The troops from Cuba
and Florida, together with the three brigades stationed at New Mexico,
were to have advanced against the extreme right wing of the Japanese
army, but the grievous disaster at Corpus Christi had completely
frustrated this plan.

The German and Irish volunteer regiments were formed into special
brigades in the Northern and Pacific armies, whereas the other militia
and volunteer regiments were attached to the various divisions
promiscuously. General MacArthur's corps was composed of three
divisions, commanded by Fowler, Longworth and Wood, respectively, each
consisting of thirty thousand men. To these must be added one German and
one Irish brigade of three regiments each, about sixteen thousand men
altogether, so that the Northern army numbered about one hundred and ten
thousand men and one hundred and forty guns.

Wood's division left the encampment near Omaha the last week of July.
They went by rail to Monida, where the Oregon Short Line crosses the
boundary of Montana and Idaho. The same picture of utter confusion was
presented at all the stops and all the stations on the way. Soldiers of
all arms, exasperated staff-officers, excited station officials, guns
waiting for their horses and horses waiting for their guns, cavalry-men
whose horses had been sent on the wrong train, freight-cars full of
ammunition intended for no one knew whom, wagons loaded with camp
equipment where food was wanted and with canned goods where forage was
needed, long military trains blocking the line between stations, and
engines being switched about aimlessly: perfect chaos reigned, and the
shortness of the station platforms only added to the confusion and the
waste of precious time. If it had not been for the Americans' strongly
developed sense of humor, which served as an antidote for all the anger
and worry, this execrably handled army apparatus must have broken down
altogether. But as it was, everybody made the best of the situation and
thanked the Lord that each revolution of the wheels brought the troops
nearer to the enemy. The worst of it was that the trains had to stop at
the stations time and time again in order to allow the empty trains
returning from the front to pass.

The 28th Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, under command of Colonel
Katterfeld, had at last, after what seemed to both officers and soldiers
an endless journey, reached the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the
twenty-second of July via the