The troops reached the place in the evening, but found that the Spaniards had left it and gone about three miles further westward to a stronger fort. Our men rested all night, and before daylight the next morning—Friday, June 24th—they marched on to hunt the enemy.
Now I must tell you something about these soldiers who were going to fight their first battle in Cuba. There were nearly a thousand men; some were "Regulars," others were "Volunteers." They belonged to the Cavalry division of the Army—the soldiers who go on horses. But for this first work in Cuba they had to go on foot, without their horses.
The "Volunteers" numbered about five hundred. They belonged to a regiment called the "Rough Riders," and a strange regiment it was. Most of these men were from the prairies and cattle-ranches in the West; some were "cowboys," some were Indians. The others in the regiment were young men from the East—business men, college men, sons of rich men; all were brave, hardy fellows, fond of out-door life, fond of excitement, not afraid of work. These young men had been trained for the war by a man who was now one of their officers, Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt. He had given up a high position in order to serve his country in this way. People in the United States laughed when this company of "Rough Riders" was formed, and said that the "cowboys" and Indians would not obey orders, and that the others would not stand the hardships of war. But the people in the United States did not laugh after the battle of Las Guasimas.
That June morning it was thought best to separate and march by two roads, meeting near the Spanish fort. The way of the "Rough Riders" led them up steep hills. Thick bushes grew all around, so that the men could hardly see how to go; the sun rose, and the heat was so awful that some of the men dropped down, faint and sick. Suddenly, from among the trees and bushes came bullets, and the men began to fall, wounded and dead. The Spaniards could not be seen at all, and they were using smokeless powder that left no trace in the air. But our men heard the whizz of the bullets, and felt their sting. The "Rough Riders," as they pressed on quickly toward the fort, fired again and again into the bushes. At last they met their comrades, who had come by the other road and who had also had a hard fight, and all now toiled up the hill, firing as they went. The Spaniards had to retreat, and could now be seen by our men. The top of the hill was reached at last, the fort was taken, and the Spaniards fled toward Santiago.
This hard fight, which lasted less than two hours, is called the Battle of Las Guasimas, from the name of the poisonous kind of trees in the thicket where the "Rough Riders" were shot down.
Last Stand of the Spaniards at Las Guasimas.
It would require volumes to tell the bravery and heroism of the men who fought the Spaniards at Las Guasimas. Every one entered into it with enthusiasm. All stood their ground while the Spanish bullets were singing around them, and then, when they were allowed to do so, poured volley after volley into the brush in the direction from which the shots came. Colonel Wood walked along his lines as coolly as though on parade. Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt led his men through the brush when the air seemed full of bullets. Captain Capron, the fifth from father to son in the United States army, fell early in the fight, but before he was hit by a Spanish bullet he used his revolver whenever he saw a Spanish head.
