204 The Rough Riders 



tiago. We did not suppose that peace was at hand, 

 being- ignorant of the negotiations. We were anxi- 

 ous to take part in the Porto Rico campaign, and 

 would have been more than willing to suffer any 

 amount of sickness, if by so doing we could get into 

 action. But if we were not to take part in the Porto 

 Rico campaign, then we knew it was absolutely in- 

 dispensable to get our commands north immediately, 

 if they were to be in trim for the great campaign 

 against Havana, which would surely be the main 

 event of the winter if peace were not declared in 

 advance. 



Our army included the great majority of the 

 regulars, and was, therefore, the flower of the 

 American force. It was on every account impera- 

 tive to keep it in good trim ; and to keep it in San- 

 tiago meant its entirely purposeless destruction. As 

 soon as the surrender was an accomplished fact, the 

 taking away of the army to the north should have 

 begun. 



Every officer, from the highest to the lowest, 

 especially among the regulars, realized all of this, 

 and about the last day of July, General Shafter 

 called a conference, in the palace, of all the division 

 and brigade commanders. By this time, owing to 

 Wood's having been made Governor-General, I was 

 in command of my brigade, so I went to the con- 

 ference too, riding in with Generals Sumner and 



