od later on gave the following testimony before the
War Investigation Committee:

"We had never served in that climate, so peculiarly deadly from the
effects of malaria, and in this respect my opinions have changed very
much since the close of the war. If I had been called before you in
the first week of August, I might have been disposed to have answered
a little differently in some respects. I have been there ever since,
and have seen regiments come to Cuba in perfect health and go into
tents with floors and {97} with flies camped up on high hills, given
boiled water, and have seen them have practically the identical
troubles we had during the campaign. The losses may not have been as
heavy, as we are organized to take them into hospitals protected from
the sun which seemed to be a depressing cause. All the immune
regiments serving in my department since the war have been at one time
or another unfit for service. I have had all the officers of my staff
repeatedly too sick for duty. I don't think that any amount of
precaution or preparation, in addition to what we had, would have made
any practical difference in the sickness of the troops of the army of
invasion. This is a candid opinion, and an absolutely frank one. If I
had answered this question in August, without the experience I have
had since August, I might have been disposed to attribute more to the
lack of tentage than I do now; but I think the food, while lacking
necessarily in variety, was ample."

Only a few years later the explanation of yellow fever transmission
became clear to all the world. This discovery and the definite methods
of {98} protection against its spread and the spread of malaria were
largely the result of Wood's administrative ability and his knowledge
of medicine. For it was as the result of studies and experiments
conducted under his direct supervision that it became known that
yellow fever was the result of the bite of the mosquito and not of bad
food or low, marshy country or bad air or any of the other factors
which had so long been supposed to be its cause. The taking of
Santiago practically ended the Spanish War. But for the military
commander of the City of Santiago it began a new and epoch-making
work.

{99}

THE ORGANIZER

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{101}

V

THE ORGANIZER

To understand the work accomplished by Wood in Santiago, it is
necessary to renew our picture of the situation existing in Cuba at
the time and to realize as t