The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-23
COL. ROOSEVELT TESTIFIES
BEFORE VAR INVESTTG 1TTON COM
 MISSION IN NEJY YORK,

Rough Riders Arrived-Bought Food Money-Never Asked to be Reimbursed Gould Not FIX the Blame-How the Regiment Got to Cuba.
 New York. Nov. 22.-The feature of to-day's session of the war investiga- ting commission was the testimony of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. At the re- quest of General Wilson the colonel told of the equipment and mastering in of the Rough Riders. "When we reach- ed Tampa" Colonel Roosevelt said, there was a condition of utter confu- sion. We were dumped outside a mile away from the camp. No one knew where the camp was. There was no one to tell us where to go or what to do. After waiting twenty four hours I took the law into my own hands and bought food for the men and horses. Later when we found our camp we were all right" Were you reimbursed for your outlay?" was asked. q never asked it. It was a personal matter en- tirely" Colonel Roosevelt said @ great deal of confusion existed at Tampa. Nobody seemed to know anything, and no arrangements were evident as to what transports were to be used. His own regiment was assigned to the Yu- catan. Incidentally he had heard that the Second infantry and the 71st New York volunteers were also assigned 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 the other regiments. His men had decided to get to Cuba and they got there.
 Do you attribute all the confusion,' asked General Wilson, Ito lack of in- telligence on the part of the men in charge or to the natural overcrowding of work"
 T was only lieutenant colonel and I could not know whose the fault was" Replying to other questions he said the food was ample and with the exception of the canned roast beef, good. The beef was very bad. Colonel Roosevelt told of the voyage to Cuba and the dis embarkation of the regiment at Daqui- ri. Captain Show, who was associated with Colonel Roosevelt in the navy de- partment, sent Cuban pilot on board the Yucatan, and he took the transport a mile and half nearer shore than any of the other ships. There was scarci- ty of material for landing men and horses. Still replying to questions Colonel Roosevelt continued: After supper Colonel Wood told us that we were to start next morning to take the Spaniards The next mornings march was hard one, especially for the men. There was no opportunities for flank ers It was so hot that about l0O men dropped out for a rest and when the first Spanish outpost was discovered Colonel Wood ordered silence and l was sent to the right to deploy with the right wing. When the Spaniards began firing I did not know what was up. It was my first thought that they were using emokeless powder. It was Richard Harding Davis who flrst called nv attention to the Spanish hats in the distance. When l located them with my glasses I did not know what +o do. but knew it was a good rule if in doubt to go ahead, and so went ahead"
 Colonel Roosevelt glossed over the further details of the fighting. He paid warm tribute to the gallantry of As sistant Surgeon James w. Church, former Princeton football player, who, he said, more than once ran to the fr- ino line and carried wounded men on his hack to the division hospital. Ask ed abo,t the rations, he said: We had +he regulation rations of salt pork, hard tack coffee and sugar, but the men wanted vegetables and I wanted to get sone for them. I took forty men With the officers horses to Siboney and tried to buv them. The department refused +o coll me beans and tomatoes unless l cou1d certify that they were for offl- oers, consumption I stretched my con- science so far as l could and then boarded a transport and purchased about five hundred pounds of beans. The change did the men good. It was +oo hot to eat anything but the regular rations.'
 Colonel Roosevelt went on to tell of the advance on Santiago and of the night of July ,, when the regiment slept in the trenches. He spoke of the ad- yantages of sniokeless powder and said that the United States artillery was frequently driven from it's positions be- cause of the targets made by the clouds of smoke that resulted from each dis charge of the black powder. Was your command fully supplied with food and ammunition?" asked General Wilson. .The ammunition supply was excellent The food was insufficient. There was plenty of food back at Siboney. l sup nose it was lack of transportation fla cilities that kept us without good food until July 24 I organized transport ation corps and went to Siboney and got food for the men. Then later l got into Santiago and brought rice and milk. If we had had the mule trains that we were forced to leave behind at Tampa there would have been no lack of supplies"
 Colonel Roosevelt said other regi- ,onnts at the front suffered from lack of supplies. One man of the Illinois
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