286 The Rough Riders 



During the month following the landing of the 

 army in Cuba the food supplies were generally 

 short in quantity, and in quality were never such 

 as were best suited to men undergoing severe hard- 

 ships and great exposure in an unhealthy tropical 

 climate. The rations were, I understand, the same 

 as those used in the Klondike. In this connection, 

 I call especial attention to the report of Captain 

 Brown, made by my orders when I was Btigade- 

 Commander, and herewith appended. I also call 

 attention to the report of my own Quartermaster. 

 Usually we received full rations of bacon and hard- 

 tack. The hardtack, however, was often mouldy, 

 so that parts of cases, and even whole cases, could 

 not be used. The bacon was usually good. But 

 bacon and hardtack make poor food for men toiling 

 and fighting in trenches under the mid-summer sun 

 of the tropics. The ration of coffee was often short, 

 and that of sugar generally so; we rarely got any 

 vegetables. Under these circumstances the men 

 lost strength steadily, and as the fever speedily at- 

 tacked them, they suffered from being reduced to 

 a bacon and hardtack diet. So much did the shortage 

 of proper food tell upon their health that again and 

 again officers were compelled to draw upon their 

 private purses, or upon the Red Cross Society, to 

 make good the deficiency of the Government sup- 

 ply. Again and again we sent down improvised 

 pack-trains composed of officers' horses, of captured 

 Spanish cavalry ponies, or of mules which had been 



