The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-23
He Tells the
Story of
THE ROUGH RIDERS
First Regiment to Capture
Any Fortified Position.

| partment today made public two re-
ports of Col. Roosevelt on the fights of
the First United States volunteer cav
airy trough riders in front Of San
tiago. One is addressed to Col. Wood,
commanding, and the second is to Brig.
Gen. Wood, after Col Roosevelt took
command of the regiment, The war
department has hitherto refused to
make these reports public. Here is the
first report:
Trenches outside Of Santiago, July A.,
1898
Col Leonard Wood, commanding
Second cavalry brigade:
"Sir-On July 1 the regiment, with
myself in command, was moved out by
your orders directly following the First
brigade. Before leaving the camping
ground, several of our men were
wounded by shrapnel. After crossing
the river at the ford, we were moved
along and up the right bank under fire,
and We're held in reserve at a sunk
road. Here we lost a good many men.
We then received your order to ad-
| vance and support the regular cavalry
in the attack on the entertainments and
block house on the hills to the left.
THE regiment was deployed on both
sides of the road, and moved forward
until we came to the rearnost lines of
the regulars. We continued to move
| forward until I ordered o charge, and
the men rushed the blockhouse and
rifle pits on the hill to the right of our
advance.
They did the work in fine shape. al
though suffering severely; the guidons
of troops e and G We're first planted
on the summit though the first men
up were some Of A and B troopers who
were with me. We then opened fire
on the entertainments on a hill to our
left, which some of the other regiments
were assailing, and which they car
ried a few minutes later.
when the men got their wind, we
charged again, and carried the second
line of entertainments with a rush.
Swinging to the left, we then drove the
Spaniards over the brow Of the chain
of hills fronting on Santiago.
ON the extreme front 1 now found
myself in command, with fragments of
the six cavalry regiments and the two
batteries under me. The Spaniards
made one or two efforts to retake the
line, but were promptly driven back
Both Gen. Sumner and you sent me
word to hold the line at all hazards.
and that night we dug a line of en-
captured Spanish entrenchment tools.
The Spaniards attacked us once in
| the night, and at dawn they opened
heavy artillery and rifle fire. Very
| great assistance was rendered us by
Lieut.. Parkers gatling battery at
critical moments; he fought his gun
at the extreme front of the firing line
in way that repeatedly called forth
the cheers of my men.
Since then we have continued to hold
the ground. The food has been short.
and until today we could not get our
blankets, coats or shelter tents, while
the men lay all day under the fire of
the Spanish batteries, entertainments
and guerillas in trees, and worked all
night in the trenches, never even TAX
ing off their shoes, but they are in
excellent spirits and ready and anx-
iouS to carry out any orders they re-
ceive. At the end of the first day the
regular troops were communicative
by captains, three by lieutenants. two
by second lieutenants and one by the
sergeant whom you made acting lieu
tenant.
1--WE went into the fight about 400
strong; So were killed or wounded and
half dozen are missing. The great
heat Frustrated nearly 40 men, some of
them among the best in the regiment.
Besides Capt O'Neill and Lieut.. Has
kell, Lieuts. Lehy, Devereaux and Case
were wounded; all behaved with great
gallantry
ITO attempt to give a list of the men
who showed signal valor would neces-
state sending in an almost complete
roster Of the regiment. Many of the
cases which l mention stand merely as
examples of the rest, not as excep-
tons Capt, Jenkins acted as major,
and showed such conspicuous gallantry
and efficiency that l earnestly hope he
may be promoted to major as soon as
a vacancy occurs. Capts. Lewellen,
Muller and Luta led their troops
throughout the charges handling them
admirably. At the end of the battle
Lieuts. Kane, Greenwood and Goodrich
were in charge of their troops, imme-
diately under my eye, and l wish par
ticularly to commend their conduct
throughout
"Corporals Waller and Fortescue and
Trooper Mckinley of troop E. Corpor-
al Rhoades OF troop d; Troopers AL
bertson, Winter, McGrePor and Ray
Jackson and Waller Of troop "A; Trum-
peter Mcdonald of troop l.; Sergeant
Hughes of troop b, and Trooper Geier-
en- of troop G, all continued to fight at
ter being wounded, some very severe
ly. Most of them fought until the end
of the day. Trooper Oliver B. Norton
of B, who with his brother, was by my
side all throughout the charging, was
killed while fighting with marked gal
lantry. Sergeant Ferguson, Corporal
Lee and Troopers Bell and Carroll of
troop K, Sergeant Dame of troop r,
Troopers Goodwin, Campbell and Dud-
ley Dean, Trumpeter Foster of b, and
Troopers Greenwood End Bardehan of
A, are all worthy of special mention for
GOODNESS and gallantry. They all merit
promotion when the time comes. But the
most conspicuous gallantry was shown
by Trooper Rowland. He was wound
ed in the side in our first fight, but
Kept in the firing lines; he was sent to
the hospital the next day, but left it,
and marched out to us, overtaking us,
and went through this battle with such
Indifference to danger that was
forced again and again to rate and
threaten him for running needless
risk.
'Great gallantry was also shown by
four troopers, whom Tgcannot identi-
fy and by Trooper Winslow Clark of
c. 1t was after we had taken the first
hill, had called out 10 rush the sec
ond, and having by that time lost my
horse, climbed a wire fence and start
ed toward it. After going a couple Of
hundred yards under a heavy fire,
found that no one else had come. AS
/ discovered later it was simply be-
cause in confusion, with men shooting
and being shot, they had not noticed
me start. l told che five men to wait
a moment, as it might be. misunder-
stood if we all ran back While ran
back and started the regiment, and
as soon as l did SO, the regiment came
with rush. But meanwhile, the five
men coolly lay down in the open, re-
turning the fire from the trenches. II
is to be wondered at that only Clark
was seriously wounded, and he called
out as we passed again. to lay his
hc. IL hut