The Career of Leonard Wood

by Joseph Hamblen Sears

Furthermore during the years that he had been in Washington Wood had used some of his spare time in studying parts of American history that are not included in school books. He knew that the volunteer system in the Revolutionary War had worn General Washington sick with discouragement and fear lest all that he had built up be {81} broken down through lack of discipline. He knew also that in the Civil War the volunteer system proved inadequate on both sides and that it was not until the war had gone on for two years that either the North or the South had what could properly be called an army.

To aid him in the training of these troops he had the assistance of a number of officers who had seen service in the Regular Army, and together they mapped out a course of drills and maneuvers that worked the men from a valueless mob into a regiment trained for battle. The human material that they had to work with was the best; for these men had been selected from many applicants. The lack of discipline and the ignorance of military etiquette led to many amusing incidents. Colonel Roosevelt in his history of the Rough Riders tells of an orderly announcing dinner to Colonel Wood and the three majors by remarking genially:

"If you fellers don't come soon, everything'll get cold."

The foreign attachés said: "Your sentinels do not know much about the Manual of Arms, but {82} they are the only ones through whose lines we could not pass. They were polite; but, as one of them said, 'Gents, I'm sorry, but if you don't stop I shall kill you.'"

The difficulties to be surmounted were enormous; and any officers less democratic and understanding might have made a mess of it. Both Roosevelt and Wood understood the frontiersmen too well to misjudge any breaches of etiquette or to humiliate the extremely sensitive natures of men long used to life in the open.

Upon Colonel Wood fell practically all the details of organization. There were materials and supplies of many kinds to be secured from the War Department; there were men to be drilled in the bare rudiments of military life; non-commissioned officers and officers to be schooled, and a thousand and one other details. At first the men were drilled on foot, but soon horses were purchased and mounted drill commenced, much to the delight of many of the cowpunchers who by years of training had become averse to walking a hundred yards if they could throw their legs over a horse. There was no end to the {83} excitement when the horses arrived. Most of them were half-broken, but there were some that had never seen, much less felt, a saddle. The horses were broken to the delight of every one in camp, because training them meant bucking contests, and the more vicious the animal the better they liked it.

From simple drills and evolutions the men advanced to skirmish work and rapidly became real soldiers--not the polished, smartly uniformed military men of the Regular type, but hard fighters in slouch hats and brown canvas trousers with knotted handkerchiefs round their necks.

The commander of any military unit at that time had much to worry about. It depended solely on him personally whether his men were properly equipped, whether they had food; and when orders came to move whether they had anything to move on. The advice that he could get, if he was willing to listen to it, was lengthy and worthless, and the help he could get from Washington amounted to little or nothing.

In May the regiment was ordered to proceed to Tampa. After a lengthy struggle with the {84} railway authorities cars were put at the disposal of Colonel Wood, who left San Antonio on the 29th with three sections, the remaining four sections being left to proceed later in charge of Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt. The confusion of getting started was reduced to a minimum by Wood, who had worked out a scheme for embarkation; but due to delay on the part of the railway authorities in providing proper facilities for handling the troops and equipment they were delayed four days. Everywhere along the line of travel they were cheered enthusiastically by people who came to greet the train on its arrival in towns and cities.

Tampa was in chaos. There seemed to be no order or system for the disembarkation of troops. Every one asked for information and no one could give it. Officers, men, railroad employees and longshoremen milled about in a welter of confusion. The troops were dumped out with no prearranged schedule on the part of the officers in charge of the camp. There were no arrangements for feeding the men and no wagons in which to haul impedimenta. In such conditions it {85} required all the native vigor characteristic of their Colonel to bring some sort of order--all the knowledge he had gained from his Indian campaign. And even then there was still needed an unconquerable spirit that did not know what impossibilities were.