The Portland daily press., 1898-11-23
COL. ROOSEVELT.
Continued from First Page.

half nearer shore than any OF the other
TRANSPORTS, There was scarcity of ma
terial for landing men. horses and sup.
plies. Still replying TO questions Col.
Roosevelt continued:
VS. were to start next morning to take
the Spaniards The next mornings march
was a hard one. especially for the men.
There was no opportunities for f1ankers.
1t was SO hot that about 100 men dropped
out for rest and when the urst Spanish
outpost was discovered, Col. Wood or
dered silence and was sent to the right
to neploy with the right wing.
When the Spaniards began firing l
did not know what was I'D. 1t was my
1rst experiences. They were using smoke
less powder and I could not see where
they were. 1t was Richard Harding
Davis who first called my attention to
located them with my glasses l did not
know what to do, but knew it was good
rule, VIII en- in doubt, to go ahead, and so
went ahead.
Col Roosevelt CLOSED over the further
details of the fighting. He paid warm
tribute to the gallantry of the assistant
surgeon. James W. Church, former
Princeton football player, who, he said,
more than once ran to the firing line and
carried wounded men on his back to the
division hospital. Asked about the ra
tions, he said
1--WE had the regulation rations of salt
pork, hard tack, coffee and sugar, but the
men wanted vegetables and wanted to
Get some for them. I took 40 men with
the officers horses to Sibo7ey and tried
TO buy them. The departn emit refused to
sell me beans and tomatoes unless
could certify that they were for officers
consumption I stretched my conscience
so far as could and thsn boarded
transport and purchased about 800 pounds
of beans. The change did the men good.
1t WAS too hot to eat notnlng but the
regulation rations.
Col Roosevelt went On to tell ofsthe
advance on Santiago and OF the night OF
July 1. when the regiment slept In the
trenches. He spoke of advantages Of
smokeless powder and said that the Unit
ed States artillery was frequently driven
from Its positions because OF me targets
made by the clouds of smoke that result
ed from each discharge of the black pow
twas YOUR command fully supplied
with food and ammunitionf asked ten.
Wilson.
"Ghe ammunition supply was excel
lent. The food was insufficient. There
suppose it was lack of transportation
facilities that kept us without good food
until July Gath. I organized transpor-
tation corps with the horses OF the OH
GERS and went to Siboney and got FOOD
for the men. Then later got into san
tiago and bought rice and milk. Ii we
had had the mule trains that we were
forced to leave behind at Tampa, there
would have been no lack of supplies"
Col Roosevelt said other regiments at
the front suffered from lack of supplies
One man of the Illinois regiment visited
the Rough Riders camp and offered 81
for some bareback. Two hundred men
of the regiment came into the Rough
Riders camp and ate broken bareback.
The Rough Riders had enough to eat,
but it was the result of Individual effort
and individual expenditure. There was
great scarcity of all medical supplies
at the front except quinine and calonel,
and great lack of surgeons and hospital
stewards.
Gen. Daniel Sickles and Admiral Erben
of the navy sent III their cards while
Col. Roosevelt was testifying. They
were invited in by the commission
With references to Camp WikoH, Col,
Roosevelt said there was great confusion
for the first three days after the arrival
of the troops.
s'Enring these days." he continued,
81 do not think our men were treated as
we'll as they should have been so near
home, but after that there was nothing
that / could find fault with. / thckght
our brigade was admirably treated and
our sick admirably cared for. The record
was badly kept at the hospital, but the
work was crowding the authorities and
as our regimental records were also bad
ly kept l do not care to complain about
it. Of course can only speak of the ex-
perieuce of my own regiment.
.sWhy was there q scarcity of medical
suuulies in Cuba asked DIR. Conner.
If don't know I heard there were
plenty on the ships. There was Q lamen-
table need of am balances. l think we
could have done better with fewer men
and more transportation.
s'Were the priyations greater than you
expectedf''
II did not expect anything. went to
take things as they came. think that
nearly ali the prigations there might
have been avoided II the transportation
facilities had been arranged. =
"Have you ANYTHING you can suggest
to US for the futureY'' asked Gen. Will
son,
ssI believe all the difficulties met with
will be obviated in the future If the ma
tionaI guard vera trained as the armies
of foreign countries. Give them long
marches Let them mass at san Antonio
and move to Galveston or some other
place. March them to port aud embark
them. NO IubUtbf IL dOoc SOou AuOuOt.
lief them be trained. Each year let the
army in peace be put through the expert
ence it must meet in time of war.
nThen. said ex-Gov. Woodbury., "you
think that to the inexperience of the Off.
GERS was due most OF the discomforts
suffered"
IT think the trouble was due to the sys-
tam even more than to any individual
instance of inexperience. The lack of
adequate transportation was the greatest
trouble
CnI Roosevelt referred the commission
to his official report for any further par
ticulars that il might desire of his per.
sonal experience during the campaign.
The commission then adjourned.
INSURGENTS WANT THEIR PAY.