mortally wounded, a few feet from
me. When he heard my voice, Fish raised himself on his elbow and said:
'I am wounded; I am wounded.' That was the last I saw of him in life.
He was very brave and was very popular among the men of the troops.

"Sergeant Joe Kline, of Troop L, was wounded early that day, and was
ordered to the rear with several other wounded men. On his way to the
rear, Kline discovered a Spanish sharpshooter in a tree and shot at
him. The Spaniard fell dead, and Kline picked up a silver-mounted
revolver, which fell from the man's clothes, as a souvenir, which he
highly prizes. Several of the Spanish sharpshooters had picked up
cast-off clothing of the American soldiers, and wore them while they
were at their deadly work.

"Sergeant Bell, of our troop, was badly injured from an exploding
shell while on the firing line. He was ordered to the rear, but
quickly came back again. He was ordered away a second time, but a few
minutes later he was at the front again, firing away. For a third time
he was sent back, and once more he insisted on going to the front, and
when the other men saw him they greeted him with rousing cheers, and
he fought till the end of the day, although painfully wounded in the
back.

[Illustration: Col. Theodore Roosevelt.]

"While lying in the hospital, I heard a young man named Hall, who
belonged to the Twenty-second Infantry, tell a story which will
illustrate better than anything else the accuracy of the American
shooters. He and five other men had crossed a bend in a road to get
some water in their canteens. As they got into the open they were
attacked by thirty-two Spanish cavalrymen, who cut them up badly with
their sabres. Hall was the only one who was not killed. He was badly
trampled by the horses, and had some sabre wounds on his body. Later
on, Hall was picked up by some comrades to whom he told his story.
These men located the Spaniards who had done the work and opened fire
on them. When they had ceased firing there were thirty live horses,
two dead ones, and thirty-two dead Spaniards. This was pretty good
shooting, wasn't it?"

Many heroic deeds were done in the Battle of Las Guasimas, by the
"Regulars" as well as by the "Hough Eiders." Suffering was bravely
borne. Sixteen of our men were killed, and more than fifty wounded.
Yet all our troops took heart from the victory of that day, and began
to think it would be easy to go on driving the Spaniards back to
Santiago,