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OF WILLIAM McKINLEY
233
CHAPTER XXIV
The President at the Camps—Roosevelt's Rough Riders—The Army's Departure for Cuba—Landing at Baiquiri—Battles of La Guasima, El Caney, and San Juan Hill
While the army was being placed upon a war footing, President McKinley visited several camps and made himself acquainted with all the details of the gigantic system which was being created whereby our soldiers could be sent to Cuba or elsewhere and in such condition that failure to win out in battle would be next to impossible. He also visited some of the hospitals, and his kind and encouraging words to the sick will not be forgotten.
All over the country the militia were recruiting finely, and to this body of men sworn into the United States service were added the Rough Riders. The lieutenant-colonel of this command was Theodore Roosevelt, who succeeded McKinley as President. Roosevelt was a man who had seen
