ad
nothing to back it with; while to the enemy it looked as though his whole
force was but the skirmish-line in advance of a regiment. The Spaniards
naturally could not believe that this thin line which suddenly broke out
of the bushes and from behind trees and came cheering out into the hot
sunlight was the entire fighting force against it. They supposed the
regiment was coming close on its heels, and as Spanish troops hate being
rushed as a cat hates water, they fired a few parting volleys and broke
and ran. The cheering had the same invigorating effect on our own side
as a cold shower; it was what first told half the men where the other
half were, and it made every individual man feel better. As we knew it
was only a bluff, the first cheer was wavering, but the sound of our own
voices was so comforting that the second cheer was a howl of triumph.

As it was, the Spaniards thought the Rough Riders had already disregarded
all the rules of war.

"When we fired a volley," one of the prisoners said later, "instead of
falling back they came forward. That is not the way to fight, to come
closer at every volley." And so, when instead of retreating on each
volley, the Rough Riders rushed at them, cheering and filling the hot air
with wild cowboy yells, the dismayed enemy retreated upon Santiago, where
he announced he had been attacked by the entire American army.

One of the residents of Santiago asked one of the soldiers if those
Americans fought well.

"_Well_!" he replied, "they tried to catch us with their hands!"

I have not attempted to give any account of General Young's fight on our
right, which was equally desperate, and, owing to the courage of the
colored troops of the Tenth in storming a ridge, equally worthy of
praise. But it has seemed better not to try and tell of anything I did
not see, but to limit myself to the work of the Rough Riders, to whom,
after all, the victory was due, as it was owing to Colonel Wood's charge,
which took the Spaniards in flank, that General Wheeler and General Young
were able to advance, their own stubborn attack in front having failed to
dislodge the enemy from his rifle-pits.

According to the statement of the enemy, who had every reason not to
exaggerate the size of his own force, 4,000 Spaniards were engaged in
this action. The Rough Riders numbered 534, and General Young's force
numbered 464. The American troops accordingly attacked a force over four
times their o