298 The Rough Riders 



treme hardship and danger so uncomplainingly, go 

 to destruction without striving so far as lies in me 

 to avert a doom as fearful as it is unnecessary and 

 undeserved. Yours respectfully, 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT, 

 Colonel Commanding Second Cavalry Brigade. 



After Colonel Roosevelt had taken the initiative, 

 all the American general officers united in a "round 

 robin" address to General Shaft er. It reads: 



We, the undersigned officers commanding the 

 various brigades, divisions, etc., of the Army of 

 Occupation in Cuba, are of the unanimous opinion 

 that this army should be at once taken out of the 

 island of Cuba and sent to some point on the north- 

 ern sea-coast of the United States; that can be 

 done without danger to the people of the United 

 States; that yellow fever in the army at present is 

 not epidemic; that there are only a few sporadic 

 cases; but that the army is disabled by malarial 

 fever to the extent that its efficiency is destroyed, 

 and that it is in a condition to be practically entirely 

 destroyed by an epidemic of yellow fever, which is 

 sure to come in the near future. 



We know from the reports of competent officers 

 and from personal observations that the army is 

 unable to move into the interior, and that there are 

 no facilities for such a move if attempted, and that 

 it could not be attempted until too late. Moreover, 

 the best medical authorities of the island say that 

 with our present equipment we could not live in 

 the interior during the rainy season without losses 



