w army
surgeons did all in their power, but nearly everything they-needed to
allay suffering was lacking, and so insufficient was the force that
many of the wounded lay for days before their turn came. Men taken
from the operating table, perhaps having just had a leg or arm cut
off, or with bodies torn by bullets, were laid naked on the
rain-soaked ground, without shelter, and in the majority of cases
without even blankets. And there they lay through two long days and
nights. All honor to the Red Cross Society which finally forced its
way to the spot and knew exactly what to do.

[Illustration: Captain "Buckey" O'Neill.]

Some time after the return of the "Rough Riders" to the United States,
Colonel Roosevelt told some interesting experiences:

"I recollect, as I was sitting, I gave a command to one of my
orderlies, and he rose up and saluted and fell right forward across my
knees dead. The man upon whom I had most to rely--I relied upon all of
those gallant men, but the man upon whom I most relied, Buckey
O'Neill--was standing up, walking up and down in front of his men,
wanting to show them by his example that they must not get nervous,
and to reassure them.

"Somebody said, 'Captain--Captain O'Neill! You will be struck by a
bullet as sure as fate; lie down! lie down!' and he laughed, and said,
'Why, the Spanish bullet is not made that will kill me!' And the next
minute a bullet struck him in the mouth and came out the back of his
head and he was killed right there.

"Captain Jenkins crept up beside one of his sharpshooters and said to
him, 'I see a Spaniard over in that tree, give me your rifle for a
moment.' He fired two or three shots and then turned around and handed
the rifle back to the man, and the man was dead--had been killed
without making a sign or sound as he stood beside him.

"I was talking to a gallant young officer, asking him questions, and
he was answering. I turned around and he had been shot through the
stomach."

But General Shafter, still at headquarters some miles away, did not
know how the men felt, and thought they ought to retreat to some safer
point, and wait for more troops from the United States. Early the next
morning--Sunday, July 3d--General Shafter sent a telegram to the War
Office at Washington, saying that he thought of withdrawing his forces
from the neighborhood of Santiago. An answer was sent to him, asking
him to try to hold his present place, and more troops started for