wn as La Guasima. The country was covered with
high grass and chaparral, and in this and on the wooded hills a strong
force of Spaniards was hidden. Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt's Rough
Riders, technically known as the First Volunteer Cavalry, under command
of Colonel Wood, were in the fight, and it is to their bravery and dash
that the glory of the day chiefly belongs. Troops under command of
General Young had been sent out in advance, with the Rough Riders on his
flank. There were about 1,200 of the cavalry in all, including the Rough
Riders and the First and Tenth Regulars. They encountered a body of two
thousand Spaniards in a thicket, whom they fought dismounted. The
volunteers were especially eager for the fight, and, perhaps due
somewhat to their own imprudence, were led into an ambuscade, as perfect
as was ever planned by an Indian. The main body of the Spaniards was
posted on a hill approached by two heavily wooded slopes and fortified
by two blockhouses, flanked by intrenchments of stones and fallen trees.
At the bottom of these hills run two roads, along one of which the Rough
Riders marched, and along the other eight troops of the Eighth and Tenth
Cavalry, under General Young. These roads are little more than gullies,
very narrow, and at places almost impassable. Nearly half a mile
separated Roosevelt's men from the Regulars, and it was in these trails
that the battle began.

[Illustration: THEODORE ROOSEVELT.]

For an hour they held their position in the midst of an unseen force,
which poured a perfect hail of bullets upon them from in front and on
both sides. At length, seeing that their only way of escape was by
dashing boldly at the hidden foe, Colonel Wood took command on the right
of his column of Rough Riders, placing Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt at
the left, and thus, with a rousing yell, they led their soldiers in a
rushing charge before which the Spaniards fled from the hills and the
victorious assailants took the blockhouses. The Americans had sixteen
killed and fifty-two wounded, forty-two of the casualties occurring to
the Rough Riders and twenty-six among the Regulars. It is estimated that
the Spanish killed were nearly or quite one hundred. Thirty-seven were
found by the Americans dead on the ground. They had carried off their
wounded, and doubtless thought they had taken most of the killed away
also.

PREPARING FOR THE ASSAULT UPON SANTIAGO.

The victory of the Rough Riders and the Regu