748 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



The " Florida " was convoyed by the " Osceola." 

 By agreement 1,500 Cubans under Col. Feria and 

 Col. Rojas met the expedition on the coast of San- 

 tiago province, and the men artd munitions were 

 landed without being observed by the Spanish 

 forces. 



Spanish Spy System. Minister Polo y Bernabe 

 stayed in Canada with his suite until May 21, and 

 after his departure Secretary of Legation du Bosc 

 remained in Quebec, and Lieut. Ramon Carranza, 

 the naval attache, in Montreal. These two con- 

 ducted an elaborate system of secret intelligence by 

 means of a corps of spies distributed throughout 

 the United States, which was in a measure frus- 

 trated by the vigilance of the American authorities 

 who captured in May one of the principal Spanish 

 agents in Washington, another in Tampa, and 

 others of less importance in various places. The 

 spy service had been set on foot long before the 

 rupture of diplomatic relations, when the naval 

 attache was Lieut. Sobral, who boasted that he had 

 complete plans of all the American coast fortifica- 

 tions. An intercepted letter of Carranza revealed 

 to the Canadian Government the nature of his ac- 

 tivity, in consequence of which he was expelled 

 from the country early in June. 



The United States Volunteer Army. On 

 April 23 the President issued a proclamation in 

 accordance with the act of Congress approved the 

 day before for volunteers to the aggregate number 

 of 125,000, to be apportioned as far as practicable 

 among the several States and Territories according 

 to population, and to serve for two years unless 

 sooner discharged, in order to carry out the joint 

 resolution of Congress for the recognition of the 

 independence of the people of Cuba, directing the 

 President to use the land and naval forces of the 

 United States to carry into effect the resolution 

 demanding that the Government of Spain relinquish 

 its authority and government in Cuba and withdraw 

 its forces. The bill provided for the expansion of 

 the volunteer force to any number required to 

 meet future war emergencies, the maximum being 

 changed from time to time in accordance with 

 presidential recommendations to Congress. The 

 essential feature of the plan was the individual 

 enlistment of every volunteer. It was desired to 

 utilize the military training and esprit du corps of 

 the National Guards of the several States, who were 

 expected to form the whole force first called for, 

 and therefore the bill provided for acceptance of 

 .the existing organizations, but each of these was 

 required to become a part of the United States army 

 independent of the State authorities, every man 

 being sworn into the United States service as an 

 individual, and every officer receiving his commis- 

 sion from the President, to whom was reserved the 

 authority to make selections for every rank. The 

 volunteer forces were kept separate and distinct 

 from the regular army, to be commanded at all 

 times by volunteer officers, the officers of the regu- 

 lar army being confined to commands of the regular 

 troops. 



The regular and volunteer army was organized 

 in 7 corps and a cavalry division. A Department 

 of the Pacific was created, and Major-Gen. Wesley 

 Merritt was assigned to the command, with the duty 

 of organizing the expeditionary force for the Phil- 

 ippines and directing the military occupation of 

 those islands, with Major-Gen. Elwell S. Otis second 

 in command ; Major-Gen. John R. Brooke was as- 

 signed to the command of the First Corps in the 

 Department of the Gulf ; Major-Gen. William M. 

 Graham to the command of the Second Corps, with 

 headquarters at Falls Church, Va. ; Major-Gen. 

 James F. Wade to the command of the Third Corps, 

 to report to Gen. Brooke at Chickamauga ; Major- 



Gen. John J. Coppinger to the command of the 

 Fourth Corps at Mobile ; Major-Gen. William R. 

 Shafter to the command of the Fifth Corps at 

 Tampa ; Major-Gen. James H. Wilson to the com- 

 mand of the Sixth Corps, with orders to report to 

 Gen. Brooke; Major-Gen. Fitzhugh Lee to the com- 

 mand of the Seventh Corps, which was ordered to 

 Tampa; and Major-Gen. Joseph Wheeler to the 

 command of the volunteer cavalry division at 

 Tampa. The President appointed 11 major-gen- 

 erals, all but 4 promoted from the regular army, 

 and 26 brigadiers, also regulars, to command the 

 volunteer army. Many young men of wealth and 

 education and students of the universities and col- 

 leges volunteered to serve in the ranks. In the First 

 Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, raised by Theodore 

 Roosevelt, who resigned for the purpose the office 

 of Assistant Secretary of the Navy and a member- 

 ship on the Board of Strategy, taking a commission 

 as lieutenant colonel, while Col. Leonard Wood, a 

 former army officer, took command of the regiment, 

 polo players of the Eastern clubs, New York mounted 

 policemen, and ranchmen from the Western plains 

 took their places side by side. This regiment was 

 popularly known as Roosevelt's Rough Riders. 

 Another regiment of rough riders was raised among 

 the cowboys and plainsmen by Col. Terry, of Ari- 

 zona. The war gave an opportunity to wealthy 

 citizens to show their patriotism and to the South 

 to show its loyalty to the Union. Miss Helen M. 

 Gould offered to fit out a cavalry regiment for the 

 Cuban army, after first offering" the money to the 

 Government, which was not empowered to accept 

 donations. O. H. P. Belmont, of New York, offered 

 his yacht, and John Jacob Astor, who was appointed 

 later a staff officer, armed a battery of artillery. 



Immediate responses from the Governors of near- 

 ly all the States and Territories offered volunteers 

 much in excess of the number called for by the 

 President. Massachusetts, New York, and other 

 States had appropriated large sums of money and 

 begun to muster their National Guard regiments 

 and furnish them with service uniforms, arms, and 

 necessaries for a tropical campaign. 



By another act of Congress the strength of the 

 regular army was increased to 62,000 men. At the 

 beginning of May a force of about 7,000 men was 

 concentrated at Tampa. An immediate expedition 

 to Cuba was planned, but after the sailing of the 

 Spanish ships from Cape Verd the orders were 

 countermanded. It was intended to form a junc- 

 tion with whatever forces Gomez could raise, and 

 to supply these with arms and ammunition, and re- 

 lieve the starving Cubans outside of Havana from 

 a base to be established on the coast of Cuba. 



The strength of the regiments mustered in was 

 1,000 men. National Guard regiments of this 

 strength were accepted and maintained as organi- 

 zations, and, if they were not of full strength, they 

 were allowed to recruit their complement. Volun- 

 teers to the number of 1,000 from a single State 

 must be collected into a single regiment, and its 

 strength be kept up as far as possible by volunteers 

 from that State. If a State's quota did not reach 

 1,000 men, the regiment was filled up with volun- 

 teers from adjoining States. 



Late in May the President called for 75,000 more 

 volunteers, making the total strength of the army 

 to be organized, regular and volunteer, more than 

 280,000 men. Instead of relying, as before, on the 

 National Guards, the Government now resorted to 

 open enlistment. When the Spanish fleet appeared 

 in the Caribbean Sea the army that was getting 

 ready to invade Cuba, numbering then 45,000 men, 

 was ordered to concentrate at Chickamauga instead 

 of proceeding to Tampa, Mobile, and New Orleans 

 for immediate embarkation. For the troops to be 



