est of the San Juan ridge, the line looked too weak and thin
to hold the position; but Skobeleff once said that a position carried
by attack can be held, even if seventy-five per cent. of the attacking
force have perished; and there was no doubt in the minds of the regulars
and the Rough Riders that there were enough of them left not only to
hold San Juan, but to take the city. Mr. Ramsden, British consul in
Santiago, says, in his diary, that the Spaniards were so disheartened by
their defeat that "if the Americans had followed up their advantage and
rushed the town, they would have carried it." But our men were too much
exhausted by the heat, and by their floundering in the jungle, to fight
another battle that day. When the firing ceased they had to pick up the
wounded and bury the dead, and then they spent a large part of the night
in erecting breastworks, digging trenches, and making preparations for a
counter-attack.

CHAPTER XII

THE FIELD-HOSPITAL

On the morning of Friday, July 1, Dr. Egan and I, with three Cuban
soldiers put at our service by General Castillo, set out on foot for the
front, carrying on our backs or in our hands such medicines and hospital
supplies as we thought would be most needed by the wounded, as well as
hammocks, blankets, cooking-utensils, and four or five days' rations for
ourselves. The march was a long and tiresome one, and it was after noon
before we reached the glade, or opening, near the Pozo house which had
been selected as the site for the first and only field-hospital of the
Fifth Army-Corps. We reported at once to Major Wood, chief surgeon of
the First Division, who gave us a hearty welcome and at once granted our
request to be set at work. The second day's battle was then in progress;
the booming of cannon and the rattle of Krag-Jorgensens could be plainly
heard a short distance in advance, and wounded men by the score were
coming back in army wagons from the firing line.

The First Division hospital of the Fifth Army-Corps was established in
the field, about three miles east of Santiago, Wednesday, June 29. At
that time it was in advance of the whole army, and had no other
protection than a line of pickets thrown out toward the enemy's
intrenchments. The site of the camp was a large, partly open glade, or
field, on the floor of a wooded valley, which was bounded on the
northeast, at a distance of three miles, by a range of mountains, and
which extended to within a m