The Triumphant Life of Theodore Roosevelt edited by J. Martin Miller

THE ROUGH RIDERS 109
Alexander Brodie, from Arizona, who afterwards became
Lieutenant-Colonel; Captain, afterwards Major, Jenkins, and
the gallant Captain Allyn Capron, whom Mr. Roosevelt consid-
ered the best soldier in the regiment. But whether Easterner,
Westerner, Northerner, or Southerner, officer or man, cowboy
or college graduate, each "possessed in common the trait of
hardihood and the thirst for adventure—they were to a man
born adventurers in every sense of the word."
To Wood and Roosevelt fell the task of teaching these
men the duties of a soldier and of molding them together into a
uniform body of disciplined fighters, and it was owing to their
patience and industry that when the time came for the regi-
ment to sail for Cuba these raw recruits had mastered all the
intricacies of foot and mounted drill and bore every appear-
ance of regular troops.
On Sunday, May 29th, the regiment broke camp at San
Antonio, which had been the recruiting station, and took the
cars for Tampa. With the first three sections went Colonel
Wood, Colonel Roosevelt following with the remaining four;
and several days later they arrived at Tampa. Here for
several days the regiment worked with great perseverance in
perfecting itself in skirmish and mounted drill. On the even-
ing of June /th orders were received that the expedition was
to start from Fort Tampa, nine miles distant, at daybreak the
following morning, and if the men were not on board their
transports by that time they would not be allowed to go. It
was not, however, until five days later that the fleet weighed
anchor and steamed to the southwest, and on the morning of
June 22d landed at Daiquiri, the village having first been
shelled by the smaller gunboats. The afternoon of the fol-
lowing day the Rough Riders received orders to march.