Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-09-26

sion upon the minds or the people that
it was a hippodrome affair. But as he
could net change the name without
trouble he decided to let the matter
rest as 1t was.
President Mckinley wanted to ap-
point him a colonel but he refused it,
saying: 81 am not fitted to command a
regiment, fer have no recent military
training. Later, after / have gained
some experience, perhaps that will
come" 1t did come later, and also
recommendation for the medal of hon
or fer gallant conduct in battle.
On May 29th, the Rough Riders"
left camp at San Antonio fer Tampa by
rail- arriving there on June 2nd. Mr..
Roosevelt was perfectly at home with
his men in camp, and went to his mess
with a copy of Wagner's "Organiza-
tlons and Tactics" in his hand. On
June ~, 1898, the Rough Riders" en-
barked on the transport Yucatan,
bound for Santiago de Cuba. At noon
on June goth, the transports arrived off
Santiago, and during the following two
| days were landed at Daiguire, a
point seventeen miles east of Santiago
| The advance on Santiago on the night
of Wednesday, June 22nd, with the
Rough Riders" heading the column.
when the advance guard was within
eight miles of Santiago they were en-
gagged by the enemy. The regulars
and Rough Riders" were led by Colo
mel Wood and Lieutenant Colonel
Roosevelt. This battle was known as
the battle of Las Guasimas, so called
frcm the large number of nut-bearing
Las Guasimas trees in the immediate
vicinity. The men were hot. tired and
dirty, but eager for battle. The fight
ing was strong and thick, but the
Americans rushed into the fray with
the intention of winning the battle.
And when an American decides to ac-
complish anything there is nothing
that can turn him. The first man to
fall was Colonel Hamilton Fish, Jr.
He was near the head of the column,
and when a Spanish bullet struck him
in the breast he sank at the foot of a
tree, with his back against it, He lived
only twenty minutes.
An amusing story is told of Mr..
Roosevelt by an eye witness of the bat
tie.
AS is generally known Mr. Roose-
welt is very near-sighted and during
this fighting his luggage consisted al
most entirely of spectacles. Near
sighted people always have an abiding
dread of losing their glasses, knowing
their absolute helplessness without
such aid. Mr. Rcosevelt took particu-
lar pains before leaving home to pro-
| vide against such a disaster. He had
been in TIE habit of wearing nose
: glasses with black silk cord attached
but the arrangement; was entirely un-
suited 10 a campaign, where the
glasses themselves would be liable to
fall off constantly and the cord to
each on twigs. SO he substituted very
large round glasses with steel hooks
for the ears, and had a dozen pairs
mounted. These he PANIED arcund
his person and equipment, trying to
distribute them so no one accident
could include them all. One pair was
sawed in his blouse, another in his
belt, another in his ha; two in his
, | S9dd1e- hays and g. on
At the fight a. Guasimas his horse
= was barked by a bullet while held by
an orderly, and plunged frantlcally
against a tree. Colonel Roosevelt
came rushing up, all anxiety, and be-
gan prying under the saddle flap.
They haven't hurt the nag, sir said
the orderly. Il know" replied the
Colonel, with tears in his voice, but
blast em they've smashed my specs"
The casualties were 16 killed and
62 wounded, and AZ of these were in
the ranks when they fell, except Cap
tain CamprOn, whose body was taken
to Juragua, where the interment took
place en- the hillside near the seashore.
1t would be. futile to go into the de-
tails of the battle of San Juan, as ev-
cry American has read the particulars.
Colonel Roosevelt showed his true col
ors at that battle and when he came
out of it he acted as unconcerned as if
nothing had happened.
On the 7th day of August the Rough
Riders broke camp at Santiago and
embarked on transports bound for
Montauk Point Longfsland On Aug
ust 14th they arrived off Amaganssett,
Long Island, and on the following day
they landed and went into camp at
Montauk Point. After some weeks of
camp life, during which they We're
mustered out, they returned to their
homes, Colonel Roosevelt relired To
his home and loved ones at Oyster
Bay, Long Island. the most popular
man in the army, admired by every