1 68 The Rough Riders 



found out from the prisoners we took, the Spanish 

 officers had been careful to instil into the minds of 

 their soldiers the belief that the Americans never 

 granted quarter, and I suppose it was in conse- 

 quence of this that the guerillas did not surrender; 

 for we found that the Spaniards were anxious 

 enough to surrender as soon as they became con- 

 vinced that we would treat them mercifully. At 

 any rate, these guerillas kept up in their trees and 

 showed not only courage but wanton cruelty and 

 barbarity. At times they fired upon armed men in 

 bodies, but they much preferred for their victims 

 the unarmed attendants, the doctors, the chaplains, 

 the hospital stewards. They fired at the men who 

 were bearing off the wounded in litters; they fired 

 at the doctors who came to the front, and at the 

 chaplains who started to hold burial service; the 

 conspicuous Red Cross brassard worn by all of these 

 non-combatants, instead of serving as a protection, 

 seemed to make them the special objects of the 

 guerilla fire. So annoying did they become that I 

 sent out that afternoon and next morning a detail 

 of picked sharp-shooters to hunt them out, choos- 

 ing, of course, first-class woodsmen and mountain 

 men who were also good shots. My sharp-shooters 

 felt very vindictively toward these guerillas and 

 showed them no quarter. They started systemati- 

 cally to hunt them, and showed themselves much 



