Part 3
Such were the characteristics, such the {59} experience, of the young man when in 1896 he was ordered to Washington--that morgue of the government official--to become Assistant Attending Surgeon. The holder of this position often shares with the Navy Surgeons the responsibility of medical attention to the President, and in addition he acts as medical adviser to army officers and their families and is the official physician to the Secretary of War.
It was not an office that appealed to Captain Wood. It could not; since he was a man essentially of out-of-doors, of action and of administration. Yet he seems to have made such a success of the work that he became the personal friend of both Cleveland and McKinley. His relations with President Cleveland were of the most intimate sort, resulting from mutual respect and liking as well as a mutual understanding on the part of both men of the other's good qualities. He saw him in the White House at all hours of the day and night; saw him with his family and his children about him; noted their fondness for their father and his devotion to them. It was a quality so marked in Lincoln, so strong in most great men {60} of the sound, calm, fearless, administrative sort. Wood himself has exhibited the same quality in his own family. And in those days the perfect understanding of the father and his children, the simple family life that went on in the splendid old house in Washington which combined the dignity of a State and the simplicity of a home unequaled by any great ruler's house upon this earth--all tended to bring out this native quality in the President's medical adviser.
It was at the conclusion of Cleveland's second term that Wood was assigned to this position. On one of the President's trips for recreation and rest--a shooting expedition on the inland waters near Cape Hatteras--he was one of the party which included also Admiral Evans and Captain Lamberton. The hours spent in shooting boxes or in the evenings in the cabin of the lighthouse tender gave opportunity for him to study Cleveland off duty when the latter liked to sit quietly and talk of his early life, of his political battles, of fishing, shooting, and of the urgent questions which beset him as President. And Wood brought away with him a profound respect for the {61} combination of simplicity and unswerving love and devotion to his country, coupled with rugged uncompromising honesty which seem to have been the characteristics of Grover Cleveland.
This particular trip was immediately after the inauguration ceremonies of President McKinley, and Cleveland was not only tired from the necessary part which he himself had taken in them, but also from the first natural let-down after four years of duty in the White House. Wood has given a little sketch of the man:
"I remember very well his words, as he sat down with a sigh of relief, glad that it was all over. He said: 'I have had a long talk with President McKinley. He is an honest, sincere and serious man. I feel that he is going to do his best to give the country a good administration. He impressed me as a man who will have the best interests of the people at heart.'
"Then he stopped, and said with a sigh: 'I envy him to-day only one thing and that was the presence of his own mother at his inauguration. I would have given anything in the world if my mother could have been at my inauguration,' {62} and then, continuing: 'I wish him well. He has a hard task,' and after a long pause: 'But he is a good man and will do his best.'"
He has spoken often, too, of Cleveland's love of sport, of the days which Jefferson, the actor, and Cleveland spent together fishing and shooting on and near Buzzard's Bay--the same spot where he himself as a boy spent his days in like occupations. The sides of Cleveland's character that appealed to him were the frankness with which he expressed his views on the important questions of the day, the sterling worth and high ideals which emphasized his sense of duty, his love of country and his desire to do the best possible for his fellow citizens, coupled with his perfectly unaffected family feelings and the amazing devotion and affection which he invariably elicited from all those who came into association with him, even to the most humble hand on the light house tender. Jeffersonian simplicity could have gone no further, nor could any man have been more definite, far-sighted and fearless than was Cleveland in his Venezuelan Message. These two extremes made a vivid and lasting impression upon {63} the young man, because both sides struck a sympathetic chord in his own nature.
There followed, then, the same association with McKinley, growing out of the necessary intimacy of physician and patient. But in this latter case two events, vital to this country as well as to the career of Leonard Wood, changed the quiet course of Washington official life to a life of intense interest and great activity.
These two events were Wood's meeting with Theodore Roosevelt and the Spanish War.
One night in 1896 at some social function at the Lowndes house Wood was introduced to Roosevelt, then assistant Secretary of the Navy. It seems strange that two men so vitally alike in many ways, who were in college at about the same time, should never have met before. But when they did meet the friendship, which lasted without a break until Roosevelt's death, began at once.
That night the two men walked home together and in a few days they were hard at it, walking, riding, playing games and discussing the affairs of the day.
This strange fact of extraordinary similarities {64} and vivid differences in the two men doubtless had much to do with bringing them together and keeping them allied for years. Both were essentially men of physical action, both born fighters, both filled with an amazing patriotism and both simple family men.
On the one hand, Roosevelt was a great individualist. He did things himself. He no sooner thought of a thing than he carried it out himself. When he was President he frequently issued orders to subordinates in the departments without consulting the heads of the departments. Wood, on the other hand, is distinctly an organizer and administrator. When he later filled high official positions, he invariably picked men to attend to certain work and left them, with constant consultation, to do the jobs whatever they were. If a road was to be built, he found the best road builder and laid out the work for him leaving to him the carrying out of the details.
Yet again both men had known life in the West, Roosevelt as a cowboy and Wood as an Indian fighter. Both had come from the best old American stock, Roosevelt from the Dutch of {65} Manhattan and Wood from New England. They were Harvard men and lovers of the outdoor, strenuous life. Their ideals and aspirations had much in common and they were both actuated by the intense feeling of nationalism that brought them to the foreground in American life.
Soon they were tramping through the country together testing each other's endurance in good-natured rivalry. When out of sight of officialdom, they ran foot races together, jumped fences and ran cross-country. Both men had children and with these they played Indians, indulging in most exciting chases and games. They explored the ravines and woods all about Washington, sometimes taking on their long hikes and rides various army officers stationed at Washington. Few of these men were able to stand the pace set by the two energetic athletes, and it was of course partially due to this fact that Roosevelt in later years when he was President ordered some of the paunchy swivel-chair Cavalry and Infantry officers out for cross-country rides and sent them back to their homes sore and blistered, and with {66} every nerve clamoring for the soothing restfulness of an easy chair.
Wood was dissatisfied in Washington, bored with the inaction. He longed for the strenuous life of the West. The desire became so strong that he began a plan to leave the army and start sheep-ranching in the West. It was the life, or as near the life as he could get, that he had been leading for years; and the present contrast of those days in the open with the life he was now leading in Washington became too much for him.
Here again seemed to arise a turning point. Had it not been for his own confident conviction that war was eventually coming with Spain, Wood would probably have gone to his open life on the prairie. What this would have meant to his future career nobody can tell, nor is speculation upon the subject very profitable. But it is interesting to note that what deterred him were his ideas on patriotism and a man's duty to his country, which struck a live, vibrating chord also in Theodore Roosevelt's nature and influenced Wood to stay in his position and wait.
It is only possible to imagine now the {67} conversations of these two kindred spirits on this subject. Roosevelt, as is well known, was for war--war at once--and he did what little was done in those days to prepare. There must have been waging a long argument between the now experienced Indian fighter and doctor, and the great-hearted American who knew so little of military affairs.
These talks and arguments became so frank and outspoken that they were well-known in Washington circles. Even President McKinley used to say to Wood:
"Have you and Theodore declared war yet?"
And Wood's answer was:
"No, we think you ought to, Mr. President."
As each day passed it seemed more likely that Spain and America would become involved over the injustices Cuba and the Philippines were being forced to suffer at the hands of their greedy and none too-loving mother country. On their long walks they discussed all the phases of such a conflict and each of them became anxious for war without further delay, for delay was costing time and money, and peaceful readjustment seemed {68} quite out of the question. So keen had they become in this war question that the two of them became known in Washington as the "War Party."
It was becoming evident to many others that war was inevitable when the destruction of the _Maine_ in Havana Harbor brought the situation to a head. It found both these men prepared in their own minds as to what their courses should be. When Wood arrived at Fort Huachuca in 1885 he was asked by Lawton why he came into the army. Lawton had studied law at Harvard after the Civil War and was interested in the views of a man who had studied medicine there. Wood replied that he had come into the army to get into the line at the first opportunity; and from that moment he began systematically his preparation for transfer. As a part of this policy he took every opportunity to do line duty. The result was that when the Spanish War came he had strong letters from Lawton, General Miles, General Graham, Colonel Wagner, General Forsythe, and others, recommending him for line command. These recommendations varied from {69} a battalion to a regiment. Both Roosevelt and Wood had discussed the possibility of organizing regiments, Roosevelt in New York and Wood in Massachusetts, but as turmoil and confusion enveloped the War Office they realized that this plan was not feasible.
The efforts of Roosevelt's superiors to keep him in his official capacity as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and away from active service were fruitless. Finally, when it became evident that he would go into the service and see active fighting, Secretary of War Alger offered him the colonelcy of a regiment of cavalry. Roosevelt, because of his lack of experience in military affairs, refused the offer but agreed to accept the position of lieutenant colonel of such a regiment if his friend, Leonard Wood, would accept the colonelcy. Secretary Alger and Leonard Wood agreed, and work was commenced at once organizing a regiment that was later to become known as the Rough Riders. The official name of the regiment was the 1st Volunteer Cavalry. The name Rough Riders "just grew." The organization became known under that name among the friends {70} of its leaders, later among the newspaper correspondents and consequently the public, and finally when it appeared in official documents it was accepted as official.
Preparedness was all too unknown in those days, but Wood, who became its nation-wide champion in the days to come, was well schooled even in those days in its laws. He only learned more as time went on. The chaos and tangle of red tape, inefficiency, unpreparedness in all branches of the service blocked every effort that a few efficient and able men were making. Seeing the hopelessness of trying to accomplish anything under such conditions Wood introduced a novel method of organization into the War Department.
Instead of pestering the hopeless and dismayed functionaries of the various Government departments with requests for things they did not have and would not have been able to find if they did have them, Wood merely requested _carte blanche_ to go ahead and get all necessary papers ready so that they might be signed at one sitting. He made requisitions for materials that he needed {71} and when these materials were not to be found in the Government stores he wrote out orders directed to himself for the purchase in the open market of the things required. Alger recognized immediately that in Wood he had a man accustomed to action and full of vision--a man whom nothing could frighten. The two men understood one another. If those who surrounded the Secretary of War in those days had been as capable of organization, the history of Washington during wartime would have been quite different. But for the most part they failed. The see-nothing, hear-nothing, do-nothing, keep-your-finger-on-your-number spirit among many of them was quite great enough to throw the War Office into chaos. The game of "passing the buck" did not appeal to Wood; neither did he stop to sympathize with a certain highly placed bureaucrat who complained:
"My office and department were running along smoothly and now this damned war comes along and breaks it all up."
When all of his papers and documents were ready. Wood appeared before Secretary Alger. {72} "And now what can I do for you?" said the Secretary.
"Just sign these papers, sir. That is all," replied the Rough Riders' Colonel.
Alger, beset by incompetence, hampered by inefficiency in his staff, was dumbfounded as he looked through the papers Wood had prepared for him to sign. There were telegrams to Governors of states calling upon them for volunteers; requisitions for supplies and uniforms; orders for mobilization and requisitions for transportation. Alger had little to say. He placed enough confidence in Wood to sign the papers and give him his blessing.
When the army depots said that they could not supply uniforms, Wood replied that his men could wear canvas working clothes. As a result the Rough Riders, fighting through the tropical country in Cuba, were far more comfortable than the soldiers in regulation blue. The new colonel seemed to know what he wanted. He wanted Krag rifles. There were few in existence, but General Flagler, Chief of Ordnance, appreciated what the young officer had done and saw that he got them. {73} He did not want sabers for the men to run through one another in the pandemonium of cavalry charges of half wild western horses. The Rough Riders therefore went into action carrying machetes, an ideal weapon for the country in which they were to see service. With the saber they could do nothing; but with the machete they could do everything from hacking through dense jungle growths to sharpening a pencil. During the days that followed many troopers equipped with sabers conveniently lost them, but Wood's Rough Riders found the machetes invaluable.
The authority to raise the regiment was given late in April, and on the twenty-fourth day of June, against heavy odds, it won its first action in the jungles at Las Guasimas. This was quick work, when it is remembered that two weeks of that short six or seven week period were practically used up in assembling and transporting the men by rail and sea. Here is where organization and well-thought-out plans made a remarkable showing.
It was not only a question of knowing what he wanted. It was his old slogan: "Do it and don't talk about it."
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THE SOLDIER
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IV
THE SOLDIER
The name "Rough Riders" will forever mean to those who read American history the spontaneous joy of patriotism and the high hearts of youth in this land. It was the modern reality of the adventurous musketeers--of those who loved romance and who were ready for a call to arms in support of their country. They came from the cowboys of the west, from the stockbrokers' offices of Wall Street, from the athletic field, from youth wherever real youth was to be found. Something over 20,000 men applied for enrollment. None of them knew anything of war. None of them wanted to die, but they all wanted to try the great adventure under such leaders. And they have left an amazing record of the joyousness of the fight and the recklessness that goes with it.
Now and then there have been organizations of a similar character in our history, but only here and there. It was the first outburst of that day {78} of the spirits filled with high adventure; and the record cheers the rest of us as we plod along our way, just as it cheers us when we are ill in bed with indigestion to read again the old but ever-young Dumas.
It would have been impossible for any one to have organized and controlled such a group without the enthusiasm of men like Roosevelt and Wood, as well as the knowledge these two had of the West, the Southwest and the South.
It detracts nothing from Roosevelt's greatness of spirit to say that it was Wood who did the organizing, the equipping of the regiment. In fact Roosevelt declined to be the Rough Riders' first Colonel, but consented to be the second in command only if Wood were made its commander. The fact that Roosevelt was not only known in the East but in the Northwest, and that Wood was quite as well known in the Southwest and the South meant that men of the Rough Riders type all over the country knew something of one or the other of the regiment's organizers.
It detracts nothing from Wood's amazing activity in organization and capacity for getting {79} things done, to say that had it not been for Roosevelt's wonderful popularity amongst those of the youthful spirit of the land the regiment would never have had its unique character or its unique name.
This is not the place to tell the story of that famous band of men. But its organization is so important a part of Wood's life that it comes in for mention necessarily.
In the Indian campaign with the regulars he had known the great importance of being properly outfitted and ready for those grilling journeys over the desert. In the Spanish War he learned, as only personal experience can teach, the amazing importance of preparation for volunteers and inexperienced men. The whole story of the getting ready to go to Cuba was burned into his brain so deeply that it formed a second witness in the case against trusting to luck and the occasion which has never been eradicated from his mind. Yet this episode brought strongly before him also the fact that prepared though he might be there was no success ahead for such an organization without the sense of subordination to the {80} state and the nation which not only brought the volunteers in, but carried them over the rough places through disease and suffering and death to the end.
Eight days after the telegram calling upon the Governors of New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma and Indian Territory for men to form the regiment, the recruits gathered at San Antonio where Wood was waiting to meet them. The most important thing about them for the moment was that they knew nothing of military life. Wood believed with Old Light-Horse Harry Lee "That Government is a murderer of its citizens which sends them to the field uninformed and untaught, where they are meeting men of the same age and strength mechanized by education and disciplined for battle."
Furthermore during the years that he had been in Washington Wood had used some of his spare time in studying parts of American history that are not included in school books. He knew that the volunteer system in the Revolutionary War had worn General Washington sick with discouragement and fear lest all that he had built up be {81} broken down through lack of discipline. He knew also that in the Civil War the volunteer system proved inadequate on both sides and that it was not until the war had gone on for two years that either the North or the South had what could properly be called an army.
To aid him in the training of these troops he had the assistance of a number of officers who had seen service in the Regular Army, and together they mapped out a course of drills and maneuvers that worked the men from a valueless mob into a regiment trained for battle. The human material that they had to work with was the best; for these men had been selected from many applicants. The lack of discipline and the ignorance of military etiquette led to many amusing incidents. Colonel Roosevelt in his history of the Rough Riders tells of an orderly announcing dinner to Colonel Wood and the three majors by remarking genially:
"If you fellers don't come soon, everything'll get cold."
The foreign attaches said: "Your sentinels do not know much about the Manual of Arms, but {82} they are the only ones through whose lines we could not pass. They were polite; but, as one of them said, 'Gents, I'm sorry, but if you don't stop I shall kill you.'"
The difficulties to be surmounted were enormous; and any officers less democratic and understanding might have made a mess of it. Both Roosevelt and Wood understood the frontiersmen too well to misjudge any breaches of etiquette or to humiliate the extremely sensitive natures of men long used to life in the open.
Upon Colonel Wood fell practically all the details of organization. There were materials and supplies of many kinds to be secured from the War Department; there were men to be drilled in the bare rudiments of military life; non-commissioned officers and officers to be schooled, and a thousand and one other details. At first the men were drilled on foot, but soon horses were purchased and mounted drill commenced, much to the delight of many of the cowpunchers who by years of training had become averse to walking a hundred yards if they could throw their legs over a horse. There was no end to the {83} excitement when the horses arrived. Most of them were half-broken, but there were some that had never seen, much less felt, a saddle. The horses were broken to the delight of every 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.