Next came the historic battle of San Juan. When news of the battle
reached General Shafter he was told that the Americans had been cut
to pieces. It was also said that the regiment had passed the advanced
outpost without orders. Shafter exploded.
“I will send that damned cowboy regiment,” he said, “so far to the rear
that it will not get another chance.”
Later, however, came the news that the cowboys had been victorious,
so Shafter wrote a flattering letter to Roosevelt, in command,
congratulating him on the success of his attack.
There followed a period of inaction. Then the Rough Riders received
orders to proceed against Santiago.
The regiment struck camp and marched to the front behind the 1st and
10th Cavalry. Every man carried three days’ rations.
Roosevelt’s command joined General Wood at El Paso Hill and camped for
the night.
The next morning it was announced that the main fighting against
Santiago was to be done by Lawton’s infantry division, which was
ordered to take El Caney, while the Rough Riders were ordered simply
to make a diversion with artillery.
When the firing began shrapnel shells exploded over Roosevelt’s head.
One of the shrapnel bullets struck his wrist. The same shell wounded
four men of his regiment. He at once led his men from their exposed
position into the underbrush.
General Wood then ordered Roosevelt to follow behind the 1st Brigade,
and the Rough Riders began a march toward the ford of the San Juan
River. They reached the ford and crossed it. In front of them was a
rise of ground, afterward called Kettle Hill. Roosevelt found the 1st
Brigade engaged in a hot battle, so he halted his men and sent back
word for orders.
On top of Kettle Hill were large haciendas, or ranch buildings. The
Spaniards, from their stations on the hills, poured a heavy fire on the
American troops, who were hidden in sheltered lanes and along the edge
of the San Juan River, or in patches of jungle grass. Roosevelt, lying
with his troops under this severe fire, sent messenger after messenger
to General Sumner or General Wood to secure permission to advance. He
had about determined to go ahead when Lieutenant-Colonel Dorst rode
up with the command to “move forward and support the regulars in the
assault on the hills in front.” The impatient Roosevelt leaped upon
his horse. He had intended to go into action on foot, but he saw that
he would be unable to run up and down the line and superintend matters
if he were on foot. His men went eagerly to the attack. The Colonel
started in the rear of his men, as was the custom for a Colonel, but
his ardor soon bore him to the head of the regiment.
As he rode down the line he saw a slacker hidden behind a little bush.
To urge the soldier forward he called:
“Are you afraid to stand up while I am on horseback?”
While Roosevelt was speaking, a bullet, evidently aimed at him, struck
and killed the man who was hiding.
There has been much discussion as whether Roosevelt exceeded his
authority in the capture of Kettle Hill. In reviewing the matter it is
best to take the Colonel’s own account of what happened. In his book
“The Rough Riders” he thus describes the charge:
“By the time I had come to the head of the regiment we ran into the
left wing of the 9th Regulars, and some of the 1st Regulars, who were
lying down while the officers were walking to and fro. The officers of
the white and colored regiments alike took the greatest pride in seeing
that the men more than did their duty; and the mortality among them was
great.
“I spoke to the captain in command of the rear platoons, saying that
I had been ordered to support the regulars in the attack upon the
hills, and that in my judgment we could not take these hills by firing
at them, and that we must rush them. He answered that his orders were
to keep his men lying where they were, and that he could not charge
without order. I asked where the colonel was, and, as he was not in
sight, said: ‘Then I am the ranking officer here and I give the order
to charge,’ for I did not want to keep the men longer in the open
suffering under a fire which they could not effectively return.
“Naturally, the captain hesitated to obey this order when no word
had been received from his own colonel. So I said: ‘Then let my men
through, sir,’ and rode on through the lines, followed by the grinning
Rough Riders, whose attention had been completely taken off the Spanish
bullets, partly by my dialogue with the regulars and partly by the
language I had been using to themselves as I got the lines forward, for
I had been joking with some and swearing at others, as the exigencies
of the case seemed to demand.
“When I got to where the head of the left wing of the 9th was lying,
through the courtesy of Lieutenant Hartwick, two of whose colored
troopers threw down the fence, I was enabled to get back into the lane,
at the same time waving my hat and giving the order to charge the
hill on our right front. Out of my sight, over on the right, Captains
McBlain and Taylor, of the 9th, made up their minds independently to
charge at just about this time; and at almost the same moment Colonels
Carroll and Hamilton, who were off, I believe, to my left, where we
could see neither them nor their men, gave the order to advance. But of
all this I knew nothing at the time. The whole line, tired of waiting
and eager to close with the enemy, was straining to go forward; and it
seems that different parts slipped the leash at almost the same moment.
The 1st Cavalry came up the hill just behind, and partly mixed with my
regiment and the 9th. As already said, portions of the 3d, 6th and 10th
followed, while the rest of the members of these three regiments kept
more in touch with the infantry on our left.”
Roosevelt, at the head of his cheering, firing men, galloped toward
the hill. Forty yards from the top he ran into a wire fence and was
forced to dismount from his horse, Little Texas, and turn it loose.
The Spaniards fled from the ranch buildings as the Americans
approached, and soon the hill was covered with Rough Riders and the
colored troopers of the 9th, with some men from the 1st. On the top of
the hill was a huge iron kettle, used probably for sugar refining. From
this big pot the battle derived its name of Kettle Hill.