When all of his papers and documents were ready. Wood appeared before Secretary Alger. {72} "And now what can I do for you?" said the Secretary.
"Just sign these papers, sir. That is all," replied the Rough Riders' Colonel.
Alger, beset by incompetence, hampered by inefficiency in his staff, was dumbfounded as he looked through the papers Wood had prepared for him to sign. There were telegrams to Governors of states calling upon them for volunteers; requisitions for supplies and uniforms; orders for mobilization and requisitions for transportation. Alger had little to say. He placed enough confidence in Wood to sign the papers and give him his blessing.
When the army depots said that they could not supply uniforms, Wood replied that his men could wear canvas working clothes. As a result the Rough Riders, fighting through the tropical country in Cuba, were far more comfortable than the soldiers in regulation blue. The new colonel seemed to know what he wanted. He wanted Krag rifles. There were few in existence, but General Flagler, Chief of Ordnance, appreciated what the young officer had done and saw that he got them. {73} He did not want sabers for the men to run through one another in the pandemonium of cavalry charges of half wild western horses. The Rough Riders therefore went into action carrying machetes, an ideal weapon for the country in which they were to see service. With the saber they could do nothing; but with the machete they could do everything from hacking through dense jungle growths to sharpening a pencil. During the days that followed many troopers equipped with sabers conveniently lost them, but Wood's Rough Riders found the machetes invaluable.
The authority to raise the regiment was given late in April, and on the twenty-fourth day of June, against heavy odds, it won its first action in the jungles at Las Guasimas. This was quick work, when it is remembered that two weeks of that short six or seven week period were practically used up in assembling and transporting the men by rail and sea. Here is where organization and well-thought-out plans made a remarkable showing.
It was not only a question of knowing what he wanted. It was his old slogan: "Do it and don't talk about it."
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THE SOLDIER
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