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

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THE ROUGH RIDERS
airy, one man killed and ten wounded. After the charge the
regiment moved on a few miles and went into camp. The
same day General Young was attacked by a fever and General
Wood took charge of the brigade; this left Colonel Roosevelt
in charge of the regiment. On June 30th, the Rough
Riders received orders to march against Santiago, and at once
struck camp and, led by the First and Tenth Cavalry, began
to move toward the Spanish city. After marching until about
eight o'clock Colonel Roosevelt's men went into camp on El
Paso Hill. No orders had been given except to the effect
that the jnfantry under General Lawton was to capture El
Caney, while Colonel Roosevelt's force was merely to make a
diversion mainly with the artillery. Finding that his force
was directly in line of the Spanish fire, which was made very
evident by shells which began to burst in their midst, General
Wood formed his brigade and, with the Rough Riders in
front, ordered Colonel Roosevelt to follow behind the First
Brigade, which was just then moving off the ground. Colonel
Roosevelt was then ordered to cross the ford of the San Juan
River, march half a mile to the right and then halt and await
further orders. Meantime the battle was on and the Span-
iards on the hills were firing in volleys.
THE SPANIARDS' FIRE PRACTICALLY UNAIMED
Colonel Roosevelt says that while his troops were lying in
reserve they suffered nearly as much as afterwards when they
charged. In his opinion the bulk of the Spaniards' fire was
practically unaimed, or at least not aimed at any particular
man, and only occasionally at a particular body of men; but
they swept the whole field of battle up to the edge of the
river, and man after man in his ranks fell dead or wounded,
although he had his troops scattered far about, taking advan-