IX
Campaigning in Cuba
The Rough Riders, as they left their Texas encampment for Tampa, Fla., their point of embarkation for Cuba, humorously changed their nickname to “Wood’s Weary Walkers,” a title that, through their long marches in the jungles of Cuba, came to have more truth than humor in it.
Viewing the Spanish campaign in the light of the world war, it will be seen that there is a striking similarity between this regiment and the French Foreign Legion. This parallel is true not only of the personnel of the contingent, which included adventurous spirits from all sections of the country, but also of the fighting spirit of the men.
How to reach the fighting field was the biggest question that confronted the Rough Riders. They were among the very last to receive permission to go, and if it had not been for Roosevelt’s dogged determination they would probably have been left behind. Even when orders came to entrain for Tampa, transportation was refused. Roosevelt, however, was equal to the emergency. He jumped aboard the engine of a coal train and demanded of its crew that they transport his men. The crew obeyed orders. The regiment reached Tampa covered with coal dust.
At Tampa the Rough Riders found themselves without an official assignment to a transport. Nothing daunted, Roosevelt moved his men immediately on board the nearest vessel.
When the landing place in Cuba was reached the Colonel got his men ashore among the first and soon after landing began his march to the front.
While Roosevelt’s picturesque personality led to his figuring largely in the newspaper accounts of the war, yet in all of these movements he was in close association with Colonel Wood. The two worked together as one man. While the men had been intimate before, it was in this campaign that the friendship was welded that was to last and deepen until death ended it.
Later in the campaign Colonel Wood was promoted to the rank of general and Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt become colonel.