Phoenix weekly herald., 1898-08-25
CHAPLAIN BROWN,
OF the Rough Riders, Gives Some
Details of Affairs Around
Santiago.
Some Newspaper Fiction Of Reports
of the Battle Exposed by Plain
and Unembeliished
Statements.
.,rrespondenss OF tie JournaLaIiner.

Round for Nontauk Point, l.. l., Aug
Ust II. 1S9S.-Editor Journal Miner
II has occurred to me perhaps now thai
our campaign in Santiago is over. d
PERSONAL account of certain phases OF
the campaign might be of interest to
you. Those who remain of the Pres
oort contingent are now in good health
',owever l just buried at sea Sergeant
Walsh, who died at sea.
''As to my own health, it has been q
surprise TO everybody. l am heavier
and healthier than 1 have ever been
before, and now at the end 1 find my
, self ore of possible half-dozen who
have come through without sickness
l think this is due to the fact that /
always did exactly as the doctor or
dered We were told never to sleep on
the ground. With the exception of two
nights. when the water stood about
TWO inches deep in my part of the
] camp. and for the last few days be
! fore departure, l have slept on the
bare ground every night and for the
MOST part without a tent. We were
told TO eat no fruit. drink nothing but
boiled water, never to march in the
heat of the day and to keep dry
clothes. [ have eaten all the fruit
Of every kind l could hold. haven [
tasted a swallow of boiled water. made
every march but two in the heat of the
day. |. myself. riding Il mule twenty
miles four days in succession, and lain
/ with wet feet and Clothes for three
days and nights at a time with no
chance to change
! Now, l wish to correct some current
newspaper reports which seem laugh
aIn ITO -tl,.o
| FIRST you We're told al the first battle
/ of La Quasine $50 called from the
/ trees in that vicinity( that the Rough
/ Riders were -'ambushed.' This is alb
solutely false. We marched six miles
/ to meet the enemy, expecting to find
them in that vicinity. Our advance
| guard found them and reported their
! presence fully half an hour before
/ bullet was fired. and we deployed at
| intervals Of fifteen feet until we en-
ga@ed t,aem.
You have heard how Col. Roosevelt
o1 July 1st, mounted upon Il magni-
ficent steed. with sword in hand
charged up the hill in advance of his
regiment: how his horse was shot from
under him. but he freed himself from
the saddle and rushed ON. This is a
true picture. except in This particular:
His magnificent steed'' was a little
old bay Texas pony very much the
i.0rSe for the wear. 1t was not shot,
but was left at the barbed-wire fence
aIs the foot of the hill The ''brandish-
ed sword" was tied up in his blanket
four miles to the rear. Colonel RooSe-
Welt was recognized from the rest of
the men by pair OF white suspendeIs
over 4 blue shirt. and blue polka-dot
bdndana tied to the rim of his white
slOuch halt. floating and Tapping out
behind. rs he and four others scrambl-
ed up the hill several yards ahead of
the rest of the regiment. who were
coming after them just as rapidly as
the nature of the place and the length
of their legs would permit Let me
add right here that one of the four
men to reach the hill first With Colonel
Roosevelt was our own Sam Green
valid. of Prescott, who, for his distin-
@ItiShed valor on the field of BATTLE
was raised from Il private to 4 second
lieutenant at a single jump. an honor,
so far as | know. accredited to no other
man in the army. Certainly Prescott
should do hOn0rs to Sam when he re
turns. He is every inch ''game."
Again. you have read how our fleets
silenced the guns of MOrrO Castle. and
reduced it to a heap of ruins. This,
also, is true. except there are no guns
at MOrro Castle to silence The only
guns of the castle are some beautiful
works of art bearing date of 1725-35.
and kept there simply as relics of
former glory. As to the castle being
in ruins. it stands today. after all the
bOnlbardment, practically unharmed.
and with but few scratches here and
there. My private opinion. after going
through the place. is that if every gun
of our navy would turn loose on it, il
would take six months steady fire to
reduce it to ruins. as much of it is
carved out of solid rock. and the ma
sonry is fully ten feet thick in exposed
places. The batteries are not in MORO
ut all. but on the other side and fur
Their up the bay.
You have heard of HOhsOn'S daring
deed. and how he sank the Merrimac
directly across the narroweSt part of
the channel, thus completely b0ttling
ND Cerveri' : fleet. As TO the deed it
self. nothing could be accounted more
valiant in all history. The mira Gle is
how he or anyone of his men could
possibly have escaped the fire of mus
kerry to say nothing of the gauntlet of
shells. BlTt, instead of the boat being
sunk in the narrOwest part of the
strean squareIy across it, it lies
lc4lSfnW !Se III Jile very NINeSt part tlIt
in no possible way interferes with
egresS. and never did.
"A gain. | haven't found Il man in
the entire army who has any use for
the Cubans. or who hasn vastly more
friendship for the Spaniards. The Gu
bans are TO more capable of self-gov-
ernment than the Fiji islanders There
may be brave, intelligent Cubans
around Santiago, but those l have seen
which number several thousand, are
lazy. ignorant. cowardly and worth
less creatures. / am not saying what
they might have been under other con-
dirion, l am simply stating Il present
fact.
Now, as to the climate We have
passed through the worst part of the
IS that if people had suitable resi-
dences and decent sanitary regulations
it would be as healthful as any tropi-
cal country anywhere The trouble is
not with thee ountry, but with the peo-
pie. For example. we marched through
Ell Caney to our last camp. Its streets
are only about fiftten feet wide. the
houses are simply old rookeries, While
in front of every house lies a great
mass of decaying, pu1id kitchen rub
bish and vegetable matter from which
arises a most Sickening stencil unbear-
able to an Americans noStriIS San
tiago Of course we found some better
but not very much.
I see that l have already heightened
This letter beyond the limit of patience
nd