To Cuba 6 1 



ond Regulars and the Seventy-first, who had arrived 

 a little too late, being a shade less ready than we 

 were in the matter of individual initiative. There 

 was a good deal of expostulation, but we had pos- 

 session ; and as the ship could not contain half of the 

 men who had been told to go aboard her, the Sev- 

 enty-first went away, as did all but four companies 

 of the Second. These latter we took aboard. Mean- 

 while a General had caused our train to be unloaded 

 at the end of the quay furthest from where the ship 

 was; and the hungry, tired men spent most of the 

 day in the labor of bringing down their baggage and 

 the food and ammunition. 



The officers' horses were on another boat, my own 

 being accompanied by my colored body-servant, 

 Marshall, the most faithful and loyal of men, him- 

 self an old soldier of the Ninth Cavalry. Marshall 

 had been in Indian campaigns, and he christened 

 my larger horse "Rain-in-the-Face," while the other, 

 a pony, went by the name of "Texas." 



By the time that night fell, and our transport 

 pulled off and anchored in midstream, we felt we 

 had spent thirty-six tolerably active hours. The 

 transport was overloaded, the men being packed like 

 sardines, not only below but upon the decks ; so that 

 at night it was only possible to walk about by con- 

 tinually stepping over the bodies of the sleepers. 

 The travel rations which had been issued to the men 



