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

Ii6 THE ROUGH RIDERS
the lines, followed by his Rough Riders. This proved too
much for the regulars, and they followed after.
GAVE THE ORDER TO CHAEGE
When the Rough Riders came to where the head of the
left wing of the Ninth was lying, Colonel Roosevelt gave the
order to charge the hill on his right front, and the line, tired
of waiting, obeyed the command with alacrity at once. Imme-
diately after the hill was covered by American troops, consist-
ing of Rough Riders and the colored troops of the Ninth,
together with some men of the First; but no sooner had they
captured the position than the Spaniards opened a heavy fire
upon them with rifles, while several pieces of artillery threw
shells with considerable effect into their midst. From this
vantage ground Colonel Roosevelt could observe the charge
on the San Juan block-house on his left, and he decided to
gather his men together and start them volley-firing against
the Spaniards in the block-house and in the trenches
around it.
"The infantry got nearer and nearer the crest of the hill,"
says Mr. Roosevelt, in his account of the battle. "At last
we could see the Spaniards running from the rifle-pits as the
Americans came on in their final rush. Then I stopped my
men for fear they should injure their comrades, and called
to them to charge the next line of trenches, on the hills in our
front, from which we had been undergoing a good deal of
punishment. Thinking that the men would all come, I
jumped over the wire fence in front of us and started at the
double; but, as a matter of fact, the troopers were so excited,
what with shooting and being shot, and shouting and cheer-
ing, that they did not hear, or did not heed me; and after run-