The age-herald., 1898-11-23


 seemed to know anything, and no arrange ments were evident as to what transports were to be used. His own regiment was assigned to the Yucatan. Incidentally, he heard that the Second infantry and Twen- ty-first New York volunteers were also as- signed to the Yucatan. As soon as he heard that he hurried on the Rough Riders and took possession of the ship and held it against other regiments. His men had decided to get to Cuba, and they got there.
 Do you attribute all the eonfusion.'
 asked General Wilson, "to the lack of intel
 iigence on the part of the men in charge or to the natural overcrowding of work"
 "I was only lieutenant-eolonel and could not know whose fault it was.'
 Replying to other questions, Colonel Roosevelt said the food was ample, and with the exception of canned roast beef, good. The beef was very bad. Colonel Roosevelt told of the voyage to Cuba, and of the disembarkation of the regiment at Daiquiri. The regiment was one of the first to land. Captain Shaw, who was associated with Colonel Roosevelt in the navy depart ment, sent a Cuban pilot on board the Yucatan, and he took the transport mile nearer shore than any of the other trans ports. There was a great scarcity or ma terial for landing men, horses and supplies. Colonel Roosevelt, still replying to ques- tions regarding the detail of the march Of his regiment to it's first camping place, said:
 After supper Colonel Wood told us that we were to start next morning to take the Spaniards.
 Tine next mornings march was a hard one especially for the men. There we're no opportunities for iankers. It was so hot that about 100 men dropped out for rest. and when the first Spanish outposts were discovered Col. Wood ordered silence, and 1t was sent to the right to depioy with the right wing.
 His First Experience "When the Spaniards began firing l did not know what was up. It was my first experience. They were using smokeless powder and l could not see where they were.
 When I located the spanlards with my glasses I did not know what to do, but knew it was a good rule if in doubt to go ahead, and so went ahead"
 Col. Roosevelt glossed over the further details of the fighting. He paid a warm
  geon James w. Church. a former Prince | ton football player who, he said, more | than once ran to the firing line and carried wounded men on his back to the division hospital. Col. Roosevelt then told how the regiment camped for the night. Asked about the rations, he said We had the regulation rations of salt pork hard tack, coffee and sugar, but the men wanted vegetables and I wanted to get some for them. I took forty men with the officers to Siboney and tried to buy them. The department refused to sell me beans and tomatoes unless I could certify that they were for officers consumption. I stretched my conscience as far l could, and then boarded a transport and purchased about 800 pounds of beans. The change did the men good It was too hot to eat noth- ing but the regular rations."
 Colonel Roosevelt went on to tell of the advance on Santiago and of the night of July 1, when the regiment slept in the trenches. He spoke of the advantages of smokeless powder and said that the United States artillery was frequently driven from it's position because of the targets made
 by the clouds of smoke that resulted from