196 The Rough Riders 



to get cots for them. Up to that time they lay on 

 the ground. No food was issued suitable for them, or 

 for the half-sick men who were not on the doctor's 

 list; the two classes by this time included the bulk 

 of the command. Occasionally we got hold of a 

 wagon or of some Cuban carts, and at other times I 

 used my improvised pack-train (the animals of 

 which, however, were continually being taken away 

 from us by our superiors) and went or sent back to 

 the sea-coast at Siboney or into Santiago itself to get 

 rice, flour, cornmeal, oatmeal, condensed milk, pota- 

 toes, and canned vegetables. The rice I bought in 

 Santiago; the best of the other stuff I got from the 

 Red Cross through Mr. George Kennan and Miss 

 Clara Barton and Dr. Lesser; but some of it I got 

 from our own transports. Colonel Weston, the Com- 

 missary-General, as always, rendered us every ser- 

 vice in his power. This additional and varied food 

 was of the utmost service, not merely to the sick but 

 in preventing the well from becoming sick. Through- 

 out the campaign the Division Inspector- General, 

 Lieutenant-Colonel Garlington, and Lieutenants 

 West and Dickman, the acting division quarter- 

 master and commissary, had done everything in 

 their power to keep us supplied with food; but 

 where there were so few mules and wagons even 

 such able and zealous officers could not do the im- 

 possible. 



