In The Cuban Campaign The Day The American Forces Landed At Siboney A
Major-General Of Volunteers Took Up His
Head-quarters in the house
from which the Spanish commandant had just fled, and on the veranda
of which Caspar
Whitney and myself had found two hammocks and made
ourselves at home. The Spaniard who had been left to guard the house
courteously offered the major-general his choice of three bed-rooms.
They all were on the first floor and opened upon the veranda, and to
the general's staff a tent could have been no easier of access.
Obviously, it was the duty of the general to keep himself in good
physical condition, to obtain as much sleep as possible, and to rest
his great brain and his limbs cramped with ten days on shipboard.
But in a tone of stern reproof he said, "No; I am campaigning now,
and I have given up all luxuries." And with that he stretched a
poncho on the hard boards of the veranda, where, while just a few
feet from him the three beds and white mosquito nets gleamed
invitingly, he tossed and turned. Besides being a silly spectacle,
the sight of an old gentleman lying wide awake on his shoulder-blades
was disturbing, and as the hours dragged on we repeatedly offered him
our hammocks. But he fretfully persisted in his determination to be
uncomfortable. And he was. The feelings of his unhappy staff,
several of whom were officers of the regular army, who had to follow
the example of their chief, were toward morning hardly loyal.
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