The Washington herald., 1913-09-28

When / reached there, the men, rifles,
and horses. which were the essentials,
were coming in fast, and the saddles,
blankets, and the like were also ae-
eumulating Thanks to Woods exertions,
when We reached Tampa we were rather
better equipped than most Of the regular
regiments We adhered strictly to field
equipment allowing no luNuries or any
thing else unnecessary, and so We were
able to move OF the field when ordered,
with our own transportation, leaving
nothing behind.
suppose every man tends to brag
about his regiment; but it does seem to
me that there never was a regiment bet
ter worth Dragging about than ours.
Wood was an exceptional commander,
Of great power, with a remarkable Eift
for orga nizatiOn. The rank and file were
as fine natural fighting men as ever car
ried a rifle or rode a horse in any coun-
try or any age. We had a number Of
first-class young fellows from the East,
most OF them from colleges like Harvard,
Yale and Princeton; but the great ma
jority Of the men were Southwesterners,
from the then Territories OF Oklahoma,
Indian Territory, Arizona, and New Mex
leo
They we're accustomed TO the use of
firearms, accustomed to taking care OF
themselves in the open: they were intel
ligent and self-reliant; they possessed
hardihood and endurance and physical
prowess; and, above all, they had the
fighting edge. the cool and resolute fight
in temper. They went into the war with
full knowledge. having deliberately
counted the cost. In the great majority
Of cases each man was chiefly anxious to
ffnd out what he should do to make the
regiment a success.
Th,.y bought. first and last. about 500
49, sN~fI 11lfl in =
and studied them industriOusly. Such
men were practically soldiers to start
with. in all the essentials. 1t Is small
wonder that with them material 10
work upon the regiment was raised,
armed. equipped. drilled, sent on trains
10 Tampa. embarked, discmbarked. and
nut through two victorious offensve-nOt
dTfcnsive-tights in which third of the
officers and Une-ifth of the men were
killed OF wounded. all within sixty days.
It Is a good record. anc II speaks well
for the men Of the regiment; and II
speaks well for Wood"
To count crbaancc the - arCrs which ignoT-
auy and I0discrimindtely praised all the volunteers
rhCre uthCrs whose blame Was ot the same
intelligent quality. The New York EVcnins Post,
June L. gave tNTTessun TO the following glorious
tore tbpdinS: ''CumTctcut observers have remarked
that nothing Iuu-r extraordinary has tEsn done
than the sending To Cuba Of the First United States
Volunteer Csyalry known A. the ruugh riders;
Organized brt four weeks. barely given their nun
uGIuIleTE, Uf officers. and unA week OF regular
dim. these have been sent 10 the front be
fore they have learned the first elemtnts 0i sol
die7iuz and discipline. ar have even become aC-
uuainteG with their ChCeTs. In addition 10 all
this liE. the regular cavalry. they have been sent
with only their carbineS and revolVers TO meet an
enemy armed with lonE-ranEs rihes. There have
reru few casrs uf such military cruelty in our mill
taT annals 4 week after tins not wholly
happy prophecy promulgated. the cruelty
vas cnnsummatCd. first at Las Guastirnas and then
in the san Juan fighting.
The Value of Drilling.
Wood was so busy getting the regiment
r..ady that when | reached San Antonio
he turned most of the drilling of it over
t. me. This was a piece of great good
fortune for me. and l drilled the men
irdustriOusIy. mounted and unmOunted.
] had plenty to learn, and the men and
the officers even more: but We went at
,Gr work with the hCartiest good will.
Nc speedily made il evident that there
was no room and nc mercy for any man
who shirkcd any duty. and We accom-
pIished 2 ud results.
The fact is that the essentials of drill
and work for .avalry an infantry
regiment are easy to learn, which, of
course. Is not true for the artillery or
the engineers or for the navy. The rea.
son why it takes 50 long 10 turn the
average civilized man into a good in
fantryman cr cavalryman is becaus" it
takes q long while I" teach the average
unframed man how to shoot. to ride. to
IGarch. to take care of himself i'm the
open. To t.c alert, resourceful. cool, dar-
ing. and resolute. to obey quickly. as well
as 1" be willing. and I" fit himself, to
act on his own responsibility.
II he already possess these qualities,
there is very little difficulty in making
linn soldier: all the drill trat is neces-
Sary to enable him to march and to fight
is Of a simple character. Parade ground
and harrack square maneUvers are of no
earthly consequence in real war. When
men can readily change from line to
column. and column TO line, can form
front in any direction and assemble and
scatter. and can do these things with
speed and precision. they have a fairly
good grasp of the essentials When our
regiment reached Tampa it could already
he handled creditably at fast gaits. and
both in mass and extended formations,
mounted ard dismOunted.
The Object of Military Training.
had served three years in the New
York National Guard, finally becoming a
captain. This experience was invaluable
to me. 1t enabled me at once to train
the men i'm the simple drill. without
which they would have been mob; for
s'lllbuSu me OTlll requirements are SIM
pie. they are also absolutely indispensable
But if I had believed that my expert
ence in tine National Guard had taught
me all that there was TO teach about a
soldiers career it would have been bet
ter for me not TO have been in il at all
There were i'm the regiment a number OF
men who had served in the National
Guard and a number of others who had
served in the regular army. Some of
these latter had served in the field in
the West under campaign conditions, and
werQ accustomed to long marches, priva-
ton, risk. and unexpected emergencies
These men were OF the utmost benefit to
the regiment. They already knew their
profession, and could teach and help the
others. But IL the man had merely
in the regular army at some post in a
civilized country where he learned moth
ing except what could be picked up on
the parade ground, in the barracks, and
in practice marches of a few miles along
good roads, then il depended purely upon
his own good 5ense whether he had been
helped or hurt by the experience. If he
realized that he had learned only per
cent of his profession, thai there re-
mained % per cent to accomplish before
he would be good soldier, why, he had
profited immensely.
To start with 3 per cent handicap was
a very great advantage: and il the man
was really a good man, he could not be !
overtaken. But If the man thought that
he had learned all about the profession
of soldier because he had been in the ]