Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-10-21
TALKING TO The BOYS.
Sergeant L~edwidgo, of Troop E, Gives the
Boys in New York a Little Song and
Dance About the War,


At a recent social meeting on East
10th street in New York the hall was
crowded to the doors by friends of Ser
geant Ledwidge, of the Santa Fe troop
of Rough Riders to hear the genial nom
com. give the boys d talk on the war.
All the boys of the gang" were there,
including "Micky the Goat" Brick
Top Clancy" kid Billy" THE Goose"
and many others.
Sergeant Ledwidge told in simple but
stirring sentences the story of the bat
tie of Las Guasimas and the capture of
San Juan, of the life and hardships In
camp, of the kindness and courage Of
Colonel Roosevelt, and intended that
his narrative should point a moral
which would be of everlasting value to
the boys.
1t was all right as far as the story of
the war vas concerned. The boys list
ened with their mouths wide open, their
eyes fixed on the speaker, and their
hands clutching the backs of the chairs
in front of them. But when it came to
the moral they began to measure the
distance between the door and the
street. The story of the. war was new
and interesting, but the moral they
had heard hundreds Of times before the
the record for patience and listened to
Sergeant Ledwidge for exactly one hour
and IL minutes.
Boys" said the sergeant, don't i'm
agine that the battlefield is a place for
sport. 1t was fine on the nights when
we could sit around the camp fire and
sing and talk, but it was different when
we had to fight. Think of 1t, boys-for
days we had nothing but bacon and
bareback. We used to hold the bacon
over a fire, and then slice it UP with u
jackknives and eat it with our hands.
Often we had nc water to wash in; and
many times none to drink. At night,
when we would lie down on the ground
for a few hours rest, the land crabs
would come and crawl over us, and one
of the fellows would pick up II of
these big crabs and throw it along the
line of sleeping soldiers, and the fellow
it landed on would think he had been
hit by a Spaniard, and then there would
be great fun.
During the first three days of July,
when we were storlning San Juan, we
saw some of the hardest fighting that
ever soldiers saw. Imagine the enemy
all around you and the bullets whizzing
past your head, cutting through the
grass and piercing the trees. With sore
feet and sore hands we fought against
many odds, and in rain and heat that
made many of the men sick. We charg-
ed the Spaniards on all sides; we push
ed through the dead and bleeding, we
made our way toward the city, and at
last, when We saw our chance, we made
our famous charge, n 1t was glori-
Gus, boys, to see the S%paniards driven
!. back and the good old stars and stripes
bringing freedom to those poor Gu
bans"
"Gee-whiz!" calculated 1.-The Goose"
excitedly. 'Hooray!"
con the 18th Of July the Spaniards
could stand it no longer" continued
Sergeant Ledwidge, not noticing the in
%terruption, "and so they surrendered.
We stood on the breastworks Of the city
that day and saw the Spanish soldiers
| march out through seven miles of Uncle
Sans boys, drawn up in line. And we
saw the Spanish flag hauled down and
Old Glory hoisted In its place. How
those boys in blue cheered, then. Why,
they actually Rugged M another for
| joy, and all the bands We're playing to-
gether."
Sergeant Ledwidge told of the gall
lantry and daring Of his leader, Colonel
Roosevelt; how kindly he treated the
men, and how he helped.t to do the hard
est work, such as digging trenches,
when he might have been sitting in his
tent.
HE took a pick and shovel and dug
with the others, and he wasn't afraid
to work, and there wasn't q man in the
company who wouldn't have died for
Colonel Roosevelt" said the speaker.
He then held the colonel up as a good
example for the boys TO follow, and SO
the talk was brought to an end.
Then the boys rushed over to d va
can lot where some Of the old horses of
the Rough Riders, now owned by an ex-
pressnlan, were grazing, and, mounting
Ai.a.- II n IT. -.y-. q