The Roughest Riders by Jerome Tuccille Page B

beach in Daiquiri. They glumly ate a lunch of bacon and beans while Roosevelt reined in his urge to get moving along the route Wheeler had taken earlier. Finally, at 1:30 in the afternoon of June 23, Colonel Wood told Roosevelt that he received an order from Wheeler for the Rough Riders to strike out along the coast toward Siboney. In addition to a supply of rations, they planned to carry with them an assortment of picks, shovels, and other equipment that would come in handy for digging trenches. Their mule train was reduced to 16 animalsfrom the 189 they had started with in San Antonio; some had been left behind in Florida, and others never made the swim to shore. But before they got under way, Wood decided to leave the slimmed-down mule train with all the equipment in Daiquiri to speed up their journey. They compensated by taking with them some extra first-aid kits instead.

    The Ninth and Tenth black cavalry saved the Rough Riders from extermination at Las Guasimas, about three miles inland from the coast. Roosevelt was injured in the battle, and several of his top aides lost their lives.
    Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (LC-USCZ4-508)
    The men trudged awkwardly along the crude trail, except for Wood and Roosevelt, the latter furious that he had to ride his one remaining horse bareback “like an Indian.”
New York Journal
correspondent Edward Marshall recalled that Roosevelt’s “wrath was boiling and his grief was heart-breaking.” Somehow, Marshall’s saddle had made it to shore even though his own horse had remained behind, so he lent Roosevelt his saddle to relieve his distress.
    After Wood, Roosevelt, and company got started, their aging surgeon and medical officer, Major Henry LaMotte, decided to disobey orders and follow them with the mules, which he had laden down with additional medical supplies. He led the pack riding bareback on one of the mules to ease the pain of an ankle he had sprained. The going was slow and difficult, but he was determined to make sure the troops had ample medical supplies, including surgical implements he would need in the event of inevitable injuries. The line of men and mules stretched farther out along the path as the various units moved ahead at an uneven pace, the better-conditioned pushing ahead to the front of the group while the cavalrymen, unused to long hikes, fell to the rear.
    Well ahead of them all was Wheeler, who had lost patience with Lawton and took it upon himself to plan military strategy with his subordinate, General Young, and with Colonel Wood, once he arrived. Young would do Wheeler’s bidding no matter what, and Wheeler felt that Wood—and Roosevelt in particular—would be more agreeable to an aggressive military action than the overly cautious Lawton. He also mistakenly included in his plans one of the Cuban rebel leaders whom he had encountered in the area: an unsavory character and possible turncoat who called himself General Castillo.
    Each man with Wood and Roosevelt carried on his back a blanket roll, one hundred rounds of ammunition, and his weapons. They stuffed whatever rations they could into haversacks and the pockets of their uniforms, and a few others slung entrenching tools and axes on straps across their chests. The ground was rocky and soggy, making the footing all the more hazardous with the heavy loads. The path they traveled was sarcastically labeled El Camino Real—The Royal Road. Like the others who had passed before them, they pushed along in single file since the path was not wide enough for two men to walk abreast. It was rutted withwagon tracks that turned into streams of flowing mud during a torrential downpour, something that occurred every day this time of year. The heat and humidity were unbearable, and the men sweltered all the more beneath the weight of their heavy, sodden uniforms. The thick jungle growth pressed in on them from all sides, snagging their packs and rifles as