the regular troops who were en- camped thereabout began to come down with it within forty-eight hours. From the beginning of the campaign to its very finish, Wood's medical knowledge and regard for sanitation saved the men of liis command from many evils to which the soldiers of other regiments, even among the regular troops, were often exposed. Finally, and it was fully midnight, the details of men who had ]>een sent for water came back from somewhere with an ample supply, and the cooking which had been delayed by the lack of it Ijegan to go merrily forward. We were hungry — officers and men alike — and the gleaming campfires, against which the figures of the sturdy cooks were strongly silhouetted in the inky black- ness of the Cuban night, seemed especially inviting. There was prol)al)ly not one man in the regiment who was not licking his chops in anticipation, as he looked on. But the luck of the Bough Riders deserted them then. 86 TlIK FIRST SHOT. AVc were in Cuba at tlu- hfyiiuiini;- nf the rainy season, and had every reason to expect tlic worst kind of weather. For some reason, (Jod had hcen good to General Shafter and had let hhn hind liis troops under sniiling- skies. Xothing that natnre eonld do to help him he a good commanding genci-al liad been omitted by an all-wise Providence, ii}* to that time, and Ave had l>een able to get along fairly well. Bnt suddenly, \\hile we were waiting for our supper to be cooked, the first rain which had descended since we landed in Cuba began to fall. it was not what we know as rain in the Xorth. It was a deluge. It was such a downpour as we have never heard of in the United States. It put out the caniptires and we suffered accordingly. Those of us who were too tinnl to wait for it to stop before we went to sleep, missed our suppers. That was a serious matter for some of us who had not had breakfast or dinner, and who did not have breakfast the next day. But it was Cuba. Just back of Siboney rises another of those abi-upt hills which are so frequent along that ])art of the Cuban coast. Over this hill runs one trail and along the valhy at its side and to the right of it runs another. Ceneral Wheeler ordered Ceneral Young and three hnndred and sixty-two men (d' the First and Tenth Cavalry to pass u]) the valley trail, and ordered Colonel Wood and his five hundred and seventy- four nu^n to go up the hill trail. They were to meet where the trails met and niergecl into a wagon road to Santiago at Cuasinias. The Cuban scouts had reported the presence of Span- ish shar])shooters in the jungle along the trails, and hav of tlmt Cul.aii sliaiity ^vitll Ihcir liiiid feet. JIc was arguiiii; tlu' luattcr with tllClll. Colonel Wood and Colonel lloosevelt did not lie down to sleep that night at all. When morning came they were still wandering hnsily around in their long yellow "■ sli(d. The men behind nie with their guns and bhinket I'olls must have had a much harder time than 1 did. We were forceil to halt for re-^t liidf a do/.en times during the n^ceiit of this six or seven hundred feet. liy the time we had reacliecl the summit, we were all at least as tired as we had been '.II THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. the night l>efore, when avc lay (hiwii to take our un- satisfactory sleep. <-■■ From that summit as Leantifnl a view was presented to ns as had been shown to the little group of Rough Riders the day before, when they raised tlu^ flag on Mount Losiltires. There were transports and warships in the little ba}^ at the bottom of the hill, and every level spot of ground in sight was covercxl with the camps of our troops. Delicate bugle calls Hoated softly ii]) to us like blasts from fairy trumpets, and the s(iual<)r of the (^iban town at our feet was gilded into glory by the morning sun. When that same day's sun Avas setting, another grou]) of Rough Riders looke(l down at the same scene, and some of them saw it through a haze which a])proacliing death had s])r('ad before llicir eyes. From this point our march to the front was through one of the most beautiful countries that \ have cNcr seen. We went very rapidly — so ra])idily, indeed, tliat there came unheeded protests from the exhausted men. L Tro(»p was, as it had l>een the day befoi-e, at the head of the column. We marched in single file, and Captain Cap- ron was just behind me. RicharcLJIarding Davis, who was suffering from sqiatica, had borrowed a Government mule, and made a picfiii-^sque sight as he went before us, preceding C^aptain McCormack as a matter of neces- sity. ]\rcC^ormack was also mounted on a mule, and if Davis had not ridden ahead of him, the column would have stopped, for McCormack's mule would only go at all when it could follow the animal Davis rode. (Colonel Wood sent two Cuban scouts to reconnoitre before us. 92 THE FIRST SHOT. 'Vhoy m\\M lifivo kopt well in advanco, for wo did not see tlieiu aii'ain that ilay. The eoh)nel, of coiu'sc, i-ode ahead of all of iis, while at first Colonel lloosevelt re- mained in his place in the middle of the line. AVe had advancecl l(>ss than a iinlc fi'om the hrow of the lull, when Wood (U'dci'ed ( 'a])i'on and his troop to (^o forward as an adxance i;'nar(h The ti'ail had here nai'- rowed down to a mere bridle path, hot'dcrcd on caidi >ide l)_v dense thiekets. Those of ns who knew what the Cuhans' report had ix'en on the nii^lit hefoi'e. looked sharp when w(> heard coming' from these thi(d\ets the l)laintive call of tlu^ wood cuckoo. This call had heeii used as a signal 1)y the Spaniards when our mai'ines landed at (Jnantanamo, and we thought it indicated the presence of sharjishooters. Colonel A\^ood and Mq- Cormack hoth s]ioke to me ahout it, and both peered anxiously into the thickets Avhen the call came, but there came no following ritle shot. After this episode had occurred five or six times, we ceased to heed the cn(d The Rongh Riders took no stock at all in the story that they would meet the Spaniards. jS^o words can descril)e the desolation of the conntry throngh which Ave were now marching. A land which has always been a wilderness is not onedialf so dreary as a land which has been under cidtivation, and been aban- d(med. In a year a tropical wood will make inroads which a I^orthern forest wonld not make in a generation. The plantations along onr route, victims of the revolution which had raged in Cuha for three years, were desolate and overgrown A\dth scrub and creepers. In places, erst- while cultivated fields had been filled with a twenty-foot growth, which towered higher than our heads and arched completely over us. It was as jf we were marching in 94 THK FIRST SHOT. a tunnel with orccn walls. Xo words can describe the oppressiveness of the heat which made us uasp and sweat in tlicsc places. l"'rc(|ucnt liallinus for I'est were iin- avoidaMc. On l)<>tli sides (.f us, harhcd-wirc fences hediiC(l us inlo llic lu'idlc path. Bv and l»y we came !(• a place where, at the rii;ht of the trail, a deserted mansion stood. AVe could just catch glimpses of it through the l.ushes. A palm tree had grown in its very middle and, lifting its roof, had cast it a>ide in ruins. Just here Colonel Roosevelt, who had come forward and was riding in the group at the head of the main column, and hehind L Troop, picked up two shovels and fastened them to his saddle. What the colonel intended to d<» with the two shovels is unrecorded history. It .was perhaps live hundred yards lieyond this point that a (^d)an scout is alleged to have infonne(| ( 'aptain Cajtrou that the Spaniards were in force ahead of us. For myself, 1 do not believe that any Cuban scout did any such thing, or any other thing, except to double back to Siboiiey and return to his comi)aniou long before we reached a danger ])oiiit. Colonel AVood had wariu'd Captain Cai)ron that, at a certain jxtint, he would couie across the dead body of a Spanish guerrilla, who had been killed the day before bv Cubans, unless the Spaniards had removed him, which was improbable, and if they did not find this corpse, Cap- ron would, a little farther on, see a campfire. "Wood- bury Kane came back and simply told Colonel "Wood that the enemy had been discovered, and AVood does not know now whether they found them out through the 95 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. presence of the dead guerrilla, or tlirougli tlie presence of the campfire. We halted. Colonel Wood gave the order of " Silence in the ranks." We could hear the men send it to the rear along the line, and then someone saw lying a little way l)ack, and over at the sides the dead hody of a Cnhaii. I liave been told that this (hil)an was one of our scouts, hut 1 do not believe it, for 1 examined his body myself, and know that he liad not l)een killed that morning. 'Idiere was uo visil)l(» wound on his body, and, if I judge his nature l)v that of the other (^d)ans whom the army learned to know, I am forced to bcdieve that he must have died a natural and peaceful death. He certainly was not the Spanish guerrilla. Notwithstanding the order of " Silence in the ranks," the men still failed to be seriously impressed by the situation. As a matter of fact, it did not occur even to me, who was somewhat on the inside of affairs, that we were about to go into a fight. I made a trip back along the line as a matter of form, so that I might get some- thing to write about, nnd I found the men lolling on the grass with their guns lying carelessly beside them. Some of them had started to take off their blanket rolls, as they had done during previous halts for rest, but they were stopped by their officers. They were not talking of war, and they were not thinking of war. The heat was probably more dreadful now than it had been at any other time, and they discussed that. A private of B Troop said : " By God! how would you like a ' glass of cold beer' ?" 96 THE FIRST .SHOT. Tlio mon rosontod it as a particularly aggravating sug- gest ion, and tossed bits of stick and stone at him. One man blew a putty ball at him. All the way down on the transport, this man had carried his tiny tin blow-gun for the (■.\as[)eration of his friends, and the wad of putty was in his pocket and the little tin tube was sticking out of the breast of his blue shirt when, a couple of hours later, we found him lying (h'ad on tlic tichl. L 1'roop was two hundred yards in advance of us. C^iptain ('apron had deployed six men and himself two hundred yards in advance of it. When 1 returned to the colonel's group, he was telling a funny story. Xoarly everybody except Coh)nel AVoo[ even with liim on tlu^ other. Private Cnlvcr was a few feet heliind on the h'ft flank in the bnshes, and I>ob Peniell was on the I'iiiht flank in the hnslies. Wyley Skehon, Tom Meaiilier, and vSer<;'eant liyrnes, who had l)(.(.ii a iiicnihcr of the Xew York ]iolice force, were spread ont about thirty feet apart. Some one had fired a shot in reply to that first one which came shriekinii' thronii'li the bushes, and, as ]n-()of of onr marksmanship, this little iiTouj) found a dead Spaniard lying- in the middle of the road. 1 have tried to find ont who fired this shot, bnt I have been nnable to do so. After that Tom Isbell saw a Spaniard, and cheerfully killed him. Then everythini;' opened np. 'i'he Sjwn- iards wei'e in force in the bushes, and Isbell went down with seven shots in him from their first volley. Xot five seconds elapsed before Captain Capron received his fatal wonnd. By this time the men had naturally ceased to advance 101 THE STOKY OF THE KOUGH RIDERS, as boldly as tliey had started to, and dropped behind what cover they could find. Culver, wlio was also an Indian, was on his face behind a rock. Sergeant Hamil- ton Fish rushed up to him in advance of the other men of L Troop, who were running forward into the fracas as rapidly as they could, and said : " Culver, have j'ou got a good place? " " Yes," replied Culver. Fish lay down beside him at the edge of the road and began firing as fast as he could. After four or five shots, lie gasped. " I'm wounded," said Fish. Culver replied b}' saying, '' I'm killed." They had been hit by the same bullet, and the cow- boy warrior and the dude soldier mingled their l)loo(l there in the Cuban trail. Fish died; Culver lived. The man to come up first, after Hamilton Fish, was Samuel Davis, known to the regiment as Cherokee Bill. He was s-tanding upright when he saw Fish shot, and had only time to look at him a second with wondering eyes, Avhen he went down Avith a crash himself. This, very briefly, tells the story of the gallant ad- vance guard of L Troop. They had gone into battle in a strange country. They had in their hands guns which they had never fired before. If they had ever done any fighting, it had been on horseback; but they were now dismounted. They were shooting at an enemy which used smokeless powder, and of which only one man was at any time visilde during that first skirmish. Some of them were college men who had never seen anything rougher than a football game, or a possible 102 THE FIKSr BAT'J'LE. prize fight. Tlioy liad boon fired upon l>y men who sliot to kill aiul without a seeoiKTs warniiii;-, hut uot one of them turned his face other than towards tlic front; not one of tlieni showed the slightest sign of cowardice. Two out of the seven were almost instantly killed, and the other five were badly wounded. But the uk'U who were wounded were glad of their wounds, and the num who died exulted because it was their proud privilege to be the first in the United States army, during this war, to perish for their country. In the meantime, back at the point where the little group of officers and Davis and myself had heard the \ first shot of the war fired, there was great rushing. This first shot had been fired by the Spanish pickets. AVood rushed forAvard far enough to become satisfied that it was Spanish, and not American, fire. He then re- turned to the head of the line and gave the order to " load cluunber and nuigaziue." Then he again ordered absolute silence in the ranks. 1 lia\-e since asked him if, while he was standing there, telling us that funny story which I have mentioned, he had lieen expecting that first sudden shot which so startled the rest of us. He told me that he had been expecting it momentarily for ten minutes, liecausc ( "a|ii'()n had told liim some time in advance of the evidences oi' Si)ani>li pi'esence, and liad said that while he marched he constantly expected the attack to l)egin. Tie felt as if something might drop upon his head any minute. Colonel Wood was as cool a man as ever I saw. Tie gave his orders with tlu' utmost calmness and showed then (indeed it was true of him throughout the battle) 103 THE STOKY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. not one sign of nndiic excitement. Colonel Roosevelt, on tlie contrary, jnniped np and down, literally, I mean, with emotions evidenth' divided between joy and a tendency to rnn. The barbed-wire fence on the right of the bridle path was intact at first, bnt some of our men cut the strands with their wire nippers. Roose- velt picked np one of these strands, and looked at it curiously, as he had looked at the strand of the fence on my side of the trail. Wood ordered him to take Troop- G. K, and A into the tangle of bushes and creepers on the right, and ordered Troops 1), F, and E (]\[uller'.s troop in reserve) to deploy into the naturally open field which stretched beyond the tell-tale batbed-wirc* fcmce on the left. Perhaps a dozen of Roosevelt's num had ])assed into the thicket before he did. Then he stepped across the wire himself, and, from that instant, became the most magnificent soldier I have ever seen. Tt was as if that barl>ed-\vire strand had formed a dividing line in his life, and that when he stepped across it he left behind him in the bridle path all those unadmirable and con- spicuous traits which have so often caused him to be justly criticised in civic life, and found on the other side of it, in that Cuban thicket, the coolness, the calm judg- ment, the towering heroism, which made him, perhaps, the most admired and best beloved of all Americans in Cuba. For the next half hour I lost sight of Colonel Roose- , velt, and know what he and his men did only by hearsay. ■ I know that they must have had a terril)le time as they beat into that jungle, and I know that Avhile they could not see the Spaniards, the Spaniards could plainly see 104 TIIK FIRST I'.ATTLE. them for tlicy had phiiiiu'd each iudividviars position so that the Americans, when they came, should be in im- intcrnii)lcd view. Il was the worst kind of guerrilla warfare. The fact that our men still failed to realize that the Spaniards were in Cuba, and were shooting at us t(. kill, is indicated by the other fact that, when withering tire struck Roosevelt and his men, they be- lieved that L Troop had made a blunder and w-as firing back at them. Tliis lielief was so strong that our men The Trail where Iht FigUt Oec/im. ceased firing into tlie thickets for fear of killiug ('apron's troopers, and slmuted out to tliem to stop shooting. A moment later, however, Cohniel Roosevelt liimself saw Spaniards in front t tlie presence of the Spaniards, and the liougli TJiders realized at last that it was war. 105 THE STOEY OF THE BOUGH RIDERS. A very few minutes had passed before Colonel Roose- velt saw that it was impossible to carry his men further into the dense jungle, and he turned them to the left and worked back across the trail into more open country. While our men were still in some doubt as to the exact position of the Spaniards, the Spanish had ns in absolute range, and shot low and with excellent aim. The firing was rapid beyond anything which Y had occurred u]) to the tinu* this 1^^^^^ turn was made, and our men Inul S^^B^^^^j^ to work their way lying ilat on -^^^^'Ifcl^^^r their faces. Even then the ly- Spanisli l)ullets struck some. r - - The little episode cost the ;' Rough Riders nine men killed and wounded. One unfortunate fact in con- ! nection with the failure to break through the thicket was that we were, of course, especially anx- ious to establish communication Avith General Young's lu'igade, which was marching up the valley, and which our men could plainly hear on the other side of that impassable thicket. They Avere evidently as hot at it as we were. ProbaVdy fifteen minutes had elapsed before communica- tion was finally In-ought aljout, and it then came tlirough the effort of K Troop. Xothing more astonishingly brave occurred during the entire war than the feat of the guidon-bearer who did this. Captain Jenkins had lOG THE FIRST BA'i'TLE. sent him to the top of a \K\vr little kiioU, and in- striic'tt'd liiui to wave his onidon niitil (ieneral Young's men saw it. 'Jlie Spaniards were in force just across the valley and within uood range of him, and they ])onred a merciless lire at him. lie paid no heed to it whatever, hnt Avalked erect and waved his little flag until an answering wave from Young's men told him that his signal had heen seen. Then he got quickly down and sensihly seuttled away like a crah. It is interesting to state that this man had once been a candidate for Con- gress. Another pleasing episode of this particular point of the hnltle is related l)y liichard Harding Davis, in his \ hook on "The Cuban and Porto Rico Campaigns" (Charles Scribner's Sons). He said : '' AVhile G Troop passed on across the trail to the left, I stopped at the place where the column had first halted — it had been converted into a dressing station, and the wounded of C Troop were left there in the care of the hospital stewards. A tall, gaunt young man with a cross on his arm was just coming back up the trail. His head was bent, and by some surgeon's trick he was advancing rapidly with great strides, and at the same tim(> cari'ving a wouiide(l man. mnch heavier than him- self, across his shoulders. As 1 stejijied out of the trail he raised his head, and smiled and nodded, smiling in the same cheery, confident way and moving in tliat same position. I know it could not have been under the same conditions, and yet lie was certainly associated with another time of exciteinent and rush and heat, and then I reniend)ered him. He had been covered with Idood 107 THE STORY OF THE liOUCiH KIDEKS. and dirt and perspiration, as lie was now, only then lie wore a canvas jacket and the man lie carried on his shoulders was trying to hold him back from a white- washed line. And I recognized the young doctor with the blood bathing his breeches as " Bob " C'liurch, of Princeton. That was only one of four badly wounded men he carried on his slioidders that day over a half-mile of trail that stretched from the firing line back to the dressing station, under an unceasing fire. And as the senior surgeon was absent, he had chief res})onsibility that day for all the wounded, and that so few of them died is greatly due to this young man who went down into the firing line and pulled them from it, and boi-c them out of danger." In the meantime I had gone down to the left with Colonel Wood and F and D Troo])s. The first wounded officer I saw was Captain James II. McClintock, of H Troop. lie was loaning propped up against the ti'ee on the backbone of the hill which was as clearly defined and l)are as the buttress of a cathedral. Two bullets liad met in his lower left leg and I have never seen a man suffer such pain as he did. ]\Ionths afterwards I saw him, the day after he was discharged from the hospital and from the army with a record of '' half-total disabil- ity." He seemed to be very cheerful that day at Las Guasinias, and was carefully explaining to Lieutenant Mchols that the place was altogether too hot for any man to stay in who was not obliged to. I shook hands with him and got his name and address, as I did of the otlier wounded, and asked him if there was anytlnng I could do for liim. 108 'INK I'llISr IIAI'TLK. "Not n (laiiiii tliiiiti'," said McC liiilock, ■■except, get out." Since then lie has told me about one of his troopers, who, after ^Ic( 'lintock had l)eeii forced to Viv down by exlumstion, cainc and lay close beside liini. lie talked cheerfully to him and ti-icd to keep his s])irits up. '■ You'd better iiet out of this," said McClintock. " It's too hot." "Don't worry, captain," the man replied, ■' I'm be- tween you and the tirinu' line.'' McClintoek, touched as he Avas by this exhibition of the man's devotion, still wanted him to i>-et away. lie uru'cd him to lea\'(' him. 'Ihc man refused. Finally Mc( 'liuto(d\: said : ■' I am your ca])tain, and I order you to go; you are doing' no good to any but me, here; this is no place for a well man. I order you." Then the man had to tell. " I ain't no well man," he slowly admitted. " I'm shot." ^' Where?" asked ^tcCdintock. "Oh! it's only a scratch." They lay there in silence for a long time. Tli(^ tiring began to come fi'om the left. The soldier worked his painful way around until he was again be- tween ]\lcClintock and the line of tire. .McClintock was too Aveak from loss of blood, even to sjieak. Then a hospital man came and lifted .Mc('lintock to carry him back. " Take him, too," McClintock managed to articulate. " !N"o use," said the hospital man; " he's dead." 109 THE STORY OF THE KOUGH lUDERS. Among all the men who faced the unknown perils of singing Mansers, there were no signs of fear. They went into that field of battle almost as they had gone into that transport at Tampa — as if it were a ])icnie, a summer's holiday among the towering palms. x\.nd there was nothing in the aspect of the scene to disabuse them of this idea. They could look down the green slope toward the incline on the other side, and see noth- ing hostile. Nothing stirred. Not an enemy was in sight. There was no smoke, nor any other visil)le sign of battle. And yet from iio\\lici-c caiiic the shi'ioking little Mausers, and from oAerywhere we heai'd the pop- ping of the guns that sent them. When yon coudun.-^ smokeless powder with a carefully jn-earrangcd ambusli which hides from view every man who fires it, the fight becomes uncanny. The setting was fitter for a fete champetre than for a battle. This had its strange effect uj>on the men, but did uot cow them. There were no ])anic-stricken ones then or at any time during that day, so far as I know, although there was much reason for being panic-strick(Mi. I thought only once that I had found a coward. I stopped a man who was limping quickly back, and asked him why. He threw at me a new oath, in wishing that I might be " double-damned," and raised his carbine over me with the plain intention of l)eating out my brains. He then explained that he had torn the sole off one of his shoes and could not go farther forward because of the penetrating thorns which were under foot. Together we found a dead man, and took from one of his feet the shoe. I helped fasten it on the living myself, as I had 110 THE FIRST BATTl.E. liclped to take it fr<»m the dead. Tlio dead man was Marcus Russell, of I roj, N. Y. Who the li\inu man was, 1 do not know. 1 only know tluit, as soon as he had his shoe, he ran back toward where the firiiii;' was again, much more rapidly than I could. I soon rejoined Colonel AVood. IV o man has ever made a finer spectacle in battle than he did that day. He went well in advance of his own men, and had led his horse into the field. He stood leaning against its sorrel side with what seemed like absolute indifference, and the side he leaned against was the outside. He had taken a natural breastwork into the field with him, but he scorned to use it. I shall never forget how he looked as he stood there with his face burned to a brown, which was almost like that of the Khaki uniform he wore. His sandy mus- tache, too, had been grizzled by the sun until it fitted into the general harmony of tone, and he stood there brave and strong, like a statue in light bronze. The Cuban grass reached almost to his waist. Tlun-e was not a breath of air, and yet the grass abont him nio\cd. once, slowly, as if a breeze were blowing it. At first I had no right idea of what had caused this, but presently the thonght came to my mind that it might be bullets. And then I realized that (*olonel \\'oo(|. furnu'ng, with his horse, the most conspicuous item in the view before the Spaniards, was naturally the target for all the bullets they could shoot. It was the effect of volleys fired from Spanish trenches and from the bnsh across the valley that made the grass wave abont his feet. T realized it slowly. He knew it from the start. That he escaped 111 THE .STOKV Ob' THE KOLUUl 1UJ)KKS. iiiiscatlied, was oxtraurdiiiary. JJut that he stood there without the (|iuver of a iniiscle, without the tremble of a secoiurs worry, was not less than wonderful, lie had left a wife and a fauiily of little ones in AVashington, and, of course, he wanted to return to theni. The cer- tainty that he would he advanced, with or without honor- winning battles, was absolute. Yet lie stood there in the battle wdiicli be bad sought himself, and never stirred a finger. And be stood on tbo outside of bis sorrel liorse. It cannot be that that man faib'd to remeudx'i- th;il nil good tilings were behind him, where peace and ([uiet w^ere, and he knew tbat tbere were aliead of him only worry and strain and possible death. Men wdio had already been bit were near him, and he could see their red pools of blood from where he calmly stood. lie played the bigiiest stake that man can offer against the lienor which be won that day, and if fate did not win her wager, it was not the other gambler's fault. I watched him — fascinated. And tben I turned away to watch tlie men wdiom be commanded. An officer bad walked into the field with me and gone back to encourage a wounded man. From across tbe valley the enemy marked him, and the " zeu," " zeu," " zeu," of tbe bullets going over his head, and tbe " zip," " zip," " zip," of the bullets going into the grass at his feet, were as frequent as tbe raindrops wbicb bad beaten on tbe garret roof above liini when be was a l)a1)y. He bad exposed himself recklessly, but, like Colonel Wood, be escaped without a scratch. I asked Colonel Wood afterwards about bis sensations when be stood on the battlefield in front of bis borse. 113 ■I'llK FIRST ISA'ITI.E. lie said that lie was uiifoi'luiiati'ly situated, hceaiiso he ^vas ahnost the onlv man in the regiment whu liad noth- ing to do. All he could accouiplisli was to make the men lielieve liini to he perfeetly cool. As a matter of fact, he said he appreciated his danger and his nnnd was i\\h'(\ with regrets over the fact that he had not taken ont $100,ed them both and joked them about their collection of agricultural implements. 'I'lien he said: •• What are you going into the tight to do^ To dig holes in the ground? " Xeither man could answer. They had picked these things up, as Roosevelt had picked u]) the two shovels, which he had tied to the pommel of his saddle. They said they didn't know what they had them for, and they undoubtedly spoke the truth. Wood then worked around in a joking way. until he got l)oth these men to repeat to him the orders which they had received before they had started. He explained to me in Washington. 115 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. what I did not understand at Quasi mas — that this whole conversation was carried out for the purpose of making them repeat their orders unconsciously, so that he would know for certain that they understood what they were to do. Before I left Tam})a, I had been ignominiously thrown from a fractious horse, and had sprained my elbow. My left arm was not strong enough to hold my notebook^- ajid-so I rested it against a palm tree. The fact that Spanish guns were firing at us was impressed upon my mind by the triplicated " chug " of bullets striking against this tree. It was too small to offer much protection, and it was the biggest thing in sight. Oc- casionally I saw in the long grass, as I surveyed the field, an indentation which showed where a man had fallen in fighting for his country, or was lying down in order that he might fight well. Aside from those indenta- tions, and aside from the solemn figures of Wood and another officer or two, outlined above the dun-brown of the Cuban grass, there was nothing to indicate to the visual sense that fighting was going on. Orally there was much evidence. Riclxard Harding Davis was over to my right with L Troop, and pumping wildly at the Spaniards with a carbine. I had the only smokeless powder revolver cartridges which were in the army in Cuba. They had been given to me, at Tampa, by Sir Bryan Leighton, of the British army. They were known as " man stoppers," and I knew that they would not carry more than 400 yards. The Spaniards were at least 600 yards away, and yet I fired cheerfully in their direction. I presume those bullets are lying imbedded 116 IIIK I'lKSI' JJATI'LK. in the ground, t^oiiicwlici'c belwcrii the linos, wliilo T am writing this. I heard a man ervinii' out. 1 turned and saw him; I had seen him before, and tlien he had l»een tiring as fast as his new gun wonld work. ^o\v he was on the verge of sobs. I ran up to iiim and asked him if he was Imrt. "Hurt? Xo," he exclaimed, "but my leg's asleep and I can't get up, and my gun's jammed. Gi' me a gun! Can't ye gi' me a gun?" It was at ahout tins lime that we actually saw the Spaniards for the first time. Although we had forced them to fall back nearly half a mile, they had ke])t so thoroughly under cover that our men had rarely had anything other than a movement in the long grass, or some suspicious A\-aving of the shrubs and bushes to fire at. One body of about 300 men, plainly panic-stricken, broke from their cover at last and started to run away from us like rabbits. AVitli a wild whoop, the men of i) Trooji (.peued fire on them at Captain Huston's orders, anil we could plainly see that the aim was good, for half a do/.en Spaniai'ds drop]ie(l as the first volley was sent into them. Colonel Wood jumjied over from where he had been standing aiul shouted, with all the force he could put into his voice: " Don't shoot at retreating men." But it was the first good chance our uumi had had at the Spaniards, and the colonel's voice was drowned by the noise of firing. They kei^r on shooting. lie called Trum]ietor Cassi to him and had him blow ' cease fir- ing " ou his bugle. Finally our men stopped. 117 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. AVood lately made this point clear to me in Washing- ton. It pnzzled me on the battlefield. When he or- dered ns to stop firing at retreating men, I thought that he had made a serious mistake. I stood verv near to liini and saw that the Spaniards were completely de- moralized by the beginning of onr fire, and saw that after its cessation they quickly rallied. I thought that he had been wrong in ordering our firing stopped at all, aud have twice made the statement in print that he uiadc a mistake in stopping this firing. He has since told me what I did not dream of at the time — that he was ex- pecting a flanking attack from a body of Spaniards who were trying to reach our rear, and that because of this contemplated struggle with attacking men, he (liratliial (li(i|»i»ings on one kiice, no men w h(. slowly fell while struggling to keep stiuuling. There were ni» cries, 'i'iie injured ones did not throw hands ni> and fall dramatically hackward with strident cries and stiffened legs, as woniide(l heroes fall upon the stage. They fell like clods. Two things sur})rised me al><>iit these episodes. One was the strange noise whicli soldier., in their tra])])ings make as they go down. It is always the same. It is a conihination n{ the metallic jingle ol canteens and gnns, and the singular, thick tluul of a fall- ing human body. I cannot quite describe it, but it will always be in my ears, whenever I think of Las Guasimas. Even stranger than the sound of the soldier's fall is the " chug " of the bullet which strikes him. One would not naturally expect a bullet to make much noise when it hits a man. As a matter of fact, this noise is ])laiiily audible at 100 feet, and I have heard it at twice that distance. It is not a i)leasant sound, for after one has heard it once, its significance becomes gruesome. Tt is not nnlike the noise made l)y a stick when it sti-ikes a carpet which is being beaten. Still another strange thing is the fact that only the useless bullets seem to sing. Those which fly over your head and which ])ass yon at the side make a queer little noise entirely nnlike the whimper of the Clinic balls of the Civil AVar, as it has been described to nn^. 'i'he Mauser's noise, as nearly as T can indicate it in print, is like " z-z-z-z-z-eu." It begins low, goes uj) high, and then drops, and stops suddenly on the "en." P>ullets which strike in foliage combine a curious little " ping " with 119 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RlDEJtS. the "zip " of the parting leaves; but the hiiUets which strike men make no noise at all until llicy hit them. They go silently, grimly to their mark, and when they hit it, the man is lacerated and torn, or, very likely, dead. There is something which is particularly solemn and awe-inspiring about the death of men npon the battle- field. Before Las Guasimas, as a newspaper man, I had seen death in many of its most dreadful forms. 1 had seen men die gently in their beds, surrounded and petted and coddled by anxious friends, and worked over by physicians, who found pretty problems of strange mi- crobes to solve while they were dying. \ had twice seen death in railroad accidents, once at St. Thomas, Canada, and once in Wales. 1 had seen the death df a maniac, whose distorted mind, in dying, craved only to kill another. I had seen the death of a murderer sui- cide, who cast himself into hell from the elevated rail- way structure in Xew York. I had seen the death of two criminals on the scaifold, and another in the electric chair, and I had learned to look at death, as a newsj^aper man does — as an interesting thing to watch — and write about. But I had never seen any death like that of those men who dropped in the long grass, on the hill of Las Guasi- mas. I almost forgot, for a moment, that T was there to see things which I must afterwards describe. I had never seen that regiment until the day before, but I felt that every man who was hit was my personal friend, and there was nothing professional in the interest which T took in each one of them. Xothing had ever, and nothing ever will again, 120 'I'llK FIKST JJAI'I'l.E. impress mc as ditl the silent piitienee, the quiet, calm eiulurance, with which those men — heroes all — accepted their suticrini;', and ii(»tliinu' has ever seemed grander to me, more licautit'ul, or more suhlime, tlian the deaths of some of them. Koiii;h men they were, \vh(j had come ont of the AVest to fight; bnt if a great chnrcli organ had heen pealing on that hillside, if softened lights had been falling on those faces, throngli stained-glass windows, devontly patterned, if the rohes and insignia of the most solemn and holy of all the rites of all the churches had surrounded them, I could not have heen more impressed than T was when I looked down into the rusty swaying grass of that Tuhan hillside, and saw the dirty, sweaty faces, the I'ongh and rugged elin('he(l fists, the ragged uniforms of our American soldiers — dying. 121 CHAPTER VII. DEATH AND SUFFERING. There may be those who will think that, in devoting three chapters to the battle of Las Gnasinias, I am giving it too mnch space. I have heard it called a skirmish, bnt, if it was a skirmish, then I wish never to see a battle. It was of paramount importance in the war, and it w^as of special interest to the people who read this book. For it was almost wholly a Rough Riders' bat- tle. The only other men engaged were the few troojis of the First and Tenth Cavalry, and their loss was veiy small. At about the time when I was shot. Colonel AVood ordered all of his men forward, stretched ont in a long line which was ridiculously thin for the work it had to do. The body of retreating men whom he had forbid- den his soldiers to fire on had turned, as I have said, and poured a bitterly galling fire at the Rough Riders. When they saw our men still hurrying toward them, despite their recurring orders, they turned and ran again. Young's brigade was doing effective fighting on the right, and the Rough Riders had about half a mile to carry on the center and on the left, before the Spaniards must give up their strong positions. We had worked down into the shallow valley, and had reached the begin- ning of the slight ascent on its other side. The ground 122 DKA'I'll AM) SUFFERING. was almost entirely open now, aiid our men were al)- solutely exposed to the tire of the Siniiiiiirds, while they were still well hichh'ii hy tlie trees and in an old Imild- ing which lim! ;il one time liccii used as ;r distillerv. This was v(M-y pro])erly eonsidered to he tlie Spaiuards' most imjiortant ])osition, and hoth Colonel Wood and CV")loncl Koo^c\'clt tui'iic(l tli(Mi' particnlar attention to- wai'd it. 'idle hullcts ])oni'cd in cN-en faster than they liad l)(d'ore, and at a rate wlucdi, Aiaj(n' Brodie tells in(\ has not heen eqnalled in the history of warfare. The strenuth of onr reiiinient had l>een sadly depleted hy the loss of the men alreah ritles was so gnnit that L 12:; THE STORY OF THE HOUdll RIDERS. Troop could not hear its officers shout, J^ienteiiant Day had to pass down the line, striking' his men witli liis hat, in order to make them know what he wanted. It was in the charge toward the oh! distiUei'v that Major Brodie was wonnded. \\) to liiat iime he liatl shown himself to be absolntely fearless, and liad failed to seek cover, even when it was at hand. The huUet hit him in his outstretched forearm, and its teri'ihc force was indicated 1)V the fact that it spun iiiiu about h'ke a top before he fell in a hea]i. It is curious tliat no mat- ter where a man was hit by a Manser bullet — even if the wound was in some part (piite i-eniote from vital, like the wrists or fingers, or feet — he always went down quick and limp, as a very wet rag might fall. Fre- qnently men who were, a couple of minutes later, cpiite strong enough to stand u]) and walk, or even go l)ack to their work on the firing line, went down in this way when they were shot. I have heard surgeons discuss it, and they say that it is due to the tremendous nervous shock which such a liigli-s])eed projectile commnnicates from the point of impact to the nttermost limits of the body. All nervous force is, for the moment, jiaralyzed, and the muscles become absolutely lini]). C^olonel AVood descril)e(l to me Brodie's action at the time he was shot: "Brodie had not the least idea that he could be hit by a mere Spaniard," said General AVood. " I shall never forget his expression of amazement and anger as he hopped down the hill on one foot with th(^ other held in the air, before he fell. lie came toward me, shout- ing: 124 di':ati( axd suffering. '''(Jrcul Scoit, foloiu'l, llu-y'vc hit ine! ' " It was plain to sec that lie considered the wound an iiiiw arranlalilc liliciMv." ('oldiicl K(Misc\cir> (■>('ai»c iVdiii injury was not less rcniarkalilc than thai nf ( 'oloiicl W'immI. wliich 1 have already descrihiMh I, ike Wdod and Umdic. he scorned cover, although he insisted that his uicii shoidd protect tlieniseh'es as w(>ll as th<'_v couhl, ainh at one time, when he was Ic^aniuii' aiiaiiist liie ^i(h' ot a pahii tree, with hi> head nonchalantly resting against its hark, a huUet struck close liy his elieek. and tilled his eyes with dust and splinlei's. ('hanipiieys Alai'^liall was shot thi'ough his sleeve and through his shirt; (Ji'cenway was siiot through his shiii across the hreast; (_'attlc(d' Las (Jnasiniai^. The linllcl hit him in the nut- side of the riiiht thiuli, and, strikiiiii' I lie hone, (•arr(»nie(l u]). l*'or s()nu> unaeeountahle reason it then went ai-ross his body, throuah his intestines, and then dnwu ihrouc;h the left thiii'li, where it made a Wdund n\' cxii [irecisely opposite to its wound of entrance on the other thiuh. Thus Warford was sup{)osed to have been shot through hotli thiiihs when the suriieoiis found a wound of en- trance on his right thigh and a wound ui' exit on his left thigh, until they discovered that there were no wounds at all on the inside of his thighs. The extraordinary trick of the bullet was only figured out after Warford had been taken to the hospital ship. Another amazing wound was that received by I^ornian L. Ornie. Xo one knows who shot Orme, for his wound was made by a bullet from a Tvemington rifle, and it is not supposed that any of the American or Spani-h troo})s were armed with R(nningtons. The bullet made eight wounds in him. 'Idiis was owing to the cramped position in which he held his gun when he was shot. The shot first passed through the left forearm, making two wounds, then tlirough the left upper-arm, two more wounds, then through the body, two more wounds, and then through the i-ight up])cr-anii, making I he last two of the eight. An interesting little point told to me bv Taptain ^Fc- Clintock is that ("lifton ( '. Middleton had i^one to him THE STORY OF THE EOUGH EIDERS. before the battle began and aniioiiiiced that he, IMiddh^- ton, would certainly be shot before it was over. '' 1 am snre to be wonnded," said Middleton. " All my people were killed in their farndic )use by Indians, and 1 shall die the same way." He was shot, bnt was not killed, I think. It wonld be unfair to omit from (his chapter a para- graph al)out the superb work of the surgeons. Surgeon Church, especially, distinguished himself. Before I was shot I saw him running along with his surgeon's packet on the very firing line, and attending prom])tly i'> all the wounded he could find, without paying the least at- tention to his own safety as he did so. In one case, where the fire was so hot that every man in the neigh- borhood was lying flat on his face to avoid it, Chni-ch knelt at the side of a wounded man and made himself a shining mark for Spanish bullets without hesitation. And here I have an opportunity of ]iaying a slight tribute to one of the bravest men I ever knew. His name is George W. Burgess. Burgess was with D Troop and enlisted in Oklahoma. Xo one detailed him to do first-aid duty diu'ing the battle of Las Guasimas, or at any other time. Pie has the quiet blue eyes and the thin straight lips of the gen- tleman desperado whom Bret Harte wrote about. I don't believe that anything on earth could frighten him, nor do I believe that, in any emei'gency, his voice would rise above a calm and quiet drawl. Before I fell into the long grass, I saw Burgess standing up when others were lying down, and running along the firing line with his brown red-crossed first-aid 138 ' £^^jyi/ ■' S .^-^^ Captain McClintock wounded at Las Guasimag. DEATH AND SQFFPJKING. poucli. Soniotimos he "would stop nnd inko a shot at the Sjtaiiiarcls, "just for hell," :is he said, but uiost of tlic lime lie was Imsv with men wlio had been Avoundcd and were Ivini;- in danucrons j)lafes. There was one man in this liattic who took advantage of his first-aid poueh to stav in the rear wdicre comparative safety was, and wasted much good time in too elal»orately dressing the wounds of men wdio had been braver than himself. Burgess made his red cross an excuse for plac- ing himself in extraordinary dangers. He was the first man to come to me, and the other day lu; gave to me the little liask from which ho had adndnistered the ammonia which re- stoi'ccl ni<» to consciousness. 1 know that when he stood over me looTTiug kindly down and telling me that he did not think it was worth his while to dress my w^ound, because he and the surgeons considered that it could not be otherwise than mortal, the bullets were flying about him as thicd-cly as they ever flew about anyone. I can i-emendiei- dis- tinctly how the \dlh'ys sounded as they swept over my face, and 1 know that 1, who was lying down, shrank and shivered as they shrieked their devilish little songs, while Burgess stood there calm and (|uiet, and told me softly and symitathetieally that he was extremely sorry for me. He added, with something of contcmjit, that it was a damned shame that I was only a correspondent. Then he started on a run for another wounded man who was nearer to the front than I was, and who was prob- ably lying under a hotter fire than I was. Xot two Ammonia Fla^k. THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. iiiiiiTitcs had elapsed before lie came back to me, still running, and asked me if I did not want to Ix; carried to the shade. I had had a sunstroke when I Avas a boj, and J had been hopini;- that I might be sparetl another one, al- though I greatly feared it. It seemed to me that as long as I had a Mauser bullet in me, it would be nice; to die respectably of my wounds iiuder ihe shade of a tree that L could see as I lay, instead of staying out Ihei'c iu the blistering long grass and dying of sunstroke. So 1 told Burgess that I should be very glad to be taken to the shade. lie took me there. Afterwards when 1 found that he was suffering from an intensely painful case of water on the kneecap, I won- dered at his strength. lie dropped me under the shade of t hat tree as if I had been.a hot ])otato, and muttering wild and Western oaths, he s})ed desperately to the front, which had in the mean- time advanced many yards. That was the last I saw of Burgess until the battl(> was over. He was a brave man. And while the heroic work of our soldiers ceased when the battle ended, the heroic work of our surgeons and their assistants w^ent on all that afternoon and all that night. The field hospital was established at about the j)lace where Hamilton Fish had been shot. Tlie- regi- ment moved on to camp, l)ut its wounded w(M'(^ taken back to form a little grou]) under the slielt(M-ing shade of a mango tree tliere in the Avilderness. Ca])tain Mc- Clintock lay near where 1 lay, and Major Brodie somc- 133 DKAIil AND SUI'TEKING. times lay, somotimos sat, and sometimes "walked painfully about lis, iiiirsiiiii- his shattered arm. I do not think that iiiivdiic \\;is ilici-c except the R(iui;li lviy were working with an energy tliat could have been boi-ii «>idy of desperation. Church, I remeud)er, had cut the sleeves out of . his shirt, and liis arms were as red as if they had been (li])])ed in ckn'ct. Indeed all the sur- geons were literally soaked in blood. 1 remend>er that Church kneeled close to me at oufi time and my hand touched his trousers. It canu^ away with a bright red stain. The medical staff was straining evei-y nerve to prepare the wounded for the journey to Siboney. I described in Scrihnerls Magazine, for September, 1808, an episode which occm-red at this time. A couple of months later I received a letter from a man who was there when I was, which said that he remembered no such incident. It seemed almost too pretty to be true, and for a time after I had read his letter I doul)ted my own memory and thought this might have been one of the vain imaginings which continually beset me in those hard hours. Since then, however, I have seen Ca])tain McClintock in New York. He was very near to me 134 DEATH AM) SUFFERING. that di\Y, and ho iviueiiibercd the incident as well as I did. 1 shall, therefore, describe it briefly here. We luiil Ih'vw doin^- what Ave could \i> keep our spirits up. Most of us were badly hurt, and cheerfulness was dillicult to bring about. Death stared some of us in our faces, and other men were contemplating amputation of their arms or legs with what courage they could summon. AVc wci-c doing vcrv little talking. I was simply wait- ing fur the end. With a suddenness that startled all of us, some one began to sing: '■ Ml/ country, His of thee, Sweet land of lihertij, Of thee ire .sing.''' McC'lintock and 1 joiued in: " Land irhere oar fatlwrs died, Land of the Pilgrims' pride — " The strangely 1rend)ling song went on. It had its quivering interruptions of pitiful groans, and some of those who sang, sang jerkily, because they were in mortal pain. l)Ut we were a doleful litth' group of hurt Amer- icans, off there under a tree, in the midst of the Cuban solitude, and nothing seemed so dear to us, just then, as the homes which wo might never see again and the c( .untry which some of us had left behind forever. Trob- ably no song was ever sung more earnestly; certainly no words wer(^ ever uttered which cost more eff(>int wliich those of the Rough Riders liad reached and held durinii- those terril)l(' lionrs wlicn they were in tliat h)ng grass and among those bnshes, mnst, of necessity, relax and h-avc thcnr owners weak. The regiment marched nix nit two and a half mih's forwai-d and tntliclcfi of tlicspot where the battle liad begun, and went into camp. It wasn't mncli of a cam]). 'I'hc moi'ning's woi'k ]i;id tii'cd tlicm loo coni|»lclcly- oilicci's mid men aliki — to Id tlic idea of es1;d>lishing an clalioi-atc camp seem rcas(Hialil('. AVood and IiooscNT'lt were glad ciiongli to relax ome extent, and tliey nt Wood's big heart did not see the absurdity of it, and he sent me a pleasant message, saying that he was soi'ry that 1 had been shot. This was brought by an oifieer, whose identity I have also been unable to estab- lish. 1 didn't eai'c about anything just then, and re- member trying to turn over, and wearily wishing that people wouldn't bother me. Later, thougli, and just after we had heard that the Colonel was not dead, Wood came to me, and stoo])ing over, said: " Hello, Marshall! How are you now? " T was suffering the tortures of perdition and told him so. I shall not forget the kind look of s(*lieitnile on his 139 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. face as I slowly drifted into unconsciousness after I had spoken. AVlien I regained my senses a few moments later, his pleasant face was still l>eiidin,o to you when you asked me to," he said; '" I tried to, but it was the turning point of the 1 tattle." The idea that I had sent foi- liiiu and that he wanted to come to see me while the infernal hght, which I had seen the most of, was in progress, seemed so amusing that I laughed at it, and he laughed too. " Won't you ha^'e a drink? " he asked. There had been ii<» stiundaiit otlicr than aromatic spirits of amnioiii;! oii the Held, ami when llic colonel held a little four or live ounce vial oi' Scotch whiskey to my li])s, it seemed to nie that it was the finest thing in all the woi'ld. A moment later he was holding that same little liottle up for J\Ic( 'lintock, and I heard Mc('lintock s;iy hetween the pain gasps: "By God! that's good!" And so it was. The men were brought to join the little grou]) there on tent-cloths and blankets. There was not a single sti'etcher in the regiment. As a matt(n- of fact, there were not even enough tent-cloths and blankets to handle tlie wounded on, for T distinctly remember seeing Privates Burgess and Love of T) Troop — the same men avIio had carried me to the shade — trying to bear a wouinled man on a narrow board. Once or twice he rolled off and fell in the grass, greatly to his own exasperation and the sorrow of the bearers. T managed to get a stretcher, 140 AKIKi; LAS (;UASIMAS. tlii'oiiiili the kind (liliccs ol' SU'plicii ( 'ranc. IIo and Kicliard llardiiii;" Davis had coiiie u]) \n me inmicdiately attcr 1 was woiiiidcil. I ;iiii Inld tliat they were tlu; (iidy dtlici' uc\vs]ta]>('r iiicii in tlic tii:lil. ( 'raue not only took luv storv i)\' the iii>iit down to the eoast for me, but desorihed my nnsfortune to (George Coffin, Acton Davies, and ("hai'les jMeNichol, who were on one of the New York -JounutVs des])at(di hoots. Tlicy lu'onuht np a stretcdier winch may liavc hcloiiued to tlie (luvernment, but which I think was the J on riKirs property, and took me down to the iios|)itai ship " Olivette." Most of the W'Mindcd men who were taken to tlic field hospital, perforce I'emained thei-e for the niiiht. ( 'ap- tain .Mc( 'liutock was too weak from loss of bhxuj to make his renio\al possible. He t(dls me that the \vounde(l hiy thei'c dni'iiia- the lonii' darkness and sang songs, as they had snng "My ('oimti'v, 'tis of Thee," before I was eai-ried away. Shn'p was pretty nearly out of the (puvstion, for the moans of those in awfid ))ain and the ravings of the men who had been I'endered delirious by snfl"ering or by diMigs, were incessant. The nttei' inade(piateness of the force sent to the front that day to fight its way forward and at the same time ])rote('t its own rear, was shown by an episode near the tield ho^piud. l,ientenant-( 'oloiiel llro(|ie told me id" it the other day in Washington. l!i-o(lie was walking up and down nursing his Avonndel ai'in. The regiment had gone on to camp a mile and a half away, and the wounded were hd't there in the woods with a small guard. One of them lay at Brodie's feet, llis eyes were on the ground level. 14:5 THE STOKY OF THE KOUGH KIHEKS. "Great Scott, Major!'' be t^aid to iJrodie. "There come a lot of Spaniards." Brodie looked in the direction lie indicated, Init eonld see no one. "(Jet down here." said the wounded man, "and yon can sec tlicm |]iimiii:Ii the luislics and i^'rass." Ilroclic aut down, and saw llicni. Tlid'c certainly was a Ltudy (if two linndrcd men or more wlio had approached within a few hnndrcd yards of our pitiful little hospital, and wci'c well in the ivar (doui' rcuimcnt. i^'ortumitciy for ns they were ('nhans. lint they mii;ht ([nite as well have heen Spainards, as far as any means of jirevention that wci'c ill oiir power were concerned. II' t he Spanish forces had executed a tlankini;' movement on us that day, they could have douhled us n]), des])ite the maii'nificent fightini>' (pialities of onr men. There were four tlionsanJ of them aii'ainst our nine hundred. A corporal and seven men were left to liuard the hospital. There was ^ood I'casoii foi- this, foi- the Span- ish sharpshooters, which afterwards infested that part of the connti'v so thoroii<2,hly, had already l)ei;uii their work and were hrinu' at onr wonnded and at onr snr- o'eons and our hospital men. There Avei'e seven alarms dnrini;- the niulit, and one of lliem was caused hy a shot from a sharpshooter, who hit someone. I cannot find out who his Adctim was. The othei- six were caused by land crabs, which wei'c there by the hundreds of thou- sands, and which, when they scuttled throui:h the snn- dried grass and leaves, made a noise quite loud enough to be reasonably accredited to careful men, crc^eping up. The corporal in charge was brave. lie did not know 144 AFI'Ki; LAS ClASIMAS. wlicthcr or not the whole JSpani.-^li army was stealing on lis thoro in the dark, yet he took his seven men and went ont as liraxciv auainst the nnknown terrors of the Cnlian wihh'rness as if those men had nnnd>ered se\'en thousand. And hero it is well to say a word ahont those Spanish sharpshooters. That they disregarded all the rules of civilized warfare and ordinary, straight humanity, in fir- ing on our surgeons and wounded and into our iKopitals, that day and on sueeeeding days, there is no donitt what- ever. I cannot believe that they could have been regu- lar Sjianish soldiers. Our hatred for tlu^ S])aniai'ds as a common enemy should not make us forget that they were hrax'e men in fight, and lii'a\c men are not likely to do such things. An ex})lanation which most of the officers of the American army down there afterwards heard from the Spaniards themselves, ami which some of them told to me, does not seem unreasonable. The jail< in Santiago were full of military prisoners. The city had long Ixhmi the abiding place of large bodies of Span- ish troo])s, and tliese trooj)s wcvo (lisconteiite(! because tiny had not been paid and were not well. Ofiences against army law, both serious aiul petty, were conunon among them. IMany soldiers were lo(d-ani/ed effort was r\cv iiiailc to (li'i\c them a\\a\' iVom the ti'ails along wliicli (Mil' wdiiiKJcd iiicii were (•()nl iniially being" carried and (till' well men constantly passing to and fro. I p to the xerv time of the snrrender, and during the truce, these uieii kept up their hellish gneri'illa warfare on our ti'oops, and many a man carries a wound to-day or tills a grave in Cuba, who never would have been shot if they had been driven out. Of course our men did what they could in a casual way, to kill them. In- dividual soldiers, tinding themselves fired upon, fired l)ack, and became mightily suspicious of all those branches in the trees which they saw moving in any way \\ liich was not warranted by the breeze which blew as they approached, but they made little impression on the Spanish sharpshooters. If r am to believe the reports which I have heard, there could not have been less than two hundred (»f these men. Once in a while one of our men would pot one of them, and he would fall from his tree all spread out like a killed crane, with his concealing branches still tied to him. But the evil was really only wiped out with the surrender of the Spanish army. It is impossible not to feel a sort of qualified admiration for the rough bravery of these cha])s who were within an enemy's lines and entirely cut off from the possibility THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. of getting food or other supplies from tlieir own army, but it is equally ini})ossil)le to feel luiything other than unspcakaMe horror for the spii'it which imhiced them to hre on our wounded and into our hos]»il;ds, in open disregard of the dietates of hunumity and I he neutrality of the I Jed (Jross flag and badge. Idiey make you think of the Spaiiiiird who kiHed Licnlciiiiiit ()i'(L ( )i'd and his mcu had ciiplnrcd ;i ritle- j)it. A S])aniai'd was lying in this trciwli, badly woundecl but still firing. ()n(' (d' Oi'd's men did iiol sec thai he was woundc(l and was about to kill him. ( )i'(l kno(dli;ililic> iilider- neiitli, hut most of tliciii li;i(l loimd tliiil the \;ille_v I'oad was easiest, and had coiiie in liv the way which (icneral ^011710^ foi'ccs took in ^oini;' to the front. 'I here were so many of the wounded, and (if those who were jnst lieuinninu' to come down with fe\cr, that it was impossible to _i;ive even shelter to all of them. There were so few snri>eons and lios])ital men that the pi-ohlem of nie(lical attendance was cd)solutely unsoKaMe, and noon of Sunday had come Ijefore the last of the sutferers had recei\-e(| attention. At nndiiiuht, the hri^ht mo(»nliulit shone n])on n g'rne- some scene. 'Idie sick and woniided were lyinu' every- whei'c. 'ilie silence would have heeii complete had it not lieen lor the whispered talkini;' of the sni'iicoiis, and an occasional ui'oan tr(tm some man in a^diiy. Little pia/./as fronted most of the lints. One (d' these,. wlii(di had lieeii turne(l over to the JS'ew York ■loiii-inil l>y the Cuhans for a head(piarters, was the oatherinu- place for most of the sufferinu' liouuli Uiders. iJrewer, who had gone to ( 'uha to cstaMish a post-oflice, and wdio after- wards died of yellow fever, had piled his mail haus on one end of this hnt's piazza, 'i'hey made ca])ital 1)eds. and were cox'ei'cd li\' >leepiim- men. The -lee|)ers had twisted themselves into all sorts of iirotesqne positions to fit tlieir nne\-en restini>' places and their aeliinu' lind's. T'y the door, like a pale-faced sentinel, was Arthur Croshy. in a rockim;-chair. lli- head and arms were swathed in Moo(h^taiiied haiidaiics and his aii'ony was THE STORY OF THE KOUGH RIDERS. violent. In the brim of his liat there was a little hole which showed where the bullet had passed before it tore off his cheek, perforated the palm of his left hand, and then buried itself in his chest. Just how one bullet could have made this wound is a pretty problem, and Crosby does not know. lie probably had the back of his hand against his chin, as he was lying in the grass, when he was shot. lie had been one of the lucky few to whom had been given cot beds when they reached the hospital, but the agony of a recund^ent position had been so great that he had gladly swapped his bed for a rock- ing-chair, and there he sat through all the dreadful night, his face convulsed with agony, but never groaning and never making one complaint. He was one of the Hough Riders. Xot far from Crosby lay Sergeant Basil Eicketts. lie had a bullet in his thigh. ISTo man ever endured pain with greater fortitude than Rickclts showed. Personally I can never forget him, for before he was wounded he made one of the men who carried me from the sun into the shade. It is interesting to si)eak here of an episode in the life of his father. General Ricketts: During the AVar of the Rebellion, he was hit by one of the old Minie balls, in nearly the same place which the Mauser bullet afterwards found in his son at Las Guasimas. Mrs. Ricketts was staying at a hotel just within the Union lines. She heard that her husband was wounded, and tlu^t night went out to find him. He was lying on the field, not far from the Confederate out- posts. The surgeons were bending over him and ex- plaining to him that it would be necessary to amputate 150 AFTKK 1,A.S GUASIMAS. liis leg. ]\rrs. liiekc'tts prutotcd, l)ut the .-^urgcuns lulJ her lie would die from loss of blood or gangrene, if the leg were lint hikeli oW. " If lie weic in :i Xdi'tlierii hospital," thev said, ''wo uiiglit sa\"e liis leg, hut down here, Avhere good nnrsing is impossible, we cannot tliink of risking it." "" I will stay and nurse him," Mrs. Ki(d<:etts declared. AVith water from the canleens of dead men, she laved his Wound all that night; when moi-ning came, the Union troops had found it necessary to fall hacd-;. and she was left with her wounded hnshand in Confederate territory, iliey were caj)tnr(Ml, and with seventeen other T^nioii ofKcers })nt into a single room in Lihhy ])rison, where i\lrs. Kicketts was the only woman. The Confederates often offered to exchange liei-. hut she had told the sur- geons that she would stay and nurse her hnshand, and stay she did. For six months, she woi-ked tliei'e, saving not only her hnshand's life, hut the lives of many other Union otlicers. Basil liicketts tinik hi> wound as the son of such ])ai-ents might he ex])eeted to take a wound. One (d" the sergeants of the Hough Riders had served under General Uicketts, and was tlie first man to come up to Basil aftei' he had lieen shot. " I'm hit," said Kicketts. The old sergeant leaned over him and saw that he was taking it calndy. '' God almighty." said the sergeant, " wouldn't the general he tickled if he could s(>e you now! " After Bicketts returned to Xew ^'ork, he suffered terribly from fever, and for a long time lay in St. Luke's 151 THE STORY OF THE ROTOH RIDERS. Hospital in a room not far from mine. I have never seen liim since the war, hut nurses ami (hK'tt)rs alike continually told me of the })lu('ky way in which ho en- dured his pain. Xot far away from Kieketts lay Lieutenant Dever- eaux, of ( 'olorado Springs. jSText to McClintock's, his wonnd was the most ])aiiiful that I knew of during the cani])aign. Tlie hones of his forearm were literally gronnd to powder. Later he was taken out to the "Olivette," and he spent much i'o- test. The same great surgeon who carved me u|>, and thereby saved my life, worked over Devereaux in Xew York, and saved his arm. Dr. Tlohert Al>he occasionally pidls from his ])0(d\et, even now, a hattered hit of steel. This is the bnllet which he took from Lieutenant Dever- eaux. Over in the corner, on the inside of the shanty, lay Burr Mcintosh. The troubles wdiich he had with sweet Spanish wine had not been enougli for him. He was the first man to go dr)\vn with yello^v fever, and its first stages were that night convulsing him with |)ain and leading his mind off into the unknown paths of mutter- ing delirium. ^Mcintosh has now recovered, and it is fair to tell some details of what his wandering brain dwelt upon during that uncanny night. Tie had in mind the production of a play called the "" War Correspond- 152 A FT E It LAS GUASIMAS. out," and a part of his costume was to consist of a liigli l)air of russet leatlier cavalry boots. With an eye to the value rk, and taken them to ( "nba with him. It was his plan to wear footgear on tlie stage which had actually been stained by Cuban mud, and, if possible, to see to it that, during the cainpaign, some real blood fell ui)on those boots. In-om the moment of his landing in Cuba, envious glances had been cast iil)on them by troopers wdiose shoes were going the ruined way of army shoes in Cuba. They were stolen the tirst day. That night he got them back. Tlie next day, before the start to Siboney, another man purloined them and he recovered them after nnudi detective work, just before the yellow fever caught him in its scraggy arms. As he lay there, the precious boots were lovingly gathered beneath his head. He talked of them inces- santlv. ITome, friends, and)ition — all were subordinate in his delirium, to the yellow boots. In the middle of the night a shadowy trooper appeared, ghostlike, from nowhere. He carefully picked his shoeless way aniong the wounded men and steered a coni'se foi- Mcintosh. AVlien he went out, the yellow boots were idosely clasped beneath his tunic, and Mcintosh, his head now on the floor, raved on about them. The story of that night in the hospital might be much prolonged, but I coidd only write a repetition of such anecdotes. The men lay there and suffered, the sur- geons workcfl, 'uwht blood and groans. The only light in the nuiin 1>uilding came from a bottle whicli some thoughtful Cuban had half filled with native fire- 15.-) THE STOKY OF THE KOUlJH RIDERS bugs. Soinetinios a clui}) would ciitoi- with a blazing brand from a neighboring caniiifirc and cast a Hickering, ghastly glow about him; and so the night dragged on until the sndden (Aiban dawn. After Wood was made (lovernor of Santiago )ii-oviiu*e, he went out to look over the old hattle-gi-ouiid. The strongest testimony to the tiereeness of the lire he found in the condition of the trees ({ind tliis \v;is six months after the battle hnd been fonght). At tlie point where the Spaniards tirst o])ene(l on us, the forest looked as if a conflagration had swept it. 'I'lie trees liad been abso- lutely killed by the terrible hail of bullets which had been ])oured into them, while our men wen; advancing through them. The Tiongh TJiders were not conifortaI)le in their new cam]). Tliey had thrown away most of theii- tents and blankets, and the weather had tui'iu'd bad. They began to I'ealize what tlie rainy season in ( 'uba means. Those who had tents, i)ut them uj), but they otb-i'eil little pro- tection against the trojncal downpours, which beat the canvas to earth and sent streams of water down the little slopes actually strong enough to sweo]) mattresses and blankets out from under tents, unless they were anchored down by the recnmbent forms of sturdy ti'oo|)ers. The camp was within two thousand yai-ds of the Spanish trenches, but not a sliot was fired. It wonld have been worse than foolish to have sent the regiment forward into another fight just then, when everything was considered, yet the men were anxious to go. By this time the Rough Tliders had " got their mad u]i." Dnring the first Ivattle they had killed Span- 15C AF'l'KR LAS (iUASlMAS. iards as II lualtcr nf Im-iiios, luit the (lc\ili>li work of the sharpshooters (»ii llicir wduiidrd, uiid I hi' tlioiisaiul and one discointorts lirowiiii;,' out ol llic ('aiii]);ni;ii — worse disc'oiiifttiMs tlian tlic hardiest cowliov aiiioiii;- them had ever siitVercd on our ])laius — lind exasjx'ratcil tlieui to tlie j.oint ol' tVcu/y, for tliev loured now to kill Spainards Itecausc ihcv lialcd tliciii. Kl Canev was off at the right, in the distance, and I'd Peso, where some of ihcui W(n-e to uieel their deaths in a few giment was so hue and whole-souled and valorous, that it des(n-ves to g(» down in history as an organization practically without flaws. At hrst, some (d" the officers and men built shacks which they thatchei] with ]>alm and banana leaves. This was very nice till inght came on, when tarantulas and other callers took to dro]i])ing from the greenery of the roofs. These little episodes were rendered doubly dis- agreeable by the fact that the men could not light lights — not even matches — in order to make search for the 159 THE STOKY OF TUE liOUGIl lUDEKS. invading vermin. To make a liglir vas likely to be fatal. The Spaniards, in their trenches, were wateliing for the foolish oiics wlio did it, and their temerity was always followed hy a shot, if not a volh'v. The S])anish shar])shooters whd had their eyes on the Rough liidei-s diii'iiig these trying (hiys and nights wei'e really sharp- shooters. They could easily wing a man acro>s the short space which se))arated tlieni. and they often did. I )ni-iiig the eoiistatitlN' recnri'ing night rainstorms, which wei'e al- ways accompanied hy the most vivid and discoiiceiling trojucal lightning — a kind of tiash which is totally un- known and totally indescribable to the jieople Xortli — tluy freipiently hit men. The long nights in the trenches Avere not ])leasant. They were half-fnll of water after the rains. Manv and many a man has told me that he stood iij) to his knees in the ( 'nban rain-water while he was waiting for the Span- iards to shoot at him. One man — I think it was the scnl])tor, Benjamin Harney — tried to kee]) out of this Avater one night by kneeling on a little mound in the tremdi. AVhen morning came shining rosily o\-er the hills, he looked at the mound. ITe fonnd that he had heen kneeling on a S])anish soldier's grave, and that the corpse had stuck a hand out of the (>dge of it as if in protest at the desecration. These few days had no cheerful features. In this camp the men had momentarily expected battle orders, their quarters had been uncomfortable; tarantulas, vermin, and other disagreeabilities, had made sleep at night almost impossible. Dnring the days tlie men had slept in such shade as they could find when it was not 160 AF'l'Klt LAS GUASIMA8. rniniiiii'. and lind diuu" their best to keep dry and save their small [)n)})ertics from floatiiii; <>1V in the floods when it was raiiniiii'. Their rations of one-third allowance of haeoii. hardtack, and coiFcc withont sni;'ai-, had not been snttieieiit to kee)) iheir physical >treiii:th up, and then- spirits (b'ooped accord inii'l v. This nnfortnnate condition Avas aiiiiravated among the smokers of tlie reiiiment — and Avliat m(>nd>er of the Konch Ividers was not a smoker? — liv the lack of tobacco. It was at this time that a little two-onnce ]iacka2,'e of smokinn back to tlie Cnbans by Captain Luna, Avho had him in charge. He might much better have said nothing about the C\d)ans, and left himself in American hands, for the Cubans took him 11 161 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. up to a hill to the left of where the Rough Eiders were encamped, and eut him to pieces without niercv and in spite of the protests made by two or three American private soldiers Avho were present. When American officers, wlio had heen summoned, arrived, they found the Spaniard (h'ad. On the evening of June iJOtli I lie regiment went to El Poso, which the Sjianiards had hccii forced, liy our artilh'rv fire, to evacuate. They did not i-cacli lliis last point until late at night. It Avas, indeed, long after eleven o'clock l)efore they M'ere really in the place which had been assigned to them as camp — an assignment whidi the following day's events proved to be either criminally careless or incon- ceivably stupid. I may, perhajis, be excused for sa\ing the story of the burial of the dead in the battle of Las (hiasimas for the end of this chapter. It was the burial of tlie first dead in the army, during the Spanish- American war. It was significant, and it was grim, and it was pitiful. I do not suppose that there ever was a regiment in which tli(> men, as individuals, had a higher regard for each (^ther. The mere fact that another man had been accepted as a member of this carefully selected organization gave you a certain respect for him. You knew what you had been through yourself. The men loved one another, as strong men love those who have passed through some trials with them alreadv, and are considered completely competent to pass through other trials with them. Yet when the burial of the dead came, not more 163 AFTKIl LAS GUASI.MAS. than half of the nicii in the regiincnt went out to sec the ceremony. lircd. tired, tired! -No men were ever more t Imrouiihly worn out lli;in they were when they mnde theii- pi-imitive cmii]) i>\\ ih;it ('idnin hill- side (iNcr to tlic I'iaht of where llannlton I'ish was kille.L Colonel Wood h;id oi'(h're(| ;i deliiil ill whicli all the trooj^s were re})resente(l, to dig the iirave the niiilit be- fore. These men were jirond of their task, and they were anxions to perform it, but they were too terribly tired to do it well. luuht dead men were lying" in a gniesonie row near the held ho>|»ital under that mango t re( a ti'ee whicdi should l)e suri'ouuded by a bi'onzc I'ailiug ami hehl as an exhibition for future geiu'rations (»f Americans who are interested in what our men did in Cuba in those summer days of Kighteeii Xinctv- Kight. These were not all the dead, but they were the ones who were laid away on Saturday moriung in that first crude grave. Tireil. dead tireil. were the men wh<> dug it. They were too tii'e(| tn dig >e]iai'ate graves tor their hei'o com- rades. Hut what they could, they did. They began the work on that nnlueky Friday night. TIow near they were to the ])oint of comidete exhaustion is shown by the fact that it was not tinished until the middle of the fol- lowing morning. At eleven o'clock, officers' call was sounded. All men in command of troops Avere told that the funeral ser- vices over the men who had fallen the day Itefore would occur in half an hour. Xo one was compelled to go. 103 THE STORY OF THE liOLGH RIDERS. Xeitlier officers uor men turned out because they were told to. Many of the men were busy on other tasks connected with the new cam}), and all had plenty to do in cleaning guns and getting themselves and their equip- ment ready for the next battle. The ceremony was brief. " I am the Hesurrectioii and the Life, saith the Lord," Chaplain Ih'OAvn r(>])eatc(l, and so on, through the Epis- copal service. lie knell and prayed by the trench. The men knelt too, and as they dotfed their campaign hats, the Cuban sun beat down as fiercely on them, and on the nu'U in the trench before them, whose battles were fin- ished forever, as it had the day before on all of them when the fight began. Some one threw a heavy clod into the trench. Tlie men rose, and their deep bass voices joined in " Xearer, my God, to Thee." It was as impressive as the singing of the patriot's hymn had been in the field hospital. It is useless for me to tell how those men lay there; they were without coffins, and their only shrouds were the uniforms in which they had nobly died. The Cuban soil was shovelled over them. The chief bugler stood upon the mound and blew the mournful notes of '' taps," and the ceremony was finished. Their living comrades marked their grave with stones and bits of wood. The names of the men that slept there were written on the wood. jSTow, eight months after the war ended, even these markings have been obliterated. Some one has erected a tombstone, which reads : 164 ]Vhere (he Bcmgh liiders waited in the Quivering Heal bij'oie Ike fhanje of San Juan. AFTEIl I.AS (iUA81^[AS. r.. the J\I •;m()Kv ok 1 :i(. IIT u NKNOWN ISOLDIEKS. The stone was not officially erected, and the names of the soldiers are not unknown. By and by, when the authorities get around to it, proper tombstones and a nionunicnt will be erected. (Jeneral Wood ha- already planned fur it. The body of Hamilton Fish has been taken frum Cuba since that day, and brought North to be interred at (!ar- rison's, New York, Captain Capron was buried on a hillside near the seashore. His grave is marked by a neat tombstone erected l)y (Lionel fnow >raior-rieneral) AVood. '^riie men marche(l ulT, l(';i\ing their (lend nlone iti their glory Ix'hind them. The strange new routine of regi- mental life was taken n|>. and new thoughts and wonder- ings of what the future held lor them busied tlu' minds 167 THE STOKV OF THE ROUGH RIDEKS, of those who wei'o left, but after thai hattK', aiul after tliat bui'ial, no man in the regiment wiis (jnite the same. The Ilongli Tlidcrs had passed tliroiigh their baptism of fire, and passed gloriously, but they had paid a terrible price to Fate. 168 CHAPTER IX. THE BEGINNING OF SAN JUAN. T must .start bv saying that I did not see any part of the tlir(H> days' battle of San Jnan, and that what is written licre is written from what 1 have been tokl by men who did, and from what 1 have read. I have taken considerabk^ trouble to see that every statement is ac- curate, however, and am convinced that there are few, if any, mistakes in this account. As every one knows, the battle started on the first day of Julv. General AV heeler and General Young were liotli ill so General Sumner took command of the cav- :dry division, in wliicli the Kough TJiders were in- cluded, in the Second Brigade, 'riiis promoted Lieu- tenant-Colonel lioosevelt to the colonelcy and to com- mand of the regiment, for Colonel Wood became a l)rigadier-geiu'ral.antl took couimaud of ( Jeiu'ral Young s brigade. The regiment had moved to El Poso the previous day, and were encamped on that picturescjue little farm which the Spaniards had evacuated. Xothing can describe the filthy state in which the retreating soldiers had left the place. '' If Cuba is unhealthy, this is what makes it so," said General Sumner to a foreign atta(die. " Xew York City would breed yellow fever germs faster than a horse can run, if it were left in such a state as this. 160 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. When tliev eliminate nnnecessjiry dirt t'nuii Cuba they M'ill eliminate yellow fever." Bnt the fevers Avhich hegan to make many a man in "the Kongh Itiders ache and shiver, wei-e not eansed by the filth. The days were incredibly hot and the nights were chilly. From the valleys on both sides of the hill where the regiment was encamped white inists fnll of the miasma of malaria rose every night to till tlie air nntil the next morning's sun dissipated them, and these mists sent many men to hosjiital. They added greatly to the heanty of the situation, however, althongh it is not pi-ol)able that the Ivongh lliders were as (le(>i)ly interested in that as they were in the (piinine which was scarce and which this detail of the beauty made neces- sary. The order to move forward toward Santiago along the San duau ti'ail was given the night before to' Colonel Itoosevelt, wlio had reveille sonnded at three in the morning, for his troops wei-e snp|)osed to be on their wav at fonr. 'There was a good deal of su])])i'essed excite- ment among the men. The feeling of security that had preceded the battle of Las Gnasimas was replaced by a feeling of wonder and, in some cases, apprehension. The general orders which had been given to their com- manders spread among the men with great ra])i(lity, al- thongh it is, of conrse, the military intention that snch things shall be known only to the men who must of necessity be confided in. There was no longer any doubt in the minds of the Rough Riders that there were Span- iards in Cuba and that the Spaniards had guns, and that the guns would be loaded and fired, and that they would 170 rilK IJKC.rNNINCi OF SAN .JIjAN. 1)(> fired for llic |»iir|>(i>c of killiim' llic soldici's in the Aiiicriciiii nriiiv. I (1(1 iiol wi-li to i;iv(' tlic idcii llint llic Umiiili Kidcrs were :ifr:nd tlic iiiu'lil Ixd'oi'c S;iii dii;iii, i'<iit 1 do mean that the l{ou,i;li Kideis had learned to fake war sei'iously. They liad oidy to close theii- eyes to sei' the battlefield (d' Las (iuasimas where they had so Imsily passed that morning- of the twenty- fonrth of Jnne. And in the visions which they thus called to their minds they saw it dotted with prostrate comrades who were not lying down in order to tacilitate their own aim at their enemies, hnt were lying down because they had ix'cn hit by S])anish bnllets. They conld see Avounded men all bloody and they could see dead men. They knew tliat just bcfoi'c the battle those men who were W(Uin(led and those men who were dead had felt ju-t as they had felt — had not believe(| that tlie\- would be wounded oi- dead. .Vnd the Uough Riders who brought theoli>hcd nil their I'ille- which the\- had now learned how THE STOKY OF THE KOUGIl HIDEKS. to use, and they did what they could to })repare to fight ably and manfully against a foe for whom they had achieved a very considerable respect. It would not be right to say that the men were not sorry to see Colonel AVood taken away from the com- 2nand of the regiment, but that they wc^-e all extremely well pleased over Colonel Roosevelt's promotion is cer- tain. ^\nd th(\v could feel that way without hurting anyone's feelings, for they could congratulate Colonel Wood on the fact that he was now a brigadier-general, both by word of mouth and in iheir minds. While they had been h-arning to respect the Span- iards, they had continued to lose their respect for Cn- l)ans. The Cuban otHcers wer(^ very largely responsible for this thems(dves, for they kept up the same ])olicy of boorish indifference to the comfoiT of the Anun'ican troops which had distinguished them and sur])rised ns the night we landed at Siboney. And the Cuban sol- diers had shown a great tendency to ap])ro})riatc the property of onr soldiers in blue. The sight of .Vmerican blankets in the possession of ( 'ubans avIio could not ex- plain where they had got them had ceased to excite sur- prise, and ngly stories were afloat among the men, of Cuban vandals who had rifled the pockets and bodies of the dead and wounded at Las (rnasimas. For some reason or other the Ilongh Riders, particularly, had con- ceived violent donbts of the courage of onr Cnban allies, and when it was announced that General Chafl^ee in his attack npon El Caney wonld be supported and assisted by a large body of Cnban troops, lond derisive cries were heard in the camp of the Rongli Riders. I do not know 172 TllK 15 KC IN MX (I OF SAN JUAN. how Cliati'cc's iiicii felt alxtut ii, ikh- Imw Gonoral CliatiV'c liiinsolf felt about it, but 1 am inclined to be- lic\(' That he had been iiit'ectrd with the same doubts. For lie went alica'ne(l to them, Imt tluy forgot to iire their uuns and they foriiot. to advance moral effect, howevei', and lia\-e full helief in the necessity of artillery. The moral eifect of (irimes's battery was strong in the Kongh Riders, mid tilled the hearts of them with glee. (Jrimes's battery tired ahont nineteen shots Ixd'ore the Spaniards answered. When the answer came it was directed with excellent aim at the clond (d' smoke whicdi hung over and ai-ound the American guns, and was, itself, fired with smokeless powder which gave the Amer- ican guns no target. Our first shot was fired while the men were eating breakfast, idiey could plainly see a S])anish blockhouse, and when they observed that either the fii'st or some succeeding shot had sti-uck this hlockhouse, they gatli- ered in little groups and they shouted wild western and college yells with the same enthnsiasm which afterwards carried them np San Juan Hill. The rejoicing of the Rough Riders over this shot was at the height of its intensity when the first Spanish shell was fired in answer. They heard the shot fired and then they heard for the first time in their lives the awfnl shriek of a shell's flight. They coidd not see it. but the growing sonnd of 174 TIIK BEGINNING OP SAN JUAN. its advance scciiied to conic toward tlicni so slowly that they looked against ti.e sky eai;cvly and anxiously as if they slionld see the hhiek l>all in relief against it. Like the jiassage of a nianinioth sky-rocket, hissing and howl- ing like a fiend of the ail', lliis first Spanish shell came to freeze the grins on the faces of" the Ivongh liiders and to sto]) nudway theii- screams of excited delight over what oni" shells had done. Tlieii the shell cxithxicd with a re]»or( whiidi is not like any otiici' rcpoi'f. And when it ex[)loded, it was in the nndst of the liongh Kiders and, as its smoke (deared away, it exposed to view two dead men, and seven Wounded men with a kind (d" wonnds wlii(di was new to the regiment. These were not the clean-cut Mauser holes whi(di had marked the unfortunates at Las Guasi- nuis. They were great jagged rents torn into the ([uiver- ing flesh hy rough-edged fragments of broken steel. And ther(^ was no more laughter. And there were no more shouts. AVar was grim again. Metre of their comrades were lying dead. The second hattle had hegun. 1die S])aiuards were really shooting to kill. It was the iirst time and the last time, during the caui- ])aign, that there was anything like a stampede among the ivongh IJidei-s. it was the first time and the last time, during our war with S])ain, that they ever yielded an inch to Spanish shots of any kind. Hut tin's sludi was so unexpected and so di'endfid. that the UH'ti did not wait for tlu' word of comniand. 'I'hey ran scurrying away from the position whi(di they had heen (U'dered to occupy over the edg(^ of the hill to the right, where they showed their newly actpiireil respect for Spanish gun- 175 THE STORY UF THE liUL'GIl KlDEliS. nery bv keeping- cover until about half-past eight o'clock. 1'he first shot from the American Ijatterv had been fired at six-forty, and the Spanish shell had shrieked its way into their midst at exactly seven o.'clock. Lieutenant-( Colonel Brodie asks nu^ to mciitioii Private Iliillister, of A 'I'l'oop. He was one of the men struck by the shell at Kl Poso. He was badly toi'u, but he l)artially recovered from his wound, thi'ougli his pure grit. Ihit he reco\'ere(| fi-om his wound only to die of typhoid fever. AVhik? they were at Kl Poso, a funny einsode was the strange manauivro of the First Cavalry. It moved i)ast tlicui with great enthusiasiu. It had oidy a discon- certingly short distance to go before it struck the Span- ish outposts, and the Rough Kiders knew this. They supposed, of course, that an attack on the foe was in- tended by the nioveineiit. Pi'oniptly on time, and exactly at the [)lace where the Spaniards were supposed to be, the First (^avalry ran into them. 1'he Ivough liiders were waiting for a l)attle royal, and more or less expecting that they would soon be involved themselves. But with a ])romptness which was only equal by the rapidity of their advance, the First Cavalry retired again to some uidvnown ])oint, and" the night grew still and peaceful, and the First Cavalry had marched up the hill, and then marched down again, as did the King of France in the nursery rhyme. It was nine o'clock before they received their orders to go forward. They had watched many regiments pass along the trail before their turn came, and they shared the experiences of the others when they finally de- 176 'IllK UK(ilXNlNG OF SAN J TAN. l)OiK'li('(l into it. 'I'licy found it as the others had, miuhlv, o\crcro\v(h'(l, and l>adlv niaiiaizcd. '1 he whole aniiv was iiio\-iiiii t'orwai'd in a line iiol imich wider ihau the one which the luiui;li Kich'rs ahme had toimd so iii- eoinenieiil when tliey niarcdied up to ( 1 iia>iiiias. 1 mention thi-. hceausc the ai'iny had heeii inactive for seven (hi\s, and had had aniph' time to pi'epare for that advance hv cnttinu new trails thi'<*ni:h the jungle, so that tiiev could have entered the tield in half a dozen or a dozen plneos, instead of in only (^ue ]^lnee, on which it would liax'e been madness on the part of the enemy if they had not had their iiinis trained for days, (ieneral Chafl'ee recognized this, and spoke of it. Ihit (ieneral CMiatfee was not in couiniaud, so the Rouiiii Uider-^ stai-tcd down that ti'ail. as other regiments stai'ted down that trail, and when ten o'clock came they entei'e(| the zone of Spainsh tire as othei' regiments had and di( tire that day. And they ctiuhl not reply any more than others could reply. And they were 17'J THE 8TOEY OF THE ROUGH KIDEKS. woundcHl and killed ludplesbly and steadily as tlic men of other i-ciiinioiits were. And, with the other tr()()[)s who were iiiareheil need- lessly and stin)idly into that death trap, tlicy sutt'ered llironiiii the madness which sent n|> a niililai'_\' halloou at a [)la('e where t lie eiit ire .Vnieriean ai'niy in ( 'nha iiiust needs mandi nnder it or near it, and eateli the terriric fire whieh the Spanish unnners uf eonrse dii-cv-ted at so ad- mirable a tariiet. They were crossing a creek when they tirst felt the tire, 'idle water was about two feet deep, and many men were hit while they were wading in it. There was eon- siderahle (hinger thai the woninhMl men who fell in it would be (h'owned instead (d' dying pleasantly of their wounds as it is intemled that soldiers shall die, and the nu'ii who had first-aid ])ackages and who wei-e looking after the wonnded as well as they could, had their hands very busily employed. Colonel lioosevelt rode mounted to the right, and A\dien he saw the terrible^ slaughter that the balloon was bringing to the men who fcdlowed the route marked down foi- them, he took his nu'U out of it and around to the riglit so that they avoidc^l the worst of it, perhaps. The regiment finally halted while it was standing in the creek, 'idie men of 1) Troop M'ere waist dee]) and more in the water. The Spanish shells were whistling weirdly overhead and the blundering gas-bag was still there, as if it had been a signal shown to let the Spaniards know the position of our men. For half an hour the Rough Riders stood waiting there. Many of them had to keep their positions in the 180 'r 1 1 1-; ]5 K( ; 1 N N I N ( 1 < » f s a n .) i ' an. crook, and it is nut fun to stand lor lialf an hour in water, witli the tropical iilaro of the Culian sun beating down npon yonr licad, and its no loss stiHing reflection licatinu' nj) into your face and against yonr body from the water. if you add to those discomforts the con- tinual arrival of shells fired by hostile men, \vhi(di rijjped and tore the life out of ycmr comrades, while you looked imi)otently at their suffering and wondered how long it might 1)0 before you wore hit yourself, you will find that happiness is far distant and agony very near. Yet the irrepressible good spirits of the Hough Kiders did not des(M-t them oven hero. Th(\v would have been very nnudi more in evidence if the men had boon able to shoot ba(dv — if the pleasing consciousness that they were giv- ing S]iain as aood as she sent had been theirs; but still tlu'y laughed and joked and grimly guyed each other. Their next move was to the woods — the front frcuu whicli they hiter (diarged with their gallant colonel at their head and drove the Spaniards from San Juan TTill. This march covered a distance which I have heard estimated at half a nulo and whieli I have heard esti- mated at three miles. Probably the first figure is nearer right than the second. Tt is particularly surprising and not es]iocially pleasing to the writer of a book like this to tind that no two men see things alike in war time. My own remembrance of things I saw at (luasimas is as different from the remembrance of other men who saw the same things at the same time as the difference bo- twoon these two estimates of distanc<'. and the remem- brance of a third man sots both niyscdf and the other chap at fault. But all writers of battle history agree 181 THE STOKY OF THE KOUGII RIDERS. that the most frequent errors of those wlw see battles are on the side of exaggeration. At any rate, whether this march was long or short, everyone agrees that the weather was terrifically hot, and that the S[)anish fire was hotter. The country was cither clear or covered with low hushes which oifcrcd the men no pi-otection what- ever, and many of them went down lici'c as they had gone down at Las (luasimas. Tt seemed harder to be shot here, for not yet were our men able to fire a single answering shot at th(''S])aiiiar(ls wlio wci'c sending those ^lausers singing into their i-anks. So great was the execution done in this short time, 1 am told, that the bandages of the fii'st-ai: J IAN. " Soovfli, l)oys! Scorch!'' lio isaid. " ^fj tire's ])Uiict ui'imI/' The situation was, pcrliajis, the most exasperating thai troops can be called n})()n to endure. Several regi- niciits were ahead of the lvoui>h lliders, among tlicni tlie Ninth lu'gnlar Cavalry. This regiment is made up of colored men. I couuted its licutcnant-c()lonel — llannl- ton — among niv (h'arcst fi'iends, and was with his regi- ment more than 1 was with any other during the days l)receding onr departure from Tam])a. T know those negro troo])ers to he ln'avc men. and, iiKh'cd. they proved themselves to he among the best soldiers in the United States army, later that same day. (Colonel Hamilton was killed in the charge up San -I nan Hill, and his men lost very heavily. They were black heroes, every one of them. I5nt they lay ahead of the liongli TJiders and did not attenipl to go b(yond their orders, which were to lie there and wait for some one to tell them trom (ieneral Shafter to go ahead. 'i'liat ( 'olouel llannltoii was as bl•a^■e a man as Colonel Ivoixexclt. and as Itrave a man as any man e\'er was, 1 do not doubt for a inonient. l)ut his i-egular army training did not stand him in good stead that day. lie had been a soldier all his life and he did what a sohlii'r is su])])osed to do — he did wliat he was told to do. He had been told to wait. ( 'olonel Eoosevelt understood the necessity of obeying orders as well as Hamilton did, but Colonel Roosevelt had not been turned into a fighting machine by years of disci- pline, and he thought for hims(df when his sujierior offi- cers failed 1o think for him. Colonel Hannlton did not. So Colonel Roosevelt was the hero of San Tuan Hill, IS.') THE STOKV OF THE ROLTGU RIDERS. altliougii the opportunity for lieroism liad been before Colonel Hamilton just as long as it had been before Colonel Roosevelt. Hamilton, doubtless, saw the neces- sity for the charge as soon as Roosevelt did, but he waited for some superior to see it too. Roosevelt waited a i-casouablo time for his superiors to see it, and then he went ahead on his own hook. I did not see Colonel Roosevelt that day, of course, for I was lying wounded out on the hospital ship " Oliv- ette " otT Siboncy. ]>ut I can call to my miud a picture of him which 1 know is accurate. His face was streaming with perspiration and streaked with honest dirt. His famous teeth were prominent and bared constantly by those nervous twitchiugs of his face which always accompany whatever he says. They were, ])i'obably, very often aud v(m-v griudy closed that dav — those teeth — and it is cci-taiu lliat in tlie excitciiicnt of it all he bit his words off ^\•ith moi'c alu'iipf iic line, " We'll have to take that hill." and everyone took the colonel's words up and cried, " We'll have to take thai hill." .Vnd then they took it. Tn front of Colonel Roosevelt's command, ns I have said, was the Xinth Cavalry. TTaniilton did not move them. Ivoosevelt, finding them in his way, shouted: " If you're not going up, get out of my way, for I am. ' They made no signs of advancing, so he mounted and rushed into their rear, shouting to them to nuike way for the Ivough lliders. The surprised darkies did not know what to make of this unexpected whirlwiml which was pushing and shoving its way through them, but they 187 THE STORY OF THE liOL(;ii lilDEKS. parted and let it pass. After it had gone l)_v, the eolored men fell in \\ith \\ic\v ofiieers at their head and were the second regiment np the hill. ITamilton Avas killed in tlu^ (*hari>e. I'he ofhcers of the Ninth felt, at tirst, a littk' cliagriiied at what Hoosovelt had done, and were inclined to criticise him for it, hnt this feelino- soon gave way to one of honest and ontspoken admiration for the man w ho had had the nerve to set military rnles at defi- ance and \vhi[) the enemy in spite of his own sn])evior officers. AVith the Xintli W'ent two companies of the Seventy-first jSTcav York, a regiment of gallant men who have been criticised as the men in the ranks really do not deserve to he criticised, becanse some of their officers flnnked. Roosevelt w(>nt monnted, waving Ins sword in the air. 1 fancy he looked a good deal more like the jtictnres of fighting men charging, than officers very often do. lie mnst have made the kind of a sight that won Id have delighted the eyes of any of the famous paintcn-s of l)attle scenes. If Detailie or Meissoniei' conld have seen him they wonld |)rol»;iMy have felt that they had seen the one thing that they had been longing all their lives to see. The ground was nneven and he had to pay some atten- tion to his horse, which slipped and stumbled several times before he reached the barbed-ware fence which, at last, forced the colonel to abandon him. Koosevelt would have preferred to go u]) that hill on foot instead of riding up on his horse, for several reasons. Chief of these is the fact that he was the only mounted man on the whole field, and was, therefore, a bright and shining 188 M TIIK ClIAHCE OF SAN JUAN. mark for Spanish Inillcts. Xow no man likos to take an iinueeestiary risk, no matter liow willini;' he may l)c to ex]iose himself to such danger as legitimately l)elongs to him in tlie eonrso of duty. It is not likely that (Jolonel Ivoosevelt (■njoyc(j the I'calizalion thai he was the very liiiiucst target nil the whole field of battle for Spanish Imllcts to he aimed at. A'or was it at all pleasant to have to wateli his horse's steps and urge him and en- courage him when he wanted to look arouiirs so that they could be heard. Tt has been said that Tloosevclt's horse was shot under him that day. This is a mistake. Several officers' horses were shot while their owners were mounted on them before the day was over, but Roosevelt's was not one of these. The animal was hit by a piece of a shell, but the wound was very slight. He is now enjoying well-earned rest and pampered luxury in the colonel's stables at Oyster Ray, Long Island. The barl)ed-wire fence was a bad place. It stopped 191 THE STOKY OF TIIK KOI CII KIDKRS. Colonel riooscvc'lt aiul it stojjpcd tlic men wlio were com- ing- after liini. iJefore that tiicv had sti'augh'd along separately and slowly. They euuld iiol the ideas of tacticians, to go np that hill as they did, so long as tliey A\-ere not backed up by artillery. Ihit they struggled along without any military foi'mati(Hi nntil they reacdied this barbed-wire fence. The first men who had wire nippers cut it as quickly as they could, but the pause had been long enough to allow other men to come up, until tluy were hunched there, and this offered the Spaniards a ])etter chance for shooting than 193 TIIK CHARGE OF SAN JU.VN. tlicv had had before. They took advantage of it. There wei'e as niaiiy men of our reiiiniciit hit in that huddh' tliei'e as were hit in all the places else on the hill put toiicther. As soon as Koosevelt, now dismounted, had ])assed the barlicd-wire fence he said the only harsh thiiiii,' which lie said to his men duriiii;' tlu^ entire canii)aia,ii. lie Inrned around and shouted back at the crowd who were toilini;' alone,- after him: " If any man runs I'll shoot liim myself." it hurt the men to hear him say such a thing', for there was no one there who had the slightest thought of I'uuning. They felt better a moment after when he added, tactfully: " .Vnd r won't have to shoot any of my own men either,'' hut ho was. sorry he had said anything of the kind, and tliev were sorry they had heard him, although they all realized that when a man is laboring under such excitement as Koosevelt was at that moment, it is im- possible for him to pick and choose his words as he would if he wei'e in a drawing-room, or even in a military camp. At any rate, of course, no one ran and so Koosevelt did not have to shoot anybody. Perhaps it is not quite accurate for me to call this part of the battle the "Charge up San Juan Hill," for this hill was not properly a ])art of San Juan Hill. It -was a little preceding hill, and between it and San Juan Hill ]u-oper was a slight dejn-ession containing a shallow pond of water. At the top of this first hill were some large sugar kettles, so the regiment named it " Kettle Hill," so that in speaking of it they could differentiate between 13 193 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. it and San Jnan Hill. Here the Rongli Riders put in Avhat was, by all odds, the hardest part of their fighting, and lost far more men than they did after they began to ascend the eminence after which the battle is named. The bullets flew like bees around those kettles and like bees they were very busy. But they were not gathering honey. They were spilling blood. Not less than a dozen of the Rough Riders went down here, and several were killed outright. It is said that the tire slacked up slightly after our men reached the top of this first hill, and that the Spaniards began to evacuate their main trenches without waiting for us to come farther. I could easily devote a chapter to the little incidents which happened at this very part of the charge. But I will limit myself to one. Captain - Bucky " O'Xeill was killed. He had led his troop with great gallantry so far. It will be remem- bered that he was the Rough Rider who so bravely risked his life at Daiquiri in an effort to save the drown- ing troopers of the Tenth Cavalry, who had fallen off the skeleton pier. O'Neill's death was thus described by his first ser- geant. " O'Neill directed us to march at intervals of twelve feet. " ' There will be fewer of you hurt.' " We went north and then down into the sunken road. It was terrible hot down there, but it was much worse when we got in the open field. Bullets from the blockhouse and from the trenches swept clown upon us constantly. "\Ye came to a barbed-wire fence; it 194 THE CHARGE OF SAN JL'AN. looked ;is if it were goiiii;- to stoj) us, heeanse for some reason none of lis who reached it first had wire nippers, but we beat it down with the butts of owv carbines, ami scrambled over the jirostrate wires. " 'ilicn we lav do\\ii and lircd, but ()".\cill stood u|) straight, and told us not to get rattled, but to lire steady, and kill a Spaniard every time we shot. Then we made a rush. Troo]) K came up behind us, and we lay down again to tire, but O'Xeill walked cheerfully up and down the line talking to us. Lieutenant Kane cried out: " ' Get down, O'jSTeill. There's no use exposing your- self in that way.' " O'lSTcill turned and laughed, and said: "' Aw-w! 'Idle Spanish bullet has not been moulded that can hit me! ' "And then one hit him in the mouth and killed liini." Roosevelt led his men down the little descent at the other side of Kettle Hill, still waving his sabre and shout- ing encouragingly at them. Just as they api)roached the edge of the little pond something — either a bullet or a piece of shell — struck him on the back of the haiul and made a slight wound. ihat moment Ivoosevelt was the ha])piest man in ( "uba. lie was mighty glad of the Wound and. incidentally, probably, mighty glad 'hat it was no worse. He waved his hand pi'ondly in the aii' >o thai the men wdio were near enough t(» him coidd sc(> the blood, and shouted : " Tve got it, boys! I've got it ! " Then he turned to a wounded man wdio was not far away, and cried, laughingly: 195 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. " You needn't be so damued proud." Tlirongli the water of the pond he waded witli great strides. Once he stnnibled and almost fell, but recov- ered himself quickly and kept on. By this time the inspiration of tlie Kongli Riders' chari;e had infected the whole army, and half a dozen regiments were s})ringing forward all along the line. The Spaniards saw this and were frightencMl. There was never, for a moment, any dotilit as to the iiltiiiiatc niitciime of tiic tiglit. for the Americans greatly outnumbered theii' adversaries; but there probably was never a jdace where in so short a time so many bullets were fired at so few men. as were poured down at the liougli Riders during their eliarge. Ihit they never iiinched. 1 have been told by a Spanish officer that the Spaniards were so lost in their sur])i'ise that they forgot to fire, hut if any forgot to fire we did not miss theii- bullets. Our men wei'e able to get along without them. The whole thing, however, seemed in- credible. 15y this time the men had se])arated again as they were at first, and each man was ] licking his own route without nuiking any pretence at keeping alignment or doing anything but get up that hill, firing a shot oc- casionally Avhen he felt that he could afi^ord the time to stop and shoot, which was not often. The w^ork w^as slow — painfully slow. By this time the combination of heat, exertion, and excitement had made the men feel as if they had already done a pretty hard day's work. They struggled and puffed. Once in a while one of them would " get it." The efi^ect of the bullets on that upward slope was curious. Some- times — when a man was hit in an outstretched arm, for 106 ■rilK dlAllGE OF SAX .J I AN. iiishiiK'c, or in I lie cxti'diic oiitcr slioiiklcr, he WDuld whirl i>;irt of the \v;i_v antiuul hcfore he feU. But fall he wouhh aiKJ since I liavo seen men fall with Manser hullets in them. 1 shall never feel that anyone else I see go down really does the task eompletely. The shock of sneh treniendmi^ly lii. up, they went— slowly, ])ainfully, straining every nerve, ci'acking every nius(de. The sun beat on their heads and nuule them faint, but valor beat in their 197 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. liearts and iiuulc tlieiu stroiii;'. It may l)o boeanse T liad been with the Rough Riders when 1 met \n\ own disaster that 1 feel so strongly on the subjeet, but it seems to me this moment as if 1. would rather have seen that regiment, crawling like warlike ants up tliat hill from which the little deadly spikes of fire were sending dcatli at them, than to have seen any other sight in all the world. John Foster, of B Troo]), was the him than otherwise. He always dreaded the possil)ility of taking advantage of his rank. jSTothing could have been finiM- than tlic way he 203 THE STOKY OV THE ROUGH RIDERS. jumped oft" the skeleton pier at Daiquiri in liis efforts to save the drowiiini;- troopers. He risked his life with- out a second's hesitation, and laui;]ied about it after- wards. He was always sayiuii that uobody could kill liini, and said tliat lie coulihTt drown any more than he could die by Spanish bullets. He didn't drown. AVlien we got to Siboney, on that never-to-be-forg'otten uiiilit of June ^-'kl, it rained, as T have already said in another <'h;ii)tci'. All the men were tired. The cook of CNeilFs ti-()0|) was especially worn out, and Hucky seeiuii' it, went u]) to him aud told him that he didu't waut any snpper, aud should not eat it if he cooked it. " Why? " asked the amazed trooper. " It's a damn slunne to ask you to cook," said liucky; " you're too tii-e*]." Captain Ducky OWcill hud the best su])|)er in (^\\]y,\ that uiiiht. Later, after he had lain down with Harris under their doii' teut, he went sonu'where, and dragged out a canvas wagon cov(n-. It was raining pitchforks, and Harris' bedding was soaked. Harris protested at O'lSTeill's us- ing the few moments of possible sleep in this way. 0']^eill arranged the M'agon cover so tliat it kept Harris perfectly dry, and replied: " Don't imagine that I do it on your account, yon irritable brute, and stop swearing or I'll put yon under arrest. T want to kee]i the beddiug drv, that's all." Then he disappeared again. When he returned he shoved something like a pil]oii:-*rnder Harris's head. It 204 Tllfc: MEN WHO DIKD. was, [)i'<»l)al)ly, a small ciisliidii Irmii one oi the naval lainu'lics. Harris kicked again, and Uucky said: " Shut up, vou incorrigible scoundrel. I've got one myself. Xow go to sleep." Harris reached over in llic dark, aiul Idt a coiled car- tridge helt and a canteen under O'-Neill's Lead. It is said that he was known as " Ijucky " hecausc there ncwr was a game so hard that he would jiesitati; to " huck up '' against it. ]]ucky cond)ined his gand)ling propensities and his patriotism one day in a remark wdiich will, probably, go down into history. Some one was saying that the Span- iards greatly ontnundx'red ns, and that it was a terrible gamble to send our troops into the fever-stricken country against them. "Is it?" said Hucky. *' AVho would not gand)le for a new star in the flag? " J>ut I>ucky's belief in his own Inck was serene and nnchangeable. He had so many times escaped death at the liands of border rufHans, that it was perfectly natural for him to stauii> with any- where, lie wrote to her every (hiy. " I never failed to yet w hen I was away trinii home," he said, " and wliih' I i'r('\ |)retty certain that she'll never get the lett(>rs, I'm going to write 'em just the same." So nmcli has been written aliout Hamilton Fish that, perhaps, I have no right to devote inncli space to the t breakfast." Fie w^as transferred to L Troop the night before the regiment sailed from Tam]ia because he wanted to tight under Captain Cajn'on.' They were not twenty feet apart wheti they were shot. Capron made him sergeant '.'07 THE STOKY OF THE ROUGH KIDEKS. of the scjuiul fruiii Muskogee, Iiidinu Tci'ritorv. Those Icllows Idvcd him. J\I;iH)ii ^litchell paid a prelly tribute to hiui, wheu he told of his love for miimals. Auvthiuii' that breathed and was duiul), appealed to the verv best that thei'e was iu him. At San Antonio, he was given one of the worst animals in tliat collection of wild and wicked brutes. This beast was unbroken, and had been shunned even by tlic most exjiei't cow-puiichers in the outtil. Day after (hiy I" i>li woi-kcd at him with unvarying and patient kindness. At first the animal threw him, but by the time they said good-by to each other, when the horses were hd't behind at Tam|)a, lie would follow Fish ai'(»iiiid like a dog, and Fish was beginning to teach him ti-jcks. In the nieautiuie the animal's dis])osition had not changed in the least toward other men. lie was (piitc; as vicious with everyom' but Fish, as he had l)een at the start. Just before wo started u]) the hill he threw away a new })air of shoes, saying that he woidd ne\-er need them any moi'e. lie had some extra underwear, too, and an extra shirt. These he gave to some of his companions, ixt- niarking clieerfnlly, as he did so, that he wouldn't need them after the l)attle, for dead men did not often change their clothes. I have already ?aid that his body has been removed from Cuba, and now lies at (iarrison's, Xew York. During the stay at San Antonio, Fish saw^ a crowd of men surrounding two fighting dogs. lie slouched surlily in and stopped the fight. One of the dogs was badly hurt, and he took him to his tent. There 208 • THE MEX WHO DlKl). lie Landaged his wounds, and gave liini his own snp- per. While I am writing of the men who died, it pleases me to briefly mention the patriotism of the father of one of tluMu. He was E. G. Norton, of Enstis, Elorida. lie had two sons, Edward and Oliver, in B Troop. Ed. was a corporal; Oliver, who had been a medical student in Chicago before he joined, was killed. His father heard of it and at once sent down to Santiago his son, Gould G. In the letter which ho sent with him, to Captain ^IcClintock, he said: " This is my third son. I send him to you to take the place of my son Oliver, who was killed. It is religion with the iSTortons to serve their country." It is needless to say that E. G. Norton was a Union soldier. Gerard Merrick Ives, of Troop K, was one of the men who were left at Tampa. He was taken sick there with typhoid, and brought North to New York, where he died. He was the son of the sculptor who made the famous statues of Sherman and Trumbull, now at Wash- ington. Out in Tort Sill, Oklahoma, a little woman received a parcel five or six weeks after the battle of Las Guasimas. In it were all that she will ever see again that Captain Capron, her gallant husband, carried into that memorable fight. The parcel contained a dirty gray campaign hat and a ])air of sliouldcr straps. Both were blood-stained. They wvw wrapped in such torn fragments of pa]icr as coidd l)e found near the field hospital where he died, and around the whole a piece 14 209 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. of a soldier's tunic was tied with a strand of Spanish A\'ire. The dead on the fickl of San Juan were buried ahnost where thev fell llie field is dotted with little tomb- stones, erected by (icueral Wood, and as Governor of Santiai>-o he keeps a patrol constantly on the field to look after them, night and day. 210 CHAPTER XII. AFTER THE FIGHTING WAS OVER. AVitli the days in the trenches which followed tlie day of the charge, the fighting ceased. Whether our men had " got enongh " or not, they had had all there was to be had, and they had fought as hard, and fought as well, and .■ij:»i-^^ Grmdintj their Coffee. fonglit as fearlessly, as the most sanguine of them ex- pected the regiment to tiglit when tliat regimental cry was invented in San .Vntouio. The days in the trenches np to the time of the sur- render were weary ones. There was the Pame old suc- cession of tropical raius and burning suns. There was digging to do, and there were sanitary pains to take which made the men wish that the monotony of armistices would cease, and the variety and excitement of battle be- 211 THE STOEr OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. gin again. Xo one was ever, for a moment, comfortable except by accident. The rations were scanty and bad. If the men had coffee they had to beat the beans up on stones with the bntts of their revolvers or with other stones so that they wonld cook. 'J'oltacco was not to be had at any price, altlioiigh there was ])lonty of it out on some of the transports. All kinds of rumors were afloat. It was said tliat the Spaniards wwr being star\cd out, and that they couM fight no more; inch'cd the news that came to the men from occasional refugees was sufficiently dctinitc on this subject of starvation to make it certain. The men ha time that tlie ])rivate soldiers in tlie Rongh lliders began to feel like jeering wlicn the name of the major-general commanding was s]xiken in their hearing — a feeling which still exists in the hearts (d' most (d" them. I have been told that 1 have no right to criticise Gen- eral Shafter, becanse 1 did not see the things for which I have criticised him in ]n-ivate and on the lectnre plat- foi-m. I was lying on the hospital shij) when most oi them occurred, but 1 was uot lying on the hospital ship when he hd't the artilleiw and the audiulauces at Tamita — 1 was there. 1 was not on the hospital ship when he disregarded the advice and the cai'cd'nlly laid plans of the navy, and landed at the wrong place — I was there. I Avas not lying on the hosi)ital ship when he sent the whole ^Vniei'ican ai'uiy ashore over a pier which could have been boardetl in two hours but wasn't — -I was there and went over it myself. And becanse I was on the hosi)ital shii» during the events that followed, i know, perhaps, more about them than I would have known it' 1 bad been at the front. My acquaintance in the army and among the correspondents who were Avatching the army, was very large, and becanse of the fact that T was wounded and obviously nut of the business (d' the transmission of 215 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. news, mj acquaintances spoke very freely to me. It may be that they spoke more freely to me because the doctors thought that I was dying, and so they may have felt that they could unburden their minds to me and give themselves relief through me, without danger, on the theory that I would presently die, and dead men tell no tales. But, at any rate, they did come to me and they did tell uie what was going on, and I know they were not lying to me. Man after man jjoured talcs of Shafter's incom})('tence and Shafter's intense and unalterable egotism into my ears, and I worried about the American army. And I had cause to worry. There were transj)()rt ca])taiiis wlio came aboard the " Olivette " and said that they had tons of provisions <»n their ships and could not get orders to take them off. At the same time news from shore told of the terrible sufferings of the troops for lack of food. There were surgeons and hospital men who came ahoard and told how the hospitals on shore were handicapped by lack of medical supplies and orders which would en- force good sanitary conditions. On the " Olivette '"we did not suffer — we had a surplus that they were welcome to. Right here it is well to ]iay a little tribute to Major Appel, who commanded the hospital ship '' Olivette," on which I was as comfortable as any man could be in that (dimate, with a big liole in him and a part of his spine smashed up and thrown into the Caribbean Sea. Appel was not dearly loved by the men under him and was, unquestionably, a martinet in some ways. But what he needed, he got, and I fancy that he got it because he did not propose to let his superior officers handica]) him at 216 AJ'TKU TllK FKillTTNC WAS oVKM. the expense of the \\(iiiiiurr ^FcTntosh was the victim. I have already spoken of him in connection with the time preceding the march to Siboney. When we were taken down to the shore T have fold how we were ])ut into a curious little shanty. It should have been burned by somebody's orders, but had been ]iermitt(Ml to remain standing despite the fact that Siboney had i)een known as a yellow fever nest in season. The navy had burned every building at Ouan- tanamo as a ]n'ecaution against fever infection, but Shafter had let these little shanties stand. AVe were taken into tlii< one. It was afterwanls learned that it had actually been used as a yellow fever hos]»ital dnring previous epidemics, and it is not at all im])robable that it contributed the first germs which afterward^ infected the whole army in Cuba. "Mcintosh's was the first case. 217 THE STORY OF THE HOUGH RIDEKS. Many came after it witli a rapidity wliicli was not less than startling. I remember distinctly the day when a correspondent came ont and whispered confidentially to me that there was a case of yelk)w fever ashore, and n(hh'(l that the story of it must he kept deathly qniet. I held it as a secret. Ihit witliin twelve honrs it was no secret, for there was not one cas(» hut a dozen, and the grim story of snffering and death from foes other than the Spaniards began to be telegraphed to all parts of the world. There was only one man who rose to tlie occasion after the military sitnation became such thai any man could rise to it. Of conrse, before the Sj)aniards snrrendered it woidd have been useless to talk about the withdrawal of our men from this dreadfnl danger tliat trembled threat- eningly over tlicm in each of the miasmatic mists that rose by night; that shook its dreadfnl yellow fists at them from every thicket; that clas]>cd their necks with baby arms when tlicy hel]ied the children of the ('uban refn- gees to go back home from El ('amy; that threw out grasping tentacles from every ])nil(ling that had been allowed to stand after the arrival of the invading army. But after the surrender came and the war was over, at least in that part of Cuba, there was no disposition on the part of the commanding general to take the troops away from the menace of the fever. The shanties at Siboney from which the plague had, in all human prob- ability, started, were burned at last on the order of Gen- eral Miles, l)ut still the army was uselessly held there to suffer and to die, at the mercy of a foe whom bullets would not reach as they had reached tlie vanquished 218 AFTKIi TllK FIGHTIN(J AVA.S UVKH. Spaniards, mid wliicli fought iinccasiiioly — bv night, l)y day, without ahiniis, hut always there and always win- ning' victories. It was at this point that the recoi-d-niaking genius of the regiment again appeared and indnccd Colonel Roose- velt to violate all military rules, lie had violated them once before when he led the charge at San Juan, and that had turned out well. Perhaps he had gotten into th(^ uood habit of doing the thing which was obviously right without waiting for the sign from superior officers who were obviously ^^Tong. At any rate, at this point, on his own responsibility, he sent to General Shaffer the following, and now famous, letter, which was dated August 1st: "Ma.tor-Gen. Shafter : " Sir — In a meeting of the general and medical officers called by you at tlie palace this moruiug, we were all, as you know, unanimous in view of what should ha done with the army. To keep us here, in the opinion of every officer commanding a division or a brigade, will simply involve the destruction of thousands. There is no ])ossible reason for not shipiiinfr i)rac- tically the entu-e command North at once. Yellow fever cases are very few in the cavalry division, where I command one of the two brigades, and not one true case of yellow fever has occurred in this division, except among the men sent to the hospital at Siboney, wliere they have. I believe, contracted it. But in this division there have been 1,500 ca.ses of malarial fever. Not a man has died from it; but the wbcde conmiand is so weakened and shattered as to be ri])e for dying like rottrigade, Fii'st Division. "Leonard Wood, " Brigadier-General Volunteers, "Commanding the City of Santiago. "Theodore Roosevelt, " Colonel, Commanding Second Cavalry Brigade." The Associated Pi-ess despatch from Santiago wliich followed this presentation said: Major M. W. Wood, tlie Chief Surgeon of the First Division, said: "The army must be moved north," adding, with emphasis, "or it will be unable to move itself." General Ames has sent the following cable message to Wash- ington : "The Hon. Charles H. Allen, Assistant Secretary of the Navy : This army is incapable, because of sickness, of march- ing anywhere, except to the transports. If it is ever to return to the United States it must do so at once." OOQ AFTER THE FIGHTING WAS OVER, To a correspondent of the Associated Press General Ames said: " If I had the power I would put the men on the trans- ports at once and ship them North without further orders. I am confident such action would ultimately he ;q)proved. A full list of the sick would mean a copy of the roster of every company hex'e." And so the army was started Xorlh. Providence alone knows when it woiihl have been started if Roose- velt liad not sent his letter. Its condition certainly would not have been so plain to the authorities at Wash- ington who were depending on Shafter for their news of it, if Roosevelt had not acted. And so T say that the Rough Riders again added to their record, wdu'U Roose- velt sent in his letter. 223 CHAPTER XIII. LAST DAYS IN CUBA. I ;iiii iifraid tluit the (•li;ii)tcr wliicli has ])n'('('(le(l this lias hccn a dull (me. Tho deeds of the Kouiih Eiders were so fast and t'iiri(3us while figlitiuii' was i^oiiii^' on, and their whohM-oiidnct was so free from the eonveiitioiialitv of military nsa^c that to iiichidc militai'v i-cports and letters in the story of them seems almost like describing the process of making iron girders in a story of a fire, because there were some nsed in the construction of the burning bnilding. 'I'lie men were living their strange lives, working hard and getting little comfort from their work. AVlien the armistices and truces were on, they loafed about the trenches and ke])t as cool as they could, which was not very cool. AVhen the armistices and truces were off, they struggled with the situation as well as they could struggle with it, and sometimes they took a shot at some impertinent Spaniard mIio made the serious mistake of putting his head up within range. N'ot a day passed but some one of them complained in the morning that his bones ached, and said it Avith such a pitiful expression of rolling yellow eyeballs that his comrades could not fail to know what was the matter with him. It was generally about five hours after these first complaints that it was necessary to carry the man 224 LAST DAYS IK CUBA. a\v;i_v to tho lin,<]Mtal, often raving witli fovcr — yollow fever, of course. j^otwitlistaiidinii,' the feeling of coiitcniitl wliicli tlu; Cubans had oanicd for themselves in the iiiiiid- i>\' the liough Ivich'i's, and the geiu'i'al desiro to jeer whenever a Cnhan nniforni, t>v tho poor t)retence at one wliieh was ])r(>val(Mit, came into sight, the men were filled with syni- [lathy lor the pool' half-starved rcfnuccs and rccouoen- trados who came to iheni toi' hel|) and IimmI. A great nianv rel'ngees who had lied trom Santiago when the city was warned that it W(»uld he l)ond)arded, had gathered at Kl Caney. They had found little that was better there than that which they had known in the places they had come from, except the food which the poorlv provisioned American soldi(>rs had been able to eive them. There was nothino- that was svstcnnatic or eifective in the efforts made to relieve their distress at first. A deep gash in a ridge was cut by tiie road leading to El Caney. This gash was held by the Kough Eiders. Thousands of Cuban refugees passed along the road on their return to Santiago, after the surrender. The men had not nioi'e than half i'ation<. Imt when they saw the poor Cubans coming up this trail, they forgot at once their contempt for the race and their own hunger. They gave away their half rations with a reckless indifference as to whiit the nioiTow niidit bring forth. As a nuitter of fact, the morrow brought forth exactly what it might have been exjiected to — nothing. The nu'U suffered greater ])rivation through their own generosity at this time, than they had at any time before through the 227 THE STORY OF TUE KOLIGII RIDERS. failure of the Commissarv I)c'])artnicnt to furnish them ^vith supplies. They not only gave away their rations, hut tliey of- fered such personal assistance as they could to the weak- ened ^\•()ln('n and famislied cliilch'cn aiiiong the rcfuiiccs. Many and many a woman, and many and many a cluld, was literally carried throuiih all that territory imdndeil witliin the Koiigh Riders' lioiindai'ies. This work of assistance was iieaded i)y " lla[>py .lack "" of Ai-i/.ona. Finally Dr. Bob ('hurcli heard of it, and ordered it stopped. He realized that the ('nhans wei-e likely to transfer fever germs to the American trooi)s if such close contact was permitted, lie assured Colonel Iloose- velt that he would not answer for the health of tlie men if they ])ersiste(l in helpinu the ('id>ans. Foi' the first time in his life "Happy Jack" gave evidence that he realized the existence of religious things. He said to Colonel Roosevelt: "God wouldn't let a fellow caicli yellow fever while he was doing a good turn for them kids." Of course at this ])eriod many of the me]i were in the hospitals and suffering dreadfully. There were mis- takes in connection with the Cuhan hospitals, as there will probably always be mistakes in connection with all things human. The Rough Riders suffered through these mistakes, as other soldiers suffered. CV)mplaints of their misfortunes reached Colonel Roosevelt. A man went up to him diffidently one day, and saluting, said: " I beg your pardon, colonel, but I haA^e just come from the hospital; I wasn't very sick and so I got along- all right, but there are those among our boys down there 228 l.ASI' DAYS L\ CTHA. who arc suffering tcrrildy, and I do not think that they are lictting })ro])cr trcatnicnt. 1 Keg pardon, sir." It had \)vvu nndcrstood lor a long tinio that Colonel lioosc'vclt A\d not want to hear coniphnnts. It was his thcorv that the men who were uinN'r him had seen enough of life, and rongh life, too, so that they did not need to be finding fanlt. Hence tlic man's timidity, lint oil this oeeasioii it was not necessary to he tiiiii(L RooscNch turned to liiiii (luickly and tliaiiked him for telling him tlie story. Then he went ([iiickly to the hos])ital. lie was rathei- a rongh-looking eharaeter hy this time. Th<' one -houlder strap which had heeii hanging l)y a single thread at San duan was lo>r now and there was nothing on liini exee])t his riding hreecdies, with their vellow stri]^es, to show that he was an otHcer. " 1 low are tlie lioys getting along^ '" aed him in his gnhernatoi-ial cani])aign if he had re])eate(l them while he was stumping Xew ^'ol•k State. ■■ Tm \diii' -iiperior oflici'r, sir, ('oloiiel Uooscn'clt; stand at attention, salnte, and take ycmr hat off." This is an expiirgateAV.S IN CUJJA. on May 28tli, or the iiuircliiug orders it recoivod near Santiago, on Angvist Ttli, were most londly clioered. llc- veille was sounded very cai'ly in tin; morning, and the regiment hi'oke eaiu]) with a skill ac(iiiired by mneli practice. it inarched to the railroad and touk train to Santiago, reaching there at 1 p.m. At the Santiago station, tlie trooi)s fell into parade formation and marched like veterans; each troop was preceded by its little flag, bearing the troop letter and the nnmber of the regiment, and made a sort of triumphal progress through the conquered Spanisli city. Colon<'l Ixoosevelt rode at the head of the regiment on the same sorrel horse which liad been wounded at the charge of San Juan, lie was an extremely happy colonel; liis round-robin had worked, and his men were being sent away Ixyond the reach of the ghastly yclluw arms which the fever sj)ectre had stretched out toward them, 'iluy were leaving Cuba with a rec(»r(l on whi(di there was not one smirch; tluy had played their ini- })ortant ])arts in every engagement in Cuba; they had missed nothing which was worth doing, and they had done nothing which was worth missing. The man who liad gone to Cuba as the commander of the regiment, had earned his promotion to a brigadier-generalship and had received it as soon as lu> had earned it. This was pleasing for many reasons. The men loved Wood as well as they loved Roosevelt. Roosevelt's friendship for Wood was honest and sincere, and he was gla'l to see him elevated; and besides, with AVood's ehn-atiou came Roosevelt's rise to the head of the regiment, which the public had named after him. Tie himself, while brav- 231 THE STORY OF TJIK liOl (ill lUDEHS. iiig every danger and taking every desperate chance lie asked bis men to take, had escaped unscathed. A small scar on his left hand was the only mark of battle he was taking home witli liim, and be liad not dodged a single bnllet. These reflections wei'c pleasant to the colonel. Jfe knew, as he rode tbrongli those Santiago streets, tbat, })artly because of bis eiforts, the most extraoi'diiiary I'cgi- nient in the army had been organized and e(iuip})ed as no other volunteer regiment was equipi)e(l; be knew tbat that regiment had raised the first flag raised by the army in Cuba; bad killed the lii-st Spaniard killed by the army in ( "uba; had lost the first man lost by the army in ( 'iil>a; bad led every liattle fougbt by the army in Cuba, and lie knew tbat bis own ]K'rs<)nal efloi'ts wci-c responsible for the fact tbat the army in ('uha, its woi'k well done, was going Xorth again to esca])e the one enemy it could not figbt — tbe fevei'. Ts it a wonder that Teddy lioosevelt showed his teeth as he I'ode through Santiago? 1 have known him and seen him as (Mvil Service Commissioner, as Police Commissioner, as be went into his first battle, as he was inaugurated (Jovernor of the State of iVew ^'o^k^ and yet 1 doubt if 1 have evei" known him at a moment more satisfactory than that which 1 am now recording. The regiment marched down the Alameda, skirting the water front, to the dock where tbe transport " Miami " was moored. The men were worn out, and their steps lagged as they turned toward home with a weariness which had not shown in them when they turned toward tbe enemy. They were haggard and ragged and hungry. A few new Khaki suits made briglit 232 LAS'l' DAYS IN ClliA. yellow spots in tlic dull lirowu monotony of ragged duck uniforms. I'hcy were the piinctmition marks of the story of trial and hardship which the cdotlies of the Ivonii'h Ri(U'rs tohl as plainly as their faces did, and told iimch iiKM'c plainly than their cpiietly enduring;- lii)s did when I hey reached the A'ortli and home. Tt is not necessary to speak of the ghastly gaps in tlieir ranks, whitdi made the strong troopers wince as they looked at them. The official story of the men who had died and were wounded in hattle is t(d(l in the regimental roster which ends this hook. The complete official story of the men who died in hos^ntal — they wei'e as hrave as their com- i-adcs who were shot — cannot l)c told, hccaiisc the records of the War l)('partmcnt lun'c not hccn completed. Ordy seven living men were left liehind in ( 'uha. These were Second Tientenant W'm. Tiffany, (d' 'I'roop K ; ( 'orporal Edgar Schwarz, (d" Ti'oop (1; and l'ri\ate- W'm. E. Hoyle, of d'roo]) K; V. (i. AVhalen, of Troop .\. and F. (r. Page, of Troo]! 1). The men who hd't wei'e sorry for the conn-ades wlio remained hehind, hut tluy were wild with joy ovei' their own (diance to get away. Most of their tents and all tlieir haguauc had fallen i)rey to the marauding ('uhans, who had e\er followed our troops, so tliat tiny eud)arked in their >kins and in their nnifonns; they cai'ried little (dse away from ('uha with them, except their arms and what amnuniition tiny had not already been called n])on to devote to S]ianish enemies. The emliarkation was quick and easy. The regiment hv this time had learuey the terrific journey u]^ from Tampa. Tluy brought with them as many of the eleven hundred horses and mules, which had been left in their charge, as remained to be brought, and their minds were full of the dis- couraging fact that, during the war with Spain, they had only cared for animals. AVhen they readied Jersey City, they had been without proper rations f(U- more than twenty-four hours, and life seemed very dreary to them. Some factory girls divided their luncheons with them. 235 THE STORY OF THE ItorOli IIIDEIW. Five days later, a different sight entirely was enacted at Montaiik, L. 1., when the six troops who had really gone to Cuba, sailed in on the transport " Aliami." Their arrival was a seene of triumph. Unlike their equally brave comrades who had been forced to spend the war days among the sand flies and crackers of dismal Florida, they had actually been to war. Whatcvci- tiiihtiiig there liad been to see they had seen. Many of them had felt the sting of ^Fanser bullets, and many others who had gone South with them I'ciiiained there sleeping in v\u\r graves on ('uhau l)atth'1ichls, nmtc evidences of the regiment's heroism. Six troops were there. Xew York had been waiting for them, and j)re]>ariiig to receive them for many days. 'Yhc (IccmIs of (hn'iiig which the Kough Kiders had (•i'e(Hte(l to theiiisehcs liad been I'ccoi'ded by a thousand ])riiiting })resses within the metropolis, and the stories read by seventy million eager (yes. The war was over. Xew York's own Seventy-first Regiment had fallen the victim of foni* or five incompetent and nn- l)leasant ofhcers, and come back to ])ass cpiietly into an ignominions ol)livion, v.'hicli was to be interrupted occa- sionally Diily by the shrill sliouts of scandal. .Vew York's Sixty-ninth had had no oppoi'tunity to distinguish itself. So Xew ^'ork turned out to welcome the Rough Riders. Tiny were not of Xew York, ])ut Xew York was emphatically for them. Roosevelt, who was one of Xew York's favorite sons, had l)een promoted to their colonelcy, and his name was whispered constantly as that of the man who would win, at this, the beginning of one of the State's most exciting gubernatorial campaigns. Tt was long before daylight when the " ^fiami " pulled 2:u> liUME ACfAIN. into tlic harbor, out tliore at the end of Long Island, hnt shc^ (lid not find the nicn who were there to receive her, napping. The harhor was dotted with the white hnlls of welcoming yachts, and as her name was signalled to the shore, these set np a deafening scream of welcome from their steam whistles. One or two, even, fired greet- ing gnns. For a long i'uiw the troopshij) lav there in tlie harltoi-, waiting for orders from shore. All the morning, the yachts plied ceaselessly in discreet circles abont the transport, and bnsy little steam launches ran as near to her as the health officers would permit, so that friends conld shont merry messages to those on the " Miami," and they conld send ecstatic words of happiness back. Besides the six troops of Rough Riders, the " Miami " carried the four troops of the Third Cavalry, with Gen- eral Joseph Wheeler and Lieut. Joseph Wheeler, Jr., as well. It was al)out iioon, August 18th, and wild cheers from the waiting soldiers on shore marked the approach of the " ]\riami '' towards the dock. The gull-like yachts drew in more closely. The hustling little launches s])ut- tered nearer than tliey had been permitted to go before. A band on board struck up, "• AVlien Johnny comes marching home again," and the cheering became gen- eral as the cables from the great steamer Avere made fast to the stanchions on the ])ier. When the gangplank was finally put down, everyone was cheering. The bbie- coats on shore were yelling with an enthusiasm which they had not shown since they had reached ^[ontank. The eixilian friends of the men on lioard were yelling with an enthusiasm which they had never kn(.)wn l.>ef...re, 239 THE STORY OF THE KOUGll JUDERS. and tlic Ixougli UidcM-s tlioraselves were yelling with that enthusiasm which can only be appreciated by the soldier who has been away fighting, in a foreign land, against dcatli in all its forms. After the first three cheers, the men on l)oard took up their cowboy yell, and from the '■ Miami " there rang out, as tliere had rung out at San Antonio, in Florida, and in Cuba, that bit of doggerel rhyme, which meant so miieli. Hough, tough, were the .slnff. We u'ant to fight and we can't get enough, WhoojJ-ee. AVith the first glimpse of liooscvelt on tlie bridge of the ship, the crowd on shore went mad. He was the one ])ai'am(iiint military hero of the war. He was the man on horseback in the i)olitics of the Stale. He was lloose- velt. When " Teddy and his teeth " came down the gangplank, the last ultimate climax of tlie possibility of cheering was reached. He was bron/cd l»y the ( 'iibaii sun, and his uniform was worn out, and stained by the trials of the cam])aign. But he was ha])pier than Theo- dore KooseA'clt ever had been Ijcfore, or probably ever will be again. He had come home to stcj) into the superb inheritance which he had eai'ned in Cuba. A moment after Roosevelt had ste])])ed upon the gang- l)lank. General AVheelei' ran foi'wai'd, and taking liim l)y the arm, came down with him. The Rough Iliders who had been at Tampa had begged for the poor privilege of doing guard duty on the dock while their more fortu- nate comrades in arms stepped ashore, and they liad great difficulty in keeping the soldiers and civilians alike, who 240 HOME A(iAI.\". woro c,atliore(l on that dock, from rnslilnii t'ur\vai's. 1 have seen news- paper stories to the effect that the Kougli Riders were hard drinkers. As a matter of fact, they drank no more than other soldiers. There were plenty of available "canteens," or drinking places, at Montauk, but the proportion of liougli Riders who ])afronized them was no greater than the proportion of men who })atronized them from other regiments. One man, who lost his popularity in the regiment by doing it, wrote an article for a Chicago paper, saying that the men of the Rough Riders were likely to forget those safeguards which, in civilized communities, are supposed to surround the ownership of personal property. He was very properly thrown into the guard-tent for writing the story. 343 HOME AGAIN. The general spirit of tlu- men was more accurately caiiiiht (luvinii- this period by a New York Sun writer, than liv anyone else. For that reason I shall take the lihci'ty of (iiiotini;- his avtich' in xci'v ncai'ly its entirety, it was pnhlislied in the Sun of Friday, Se[)teinher Itith. It follows: With (lu'ir return to such ])arts of civilization as they origi- nally hailed from, the Ivough Kidei's will pi-ohahiy get hack their given names, and they who have foi- the last four months answered to the general name of "Buddy."' or the more si)eci(ie cognomens of "Mike," "Keddy," '"Pudge,"' "Pop- Eye"" and the like, Avill once more, not without a feeling of strangeness, hear themselves greeted as Ilarr^', James, Cliarley, Will, or whatever other name was hestowed on them at hap- tisni. Almost the first thing that hapj)ened to tlie Rough Rider upon enlistment was to find himself the recijjient of a name, very informally presented, according to no set rule, which nught cling to him during the entire campaign, or might he replaced in the course of time by a sobriquet which some event would fasten upon the wearer. In this class be- longs " Slimpnthx,"" which is the nearest expression possible with letters to the proiumciation of the very remarkable mono- syllable designating a trooper who distinguished himself at Las Guasimas. After the first rush forward, when the Rough Ridei"s were fighting frontier fashion, this particular ])rivate was heard between the sounds of tlie guns to repeat to himself in iniwearying iteration a fornuda of woi-ds which, altogether meaiungless at first, became simply a jundde of sound as the words came faster and the tone grew louder. Finally it reached the vocal consistency of the word quoted above. Those near the utterer of the niystic tones opined that he was staying his prayers in Greek. He did not, however, appear to be in a panic, but cheered himself on with the strange word, for the fastei- and louder he shouted the more fiercely did he tight. When the battle was over several curious companions waited upon him with tlic intention of finding out the secret. Each 243 THE STORY OF THE EOUGII RIDERS. had a try at repoutinlainly heard by several auditors, whose testi- mony is unimpeachable, to exclaim :" Oh, thunder!" That settled his case. He was known ever after as "Blasphemy Bill."" A Mississippi River gambler, noted for his quiet de- meanor, was called " Hellroarer,"" while the mo.st picturesquely and flamboyantly profane man in the regiment rejoiced in the appellation of "Prayerful James." The fun-maker for one troop was a light-hearted Swede, always full of jokes, and because of his propensities and his nationality called the "Weeping Dutchman." "Nigger"" was a young fellow so white as to be almost an albino. "Beefsteak John " had many times called down the wrath of his famine-stricken comrades by describing to them just how he would like a steak cooked at that particular moment, how it should l)c two inches thick, delicately brown outside and deej) retl inside, and how the 245 THE STUKV OF THE 1I()U(J11 JUDEKS. melted hvitter should flow over it. To a cowboy who arose one uiglit and fled throug-h the camp in his dreams, under the im- pression that he was being pursued by an army of scorpions, his Eastern bunkie has given the name of " The Wicked Flea," because, as he says, it was a plain case of " no man pursueth," until a sentry collared the fugitive. It goes without saying that at the start all the fat men were called " Living Skeleton," " Beanpole," "Shadow," " Starvation Bill," " Dr. Tanner "' and so on, while the thin troopers were generally designated as "Jumbo," "Heavyweight," " Anti-Fat" and the like. Before the return the former list had dwindled to nothing, and the in- ventive genius of the self-appointed godfathers was taxed to find new names for those who had fortunately preserved their bones, but left most of the covering thereon in Cuba. To act as Col. Roosevelt's orderly was an honor to which every trooper aspired. It was not always an easy berth, as the Colonel covered a gi*eat deal of ground and kept his 'orderlies hustling, and had, moreover, a habit of noticing everything that was going on. A Rough Rider who was detailed one day to act as the Colonel's orderly in Cuba relates that the two of them had ridden to El Caney, where, while his commanding officer was attending to some business, the orderly contrived to acquire by purclia.se several bottles of Jamaica rum, which he disposed of in a no.se bag. On the return Col. Roosevelt set a lively i)ace, as is his habit, and the nose bag began to disjiense music. " Clink-clink, cliukety-clink, clinkety-clinkety-clink, " it Aveiit. "Smith," said Col. Roosevelt, jnilling in his horse, "what is that noise ?" " Sounds like ghiss, sir," said the ordei-ly. "So it does. Where does it come from, Smith ?" " From my nosebag, sir." " Indeed ! And what have j^ou got in that nose bag ? " "Purchases, .sir." " What ?" said Col. Roosevelt, his l)row wrinkling. "Purchases, sir," repeated the orderly, firmly, but trem- bling in his boots. "Hm! I should think .so," snorted the Colonel, and i-ode on. 24G IIOMK AGAIN'. Tho clinking continued. Presently the Colonel pulled up again. "Smith!" "Yes, sir." "At the turn of the road there is a tree with large soft leaves. I wish you would stuff some of them into that nose bag. It makes too much noise." "Yes, sir," said the orderly. There was a pause and the Colonel rode on. "Besides." he added, with a smile, suddenly turning in his saddle. "Some of those — er — purchases might smash. And you never can tell whom we might meet." At the tree the oi'derly packed the nose bag with leaves, which deadened the sound. Five minutes later they met a General on the road, but the nose bag was safely muffled, and Col. Eoosevelt's foresight was gloriously vindicated. On the 18th of September, the Ixouiili Eiders were l):ii(l off; they had been in the service abnost exactly five nujntbs, and so each man received something like five times $ir>. ;■)(). Xow $77 is a fortnne to any man who has not seen the color of uioiiev for several weeks, and is Hkely to be received by such with great enthusiasm. It is a question, if the men were happier when they heard of the surrender of Santiago than they were when they Avere paid off at Moiitauk. It u:i< all over before one o'clock; at that hour a committee of endjarrassed troopers waited upon Colonel Roosevelt at his tent and asked him if he minded stcp- ])ing over to a rough pine table, which stood unsteadily on uneven ground. Tlis command was informally drawn u]) in a square of which this table formed tlie centre. T'])on the table was a curious something, full of knobs and Ininclics and covered by a horse blanket. Lieu- 017 THE SroiiV OF iUE liOL'(ilI KJDEKS. tenant-Colonel Brodic happened along just then, and tak- ing Itoosevelt by the arm, conducted him to a place in front of the table. I^p to this time Roosevelt had not known Avhat was coming. 'J'lic breathless silence ^vliich ])ervaded the plac(» and the curious expectant manner of his troopers warned him now that scnnething ])leasant was likely to jiresently occur. His face, already tanned to a deep dark brown, took on the I'uddy hue of a Cuban veteran's blush, and he stood there awkwardly, not know- ing what to do. There Avas a pause whih' he looked about at the men who followed him so bi';i\cly at Guasimas and San duan. He saw that in the eyes of some of them the t(>ars were Iteginning to start, and while he waited, his own wei-e dimmed with mois- ture. Fi'om the ranks of ^[ Troop stepped William S. Mwv- ])hy, who, althougli he was a private in the regiment, had been a judge in the Indian Territory at the time of his enlistment, and Avas known as one of the most eloquent men in that ])art of the AVest. lie took off his cam- ])aign hat and presented the colonel with Frederick liem- ington's famous " l>ronco Buster." ^furphy had pre- pared an elaborate speech, which would have done honor to the Indian Territory courts, but he conldn't speak it, and if he had, most of the men in the regiment would not have heard it. The chaps who had followed Roosevelt through the terrible hardships of the whole campaign, who had en- dured their wounds without complaining, and who had stood their sickness without once crying out, gave way this day for the first time. There was almost no one in 248 HOME AGAIN. the r(\iiiiuont wlio was not cryiiii;, wlicii .Miir|)liy said, with stivaniiiig eyes: " It is fitting- that I, one of the troopers from tlic i-aiiks of voTir regiment, should try to tell yon as well as I can, to what is due the honor ai\eii nic in making this ])re.s- entation. it is well known that whik> yon hohl your officers in the highest esteem, because of their bravery, gallantry, and ability, yonr heart of hearts was ever with youi' men, whethei" in the tented field oi- in the ti'ciiches before the enemy's lines, or better still, in the trenches which yonr regiment captnred from the enemy. "I want to tell yon, sir, that (tne and all of ns, from the highest of us to the humblest of ns, will always carry with us in our hearts a pleasant and a loving memory of your every act, for there has not been one among them whicdi has not been of the kindest. As lieutenant- colonel of our regiment, you first made us respect you; as our colonel you have taught us to love you deeply, as men love men. Tt is our sincerest hope, now that we are about to separate, that this bronze ' Ilronco Ihister ' ■ will sometimes make you fluid-; (d" ns, as we shall ever think of you." it was a strange thing to see these stroiio- men, who had. while they were together, been through so nuich, standing there almost overcome by emotiaid: "Officers and Men: I really do not know how to answer you. "NTothing could touidi and please mo as this has toucdied and jdeased me. Troojx'r Mnrpliy spoke ([iHte truly when he said that uiy men were nearest to 251 Till': STORY OF TIIK KOlUill KIDERS. inj lieart, for while T need not tell to my officers in what (hn']) reunrd I hoki them, they will not iiiiiul my saying, that jnst a little closer come my "men. " I have never ti'ie(l to cod, lie yon, and I have never made a haby of any one of yon. I have never hesitated to call ni)on yon to s]>end yoni- best blood like water and to work yonr mnsclcs to the breakinii' jtoint. Of coni'se, I have tried to do all that 1 conld do for yon, as yon have ever done all that yon conld ever do for me. Von are the best jndges as to whether or not I have succeeded. " I am proud of this regiment be^'ond measure; I am ]irond of it, because it is a typical American regiment, made np of typical Amei'ican men. The foundation of the regiment was the ' Hronco IJuster,' and W(> have him here in bron/e. The men of the West and the men liting' qualities, but because jou also liave those (lualities which uuule nu'U recognize you as tiuhters, and euabh'd \<>\\ to be auioug the first who J'oniid ihc o])|)oi'hiiiily of ^clliiii;- into the tiuht. Outside i\\' uiy own iuiiiu'dinic family, 1 >hall always feel that stfouger ties exist between nie and you than exist between uie and anyone else on earth. It vour fecHuii' toward nie is like unne towards y the ccnufort or even the lives of the individuals, in order to insure the safety of the whole. You woidd have scorned a commander, who hesitated for a second to expose you to any risk. I was bound that no other regiment should g(^t any nearer to the Spanish lines than you got, and I do not think that any other regiment did. " We parted with many in the fights who could ill be spared, and I think that the most vivid memories we will take away with us will be not of our own achievements, not of our own dangers, not of our own suffering, but will be of those whom we left under Cuban sod and those who died in the hospitals in the United States — the men who died from wounds and the men who, with the same devotion to their country, died from fevers — I cannot mention all the names now, but three of them, Capron, O'Xeill, and Fish, will suffice. They died in the pride of their youthful strength and they died for tlieir country, like men Avho were proud to die. 253 THE STORY OF THE KOUGH RIDERS. "I should have been most deeply touched if the offi- cers of this regiment had uiven me this testimonial, but I ap})reeiate it ten-fokl, as eomiuij;,' from you, my men. You shared the hardships of the eampaign with uie; Avlien I had none, you gave me of your hardtack, and if 1 lay c<»verless, 1 never lacked a blanket from my men to lie upon. " To have such a gift come from tins peculiarly Auier- ican regiment, touches me nioi-c than I can say. it is something that I sliall hand down to my children, and value more highly than 1 do the wea|>ons which 1 cari'ied through the canii)aign with me. " A'ow, hoys, 1 wish to take eacdi oi you by the hand, as a special privilege, and say good-by to you indi\idn- ally; this is to be our fai'cwell in camp; I lio]>e that it will not be our farewell in civil life." Then the men were mustered out of the service of Uncle Sam. Colonel Roosevelt ceased to be a soldier wheu his men did. lie juuqx'd into one of the camp stages, taking with him Lieutenants John ('. (Jreenway, John A. :\rclllienny, Chas. Ballard, and Hal Sayre. Tluy were his guests at Oyster Bay for several days, and on the morrow, Lieutenants David (Joodrich and 11. II. Ferguson joined them there. A large party of Rough Riders gave him a rousing good-by at the station and he went away Avearing his worn and stained uniform — the same which had carried him through one of the most extraordinary campaigns known in the history of war- fare. During the stay at Camp Wikoff, an effort was made to organize a permanent Rough Riders' Association. Lieu- 254 IlOME AGAIN. tenant-Colonel Brodie was elected president of it, and one or two meetings were held, after the men were mus- tered out. So numy of them departed immediately for rhcii- hollies that l>y no iiicaus all the iiiciiilicrs of the ri'giuu'iit have as yet been inst-rihed as memliers of this oriiani/.ation, hut it will undouhtedly he eventually put on a tirmer basis than it now occupies. The exodus of the liough Riders was rai»i. Shortly after he had bought and i)aid for the animal, another ofKcer walked up to the line where he was picketed, and surprisedly re- marked : " Hello! who tied my horse here? " Then he took away the horse, which really belonged to him. Colonel Brody is still searching tor the lieutenant who sold the horse to him. And thus eiuled the Rough Riders, as a regiment. 355 CHAPTER XV. IN NEW YORK. The Rough Ividers made abuost as much of au im- pression on Xcw Tork CUty as they had uiadc on Cuba, although the carnage was not so great. Discipbne for- gotten, the ai'tich's of war no longer an iiiipoi'taiit con- sideration, and bonie in immediate prospect, tbey started out with what cntluisiasin tbcv liad at tluMr command — and it was mncli — to make tilings as liot in the nicti-opobs as they had Ix'cn in l)ai([uiri, on tliat ncvcr-to-bc-for- gotten tinui of buubng.. Tbe officers of the regiment went as one man to the Hoffman House, althougii it was understood that the i'"it"tli Avcnnc Hotel would be Colonel Roosevelt's headcpuirters, because it was the headquarters of tlie Republican (^ommittee. Troop ]I I'eaclied New ^'ork at midnight, and got lodgings in the OHa'c Tree luu, on Kast 2-5(1 Street. That midnight was a hot midnight for Xcw Vork ( *ity, and it is not likely that the proprietors of the Olive Tree Inn will ever forget the fact that the Rough Riders took lodging there. Troops K, M, and B paused temporarily in Long Island City. I will not say that the Red Cross people who cared for them there are sorry that they did, but it is unquestioualdy true that they will never forget the fact that the men of troo]~»s K, M, and B paused in 256 ]N NEW VOKK. Long Island City, and that they were cared for by the people of the Ked Cross. iS"e\v ^'ork was dotted witli tlicir l)r(twii uiiifoniis cai-ly aftei- the tir>i day u\' the Ivoiigh Kiders' release. Prob- ahly half of them visited Broadway, and the same half later found things to interest them in other j^arts of Xew ^'oi'k City. Xot one of them had removed his nniform, and so the public readily recognized them. 1 1 undreds of civilians forced their hospitality npon lliem. Four of them went to the Stock Exchange. They were instantly spotted by the memliers and were taken to the floor, an honor accorded to few. AVhoever was of great financial interest in the buihling at the time was formally intro- duced to them, and no one was intro(hiced to them who was not glad to be. The old buil(h'ng on Wall Street resounded for hours with cheers for the regiment, and their ]>resence there really had its decided effect u])on business for that day. An interesting episode of the evening occurred on Broadway. Six of them paused to explain to a Broad- way policeman that he didn't dare arrest them because, if he did, they would sick Roosevelt on him. lie was considerably puzzled by the strange* situation, and was about to rap for assistance when he discovered that one of the invading troopers was his long-lost brother. He didn't ra]). The othei- five joined hands about the two re-united ones, and danced a war-dance which blocked Broadway. And so it went. AVherever the Rough Riders could go, they journeyed, and wherever they journeyed tliey owned the town. ] 7 257 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. Troop II assembled at the iioliman iiuuse and had a little celebration at the expense of Captain Cnrry. It was formally aiinoiuu-ed that night that $1,000 wonld be paid for any horse that Sergeant Tom Darnell conld not ride. At the Il()t(d Imj)erial, the men of Troop Iv were gathered, and L Troop held a farewell session at the (J rand Tnion. \'crv late in the evening, a nnnd)er of the ottieers gathered at the Holland Honse and said their last good-bys. And so ended the Rough Eiders. With the dawning of the next day many of them were on the trains, speeding towards their distant homes. Some of the Westerners have stayed l^ast and some of the Easterners have gone W est. The regiment is broken up and scattered. Vale to it. It was the greatest fighting niacliinc tliat any army ever held. Vale. 258 THE ROSTER OF THE ROUGH UIDKKS. THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. f^ g> Ss K t-l CD i^ ■5^ ^ s s :g KH 0:5 ~« P^ ;^ e s .' ^ S - 1 o hj ^ 'S'^ o <1 ^ 5> ^ fc. p^ O ^ II < s w P5 H ■j: P. 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X O " o is o :2 = ^ ^5 ^ cj — 75 — ■ .« > o s: !^'» o be ■— « o ._- •p - — -a o o o'^csoi'P-'r-^ ci tt^ ^ w ^ • c ^ * -^— '-^SraT 1^-^ = 1 -fls oSt^CO^ — ^3 o i-i 2 -*— ^ bii . *" - ^ Sex r^ - ?„ • -. _ =1 c -M *^ O) -^ !^' •= c :: ^ -^ ^ r" -3 £: <^ . . G, g c . I- ^ ^ - ^ OD -*-^ -4^ 4-^ ^ I-H 'X Ci l-H "^ *■-' '■'■■' "" c; ^ a> O} .'-5 tc O » s " -^ ^ —" ^ G a ^=5 = 3 s- (n t. '^ -.S - 2 c ?i £ ^ tij - o C « >^ c/j ■^ ^ ^ o tJD = = = ?f G CO C ;* 1o 'T! 1o S -^ S O -H c<> 1-1 CO O^r/J G.t a> o o bD C^ 1-5 O ^<3 o O N 7; -i 'I n H 262 ^ ^ pq ►^ ^ J ,►; TIIK I{OSTFJJ. a> i-H j^ c X 3 5 = ^ H 22 :i. r: : * x< J i^ 3 ; .^• i^ i--r •/. 2ti3 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. ^ 't 1 ^,1^ s O >^ s t-3 be 3 o C P4 cS o j2 CQ pi ^ •M O a> £ C- GO +^ ci C5 )4 X -^-^i .s-a CQ « f cS '. OJ Q £5' H N ^ ' s; n: s ■A < 5: o - — o ^ If O^SQij££Er^C§£ tii 0^ c Q cc cli c2 S Q o (5 H^ S£ 0) - ^ - - - r : - ; - : - : : : .-diiq • : '• : • : ^^^liilj^^^ ^ - ^ < r^ '^ H ajr-" P5 » lilllllllll -S '/' ^ '■=• ^ <1 c y >^ O te £ EC -=fa i-= -i: S ^r^t5;^n :^'^ao O 5tt P3 W .~ C ^ a. J7 .:; cS O Sh o O C-i = -2 "S 'S '^ c H -= ^ H - r^ =>• - C) £ 266 TUE ROSTER. £;oo "Z tn ^5 7^ S -S 1^ « I? Or- O) O tec s° ^ ^ C5 -S "s ^ T C; §03 v^^ C5 QJ~ ^ OCX -^ ^•s ^ 0) rH O bo tfi — o > i-H :; .2 eS c^ F^ O) hJ-- fcc'^ '--•3 = «*-( '^ c '^'-''Ti O^ •-= o ^^ ^•^-^ s^ _4J ^ >■, 3 Cr-M =s . .~ 'z; *"" :3 -* 2-3 3 -^ S 3 3 c; ■*-* OCQ OO ^o.:: o ^ ^ (^ C^ ^ < ^ 5 ^ ^ ^ oi S t« S o a o ti 3 J= 3 S IiIhChH -^ *r^ -^ --^ ''• >^ ^ ■* -T X S;: - O O 3 S 8 5 S-C Ph Eh C5 HPU 3 2 - tC C 3 - iJOX' 3 * ~ ■" -ir •-< S' ' ►^ Cr-?^X W^^C^^.^ -^ — ?- 367 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RISERS. us H O H Q < Phoenix. Ariz. Bisbee, Ariz. Phoenix, Ariz. Globe, Ariz. Boston, Mass, Bisbee, Ariz. Piioenix, Ariz, Tucson, Ariz. Kingman. Ariz. Tucson, Ariz. Phoenix, Ariz. Kickapoo Springs, Tex. Prescott. Ariz. Nevv York. N. Y. Albuquerque, N. jM. Tampa, Fla. Phoenix, Ariz. Globe, Ariz. Oakville, Tex. Norfolk, Va. Washington. D. C. Santa Fe, N. M. Tucson, Ariz. Phoenix, Ariz. Globe. Ariz. < J. c C _,- ^ :: :: : j- If v: a £ ^ ^ ^ ^ ,. , ^ „ ^ ^ < C a o 0, a, b •— c 0. > c: a c: r a o C/-J s fe fe^^ 5 c fe > c c tf b c 1 ""ct < rf •^ £ 0) p Q a O 6 a > Q "13 OS I I 1 268 TUE KOSTEK. S CD o § c3 o 9^ i a5 43 on GO GO a o ^ O 00 1< J^- (B O ^^ •^ be a> T— 4 c a> '": '/J >-i * '/. "c .2 J3 Ml g 'S 1-7 o ' rf Ti H-; ,^ > a> _' ''■' o — ^ O - = LI »-H L. .") ^ T^ " ^ ?^ ~ — ri (f - > C3 ^ S «4-l ^ ^ Y! O ^ ^n ;^ o CJ ^ a o >..2 _o tfl" C :5 ,^, ^ ;:^ C) '^ •-^ X 5 ~c,-^ c (^ c J ^ cc X! X vi y '— J 1^ s - N N f^ n: N N N j; n: V: N . N 3< ^ ^ s < << <^ < ^ ^ ; ^ _u o 3 C o •-5 2 "^ -3 y "o O S| xE-i H C- X H !^ C^OCliH «ChH ^ £-1 :5 i^, i-^Si c« ^ . ^ .— ' " - " - ~" " " "• ■* " * ■' * * ■* e- :^ i^ ^ O L, , r , ■ ^ ,• -' — : — — «■ -5 c X '^ ?= j^" ^_ ^ 2 S O o S^ '2 -2 2*^ - t p 1 -r ~ 1 yT 1 k "-■ c -r ~ 2 7 _./'. K^ O C: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -^" -^ ^^ — p^ r^. ''. f-. '-. r'. X, c , — . 2m THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. Oi Ch OJ S "* Oh 03 r' o OJ-" «t-i .-C O) < J "^ jy Xi ss c/; 3 OJ ^' . 00 1-,^ - 1^ 00 MC/2 ^ > ?.2 -1^ O _SC5 S 0) a < tfi «^ S es « in M X Ed 1- §1 ■56 11 aj ""■ o 5 c> o -^, — be 11 in ~Z .5 - '-I '■5 ioo <3i ■■ "3 « c3 -1^ (« % ^ OM i- nn rn _OT H U ?! H Q !^' > X (d o H •fi . _,a -^ _o' :: -5 < ■5 5 . S_ -<■ = Cjfa 2 X £ — 8 5 ^ 8 : Zj "oc < 5 ^ ^8 5: C X t/J - c 0. a a 5 ^ o a "a! 3i '— OjC-i •n ^^_ ■J^ C2 jr cu ^ 22 'XC^ _o HC ice _^r^UiCU K ^ r .; '■ - - ■; "; I ^ ^ :; ;; ^ ^ ^ :; :; ^ ;; ^ :; CL, ^ HM "-* ^ ! '^ ;^ < Q^s : J < 72 J "^ S ^-j ts 5 :"Z! •|w' ^ 71 Q '> S § ^ g ^ "3 H ij 3 f5 O T! :: '"'^ ~ 'n 9 eStJ rt K c o n^ ^ "c -= i< 0) c: i> 3-i ^ Zj . =3 _2 £ I. ■'— ' I—' 1 il^. 'A 1 c 7j fa -ti %^ o CJ 5 ^ fa '^' 71 •-5 5 ?^ tS 3 fS -^j 1111 ■y; x -^ 02 'p t, p .2 13 5 S 5 ^ 1 op 270 THK KOSTKK. •— ; j/> ' 1 i) CJ (U .' 3 "a -r' ^ — r3 r3 '^ r2 ^ ^ . o U3 on O) ►^ s L-. S3 '-^ . =«o tc bo be be be .GO r:-bc cS c3 eS eS 1- C5 •- x; "z: ~ o^"^ ^ OC' S.2 -Ij . s r^ cS «: s X S tj ^ X r ^ gf c3 C3 - C3 '^^ br "S 3 ility, Fra brain Au :}, 1898, C GO CS GO >-.cs ^ GO c --3 c =::^ .c =v .5 --^ ^ 5 "o "0 "3 "Sli; aJ'^GO-'^Gc'^^xT'-^ J^ .— =-^ r— * Cw o=cicc;-cis~-== a T— 1 ^^ GOo^o305ocooi; '■'-' — C; 3 >. -; ^ '~' r:!^ r^"^ r::'~' r:— ~ '.2 ".2 • .2 ".2 "s ? 52 ^ r-% cc 5 S 3 3 3 -"S "^ '-dor; -^ r— < 1— ^ i:--pq Jr-pq i:-» i:-2; 3^=t:; 2 550 ^ ^* .Z. 1-5 3 C! = 3 O 3 bo "5 J — y. -f. 271 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. ■- .2" _• ^ ^- .d "5 ^^ 5 -^^ .2 -S .S" -r "S 55 N* .S N -C g ,./. .2 0~ i:^' — >* « :£ 5 :5 M'cq o o u o C — — ~ :^ ::1 ;3 ':3 "i :3 ;r :^ := — = = — — '-.'-•'-• >'■ 273 THE STOKV OF THE KOUGH EIDERS. • • • iv^ ~ • • N • . . to -<1- 'i^/i^<::S >■%«--- *-.^^.-«^-* -.zz-::-::--: ta ^ " :f^ :: 1^ PC "t-i _r >-... 2^ S tr. ^.^ p^ ^.^_Jt:o^'=2 2 t'-i-^ _t£ -r. ;^ c C c« (D " ^' >:,^ •-; rr . i2 t- S — = ~ _r 5J '-' S-~ '^ '-'o ^^ >-.-fl X =* o o 2 'J 74 p s c ~ ^ — o Ji; r; 5 .'''^ o Si THE ROSTER. CO 00 S^ -oO ^00 _. o 'o &.0 of Iger S^^g^G ^'^ -/^fj^l ^ 2 "c cf = - 2 ^ fci =: CL, ^00 C- ^ ^~-^ : to S ^ c =-- p tc^^ !r^ - CO ied A I ied at typho ied h( fever, CO ac} *^ ^ J^ = < o' "i M -3^ C « g 8 c:c: c- J, s^ - :£ -^ S :.;i 3 5J ^ 5 ^ "5 r o 275 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. OJ OJ „ '-^ ; 1- "^ wT '"s «r 1^ 2 rt c ^ O' .^ - i] .; fcc I/: C5 rt Cx: S-f: O) ^ u , to C/D.&C c3 ai . OS ■?: _!_, < C r2 72 lie's "eS 6 l^ld _C O fl ff a,) 'S 30 S5 :|^:Sg- ^«5 OJ 30 ^ a^S^ i c "*" B C5 S - o I>t c r-H O O^ ^Or4 ^ ^ Ki K* ^ a u V5 H a o a o ■< -9 '^6 w York City. Ilea City, 0. T thric, 0. T. mkomis, 0. T. wkirk, 0. T. id, 0. T. lekwell, 0. T. iindler, 0. T. rt Sill, 0. T. wiiee, 0. T. iiyfisher, 0. T. iinessey, 0. T d i C d '2 ' : c^S F F^uf ti ^ u: s Cj ' a z -< ^ "5 f'^G P u 1 ^ o o ^ c5 3 '-^^ |- ^ ^ - ^ ^ R - ' o - ^ - :: z 5 ^ c> -H r. o r. ^ o • c; ^ r^ 0) c [3 Sd 0) ^ o P J. c ^ 5i4 ";3 -r i o ■ ; o 'T^ ?- ■3 'n c = < a Pi ■B i i"? ■D 75 o < c 1 "Hoi: '? 2 k3 > D ^ < c c i-s p 376 lioSTKU. c^ > ; 0* „' "k ^, ^ t^ c^ 3 '"' JC* ,^ "^ «r ►^ 1^ 7.- c3 ^ M) .2 c 2 ntia uas: "■3 .5 '7j — es r J^ ^ e3 C3 ^ ^ « OQ (72 Vj a> eg a> « g ^ tb 1-^ — "3 «M bb OJ of Qj . ^ ^ ^ =i5 *^C/2 •^ "^ C-/ g -j:^ rt-j o3 cS "" tij"" c> -^ib ^ i^ — = a> 1 '— £ ^ «cn -i 55 ^ 00 X *"* 'r ^ ^ xi — .— ^ 05 - ^" : c5 - CD z S5 30 ^ —f rH C (M c ^ c Oct ^ ^ C? fS ^ r? X i- • E-i Eh" ■ ^' • >^' .J r-i'^ c ^d^" d E-i 0: _o~ ^Ho^.^ cJ-.^ C— c - ^.-d^ ?^' d^ eSh^.o^'^^^-P.^. ' "7 d c ^ C^ '^-' 1 .2^ ^ § J ^ t- -i ^-d ~ r fc ) p; ^ ^ - tr;— - '\-* T* ^ ■J ^ 2 Ss ^ ;^ . ' . * i^ r— S C S 5 - ■s ^^ c: c a "t^J^""— ?!r i ■= C5 5^ S !^i-3c5 S ^ I^ r^ t;C ::5 ^ ^ 5 H :c 5 <>'< ;^. at: a* . ci ? 3: -t > * ' ■* ' " " ^£ x r^ I^ . ^ J § S r '0 <■ 'y. i i ?*, Pi ■/Jil — e V S - £ T >■ — ?■ in ^ W H-J s ■r. v; 5 _§ c- '7 q. -** ^ "tc w S:>"SE — ^^=^ 4 ^7. ■ f^ v" ^ "^ f^ p- !- f^ -tJ ■jT •r; ^t -^ c 7;. ^6 1 . a :j uo c 1 i; W ■^'"~ :^f2 w n i-ui — u > 11 277 THE STOUV OF THE ROUGH KIDEKS. a ^■ > > :3 'T^ f-s t— ^ c C s tn tJ3 cc ci „ (/> cS c3 6 ^ i7 C/. r--; ,J a. 0) C ^^ s c ^^ a. "M tJO R ^ -= "tc ' 'J' K -an a 30 Ci OS iri r/' ^'^ c C CJ t^ {? e: r% ^* d « H o ) C .2" 1 5 gdC s <3 i c d : en d d : 6 c S .0 ^ d - C H i 1^ c >~ S ^ ■H. E '^ — !^ 3 c m S :;: r := ; p i2 ^ >M ss ?- l-; jA '^ C5 f-:' ~ . > ■r 1-5 '2 If" 'S c -^ J SSSr^Sk^ .22 a> _o 0-3 ;! f5 (1^ (2 c^ ■f} 278 THE ROSTER. ^ X' -5 ^ — £ 35 c X § 'p ^w *i c t: eS > tc > c ^j -w ^ 7j ^ 7) <; -^ .— , >, OJ 00 o CTj " ~ JS Lj dti .-— • i-^ rf ^ 3 ^' -= 00 - s en 3^ P, c J o fct "^ tx tf. X tt -r* -t 5 ^ . s = 5 '^ 2 tc 2 it — tt - £o ■r- = O <* X H* • >^ _ H H ^o -r ^■ OH '^ ^ C -^ ^ HH r- ~. do :£6 6 o d o" P-, d •/J c ■A ■f? 15 s y. -s' ■^" ^' ^ = ^ t> • ' — -' ^ o ,^ ^ ^ ,, ^ ^ ^ ^ o •? =s hJ hJ hj •? ' ' o 3 '^ i: IK c O ii< t- o c^> "-I - -^ O hJ =! £. S 5 r' H ii -^ fe:' "?,-?, i^' "■ J i i ■/ 270 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH IJIDERS. ;> od CO «3 cc c/i c/2 c/5 ct' t/i cc m a5 coSp ti P P UJ l:i p ti ti P tJ tJ j^M w w w w w"" « w M ;:^" w < tH-C^CL,^ — C^D^CLir^^^^r- 'T.^, 9. o o o o o o g oo^o r oj^ooppopoPcooo '/3 >->.-' ''" r'~' r"" ^^ r '■-' rT '"^ '^ ^ '-* ^. ^rH_£-, H_Eh H_H h H h H t^ H r^^r^ ogoo590 9PcQ5'c<^oo6co6oo6oo6ooc5oQdoQ6 3>o aoooGOooooaoXiOocoooxa:! r^r: P ^ P , p ^ P «p .a> .o .y _cj ^p ,ju _o _ ^ E-.S '~'3'~'.5'^S"S'~' o^ o'^ o^ o'"' S'-^ o'-' c'^ ■Sf = ^' = |'= ^*n S'^ ^"'1 ^'1 ^1 ^^1 ^'1 fe'l S-l-^' i:;^ 2^ 2^ gS 2r% 2?% S'^ g?^ gS g?^ gS g?5 cs^^ ^ p *^ ? I ^ i § 0^ C a fe fl, p 280 ti 'c - o ^ ^ B 's c ^ P^ -S N r; & 1= H ^ m THE KOSTEK. ■•- OiQO QC G ^ C5 >^ o ,_,* GO Ph ^ ►^ •-s 00 d T-C .2 >-, 1 ^Q ^-s "c •-5 o o eS N C^ c ■■ >-, tCc3 p 3 o 3 Q^ c 5 >» — "^ ca; ci ■f. o i) O ^ c. "c s -^ o c c ^ ^ ad o 5 _c C5 l^ p" *> > ^ ^^ •— ' E- C c h^ d a. ■J o c c ^ c ;^ t= c; c e: ^ C_ t> K" x' (-* :-i > c c a ^ ^ i S ^- -^* = . Q^ i)' A •= ^ 2 tn C *=5l ^ c; ) J^ O , , ai . tH '"' ^ tl 5^t >. ^ • **■ ^-. *^ 4 ►^ C "i ■* S _-t -J ''^ *-■ c 2 'S- 'E,r>^ c ■*-' — s •8 1) ;; 73 tft ^ j=. 10 ^ * || o •4J c 3- ^ CO £ Jl IS 1 o> C ^' ■3 0) ' CI =J n S 'C ^ > — ? << '^- z "Z — 5 a £ ^ r— f^ c 00 ^ 06'= '-^ ^Z r— * C5 00 E s? ^ 5 '^ c ,-1 c ^ 01 > t> ^ > ?- >■ z^ — ■ . r'l S-4 ' « ^1:^ fT, "bi ^ "^ iT'r = i f£^^^ ;:3 < E- ^P -^ 1 281 THE STORY OF TUK HOLKtII KIDEKS. ceo k^ o >H t.; "^ w^ '-'i u.; ^r' ^ ►,' . >^ •>;<'< • ; ''.S^^'c f: C "^ S^E t^ O 1^ vS 1-3 (^ J O rh 1 1 "i* H ^ ': r r- 'c4 — 21 f/j O "ij • X ^- .-( s ' ^ tfi -> o '-I >. ?c-^ K^^S 5; rS g -S ^ -=,^ ~ S = H :^ ^ 2 - ^' C g. & ^ .2 fcc:r; 5 tt 283 THE ROSTER, c «e O ^L, ^>-' .S Si.c cO o'S I ;^ f^ 5 :S -y-.' - : \^^^%y.:z^ 'fl f- O .X — S- O C/D ■'/: X' >^ — •. ^ ! ! HO;; : ^ ■ ■ . ~* '. «■ - 3 D^ _■ ^ ;;•<-.— ;■.;:;■.;;; 283 THK STOKV OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. ffi •-st: >-| uJ r5 H UH !* C aj — '2 O 5; ci cS 5 ^. rx) uJ S X 5 5 •»-i r^. ^ ?5 o c o ^;5 o eg :;3 o 'r'>'<. Is ?^ = ^ ? = S ';^ c t « n r. J '— " in m 3 •yj ^_w — ^ . ^ fcX) <1) ci si ^ '^ ^ ^ ^ ^^ri^fec: 385 THE STUUY OP^ THE ROUGH RIDERS. , ,(_3 o 'y. =e i& C C 00 > Eli Si— ►i; < c 1 si -^ tn' o fS ' c "e S ^ ^ a. Gj 7 "3 § S ^ JB t^S P^ ^^ ~ -t- rr- 1^ ix ^^ 380 Tlli-: JJOSTEK. ^ >. x te CO '^' b X CO 00 Xi 6 -* ^• a (^ : i, 3 •"? « •-9 ^ ^ c _c . ^ : i-= _o O -fcJ o «s't1 : "C 03 i-q -"- _ o " 'S --^ niS T3 '/J ' '^ "^ O) o t- o " o '?fc ' "t^ ^ 3 o '• -t 5 C ^c 2-( O 'il o k; K*- ^ ^ "-^ ■y. ^ f~'r-3 y'--- •I' ^' ' vaj" o *,ar t4 =ti, es :: - : ; : ;; - ^ ^ - :; ;; ; - "^5 - t: ■r.-Ti . ^ . . . • i S t; • '■ •■ 1 ^ 3 J ■ : 2 - * ' ' ' - - > 1 £ „■ ! ■ ! '. '. -^ •/. ■^ -^ . '■ , • .>•■'' • a-j c3 Si • ~ -co CJ c2 2 S - o '^ T* ^ ^ ^ '/. -~ ! f: o ^ ""_ ^ ="" r^ '5 tf. ^ 5 CI r. ~ • ^i r. Vi'- vT *iJ = S § S'o 2 5 t|:| r 5 E i — rj is r. r = r - s ^ ■p5 g S iz'P S '^ -£ > > — 5 5 = i s ■? _5 = ^ - ^ ^ > ^ -^ EI > _^ J -^ £:i: _: ■2 ^ _; < ■^ --; -^ <^ < "^ "^ — .s; \ THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIUERS. ■A to 'S O o ^ d, c "li § 1— 1 00 O) CO ■I— 1 '^D en «t-l *-■ >^ 00 ,,: OJ Coo « T! ^ < u ;3 o 15 ^=2 ►^ *^ _o (A l^.s _o c3 r^ ^ •♦-1 .ri "S . ^ 00 = =3 w5 s 00 r:3 '^ « C/3 ^ TJ ^ n3 ^ ■ "^ = •2 C i:^'^ G C J 1^ 1 u o z u '-' X X ^ S HS s ■ !^ r - =s >q' ^^^■~' " _o ^';^. ' " " " "■ 'c IX, e: <5 & ;; •5: H-rs*^"*' •-•* v. - - .. c^ =Sr" ci jr c! c3 ,=S rt Xf. c/D r- CO f^. v: yj Hcrj u: X 5! c d c ■ ■ ^ 1— * -S • '£:5o::jio ; ; £ _ • N3 < ■^ ^ ^ ^ J — ■■" ?^ .H ~ 5 ■'■-■ 5 - S ' S : a "a g s •istian, E(l\ Hand, Calv ilev. Edwa :hran, Will; jrry, Charli Igherty, Li Bohun, Jol •ley, Willia enian, Wil bs, Henry ligher, Wil dberg, San: ssner, Otis rf ? J3 r" -^ :i ^ -' dj — '^ 'a zz ^o) Cw o Oi -^ -C^CO-GO m. 00 e C b •A >i • ■ ;- c ^ ^ o §.E - ^ - - - - ic >-::-:-- — L s5 ^ < c r : c <• i< > r* c Perry, Arlluir L Paniiele, Clias. A (Jiiier. Frank 'P 1-2 1^ ■r 1 r r 289 THE STORY OF THE JiOLGH KIDEKS. 00 ho T-l ^ cl Oi 03 a S c3 »-s ■X3 ■ ^ to < o c a > >• p-* :>> >>>'>'>' — ^^ J. XX y. ^ r^ r^ K' r-- r^ '^ r" r-- .-' r-* r^ 2U0 THE ROSTKR. T^ S ''' . JS '/^ jj -r VI s o Ct i-H-i > r^ ^ S tc . ~" p^ -S c ■ ■^- 3S; GT) ::~ o *1=r; 5 £r- ^, ^ -s; '5 . — "_ = 5' 5 ci _^ ^ S 5 — C7 -^ •<< -s r = ■ 291 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. c: c c - p C o ^.ii E- 'i a5 cc -= a ^ c 5 d .to 'i ^ 3 a C>7 c s c s < If. ^- TTD "c C^ 'A ^ .^ _^ <1> ^ c o a. lO a '3 o 1 o ^. ^ r3 i-j ■" o ^ S 4 ■/J • . 'a! o > o o "T o o -J o "S 5 5 ^ • & o ^ ;-! « ^ o ^ o *— c5 X ^ .— -- o S .2 /^ s c G 7- "5 s ^ r5 f5 2 -= -is ^ "c ^ r ^ :5 '^. ;S s 'vi ^ ^^ M rv ?• ;i^ 292 'IIIE KOSTKli. i^ X tc S ft 7= tc ■^ — . .^ Cl.- ^ tr. a> " 5 ^ — o C-N ^^ "^ ■"I 7" s": o it O > ^fn o ^ = :« ■/- Zi " f o s i iO o c ^ - « 03 -* > 5'" «_= oO '- ^ iC c ■ •^ = ^ >. 'in j; ■^ 2 ^'~= r^ o o o o ^— , fe Xi -" -O J <; < 1 .^^>. -^ 'X' ^ 'x ;:^ £ < •xco c c SrJozf ■C(^ XX :£ i 1 7=^ ■ t ^^ ^ . ^ w . 2!)3 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. t>.rd '^ cl ►-5 O) r^ fe E O ^ OJ 294 ;: bo ^1 TlIK ROSTKK. zo -n ■ •-s ^. = > ^i^ 0) tc c £5 r - 5 . K i Z .s u J •? tc A _5_ r. _ > O > -," C :5 ,- I^ — ^ — -^ r> '^ .- ^^ y c -" ,- :^, ^ z: o ~ - . - ■ - c ^ 295 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. in >^ £ = -T I-H -^ „ 2 v D - _ CO bJD'^Q V S «)_i ^3 "^^ !£. ^ S) c I ?^ - ^ ? -- P-, .s 'i % •^^ E - -S i o' i- 6— . — 1 j2 n M c ~ t; "S = _c 5< y: _^ "" ^ H -= P5S d:^| < » ti t.' ■ « a, o - c - '. : r O Oh : - : - H ... -^ • b?H ■-H -T^ I ^ c >-: 1-;' c fi ^ ^ ■^ -< "^ '-/"- o !^ - Is • Ed < 3 ;- O IS O O 2 CO 1 3 a en m c '5 £ o .5 |_rl g Soph 29G TUE ROSTER. l^-'- a, ;^" ^ I? ¥' ^ y. ^ ^^O P^i ;^. J ? -* :- ! > < = !-.• -—I _-'o'-5 ^>£:^S~^ ^'5 > rj-T 1 a*_o -r '"' = 5 = J:£ 0.. p: y. "^ •-' >^ -^ -^ f-1 ><; -= . t:a:54^fZ — — w v: ^ 'X -^- ^j ■ = = i • =! s - • :|||J O — -r? — ■/? -z r^ ""■ a-1-^l^- ^ = .i .? § § - i /• C i = 5 E:?-^'^ 2!I7 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. %'A «•' !z' p^ ^' F^* ^-^' iL^'" ^''ii'^ :^ ^^ - aj ■- '^ '/: ^Ceic_.rr— jcic;— ce2:^^,■c_-- rZ"o 6 cS !^ :^ o H H S £ '^ ^ fC ■ = ; !7J !^ ~ I 5 -S or^oj ■•^ t; =^ 5 o o o t- o ; s: ?3 p; pq o o o o o THE ROSTKR. :< 5 :-r 299 THE STOKY OF THE KOUGII HIHEKS. ^^!^'o y;^^ '^y. "^ :_■ • f^ o 2 ^ V ^ c — 5* • • • "" F — ^- — ^ "^ ■is'illl U ^rf^ ^^^ /; o ^ -^ Z^ »"~ ~ -'- - S '^ i ^ -; o o ? — ^ r-, ?% S^ ^2; ^ ^ - oo ■- y^o 300 ^fe: THE R(.)STEH. 150 o , O If ° 00 C d P a o o oj 2 £ ° o O 0^ p J- 2"i «<-< "" -3 •- 20D >-l •A^^ r^ So -'-'S ^ .^ 0--'P E,^ i ^- ~ r „- - 3 S >.-Z ^ J" "— ^ c -j ? Tj ^ :.-"-- r" ^ a ;ii« ... -' •■ O) oj o ai £^ i-. • - • - -• as r ~ -^ 2 > = = o|^'-yr'* -,-P t uUl THE STORV OF 'IHE ROUGH RIDERS. kH tX QO ^' ^' 25 o ^ c8 ^ o C^ go" 1 ^ s . a> OJ - M ^? a ^ | X g z, ■ CS a Id a - Ed Ci. S Oh 3 C '3 ;^, S^ o W cr'z "35 o o < 3 Cl( Tj 2 ^.^-h' J hauta old S edfor as Cr 11 in r/j OO C3 uJ -<:^ ■< ■V "S , . ^ I cu K- =^ K— — .^ o -o ^C > S s S o n ^ ^1 s q ^ c 5 S s ■^fe •r: ^ o cs o3 o i- o: OS -^ I- - rH C (K «? "S r— i^ J- S O -< Ct -H ^^7: .S 1=^ ^ .1:2 K" 1 s ^(TjC^^PiO^ k-3 Q tc C i- ,,, t- ?? OJ ^ <1^ Si O"-! CO Cu CO H5 X' ^-j ?- ?Q SOS ^M c!5 'JllK KOSTKIi. >-■ ^ •—; J^ ; ^?=.= -^ '/•. . K. r^ t/j . c3 ^ — . 7< -^■■= ti-- 5 c iS G -2 X 5 ^X ,- :S S ^"J / •; J C Ji 1 5 -i-^il^s : : : : j; :i ::.:::: : p - 2 :: : : '■■'1 Hill"' -^ d -r • ■ ■ " w-' 7" 1 5-^ 5c V ■-'.'^< = -^ ;5 ~ r "^ ^ . - — *- •£ ^ ^ § t ~. ~- - |t— - — ? S = 'It - — — i; ." -r - ^ 5 = >. - i i^ ~ = lis ^: > E i .^ = r. 7 - ^ ^ .*" — — I."" .^"" _— ' .— ?^ (i> o ^1 •" ^ c- -* —* — — '^ ^ :^:?1. — ^L.^:S _^ t. 1-^ ?: <;^, ?; ?; -^j-acjtf ooffi 1— — oo 303 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. n -/■> o c *~* _ tt) ^ < O) O J aT^S ►^^ , ^ £ ?;■ -r o -o" ^- ^ c -^ W t- e3 »ai i; >-, -O ^ - - _ «a) t^ '^ "^^ a^ -c ^ 3; 1^ s s ^ ? ^. '^ . _' - 1-5 '* s -■ t- <:£x£:i jo^<;S:^j2 e^:5:>h :§ Jc^ h^ScIq^^ : ;^^ ; S^'^sew §DS5 2-§ = gfeS^^^C c oPfi;=i;^ .i'^^« — -^ !>-. t^'^d I -^ ^' S § r"' - S "^ o' ^ 3 ^ ^P^ -^' Cj — > (U — ' OJ o . s C "^ S S r* O "^ [V^ ^ ^ ^ P 42 s- C 3i g a^ o c — - o tJ5 5s si o :;: aj -i^ o 5 304 K fcC-i ^' S^H 01:: Till-; HOSTEK be o" I .- il i '!- &| ^ = ^' S .-' <; O) S s3 ^" c3 ^ — ' 5 ,::; ^^'Tr. c cJ = t; ^ '^ . •■" ."3 ^ .^ - ~ - Jl "" ■"-?•- 20 305 THE STORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. « I ~i ib 3 3 ^^SP i§1 j: . -7 t£.:f tb ii r . H ^ -, "r^*— '^— p ^ o V B i. K.B '% ^'^' Z. '^ i: "5' = '_ ,^ T" 00 ~ 'T J3 ^ o =5 -^ o ^ •- r— Xi ^ xi tJO c?o c CO ^ ^ g<1 g . r cB^,-ii, -:; ood Fla ood Fla 80 ^ 5=5 s ^ p — '- 5 ;^oF- =: c ~ 9 ~ _ t^ Zl — '^ %- O J ^ _o ^ = ^ 2 ^- -^ il 2 ^ ^ o5 hhhph£! Q ^ -2 c - 0" S-i Z. •^' r- •< Cm • C a> -- to r- C5 rX f^ r-t ^ X S S "n - O '73 - = fe o ? ." •— ^ I*-, ._ i-^i ^ .^ S 5 ^ '^ z: P^ X P5 pin 306 THE ROSTEll. a> £ is 1 o O .tp &-I 2 1 '. •U U-i 1,7 1 o ^ ,_ 1— • tH I >^ ^■ >^ 3 ^ '3 i-s »-9 Juan 7j o O s •% 5 k1 3 c3 3 "§ S ■S . ■3 _ ^ a; 5 S 5 ;'; "S s '3 g" S S C £5 C =5 ^ ^ ^ o c3 O rt C *« ^ ^ ^ •^ = £ l^'. ." 'S i< t- o o" -2 T 3 "S :5 v" ''^ .-' 5i < '5 > ." "i^ — 1-H ^> O M C>J ^ o;^!:^:?: oj5wCc 11% lA '^_ % 'x- ir r _ ►^ — "" 'X. ■■^ '~ '— 7. - "^ ^ •" — ~i~~. "^ • --' "i ^^'^ ^ = *-> ^ — ' '^ = ^ "7 •/:' ^ ^ "T i 1 J '[t = ^i •= = I f" i ^ §' = "f ? =^ = ' - ^ "~ l> I-Tl-H r^ r- — y. -^ — — — : — i^- — — — — — — — :~ — — 3ti: THE STOKY OF THE ROUGU lilDEHS. to ^ c; ^^ r-H -^ K-l H u o . ,. is o .- O ^ ■ 'c -• ^'h H c H O a o iC 3 .0 s c olorado Sp as Yegas, licster. Yt e\v Londo c Donald, cc "o C — .^. !^ =^ ''^ to O r- 7D reen Point klahoina C urden, Ka addler, Gr -/} O ^ a :;< ^ o 0023 OJ y. '^ a , . . . ^ . .^ cu 308 'I'UE ROS'I'KR. O slJ^lllioJ -:^li'5 .&,-i: p-:? Gf^i-5^i-HSSr5r^J-5 "^ iv: ^ S /C /^ i^ :! D*— — X -X X X r. X r- r- : 309 THE SToliV OF TlllO lioicii i;il)Ki;S. 6 CO O 6 o _r 00 2'^: o — . — r. L-J 5 ^ '^ !«* t/. <; >-^ tH v; r. ^ 5 cs c5 t:H^ ~ "5 -^ '"^^^ rt • o ^ X ^ be V3 Si E-6 ! X; .-X; HLsI ??;t4 ir tc 5 o !Z! = -^ ^ "S <» ,^? f^ Si ;; s lite-i >• >- ^i- -^ >■ ► ^ '-r' l-H r^,^> 310 -^ ^ C '^ -^ ," _= ^ =j ^" — I .aj C ^ ^^ 2- i-j c C-s ^ c -2 <^ fi i; = OS a> pq^-! C 25 'I'liK i;osTi;i{. H - ;= fJ = to — o £ c^j _j ~ 1— ^ ~ T-l CJ "? >. ~ >^ c s I-l — '^ "— < o ^ o s ^Ch-s oO S'^- ^^ o :£: Q C Q Cu ^'^ >'. J ^ iC > _° c =0 _ — 'y' ^^- . -< X 5 s: - P .^ r--. 7: -? 7 1- ^ 5 = 2 ^ 3 .u z 7- = -t = :3xE- ^ c ^-- *- « yj -r » o '— • Of — 7; - :- • i' . ' 'JZ~ tn •r? t H / — ~ i'"" ^ v: ni TUE STORV OF THE UOUGU KIDEUS. «(- ^^ C4-I J[^ 0, w rt -^• "5o -r rX c 6 13 ^ _ "Sd ' — ' X ,-- c 00 c: X CO as 'X X c a. 00 Ci X -^ ci c> ^ '"' t- ►-5 ^ X ^ '^, t^ z2 K »i ■g, ^ < = tV, 1 ^ "x 1-5 '7 5 bl '7: 1-5 ci: _tc >• 3 c/: 5 S C a 5 6 r/. 1^ . OS 5 c; >> 5 tc 3 2 s J I ^ 33 c ^ -^ £ a £ 1 j^ .^ c '^ ^' ^ S 5 p ji .^ c ,^^ c ^ £ 4J £ Lj ^ c S 1 Sr^ ^0 c 0^ C 0) oS.o^ *^ H^ ^ ^ ^ k; ^ tj ^ H , • b- ^ t-i h^ H r- 5 . • H H - .3;' c Si c: m C r- ^; -2' c ? .^ 1— I if :7: aT r^' c sS Z-i "X ~ a t> 6 3 1> rfif^ — U" "^ l' S ►^ 0!^ J ^i _ z -4_ ,__, •^ --^ . 4_j -13 'C^ ^ Qj « J C 7 7 C oj ;iii Oi c. J ^ - ^ CI, Z t z ; " " ■; -;i: •r & -r S - ~ •1 s> cc ?- « ■^ s .^^ r-i IS CCEt. ^ r^H cC ■7 ■t. ^ ZZ " ct ! ^ ^ bf ce C M .^ at ~ — rS ^ To ;- > CJ c Ed < i; 5 r/J It ■J. P ■ c r— a j 1 ^0 a a ' a c 'c [0 VJ ^ a - ■ 2 p "0 "§ c: ft ►^ OJ c S < - >^ 5h ^ 313 TIIK ROSTER. X) ^r: 6 ^l s — ^ O O •/I jC* uj J S3 i-r ^ ^-3 ^ =3 r- CO rt o *- i, j2 o C30 5 £ = ««- c o 1 /- r3 c^ c i-X o -r :^ ^ ?: !~ < _• Vi .•■ — ■ ■/ ^- ?% ^ ~' = 1^ hSV. ^ c o 3 k^ ' _ : - - ="^'^ o-^-""! = 44 c - i 5:S o c ttcs - it— .= ic c - i^ ;5 a :5 S ^ > <> : — ". O "-3 O 71 o — > ; " J - ; z Z z z z z ; ■7" ^ ^^ , • — •"■ ^—, — • '— H; • _ "■ ! - • / -r ■c • = -^ '^^:-i :^ '— r ^ r-^ - z. S "TT — ' n ^ ; i:-^.2 •« — — "T ; _ . ■/. - i > T ^:^.4-£ 5 — i? £ = i'i ^ - .a -^ ~ ..:; l-J -^ , _- — *.-""■;: — F ■/.' ■/ ^~ -'.:.—' - iC -/\ 5 >'.£ Wj > ~'i "= J "i" i 1 i'l if -? ^'^T'"i ■/ ■|| 1 1 1 1 moc CJ OC* ^ ^ SQwac;~ — — — ^ — -i. — — 1^ '..i -J — -^ 313 THE STOKY OF THE HOUGH lilDKKS. o 1-5 s s "5 o o "^ §"£ s 1^ or-- O '—1 C O y5 S s o (« cS 5 S c 00 T-H ►^ CO . o S5 d o ^u s:^ .H, . c; H" . £ . H-' = '~1 ^ '"I z S ^ O rf £ ^^ . ■/? . < ; : : ; : - - ^ -_ ;; ;; ;; -. ^ ;. ■- ;; - - . -. C z. < < "P P ■7 c c -.c a p: s- c C, '7 c r ■< c 1 7. ■r X X 514 I UK liOSlER. = X X OS OSC5 3 = XX •pa; th <-• 5 J = >. -f -f f X •?» c* e» es i i s 2 x = K^ S-:si o s 55 S r',^ tf .^ c< .c CJ o ;) tft 03 C :£ :i ^ = - - ^'Ji-Z-A- ■/. ^ .= "S '^ rr »■ — i' — i — ^ ^£- lS i5 i5 i5 "^ y. ►^ 5 ? ~ ^ >^ ; ; c/3 * ^ ' • ^ "■ ^^ • - it- ,r "*' i. .>■ ^llS-i aj >• J2 = ^t^^ 0^ "^r- .232 c ^co C = — _- iC-* p >". -.""•^^ — — .^ - ' d. « •/. _- 1 — -"" "^ o ^ -"S .:£ X - y. r. f. 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