mentions that his orders
did not come from General Wheeler, and that he had no instructions
from General Wheeler directly or indirectly at any time previous to
the fight.

General Wood does not think that I give quite enough credit to the
Rough Riders as compared to the regulars in this Guasimas fight, and
believes that I greatly underestimate the Spanish force and loss, and
that Lieutenant Tejeiro is not to be trusted at all on these points.
He states that we began the fight ten minutes before the regulars, and
that the main attack was made and decided by us. This was the view
that I and all the rest of us in the regiment took at the time; but as
I had found since that the members of the First and Tenth Regular
Regiments held with equal sincerity the view that the main part was
taken by their own commands, I have come to the conclusion that the
way I have described the action is substantially correct. Owing to the
fact that the Tenth Cavalry, which was originally in support, moved
forward until it got mixed with the First, it is very difficult to get
the exact relative position of the different troops of the First and
Tenth in making the advance. Beck and Galbraith were on the left;
apparently Wainwright was farthest over on the right. General Wood
states that Leonardo Ros, the Civil Governor of Santiago at the time
of the surrender, told him that the Spanish force at Guasimas
consisted of not less than 2,600 men, and that there were nearly 300
of them killed and wounded. I do not myself see how it was possible
for us, as we were the attacking party and were advancing against
superior numbers well sheltered, to inflict five times as much damage
as we received; but as we buried eleven dead Spaniards, and as they
carried off some of their dead, I believe the loss to have been very
much heavier than Lieutenant Tejeiro reports.

General Wood believes that in following Lieutenant Tejeiro I have
greatly underestimated the number of Spanish troops who were defending
Santiago on July 1st, and here I think he completely makes out his
case, he taking the view that Lieutenant Tejeiro's statements were
made for the purpose of saving Spanish honor. On this point his letter
runs as follows:

A word in regard to the number of troops in Santiago. I
have had, during my long association here, a good many
opportunities to get information which you have not got and
probably never will get; that is, information fr