| 3933
the realistic and commensurate re-enactment of such a fearless charge and desperate struggle,
and the introduction of military incidents preceeding it, upon the broadest and most accurate
lines of army movements, discipline and life, and by the very heroes and horses who were a
part of what they portrayed, was calculated to arouse public curiousity and enthusiasm to the
white heat of patriotic fervor. Furthermore, that such
A STUPENDOUS LIVING BATTLE LESSON
would form a fitting and triumphant climax to the Wild West's magnificent and unprece-
dented martial spectacles. Notwithstanding the fact that both Colonel Cody and Mr. Nate
Salsbury are war veterans, as such, entirely familiar with war in its sternest practical
features, and fully competent to command and manage the hundreds of men and horses
required and utilized, the task confronting them was a huge and herculean one, involving
not only an enormous expense, but infinite labor in investigation, procuring of genuine
material, arrangement of detail, circumstance and scenery, and effective utilization of the
space at command and indispensable to the maneuvers of so many troops, horses and guns.
The result attained fully and faithfully harmonize with the heroic subject and the facts of
history, presenting the events associated with the battle of San Juan in two scenes.
The first scene shows the bivouac of the troops on the road to San Juan the night
before the battle. The invading American forces, composed of the artillery representing
Grimes' Battery, the mule pack train carrying ammunition, the Colored Regulars, Roose-
velt's Rough Riders, the Seventy-first Infantry, the Cuban scouts and guides, are seen at
sunset, at the conclusion of a desperately hard day's march over rough and jungle-choked
trails, under the blistering rays of a tropical sun, moving into an encampment selected for a
resting place on the night preceding the morrow's grim work. The various commands take
up the positions assigned them, and to the spectator the bivouac presents a most warlike and
novel scene of disciplined bustle and preparation. The sentries are posted, the tired animals
unloaded, unharnessed and picketed, the weary solider boys gladly obey the order to stack
arms, and, relieved of their haversacks and cumbersome accoutrements, loll and lie around in
groups, while the camp fires are lighted and preparation for the evening meal quickly
made. The hardtack and coffee disposed of and the stern hadn of discipline temporarilty
relaxed, they indulge in an al fresco "smoker" and forget their toils and dangers in story,
song and jest; the familiar songs and patriotic anthems of home, as chorused in melodies
and stentorian tones from hundreds of throats, wafted toward doomed Santiago on the balmy | 3933
the realistic and commensurate re-enactment of such a fearless charge and desperate struggle,
and the introduction of military incidents preceeding it, upon the broadest and most accurate
lines of army movements, discipline and life, and by the very heroes and horses who were a
part of what they portrayed, was calculated to arouse public curiousity and enthusiasm to the
white heat of patriotic fervor. Furthermore, that such
A STUPENDOUS LIVING BATTLE LESSON
would form a fitting and triumphant climax to the Wild West's magnificent and unprece-
dented martial spectacles. Notwithstanding the fact that both Colonel Cody and Mr. Nate
Salsbury are war veterans, as such, entirely familiar with war in its sternest practical
features, and fully competent to command and manage the hundreds of men and horses
required and utilized, the task confronting them was a huge and herculean one, involving
not only an enormous expense, but infinite labor in investigation, procuring of genuine
material, arrangement of detail, circumstance and scenery, and effective utilization of the
space at command and indispensable to the maneuvers of so many troops, horses and guns.
The result attained fully and faithfully harmonize with the heroic subject and the facts of
history, presenting the events associated with the battle of San Juan in two scenes.
The first scene shows the bivouac of the troops on the road to San Juan the night
before the battle. The invading American forces, composed of the artillery representing
Grimes' Battery, the mule pack train carrying ammunition, the Colored Regulars, Roose-
velt's Rough Riders, the Seventy-first Infantry, the Cuban scouts and guides, are seen at
sunset, at the conclusion of a desperately hard day's march over rough and jungle-choked
trails, under the blistering rays of a tropical sun, moving into an encampment selected for a
resting place on the night preceding the morrow's grim work. The various commands take
up the positions assigned them, and to the spectator the bivouac presents a most warlike and
novel scene of disciplined bustle and preparation. The sentries are posted, the tired animals
unloaded, unharnessed and picketed, the weary solider boys gladly obey the order to stack
arms, and, relieved of their haversacks and cumbersome accoutrements, loll and lie around in
groups, while the camp fires are lighted and preparation for the evening meal quickly
made. The hardtack and coffee disposed of and the stern hadn of discipline temporarilty
relaxed, they indulge in an al fresco "smoker" and forget their toils and dangers in story,
song and jest; the familiar songs and patriotic anthems of home, as chorused in melodies
and stentorian tones from hundreds of throats, wafted toward doomed Santiago on the balmy |
