The times., 1898-11-23

| stretch my conscience as much as pOssi-
| BILE and loaded two horses with beans and
/ toma toes for officers. which ] Immediately
distributed TO the men. That put them in
good condition for the next battle
/ How about the mems clothins?
1T was good. but as the shirts were
such as would have used in Montana in
| Winter, they were ill-suited to Cuban ell
mate. The leggins also were bad fol.
muddy roads"
/ Col. Roosevelt then narrated the other
skirmishes and the battle of San Juan
! Hill. Col. Roosevelt called attention TO
the marked superiority or the smokeleSs
powder over black powder. and especi ally
in the case of artillery. the black smck-
| ing powder of the Americans made Al OK
cellent target for the Spaniards.
| In reply to other questions Col Roose-
welt said:
Food From Spaniards.
Our rations lasted very insuficientiy.
The food We got from the Spaniards vas
about all we got the first day. For sev-
era days We did not get what l con-
! sidered sufiiciency of good food. We had
generally enough bacon and hardtack. We
had about half rations of coffee and
sugar. If the climate had been good and
| the men perfectly healthy that would have
been a trifiing thing, but the men had
| begun to sicken.
Was there not plenty of supplies back
| at Siboney?"
Yes, plenty
why did you not get them
Il think il must have been for lack of
| transportation. / had sort of amateur
| transportation train. II consisted of such
| of the officers horses as were left some
! captured horses of the Spanish officers
and some mules that had been wounded
and that my cow-punchers had doctored
| up. With these We used to go out and
forage for ourselves.
/ why couldn't you have got the sup
| plies from the commissary?"
Seven Dollars for Seven Hardtncks.
Lack of transportation facilities. The
| orders of General Miles, of May s. said
| that each regiment should have twenty
| five wagons Our regiment, which was
two-thirds full. had but one wagon as
\ rule. and sometimes we did not have any
| We never had more than one days ra-
tions for the army at the front Ii we
| had had a sufficiency of mule trains we
could have had several days rations
| right there the firing lines. ! tried to
keep my regiment two days ahead, but
had to feed one regiment that had moth
ing TO eat. Men from that regiment
came to our camp and picked up the
scraps of hardtack. One man offered sew
en- dollars for seven hardtacks. 1t was a
| case of every individual rustling for him
self, and not the Government rustling for
him. Col. Weston, of the commissary
department, helped me out greatly
How about the medical supplies?
They were entirely insufficient On
that point. however, l would suggest to
you that the Secretary of War has a re-
port which covers that ground fully, and
which will be very much more accurate
than my memory would be now"
Gen. Dodge said the Commission would
get copy.
.'Rustline for OurseIves."
I'VE had our dog tents to s,eep under"
! said the colonel, land We got couple
of big tarpauiins for our regimental hos
pitfalls, but those we got by rustlng for
ourselves, and not through the Govern
ment. Through no fault of the doctors, |
the condition of the wounded in the rear !
during and Immediately after the fight |
was appalling. l went down there three !
days after the fight over to look for
some of my men. There were not enough !
doctors there and not enough supplies
II saw some of my own men right aft /
er they were operated upon, having legs |
and arms amputated or something of that |
sort, taken right out in the jungle and !
left in the grass Sometimes | know. |
six hours. with a leg arm off, and |
with nobody even TO give them drink of |
water. There were no cots for the wound |
ed. After being operated upon IL they |
had blankets. they lay in the mud on |
their blankets. If they did not have |
blankets. they lay in the mud without |
them
Oficers' Airy Quarters.
THE experience coming up on the |
transport was very much better than on |
the transport going down. The officers |
were quartered in an airy structure above |
the decks. We had insuffic'ercy Of !
disinfectants. We had a sufiici 2ncv of |
was no ice for the men and the drinking |
water was very bad. Still we got along /
home and were very glad to get back
How did you find things at Camp |
Wikoff?"
For the first three days great deal |
of confusion prevailed which I think |
was mostly unavoidable. For the first |
three days our sick and wounded did not |
have cots. l did not think they were |
getting the attention they should be get
ting near a big city. After that first |
three days i have nothing to say except |
that our regiment was admirably treated |
and our sick men were well treated.
Army Needs More Exercise
Col Roosevelt said that in his opinion |
the thing most needed was that the army |
should be exercised In Deace He aIso |