Great Heart The Life Story of Theodore Roosevelt 14

Great Heart The Life Story of Theodore Roosevelt 14

At Tampa the Rough Riders found themselves without an official

assignment to a transport. Nothing daunted, Roosevelt moved his men

immediately on board the nearest vessel.

 

When the landing place in Cuba was reached the Colonel got his men

ashore among the first and soon after landing began his march to the

front.

 

While Roosevelt’s picturesque personality led to his figuring largely

in the newspaper accounts of the war, yet in all of these movements he

was in close association with Colonel Wood. The two worked together

as one man. While the men had been intimate before, it was in this

campaign that the friendship was welded that was to last and deepen

until death ended it.

 

Later in the campaign Colonel Wood was promoted to the rank of general

and Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt become colonel.

 

The corps to which the Rough Riders were attached was under the command

of Major-General Shafter. Major-General Wheeler, a veteran of the Civil

War and a dashing cavalry leader, commanded the cavalry. Under the

latter, as commander of the 2d Brigade, was Brigadier-General Young.

Young’s brigade was composed of the 1st and 10th regiments of cavalry.

The 10th regiment was composed of negroes and the 1st Regiment of the

Rough Riders.

 

General Wheeler was anxious to strike the first blow with his cavalry

and while Brigadier-General Lawton, who commanded the infantry, was

protecting the landing from the enemy, General Wheeler ordered General

Young to advance early in the morning from the little village of

Siboney toward Santiago and to attack the enemy wherever he was found.

The Rough Riders were included in this advance.

 

Two roads about a mile apart, lead from Siboney to Santiago. General

Young advanced on the eastern road and directed Wood and Roosevelt to

take the western road, which led over the mountains. The two roads drew

together near the village of Las Guasimas. Here the two commands were

to meet.

 

[Illustration: COPYRIGHT, UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD

 

BEFORE THE BATTLE OF SAN JUAN. ROOSEVELT ON THE EXTREME RIGHT,

COLONEL WOOD IN CENTER. TO THE LEFT: MAJOR DUNN, COLONEL BRODIE

AND CHAPLAIN BROWN, WITH GENERAL WHEELER IN THE FOREGROUND

]

 

On the march from the landing place inland the troops traveled over

rugged hills, covered for the most part by dense jungles. They

camped on a dusty, brush-covered flat, with jungle on one side and a

disease-breeding pool, fringed with palm trees, on the other side. The

baggage had not yet come ashore, and the soldiers had only what food

they carried with them. Roosevelt’s equipment consisted of a raincoat

and a tooth-brush.

 

They met hundreds of Cuban insurgents--tattered crews armed with all

sorts of weapons, all of which were in poor condition.

 

 

FIGHTING AT LAS GUASIMAS

 

When the Rough Riders reached the scene of action they had first to

climb a very steep hill. They went into action with less than five

hundred men.

 

Captain Capron’s troop was in the lead, followed by Colonel Wood.

Roosevelt rode close behind them at the head of the other three troops

of his squadron. The trail was so narrow that at many places the men

had to march in single file. At other times they had to force their way

through dense, tangled jungles. After marching for over an hour they

came to a halt, but Colonel Wood announced that the advance guard had

come upon a Spanish outpost.

 

A minute later Wood gave Roosevelt orders to deploy three troops to the

right of the trail and advance. A roar in front of them soon announced

that the fight was on.

 

Roosevelt and his officers were searching for the place from which the

smokeless powder of the Spaniards was pouring Mauser bullets upon his

men.

 

It was the famous war correspondent, Richard Harding Davis, who first

showed Roosevelt’s men where to direct their fire. He had accompanied

the Rough Riders and had taken a place at the extreme front of the

line, from which place he spotted with his glasses the exact location

of the Spaniards.

 

“There they are, Colonel!” he suddenly cried. “Look! Over there! I can

see their heads near that glade!”

 

Roosevelt looked across the valley where Davis was pointing. He,

too, discovered the heads of the Spanish soldiers and directed his

sharp-shooters to fire on them.

 

The Spaniards sprang out of the cover and ran to another spot. The

shots of the Americans had told. The Spaniards continued to retreat.

The Rough Riders and the other troops pursued. They were forced to

leave the wounded in the jungle where they fell.

 

Harry Hefner of G Troop, fell mortally wounded in the hip. Two of his

companions dragged him behind a tree. He propped himself up and asked

for his canteen and his rifle. He then resumed shooting, and continued

firing until he died.

 

Roland, a New Mexican cow-puncher, fought beside Roosevelt. The Colonel

noticed blood issuing from his side and ordered the trooper to go to

the rear. Roland grumbled, but went back. Fifteen minutes later he was

on the firing line again. He told the Colonel that he could not find

the hospital. Roosevelt doubted it, but let him stay until the end of

the fight, when it was discovered that a bullet had broken one of his

ribs.

 

When the scrimmage began some of the men began to curse. “Don’t

swear--shoot!” Wood growled at them.

 

Toward the end of the engagement Roosevelt was falsely informed that

Wood had been killed. The command of the regiment for the time being

devolved upon the Colonel. He started to lead his men toward the main

body, but met Wood himself, who told him that the fight was over and

that the Spaniards had retreated.

 

In this first scrimmage the Rough Riders lost eight men killed and

thirty-four wounded. They had taken a Spanish fort, defended by more

than twelve hundred men, and had won from them complete possession of

the entire Spanish position.

 

 

THE CAPTURE OF KETTLE HILL

 

Next came the historic battle of San Juan. When news of the battle

reached General Shafter he was told that the Americans had been cut

to pieces. It was also said that the regiment had passed the advanced

outpost without orders. Shafter exploded.

 

“I will send that damned cowboy regiment,” he said, “so far to the rear

that it will not get another chance.”

 

Later, however, came the news that the cowboys had been victorious,

so Shafter wrote a flattering letter to Roosevelt, in command,

congratulating him on the success of his attack.

 

There followed a period of inaction. Then the Rough Riders received

orders to proceed against Santiago.

 

The regiment struck camp and marched to the front behind the 1st and

10th Cavalry. Every man carried three days’ rations.

 

Roosevelt’s command joined General Wood at El Paso Hill and camped for

the night.

 

The next morning it was announced that the main fighting against

Santiago was to be done by Lawton’s infantry division, which was

ordered to take El Caney, while the Rough Riders were ordered simply

to make a diversion with artillery.

 

When the firing began shrapnel shells exploded over Roosevelt’s head.

One of the shrapnel bullets struck his wrist. The same shell wounded

four men of his regiment. He at once led his men from their exposed

position into the underbrush.

 

General Wood then ordered Roosevelt to follow behind the 1st Brigade,

and the Rough Riders began a march toward the ford of the San Juan

River. They reached the ford and crossed it. In front of them was a

rise of ground, afterward called Kettle Hill. Roosevelt found the 1st

Brigade engaged in a hot battle, so he halted his men and sent back

word for orders.

 

On top of Kettle Hill were large haciendas, or ranch buildings. The

Spaniards, from their stations on the hills, poured a heavy fire on the

American troops, who were hidden in sheltered lanes and along the edge

of the San Juan River, or in patches of jungle grass. Roosevelt, lying

with his troops under this severe fire, sent messenger after messenger

to General Sumner or General Wood to secure permission to advance. He

had about determined to go ahead when Lieutenant-Colonel Dorst rode

up with the command to “move forward and support the regulars in the

assault on the hills in front.” The impatient Roosevelt leaped upon

his horse. He had intended to go into action on foot, but he saw that

he would be unable to run up and down the line and superintend matters

if he were on foot. His men went eagerly to the attack. The Colonel

started in the rear of his men, as was the custom for a Colonel, but

his ardor soon bore him to the head of the regiment.

 

As he rode down the line he saw a slacker hidden behind a little bush.

To urge the soldier forward he called:

 

“Are you afraid to stand up while I am on horseback?”

 

While Roosevelt was speaking, a bullet, evidently aimed at him, struck

and killed the man who was hiding.

 

There has been much discussion as whether Roosevelt exceeded his

authority in the capture of Kettle Hill. In reviewing the matter it is

best to take the Colonel’s own account of what happened. In his book

“The Rough Riders” he thus describes the charge:

 

“By the time I had come to the head of the regiment we ran into the

left wing of the 9th Regulars, and some of the 1st Regulars, who were

lying down while the officers were walking to and fro. The officers of

the white and colored regiments alike took the greatest pride in seeing

that the men more than did their duty; and the mortality among them was great.