erous mistakes that led to
sickness and death. The same things have occurred again, and they
always will continue with troops that are not used to the field, and
in this campaign men were taken directly from their camps immediately
after being mustered in, and put into the most difficult campaign of
modern military history.

"I practically had the entire regular army of the United States, twenty
of the twenty-five regiments of infantry, five of the ten regiments
of cavalry, and five batteries of artillery, with three regiments of
volunteers, the Seventy-first New York, the Second Massachusetts,
and the regiment known as Roosevelt's rough riders. The last were
practically seasoned soldiers. They were men from the frontier, men
who had been accustomed for years to taking a little sack of corn
meal on their saddles, and a blanket, and going out to sleep out of
doors for a week or a month at a time. Of course, they knew how to
care for themselves in camp.

"Early in June I was called to the telephone in Tampa, and told from
the President's mansion in Washington to proceed immediately with
not less than 10,000 men to Santiago; that news had been received
that day that the fleet of Cervera was surely within that harbor,
and that if 10,000 men could be placed there at once the fleet and
the city could be captured in forty-eight hours. The horses and
mules had been taken off from the ships as well as the men, and the
time consumed in reloading the horses and mules allowed me to embark
17,000 men nearly. That was very fortunate for me and our cause."

On arrival off Santiago, he, "with Admiral Sampson, went down the coast
about twenty miles, and saw General Garcia, and asked him his opinion
of the country, what his force was, and whether he was disposed to
assist. I found him very willing and very glad to offer his services
at once, with 3,000 men that he had with him and another thousand
that he had up the country a little further, which were to join us
immediately. In sailing along the coast, looking for a landing place,
I selected two places--Siboney, a little indentation in the coast
about twelve or thirteen miles east of Santiago, and another little
bay about eight miles further east, where small streams entered
into the sea, making a valley and a sandbar about 150 to 200 yards
in extent. All the rest of the coast is abrupt, perpendicular walls
of rock from ten to thirty feet high, against which the waves were
dashing a