IV 



THE CAVALRY AT SANTIAGO 



ON June 3Oth we received orders to hold our- 

 selves in readiness to march against Santiago, 

 and all the men were greatly overjoyed, for the in- 

 action was trying. The one narrow road, a mere 

 muddy track along which the army was encamped, 

 was choked with the marching columns. As al- 

 ways happened when we had to change camp, every- 

 thing that the men could not carry, including, of 

 course, the officers' baggage, was left behind. 



About noon the Rough Riders struck camp and 

 drew up in column beside the road in the rear of 

 the First Cavalry. Then we sat down and waited 

 for hours before the order came to march, while 

 regiment after regiment passed by, varied by bands 

 of tatterdemalion Cuban insurgents, and by mule- 

 trains with ammunition. Every man carried three 

 days' provisions. We had succeeded in borrowing 

 mules sufficient to carry along the dynamite gun 

 and the automatic Colts. 



At last, toward mid-afternoon, the First and 

 Tenth Cavalry, ahead of us, marched, and we fol- 



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