All down the line the saddle packing went on amid jests and laughter. Had the Troopers been preparing for a homeward journey they could not have seemed more light-hearted. Few men spoke of the coming battle at all, yet it was in every heart, and many men felt a lump rise in their throats as the popular First Sergeant blurted out these words: "In a scrap like this the cavalry is sure to be heavily engaged. A good many of us are bound to be stopped, and, good God! just think of digging a hole to chuck one of this outfit in."
Captain Groome paced in front of company headquarters for nearly an hour, with only his inevitable cigar as a companion. Dozens of the men watched him, and speculated as to his meditations. Lieutenants Browning and McFadden passed through the camp several times, speaking with the men on minor matters, and avoiding absolutely all talk of the coming day. Later in the evening they wrote letters.
Within an hour after taps the heavy rumbling of artillery began to be heard. Five batteries, numbering thirty guns, passed near the camp during the hours between midnight and four o'clock, and many a sleepless Trooper listened anxiously to the bumping, thumping and rattling as the guns, caissons and ammunition wagons kept rolling by.
When the Troopers tumbled out at four o'clock it was pitch dark, and the everlasting rain was descending in torrents. A few feeble glimmering lanterns supplied just enough light to show the rain-filled plates, in which bacon and potatoes floated unconcernedly about. Coffee was consumed in quantities that only Troopers know how to master; and then, in the midst of the darkness and flood, feeding, saddling and loading of ox carts was accomplished. On this morning of battle little attention had been paid to uniforming. Some men wore Khaiki breeches, others the old familiar blue. Hats and caps of all varieties were seen, several men wearing broad straw hats secured from the natives. All wore blue shirts of various ages and conditions of cleanliness. Sleeves were rolled up, and scarcely two men appeared in the same kind of boots. The closest friends of the Troopers would never have recognized the rain-bedraggled warriors as the same men who so often had shone resplendent in the streets of Philadelphia as the guard of honor of The President or distinguished soldiers.
At last the command came, "Prepare to mount," and a moment later the cavalrymen had swung into the saddle, where they found themselves seated in good-sized puddles. The City Troop mounted ninety-five men and three officers, the only absentees being Privates Wetherill and Rowland, on sick report in Philadelphia; Brooke, in the Red Cross Hospital at Ponce, and Trumpeter Brossman, in a hospital at Guayama.
Captain Groome, in a blue silk shirt, Khaiki breeches, rode at the head of the column, while on his left rode Lieutenant Browning, in full Khaiki, and Lieutenant Ryan, commander of H Troop of the Sixth regular cavalry. Behind them came H Troop's trumpeter and the City Troop's faithful trumpeter, Dick Singer. Then the head of the column, Sergeant Wagner, with the guidon, and Sergeant Thibault and Private Bower leading the long line of two's. Each saddle had a poncho strapped upon it, the carbine swung from the off side, saber opposite to the carbine; each man wore a belt of one hundred Krag-Jorgensen cartridges, with his revolver strung in his belt. On the cantle behind, each man carried his blanket wrapped in his half of a shelter tent.
EN ROUTE TO THE BATTLEFIELD. MILITARY ROAD FROM GUAYAMA TO CANEY.
Without warning the sun came out in all its fury, and then occurred the phenomena, often witnessed there, of rain falling from an apparently clear sky. The hot sun made the rain come down much like steam, but it ceased to fall after a few minutes.
At six o'clock the two troops were in Guayama, and halted by the Custom House, while Captain Groome reported to General Brooke for orders. Half an hour was spent by the Troopers watching the passing of artillery, infantry, hospital and signal corps men. Sometime before seven o'clock Captain Groome returned with orders to go into line of battle and cover the left flank of the Americans. Simultaneous with the movement of the cavalry the entire brigade of four regiments, consisting of the Third Ohio, Third Illinois, Fourth Pennsylvania and Sixth Illinois, were also off. As the Troop passed along the road at a trot it overtook the Sixth Illinois and Fourth Pennsylvania. The infantry received orders to let the cavalry through, and the mass of soldiers parted. Away at a trot, between this friendly gauntlet of cheering infantrymen, the Troopers rode amid all sorts of shouts. The foot soldiers thought the cavalry was going in to deploy as skirmishers and start the fight, so they gave the Troopers a good, hearty American cheer, and from each company came encouraging yells, such as: "Give them bullets, boys!" "We will follow you!" And the Fourth Pennsylvania gave three times three for the City Troop and Old Pennsylvania. All in all it was a moment that the Philadelphia riders will not soon forget.