Night and day were the same to these energetic women. They bought silk and they sewed, all day and all night. The stores of Phœnix did not provide just the right sort of cord, so the staff of the battle-flag was daintily adorned with a knot of satin ribbon, red, white, and blue. Then the flag was carried to camp, and presented with all courtesy and dignity to the two hundred men who were to form a part of the First Regiment of the United States Volunteer Cavalry, better known as the "Rough Riders."
The little silken flag came to glories that it had not dreamed of, for the regular bunting flags were scarce, and therefore it held the most prominent place in parades and was even set up as guest of honor before the tent of Colonel Leonard Wood. In the attack on Santiago, the little party that first landed at Daiquiri, a small town on the coast a few miles from the city, carried the flag with them. On a transport in the harbor an officer from Arizona, observing the troops climb the hill, had seen the raising of the flag and discovered with a glass what it was. As the story is told:—
He threw his hat to the deck, jumped to the top of the bulwark, and yelled: "Howl, you Arizona men,—it's our flag up there!"
And the men howled as only Arizona cowboys could. Some one on the hurricane deck grabbed the whistle cord and tied it down, the band of the Second Infantry whisked up instruments and played "A Hot Time" on the inspiration of the moment, and every man who had a revolver emptied it over the side. Almost in an instant every whistle of the fifty transports and supply vessels in the harbor took up the note of rejoicing. Twenty thousand men were cheering. A dozen bands increased the din. Then guns of the warships on the flanks joined in a mighty salute to the flag of the Nation. And the flag was the flag of the Arizona squadron.
The Arizona flag led the regiment in the fight of Las Guasimas, where three thousand intrenched Spaniards were driven back by nine hundred unmounted cavalry; it was at the front all through the heat of the battles of Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill; it waved over the trenches before Santiago, and was later borne through the captured city to the transport.
CHAPTER XII
THE FLAG IN PEACE
One of the greatest achievements of our flag in peace was the opening of Japan. In 1852 Commodore M. C. Perry was sent with a letter from President Fillmore to prepare the way for a treaty of peace and friendship and commerce with Japan. Its delivery was a matter of much ceremony. After a long delay a day was set for its reception. When the time had come, the officers in full uniform, the marines in blue and white, the sailors in navy blue and tarpaulins, and last of all the Commodore entered the boats. As the Commodore stepped into his barge, a salute of thirteen guns was given. Then the two bands struck up lively tunes and the boats made for the shore.