Young Peoples' History of the War with Spain

best to march on at once. He feared that after a week or ten days in that climate many of our men might have fever and be unfit for service. So, even before all the men had landed,

with them, to lead the way and watch f

d gone about three miles further westward to a stronger fort. Our men rested all night,

nearly a thousand men; some were "Regulars," others were "Volunteers." They belonged to the Cavalry division of th

ss men, college men, sons of rich men; all were brave, hardy fellows, fond of out-door life, fond of excitement, not afraid of work. These young men had been trained for the war by a man who was now one of their officers, Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt. He had given up a high position in order to serve his c

among the trees and bushes came bullets, and the men began to fall, wounded and dead. The Spaniards could not be seen at all, and they were using smokeless powder that left no trace in the air. But our men heard the whizz of the bullets, and felt their sting. The "Rough Riders," as they pressed on quickly toward the fort, fired again an

e Battle of Las Guasimas, from the name of the poisonous kind o

the Spaniards

when they were allowed to do so, poured volley after volley into the brush in the direction from which the shots came. Colonel Wood walked along his lines as coolly as though on parade. Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt led his men through t

Allyn K.

the hurt was not mortal. If they could not stand, they propped themselves against trees, and kept

tells some interesting stories of the battle. He comes of a fighting family. His father fought in the Civil

some of the men of the Twenty-second Infantry, who told us we were close to the enemy, as they had heard them at work during the night. Captain Capron, with six men, had gone on ahead of us and had come across the body of a dead Cuban. Ten or fifteen minutes later P

ile he was lying on the ground dying, he said: 'Let me see it out; I want to see it all.' He lived an hour and fifteen minutes after

to their proper distances, and as I passed along, poor Hamilton Fish was lying, mortally wounded, a few feet from me. When he heard my voice, Fish raised himself

nish sharpshooter in a tree and shot at him. The Spaniard fell dead, and Kline picked up a silver-mounted revolver, which fell from the man's clothes, as a souvenir, w

ordered away a second time, but a few minutes later he was at the front again, firing away. For a third time he was sent back, and once more he insisted on goin

odore Ro

their canteens. As they got into the open they were attacked by thirty-two Spanish cavalrymen, who cut them up badly with their sabres. Hall was the only one who was not killed. He was badly trampled by the horses, and had some sabre wounds on his body. Later on, Hall was pic

rne. Sixteen of our men were killed, and more than fifty wounded. Yet all our troops took heart from the victory of that day, and began

ds, throttle gear and other important parts of the machinery and hid them behind fences and other places where they thought they would not be found. Then they blocked the piston guides and ran off. But there were plenty of engineers and mechanics among the American soldiers, and when they saw the condition the loc