principally of the garrisons of the coast forts; all of these without
exception were, by Monday morning, in the hands of the Japanese. This at
once reduced the strength of our regular army to forty-five thousand
men. Of this number eighteen thousand were in the Philippines and,
although they were not aware of it, they had to all intents and purposes
been placed _hors de combat_, both at Mindanao and in the fortifications
of Manila. Besides these the two regiments on the way from San Francisco
to Manila and the garrison of Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands,
could be similarly deducted. It will be seen, therefore, that, only
twenty-five thousand men of our regular army were available, and these
were scattered over the entire country: some were in the numerous
prairie-forts, others on the Atlantic coast, still others in Cuba and in
Porto Rico. Thus twenty-five thousand men were pitted against a force
not only seven times as large, but one that was augmented hourly by
hundreds of newcomers. On Monday the President had called out the
organized militia and on the following day he sent a special message to
Congress recommending the formation of a volunteer army. The calls to
arms were posted in the form of huge placards at all the street-corners
and at the entrances to the speedily organized recruiting-offices. In
this way it was possible, to be sure, within a few months to raise an
army equal to that of the enemy so far as mere numbers were concerned,
and the American citizen could be relied upon. But where were the
leaders, where was the entire organization of the transport, of the
commissariat, of the ambulance corps--we possessed no military
train-corps at all--and most important of all, where were the arms to
come from?

The arsenals and ammunition-depots in the Pacific States were in the
hands of the enemy, the cannon of our far western field-artillery depots
had aided in forming Japanese batteries, and the Japanese flag was
waving above our heavy coast guns. The terrible truth that we were for
the present absolutely helpless before the enemy had a thoroughly
disheartening effect on all classes of the population as soon as it was
clearly recognized. In impotent rage at this condition of utter
helplessness and in their eagerness to be revenged on the all-powerful
enemy, men hurried to the recruiting-offices in large numbers, and the
lists for the volunteer regiments were soon covered with signatures. The
citizens of th