one, though the
most barbarous methods were adopted. We exploit the partisan heroes
of our Revolution, such as Francis Marion and others, yet they only
acted with and against small bands, leaving our armies to meet the
large organized forces of the British. What is to be said of the
Cuban patriot officer who, year by year, maintained, unsupported,
a war for independence against a relentless foe, equipped with the
best arms the world has yet known?

My work in Cuba was confined to a military command, principally
outside of the cities. My men were in carefully selected camps,
which were constantly throughly policed and supplied with wholesome
water, piped form the Vento (Havana) Water-works. Thanks to a
thorough enforcement of a good sanitary system, the general health
of my command was good throughout, only a few cases of typhoid or
malarial fever appeared, and there were less than half a dozen
cases of yellow fever among my soldiers. There was no epidemic of
any disease in the camp. The yellow fever cases developed among
men who, out of curiosity, exposed themselves in foul places about
old forts and wharves, or in the unused dungeons of Morro and other
castles. Yellow fever is a _place_ disease, not generally contagious
by contact with the sick.

My time was taken up in Cuba in keeping the peace and preserving
order, and with the care of the camps and field-hospitals, and, as
throughout my military service, with the drill and discipline of
my command, often turning the corps out for review by superior
officers. I made incursions to the interior of the island, and
observed the devastation of that magnificently beautiful country,
with its stately royal palms, etc., and noted the depopulation,
under Weyler's reconcentrado plan, of the richest and once most
populous rural parts of the island. I saw the Cuban soldiers in
their camps or bivouacs, and made the acquaintance of many of their
officers, and formed a high regard for them; but it was no part of
my duty to try to solve the great, yet unsettled, Cuban problem,
and I must be silent here.(20)

The muster out of the volunteers commenced again in March, 1899,
and progressed rapidly. The Secretary of War visited Cuba, and
with Major-Generals Brooke, Ludlow, Wilson, and other officers,
reviewed what troops remained of the Seventh Corps, with others,
near Marianao, March 29, 1899. On this occasion, my riding horses
having been shipped away preparatory to my