ery one in camp, because training them meant
bucking contests, and the more vicious the animal the better they
liked it.

From simple drills and evolutions the men advanced to skirmish work
and rapidly became real soldiers--not the polished, smartly uniformed
military men of the Regular type, but hard fighters in slouch hats and
brown canvas trousers with knotted handkerchiefs round their necks.

The commander of any military unit at that time had much to worry
about. It depended solely on him personally whether his men were
properly equipped, whether they had food; and when orders came to move
whether they had anything to move on. The advice that he could get, if
he was willing to listen to it, was lengthy and worthless, and the
help he could get from Washington amounted to little or nothing.

In May the regiment was ordered to proceed to Tampa. After a lengthy
struggle with the {84} railway authorities cars were put at the
disposal of Colonel Wood, who left San Antonio on the 29th with three
sections, the remaining four sections being left to proceed later in
charge of Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt. The confusion of getting
started was reduced to a minimum by Wood, who had worked out a scheme
for embarkation; but due to delay on the part of the railway
authorities in providing proper facilities for handling the troops and
equipment they were delayed four days. Everywhere along the line of
travel they were cheered enthusiastically by people who came to greet
the train on its arrival in towns and cities.

Tampa was in chaos. There seemed to be no order or system for the
disembarkation of troops. Every one asked for information and no one
could give it. Officers, men, railroad employees and longshoremen
milled about in a welter of confusion. The troops were dumped out with
no prearranged schedule on the part of the officers in charge of the
camp. There were no arrangements for feeding the men and no wagons in
which to haul impedimenta. In such conditions it {85} required all the
native vigor characteristic of their Colonel to bring some sort of
order--all the knowledge he had gained from his Indian campaign. And
even then there was still needed an unconquerable spirit that did not
know what impossibilities were.

After a few days at Tampa, Colonel Wood was notified that his command
would start for destination unknown at once, leaving four troops and
all the horses behind them. On the evening of June 7th notification