His
horse was scraped by a couple of bullets, as he went up, and one
of the bullets nicked his elbow. Members of the other cavalry
regiments were mingled with the Rough Riders in the charge,--their
officers had been waiting for orders, and were glad to join in the
advance. The Spaniards were driven out and the Rough Riders
planted their flags on the hill.
But there were other hills and other trenches full of Spaniards
beyond, and again the Rough Riders, mixed with men of other
regiments, went forward. In cleaning out the trenches Roosevelt
and his orderly were suddenly fired on at less than ten yards by
two Spaniards. Roosevelt killed one of them with his revolver. The
Rough Riders had had eighty-eight killed and wounded out of less
than five hundred men who were in the fight.
The American forces were now within sight of Santiago, but they
had to dig in and hold the ground they had taken. There was a
short period in the trenches, which seemed tedious to the riders
from the plains, but was nothing to what men, years later, had to
endure in the Great War against Germany. At last Santiago
surrendered, on July 17.
The war ended within about a month. Commodore Dewey had beaten the
Spanish Fleet at Manila and Admiral Sampson and his fleet had
destroyed the Spanish cruisers which were forced out of Santiago
Harbor on July 3rd, as a result of the Army getting within
striking distance of the city.
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